January 2014

So here we are at January 2014.  What a long cold, snowy winter it was.  But all that snow makes for lots of good snowmen and yummy hot chocolate.  We have the largest driveway in the neighborhood and boy did we all get our muscles from shoveling it.   Not to mention we have several elderly neighbors so that makes for more shoveling.  It's all good for the boys though.  They need to learn to work hard.  Luckily some of our neighbors took pity on us during the storms that dumped feet of snow on us and helped us out with their snow blowers.  We have a great neighborhood.  Someday we may have to buy a snow blower but for now we'll just keep building these boys muscles.

So on New Years Day I attempted to get a family photo.  As you can see it went over well.  Some days it's just not going to happen.

This is as good as we got and we all look pretty pathetic

We drove down to Philly on New Years Days to see the historic sites.  It had been years since we'd been there so the kids didn't remember.

Liberty Bell

Independence Hall.  Doesn't Daniel look comfortable? 

Working on their requirements for the Junior Ranger Program

Getting sworn in as Junior Rangers.  Michael was so exctied about this.

Badges and trading cards

Anne lost her other front tooth.  Besides babyhood, I think kids are the cutest when they loose their front teeth.

Primary Pajama Pancake breakfast with the bishop.  Our ward is so great and does so many things to keep
everyone close.

This is in here just so we don't forget Jacob and his weird eating habits.  He is a very stubborn kid and there is no way you can get him to eat something he doesn't want to.  He likes cheese though...shredded.  So we'll sit down to a nice dinner and he'll go get the cheese shredder and a block of cheese and shred it up for dinner.  Seriously, he is a hilarious child!!!

One day I found the boys doing this.  Sports heads they called it.   I laughed so hard and took a video of them.  In the video Jacob is crying the whole time cause he realizes he can't get himself out and the boys are being so goofy.  It's so funny.

We would have playgroup at the church gym during the winter.  It was great for letting the kids run around when it was so cold outside.  We even go over to the church on weekend evenings sometimes and play kickball or basketball.

Mini snowman

Jacob opening a very belated Christmas gift.  A little remote control car. It was fun to find it hiding under the tree when we took it down.

How many binkies does a baby need??

Cub Scout play, "The Three Little Pigs"

The rapt audience

Anne is a good little helped in the kitchen.  Here she is making Tex Mex

Daniel is my "get into everything" child.  Never had one like this but he is into everything.  He loves
to stack the cans and knock them over.  

Twin Teethless

Playing checkers

More December and some other things I forgot

I found some more random pictures on the ipad that I needed to post about.  They are from November and December 2013.

Daniel thinks splashing in the bath tub is hilarious.  (Lest you think our bathtub is really moldy...for some reason they used a dark gray grout on it.  It looks fine in real life but looks dirty to me in pictures)

One day when we were out helping someone from church we found this awesome park.  The whole thing was very tall and they had really long slides and all these fun tubes to explore in.

Love Jacobs hair in this picture.  And it was FREEZING outside so I'm not
sure why he isn't wearing a coat.

Totally blurry ipad picture.  But I love how the kids are just mesmerized by the big Christmas tree in our room.

 I got to help in Annie's classroom a bunch in December.  I came and read a book and did a craft.  I read a fun version of Rudolph with great illustrations (but can't remember which one it was now...oops)  Then we made an ornament with their thumb print turned into Rudolph.

Then I got to go in again and share a holiday tradition.  They had all kinds of things shared by other families but I shared about our Advent Calendar and all the countdown to Christmas things we do.  I love that Annie's class is so small there are only 15 kids.  The whole grade is small and so she will always have small classes which is so nice.  Her first grade class is only 16 kids.

Annie helped me explain what we do with the Advent Calendar

 Then we did the activity that was in that days pocket of the calendar which was decorate cookies.  I brought cookies and frosting and little m&m's for them to decorate with.  I love going into my kids classrooms and seeing them with their teachers and friends.

David, Brandon, Ella, and Annie

Anne lost her first top tooth.  She is so much more brave about pulling teeth out than the boys are.  So funny.

Daniel somehow got in the fridge and helped himself to some leftovers.

New Years Eve

I'll admit I'm usually asleep by midnight on New Years Eve.  But this year the big kids wanted to stay up so we had fun with it.  I made a bag for each our from 8pm up until midnight with either a treat or activity inside.  This made the time go so much faster.  We just watched the ball drop at the very last second because honestly....all the lead up to that on TV is so inappropriate for kids.  We watched movies and played Mario Kart.  It was a fun night.  The kids actually stayed up even longer while mom and dad and Jacob fell asleep.  Daniel had gone to bed many hours earlier.

Thanks for the ring pops Mom!!

Big bouncy balloons and video games

Happy New Year!!

December 2013

When I got back from Utah the kids had some presents for us.  They were so happy to see Daniel. :)

Daniel climbs on EVERYTHING !!

Lenape Indian project

Writing Letter to Santa

Hilarious!  Love this kid!

Fardale Ward Christmas Pageant/Party

My little angel

This picture cracks me up.  Lizzy has been waiting for years to be Mary.  She was so excited.
Kade on the other hand looks less than thrilled to be Joseph.  LOL

Christopher the Wise Man.  Michael and Jacob were home sick with Dad.  So sad they weren't in it.

We had an amazing winter for snow.  There isn't a lot in this picture but we get lots more later on in the winter.

Love the hair on this snowman head.  Not sure where he body is though.

Ahh winter.  Coats, boots, hats, gloves....everywhere!!

Daniel's signature trademark is climbing on the table.

Jacob and his best girlfriend Peyton.  He wants to marry her some day.  She is sooo cute.

Cub Scout pack meeting.  We made ornaments.

 The Tree

We usually get our tree the day after Thanksgiving or really close thereafter.  This year Jeff was so swamped with work that we kept putting it off.  We had a large artificial tree up in our bedroom because it was so tall it had to go with the vaulted ceilings.  But we needed a real tree for the living room.  So one night the kids and I took matters into our own hands and went and got a tree by ourselves.  We set a family record for picking out a tree.  I think we were only in that store for 10 minutes.  We brought it home and set it up all by ourselves. It wasn't the same without Dad, but we got it done!!  

"Where is Jeff when I need him!"

I turned the decorating over to the kids and they did a nice job.

Hooray for Christmas!!

The finished product.

One of the kids must have been playing with the camera and caught this picture.  I love it.

School Holiday Sings

Don't get me started on this.  I think they should be called Christmas Sings...but we must be politically correct mustn't we.  Tisdale's sing was so cute.  Their music teacher, Mrs. Quinn, is amazing.  Anne was so cute standing next to her friend Catherine.  They kept giving each other these cute, funny little looks.  The songs were adorable.  I actually like that my kids are shorter cause then they are usually in the front row. :)

Michael is in the middle.  

Waving to mom.

Christopher sing at Dater.  This one was seriously so crowded that we stood in a line outside to get in for a half
hour or more.  We were lucky to be able to be close enough to see him.

 Pictures with Santa

Loved this Santa at the Allendale nursery. They gave you a complimentary picture in a cute card frame.  Michael wasn't too sure at first but he jumped in there at the end.  I didn't even attempt Daniel because that would have been a crying mess.

Jacob was so excited to see him...can't tell from his face in the pictures.

 Up next.....Christmas!!!