Christmas Cards

Trying to get a Christmas Card picture:

This one won. (above)

A close second, but we wanted to show more of the house.

My favorite!

House Update!

The house is pretty much framed, now - just some little things left.

They put in a couple soft arches for us (I love them), and they're working on water and air conditioning! Tuesday, they start on electical and all the doors and windows are ordered. Cool, huh?

Lafe is now really the king of the house! He thinks it's so cool to climb out on the roof - so does Ethan (ah!).

This is the view (from the top of the roof) of where the new Temple will be - we are SO EXCITED!!!Gathering scrap wood for blocks for the kids - way fun!Decorating the house for Christmas - we don't even need mistletoe!!!

Winter Sing

Monday night was the Elementary Winter Sing ( I don't even know if that's what they call it at this school) and it was WONDERFUL!!! I was prepared to be a little disappointed because we just loved the other school so much, but WOW - this was great! They made the songs so fun and you could tell they were teaching them things like how to pronunciate the ends of the words, inflection in their voices, etc. And, they were so organized - Hallelujah! What a great concert!!! The kids did great, and Jamie had her first ever solo - great job, Jamie!!!

Day's Events

It's time to put up the tree!!! We have a tradition of putting up the tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We have to write on the tree-box who put the star on last year so that we remember who's turn it is. Talin loved the tradition of eating the popcorn tins while we trim the tree.

We also went bike riding - Yahoo!!! All summer long we think - "oh, we would love to go for a bike ride as a family" - but, it's WAY TOO HOT! So, now, the weather we wait all year for is here and we took advantage! It was fun. They're all at a good age. Kelcie and Talin are in the trailer and all the others can ride - yeah! Kelcie could, but she doesn't have a bike.....yet.

Thanksgiving Pictures

Trying to get a decent Thanksgiving picture:

Typical Personalities in our family: Erin is scowling, Talin is jealous because Dad is holding Kelcie, Kelcie is trying to get down, I'm talking, Lafe is asleep :), Laura is there, Jamie is posing, and Ethan is distracted.

This is probably the best one and it's not very good. Notice Erin is still scowling!

Our funny picture. Notice Laura is still standing there :)

Ethan's losin' it!

O.k., Ethan is so bored he's pulling his teeth!!! O.k, he's not really bored, ........yet, but he is pulling out all his teeth. He lost 4 teeth is the last 1/2 hour!!! The tooth fairy is going to be broke! Laura just suggested that he's pulling his teeth to get money for the DS he's saving for :) Erin says it's a good thing Thanksgiving was yesterday!
If you look really close, there's a big cavity on the molar on the right - phew!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Stitches - again???

Yesterday, I promised you a non-house post, but I wasn't expecting this one. Kelcie fell during the kids' concert last night and cut her eye. Luckily, Dad's office is 5 minutes from the school and we stopped by on the way home for 2 stitches. You can see the bruise line from where she hit the bench. We were laughing, though, because 2 years ago October she got her first stitches on her forehead from tripping and hitting a rock at the cabin ( you can see the scar - right in the middle), and 1 year ago at Thanksgiving she had to get stitches in the back of her head because she got hit by a swing. I asked her what she had against this time of the year! She's really not a clutz, just freak accidents - our dainty little girl. Poor Jamie was trying to help her dad by holding Kelcie's hand and she passed out hitting her head on the wheelchair nearby. Poor kid - she has a lower threshold for fainting anyways, but we didn't realize she would faint in this situation. We weren't thinking very good. So, Lafe put about 10 knots in the first stitch because he was trying to do Kelcie, watch Jamie and help me with her, and tell Ethan where to get the smelling salts. Ethan said it right - "quite an eventful evening!" They both came home with ice and advil. And, Erin and Ethan still had homework to do! One day we'll live closer to the school, right?

Instrumental Concert

Last night was the Elementary School's Instrumental Concert. Ethan plays the Alto Saxophone in Band and Jamie plays the Viola in Orchestra - they did a GREAT job!!!

It's har to see Ethan - he's on the right behind the flute - but that was the best picture we could get and then zoom in.

This is Jamie before the concert - she was just as hard to get a picture - plus I was videoing, too!

My crazy kids! - I thought you'd enjoy this one more than the serious one.

Stairs and Roof Truses?

Here are the stairs - yeah! Really fun, but Talin thinks they're great, too, and there's not walls upstairs.

Front Stairs

Back Stairs

Now were have roof trusses ( I don't know how to spell those!).

