Jenneka

Fun times in Utah

2012-01-19T14:05:00.007-05:00

At Nate's house:

At Gma Sherrie's:

Eating out:

Drawing with window markers:

Playing at Grandma's school:

Aquarium:

more VA/MD pics

2012-01-12T16:34:00.009-05:00

At park near Dan's house:

Nothing shows you how big your baby is like when she holds her newborn cousin:

Pic-nic and frisbee-golf at Burke Lake:

At Erika's house:

Just Dance Kids on the wii:

In the city:

At Ben's house (Parker pulling down a wall):

Kitty-cats Anndra & Bethany trying to stay away from demolition area:

On the plane to UT:

Week after Christmas in VA/MD

2012-01-11T08:19:00.007-05:00

Good times with some of our favorite people - four of my sibs and their families in Virginia & Maryland. Our visit to the Christmas lights at the Washington DC Temple was the only time we got a picture of everyone:

(We missed Nate & Kristen, but I knew we'd see them soon in Utah).

Fun park adventures:

Waiting to get into an exhibit at the Botanical Gardens:

Eating out with the whole crew:

I'm so thankful for FAMILY! I feel so spoiled/blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life who love me. I'm really glad my sibs and I have made the effort to keep our friendships strong. I don't know what I would do without them!

P.S. I decided to stick to group pics today, but I'll follow up with more individual shots from that week soon. :)

First morning at Grandma's

2012-01-08T09:47:00.005-05:00

It snowed just for us!

Tried to catch L's jump from the garden wall, but snapped the pic a bit too soon:

Snowball fight!

They have goggles on because they were using their Nerf guns in the house right before we came outside. Lincoln's are still a little too big!

Sing with me! "Once there was a snowman..."

"snowman..."

"snowman!"

It's snow, Parker, not sand! Silly boy, put your clothes back on! His response: But Mom, I'm making a SNOWSHOE!

Not quite enough snow to make a good snow angel, but we attempted it nonetheless.

Love my boys. Happy to be here. Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T21:13:00.001-05:00

Christmas 2011

2011-12-23T16:10:00.009-05:00

We will be traveling for the holidays... and I didn't want Christmas to be hurried into the few moments between the end of Todd's 24-hour shift at the hospital and our departure, so....

We decided to have Christmas a week early. In other words, we cheated and opened presents last Sunday night! It has actually been really nice because now this week has been very relaxing. The kids have had time to enjoy their new toys. I've been able to put away all the holiday decorations & such without a rush - AND pass our Christmas tree along to a nice family who will be able to use it this year (and years to come!).

Now as I take a break from packing, I wanted to share some pics from our 'Christmas morning':

Anndra was first to open her present. Lincoln is peering inside as well - just as eager to see what's inside as she is. :)

She received a little plastic tea set.

Want a cookie?

Look on her shoulders (above) for her second present - a Dora backpack.

Lincoln received a new Dinosaur Train character. Check out that adorable little grin!

Learning how the buttons work.

"Don't bother me [to take a picture], I'm playing."

Lincoln's second gift was a set of little cars with a race track, which Parker picked out for him. I think P was more excited to play with it than L was!

Parker received a Smart Globe.

He has been busy learning all sorts of interesting facts about far away lands, comparing populations of countries, and looking up flight times to different places around the world.

The kids have had a lot of fun with their new gifts this week. Lincoln's new dinosaur has been riding on the back of his big wheel tricycle every time we go for a spin around the neighborhood (which is nearly every day). Parker has discovered the setting that plays the national anthem of each country and likes to groove to the tune from Bolivia. Anndra has been feeding her dolls (and all of us!) several times a day:

But I don't think anything can beat last year's gift. It is still the favorite activity, day after day, year-round. We love our trampoline!

Thomas Center field trip

2011-12-20T15:26:00.012-05:00

Last week, Parker's class went to the Thomas Center (a restored turn-of-the-century hotel) and visited the surrounding historic district. I found the entire experience so enjoyable - it made me want to go back to school and take a bunch of history classes! So, I'm mostly including this post for my own future remembering... and recognize that it might not be too fascinating to my blog readers. :)

However, there is also a good sprinkling of Parker pictures among all the boring ones, so you can skim through to find those, if you like.

An old original fireplace in nearly every room:

Doors had little windows above them to let out the hot air... I still don't know how ANYONE lived in Florida before air conditioning was invented!

There was a huge room with a glass ceiling that used to be a courtyard with a garden. The Christmas tree they had in there was AMAZING!

These eagles were above each pillar all around the courtyard room:

After touring the Thomas Center, we walked through the neighborhood around it and our guide told us about each historic home (but we didn't go inside them).

