Thursday, December 24, 2009

He's here!




Our little guy was born Dec. 23rd at 5:45 am. He weighed 8 lb 11 oz and was 20 inches long. We're so glad to have him here safe and sound for Christmas!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Count down to Christmas

I think counting down the days to Christmas has got to be one of my most favorite things. Here is our advent I tried this year. Several years ago I made these mini stockings but never used them. This year I got on the ball and stuffed them with candy and an activity to do for each day. Some days were simple activities like "Round up the Christmas CD's and listen to music", some were spiritual like "Read Luke 2" and some were crafts.

One day we made marshmallow snowmen, another day we made candy picture frames and another day we made candy cane reindeer.


We made a red and green paper chain for our tree.

And we made a little forest of paper trees:

Here are our gingerbread men:


And these are our gingerbread houses. Someday I want to make a REAL gingerbread house but this year graham crackers worked just fine. The candy is the fun part anyway, right?


Monday, December 21, 2009

Pumpkin Pie


I made pumpkin pie with the pumpkins we grew in our garden. I eat pumpkin pie for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert, so these two didn't last long...and so I had to make two more.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Due Day



Today is my due date but baby boy hasn't made his appearance. Is he waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to come? Is he waiting for Christmas Eve? Maybe he is waiting for us to decide on his name. What is your vote: Ezra Sean or Zane Michael?

Monday, July 27, 2009

At least we are lame together...

If you celebrate something without realizing it does it count as a celebration? Last night I put the kids to bed fairly early and Mike and I enjoyed pina coladas before going to bed. This morning Mike was checking his email and then he looked at me with a funny smile on his face and asked "Why didn't we celebrate yesterday?" I was puzzled, "What are you talking about?" He replied, "Yesterday was our anniversary...your dad just reminded me in this email."

We've been married 12 years. We are both so lame.

I think I'll make pina coladas again, tonight.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

And the take home message is...

I asked Abby (age 4) to tell me about what she learned in Primary today at church. I will quote her to the best of my memory.

Abby: In my little class today my teacher tied a cloth over our eyes and then we had to find our seat, but I didn't have a turn because I didn't want a cloth over my eyes.

Me: So what was that supposed to teach you?

Abby: It was supposed to show us how easy it was to find our seat when we can't see.

Me: Oh

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Read this book!


A year ago my mother in law lent me "Three Cups of Tea". I finally read it last week and I wish I had read it a year ago. It is the story of a man's mission to bring schools and education to children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Greg Mortenson was a mountain climber who was separated from his group on K2, the highest peak in the mountain range between Pakistan and China. He stumbled into a small village where they took him in, fed him, let him sleep and recover from near death. He noticed that the village had no school. The children met outside and scratched their lessons in the dirt...without a teacher (the teacher split his time between several villages). Greg Mortenson promised his new friends that he would build them a school. It is amazing that he was able to fulfill that promise and then go on to build many many more schools throughout the country and Afghanistan- schools for boys and girls. These schools offer a moderate Islamic education. They give the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan an alternative to the radical madrassa schools that the Taliban recruit from. He is fighting terrorism in the best way.

https://www.ikat.org/three-cups-of-tea/

Monday, June 22, 2009

Kitties

Abby's friend has a cat that had kittens. Abby had it all arranged with her friend that when they were ready to leave their mommy we would take two kittens. So here they are.
Violet is the white and black one. She has the cutest face ever.

Midnight is the black one. He has white tips on his longer hair. It looks like he brushed up against wet paint.




Watching kittens pounce and explore and wrestle together has been keeping us highly entertained!

Look what I got!

I walked into a little shop today and this cute little purse said, "BUY ME!" So I did. Doesn't it look like a great tourist purse...hmmm, vacation anyone???


check out www.baggallini.com to see all their great styles.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

No Cake!?

On April 15th I took my four year old and 1 year old to a TEA party on the steps of the capitol building. We protested the excessive government spending that is putting our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren into DEBT.

Later that day Abby told my aunt, "We went to a tea party but we didn't eat cake."

At least she got an American flag.

My Artists


This photo was taken awhile ago but I thought it captured so many of the reasons why I love homeschooling. I bought the kids new sketchbooks and they decided together that they wanted to go sketch. I love to see my children learning together.

First sewing project



This is Marah's first sewing project on the sewing machine. Mom helped a little but she did most of it. She is ready for warm sunny weather!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

I did it!!

I was ready for a hairstyle change...and so I got BIG change. I aimed for an Audrey Tautou look. By the way...what is up with her one earring? Is it supposed to match her one sleeve?




Anyway, I think I might take a little more off the top. What do you think?

Monday, February 02, 2009

Happy Groundhog Day!


I saw these on the Family Fun website and I couldn't resist. Marah thinks we have definitely found a new tradition. We will be munching Phil while we watch the movie "Groundhog Day" tonight. Yum yum!