Fun stuff in June

This June, we were able to pick blueberries at my VTer's home. She likes to let the kids pick. They have such a great time!















Here is my little diva. She acquired these cute glasses in St. Louis on our trip there early in the month. She is really growing up fast.













Ah, the boys, THEY ate more than they picked and then ate most of what I had picked on the way home. They both had a great time.











The diva again. She will be eight this year and got her own set of scriptures, including a carrying case and a small hymnal. They all love to sing and follow along in their own hymn book.
She was also showing off her new church sandals. Very cool!








The zoo picture. This was the second trip to the zoo for the kids. The first time, they didn't get there early enough to go and do the free things, like petting the sting rays. For some reason, it is a real thrill for them. It is somewhat lost on me, but, sea creatures don't hold my interest very much.











And here they are trying their hands at petting the slimy little things. They all were able to touch one at least once so the extra trip to the zoo was a success!















Oh boy, and how they do grow. I think the stair step pictures are so fun and really show their growth spurts. I try to get one every six months or so. I sure do love these kids. They bring us a great amount of joy.

#4 turns 5

#4 had a great birthday. I can hardly believe that he is 5 now. He will be starting school this fall and is really ready to go. I'm excited, but I feel lonely just thinking about all the kids being gone......!











This boy sure loves money!

















He is really into cars and suggested a racetrack cake. The color scheme was his choice and I took the liberty to call the red fire instead of blood, which is what he wanted to red for....he thought it would be cool to have cars crashed on the track and blood all over the road. Gross! But that is a little boy for you! We called it a fire and he called it what he wanted.

Field Day/ Spring Fling

Morning of Field Day 2010

Same morning with their kittens--Speckles, Rascal, Tigrera, Bolt

#1 giving the ball a good kick!

My #2 sliding into home

Spring Fling at school.
#4 was concentrating on sitting still for the face paint artist!

#2 really likes those dragons. The painter did a good job!

#3 was having such a great time! She was all over with her class.

Here are some fun things I have done with #3's hair recently, thanks to the inspiration of a good friend, (your only as good a mom as your girl's hair looks.....) or something like that??

This one is braided from one ear to the other with the back down. Pretty cute!
This one is my favorite. Here is the underside.....
...and here is the top side. It really doesn't take very long but it turns out so cute!

It's been a while

I figured I would jot a little something down while I'm sitting here doing nothing......okay, I'm making myself do this.

You see, writing just isn't my thing. It seems that my life is just so uninteresting that it isn't worth writing about, so I don't do it. It's weird, others lives are very similar to mine and I thoroughly enjoy reading about what they are doing.......so I will write about what I and my family are up to now.

In January, we had a lot of snow here are some fun pictures of what we had. We had to borrow a car from friends to get in and out of our place, that jeep parked under the carport is our loaner. the next one is by the creek. For us in Arkansas, that was a lot of snow!




Chad is still building homes. He enjoys the work and keeps really busy. I am still plugging along, taking one class at a time, working on finishing my degree. Once #4 starts Kindergarten in the fall, I will be taking more classes at a time. I'm enjoying my history class, the learning part, not the mini papers I write with just about every lesson! I love to read so this class has been fun. I help Chad with jobs sometimes and that is a lot of fun. #4 just accompanies us but we still get a lot done!

The kids are all growing fast. They spend a lot of time outside when they are home. They love the creek and the option of exploring the woods. #3 has made a little habit of helping her Grandpa with the goats almost every afternoon. She loves spending time outside regardless of the activity.

The kids a great time with cousins this Easter holiday. We did an Easter Egg hunt in the big field between Conference Sessions. They also were given kites to fly and that was a lot of fun as well. We spent a lot of time this spring flying kites in the field.





Last Saturday, we had a fun event happen. Our cat Tiger gave birth to four kittens. The kids are so excited to each have their own kitten now. They are not quite a week old yet and they are pretty cute little things!! It was fun for the kids to watch the births and be able to take care of their Momma cat and now the kittens. They are all such animal lovers, I'm not sure what to do with them sometimes!

I love to see the kittens nurse! I don't know why this is so fun to watch, maybe it is the pure miracle of life and how Heavenly Father made things so perfectly that is it sometimes hard to really comprehend all that goes in to it, but I love to watch the miracle of new babies and their comfort in being close to their Momma.
Recently, I rearrange the sleeping/room situation for the kids. #3 is getting old enough to have her own room so......she is now in the basement. #2 and #4 share right now and I needed to get another dresser, or chest for clothes. I checked out a few furniture places and was now willing to pay their prices for the quality they offered. So, I went to a thrift store and found this gem. $40!! solid wood and in really great condition. Furniture stores were asking things like $170 for little more than cardboard. I am so impressed with myself! #2 really loves having his own dresser and it finally feels like we fit properly in this house now. I don't know why I feel that way now, but I do!

This is where #4 loves to spend a lot of his time. He just gets so bored with all the other kids in school. He doesn't stay here all day! But he would like to!!


I love to be outside, so I made myself a nice little study area on the deck. We had extra carpet pieces and no plans for them. Now there are plans! That ten year old swing has held up amazingly well over the years and I love it!

October happenings

So, it has been an embarrassing long time again......Here is the fun we had in October!

The kids are just so inventive, especially #2! They tied this bike up with the swing chain-links. Silly, silly children!

#1 had a birthday in October. He wanted a couple of friends over and they had a great time dueling Yugi-Oh!.
Here is a nice picture of the three of them. Best friends. It is so good when kids find good friends!
We celebrated with an ice cream cake. He is not fond of cake, so this was a nice change for us.
#2 has lost both front teeth. The way he talks and smiles, you hardly notice, hence the picture! I had to document the actual event!
#4 all ready for Church. He is certainly a ham!
The Arrow of Light ceremony.
#1 walking down the Arrow of Light. It is a big accomplishment for Cub Scouts.
Receiving his Weblos and Arrow of Light badges, with the Cub Master looking on...
Cub Master telling about the requirements #1 accomplished to earn his badges.
#2 receiving his Wolf badge. He is really into Cub Scouts and is flying through the requirements.
#1 during his last skit for Pack Meeting. He moved into 11-year old scouts this month!
#4 enjoying being a dragon for Halloween.
The crew just as we were starting to trick-or-treat. We didn't go very far because we didn't want them to have a lot of candy, and it was very cold that night! #1 and #2 went as gangsters, with hoods up due to the cold weather.

Ah, my sweet, sweet #3. Such a beautiful little thing if only she weren't influenced so much by her brothers! I tried to get her to be a princess complete with a tiara, but nothin' doin'. It was vampire all the way and she had to have those ugly teeth!! She had a great time, though!