Hello Santa....

When I went to see if Emily was awake this morning I found her just
laying in bed talking to Santa.

"Hello Santa..." said Emily,

followed by some discussion that was undecipherable to me.

We have tried to get Emily to sit on Santa's lap a few times without success.

She will wave to Santa on signs in the store and

now she will talk to him while laying in bed....maybe a photo with Santa next year?

Christmas Cookies....

We decorated Christmas cookies with Grandma Lockhart last week. The girls really got into the details on their cookies, carefully placing their decorations. It is a good thing I took a picture while they were decorating since they didn't last long after they were done decorating!

Cookie Monster...

The holidays are a good excuse to make cookies. Not that we need an excuse, but I usually save desserts for Sundays. Emily was happy to "get into" the activity of making cookies too. She donned that hat herself after finding it left on the floor after the big kids went to school.

Reading with Grandma...

Emily picked up a book in her mouth and crawled like a puppy and barked for Grandma Lockhart to read a story to her. It was cute when she panted "yes" with her tongue hanging out.

Build a Bear (or horse)....

Just before Emily's 2nd birthday I received a coupon in my email from Build A Bear Workshop for $12. You could use it on any of their products to pay for entirely if you chose their standard bear or you could pay the amount over $12. Emily's eyes were so big as we walked up to this store. She would pick up an un-stuffed animal hug it and put it back. After she had done that with each animal we told her she could keep one and she went back and got the horse (much to her Aunt Tami's delight!)

She was so cute as we went through the process of building her horse. She carried the box with her new horse all the way from the store, across the mall and out to the car.

That was the best coupon I have ever redeemed!

November Birthdays...

(Jonny's 15th Birthday)

We have 3 birthdays in the month of November, all about one week apart. By Thanksgiving we have celebrated 5 birthdays since September 1st. I really love decorating cakes and I get some good practice in this time of the year.

(Kristina's 13th Birthday)

The kids get to choose their kind of cake and their favorite dinner too. As they are getting older there is more variety to the choices. Jonny wanted pizza for dinner, Kristina wanted Aunt Tami's homemade noodles in homemade chicken soup. And Katie wanted my homemade bread bowls with homemade broccoli & cheddar soup.

(Katie's 11th Birthday)

Katie chose an ice cream cake made by Aunt Tami. I got to write on it but that is it! Whew... (Katie received gifts too, I just don't know why we didn't get pictures...birthday burnout maybe, sorry Katie!)

Steve was in Arizona for Jonny and Kristina's birthdays and so he participated in the celebrations via Google Video Chat! It was fun when he showed them their gifts over the video. After 12 hours of intense driving Steve made it back to actually eat some of Katie's ice cream cake! Having Daddy home was a great present for all!!

Happy Halloween....

I have been so bah-humbug this Halloween! We have pumpkins, but didn't carve them. Didn't buy any costumes, I told the kids to make it work from the dress up bucket. I usually make dinner in a pumkin, instead we went to Grandmas for lunch. I tried to bribe the kids with a bag of candy of their choice if we could just stay home and watch a movie! The bribe didn't work!

I had to wake Emily up and put this costume on over her head while she was still incoherent or there would have been no way to convince her to wear a costume. The rest of the kids made up their own costumes and were ready to head off to the neighborhood/ward trunk or treat.

(nice blurry shots huh?)

Katie vampire... ready to scare the neighborhood out of their candy!

Emily's 2nd Birthday!

Wow! Time sure flies by....

I love to make and decorate cakes but I was just out of time and energy so we picked one up at Sam's Club. The bakery lady gave us the Elmo pieces so I could decorate the top to my liking. Emily called it her Elmo cake everytime she saw it.."Elmo cake"

Emily got her first birthday bucket this year and had so much fun with the gold fish crackers and her flashing magic wand. She would try to unwrap her presents and if it was too hard she would ask me for help, "Help momma" Everytime she would get a new present she would say "more birthday!"

My Blog Button

Just having some fun with the blogging world. Here is my button that can be placed in your blog sidebar if you wanted to. If not, that's okay I have had some fun!

Quick trip to Sedona, Arizona

We left Meridian on Wednesday morning for a quick trip to visit with a company in Sedona, Arizona. We finally arrived at our hotel Thursday evening after a quick visit with the cousins in Orem on Wednesday evening. We have enjoyed all of the red rock formations along our drive. This desert country is awesome with it's beauty and grandeur! We may be making this our home very soon!

The last rose of summer.....

