Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful women who mother in their own special way! I am so thankful to be a daughter of God, knowing that I have an important work to do in nurturing and loving those around me. 

The errand of angels is given to women;

And this is a gift that, as sisters, we claim:

To do whatsoever is gentle and human,

To cheer and to bless in humanity’s name.

 (Emily H. Woodmansee, “As Sisters in Zion,” Hymns, no. 309.) 

 

 And oh, how thankful I am for my own wonderful mother! With my kids now I am frequently reminded of moments with my mom when I was little. Sneaking chunks of cookie dough when she was baking, feeling so excited when she let me "clean" with her, loving her attention when she tucked me in bed. So many things she taught me, and words of wisdom she shared. And I'm still learning from her, she amazes me. 

 

This morning in church a very shy woman spoke and shared an outpouring of love for her mother - "I love my mom from the bottom of my heart. I'm crazy about her. She's my best friend and always looks out for me and cares for. I miss being with her all the time. I miss her cooking. I love my mom with all my heart from the bottom of my heart."

 

Oh so true! I love my mom! 

5 Years Old

Our own little John is 5 today...I'm stunned! It's been 5 years of joy with this sweetheart. He's such a big help around here, and the best big brother ever. I'm amazed by him every day.

Just as sweet as can be

Out of this world enthusiasm

Has a knack for Legos

Nice to everyone - seriously!

Celebrating

We love our Evelyn! It has been three wonderful years with her and we look forward to many, many, many more! What a sweet heart she is! 

Everyone's favorite girl!

Very determined and independent

Endearing

Loves to color, paint, cook, create, make messes, and sing ABC's

Yes, she also loves to watch "shows"

Nice to puppies

Picture a Christmas...

Did you eat a doughnut today?

The first Friday in June happens to be National Doughnut Day. So we had a party! I'm telling you, I went to more trouble over this than I did for the kids' birthdays! I was too sick around that time, so maybe I was trying to make up for it this time.

We had games -

and made "doughnut pops" -

and ate way to many doughnuts, all day! It was fun to have a party on a whim, making those little kids so happy!

Our Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a sweet day! I think we enjoyed ours thoroughly. We didn't do much out of the ordinary, just scattered some fun surprises here and there. I had some pretty happy kids when I told them we were having pancakes with ice cream...and SPRINKLES! 

Oh man - I'm ready for round two on that one! We shared more little Valentine treats throughout the day, gave lots of hugs and cuddles and had some plain old fun.

My little boy has been disappointed that it's all over, but is it?! No way! We should celebrate love every day! But maybe with less sugar...:)

Wrapping it up - 2011

From Summer to New Years - allot has happened in between. Allow me to fill in some blanks.

Halloween - A family of Zombies. Little Johns' idea. He LOVES the "Plants Vs. Zombies" game. Here's the music video if you haven't seen it.

 

And our meager interpretation -

I was so glad for it all to be over so I could get a break from the 'zombie craze' but he continues to be quite passionate about it! Although the past few days have been all about robots - that is so much more normal for a 3 year old!

Thanksgiving was a fabulous time at my parents house. We were all there except for my older sister and her family, and my younger brother who is busy serving the Lord. The whole time just had a since of peace and happiness for me. We did the traditional yummy dishes and made tons of pie (and cheese cake!). SOOO good to just relax and be with people you love and who love you back. I didn't get many photos at all, just a few of the kids. But really, who wants to pose for a picture after eating that much food?

The "kiddie" table is always my favorite. :)

And cousins are the greatest! We miss these guys!

And then there was Christmas! The actual event was sandwiched between visits from family, grandparents and cousins and wonderfulness! It really made our new place feel even more homey.

We decorated...

we cracked nuts... (or played plants vs. zombies with them, oh the memories!)

And had a P.J. party - how CUTE are they!!!!

Oh what a beautiful morning! The kids liked all their toys, and still do! We hung balloons for an extra surprise and they were loved almost as much as the new toys! Seeing their surprised, happy little faces was so beautiful. Nothing beats it!

For the new year we made egg rolls - over a hundred of them! We're crazy like that. Little John was the photographer this time around...

I rolled them.

And dad fried them. Team work!

We made a bunch of noise (which isn't very different for us), danced throughout the day, and rang in the New Year with a good nights sleep!






Now we are on to new things! I have a list of posts in mind, but felt the need to finish up 2011. It was good to us! Here are some things to look forward to:

Homemade apple fritters (oh yes I did!)

