December Break Through New Years 2015

Merry Belated Christmas!  The Haak house was full of Christmas festivities this winter!  

The kids eagerly decorated our tree!

One of my favorite holiday activities is finding Hannah and Hudson's Christmas outfits.  My mom found her dress this year.  I love it!!!

Hudson made this adorable ornament in kindergarten.  Good thing I got a picture of it because it didn't make it through the night.  He had so much fun playing with it, it broke:(.

This is was time for our yearly Santa pic.  Hudson is enamored with Santa this year which I find ironic because we don't celebrate Santa.  He kept telling Hannah all about how he comes down the chimney and brings you presents.  I asked him if Santa came to our house and he said "Yes!"  Ok!  So I downplayed that but we really try to focus on Christ, except for the Harley/Santa pic:).

Engaged in a deep conversation with Santa!

2014

One of our favorite parts is the donuts afterwards!  Yum yum!

Ok, I guess we did another Santa related activity.  No wonder he's confused! 

Our dear friends dad dresses up as Santa around the holidays so they hosted another kid evening with Santa.  We ended up calling him Opa Claus, because it's Colton's Opa, which I liked because then Hudson didn't think it was a real Santa.  

Here's all the kids eating!

Santa pics!

Then each kiddo got a small gift:).

Lego fun!

We came home that night and put together his lego Star Wars ship!  He put it mostly together by himself, except for a few parts.  I was so proud of him!

Finished product!

Then we had some pics done at JcPenny for our Christmas cards.  I love how they turned out!

We did have our annual baking day.  The kids mainly pulled off wrappers on hershey kisses and rolos but they're helping...at least when they aren't eating them:).

That next day I went to work and I only had 10/26 students.  16 were gone with the flu.  I didn't feel the best and wanted to come home early!  The next morning at 4am Hannah came down with a high fever.  I asked my mom if she would watch her so I could go finish my week and celebrate at the Christmas party.

That night Hudson earned his first belt, advanced white belt, at karate.  Warhorse rented out a room at Mirabeau and it was a show, I guess.  They had short skits, black belts performing many sequences with chux, bow staffs, and so on.  I was at home with sick Hannah:(.  Nana and Pops went to celebrate as well!

Strike a pose!  He was so proud!

He also came home with his Hudson Elf.  Too cute!

That night Hannah's fever went throughout the night.  I've never felt my children so hot.  Hearing that one of my co-workers kiddos had influenza, I ran an errand on Saturday morning but decided to take her in.  To test for Influenza, you have to do a pretty nasty nose swab.  Yeah, not fun.  I had to restrain her but it was influenza and we were able to get Tamiflu for her, which cuts the flu in half.  

Then it was a trickle effect...Hudson got it a few a days later and Jared ended up with it on Christmas Eve.    Luckily with Hudson, I was able to call his ped and she sent in the prescription for Tamiflu so he didn't have to do the nose swab and since two household members had the flu, Jared didn't need it either.  Few.  The doc gave me Tamiflu b/c I begged!  My neighbor told me to ask for a family pack and she wouldn't give it.  It would have been nice!  

So our poor daddy was sick, the only one who threw up, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so we left him at home to rest and we went to my folks.  It was weird not having our daddy around.  So after we came home Christmas Eve, he was still throwing up, I let the kids give their "sibling" gifts to each other.  

Hudson was clearly ecstatic with his Playmobile Dragons:).  We had so much fun putting them together and playing with them.

The next day we headed up for Christmas Day festivities at my folks.  I left the kids in pjs so we could eat Nana's delicious homemade Christmas breakfast.  We hurried out the door and I kept the kids in their pjs!  It was worth the rush out the door!

Hannah loves this horse rocker that my Gigi & Gpa got Hudson.  He didn't care for it but she uses it enough for both kids:).  She even added brother Joe's bearie on it.  Too cute!  Both kids love that bear!

The kids, at breakfast:).

Then it was just a nice, relaxing day with family.  Having a small family is nice because other than getting the food on the table, it's pretty relaxing.  

Music time with Uncle Joe!

Sibling snuggles

He always has a weapon of some sort.

Present time...more weapons

Hannah loved her stroller, bearie, shoes, and backpack.  She was ready to hit the town!

