Second swim meet

 Katie had her second swim meet and this one was at home so we didn't have to travel this time. Our pool area is very small so its not a great place to get good video but it is always fun to watch her swim.

 Much of the time the kids just sit around waiting to swim so its fun to watch Katie with her friends on the team.

Katie did a good job but no time improvements this week and she swam the same races as last time.  Great job Katie can't wait to see you swim again.

New Years Eve

 New Years Eve day we wanted to go out and do something but it was so cold we didn't want to do anything outside, so we all decided to go bowling.

The kids are pretty good and they really enjoy bowling so its a great family activity we can all do together.

 Zach is the most improved and he has really great form. 

John is an awesome bowler and he shows us all up every time we go.

Aaron is a little sneaky with his bowling.  He just throws the ball down and it barely makes it to the pins and somehow he gets 8 or 9 pins almost every time, he even got a strike once.  He has a blast and he shows me up for sure I'm not a good bowler at all.

 We had a good time and once we were done we went and got Chines food for dinner and played Wii games and watched movies all night.  Aaron made it to 10 p.m. and Katie and Zach made it till Midnight.  We were playing a  Wii game and missed the ball drop.  It was a good night spent together and a great way to start the new year!!

Aarons Missing Tooth

Sunday evening we were all hanging out playing games together and all of a sudden Aaron came up to me with his hand covered in blood. Somehow one of his top teeth came out and he didn't know how it happened but it was such an odd shape in his mouth it looked so silly. He got to check off one more lost tooth and that makes him at 3 lost teeth now, he still has a long way to go the tooth fairy has many more visits to come in our house.

Snowed In

We woke up Sunday morning with about 6 inches of fresh snow and because we didn't know it was going to snow that much we were snowed in and not able to get out of our drive way in time to make it to Church so we had a nice snowed in day.

We got all suited up and headed out to start clearing the snow.  Zach was a big help and cleared the walkway all by himself.  Aaron like always worked on cleaning off the cars, while John used the snow blower on the driveway and we all worked together and got it all done in just over an hour.

After all the work we went to watch the kids play in the snow.  Katie loves to bring out her new doll with her when she goes sledding so they were both bundled up and ready to go.

It's so funny to watch her because she has a hard time holding onto the sled and her doll while going down the hill but she is getting the hang of it and most of the time now they all make it down together.

Zach is really enjoying his new snowboard and new fresh snow made it even better.

Zach is really starting to get the hang of his snowboard and he even let his sister have a turn and we even got it on video.

It's fun to watch them all play in the snow together. They all love the snow but it's just as fun to come inside and share some hot chocolate.

Back in the Pool Again

 Katie is back into swimming again this year so we are in full swim team mode now.

 Last weekend Katie had her first swim meet of the year.  She was a little nervous when we first got there, but when she saw some of her friends she started feeling better.

 

 We got there a little early so we had to wait a bit before she could get into the pool so she came and hung out with us.  Grandma and Grandpa Shattuck came to watch so they were able to talk with her before she got into the water.

Katie had 5 races to swim in and she couldn't wait to get started.  There is a lot of down time during a swim meet so Katie kept looking up at us in the bleachers and waving to make sure we were still watching her.

John put this video together of her 3 solo races and it turned out really nice.  Katie did a great job and she ended up coming in first place in every race.
Katie swam a 25m freestyle, 25m backstroke, and a 50m freestyle for her solo races.  She was in 2 relays as well and in both she swam a 25m freestyle.  It was so much fun to watch her in the pool and it was amazing to see how much she has improved since 2 years ago when she started swim team.  It was a great start to her season and we can't wait to see how well she improves over this year. Great Job Katie!!!

Snow Day

 We woke up Friday to a few inches more of snow so we had to go out and clear the driveway and it gave us another chance to play in the snow.

 Aaron loves to help dad and he loves to be out side so having to shovel the snow is the perfect job for him.  He is a big help and he loves to do it so he works really hard to get it done.

It's a lot of work to get our driveway cleared after a snow storm but having Aaron out makes everyone work so their little brother doesn't show them up.  Aaron is great at cleaning off the cars that's his favorite job of all.

Zach took advantage of the snow as well and tried out his snowboard.  He still has some work to do but he gets better each time. It does stink to have such a big hill for a driveway when you have to clear all that snow off, but on the other hand it's awesome to have your own sledding hill right outside your door.  The kids have a blast playing in the snow and I love to watch from the window.

Christmas Day

 This year we had a wonderful quiet day full of lots of fun.

 The kids woke us up around 7 which made me happy! The came out to see the tree full of gifts and the their stockings full of wonderful presents.

 They all got what they really wanted this year which made our day that much better.  Aaron got the new imaginext castle and all the awesome guys that go with it.

 Katie got a new doll and a bunch of clothes and things, she named her Belle.

 This year we finally broke down and got the family a Wii. We gave it to Zach as his gift with the understanding that everyone could play with it.  He was so excited nothing else really mattered after that.

 This is what we did all day, we all took turns playing a couple games.

 It was such a great sight to see all 3 of our kids being so nice and playing together with Aaron and his new toys.  They had so much fun and they couldn't stop laughing at each other it was so much fun to watch them together.

We woke up to a coating of snow on the ground and Zach couldn't wait to get outside to try out his new snowboard.  It took him a few tries but he got the hang of it and he had a blast playing in the snow. 

John's parents came over for a while and the kids got to show them all their cool things.  It was a nice day spent at home together and we had so much fun loosing to Zach on the Wii, but we can only get better(I hope!)