All about our move

Making play-dough

Some good books

Homeschool musings

Communication with Love

Happy New Year everyone!

I am so looking forward to the newness of this New Year!

What will we experience and learn? What will we do better? How will we savor each day and the opportunity it brings us? 

Life IS good, and it continues on in 2012. I will be better this year, a little bit every day, just you watch me!

Party People!

Yesterday was our awesome dad's birthday, so we had a party! Balloons, cake and watermelon, yum! We had one balloon for every year daddy has been alive and wonderful. That was allot of huffing and puffing! I planned to pop them all as a game but the kids cried when I suggested it.... So to keep them contained and out of the way I strung them all together. Great idea! If I do say so myself.

Honestly, the kids had more fun than anyone (isn't that always the case?). I asked my big birthday boy what his favorite part of the day was and he said it was the note I had slipped into his pocket that morning, and the Chinese food we had for dinner. Such a sweetie! And so easy to please! Love him! 

Love

Six years ago (from yesterday) I married the love of my life! And I still love him! Actually I plan on loving him for all of eternity, the lucky man! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our crazy hitching day.

On The First Day of Summer...

So the 21st was the "official" first day of Summer and I decided I wanted to celebrate! Honestly, we didn't do much out of the ordinary, but our 'party mood' made all the difference. We spent our afternoon in the backyard with the hose and a teeny tiny kids pool. We had a bunch of balloons to sit on and pop, so that was fun!

We came in for a different kind of snack...

Oooh. Yeahhhh. 

I know these are usually campfire treats, but we had no campfire. And I wasn't about to heat the place up (even more) by turning the oven on! So I popped them in a fry pan with the lid on. Worked GREAT! Plopped those warm and gooey friends on some ice cream and we were in summer heaven! 

We were actually eating it pretty late to be classified as a "snack", so I have happily decided that this is one of our first original (to our family) traditions! First day of Summer = water games, and ice cream for dinner! Would anyone like to join us next year?

Strawberry Season!

Not only do we get to enjoy the beautiful weather we have been waiting all winter for, but we also get to have fresh strawberries, picked by our own little hands! There is something so perfect about watching my kids pick their own berry and take a big juicy bite out of it, without thinking twice.

 

We picked and picked!

Little John was very focused, and possibly could be awarded "Best Picker"

Evelyn loved it and was soon covered with ruby red stickiness. But she had a problem keeping her bucket full...

Then she decided to help with mine!

I love that girl!

What did we do with all our Strawberries? Strawberry shortcake of course! But I froze most of them, looking forward to refreshing strawberry smoothies!

It was a beautiful day!

Easter Fun!

We have a friend who has a party when her daffodils bloom! How perfect is that! Get together, have some lunch, and pick buckets full of spring! Despite the cold wind and little drizzle on Friday, we all loved it. Of course anything done outside is on my kids favorite list. Next we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Empie's for the important task of coloring eggs. I was so happy to see that my little boy loves this activity as much as I do!

 

Beautiful!

On Saturday we hunted for some "eggs". Eating candy outside is such a great treat!

And on Sunday we got dressed up fancy and had fun with family. Of course this is the only picture I got of it all!

Candy is dandy, treats are sweet, but what the Lord has done for us tops it all! I am so thankful for the Atonement and Resurrection, and that we can teach our children what all this is really about. Hope you guys had a great Easter!

We Had a Party!

This little guy turned 3 last Friday! So of course we had a party - he LOVES parties! Unfortunately I wasn't as organized for this party as I was for his sisters, but things came together and we all had a blast. It was a family affair and so mostly consisted of parents and grandparents comfortably watching the cousins "go wild". Here's a small re-cap :

It was a Robot theme, or maybe I should say Recycled Robot. I used a box and packaging material to make the above robots. On top we have robot bean bag toss (I made the bean bags too! I'll have to post about that later). You can't really see it's full wonderfulness because of the glare - but it was pretty much awesome! The kids seemed to enjoy throwing things at it. :) The bottom picture is a "bowling" robot. The kids got to roll a ball and knock all the pieces down. Another "hit"! Haha!

Next he opened presents, excitedly, yet with great care.

Of course we had cake...

But here comes his favorite part!

The face of satisfaction!

It was a great time! Mostly because we got to spend it with great people. Thanks to everyone for helping us celebrate our beautiful boy!

p.s. We are still getting good use out of the robot