In my feeble attempts to clean up the bushes for the season I trimmed all the roses and came across this beautifully formed bud. Rather than throw it in the bin with all the other trimmings I had it put into water in my kitchen window. Most who have seen this flower sitting in my window sill questioned whether it was real or not. With 4 or 5 rose bushes in my front yard you would think I would enjoy more of them inside my home. I do love roses...just hate the trimming of them. Next season I will keep my eyes open for the beauties to bring inside, brightening my day as they open up. I think I will be watching more carefully, ready to bring the beauty inside to enjoy!

Teeth...

After carefully searching the scene where the teeth pieces were knocked out only one tooth piece was found. Thankfully it was the biggest piece, almost half the tooth. Carson will never be able to eat an apple or carrot without cutting them up and biting them from the side of his mouth. He will have a few stories to tell from his summer of 2009!

More A"Maze"ing photos..

I had to make a few collages out of our visit to the Corn Maze at Linder Farms.

It was all I could do to get the boys to pose for me. The girls were much more cooperative in their posing. Although, you can see the excitement just beaming from Kristina and Katie's faces. We finally got Emily to participate and give some great shots by singing "Do as I'm doing" a favorite Primary song of hers.

You can click on the photos to enlarge them for better viewing of the smaller photos in the collages.

The Corn Maze...

Grandma Lockhart took us to the Corn Maze at Linder Farms this weekend. We had so much fun and the weather was perfect! We took over 300 photos during our 2.5 hr visit! This place is so much fun! They have a petting zoo, hay ride, pumpkins, hay maze for the little kids, food, and the big corn maze. The entire maze is something like 5 miles. They give you punch cards to keep track of all the stations you pass as you progress through the maze. The boys decided they wanted to do the entire maze and off they went. Our paths crossed a few times. Since we had Emily without a stroller we took the smaller section of the maze, 2 miles. Emily did quite well walking most of the time. While we waited for the boys to finish we went to the petting zoo. Emily was a little aprehensive for about 5 minutes and then she was happy to go in with the animals and feed them or pick them up if she could!

Why you don't ride your sister's bike...

Especially if your sister finds you riding her bike!

Just a second...

Poor Elmo is getting potty trained! Emily is fascinated with the opportunity to go potty. I thought I would bring the potty seat in and just see what she would do. She will be two next month so I am not pushing this, just seeing how interested she is. MOST all of the time when she wants to go "potty" she is just sitting there talking up a storm. She has once or twice managed to tinkle a little. Just the other day she really did go potty! She was beaming with pride! High fives were given...way to cute! But after that it has just been an exercise in what will become a habit very soon! (I hope...anyway)

Yesterday, after removing her diaper herself, she marched in to go potty! She got up and said "look" showing me the potty as she stood up. The potty seat was empty. I told her "it's empty Emily, you need to go potty." To which she replied to me with her index finger extended and her arm raised to her side, "Just a second" and then she really went potty!

Yummy Goodness.....

We have a sweet neighbor who offers us the surplus of veggies from his garden. We love it! Included in these generous offerings are zucchini. So we are eating zucchini quite frequently all summer long. We eat it steamed, breaded and fried, baked into cake and now baked into this most yummy, chocolately delicious bread! You must click here to get this recipe from my favorite recipe spot, Our Best Bites, and try it out for yourself! I think they even suggest to go and buy some zucchini to make this recipe if you are not so blessed by neighbors or your own garden! If you don't tell people there is zucchini inside they would never know!! My kids call it brownie cake.

He's 12!!!

Can you believe Logan is 12 now? I sure can't! Time sure flies by! He has already been to his first Young Men's activity last night. There was a combined activity which included swimming and food! What more could a 12 year old want?

Her 1st Bee Sting....

Last Friday evening we went over to our little neighborhood park to play. Emily LOVES to play on the slide and was happy to play with the other children there too. Steve sat on the bench next to the play structure and was swarmed by bees/wasps. So he moved from there. Emily however headed right for the bench after coming down the slide and was stung almost instantly.

I had some first aid wipes in the car for stings and quickly applied that to her sting. She seemed to get over it pretty quickly. It has been a few days since then and Emily will still hold up her arm to show you her "Bee".

This is Emily....

This is Emily after the kids leave for school.....

This is Emily when the kids get home from school.....

Emily will look for or call for the kids during the day while they are at school. The first day of school we dropped the kids off at the bus, two separate times. After the second group had left for school Emily came in and started calling for everyone. She is just delighted to see everyone when the get home.

Back to School....

On August 17th, with tissue boxes in hand and backpacks packed full, the kids boarded their buses headed back to school. This is our last year for grade school (for a couple of years anyway), our last year before I have a high schooler, the last year of split bus schedules, our last year of senior primary (until Emily gets up there). It is Emily's first year in nusery at church. It is the first year that Emily waves and says goodbye as the kids get on the bus. The first year for Kristina in Middle School. The first year that Katie and Carson are not in the same class. The first year that Jonny liked the first week of school. The first year that we don't go to the fair!