Lego movie snuggles

Hanahs' new favorite activity, painting nails:).

Then it was time for some target practice.  Hudson is all about a Bb gun lately!  

Then it was time to head home.  We missed our daddy and we were hoping he was feeling better!

When we got home, we opened a few more gifts.  Probably Hudson's favorite gift was this Boomco gun from the Henrys.   It shoots 20 darts in less than 2 seconds.  We had a lot of gun/nerf wars around the house since we were cooped up for weeks!

Putting together the Playmobile castle.

The next day we went to a Chiefs game.  Jared still wasn't feeling top notch so he stayed home:(.  The kids loved it!  They had a great seat where we could let Hannah run and she couldn't escape!  There was a goal within the first 2 minutes so that got them excited as well!  I think there were 5 or 6 goals total, plus the foot and "nacks" as Hannah says, they were in heaven!

One of my favorites:).

Then it was time to say goodbye to Uncle Joe:(.  

New Years we were still all recouping so we had a quiet night at our house.  Nana and Hud played some intense games of Connect 4.  

Then the siblings took a turn.

The day or so after we finally got snow!  

Hannah thought it was a bit cold but Hud was ready to go!

Since we were all sick, we missed our opportunity to head to Sunnyside for Jared's family's Christmas.  The kids were so sad.  They kept asking when they were going to see all their cousins and Grandma and Grandpa.  So we moved it after New Years.  Well then Grandma was sick along with some cousins.  We had just gotten well too!  So it didn't work out.  The kids were even more bummed.  So my parents offered to meet up at Chuckie E. Cheese to get their minds off it!  It worked!

Princess Hannah.  Cinderellie 

These kids love Chucky!

More snow came the next day and we had a fun family day playing outside!

Daddy pulled the kids on the sleds!

They had a blast!  

This Christmas break didn't go as planned.  It was not ideal, but we really had a nice, relaxing time as a family.  Usually we are so rushed between this activity and that activity, we were forced to relax and that was a blessing!

We hope you had a restful, relaxing break with family! 

Happy Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving Day with the Arnhold/Johnson side.  I had get an annual picture of Gigi and Gpa with the kids!

Pops chose to wear Hudson's turkey hat as he carved!

Gigi snuck whip cream to Hannah.  She made a new best friend!

Mmm!  Jam!

Since Pops was sick earlier in the week on his b-day, we celebrated at Thanksgiving.  Happy 60th Pops!

One of my favorite things is how Hannah loves my brother's teddy bear from when he was little.  His name was beary.  Just love this pic!

And of course, playing in the ottoman/toy box!

We spent Thanksgiving night at Nana & Pops so we could get a Christmas tree!  Hud and I went with Pops down to the woods to get one.  

We took it home later that day and Jared set up the lights.  The kids loved laying under it.  

Then, after some fun family cleaning, we headed down to Sunnyside with the Haaks.  Hudson and Hannah were so excited to see their cousins!  Here's Hud and Raylee snuggling:).  

Hannah kept asking for her toes to be painted so Aunt Lissa brought some nail polish over.  

She is all smiles!

Annual Haak Thanksgiving Pic

Hudson and Hannah loved baby Brynlee.  Hudson would often choose to play with her.  So sweet.

Reading time!

The girls were too funny loving their coloring time.  Notice Hudson isn't choosing to color...I think he's playing with Brynlee:).

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving, both times, spent with family and great food!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're so thankful for our families!

Karate

We put Hudson in gymnastics to help be aware of his body, learn balance, and have fun!  While at gymnastics, a mom recommended karate for Hudson.  He was promoted to Level 1 in gymnastics but I don't think it was a skill promotion but rather an age promotion:).  So I bought a Warhorse groupon this summer and he started this fall.

The groupon came with 6 weeks worth of classes and the karate outfit which is called a gi.  

Sitting like a black belt

One of my favorite parts of karate is that they go over skills, balance, sequences but they also teach to character.  Each month there is a a new character trait they focus on.  They have a group huddle and talk about what that trait is, what it isn't, and how to have good character.  The kids earn blue stripes for character and black for their belt advancement.  I'm VERY impressed with their program. 

