Day 3: Sunday Conference

Our Sunday Conference included: homemade cinnamon rolls, conference packets, art projects, more bike-rides and walks, a cut-throat game of risk, a basketball shoot-out, Sunday dinner, and some just plain fun hanging out.

Day 2: Favorite Weekend

Conference weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year. As a child, I hated it. It meant sitting in a dark chapel for what seemed like an eternity. Now as an adult, it's 2 days listening to talks which seem to be written specifically for me, watching in the comfort of my home, surrounded by my family, and eating yummy snacks. I just love it! We spent our 2 hour breaks in between sessions at the park, on walks, and on bike rides, loving the wonderful spring weather.

Picture A Day: Day 1

For the next month, I am going to (hopefully) take a picture and blog everyday, in an attempt to better document our real-everyday-life. Life is flying by, and I want to slow down and remember it (days when I have grumpy children or when I'm a grumpy mother, I don't want to have slow down or remember :)

So today, my afternoon looks like this; 2 little boys playing Wii to celebrate the weekend. Friday is our play-date day. It's the only day I let the kids have play-dates. Am I mean? It makes my life so much easier to not have to listen to whining all week about wanting to go over to someone's house.

The girls are away on their play-dates, and the boys are at school and football practice. Right at this moment, my life is pretty cake. I only have 2 here, and they're not fighting or arguing! I am getting the house organized for the weekend, starting to think about dinner, and getting ready for my Friday night date which begins in a few hours. Hooray for weekends.

Disneyland 2011

In February, we were able to take the family for a 3 day trip to Disneyland. We had so much fun! I didn't take half as many pictures as I wanted to! Probably because my hands seemed to always be full of jackets or snacks. Taking a family of 7 to Disneyland was a lot of work! Elvis and Eugene had never been to Disneyland, so it was so much fun to watch them take it all in. One of them loved it, and the other one was overwhelmed and couldn't wait to get back to school!

(I won't name names, but their reactions were the complete opposite than what I expected. Let's just say next year someone will be staying home with a football buddy while we're at Disneyland :)

We are big pin-traders in our family, but autographers was something we haven't gotten into yet. So, we decided to try it out this trip. Isabella grabed her book and ran over to Minnie Mouse with her book. As we were walking away, she said in a very upset tone, "Ah! Minnie Mouse wrote in my book!" and ripped out the autographed page and threw it away! Too funny! I decided to give up on the autograph books after that.

Another reason this trip was so special, was because my parents and Jeff's parents were able to join us. Having both sets of grandparents with us was wonderful! Jeff's brother Brian and family were also able to come. It was so nice to see them and meet the newest cousin!

Book Club

When I found out that my friend Adrienne was doing a book club for her girls and friends, I immediately knew I wanted to do one for Callie. We asked everyone in her Activity Days group at the beginning of the year if they wanted to join our book club, where the moms and daughters would read a book together, and then meet to discuss with the others. Callie and I chose The Doll People, which we really enjoyed. There are actually three books in the series, and we are on the 3rd book (even Hayden has enjoyed listening to the stories). We had our first book club meeting on Saturday at our house.

The girls were all a little bashful and shy talking about their favorite parts of the book (when the moms were around). I'm hoping that they will get more comfortable talking and sharing as the year goes on.

We had some yummy snacks to munch on while we discussed the book. I saw somewhere in blogland these adorable doll wafer cookies, and knew I had to make them for the party. Super easy, and super cute.

My mum made clothespin dolls for me when I was little, and I still have them! I thought it would be a perfect craft for the girls to do to go along with the book. I searched around for an easy clothespin doll the girls could make on their own, and set up a little doll making station in the kitchen.

While they were easy, the moms still needed to help a lot because of the hot glue gun. I think the girls had a really fun time choosing hair color, clothes, ribbon, etc.

We ended with dessert and the unveiling of the next book. For dessert, I made chocolate covered strawberries and cupcakes for dessert. I loved both of them!

Overall, I am so excited about doing a book club with Callie. We had so much fun preparing our little discussion meeting, and I have enjoyed reading aloud to my kids more than I realized I would. Thanks to all for participating, and especially to Adrienne for the great idea.

This & That

January flew by, and here we are almost half way through February. We've been busy with the routine of school, church, and life! It's been a really hard few weeks with the older boys. It feels like we are doing more disciplining than anything else, which is very frustrating for all of us. Every time we think we are turning a new corner, we get a little surprise. (like last week when one came home with 2 day class suspension, and a few days later the other came home

with Saturday school for fighting). Jeff and I are trying to stay positive, and are getting to practice the quote "attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference".

A few things we have been enjoying this month are:

The beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Absolutely gorgeous!

Pizza Movie Nights. The kids get to make their own personal sized pizza, and we rent a new video to watch as a family, and sometimes we make it a bigger party with friends! Nanny McPhee Returns has been one of my favorites.

Celebrating Dad's 69th birthday! Happy Birthday Dad. We love you lots.

Christmas Wrap-Up

A little late posting this... but I will be glad I did later....

We had a wonderful Christmas. The kids kept saying it was going to be the best Christmas yet, and it really was. On Christmas morning, everyone slept in, and we went downstairs around 8am to see what Santa brought.

Santa brought digital cameras to the younger crowd and EFY tickets to the older crowd. Plus a stocking each filled with movies, candy, and lots of other good stuff.

The kids all drew names to see who they would be buying a present for. Everyone had to spend their own money on the gift they picked, with a $10 limit.

Eugene picked Isabella, and got her a stuffed horse, as that was the only thing she said Santa was going to bring her! Santa didn't bring her a horse, so it was awesome that Eugene did.

Elvis picked Hayden. As Hayden is a true Star Wars and Lego fan, Elvis settle on a Star Wars Lego t-shirt. It was a great pick.

Hayden picked Callie was got her a pack of knee-high socks. This girl loves socks, especially knee-high ones.

Isabella picked Eugene, she picked him out an American Eagle beanie, nicely done Bells!

And lastly, Callie picked Elvis, and got him a Quicksilver hat. This boy had been asking for a hat for some time, and finally got one.

After we opened up the rest of the gifts, we headed over to my parent's house for more gifts and relaxing with family. It was great to be together, but we missed Heather & Doug and family lots.

We had a relaxing day, and a great meal. Eugene and Austin decided to go for a polar bear swim, while the rest of us stayed cozy warm and dry inside. They lasted in the pool for about 15 minutes. Pretty impressive.