A lot of stuff we've been up too!

Emma and Noah just got their school pictures. I think it is so fun to go back and see how much they have grown in the past year!Noah looked like a baby! Here are his pictures K-2nd grade.

The fire department came to our apartments and did a fire safety thing. The kids had fun.

Here is Noah going out the window!

Here is Emma in her flip flops, not the best shoe to have on when climbing out the window!

Here is Matt trying to get out but he was so affraid the kids had to help him :o)

The kitchen filling up with smoke. The little kids were a bit unsure of what we were doing.

Poor Noah, he had to have four teeth pulled because he has no room in his mouth for his grown up teeth. He did really well at the dentist. They love him and talk about him every time we go!

Here is Noah's Family Home Evening craft.

Here is Emma's.

And Libbie's too.

Here are the kids hard at work.

Here is owen and his bat.

Noah and his bat.

Owen and his cookie. He didn't finish frosting it before he was eating it!

Libbie did such a good job on her cookie.

Noah and his cookie.

Hard at work.

Libbie and Owen trying to cut out sugar cookies.

This summer in Washington Mom Walker took me out and showed me how to make earrings. It was so much fun. Since I am in the young womens program at church and young women in excellence is coming up I thought that my project could be jewelry making. I have been twisting and beading like crazy. I have more earrings and necklaces and bracelets than I know what to do with. I love it so much, and I am so happy to have something fun to do. So thanks Mom for starting me on something so fun! Here are a few things I've made.

Our first snow of the season. Here is Noah in mid-air!

Owen wanted to pick up the snow but it was so cold. He wouldn't put on gloves.

Noah did this on his own. We were inside eating breakfast and he was so excited to go and play so we let him. 10 minutes later he came in for a carrot. He is so grown up. This might be the best snowman ever!

The day before the snow came the kids and I made cinnamon rolls. We were hoping to wake up to snow and eat them with hot chocolate for breakfast. It worked out well and the kids had fun helping.

Here is Owen cleaning up. And yes he is in his underwear (we are working on the potty thing)

The kids putting on the brown sugar.

Even the dog got messy! It was a good day.

Matt got me some flowers after a long and hard week (ya I am so lucky) When the girls saw them they said "Dad got us flowers" They got to pick their favorit one and have it in their room



And there is nothing sweeter than a sleeping two year old to end it all :o)

Poor little Libbie

Our sweet little Libbie had to get some dental work done yesterday. This is Libbie before they took her back. It was so sad. She was crying so hard when they took her away from us. This is Libbie right after. It was nice that she got to wake up in our arms. She was a grump when she woke up and when we would ask her a question she would yell "STOP IT" by the time we left she was happy but sleepy.
And here she is resting at home. She wanted to eat some ice cream I gave it to her and went into the kitchen to put the ice cream in the freezer and when I looked back at her she was asleep. What a cute little girl. She is doing better today but her mouth hurts still. I told her that the dentist was going to make her teeth better, but now they hurt more, she is a little upset about that :o)

Happy Halloween!

We love holidays at our house. Every October and November and December each of our family home evenings always end with some kind of holiday craft and treat. Last night the kids had a blast making treats and doing crafts. It will be so sad one day when the kids don't think that it's fun to make things like this. But for now here are some pictures of the fun .
Here are the kids and their cupcakes. They did a really good job. It was amazing to see the difference from last years cupcake FHE. I think last year they started to decorate one cupcake and half way through gave up and ate it. They did 4 or 5 each before eating began. Oh, how they are growing up ;O) We made Halloween countdowns! The kids had a blast and Noah and Emma did it almost on their own (just a bit of help getting tape). Libbie and Owen enjoyed telling mom and dad what to do and what color should go next. It was fun!

Here is Noah showing off his countdown.
And here is Emma doing the same
Here is Libbie with a cupcake she made.
Owen hard at work. (He ate the first cupcake he decorated)

Family Out Evening

We went ice blocking for family home evening yesterday. It was so much fun! The kids had a blast and no one went to the ER!
I tried to stand on Matt's back as we went down the hill. I did really well until Daren let go of my hand then I fell right on Matt, but we did make it to the bottom!
Emma loved it. She did really well, but sometimes the block was faster that she was!