Daddy and Hudson practicing Block Set at Grandma & Grandpas.

At Warhorse, they were doing a ticket incentive.  For each ticket earned, they and to write their name on the back.  This was great "real life" examples for Hudson to learn to write his first and last name.  He's had lots of practice:).

I love how my little guy does push ups:).

One thing I don't love about karate is there really isn't a place for siblings.  At gymnastics we had an above "observation deck" where there were toys and the kids could play/roam.  Here Hannah has to sit on my lap or the floor with barely enough walk space.  Some nights it's easier than others to keep her entertained and happy.  Thank goodness the Franz bakery outlet is next door, we visit it almost weekly!

He recently had to buy sparring gear.  

 It's 2 nights a week, which is tough on this mamma, but he truly loves it!   Jared practices with him during the weekends and we talk about staying "focused" at karate.  He tends to get a bit silly...

Overall his skills and abilities have grown by leaps and bounds.  He has learned multiple sets: block set, stance set, etc and is now starting with sparring gear.  I love his excitement for karate!  For now we will keep doing it!  Keep up the good work Hud!

A Typical Day

A typical day in the Haak house involves:

Weapons

Closet forts

Dress Up

Princesses

And sparring!

These kids are such a delight!  I love my time with them!  

Truly Blessed!

Kindergarten

Here's our handsome little man in kindergarten.  

Hudson
5 Years Old

I love picking up this cute face on my Wednesdays!  Here he is with his teacher:).

We now have weekly homework.  Hudson has "packets" to do.  We work on them on our days off, Monday and Tuesdays.  There is quite a bit of work and high expectations but luckily I've taught this so I know what to do.  Daddy, not so much.  He was a bit confused on the homework already but says he can handle the math:).

Here are some examples of his first packet of homework.  I wanted to compare the difference from the beginning of kindergarten to the end.

My favorite is his "be" sentence. 

Favorite sentence ever!

I love this kid's heart!

His we sentence isn't bad either!  We do like football:).  

This is how we have to get Hudson's homework done.  He works hard and sis has a "project" as well!

Hudson's "How to cook a turkey"...

Apparently I'm the boss but in all fairness dad is the king of the house.  Hmm, almost convincing.  

We had his first conference this fall.  He is doing well in all areas but has a few things to work on!  His stamina/perseverance (especially when it comes to letter writing and coloring!),  upper vs. lower case letters, and simple sentences.  

He can read all his sight words and basic books.  He doesn't LOVE to read but he can do it:).  He did read the color copper the other day.  I was impressed!  

Here's an example of his numbers below:

We have loved his weekly homework.  I love the time with him and we really work on what MRs. Termath has asked us to work on.  For his Bb drawings, we looked up "How to draw___" a bat and a bow and arrow.  He loves learning how to draw them.  He is starting to almost like drawing!

Overall he is doing really well!  Not a huge surprise since I know what he needs to know, being a former kindergarten teacher.  Writing is still a struggle.  The other day he started a homework packet, but we had to ask his teacher for another one because he didn't do his best job.  He was in tears the whole way.  I'm trying not to be too strict but he has to try!  He often comes home with scribbling on his papers.  Coloring is not his favorite activity!  Fine motor is still a struggle but we are working on it:).   He can count to 109, knows simple addition, and all his shapes/patterns.  

The best part is he loves school!  I love that he's with my friend and that she's fostering his love for learning.  Often times I hear "Teacher says..." lol.  It's nice that I can email her when there are friend troubles at school.  Recently a girl was telling Hudson to sit by her and play with her at recess.  Being the obedient/respectful boy he is, he did.  She told him he could play for 5 minutes at recess but then had to come back immediately next to her side.  So I explained that he doesn't need to be with her all the time and he can politely say "No thank you" and play with someone else.  So Mrs. Termath addressed this issue with both kids.  It seems to be better now!  

He loves learning and tells me promptly when there is something in his backpack that I need to look at!  "Teacher says..." you need to read this tonight!  Love it!  He seems to be listening pretty well but I know how silly he can get. 

Thankful for my Hud's first year at Summit and that it's going well.  Can't wait to see what he looks like at the end of kindergarten!