100 days of school!

Today was the 100th day of school, and they honored all the kids would had no absenses or tardies the first 100 days of school - Ethan was one of them! It was pretty fun - they gave each one of the kids a certificate, a candy bar, and a balloon that they all let off at the same time to celebrate the 100th day of school.

Ethan with his balloon.

Lift off!!!

There they go - there were 105 kids that hadn't missed any days.

Ethan with his certificate.

Leaves

I know most of you will laugh, but we are finally having "Fall". The leaves on our tree all dropped and we finally got around to raking them up, so, of course, we had to have some traditional fun! Talin wasn't sure at first when they sat him in them, but once he figured out they crunch when you walk through them, he was in! Then the jumping and throwing began, and for living in Arizona, we had a fun "Fall"!

Things I love today!

2 things I love today:

1. Sam's Club Extended Warranties!!! - Our printer went out and I'd tried everything they said on the website and finally decided to find the receipt and warranty info. Luckily, I found it, and we had gotten the 3 yr. extended warranty on it at Sam's Club. We bought it 3 1/2 years ago, so I called last night to see if it was still active - hooray, it was! And, not only that, but they are going to reimburse me and I can do whatever I want with the old one! YEAH!!!!! I got a new printer!!! It's already bought and hooked up, so that check better come!

2. Wii Fit - I love it! There's something about having to make it to the end of that activity that keeps me going. And, I love how they started out SO SLOW, so I don't feel stupid and so I don't do too much and give up (previous experience - lots of previous experiences!).

So, that's my 2 cents for today - enjoy!

WAIT - 2 more:

3. Target - especially their clearance racks!
4. Kohls - especailly their clearance racks!
Can you tell where I scored recently on clearance and cute clothes? Yipee!

House Update, again!

They're working on the house, again! After Christmas and New Year's 2 week slow down, we're excited to get it moving again. Yesterday, they put tar paper on the roof, and today they started on the stucco - Yeah!We got our fireplace Christmas Eve - can you believe they put it in on Christmas Eve? It's really cool, though! There will be a hearth in front of it and brick around it and all the way up.Can you believe all these wires??? They all go from our closet under the front stairs to the TV, mostly, and also for the modem for the whole house. Funny, huh?

We picked out our cabinets, cultured marble, and countertops today - that was fun! I hope it all turns out looking nice - it's kind of hard to tell from a little piece! But, I'm really excited about what we picked - even though EVERYONE keeps telling us to do granite everywhere!!! I love granite, but we chose to insulate better (2 story, Arizona) instead. It's moving - so fun!!!

Pets

When we show our house we try to take our dog, Dixie, with us so they can see everything and not worry about a dog. So, today we took her with us to get the kids from school, and as we left with the window open she decided that was fun. We were laughing at her because it made her face look so funny!










Jamie and Laura came home with two little chicks last Saturday (with permission :) ), and so I thought I better put them on the blog. We wanted to do chickens after we moved, so I guess this will give us a jumpstart! They've named them Frieda and Freddy ( they think the black one is a boy). Once we got them to stay in the cage they've been pretty fun. Dixie really likes them, too :( - she ate some of Lafe's brother's chickens.
O.k., this one is NOT ours!!! But, Lafe's dad does Rocky Mountain Horses, and one of them just had a colt a couple weeks ago - isn't he beautiful??? He looks like his mother who is just beautiful! Lafe enjoyed them this afternoon.

And, these pictures don't include the cat, hamster, butterflies.....

Butterfly

SOOoooooooo............ about a month ago (I think?) the kids came running in with these two caterpillars that were on our lemon tree and looked just like bird poop (sorry for the crudeness :) ). Well, we've kept caterpillars before and let them build their cacoon and then they turned into moths - cool, but a little boring. Jamie brought one home from school in 1st grade that turned into a butterfly, but it was ordered. So, we were excited when we found this one this afternoon and it had turned into a beautiful butterfly!!! The thing in the foreground above is the second one - it still has a few days. Isn't it pretty? Below is it's new container because the other one was too small, and some cottonball nectar for it to drink. Fun little science project - you never know what you'll get!

