Popcorn Popping!

We have a popcorn tree! The kids are very excited every time we look out the window :) I have learned this is a Bradford Pear tree... not an apricot tree... but I didn't know that we had flowering tree in front of our house since we moved in the summer. All over the city we have popcorn trees... even pink popcorn and purple popcorn. They are so pretty to see and we get to sing the song over and over.

We also have dandelions, bees, and other pretty flowers coming up!! It's Spring!
We are supposed to be in the low 80's today!

Airport and Going Home

Our flight was delayed a half an hour because of the snow, so we stayed to visit with Grandpa for a little bit. Grandpa had the good idea to tag the kids with luggage labels so if they got lost someone would know who they were! I'm going to do that from now on when we fly, although I'd rather they just not get lost!We walked around to wear out the kids. They liked the moving sidewalks. :)
We played on escalators, and elevators, gave piggy back rides, went on the moving sidewalks again, and the elevators again, but after one of the kids pushed the 'alarm' button and sent an airport worker to meet us when the doors opened at the bottom, we were done with the playing around. We decided we'd better get through security and grab some lunch before we took off.

The plane ride home went well after we sat on the plane for 45 minutes while it was de-iced. The kids worked on their make-up work that they needed to hand in the next day. (Funny how we hadn't even thought about it the whole trip) Jaren was happy and Jaxon was WIPED OUT! He slept almost the entire flight! It was nice. I guess going to bed late every night and playing all day with cousins and grandparents will do that to you.

We saw this cute bear at the airport...

This is the tallest escalator I've ever seen! I admit I don't get out much, but I was pretty amazed by how tall it was. (I don't know why anyone would pick to take the stairs next to it!)

We had a great trip and it always makes us wonder why we live so far away. We will be back to visit soon I'm sure. Until then....

SNOW!

The snow was beautiful! Although it seemed more like Christmas than February. It just kept falling! I got some pictures: here's one of my favorites.

The kids were trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues. It was great!

Jaren's Birthday!

Jaren woke up to SNOW on his birthday! It came down all morning long! We were packing and getting ready to go to the airport. He was excited to fly on his birthday. He got one present in Utah, and then when we got home he got to open some more. Like Jaxon, he got a little shorted on his birthday because we were traveling, but we tried to make it special anyway. We got home late on his birthday so he didn't even get a birthday dinner (unless PB&J's count) or a cake. So we will finish celebrating his birthday on Saturday!

Jaren is very thoughtful of others. He is sweet and caring and says the most sincere prayers! I can't believe he's 5 already! He is VERY excited to start Kindergarten next year and be like his older brother and sister!

Happy Birthday Jaren!

Draper Temple

We were able to go to the Draper Temple Open House. We had a group of 25 of us. It was so beautiful inside. The wood work and chandeliers were amazing! My kids were so excited to go and see what it was like inside. Jonah and Jacey both said it was different than what they always imagined the temple to be. Other favorite parts were the cookie refreshments and the bus ride up to the temple! :)

Turkey Steaks

We got together at my mom's house again on Monday for Turkey Steaks from Maddox. We can't get those and Codee agreed to cook some for us! They were scrumptious! Thanks Codee!

Then Codee got a hold of my camera... :)

My Family

We got together on Sunday with my family for a birthday party for Jaren and Jaxon and Valentine's Day. We had lots of yummy food, lots of laughs, and lots of pictures!

The Wedding

I didn't take any pictures at Joe's Mom's Wedding. :(

Joe had the camera in his suit coat at the lunch and open house, and I didn't even think to get it out! Hopefully I will get copies from other people!

The wedding was nice! It was great to see people we hadn't seen for awhile.

Jaxon's birthday

My little baby turned 3 on Feb 10! I can't believe it! Jaxon had a great birthday even though we were trying to pack and get ready to fly to Utah the next day. He didn't seem to notice :) I made cupcakes so we wouldn't have a huge cake left over while we were gone and just froze the rest.

Jaxon is definitely my most energetic child and he loves to make people laugh. He had quite an audience in Utah with all of his cousins. He wasn't afraid to put on a show! He is so fun!
Happy Birthday Jaxon!

6 months

It was six months ago today that we moved into our house. Although we have a few boxes of books and some boxes that we are storing in the attic and closets, I would say I am unpacked.

For the most part, the kids like their new school. There are some days when they want to go back to their old school. Jonah will be in middle school next year, so he will see and know kids from both old and new schools. That will be nice.

In some ways it seems like we have always lived here and it's hard to think of the old house. We pass our old neighborhood on the way to the Post office or the library, and occasionally we will drive past our old house. It looks lonely even though people live there. The blinds are never open. Our current house feels like home.

But on the other hand, it feels like we just moved in. You would think we did if you looked at our bare walls. I haven't hung pictures or painted yet...mostly because that's not really my forte'. :) I want to do these things, but don't have confidence in my decorating skills.

One of my very favorite parts of the whole house is the laundry room! In our old house it was right in the kitchen. Now it is off the kitchen in it's own little room. The part I love the best is the clothes hanger right above the dryer!
It has saved me tons of time to just hang the clothes up after they come out of the dryer (instead of putting the clothes in the basket and saying, "I'll hang them up in a second" and then forgetting or getting busy and hours later having to put them back in the dryer to freshen them up. I hate to admit, but sometimes that cycle would repeat itself 2 and sometimes 3 times..I don't iron unless I absolutely have to!) Now, I can hang them up as they come out and I don't have to think about them again.

I like having more space... although sometimes it's just more space to clean! It's amazing how the kids can spread their toys into every room!

Joe has lists of projects that he wants to do. Someday he will have time to wire the whole house so we can turn the lights off upstairs when we are downstairs. And change the temperature in our house from just a phone call when we are away. Maybe he can even figure up something that will clean toilets... We can always dream, right?

