Happy Birthday Carson!!

The little guy turned four yesterday. We celebrated last weekend with a trip to the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth (blog post to come when I have a little more time) and then of course with some ice cream cake and more presents last night on his "real birthday" as he would say. Here is a pic of the birthday boy blowing out his candles and the little peanut four years ago. He's only gotten cuter and sweeter...

My Star Students

Christian and Isabelle both brought home a "Star Student" award this week for being such good leaders and listeners in the classroom. We definitely have some great children on our hands. Now only if we could get them to listen as well at home...

Isabelle's Must-Have Fashion Accessory

Can you guess what Izzy B's must have winter fashion accessory is?

Hint... is can also be found in blog postings "Kindergarten Hill", "Best Wishes Bruno", and "1,2,3... Cheese".

Kindergarten Hill

While we were in the thumb for the holidays we took the kids to kindergarten hill for some sledding. It's funny to think that my kids now sled at the same hill I did many times as a child. It is pretty much exactly how it has always been. The kids had a blast flying down the hill. There was a small bump in the hill that would send you flying into the air and down with a hard thump, and while most kids would prob try to avoid it Christian and Isabelle thought it was fun to try and line themselves up to hit it. They were some tough little sledders laughing as the snow blew into their face and dragging their sleds back up the hill without complaint. It was a great way to spend a winter afternoon.

Cookies for Santa

The kids didn't want Santa to visit without having some fresh baked cookies and a glass of milk so we spent Christmas Eve preparing for his visit by baking Christmas cookies. The kids love to help with this every year because it means they get to play in flour and make a big mess in the kitchen. Here are the little elves at work.


With a mess like that to clean up after, I'm glad Santa only comes once a year.

Happy Belated Holidays

The holiday season was hectic so here's a little after the fact Happy Holidays from the Shuarts.

Best Wishes Bruno

So about 1 year and 1/2 ago we brought on a new member to the family- Bruno. We had our fun with him and he was a nice addition to the family... sometimes! More often than not he was just causing trouble and we really didn't have the time for him. So off he went to a new family- one that wanted to return him less than 16 hours of picking him up. Luckily, the young girl who really wanted him talked her dad into keeping him at his house instead of her mothers. Hopefully they are a better fit for him. Here are a couple of photos from his last day with us. Surprisingly it was a fairly tear free evening. (I was a little worried because about a week before I found a new family for Bruno we were watching a movie -I think it was called The Dog Who Saved Christmas- and at one part the family was saying good bye to their dog because the parents didn't think it was working out and Isabelle got very emotional. I looked over and she had the biggest tears coming down her cheeks and when I hugged her she started bawling. She must get her movie watching emotions from me...)