I didn't know that the streets used to have actual names. I'm glad they kept them on the bottom of the signs:

The kids liked these steps that were at the end of each front walk, which used to be for climbing into and out of horse-drawn carriages. Some (like the one in this pic) went up and some went down - depending on which side of the hill the house was on:

Porches galore:

(Bear with me - we're almost back to more kid pictures)

We headed back to the Thomas Center for lunch, but also got to do a little dress-up before we ate. The boys were given stiff white collars & bow-ties and the girls wore beads, purses, and fans. Our guide helped Parker with his:

Parker said his favorite part of the field trip was lunch (which we ate by the fountain near the front lawn). Go figure! You try to give kids a fun educational experience and all they really want to do is run around with their friends.

Little happenings

2011-12-20T11:34:00.004-05:00

I've been feeling lately that I want to do a better job of recording some of the little things that the kids do. So today I tried to pay attention to some of the less-significant happenings around our house. This is what I got after just a few hours.

-------------------------------

Funnies from today:

I have a very poor sense of smell - which is usually kind of a blessing, but when little ones I'm baby-sitting need their diaper changed and I don't notice it, this can be a problem. So my kids know to tell me anytime they smell something bad - and then it becomes a detective-type game as we all try to locate the source of the stink. But when I overheard the following exchange this morning, it really made me chuckle.

Lincoln (announcing): Something smells poopy.

Parker (matter-of-factly): That might be you.

------------------------------

Anndra got the little pink plastic teapot from her new tea set stuck on her hand and came over to me whimpering. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of trying to get tree sap off of Lincoln's feet & hands and we were both a bit of a mess, so I told her to go show Parker. A moment later, this is what I heard from the other room:

Parker (triumphantly): I got it out!

Anndra (with exhilaration): You ***SAVED*** my hand!

And Big Brother continues to be her very own personal hero. :)

-----------------------------

Lincoln was in the bathtub singing to himself and counting his fingers and toes. I was in the hall putting clean towels and sheets away in the linen closet. He called out a question for me:

Lincoln: Mom, what does 5 and 5 make?

Me (calling over my shoulder): 10.

Lincoln: It makes 39 for me!

-----------------------------

This is what happens when Brothers decide to play with Sister's dollhouse while she's napping:

3rd Grade Gingerbread Houses

2011-12-15T14:52:00.002-05:00

This year I got to be in charge of Parker's class activity for the holidays: making milk-carton & graham cracker gingerbread houses (a long-standing tradition at his school).

We had so much fun adding all THIS:

...to houses like THIS:

...to make THESE:

Parker's house is the third one over with the gold foil 'smoke' coming up from a licorice 'chimney':

I love seeing how creative and silly the kids get:

Mrs. Hope, Parker's teacher, has been amazing this year:

It always makes my day when I get to visit Parker's class because I can see how much all his classmates adore him. Thanks, Parker, for being such a great kid! I love you.

It's beginning to look...

2011-12-08T16:34:00.004-05:00

...a lot like Christmas!

We found this fake Christmas tree next to the dumpster at our apartment complex in Maine when Parker was 2. We were extremely thankful to happen upon this FREE 'gift' because we couldn't afford to buy one that year. And it has served us well since, but I'm happy that this is the last year we will be using it.

This pic is a little blurry, but I like how you can see the tree's reflection in the mirror and how Anndra is climbing up on the chair to hang an ornament on the higher branches:

As you can see in the picture above, Anndra began to get very tired right at the end (we probably shouldn't have waited until bedtime to start decorating!).

So she refused to look at the camera when we tried to take one last picture in front of the finished tree:

And since she almost never makes this face, I had to include it:

Can't you just see her thinking, "No more pictures, Dad!"

toy car video

2011-12-08T16:30:00.002-05:00

Oops! This video was supposed to be included in the last post.

Parker chasing Lincoln with a remote-control car:

the rest of the trip

2011-12-05T18:12:00.004-05:00

Here are a bunch of other little moments from our time in Utah.

Lots of outdoor fun - loving the cold weather!

Cuddles, hugs, and sleeping babes:

We had the rare tearful and fearful moments:

But mostly it was all smiles & happy times!

-like dancing in new pajamas:

or digging through Daddy's old legos in the basement:

Hogle Zoo

2011-11-29T21:29:00.005-05:00

We spent Friday at Utah's Hogle Zoo and pretty much had the whole place to ourselves! I guess the cold weather and the fact that it was the day after Thanksgiving kept people away.

One baby monkey was so excited to see visitors that he came right up to the window - much to Anndra's delight:

The kids loved the ape house:

Even though this next one isn't a great picture, I had to include it because when this gorilla came toward us it completely freaked me out - I was suddenly afraid the glass between us wasn't going to be enough to keep us safe. That is one seriously intimidating animal!

If you look closely, you'll see the tigers behind us in this pic:

We saved the train ride for last. The whistle was super loud, and yet Anndra managed to sleep through the whole thing - amazing!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-29T09:39:00.007-05:00

We spent most of last week in Utah for the holiday. On Wednesday we ran a hundred errands and hung out with my little brother, awesome sister-in-law, and adorable nephew:

Parker & Lincoln had fun getting to know this baby cousin a little better:

And when Ethan got a little fussy, even Todd took a turn to help cheer him up:

Thursday morning we visited my Grandma Sherrie & Grandpa John:

--I love Anndra's hair in this picture:

The kids and Debbie could have stayed all day just to play with the dog:

Then we ate Thanksgiving dinner at Todd's aunt's house and made Christmas ornaments afterward:

I'm saving the rest of the week for the next post, but I want to say THANKS to Nate, Grandma, Vicki, and Debbie for making the first two days of our trip absolutely WONDERFUL!