Laura showing them off!

Upstairs view like before - changed quite a bit, huh!

If you're getting bored with house posts, I promise I'll have something different tomorrow. Oh, and I'm thinking I better go Private. I love that people I haven't seen for years stop by, but I'm a little worried because I know how naive I am. So, if you still want to come by (please!!!), leave your email - I'll moderate comments so that I don't post your emails. Thanks!!!

Help!?!

Alright. I need blogger input. Erin is now 13 and we can't find dresses/ skirts for her anywhere! The problem is she's between sizes. Some very small Junior sizes fit and she still fits the largest girls' sizes. BUT, the girls' dresses look too young for her, and the junior dresses are crazy and immodest ( not to mention she doesn't like any of the styles). Nobody wears dresses/ skirts anymore!!! Can someone PLEASE give me some advice of where to look for Sunday clothes for her? We've tried JCPenney ( has worked in the past), Dilliards (has worked in the past), and Ross (I HATE that store!). Target didn't have anything and Kohl's didn't have anything ( I LOVE Kohl's!). Walmart wouldn't DREAM of having anything dressy for that age. I know I'm not shopping smart - I don't know where to go for me half the time - so help me out. Is there some cute store out there I don't know about? PLEASE?????

Upstairs and Porch

We now are starting on the upstairs (including the stairs) and the porch! It's so fun to see it evolve each day. I love walking through and just standing there and seeing what we've only seen in our minds up til now. I love it!

Upstairs view

King of the house!

Trying out the "stairs"

Front Porch

Back Porch

Student of the Month

Ethan was chosen as Student of the Month for his classroom for the month of October, which topic was Self-Control! Awesome job, Ethan!!!

Preschool Pantry

HEY! Check out this new blog my friend is doing!!! http://www.preschoolpantry.wordpress.com/
She just started it, but I think it's an AWESOME idea and wanted to let you all know. BTW - she's AWESOME, too!

Framing!

Wow, this is the exciting part - we're actually watching our house take shape! And, you can see it change every day - so fun! The kids thought it was so fun to walk through the walls -"we're ghosts, look!".

Election 2008

I'm disappointed. It's really neat that we would elect an African-American President and all our country has been through, and what that means of how far we've come. But, I worry that so many people voted for him for that reason or because they blindly think he can "fix" everything, and haven't stopped to really think about what he supports and wants to do. I think a lot of people aren't sure what they themselves stand for, and therefore don't look into the issues of the candidates and where they stand. To be honest, it's a little scary to realize what he could pull through with a democratic Congress and any vacant Judgement Seat. But, I don't want to be fearful. I have no idea how we could still vote against that, but I will definitely try - and I hope our Congressmen will listen to us. He can make laws and make things lawful, but I don't have to choose that way - and I can teach my children that it's wrong - and I will! I've liked McCain for a long time - he's from here and I've always had a great deal of respect for him. I really appreciate that he wasn't afraid to tell people where he stands on issues, like abortion, point blank. I appreciate that he would choose a great vice presidential candidate. I'm also so glad today that Prop. 102 passed - yeah!!! So important. Our question, though, is if it can withstand Obama and his judges. Anyways, my thought for the day. I'm sure there's more, but I'm tired.

It's Election Day!

GET OUT AND VOTE!!!

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat!!! Ready to go! We had a lot of fun trick-or-treating this year. Talin was so funny - I think he was liking this holiday - at first he just wanted to eat the candy (typical), but then he would walk up to the door and put his pumpkin down so they would put candy in it and say "chant-chu" "bye". Then, he was in the stroller holding his pumpkin in one hand and a piece of candy in the other. Then, when we got home we couldn't keep him out of the candy!!! Erin was a cowgirl, Ethan was Indiana Jones, Jamie was Hermione (Harry Potter), Laura was a cheerleader, Kelcie was a Barbie Princess (last minute choice - was going to be Hannah Montana), and Talin was a Fireman. Oh, and Lafe was a cool Jamaican dude guy. This is the big Candy Trade Session - too funny! I think they did this for a couple hours this morning! Oh brother.

Concrete!

We have concrete now!!! It was so fun to watch! We dropped Jamie off at orchestra and the other kids and I drove over to the property and watched them pour. They all thought it was so cool, including the mommy. Monday they do the porches and garage and then we can frame - yeah!

Americas Choice Now - Video

This is an amazing video - I was shocked! "Punished by a baby"? Please, America, think about this election!

Americas Choice Now - Video

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