We have been to two class presentations since school has started. Carson gave his "I am an Influencial American" presentation during the first week of school and Katie gave hers at the beginning of this second week of school.

Goofy kids....

Oh, baloney...

I said to Emily yesterday, "You are stinky" to which she replied, "Oh, baloney"...

2nd visit to Quick Care...

Carson LOVES dogs. He was loving his favorite dog and fell onto the dog. The dog didn't like that much and responded so...

No stitches for this kiddo, just some steri-strips and some bruising. I think they need to go to school now....

School hardware...is it on your supplies list?

We are slowly getting ourselves ready to go back to school. I am NOT ready to be getting up early again and the homework everyday. After two visits in the last week to the Quick Care clinic I am ready to have them in a classroom all day.

In preparation for backpacks being put back into action, I was going through them and cleaning out what was left and checking to be sure they are ready for another year of wear and tear. I was surprised at the supplies Carson was keeping in his backpack.

Just for the record....I didn't order the rain....

Just for the record, I did not invite the rain!

The break from the heat has been nice. I have enjoyed having my bedroom window open and breathing in that fresh rain smell. Ah the memories of growing up and walking home from school in the rain. Although I do enjoy a thunder and lightning storm from time to time, I am greatful I don't live under the grey, cloudy skies of Western Washington. I love the bright, cheery sunshine we enjoy here in Idaho so much!

Sisters that care are sisters that share....?

It is common practice at our house when pants get holes in the knees that I turn those pants into shorts.

So, Katie brings me a pair of pants and asks that I turn them into shorts since both knees had holes in them. I told Katie to put them by the sewing machine and I do it.

The next day Kristina walks by my pile at my sewing machine and sees these very same pants and asks why they were in my mending pile?

It turns out that Katie was asking me to turn her Kristina's pants into shorts!!!!! She didn't have enough of her own! Little did Kristina know that her sister was sharing for her!

Bribery is great....

It's amazing what you can get done when a child wants something from you.....

Nice job Katie and Emily! The floor looks great!

Oh, Logan!

We make one trek to Roaring Springs each Summer. The kids participate in the reading program to earn a free pass to Roaring Springs. If the child doesn't read, they don't go. Pretty simple...

The reading for the passes is in addition to what their teacher requires. Last year Logan did all of his reading for the free pass but did NOT complete the class room required reading. So last year Logan did NOT get to go. It was a bummer for him, but it was a natural consequence.

This year Logan did get all reading done for both his teacher and the free pass. However, he forgot to put on sunblock!!!! We stayed at the park the entire day, opening to closing! As you can see from the photo, he got severely burned. He could not wear a shirt for a week. He was miserable. He had one huge blister, the one you see in the photo, and some smaller ones too. That big one got bigger than what you see too.

I think this summer will stick in his memory for quite a while. I wonder if he will read for a pass next year?

What is on your head?

Jonny had to be at the church at 6am last Saturday. Steve set his alarm for the wrong time and we got up late. Steve ran downstairs to see if we could still get Jonny over to the church. We did not find Jonny but we found this note on my computer. I later told Jonny that was the best note I could ever receive and I LOVED it! I was proud of him getting himself up and off to an early morning activity!

When Jonny showed up I expected him to be really crabby from getting up so early and hiking in the heat. He came bounding through the front door with a diaper on his head! It was a little confusing at first. He and his buddy had found them in the back of the leader's car he rode home in. Why they put them on their heads is beyond me....teenage boys!!!

Techno-Gadget Baby...

Emily LOVES my iPOD Touch. She knows how to make a real mess very quickly. She gets the whole touch interface and scrolls the pages, deletes icons.....And now she can reach the counter tops too....nothing is safe.

Blondes have more fun???

This has NOT been Kristina's week. First, 6 stiches in the thumb after opening cans of soup. Second, a bee/wasp sting to the eye area after just walking out into the backyard.

Feeding the birds....

We drove to Bremerton, Washington yesterday and took the ferry back over to downtown Seattle. I grew up taking the ferries around the Puget Sound to go and visit grandparents. There was a period of time when the floating bridge was blown out and we had no other choice but to take a ferry to get to grandpa's house. I remember many, many occasions of sitting in the car line-up waiting for the ferry to arrive. Delays in ferry arrival was a common thing.

Riding the ferry is a fun treat for my kids! It is fun to see their excitement too. One of the traditions with Papa Jack is to feed the seagulls while on the trip across the Puget Sound. It was very windy yesterday but everyone was out feeding the birds anyway. Carson had a blast feeding the birds and even kept a count of how many times he was able to feed them. The last count that I heard was 68.