Raking Leaves at Grandma's

In the middle of November, we were all in need of a trip to Oregon to visit Jon's parents. It was such a nice break from work, school, soccer, PTA, housework, etc. and we had a wonderful time. I was horrible about taking pictures, but I did take some of our leaf raking experience.

We were happy to get all the leaves raked up so that the yard would be ready for winter and had told the girls they could earn one of their Faith in God requirements by doing it. It's funny to see the different personalities of our children come out in a family work project.

It was cold and kind of wet, so we didn't let Hannah stay out for very long. Kate was out for a few minutes and was then inside happily playing with toys. Jack worked pretty hard, but was done after the backyard and went inside. Lindsey complained most of the time and finally talked us into letting her "babysit" for her part of the service project. Emily, on the other hand, lasted the entire time with Jon & I. We did both the front & back, which probably took us 2 hours and was probably the equivalent of 20 tarps full of leaves. There were so many, but we were happy to have done it and then treated ourselves to burgers & fries (and icecream!) at the Cove Drive-in!

Reflections Contest - well, almost!

A couple of weeks ago, our school did the Reflections contest. Emily wanted to enter in the photography category. The theme this year was "Together We Can...." So, she took the little girls outside one day and took pictures. These are what she took...completely unedited!

I thought she did a great job and took some cute pictures. Unfortunately, we forgot about them on the camera and then ran out of time to have them printed to turn in. Next year, we'll be better!

Some of the Ones I'm Most Thankful for....

Why Simplify our Lives??!!

We are excited to announce that we are expecting baby #6!! Yes, baby #6!! Isn't that crazy?



We are due in the middle of May! We'll probably find out the gender in January, so we'll know whether Jack will have a brother or whether he will be outnumbered 5 to 1!

Autumn Time

Every once in awhile, these two go off on their own and do something together. Last week (when the weather was still perfect!), they went outside and racked themselves a pile of leaves to jump into. Jon and I just watched them from the window and commented on how cute they were!

Halloween

I was TERRIBLE about taking pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes this year! I feel bad that I didn't ever get a group shot of them, but we had a great Halloween any way. They each got to have a class party at school, we had a really fun ward party and they loved trick-or-treating (except Lindsey who played in a soccer tournament that day and decided she'd rather stay home and watch "The Sound of Music").

We sure missed my mom this year and her help with costumes! Wahhh!! She is always so good at making them or offering suggestions. The kids also decided that they were absolutely done with a theme. I've LOVED having them do themes and we've done some pretty fun ones:

2009 - Alice in Wonderland
2008 - 5 Little Monkeys who jumped on the bed
2007 - Wizard of Oz
2006 - The 3 Little Pigs & The Big Bad Wolf

But, it was fun to let the kids each decide what they wanted to be. They ended up being:

Emily - a 50's dancer (and used her dance costume from last year)
Lindsey - witch
Jack - Rocky Balboa
Kate - Ariel
Hannah - Minnie Mouse

Kate's preschool class - she's on the top row with the blue dress

Hannah & her best friend Heidi ended up both being Minnie Mouse!

Can you tell which of these children has a mother who is a seamstress and which is not?

Jack marching in the school parade. He was happy to see me there and grinned really big & waved.

Emily was also happy to see me!

Lindsey - not so much! She raised her hand slightly for a small, quick wave and gave me a look liek "Mom, why are you here?"

Emily Turns 11!

I can't believe how quickly this child is growing up too! Amazing! Last week, Emily turned 11! She is such a great big sister and oldest child! She is so kind and aware of her little siblings and someone that I can completely trust to take care of them. She is a great student and a great friend to others and we couldn't be any more proud of Emily!

Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures of her birthday & party, but here are a few:

The day after her birthday, the kids didn't have school, so we took her friends to Nickelmania in the afternoon and then got them food at Wendy's. My brother Mike took the afternoon off to come and help shuttle all the kids around (thank you Mike!) and all the girls were so good. We are so happy with all the great friends that Emily has!

Kate, Hannah, Jack, Lindsey & Emily with Haylie, Rachel & Anna

All the cute girls - Anna, Rachel, Kate, Hailey M., Natalie, Kenzie, Ella, Haylie L., Emily & Lindsey

Happy 11th Birthday Em!

Jack Turns 7!!

I can't believe that this little guy just turned 7!! I was fine with him turning 4, and 5 and even 6, but 7!!! That's impossible! I say "little" because he really is - 25th percentile for height and 10th percentile for weight.

We sure love having Jack in our family and we had a fun time celebrating his birthday! He was excited to wake up a find a new bike, new helmet, a football, the "Wipeout" game for the Wii and a Nerf dart set. He's a kid that is happy to open one gift and play with it for an hour before thinking of his next one.

He went to school on his birthday and then I brought him a Happy Meal at lunch time. He was so cute and asked if I would sit with him (I know that won't last forever). He picked stuffed shells for his birthday dinner and cookies for dessert. He's an easy man to please!

A couple of days later, we had his friend's party. He has a really nice group of friends and we had them all gather at our house and then we took them to Nickelmania. Becky was so sweet to leave work early that day to help us transport all those kids. We paid $1 for each of them to get in and then gave them each $3 in nickels and then they got to pick their own treats with their tickets. After they played games, we took them back to our house for pizza and rootbeer. (Notes to self....if you give 6 & 7 year old boys root beer, they will start to burp and not be able to stop. Next time: juice boxes!).

He was excited about his new gifts and then the party was done. Easy, easy!

Jack's truly a boy and loves anything about sports. He loves to go outside and kick or throw footballs and soccer balls, loves to shoot hoops, loves to watch BYU football with his dad and loves to play the Wii. He's a super sweet guy and we love him so much! Happy Birthday Buddy!

Jack's friend, Thomas

Jack & Dane

Becky cashing in her tickets!

Hugh & Jack

All the cute boys around the table. I'm sure Jack's laughing because the burping had begun!