Christmas

We had a very Merry Christmas!!!

Erin got an alarm clock/radio/ ipod player and some DS games!

Ethan got a Tri-bot, and a laser safe!

Jamie got an Easy-Bake Oven and a Littlest Pet shop!

Laura got a new bike and a cool ladybug that shines stars on your ceiling at night!

Kelcie got a new bike and some Christmas Barbies!

Talin got a Firetruck and a Basketball Hoop!

Lafe got this beautiful picture for the new house that he's wanted just forever!

And, I got a new vacuum for the new house!!!

We had a fun time! The family got a Wii Fit and Wii Outdoor Challenge and we have been having a BLAST on them!!! We've also enjoyed a couple bike rides for those of us with new bikes!

Then, I promptly got croup, aka laryngitis (sp?), and decided to take it easy for a couple days. It's very difficult to run a household with no voice! Luckily it was over the weekend and Lafe let me take it easy. Now, I think it's making it's rounds through the kids.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Airplane!

Yesterday, my brother let us come see his little airplane that he has at an airport near out house. The kids LOVED it! It was great that it was small because it was right at Talin's level so he could touch it and he thought it was pretty neat. As we were walking back to the car to go watch him take off, another plane pulled up near us and as soon as the engine shut off Talin took off running for it saying "I wanna ride!". I thought if was so cute, and it made me wish he could go up for a ride. Someday, maybe. My brother's not checked out to take anybody with him, yet, but I have a feeling most of my kids would get sick anyways :) Then, we sat at the end of the runway and watched him take off and watched him until we absolutetly couldn't see him anymore - Talin liked that, too. It was really fun - thanks, Eric!

O Holy Night

This is one of my favorites and they did a beautiful job. Josh Groban sings the beautiful song the only way it should be sung.

My big - little boy.

I let Talin have a pillow the other night and it was just too cute to pass up last night. I try to let them have a pillow before I move them to a bed so they get used to it. I know they say not to, but he's almost two. Maybe I'm terrible. It would be nice if we could just switch him to a bed when we move so we don't have to put up the crib and then take it down a month later, but I'm not sure if that's too many changes at once? I don't know - still thinking about it. By the time we move is usually when our kids change beds anyways, because they're either climbing out or ruining the crib from jumping, etc., so I'd like to. Hopefully with the guard on he'll still think he can't get out - a few of mine have done that for the first few months and it's so nice.

Windows!

We have windows!!! Isn't that cool? We were so excited and I couldn't believe they got all the windows in in one day! Aren't they pretty? We did the grids in the front of the house and then clear in the back and sides.

This is the bay window in our room.

Band and Breather

Last night Erin had another Band Concert and it was so wonderful!!! The JH Orchestra, Band, and Choir were all so awesome!!! I love watching her play and listening to her practice at home. And, I love it when she looks over at me half way through a song and smiles. I just want to always be there for my kids - I hope I can. I don't have any pictures because it's impossible to get one of her behind the other kids and her stand - eyes and head. So, I thought I'd just tell you about it. I'd put on video, but it's not digital.

This morning Jamie didn't have orchestra which gave us all an extra 1/2 hour - it was so nice. And, after RUNNING EVERYWHERE the last few days ( those days that you think "we'll make it work - we just have to get through today - but then another one comes, and another...) it was really nice to realize we have NOTHING today. How nice. I was driving home from taking the kids to school and it actually felt like I was getting a huge breath of fresh air. So, all I've done this morning is play on the internet looking for light fixtures for the house and stuff. I finished my book that was due at the library today - not even renewed!!! That's a first! I was #22 on the waiting list to check it out, so I figured that I wouldn't be able to renew it. And, it's even cloudy outside! Here's to the rest of the day - we're going to the library - because we can!

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!!!