November Girl

2011-11-17T12:31:00.005-05:00

This post is entirely about Anndra, but I wanted to start with this picture of the three of them because it reminds me of growing up with 2 older brothers. When I took this picture, she looked at the camera for a second but didn't dare take her eyes off the boys for too long because she never knows what they might do next!

I simply can't say enough about how much I'm enjoying having a daughter! It seems like she is the perfect balance of sweet, adventurous, shy, loving, independent, grateful, intelligent, helpful, sociable, and determined.

She's very curious and inquisitive, but not too prone to mischief.

She loves to laugh and be silly, but also knows how to be serious or reverent at the appropriate times (she's always eager to say prayers and take her turn during family scriptures).

She knows how to share and say she's sorry and will usually do both without reminding and/or coaxing.

One of the funny quirks she's developing is twisting her hair into knots. I am constantly untangling them. But sometimes if one of the knots is bugging her and I haven't gotten to it yet, she will rip it out and bring it to me. Here is one that was roughly the size of a dime:

Silly girl. Hopefully she kicks this habit while she still has hair left!

One other quirk - showing off her feet:

The 15th already?

2011-11-15T13:34:00.004-05:00

HOW can it possibly be halfway through November already?? I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week. Time goes way too fast sometimes. Here are a few things we've been up to since Halloween...

More fun teaching Lincoln's preschool class:

(pretending the storage tubs are space rockets)

More fun watching Brooke:

(poor girl fell and busted her lip, which bled like crazy so I put her in the bath to clean it all off and Anndra got in too to cheer her up)

Our boys FINALLY made it to a Gator Football Game:

(we figured it was an experience one ought to have before leaving this town)

Finding butterflies on bike rides:

(the kids decided it was sleeping - trying to hibernate since it forgot to fly south for the winter)

Very short Beach day. We dressed for the cold, but what we didn't count on was the unbelievable wind. The kids had a little fun when we first got there:

But then the wind kicked up so much that it felt like being in a sandstorm. We took shelter under towels for awhile - hoping that it would let up - but eventually gave up and went home.

Parker & Lincoln and their friends went out to "explore" the neighborhood and I sent the camera with them. Here are some of the pics they came back with:

Halloween & Oct Playdates

2011-11-03T20:44:00.005-04:00

Our Halloween weekend was pretty good. We had the church trunk-or-treat on Saturday night:

And our ninjas enjoyed trick-or-treating on Monday night:

Anndra was feeling yucky from an immunization she received, so she didn't stay up to trick-or-treat. And besides, she was still refusing to wear a costume... how do you explain to a 2-year-old that you have to dress up to get candy?

Also included in this post are pics from some of the MANY happy playdates we had last month. Enjoy!

Looking back at these pictures makes me realize how much good use we've gotten out of our backyard, wii, and playroom. I'm so thankful to have such a kid-friendly house. I love hosting my kids' friends.

Parker is NINE today!

2011-10-27T13:26:00.006-04:00

We've been celebrating Parker's birthday for a couple of weeks already, so I think he's pretty happy that now it actually IS his big day and he can say he's 9! Here are some pics from his party last week:

Following a family tradition from my childhood, our kids have family parties on even years and friend parties on odd years. So we gave Parker the choice of 1) having lots of friends come to a party at our house or 2) going to a fun place for the party and inviting 2 close friends. He requested the second option and picked Stevie B's - a pizza buffet with arcade games - as the location.

Checking out the prizes they could earn with the tickets they win:

Easy to serve cake - 9 cupcakes in the shape of a 9:

Opening presents while friends, Grandma & Lincoln look on:

(I love the way Syd is looking up at him in this last pic)

Hello and Goodbye

2011-10-25T10:44:00.008-04:00

We took another feels-too-short-but-is-really-just-long-enough trip to Alabama. We said HELLO to our new baby nephew/cousin, Bruce:

- and GOODBYE to Mom/Grandy since this was the last time we'd see her before she & Dad leave for their mission.

My boys were happy to give Bruce attention, but I think Anndra couldn't figure out what the big deal was. She'd point to him and say "baby" - but she wasn't very interested. At least the boys bonded:

We attended church with Jess & fam - and it happened to be the Sunday of their primary program. It was fun to see Jane and Maren do their parts.

More happy smiles and other silliness:

Sunday evening we took the kids on a nature walk and they loved collecting leaves, pine-cones, sticks, etc. in their little bags:

It was beautiful weather, so we ALL went (even Bruce):

Parker was really good about showing the camera his treasures:

The other kids were too busy running from one thing to the next and seeing whose bag was fullest:

This next pic is funny because Jessie stopped all the kids to point out a big fire-ant nest and warn them to watch for these and not step on them. Then about two seconds after I took this shot Anndra walked right into it!

