Climbin', Sportin' new clothes from Christmas, Experimentin' & Buildin' Galore! 2017

We had another fun week around our house the second week of January 2017! We took a recess trip to our neighborhood park, even though it was a little chilly, probably in the high 50s, but we have a couple ambitious climbers and happy kids Jeep riders too!  We were so thankful for the gifts our family received from Juan & Jessica's sweet family, Nathan and Katelyn loved sportin' their new shirts and clothes! I think Nathan seriously wore that shirt for 3 or 4 days straight in the couple weeks after Christmas! ha! We are working on teaching some improved personal hygiene habits, haha...but it is definately a work in progress and hard when were sent such nice and comfy surprise shirts to wear!
 

Another one of our favorite activities around here is playing chess!! The kids have mastered the art of checkers and have graduated into playing their own games of chess! We are so proud of them as fellow board-game crazies!! So sweet when they opt to play board games like this and monopoly deal cards with each other furing free-play time. Brother-Sister bonding time makes this momma's heart happy! 
It was the cutest thing the other day while we were having Family Home Evening, I look up to see little Joshua has found himself a book from the basket and plopped himself in front of the fireplace to look through it! So sweet and precious! What a smart, mindfully observant little cookie we have on our hands!!

What a big happy boy!!

Books truly will bring so many great joys into your life, sweet boy!! AND reading them together is one of Mommy's MOST FAVORITE things to do together! Always remember that in books we can learn ALL SORTS OF amazing things about life and the beautiful world around us....and travel to infinite times and places! There are so many wonderful written adventures and knowledge to be gained from reading!!

Love those smiles and that he is getting excited to read right along with us so early!! 
Haha....what a cute little crack up! He did this all on his very own!! Seriously, it was so adorable to watch!! I never want to forget this sweet moment!!! Hahaha....love this kid!!
 
After we finished our Math and Language Arts Lessons one day, everyone joined in with Gracie on the fun of Magformer creations! Silly faces and smiles galore!

Gracie wanted to make doggies of course!!

Katelyn was so proud of her castle!

For Science this week as an indoor activity, we pulled out the super cool science kit we got from Uncle Juan & Aunt Jessica & family to make some gooey gemstones from tiny crystals and test the pH of various household liquids! We had never done this before and it was fun to see the kids' excitement after making predictions and getting to find out how many different kinds of results we have!   
Even though it really got cold outside this week, we were thankful for fun activities like this that helped keep us pumped up for learning and experimenting with science indoors! We are thankful for these highlight moments and for the opportunity we have to share these fun learning, and also sometimes hard times of keeping motivated and working hard together.  Life was not supposed to be easy....but all of our hard times and pressing forward through them anyways has always been worth it.  We love these smiles!