Recent Lacking Blog Posts

I know you are all thinking...where are the family updates! Waiting on the edge of your seat to see what the Stoker's have been up to.

Well, we have been laying around the house for the last week and sleeping a lot. Why? We have all been sick with the flu. Thankfully not me but the kids and Brandon all have been sick. Fever, throwing up, hot bodies, and lots of sleeping. Pretty boring and I swear I haven't gotten ready in over a week (showers of course but that is it). Today Liz looked like she had some life in her so hopefully it will pass soon but Jackson has been asleep all day other than the occasional, "mom I need some water". I really hope eventually we will get back to playing and leading a normal life but until then it is rest and relaxation.

Pray that we recover soon.

Science Magic

Last week we went to a science class. One of the mom's in my mother's group is an elementary school teacher that specializes in science and she invited all the students to attend a little science class at a local rec center. All the kids were amazed by the experiments conducted. We watched water turn into gas using dry ice, we mixed baking soda with vinegar to create gas bubbles, and we melted ice using salt.

But their favorite experiment by far was blowing up balloons on a bottle. We mixed equal parts of water and oil in a plastic bottle. Then we broke up alka-seltzer tablets into a deflated balloon. Next we put the balloon over the opening of the bottle and let the tablets fall into the water and oil. Slowly gas will form in the bottle and blow up the balloon. The kids thought it was magic. Elizabeth and Jackson liked theirs so much they wanted to take them home. She has some great ideas for household items that we have and could use to create a little science magic on our own.

Snow Day

Last night I was up reading late. When I finally decided it was time for bed I stood up in the dark when a blinding shine was coming from the window. It had snowed...nearly a foot of snow. Beautiful white magical snow. When Elizabeth woke up I asked if she wanted to watch some cartoons (this gives me a little bit of time to wake up myself). I told her to look out the window. She stood up on the coach and with eyes of wonderment she happily squeeled, "Mom it SNOWED!" Then Jackson was up about 20 min later and in my room informing me that he was ready to go out and play in the snow. Mind you he had on sweat pants, tennis shoes, and a t-shirt. I told him he needed to get some warmer clothes on before he could go outside, and I asked if we could wait until later because I was still pretty tired and feeling lazy. He cried because he was really excited. So we got all bundled up and I sent the kids out to explore the snow while I put on my boots and coat. When I was dressed I went out to find Elizabeth with one boot off and Jack with no gloves. My kids really do not understand snow. I explained to them that it is cold and we need to keep all our warm clothing on when we play in the snow. Needless to say they lasted about 5 min before they were both complaining about being cold and wanting to take a warm bath. I am so glad it only snows here every once in a while because I cannot handle all the layering and work for a few short minutes of fun.


Then later we had a somewhat fashion show. The kids strutted their stuff in all my shoes. What is it with little kids and mom's shoes. All I know is Elizabeth is a diva and she can work those high heels. I asked her if she was a model and her reply..."no a princess."


We practiced her modeling with some headbands I made and I have to tell you the girl is beautiful and she knows how to work a camera. Watch out world!

Weekly Adventures

We are all sick with head colds this week so it has been really boring. Mainly just laying around in pjs and watching movies. But last week we had a blast. We went to an indoor play place called ABQ playroom. I wasn't sure about it but I had a Groupon that was expiring so I figured I would give it a go. The kids loved it. We had almost the whole place to ourselves (only 2 other kids playing) and we stayed for 3 hours. We learned how to play hopscotch, ate birthday cake (fake cake), and dressed up in all the costumes. The kids even made an obstacle course finishing on the slide. It was so funny to watch them play together. They really are great friends.NO HANDS! This was the fastest slide ever. They would slide another 3 feet from the bottom of the slide.

dadadadadadadada BATMAN

mirror mirror on the wall....

We also met some of our friends at another play place called Monkey Mania. We have been there before but I think that going with some other kids made the place even better. The kids dressed up and walked the catwalk dancing and singing. Elizabeth went straight for the pink sparkly dress and the crown and Jackson of course choose the Spider man costume after trying on a clown nose. Then they shot Nerf balls at each other, and there was even a little workout area for kids with bikes and a treadmill. I asked Elizabeth what she was doing and she said, "oh I'm just exercising mom." I think they thought they owned the place jumping from play room to play room. A couple of times I thought I lost Elizabeth but sure enough she was at the craft table painting quietly, she loves painting. It was finally closing time before I could drag them out of there. Thank goodness for Groupon and living social introducing us to new play places especially during the cold months.




We finished the week with ice cream night at Baskin Robbins. We asked the kids what kind of ice cream they wanted and they both responded with colors Elizabeth wanted pink and Jackson wanted blue. Isn't it funny how kids identify ice cream by colors? We all got cones and enjoyed some family time together. We sat by the door because it was a small store and Jackson kept yelling at the people to close the door because it was cold. He was making everyone in the ice cream shop crack up.