We tried to get a picture of the kids on a merry-go-round we passed, but it kept turning even when no one was pushing it... so it didn't turn out very well:

Cute pic of Anndra (too bad the road is in the background):

Right before we left, we lined the kids up and had them hold signs for their ages because we thought it was fun that right now we have a kid for each digit from zero to five:

Vacation Weekend in Orlando

2011-10-18T12:33:00.007-04:00

Grandma Debbie flew to Orlando Friday and we met her there for a fun weekend at the Nickelodeon Hotel. Parker has been asking to go back ever since we stayed there for Lincoln's first birthday (March 2009). It was great to get away from home without having to go too far (and it was great to get the Florida resident discount!).

When we got to the hotel, the boys wanted to dog-pile, but Anndra wasn't that into it.

We kicked off our weekend with some early trick-or-treating - an event the hotel was putting on to gear up for Halloween. Parker and Lincoln were excited to dress up like ninjas:

Lincoln insisted that we call him Poison Dragon Ninja for the next two days. If we slipped and accidentally called him Lincoln, he would say, "No! I'm NOT Lincoln! I'm Poison Dragon Ninja!"

The only thing Anndra wanted to wear was her little Minnie Mouse purse:

I was surprised by how much walking we ended up doing just to get to all the places in the hotel that were giving out candy. This place was huge!

Everyone was SO NICE to the boys and they loved getting many, many compliments on their costumes.

The next day was POOL DAY! (and for the first time in years, Todd actually got in the water).

Next to the pool was a large water-park structure with tons of slides and a humongous bucket of green slime that got tipped over once a day to drench everyone below it. Here is Parker after he got SLIMED:

There was also a smaller splash/slide area for kids under 40 inches - at 39" Lincoln was just barely too short to go on the big kid slides. But after he got over his initial disappointment, he discovered that the 'baby' slides were fun too:

Happy kids = Happy parents

Another happiness was the big yellow cabana we rented - complete with ceiling fan, TV, mini-fridge full of cold water bottles, table & chairs, lounge chairs, and an endless supply of warm towels (straight from the dryer). We felt very pampered and it was nice to have a place for the kids to rest and warm up - or eat or nap or whatever - in between swims. There was an outlet for charging the ipad Grandma was using to read and it gave her privacy and shade (without having to be in the hotel room) while we were enjoying the water.

Another bonus was being able to keep Anndra's potty chair out by the pool with us (since she still refuses to use regular size toilets - silly girl).

Finally we dined in the hotel restaurant and celebrated our two October birthdays - Anndra & Parker:

Anndra is 2!!!

2011-10-09T19:32:00.004-04:00

Today was ALL ABOUT ANNDRA... We tried to help her realize what a special day it was by using the word "Birthday" as much as possible. We called her Birthday Girl all day. We made sure her nursery class sang Happy Birthday to her at church this morning. She had a Birthday Lunch and took a Birthday Nap. After her nap, she got to watch a Birthday Show on the computer. We gave her Birthday Hugs and Birthday Kisses. And of course we had Birthday Cake after her Birthday Dinner. ...by the end of the day she was running around the house saying "Happy Birthday!" at the top of her lungs! I think she gets it now. :)

We let her open her present right before cake. It was too big for wrapping paper, so we wrapped it in a blanket instead.

When she saw it and we asked her if she knew what it was, she replied, "Princess House!"

There were so many little dolls & furniture to look at - she didn't know what to do first! - so the other kids jumped in to help her set it up.

They were all having such a good time that they almost didn't want to stop for cake!

As you can see in the picture above, she was VERY excited about the little Dora paper plates. We bought them a week ago and she's been carrying them around with her ever since. For her, one of the best parts of cake-time was that she FINALLY got to use her plates!

A Birthday Clip of the happy Birthday Girl:

Everyone enjoying cake - Yum, Yum!:

Thanks to these friends for helping us celebrate!

Anndra, we love you! We're so thankful for these two wonderful years with you! We're very proud of the big girl you're growing up to be!

Kite videos

2011-10-05T20:35:00.003-04:00

On Saturday Parker was given a kite as a prize at a friend's birthday party. There wasn't much wind that day, but he figured out that he could still fly the kite if he was moving fast enough.

Lincoln was inspired to finally try out a kite he was given for his birthday in March. Warning: Parker took this video, so don't watch it if shaky camera work makes you sick!

Two weekend trips

2011-10-02T13:04:00.008-04:00

The past two weeks have been eventful.

First, the kids and I traveled to Alabama to catch a quick visit with Erika & Brian while they stopped at Jessie & Brad's on their way to their new home in Maryland.

So, of course, I have to share many cousin pics:

Four days later I got on a plane and flew to Utah to spend time with some dear family members in need. I was lucky enough to attend the Relief Society Broadcast at the Conference Center with these three wonderful ladies:

I returned Monday night and a few days later I helped throw a birthday party for these two boys:

And today I am enjoying a wonderful General Conference weekend. Whew!