Noah had the most fun out of the kids. By the end he was so tired. This is one of his last tries to get the block back up the hill.

Look at this man. Oh how I wish we were snowboarding right now! He made it all the way down the hill... what a man:o) Here is my try at it, I did not do as well as Matt did but I did much better last night then when we went with the Young Women a week ago, I fell right on my rear about one second into my fun.
This was Noah's first run. I don't think he knew just how fast it was going to go. This kid loves to move fast, and had a lot of fun doing it.
This was Matt's idea. It went great right up until they all crashed and Libbie and Owen started crying. For anyone out there who wants to try this with their family, first make sure you have medical and then put someone in the front who can put their feet down to brake!

Big boy

Here is my little Owen and Matt ready for church. He looks so grown up (I'm talking about Owen here). He has done a lot of growing up this week. He has moved from his toddler bed to a bunk bed. He was getting up all night long and started sleeping in Noah's bed, he is sleeping much better now!

Here he is in his bed!

Now that we have the bunk bed in there he has lots more room to play trains. He needed the room since Grandpa McMullin gave Noah and Owen every geo track set he could find :o)
I just loved his smile in this one (and I love little kids in stripes) it is just so cute!
We like to do arts and crafts around our house. Shaving cream is cheap and fun. We just spray it on the table sometimes and let the kids play. This day we put it in a bag and added gel food coloring and let the kids swirl it around with their fingers. Tons of fun... and easy to clean up!

We (well mostly me) have been crafting. I wanted to make these all summer long and as soon as it was a bit cooler outside I went to Lowes and bought the wood. Matt was going to cut the wood for me when he got home but I couldn't wait. I painted and sanded and then cut out the vinyl letters. It was fast cheap and fun!

Here is the set the table cart that I put together. We have had a paper one for a long time but this one should last a bit longer! We have date night at our house. Matt and I take turns having a 20 minute date with one of the kids after the other kids go to bed. I had a paper chart for this too, this one looks a lot better. (I think I have a thing for charts)

Here is another chart...or 4. My friend Lisa made chore charts for her kids and so she let me copy her. The kids love them... I'm not sure how they feel about the chores though:o)

First day of school, Libbie's birthday and fun all around :o)

We painted at Libbie's party here is a before and after of the mess! It went a lot better than I thought!
Here is Libbie opening up her presents. She was given 22 chapsticks for her birthday, because anyone who knows Libbie knows she loves chapstick! Grandma McMullin gave her some money in her birthday card and the first thing she says "can we go to the store and buy some chapstick" oh man! Painting and making crafts!
Libbie is now 4 but is still not much bigger than this balloon. I'm not sure why she isn't so big like her mom and dad :o)
This is Libbie's cake. In our house a month before a birthday a lot of time is spent thinking of what type of cake mom is going to make. I try to let them pick on their own... I have spent 4 hours making a cake before. This year Libbie wanted a beehive. It didn't take too long to put together so that made for a happy mommy!

Here Emma is showing Libbie where her hook at school is... they are so cute!
Libbie showing off her tiny toy puppy...

The picture below is Noah on the first day of second grade (or here he is on the first day of grade two for any of you canadian readers out there)

Emma on her first day of school. She is so grown up. She was so happy to go to school and Matt and I left her in her classroom a little sad but OK. When she got off the bus I cried. She was so big and it made me really miss the days when all my kids were at home and we played and had so much fun. Now half my kids are in school and life is very different. They grow up so fast!!

This is our first day of school cake. Here is my back to school crew. They are so cute. I make Matt get in the picture every year. He loves me so he sits there and smiles. Only one more of these picuters for him and he will be done!

My big grown up Noah at his desk. I wish I had taken a picture of the inside so you can all see how organized he is ( just like his Dad) I miss my big helper when he is gone. He is almost 8 and is getting ready to be baptized. It doesn't feel like long ago when Matt and I were driving home from the hospital with him in the back seat going 25 miles an hour so that we wouldn't wake him up.