Kids Say

Abby wanted to do something and I told her no.  So she thought for a second and then brightened up with what she thought was a clever way to convince me, "Jesus said yes!"

Abby screaming, "I am not Abigail!  I am DOROTHY!"  She maintained that position for several days.

Abby watched me flush the toilet one morning. Abby, "It go down!"  Then as it finished she pumped both fists into the air, "Yeah!"

As Alex came off of the baseball field to the dugout during his tball game he stepped out to where I was sitting.  Alex, "It's a good time for this," and he gave me a hug and a kiss.  Sweet boy.

Abby, "I need a haircut!" Me, "You don't need a haircut.  Do you want your hair pretty like Annie's?"  Abby, "No!"  Me, "Do you want it pretty like Mommy's?"  Abby, "No!"  Me, "Who do you want it like?"  Abby, "Daddy!"

November 2016

Laurel is such a fun happy baby.  I love taking pictures of her cuteness.

We've been eating gluten free for a few months, so this was an exciting meal for us.  I made my mom's homemade chicken noodle soup gluten free!

I had my hair cut early in the fall and I'm loving the change.

The kids wanted to earn some money for Christmas shopping, so some friends hired them to do some yard work.  They spent three days pulling weeds, raking leaves, and trimming flowers.

We visited our local STEM festival again this year.  The reptiles were a favorite activity again, and everyone enjoyed the other exhibits.

Annie and Alex worked particularly hard the day that we pulled weeds.

October 2016

One of our fall projects was to put in a little bit of landscaping around the front of our house.  These two pictures show what it was like before.

In between working on the yard, Annie sewed an apron to go with her Halloween costume.

Abby likes to photo bomb.

She did a great job on her apron!

We thoroughly enjoyed General Conference.

Laurel continued to be the sweetest baby ever.

Abby, "Mom! Take a picture of me!"

To complete her costume, I made Annie a yarn wig.

Abby loves to pretend to fix her hair.

Hanging out on Mom and Dad's bed...

Annie's costume was really special this year.  My mom made her dress and her doll a few years ago.  She was planning to make an apron and bloomers for Annie so she could be Raggedy Ann for Halloween this year, but she passed away. So using my Mom's sewing machine and materials, I finished the project.

In the midst of the project, I discovered a note that my mom wrote on the doll.  I wasn't expecting to see that, so it was a sweet emotional moment.

The kids carved their own pumpkins this year.  I did NOT help.

While they were working on pumpkins, Abby tried to show Laurel how to climb over the baby gate.

I love the boys' pirate!

Annie had a star theme.

For our landscaping project, we first killed all of the weedlike rosebushes (quite a task!) and then used landscaping fabric and dirt to cover the entire area.  We shoveled a lot of dirt!  Jim and I did most of the shoveling, but the kids helped too. They helped a lot more when it came time to lay bricks, and then they spread the mulch by themselves.

I plan to wait at least a year to plant anything directly in the ground because of the plant poison we had to use, so in the meantime we'll use these planters I found.  I'm excited to have flowers this spring!

Abby really loved shoveling with us.

My handsome ten year old...

Halloween!  We went to a trunk or treat at our church one evening, and then went trick or treating in a nearby neighborhood on Halloween night.

Logan's costume was a huge hit!  Jim and I had a great time standing back and watching people's reactions.

Alex loved the Wall E costume again this year.

Trick or Treat!

Logan usually freezes on Halloween night, so we thought we'd nailed it with his warm costume this year.  The only problem was that it was an unusually warm night!  He roasted. 

Another day, Abby was exhausted after a fun field trip, so she cuddled in our bed.

We had so much fun at the pumpkin farm last year, that I arranged for our homeschool group to go again this year.  We had a great day!

More Halloween pictures...Laurel was wiggly when we tried to take her picture.