Oh yes, one other thing. Parker also spent a week doing Junior Safety Patrol:

Preschool Feelings

2011-09-29T12:11:00.008-04:00

I've had four turns to teach Lincoln's preschool class so far and I've really enjoyed it! This week our theme was "Feelings" - so this morning I did a little photo shoot with the kids. They loved making faces that showed the emotions we'd been talking about... especially when I turned the camera around each time to show them what they looked like! Here are some of the cutest ones:

Happy/Silly

Scared

Mad

Laughing

Nervous/Worried

Surprised

Sleepy

Frustrated

Bashful/Shy

Excited

Shrugging

Sad

and Confused (she's saying "I don't know")

I'm also throwing in a few pics from Tuesday's class. Making mud soup:

"Gathering activity" - something the kids do while waiting for the other students to arrive:

My Parents' Mission Call

2011-09-09T08:50:00.010-04:00

My Mom & Dad received their mission call at the end of last week. They have been called to serve in the West Indies Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They leave in November and will serve for 18 months - which means they will probably come home in May 2013.

Dominica - the island where Todd did part of medical school - is located in the West Indies Mission, so I decided to post a few pictures from our time there. Please bear with me as a take a little walk down memory lane. We moved to Dominica when Parker was 6 weeks old and left when he was 18 months old.

The possibility that Mom and Dad might be assigned to live and teach in Dominica has got me thinking about all our Dominican friends and wondering how they are doing now. Like the little neighbor girl in the picture with Parker above - she's 9 years old now... it's hard to imagine!

Here are more Dominican friends at a church pot-luck:

And the baptism of Josephine (woman on the right above):

She was baptized by one of the medical students (our group mission leader) because there were NO MISSIONARIES allowed on the island at the time:

As her visiting teacher in the months following her baptism, I grew to love this beautiful woman - and admire her testimony as one of the FIRST people in her country to join the church:

Another Dominican we helped teach and baptize was a man named Owen. He lived in a tiny village high in the mountains and no transports ran on Sundays, so he got up at 4am and walked for hours to get to church every week.

Here he is on the Sunday that the then mission president came to visit our little group:

We tried to take a group picture each semester. Here are some of them:

Todd was asked to be the group leader second semester. I found a copy of the form he had to submit to the school so that we could hold institute classes on Friday nights:

My parents actually came to visit us while we were there. Ready to go back to this, Mom and Dad?

I have a feeling your Christmas decorations in December will incorporate a few seashells!

The rest of my pics are just to show my sibs (and anyone else who's interested) a little of what island life is like for the locals. For example, Market Day is a BIG deal:

There will be plenty of beautiful sights (like waterfalls and ocean views)...

...but Mom and Dad will also see lots of this:

...people working very hard to make tiny amounts of money - doing whatever they can to get by...

...and living in very humble circumstances. Here are typical buildings in the villages:

Examples of buildings in the neighborhoods in town:

But don't get me started on the weather - I could go on and on! Here's just one example. We decided to photograph a common occurrence: it would be totally rainy one minute and then bright & sunny the next. This picture was taken from our back door (notice the laundry, bottom left, that is getting soaked):

And this picture (also from our back door) was taken LESS than 5 minutes later:

So, Mom & Dad, whether your mission travels take you up winding roads into the jungle...

...or down to the windy coast...

I pray that the Lord will lead you to the pure in heart. I'm really excited for you because I know that there are so many good people waiting for your love and guidance.

First Day of Preschool

2011-09-06T21:05:00.004-04:00

Lincoln started preschool today and had a GREAT time. Notice in the picture above that he's got a theme going on with his out-fit: new spider-man shoes, Parker's old spider-man shirt, and (since it was a very drizzly day) his spider-man umbrella. I'm just glad he didn't try to talk me into letting him wear his actual spider-man costume!

Anndra was excited too... for one-on-one time with Mommy.

Lincoln with his classmates (and his sister):

Here's a goofy/happy face from Parker (taken over the weekend):

Lincoln got really excited about a hammering project yesterday and Todd took these cute pics:

Saturday morning Anndra, Lincoln, and I woke up to a beautiful sunrise. Before I could explain to Anndra that Parker and Daddy probably wanted to sleep in, she was banging on their doors yelling, "Orange Sky! Orange Sky!" She wanted so much for them to come out and see it. What a sweetie.

Two quick stories

2011-08-29T16:32:00.002-04:00

Anndra said her first spontaneous & sincere "Thank you" today. She says it all the time, but usually after being prompted or after receiving a treat or something. It's not as much about genuine gratitude as it is about knowing that's what she's supposed to say.

This morning she got her little fingers caught in the VCR. She's usually really good about leaving that type of equipment alone, but I think she was trying to see if there was a video inside. She called out: "Mom, I stuck!" So I came over and pushed the little door up so she could pull her fingers out.

