My Kids' Artwork

Feels good to be getting caught up on blogging!

I decided to do a post solely dedicated to my kids' recent artwork.  I am always conflicted about what to do with their art work when they bring it home from school or make little things at home.  I wish I could keep everything little thing they made but there's just no way!  So I have a little process where it goes on the fridge for maybe a week or two (my fridge always looks messy and cluttered but I don't care), then I take a picture of it and then most of the time it goes in the garbage.  Every so often if it's something special I will put it down in their little bin of keepsakes.  For everyone but probably me and Keith and maybe their grandparents this artwork doesn't seem that special but it's something I want to remember so I'm going to post about it anyway :)  Here's some pics of things they've done recently: 

Malea:

Here's a pic of what I assume is a little diagram helping the kids learn the body parts in Chinese.  I thought it was cute she added a little skirt to it ;)   

 For MLK Jr. Day the kids learned the "I Have a Dream" speech and made these cute little posters.  Her teacher made a comment that she was impressed with Malea's handwriting so I kept this one :)

A little story she made up.  She was supposed to use so many words and I thought it was funny that she said "big" twelve times, lol

This one posted upside down for some reason and I have no idea what it means but I thought it was cute

Another one I'm not sure about since it's all in Chinese

I had some paint out to do a book shelf project and of course they wanted to paint too :)

Malea made this darling Valentine's Day card

Cute little ice skater

Family portrait

This was really sweet....on Valentine's Day I opened the mail and there was this letter from Malea.  They wrote them at school and then sent them as a surprise.  She didn't tell me a thing about it.  This one was definitely a keeper :)

Her school did a fun Chinese New Year celebration so this was one of her art projects for that

A lantern she made for Chinese New Year as well

Malea got this little doll with some birthday money and happened to have this little Hello Kitty backpack that was the perfect size for it (I love her creativity!).....she decided to make a "homework folder" for her doll that included little pockets and worksheets and everything.  So. stinkin. cute!   

Isaac:

Isaac isn't as much into art as his sister but he has gotten in to it a little bit more as he's gotten older.  And between his two different pre-schools he brings home quite a few fun things.  This picture was taken when we went to his pre-school for parent-teacher conference.  I thought his snow man turned out so cute!  I think they made them out of shaving cream.

One night Isaac drew this little guy and told me it was a snail like "Turbo" :)

Some other things from pre-school:

A couple of weeks ago Malea was playing with a friend and he felt left out so I told him we could color.  I'm sure one day when he has a little sister who wants to tag along with him all the time he will understand :)

Isaac decorated this cute bag at one of his pre-schools and got to take home all his yummy treats from his class after his Valentine's Day party

So proud of my kids and their awesome artwork!

Walker Family Pictures

Over Valentine's Day weekend, all of Keith's family came in to town for the mission farewell of his cousin Rachael.  We had Keith's brother David and his family stay with us for a couple of nights, which was a lot of fun.  We haven't all been together at the same time since David & Sherri's wedding (which is when I was pregnant with Malea over 7 years ago!) so we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and get a family picture.  My awesome friend Alisse came and took pictures for us, she did a great job especially considering there are so many kids!  It's hard to get everyone looking at the same time but here were some of the best ones :)

Malea turns 7!

I can't believe Malea is 7!!!  She is getting so grown up!  

We decided to have her friend party the weekend before her birthday because we had family coming in to town the next weekend and it was going to be a crazy week! This was the first year she didn't want a "character" birthday (we've done Frozen, Hello Kitty, Disney Princesses, etc in the past), which just goes to show that this girl is growing up!

My beautiful birthday girl!

She looks so grown up with her legs crossed like that!

Some of the decor :)

Showing some of her friends her room!

Playing a fun BINGO game!

Present time!

Malea with her bestie/next door neighbor Sarah

Cake! (This one's for you Di, love cute little Sarah in the background, we kept trying to get Malea to smile and Sarah was doing it too haha)

After the party, Sarah and Malea played with their dolls (Sarah got her a new ice skater outfit for it and they were twinners)

This was taken the day before her actual birthday.  She got some Frozen dress-up accessories from a friend at her party (crown, necklace, wand, etc) that went well with the Elsa dress she wore for Halloween.  I love that loves to dress-up and I'm going to be sad one day when she grows out of it!

The evening before her birthday Grandpa Dave stopped by to visit and bring Malea her birthday gift.  The kids always love to see Grandpa! 

Birthday morning!

She got to open her presents before school from mommy and daddy :)

She got some clothes and a new doll bed and stuffed animal pet for her doll!

We took treats in the morning for her class and then came back to have lunch with her at noon :)

That night we took her to dinner at Golden Corral (her choice!) and a bunch of our family came too. It was a lot of fun!

Malea with her cousin Sienna, they are a year apart

She opened her present from Grandma Vicki & Grandpa Rick, it was this adorable dress for her and a matching one for her doll!

After dinner we took her to build-a-bear to pick out a stuffed animal!

This picture was taken the next day, which happened to be the day her class was doing their Valentine's Day celebration.  I though the red dress she got from her grandparents was perfect for Valentine's Day!

Fun facts about Malea at age 7:

*She is very artistic and loves doing crafts.  I am always amazed by her creativity and impressed with what she comes up with.

*She is very sweet and tender-hearted, which also means she sometimes gets her feelings hurt easily.  But I always tell her that I would rather she be like that than the opposite.

*She LOVES stuffed animals and even though she has a million of them she always seems to want another one when she gets money for a birthday or something.  She actually plays with them quite a bit so I don't feel too bad about it.

*She has recently gotten in to the game Minecraft and loves to play that when she has down time.

*She loves the shows Wild Kratts, Pokemon, and Octonauts.

*She is reading SO well and has improved so much this year.  She can read quite a few books on her own with a little bit of help here and there.  She is so smart and is doing really well in school, especially considering that she is in Chinese immersion.  We are so proud of her!

Happy Birthday Malea!!  We love you SO much!