Kansas Day

To celebrate Kansas' 150th Birthday, Eliza & I went to Women's Conference. She was so good there, hooray!

Rick & the kids ran errands & played at the park. This big girl can go all across the twisty monkey bars! Hooray! (Those are the circle ones that turn like steering wheels.)

The kids checked out lots of books at the library. This afternoon we enjoyed making sunflower cookies & watching the KU vs K-State basketball game! Rock! Chalk! Jayhawks!

Happy Birthday, Kansas!

Party Planners in the Making

After school Lexie hurried to finish her homework while Joseph & Andrew read. Once she finished, I didn't see the kids until I called them up for dinner. I thought they were just playing in the basement. We hung out after dinner & then told the kids it was time to do bedtime stuffs & get to bed. Suddenly, there was much whining (shocking- I know)! Joseph & Lexie were adamant Rick & I needed to go with them to the basement. So, we gave in & saw this cute table for 2 they had set up for us.

It was complete with menus & flowers even. Andrew pulled up a chair as well.

Lexie helped us pick out our food

& then they served us. (The butterfly surprise was delicious!)

They flipped the sit-n-spin upside-down & put it on some empty ice cream containers to make the table.

After dinner, they planned other activities for us to do. We got to play trains

& then we played with legos.

It was such a fun evening! I guess that is one way for the kids to get us to let them stay up past their bedtime.

Early Morning at the Museum

This morning Lexie & Joseph were hard workers. When we got up they excitedly called us into the boys' room to see their museum.

We began with the Space Exhibit & learned about our solar system.

Next, was the Large Animal Exhibit,

followed by the Dinosaur Exhibit.

And lastly, we visited the Small Animal Exhibit.

Thank you, cute Museum Curators for a fabulous tour!

Then we all scurried down to make some yummy breakfast!

More Beautifulerest Everyday

Our sweet Eliza is 3 months old! Where has the time gone? It needs to slow down!! She is wonderful! Eliza got to celebrate this big day by having a night out with Mama. We went down to Castle Rock with my sister Becca to hear Sister Dibb speak. It was wonderful! Liza was awesome there & it was so funny, every time I turned around someone was admiring how sweet she is & saying what a beautiful, good, quiet, alert (list goes on & on) baby she is. They are absolutely right!

We love how excited she gets to see her siblings every morning. When they come in the room she stops whatever she's doing to look & them & greet them with one of her big smiles! It melts their hearts every time! It's awesome to hear Andrew speak to her: "You are such a cutie girl! You have such a cute grin. Oh sweet girl, I just love ya!"

Leftover Snow Fun

Playing in the snow is always fun...

even when it's almost all gone!

It was hilarious watching their snowball fight-chasing each other around the yard with huge snowballs. I love our kiddos!

Great To Be 8

It was a fun experience to go to the "Great to be 8" Fireside with Lexie tonight. We still can't believe she is almost old enough to be baptized, but are excited for her. We learned she gets to be baptized on a very special day, Aug. 6th. That is the day my Dad died so it holds great significance to us. She cried when I told her that, but then we talked about how special it will be to remember him & the good example he was & also how he'll be there too, to see her baptism. It was funny during Sacrament Meeting this morning, Lexie turned to me & said, "Mom, it's really weird. I'm feeling something I've never felt before. I feel like I'm really getting to be a big girl. It's really weird." We are so pleased with what a wonderful little girl she is & the big girl she is becoming! We are so blessed to have her in our home.

Sweet Little Girl

I love how blue Eliza's eyes are right now. I know in a few months they will go dark brown (because that's what happened with the others). But, I love to see how pretty blue they are right now & I just really enjoy this sweet little girl! We sure love having her.

Hello, Everybody!

I'm so cute! And good job everyone!

A. Eliza
B. Joseph
C. Lexie

Guess Who

It's time for yet another round of Who's Who: The Swing Edition. Who's pictured below: Lexie, Joseph, Andrew, or Eliza?
Hint: not all names will be used (one child hated the swing).
A:

B:

C:

Leave your guess in the comments & we'll post answers soon!

Winter Camping

This afternoon, Joseph decided he was going camping. All of the kids packed their bags & were ready to go for their pretend camp out. Little did they know that while they were watching Wipeout this evening, Daddy was putting the tent up in the living room. It's really too bad I didn't take a picture of them when they saw it, oh the excitement!

We had a great time! We ate s'mores (goldfish ones), sang songs, laughed, & had family scriptures in the tent.

The kids especially loved using all of their new flashlights!

Wipeout

The first time we saw Wipeout we thought it was pretty lame, but our kids really get into it.

Joseph's Resolutions

In Joseph's kindergarten class they wrote New Year's resolutions. Joseph was very thoughtful with his. Here's what he wrote:

In 2011 I will read more books and help mom and Dad with Aliza and learn to be a beter sintist (scientist). I allso want to be a better artist and exercise. I want to learn more in school. I thinck this will be a great year!!!!

We think so too, buddy boy!

Back to the Grind

We had a great Christmas Break! It was so much fun to have no schedule & basically just play all day long. We had cousins come & visit & it didn't even take 10 minutes after their departure for Lexie to declare her boredom & wish for them to turn around & come back to play!

And now, Christmas decorations are all put away (Andrew is still sad that Daddy put the tree & train away & has asked repeatedly for them back today), the house is clean (well, the main level), and kids are back in school with homework to do.

Yep, there's no doubt about it: We're counting down the days until Spring Break!

Scripture Power

Yesterday we finished reading the Book of Mormon for the second time as a family (2 years in a row). We did a lot better with reading/planning this time so we didn't have the entire book of Moroni to read on the last day, just the last chapter. I asked the kids what they thought about finishing the book again. Here is what they said.

Lexie says: "I was excited to finish the Book of Mormon because I really like to read it & because there are so many stories I like to read. My favorite part is when Jesus comes to visit & blesses the children." Lexie finished reading the Book of Mormon by herself this morning. It was fun as she would read & sometimes be ahead or behind us in our reading & talk to me about what we would be reading next. It was also cute when she asked me, pointing to the Pronunciation Guide, "Do I need to read this, too?" She set the goal to read it again with Mom & Dad by the time she gets baptized.
Joseph says: "I feel happy about it because I like finishing the Book of Mormon so we could start reading the Bible. I like that we could learn more about Jesus & my favorite part of the Book of Mormon is the Book of Mormon & Moroni is my favorite person in it."
Andrew says: "I like when Nephi built a house. (Mom: Do you mean a boat?) No, not the boat, a house." (Not so sure I remember that part, but I'm certain he did build a house at some point of his life.)
This year our goal is the read the New Testament. But, we're going to use the Sunday School lessons to read it & discuss the questions as a family. Should be a lot of fun.

New Beginnings

With the New Year, the kids started new Primary classes. Lexie, amazingly, has started Senior Primary! Where has the time gone? She is super excited about getting baptized this summer & we are still amazed that she is old enough to tie her own shoes. What happened to our little girl? Joseph is in a big Primary class. I think he may have the largest. He loved it today. He had subs & came home all smiles & excited to teach us about how we can Choose the Right. And then there is our little Andrew. He's a Sunbeam! We cannot believe it! The whole way to church he kept excitedly saying, "I get to be in the same room as Joseph! I get to be in the Primary room!" Then, when it came time to go to the Primary room, he freaked out! He clung to my neck like he hasn't done in a very long time. He cried & so I got to hold him for a bit of opening exercises. He did survive it & when asked if he'd go again next week he said, "Um, maybe." He will love it in no time. And our sweet little Eliza, again, she slept through all of church. She is awesome.

We are looking forward to what we hope will be another great year!