Head protection!

Savannah told Gage that someone in their school has lice. He was completely freaked out about that. So, he decided to wear a hat to protect his head! It turns out (I talked to the teachers to get the lice lowdown) that a class had them going around before XMAS, but they are gone. 

Adam ❤️ Pepper

One day, I walked in and saw THIS. Pepper is not allowed on the furniture. Adam said "but she's just a puppy...she likes it...she's so snugly".

The very next day...this happened. Three times. Adam is in trouble!!!

Is say he loves this puppy...

Astronaut ice cream

Our babysitter Jess went to the space museum in DC and brought home some treats for the kids. Savannah got a freeze dried ice cream sandwich. Gage got chocolate ice cream. 

Savannah says two thumbs up. Yum!

Gage. Well, Gage didn't like it, so he cried. He said "please don't tell Jess I didn't like it. I don't want her to get upset". Sweet boy...

Luckily, I had taken him out for ice cream the day before and his leftovers were in the freezer.  I think he's much happier with good ole ice cream!

Big puppy!

I had no idea that puppies grow so fast!! Pepper is getting huge!!!

100 days project

It's hard to believe we are over half way through with school this year! Next week marks the 100th day of school. Gage has an assignment to count and display 100 of "something". Of course...he went with superhero stickers!

Character award!!

Well well...look what Savannah received AGAIN...she was awarded the character award at school. 

Savannahs project

Savannah's teacher gave her an extra project to do over the XMAS break. Only savannah and one other boy in her class were gives the project. This was extra work that was given to the kids who are testing for the gifted program.

Savamnah had to choose an American hero, research that person, and do some kind of project (or her choice) to capture what she learned. She chose Martin Luther King Jr.  So, we went to the library and checked out a big stack of books, and she got to reading.  After XMAS she started making a newspaper ad her project.  She wrote "articles" about MLKs childhood, family, segregation, and his "i have a dream" speech. She also wrote an article about why she believes he is a hero, and how he inspires her. She wrote that he inspires her because he shows her "how one person can make a big difference in the world".

Today she presented her project to her class, and her teacher emailed me to say she did a great job.

She's growing!

Pepper has almost doubled her weight since we got her! Phew...she is growing fast!!  Look at those big feet! She's going to be a big girl!

She has learned to sit, lay down, and shake. She's learning stay, come, and how to walk nicely on a leash. Here's Gage telling her to "sit" and do "paw" (shake).

Such a cutie patootie!

She is a super sweet, good girl. 

 

 Cuteness overload!

But..she is 100% puppy. Hmm...what's this?  A hula hoop? Hmm...let me check it out.

I LOVE THIS THING, but it's kind of hard to run with....

WAAAA...I am a CRAZY DOG WITH A HULA HOOP!!!!!

Ah yes...things change in an instant in puppy-land ;-)

Christmas!!

 Christmas Eve...someone was checking out her presents to see what was what! And snuggling her puppy :-)

Christmas morning....Gage found his big wheels!

 Savannah finally got the Dolphin Cruiser legos that she's wanted for a few years now. Thank you Grandma & Grandpa Rapp!

 And...Savannah opened this little knitting doll...but grew very pensive when I told her that it was from Grandma Rooney. Gram bought bought it for her while she was out and about with Aunt Nan this summer.  This summer, Savannah wanted to learn to knit, but she made that decision about a week before we were leaving CT, so she never had a chance to have Gram show her. So, this is really her last gift from Gram :-(

 Oh yeah...Lego Bat Cave!

 Happy boy!

 Happy girl!

 These little Calico Critter triple bunk beds were a HIT! Good job Santa!

 One of several launching-battling-very-boy-boy-boy games that Gage scored this Xmas

 Here is Gage carrying a very heavy present over to Mommy!

 So, this summer, Gage decided he wanted to be a storekeeper.  He said he wanted to take people's money and make change for them. Grammy bought him a cash register that he can ring things up on, swipe credit cards, etc.  Since then, he decided he wants to be a Mayor, Governor, or maybe President. 

 Adam's favorite gifts ;-)

 Xmas day was a beautiful day here in the south, so we took advantage of the beautiful day to play with the puppy and ride scooters & big wheels outside. Next year, we hope that it's cold and snowy in Ohio!

Puppy love

I Pepper is settling in just fine. We are all so happy to have here as part of the family. Of course, she tries to chew everything, she pees on the floor, she gets init trouble every five minutes, but we adore her.

No...she won't keep those blue eyes. they will change color when she gets older. But they are gorgeous now!

Savannah absolutely loves her. Here she is getting some doggie kisses.

You can see...she loves carrying her around :-). She watches her so well, takes her outside to potty, and is a great "puppy sitter". 

The kitties are not so sure of her. Pepper is the middle of the bunch right now (smidge =8lb, pepper =11lb., Lola =17lb!). Pepper thinks the cats are dogs. She gets very excited when she sees them and goes bounding after them - tail wagging like crazy - and the cats are not fans. Lola runs away. Smidge looks very annoyed, and often gives her a whack or two. The kitties are mad that pepper steals their food all the time, and I put their cat food on the landing of the stairs to keep it out of puppy reach (which pepper can't climb yet!), but the cats are not happy about it! Hopefully they all become pals someday soon . 

It's coming!!!!

Christmas is coming!!! Gage looked outside and found a few packages with a note. It said that snowy (or elf) had taken some of the reindeers' favorite treat (oatmeal with red sugar) from the barn at the North Pole, and brought a bag to the kids. He said to put it out for the reindeer tonight. He also gave the kids pajamas that had North Pole magic, and would help them to sleep tonight. 

Here they are in their new magic Jammie's. And..we made One last batch of cookies!!!! For santa, if course!

Christmas Eve tooth fairy!!

Look who lost another tooth this morning!! Looks like both santa and the tooth fairy are coming to our house tonight!!!

Party time!

Finally! This year I was finally invited to the kids classroom Christmas parties! For the last two years, Savannah's teachers had kid-only (no parents allowed) XMAS parties. This year...parents were invited at bo h classrooms!! As luck would have it, they were both scheduled at the exact same time, so I had to scoot back and forth between them.

First up, Savannah, where she was dressed in pajamas and she turned into an elf! She was eating donuts, sausage biscuits, and her friends were all handing out goodie bags. 

I said goodbye to savannah  and scooted  over to Gage's classroom. He was in the process of making what should have been an ice cream cone tree, but turned into something else. We have made ice cream cone trees before - you turn a sugar come upside down, lightly cover it with frosting, and decorate it with candy, and eat it. Sort of like a gingerbread house. Well, Gage decided to change things up, so he filled his cone with frosting (hey it's an ice cream cone!) and put some m&ms on top. Thankfully, he did not eat much of that sugar bomb!!

Here he is with ms. Rhodes, whom he (we) absolutely love!

And then...we decided to go visit both parties. Gage went to savannahs party and savannah visited Gage's party.

And then...we all checked out of school early and it's now - officially - XMAS break!

Tinsel trail

We finally made it to the tinsel trail this year...and the kids loved it!

The grinch!

Superhero tree!

Random deer head tree?

Gage got super bundled up...and Savannah went with no coat...because she said she needs to toughen up to get ready for moving up north!!