Yes

School is closed today for this! It looks pretty innocent, but the ground is covered with a thin sheet of ice. It is 20 degrees - very cold! I can understand why they closed school because buses have to be able to get to school and they would be sliding all around on the ice. The only problem is now the sun is out and it's 28 degrees and things are starting to melt. It's supposed to get up to 40 degrees today, so things will melt by this afternoon, but school is still cancelled. I guess it's a bonus day! We are getting some work done now and having some friends over after lunch. Fun! Fun!

This is our backyard patio..

This is Joe's truck. He parks it outside and it was a popsicle this morning! The doors were frozen closed and it took a while to thaw it out! His work had a delayed opening so he had some extra time to get it warmed up and drive on the icy roads.

Ice

Our city is shutting down. School was dismissed early today at 12:30 pm. All schools were closed at that time. Jacey's gymnastics class through the city's recreation center is cancelled today. Businesses are closing early. The commute is supposed to be "treacherous!" It is 30 degrees and raining. Not snowing. It is really nothing but a drizzling rain. It seems a little much to shut everything down, but I'm sure that the highway overpasses and bridges are probably frozen. :) and the roads may become icy later today.

The kids loved getting out early! They've had fun with their extra time. Although it would have been fun to go outside and build a snowman on a 'snow day'... but nope, there's no snow!

Hopefully the big ice storm that is expected later tonight won't be too bad and school will be back in session tomorrow :) Or if not, I at least want snow!

Being a Mom

It's good to laugh at the fun things about being a mom. :)






Enjoy!

Santa

Picture with Santa at our Primary Activity

Ready for Church

We were actually ready in time to take pictures. We had church an hour later today because we had a special combined Sacrament with another ward.

My Baby is ELEVEN!

Jonah had his 11th birthday today. I can't believe it!

Where does the time go?

He was home sick from school yesterday with a cold. He wasn't 100% better but still went to school on his birthday. They had a 1/2 day. He was tired when school got out even though they just had an assembly, ate lunch and watched a movie. :)

He waited (almost) patiently until Joe got home from work so he could open his gifts.

Jonah is a great helper and a good example to his younger brothers and sister. He has a great sense of humor. He does well in school and his teachers know they can trust him.
We Love You Jonah! Happy Birthday!

Secret Santa

Our ward did a Secret Santa thing this week. Each night we would give a gift to a family. At the end of the week we reveal who we are. We also got a gift each night from a family. My kids loved it.. both the giving and receiving. Jonah dressed up like a burglar (all in black with a black ski cap and black gloves) and we had our walkie-talkies to communicate. We would drop him off a couple of houses away, and get into position. Joe would 'radio' to Jonah that he could go. Jonah would 'stealthily' ring the doorbell and run and hide! We would wait in position until we saw in the binoculars that the package had been picked up, and then we would radio to Jonah that it was safe to return to the truck. We all had such fun! The things we did for gifts were:

microwave popcorn with a note that said: We hope your holidays are "POP"-in!

2 liter Rootbeer and vanilla ice cream: We're "ROOT"-in for you to have a Merry Christmas!

A bag of rocks: We hope your Christmas "ROCKS!"but we also put in a coloring book and a snowman figurine from the dollar store

a plate of cookies: May your holiday be filled with Sweetness!

and the final day, we gave them a whisk and some Hershey Kisses.
When they opened the door, we came from the side of the house singing "We "WHISK" you a Merry "KISS"-mas!"

On Friday, the doorbell rang in the late afternoon, and when Jonah answered it, his jaw dropped! I wondered what could cause such a reaction so I looked out and this is what we found!

We opened the door and I was trying to think of the people that had babies from our ward. The family came from the side of our house singing. We all got a good laugh. They didn't let us keep the baby, but they did give us this:

At the park after school on a windy day

I put a video together of the kids having fun at the park back in November. The sound of the wind in the speakers was so loud so I put some fun music to it. (Fun to Do, from LDS.org)

Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas!

Dogs

Jonah was asked to take care of our friends' dogs while they went out of town. He has been so excited because he really wants a dog. He is trying to show us how responsible he is. He is doing a great job. Tonight we brought them here during a walk. They played in our back yard and the dogs chased balls and had lots of fun. There was also a beautiful sunset to top it off.

Jacey and Me

Jacey and I went to a Mother Daughter Activity! We got to eat dinner, make crafts, decorate sugar cookies, and sing "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" (which gets stuck in your head forever!!) The best part about the evening was that we got to leave the boys at home! :)

Update

The leaves on the trees finally started changing colors, so last Saturday I forced my children to dress in matching color shirts and go take pictures. I guess the forcing part was the downfall, because the pictures didn't really turn out. With four kids all going in their own direction, there wasn't a single picture where all of them were looking at the camera. I told the kids we WILL try again another day.

We saw this truck parked outside our friends' house,

and Joe had to take pictures of the kids under it. :)

This Saturday, the 3 younger kids and I went on a Fire Station tour. Jaxon was a little scared of the whole thing and kept hiding his eyes. But it was fun.

Joe had his birthday yesterday!
Happy Birthday Joe!

Jacey lost another tooth!

Here is her almost toothless grin!

Time Change

The time change did Jaxon in. He just couldn't make it one more minute. He was eating dinner and started falling asleep. He went to lay down on the couch and was out the rest of the night except a few minutes while we changed him into his pajamas. Poor thing.

Happy Halloween

Jaxon the Monkey

Jaren the Knight

Jacey the Witch

Jonah the Pirate

Joe was in a serious accident on Halloween....
Luckily he recovered the next day.

Here's a slideshow of more pictures: