The luckiest kids in the world

One Sunday morning Jack told Jason that he wanted a treehouse.  We talked about it and if we got rid of the trampoline in his room he would be able to have one.  Going through my mind was hanging some sheets from the wall and having a tee-pee sort of thing - but then I remembered that I married Jason.  He thought ACTUAL treehouse.  
It started with this

and by the end of the day it was this

This was all stuff Jason had on hand.  The log on the outside is the actual log he used for the outside of our house.  We had to wait until Thursday to finish it - I have classes on Monday and Wednesday nights and Jason works - so it was quite hard for Jack to be patient for it to be finished - but it was well worth it.


A friend helped with the saying for the sign I made... I love it
"Jack be quick, Jack be brave
All beware of Jack's man cave"

We did have to buy carpet so this kid even got to pick out the carpet!  We did have to buy the lanterns on the outside but they are great because they come off and the kids can use them for extra lighting.  He does have a light in there but the kids also like it to be dark to tell "spooky stories".  
Not the best picture but you can kinda make out Jack's excited face when he saw it finished for the first time.  He was THRILLED



We did something in Bella's room as well
First we gave her a hammock for her stuffed animals - because while "you can never have enough stuffed animals" it is hard finding room for all of them.  Bella screamed as much as Jack did - that girl loves her animals

but we also made a little reading nook for her.  She loves to read, loves to swing, and loves to spend time by herself so this was the best of all worlds for her
We took her shopping and she was able to pick out a new pillow for it (the unicorn inside the swing) and a couple new books

She loved it too

Vacation!

Jason and I went on a real vacation - without the kids!  Jason and his friend Jeremy, surprised myself and Jeremy's wife with a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas.  We were all celebrating 10 years (Jason and I have been dating 10 years and Jeremy and Jenn have been married 10 years)  
We decided to go down a little early so we could go to Disney for a day. 
It rained.... a lot, hence the slicked back look of my hair

The elephants didn't mind the rain

We still managed to make it to all of the parks and walked about 14 miles that day



We never told the kids we were there because I don't think they would forgive us!
We left the next day to go to the Bahamas.  It was overall a nice trip but Jason got the stomach bug and was out of commission for the first day and a half.  
On our way to the first meal Jason ate... he still looks a little green

Thankfully he felt almost normal for our last stop at the beach



the final night


All in all we did have a good time but it was a bit rough.  We were happy to be home and we did miss the kids.

Toothless!

Bella has never really liked nicknames.  If you call her "Princess Bella" she will often correct you, "My name is Bella!".   (Well Bella is a nickname but if you call her Isabella she will not answer you.) That was all until she lost a tooth!  I never even knew it was loose.  I came upstairs from the treadmill  one morning and Bella was eating Special K.  I thought she had a piece of the cereal on her tooth but it was just gone.  She must have swallowed it at some point. 

She drew the Tooth Fairy a picture of her with an arrow pointing to the tooth in her belly and we put that in her tooth pillow

The Tooth Fairy did indeed come over night so she was very excited.  Her other bottom tooth was loose so I just kept my eye on it.  Poor Jack was convinced his tooth was loose and that it was going to come out soon.  Bella lost her tooth about a month ago and Jack's are not even wiggly.
Two weeks ago we were out to lunch and I took Bella to the bathroom and sometime at lunch she swallowed that tooth too!

So another note to the Tooth Fairy and all was right with the world. 
Although a bit blurry this was another good picture of her toothless grin

Well it has not been a full year....

I keep meaning to update and then I get caught up in this or that.  I plan on doing a couple posts in the next couple of days to get a little caught up. 
Here are some of the highlights:

This past Spring Jason built a fire pit that we enjoyed through out the summer

Yay for mountain pies and hot dogs!


Bella had bangs for a little while there


Jack hit Molson by accident one day so he was sorry and wanted to take his time to say he was sorry.  


We did a lot of camping:

Jack with a buddy

Playing with their shadows

Loving life

Halloween camping
TinkerBella

Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtle


Like Father Like Son



We saw Santa and Mrs. Claus


Christmas Eve

Santa Came to Granny's

Bella got a baby


They had a CandyLand Program at school


Jack ate a cheeseburger --- why is this in the highlight's of this past year?  Jack never ever would have tried it in the past - one day he decided he liked them and then ate it.  Huh?  Wish it was always that easy


Like everyone we had too much snow