She looked at me with this expression in her eyes like I had just saved her life. She threw her arms around me and murmured a very enthusiastic "Thank you!" It completely melted me. Not because she said thank you without being prompted - she's done that several times before just out of habit - but because she was truly glad I helped her and wanted to express it.

A moment to remember.

***********

Lincoln sits on the back of my bike when I ride with Parker and our neighbors to school each morning. Today I wore pants with no pockets so I asked Lincoln to hold the garage door opener until we got back home. I told him he must hold onto it tightly so that it wouldn't fall and must not push the buttons until I said he could (talk about a test of self-control for a 3-year-old, right?). He did a great job and I think he enjoyed the sense of responsibility.

Then this afternoon my neighbor (who usually rides her bike to the school to pick up the kids) called to say she had to work late. So I grabbed the garage door opener and hurried to lift Lincoln up into his seat. In all this rushing about, the opener slipped from my grasp and fell to the ground.

As I struggled with Lincoln's buckles, I heard him say in a very serious voice: "Uh oh, Mom. You dropped the clicker. That means you are in BIG trouble!" It made me laugh so hard inside that he could assume that I would 'get in trouble' for something like that! I had to resist uttering a flippant remark like "Oh really... what do you think is going to happen to me?"

Life with young children is never boring.

End-of-summer Joys

2011-08-27T16:33:00.003-04:00

Parker's first day of 3rd grade came and went with relative ease. It felt a little strange to have only two children at home with me the first day or two, but we've all adjusted quickly. Lincoln and Anndra certainly have school envy (notice the backpacks they've insisted on wearing while pretending to be big kids who go to school like Parker)...

...but at least they have each other. They are always coming up with the cutest creative games together. It is so fun to be their mom!

Another happiness is having friends who left for the summer return! We're awfully glad to have this little princess close by again - to hang out with our jaguar and cowgirl Minnie Mouse.

We are potty-training Anndra and she is doing REALLY well! We are at the stage where she wears underwear whenever we're at home and only puts a diaper on when she goes to sleep or leaves the house. I can't believe how much she's grown up this summer.

Speaking of growing, her hair is getting long! We can almost get it all into a ponytail at the back of her head. She hates when I touch her hair, but I'm hoping she'll grow out of that phase before long.

Baby Girl thinks she can jump rope

2011-08-22T08:30:00.002-04:00

But she'll only do it if we take turns...

This week

2011-08-14T20:28:00.005-04:00

At long last... front teeth for P

2011-08-05T09:56:00.006-04:00

But getting him to show his teeth in a smile is tricky - I got him to laugh and took this pic:

Anndra is learning to spell a little bit and it was at about this age when Lincoln got his name puzzle, so yesterday her own puzzle arrived and she was in heaven (because she's always coveted his):

And since Parker didn't want to be left out, we ordered one for him too:

He grabbed the camera and started doing a little photo shoot with his letters. My favorite one was this pic that he took with the camera upside down so that it would look like his name was hanging from the 'ceiling' - so clever!

Another thing Parker has been interested in lately is creating his own recipes for smoothies. If you ask him about it, he'll only tell you 2 or 3 of the ingredients because the rest are secret. But don't worry, he won't forget them - he records each recipe in his journal:

Anndra has gotten so FAST at climbing up to get a hold of things she's interested in. For example, I fixed myself an english muffin with pb&j and set it on the table. I stepped away for three seconds to grab my glass of milk and turned around to see my stealthy one-year-old doing this:

Is it just me, or does it seem like there is some kind of magnetism between sticky things and little kids' fingers? They always find each other!

The last thing to share in this first August post is from a morning this week when Todd went to work late (stayed home because he knew he was going to have to work all evening). While I slept (mmm, morning sleep - so delicious!), he got the kids involved in a superhero game:

It was so fun to wake up to Anndra running around the house yelling: MAT-Man! MAT-Man! (side note: her other newest word is band-aid, which she says "mand-ay").

Lincoln wore his spiderman suit the rest of the day and wanted to sleep in it that night.

I love how dress-up is a game that kids of MANY ages can enjoy (let's face it - even grow-ups enjoy it sometimes)... too bad they didn't get Todd to put on a cape or something and do more than just be the camera-man. :)

a few more July moments

2011-07-29T19:56:00.008-04:00

It has been a great month - full of fun, laughter, sharing, adventure, and friendship. One of this month's highlights was a gathering at our house for the children that will be in Lincoln's preschool class in September.

I love this one of Anndra and Lincoln's friend eye-ing each other:

Todd did more canoeing with co-workers:

We've continued to enjoy time with Brooke:

We've made lots of trips to the pool. Anndra calls swimming "doo-imming"

Of course, we've also had to get creative with indoor activities since the unbearable summer heat has made it difficult to spend time outside.

Family Room 'Bowling'

Finally, you know you're in the height of the summer swelter when even the squirrels are too hot to run and play:

Unusual Beach Day

2011-07-20T07:17:00.003-04:00

Monday was an adventure! I headed to the beach with our 15-year-old babysitter and 5 kids (my three plus two friends). However, when we got there we found out that a tropical storm was building somewhere out on the ocean and the resulting high winds made for treacherous waves and a killer rip-tide. Lifeguard trucks were driving up and down the beach announcing that it was a 'red flag day' and not to enter the water.

