Happy Halloween!

Yay for Halloween, my favorite holiday! This year the kids all chose very different costumes, no family theme, but that's okay. Maybe next year. Sophie is a zombie (seems like our Walking Dead obsession has rubbed off on our oldest, though she has never actually watched the show) and her T-shirt is a torn up My Little Pony shirt that says "Ponies Forever" - for some reason I think that is the most awesome zombie shirt ever.:) Ben is a Gryffindor appropriately named Ben. Not Harry, not Ron or Neville. Ben. How I love my boy! Nina is Merida from Brave and she loves her costume including the wig and oh my goodness how adorable she is in it! I have a feeling we're going to be seeing Nina dressed up as Merida frequently now that this costume will be in our costume trunk. And last but certainly not least our little Clara is a lady bug. Seriously I could just eat her up - she is so cute!! Thanks to my friend Tracy for giving me this cute and cozy little sleeper costume at Clara's baby shower!

Well the chili is in the crockpot and the pumpkin seeds have been roasted so we are ready for a fun filled Halloween evening. Our family movie this year is going to be Goonies after the trick or treating. So I say bring on the Reese's peanut butter cups and Twizzlers. I'm looking forward to my share (commission) of the kids candy!!:) Happy happy Halloween!!!

Our Clara

Welcome home Clara Lily. We feel so happy and thankful to have this sweet baby in our family. We love you Clara!

June Days (the not so lazy days of summer)

Another month gone by with nary a post. I'm such a slacker. Or I've just been on Pinterest and food blogs waaay to much! Well here's another month in pictures. June was quite the busy month for us. Nina's ballet/tap recital, Sophie's girls camp, Ben's scout camp...  And of course keeping up with the kids' piano lessons, swimming lessons, and soccer games. Fun times.

I also instituted a summer learning program for the kids. Every week day, almost :), the kids have worksheets (I've been using Summer Bridge activity books for Ben and Nina and a Geometry workbook for Sophie), reading, and journal pages to complete. I made some punch cards and they get a hole punch once they've done their work. After 5 punches they get an agreed upon treat. We've had frozen yogurt, gone to movies, and this week they are working towards a trip to Krispie Kreme. It has been our most successful summer "mom school" yet. Yay. And the great part is that if they complain they don't get a punch. So I haven't heard any complaints. I think I'm sticking with this plan every summer.

Seriously, can this child get any cuter than in her ballet costume??!! I love it. The dance recital was all about Snow White. During her ballet dance her class danced with Snow White, and during her tap dance she was a little dwarf tapping around with the 7 Dwarfs. It was addddoorrrabbbllle!!!

From all accounts Sophie had a fantastic time at girls camp. She loves it every year. She is such a camper! And she loves staying up late laughing and talking with her friends. The theme this year was princesses and because of the new Brave movie with archery as a major focus, Sophie got to fulfill her Katniss dream of shooting with a bow. (She's the 5th one from the right in the picture.) She loved it. As a matter of fact she loved it so much that she talked her Dad into talking her to a place where they could shoot arrows together. (Honestly, it was not a hard sell as Adrian has Hawkeye dreams of his own.) As I write this she is at a bow hunting practice range shooting with Ben and Adrian having an awesome time. It will probably become a regular Saturday activity for them. My funny family. Hunger Games and Avengers has changed our lives, but as a plus we'll be good when the zombie apocalypse happens because bow hunting skillz seem to be a major plus in Walking Dead. Just to get one more geek reference in this paragraph - the Hobbit comes out in December!!Woot!

Oh how my boy loved Cub Scout camp. For 3 days he got to play games, do leather crafting (he made a new case for his DS), pan for gold, and revel in all things scouting. Everyday he came home so incredibly dirty - like Olympic gold medal in dirt dirty - though he does look kinda clean in those pictures. Rolling in mud must have been the next activity that day. I think he wishes scout camp could go on forever!

And last but not least, Father's Day. I must embarrass Adrian every year with a picture the moment after our children piled into bed and wake him up. He's a good sport. He is not allowed to take any similar pictures on Mother's day.:) We had a fun day on Father's day with presents (a new charcoal grill and some Eddie Bauer shirts - Adrian cannot have enough plaid shirts), church, ribs, pasta salad, and corn on the cob for dinner and fresh peach pie for dessert. Then we ended the day with a family movie night with Journey 2. We love you Adrian! You are the best husband and father!

May Days

Wow, a whole lot happened in May yet I never got around to posting about it, so here's the recap in mostly pictures.

Mother's Day. Super fun and lovely. The kids woke me up with breakfast in bed (chocolate croissant - yum!) and gifts. I got to go to Gospel Doctrine and Relief Society during church because the men of the ward took over Primary, which was great. Adrian made dinner and bread sticks to go along with it - the first time he's ever made bread and he did a great job.

Nina had her Humpty Dumpty Day (aka egg drop) at school and her egg survived due to this foam contraption Adrian and Nina made together.

The kids had their last day of school and Nina graduated from kindergarten! I now have perspective 8th, 3rd, and 1st graders. That is crazy to me. This school year went by SO fast!

Ben's 1st Pine Wood Derby

Last night was Ben's first Pine Wood Derby and oh my was he excited about it. Adrian and Ben worked so hard on his car. Ben did a lot of the final sanding himself and we all worked on the paint job. I made the lightning stencil for him. Very fun stuff. It was a pretty good little car in the races too, though it didn't place. Adrian and Ben have already started formulating a plan for next year to make a faster car. Ben has a pine wood derby car book and it's now a permanent fixture on his bedside table. At home, after the derby Ben asked if we were still proud of him - seriously he is so tender-hearted - and Adrian picked him up and paraded him around the house saying very loudly, "this is my son Ben and I'm very very proud of him!" It was a sweet moment. Well done Ben and Adrian!!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! Today has been great and also stressful (for me at least). I gave a talk in sacrament, on Easter... I don't know why it's so stressful, but it was. I guess because of all the Sundays each year I look forward to Easter Sunday the most. I love the focus on the atonement and resurrection and I usually leave church feeling spiritually fed. Not that I don't try to feel that way every Sunday, but Easter is special. I gave the talk on the resurrection. Preparing for it was a great experience. I've been reading so many talks and scriptures, that it really helped me to focus on the Savior this week. As for the actual talk, well I'm just glad I didn't pass out (my heart was beating SO fast!). And I followed Tracy's rule of always getting a new dress when you talk, so I got a new Easter dress too, which made me happy.

Here's a few outside pictures with the new Easter outfits. The kids all have super squinty eyes outside. They all have Adrian's very sensitive eyes, which is why you don't see Adrian in these pictures at all.

Everyone complaining to me that they want to go inside. "The sun is too bright!!" I call them my vampire children.

Happy Birthday Adrian!

Adrian had a birthday last month! (And I'm finally getting around to posting about it.) We went out for hibachi as a family and then at home we had cake and presents and played Risk. It was a very Adrian birthday. Just look at how happy he looks surrounded by his children and Risk pieces.:) We love you tons and tons Adrian. You are an awesome husband and father!