Sweet moments captured

 Clara teaching Lizzy "Ring Around the Rosie"

 Taking a peek out the front window.  There are times when I leave to go walking in the mornings, and I turn back to see this.  What a delight!

Kaylie bought tu tus for the babies,  then proceeded to use them as models.  Lizzy was a little more  cooperative.  Clara's photo shoot is still pending.  I just love these pictures and could paste them all over my house.

Our Easter Tree

I found this great idea from the blog Chocolate On My Cranium for making an Easter countdown. I thought hers was so cute and such a great way to focus on our Savior instead of the worldly side of Easter.

We started blowing out eggs.  My kids had never seen this before.  At first they thought it to be quite disgusting, then they all wanted to do one.  We just used a straight pin and hammered it lightly into the bottom and top of the egg and gradually made the hole bigger, trying not to make it too big nor bust the egg.

Then we blew the inner contents of the egg out.  I then just took a straight pin and tied a piece of string to it and stuck it down in the hole.  The straight pin turns when you pull the string out and it stays put in side.  Then you can tie the other end to the tree.

I thought it would be fun to have some limbs from outside that had buds on them to be our living Easter tree.  These are from our lilac bushes. 

Then I printed off the labels from Chocolate on my Cranium, cut them out and used paper clips to attach to the tree. 

This is what it looked like about 9 days ago.  We had to put it up on our wood stove.  It is about the only place the babies can't get to.  We are not using it this season anyway because we don't want the wee ones getting burned.

 
Then just about a week later look what happens!  I just love having blossoms to look at this early in the spring.  It is such a great symbol of the Resurrection and everything new.

Each tag has a quote from The Living Christ and either a beautiful picture of Jesus depicting the message of that quote or one of His many names.  It really is a great way to memorize The Living Christ (which was a challenge given to us by our Stake President) and also study what each of His individual names mean and why it was given to Him.  I just love it!

Happy Birthday Nicolas!

Yesterday was our little angel's birthday. He would have been 3 years old.   It didn't go exactly how I wanted it to...too windy to put out balloons, to cold to take the little ones to the grave for pictures, unsuccessful at coming up with a service project.  But I hope he knows that we love him and are thinking about him often and what an impression he has made on our lives.  Happy Birthday Nicolas...we love you so very much!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Tonight we enjoyed time together as a family set on the theme of St. Patrick's Day.  I really want to add more traditions, events that my children will look back on with fond memories, no matter how big or small they might be.  So for this holiday we had a great time sitting down to a dinner of Irish Stew and Irish Soda Bread, then for our after dinner entertainment we watched "The Gnome Mobile". What a great show, and I didn't have to worry if anything obscene was going to pop up. Our dessert was a nummy homemade chocolate pudding with no refined sugar, recipe courtesy of The Nourishing Gourmet  Afterwards a few games of chess or Pictureka.   It was a great night in our cozy little home, while a storm was brewing on the outside.

October 2011

Our little pumpkin Lizzy Clara was a ladybug but refused to wear the hat.

Abby was our 4th pirate...all the older kids have worn this costume at one time in the past.

Wesley was a Ninja...pretty scary wouldn't you say?!

September 2011

Maddie decided to go to public school. She is in a local charter school. I must say it was really hard for me. I love having my children home, but it seemed the right thing to do at the time. She has had the opportunity to be involved in choir and take Spanish and PE, which she has really enjoyed. Not sure what the plan will be for next year, but I think it has been a good experience for her.

Our Summer

Our summer has been enjoyable and a little busy, thus the reason why I haven't written for awhile. Here are the highlights:

- Clara celebrated her 1st birthday on June 14th. We finally received her birth certificate which states that Brian and I are her birth parents. What a joy that was to see.

- Kaylie celebrated her 16th birthday on June 15th. We gave her a little get away for her present. Her dad took her and Maddie up to Provo for a two-night stay at a hotel. Little did she know that two of her dearest friends were up there to surprise her. One lives in New York and the other in Indiana. They had a wonderful time catching up and enjoyed a day at Seven Peaks Water Park.

- Kaylie took her driver's ed course plus did her required driving with an instructor and passed her test. She just has to wait until October to get her license. I am so glad that is over, and am excited that she will soon be able to drive herself to seminary.

- July 4th was spent at our dear friends' home, Worth and Glenda. There was great food, conversation and fireworks. It has become a tradition for us.

- Wesley received his Bear badge.

- Brian went to Germany on business. I don't usually get jealous when he travels, but I must admit that I was a little envious this time. Germany is one place I would absolutely love to visit. I did get some Swiss chocolate out it.

- Wesley celebrated his 10th birthday on July 16th. He was able to take a few friends to see the new movie "Cars".

- Kaylie and Maddie went to girls' camp at the end of July. The first day they were poured on but the rest of the week was pleasant.

- My parents celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary on July 21st. I think that is pretty awesome.

- The 24th of July was celebrated here in our small town. Brian was over the festivities, so he was a little uptight, but it turned out wonderful. We had a parade, dinner at the park and lots of fun booths, plus entertainment. We look forward to it every year.

- My sister and brother and their families came to surprise my parents. They had no clue they were coming. Brian was in Asia on business, so he missed out. My kids and I lured my parents to Ihop, telling them that it was a late anniversary gift. I wish we would have got a picture of their faces when they saw everyone waiting there for them. It was priceless. It was a wonderful day, and I know my parents absolutely loved it.

- We took our annual vacation to Salt Lake City on August 11-13. We visited Temple Square (Brian and the kids got to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice), went to This is the Place Heritage Park, ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory, did some swimming and finished it off with the Jones reunion up at Settlement Canyon in Tooele. We look forward to this every year.

School starts for us on September 6th, so we have one more week before we are on a pretty strict schedule. We are trying to get into bed early and wake up for prayer and scriptures so we have that established when school starts.