Well you can imagine the disappointment on our little tykes' faces. But we tried to make the best of it (some succeeding better than others). Parker and his friend got busy building in the sand...

...but Lincoln was in denial - he insisted on wearing his swimming vest even though he couldn't swim:

The other thing that made this trip to the beach unusual was that we forgot the bag with the sunscreen, hats, goggles, clean clothes, diapers, and Anndra's swimming suit! THANKFULLY, Parker's friend had sunscreen in her bag (otherwise, we would have had to leave after about 20 minutes to avoid being burnt to a crisp!). It was too windy for our umbrella so there was NO hiding from the sun. I decided to let Anndra 'swim' in just the shorts she was wearing (so she'd have a clean/dry shirt to wear on the way home).

Anndra and her buddy hanging out with the babysitter:

One of my boys was pretty grouchy the entire day. In this picture, he was doing the "I'm NOT going to look at the camera, Mom" thing:

In contrast, my other boy was giddy. Nothing could wipe the smile off of this guy's face!

A few anecdotes

2011-07-12T07:40:00.008-04:00

Parker

Parker is having so much fun exercising his imagination this summer. He has been doing lots of reading and enjoys getting lost in the worlds his books describe. But the best part is how these worlds inspire the adventures, projects, games, etc. that he chooses to do when he's not reading.

For example, he loves to draw dragons and create all the 'rules' that govern them - like what powers they have, what can hurt them, what makes them stronger, and so on... the ones that he can ride, the ones that Lincoln can ride, the ones that are enemies...

The other day he said, "I'm one quarter mutant, one quarter wizard, one quarter potionist, and one quarter vampire." And then a little later he said, "Well those are the things I pretend to be, but what I REALLY am is a special effects expert."

Lincoln

Lincoln LOVES to ask, "Why?" All day long... no matter what we're talking about... we can't move on from a conversation until he's asked "why?" at least a dozen times. It usually doesn't bother me too much. I actually kind of like trying to come up with explanations he can understand - like it's a little game between the two of us.

But sometimes he asks "why?" when I give him an assignment, and I have to say, "I don't have time to explain right now - I just need you to do it." Well the other day right after Parker and Lincoln finished their morning chores, I asked him to do something (I think Anndra had spilled some water and I told him to get me a towel from the kitchen). And instead of saying "why?" he said, "But I already DID my jobs."

I could tell he wasn't trying to get out of doing work. He just honestly wanted to know why I was giving him another chore to do. So I answered, "This isn't a job - this is a favor - and because you love me, you should want to help me out." A big 'light-bulb-coming-on' expression came over his face (like "Ooooh, now I get it!") and he ran like lightning to get that towel.

Anndra

Anndra is talking more and more every day. She has been a lot happier lately and I think it is because her improved speech has eased her frustration from being less-able to communicate. One of her cutest recent phrases is: "Got you!" She likes to run across the room, grab her blanket (or teddy bear or doll) and yell, "Got you!" - as though this inanimate object had been trying to run away from her. Silly girl.

Months ago when she was just saying her first words, we liked to make up little tricks to get her to say these early words. One trick was to push her in the swing way up high over our heads and hold her up there saying "Ready...?" - we wouldn't let go until she said "Go!" Now fast forward to a family scripture study last week. Like an echo, she was repeating each word of a sentence: "...and [and] they [they] stood [stood] ready..." at which point she paused and - instead of repeating the word 'ready' - looked around with a smile and squealed "Go!"

She is also becoming a great little helper in the kitchen. Every time she hears me start to cook something, she runs over to the table, pulls out a chair, pushes it over next to me and climbs up. She takes it all very seriously. You can see (below) the concentration on her face as she stirs the eggs for the french toast we were making. What a doll.

I love these kids!!!

A step forward

2011-07-08T21:02:00.003-04:00

Anndra recently progressed to a new level of participation in our family scripture study. Instead of just "listening" (goofing around while we read), she repeats some of the words of a verse:

Short but Sweet

2011-07-03T14:02:00.008-04:00

The kids and I drove up to Alabama last week to visit Jess and her family. I took these pictures on our way as the sky cleared after a storm.

The trip was very brief (2 days), but we had such a good time. Thanks for (once again) being a superb hostess, Sis! And for giving me more time with my darling nieces.

One of the best parts of the trip was enjoying the pool:

Parker and Jane goofing around in the water:

Lincoln and Maren jumping in:

Anndra and Kate sticking to the shallow end:

The mamas staying shaded in sun hats:

In the afternoon when it was too hot to go outside:

In the very early morning, we went to the playground:

The sunrise was beautiful:

I caught Lincoln doing a silly little dance

Maybe in his mind it was martial arts, but to me it looked like a dance:

I finally switched the camera to video to catch the last of it:

What a great kid.

More Happy Times in June

2011-07-02T13:08:00.006-04:00

This post is for a few things from the last month that I haven't had a chance to put on the blog yet. For example, some friends invited me to go with them to Orlando to visit the temple:

Also, we went to Parker's school for his end-of-the-year program (it had a 'luau' theme and he was dressed as a Fire Dancer):

One of the activities at the school that day was a sunglasses-making craft. Anndra modeled the glasses Parker made:

We've had some great moments of silliness:

...including a DOG PILE on Grandpa Paul!

We tried out a free splash park in a neighboring town:

We will definitely be going back!

Backyard adventures:

Finally, Anndra has become obsessed with DORA. She loves her Dora pajamas (hand-me-downs) and her Dora life-jacket... and the other day she saw that her cousin has Dora shoes and immediately wanted to try them on. She can name all the characters and loves to point them out in her Dora books. But I think the most interesting part of her obsession is her new fascination with backpacks:

It's plain to see she wants to be just like Dora!

St. Augustine Beach

2011-06-25T10:07:00.005-04:00

Well folks, I've once again uploaded more pictures than I meant to... it's just too hard to choose the best ones! So for those of you who stick with me to the end of the post, I thank you. :)

*****

We (except Todd) had a great beach day a couple weeks ago. We met some friends at St. Augustine beach (our first time there) and it was a BEAUTIFUL day. We set up under the pier at first because it was low tide:

The younger kids enjoyed the little pools around each support (notice my awesome friend, Michelle, photographing our cuties):

But of course, it wasn't long before Lincoln decided to hit the waves:

You might have to magnify this one to see that Lincoln and his friend are holding hands - aww!

Does it surprise anyone that Parker is the leader of this little adventure?:

Parker has his goggles on because there were tons of tiny fish in the tidal pools. Thanks for this great pic, Michelle!:

Here are two more dear friends. Tina is my age and hadn't been to the beach in over 20 years! "Lifeguard" Heather helped her have the courage to walk out into the water:

Eventually, after several more friends joined us, we had to relocate up by the rocks because the tide was coming in. In fact, the water kept surprising us and trying to pull our towels, bags, etc. out into the waves before we even knew it was coming! Here's the whole group once we finally got set up in our last spot:

Lincoln liked rock climbing almost as much as he had enjoyed the wave-jumping:

It wasn't long before Anndra joined him... digging for treasure, I think:

Look what I found, Mom!

One last pic of Lincoln and his 'girlfriend' - she's not around right now and he is sad. What's that saying... "Women: can't live with 'em, can't live without em"? Indeed:

Trip to Montana

2011-06-21T21:27:00.010-04:00

We were lucky enough to spend our anniversary in beautiful northwest Montana last week. Todd was invited to interview for a job there and his prospective employers paid to fly the whole family out for a visit. We had a wonderful time.

Moments after stepping off the airplane - so happy to be here! (You'll notice Anndra is holding one of her shoes. She never keeps them on for more than 2 seconds these days).

We immediately turned around and took this picture from our gate:

But it was the only sunny picture we got the whole trip because a few minutes later it looked like this:

And then it was either raining or drizzling the rest of the trip. But we still thought it was beautiful.

The kids loved the yard behind the condominium building where we stayed. They called it "the park" even though there wasn't a playground:

Notice the sweatshirts. We went from 100 degree weather in Florida to refreshing coolness in Montana (low 50s).

The day after Todd's interviews we drove up to Glacier National Park.

Even though it was overcast and we couldn't see the mountains very well, it was a breathtaking experience. Every time the clouds would part for a second, Todd would snap a picture:

Due to the record snowfall during the winter, the rivers and waterfalls were bigger than ever (at least according to what we were told).

One waterfall on this river was so powerful it seemed like a smaller version of Niagara Falls:

Those of you who know Todd can imagine how happy he was to be back in his beloved Rocky Mountains and to enjoy all this cold, wet summer weather:

Lincoln was really excited when he saw this sign, but we didn't have time to hike to it:

Our last stop in Glacier Park was Avalanche Creek (which is as far as anyone can drive into the park right now because they haven't finished clearing the snow from the road higher up).

The kids LOVED throwing rocks into the river. Todd taught Parker how to skip rocks for the first time. And Lincoln is STILL asking me to take him back - even though I've tried to explain to him how far away it is... He is very much in the "Why?" phase these days.

The 3 guys:

The 3 girls:

Anndra is still up to her hair-pulling tricks. :(

One cute story I have to tell: Anndra was absolutely enamored with the pink flowered car-seat we keep for her to use at Grandma's house. She kept saying "my flowers, my flowers" and would get all excited and point to each flower saying the colors, etc.

When we got to the SLC airport, she came unglued when she saw us putting it in a large black trash bag (to protect it as it went through the checked baggage system). I don't know if she thought we were throwing it away or what, but she threw the biggest fit ever - screaming and crying and not wanting to let go of it. She must have thought she'd never see it again.

But the best part of this story is her REACTION when we got the seat back at baggage claim in Montana. You never saw a little girl so happy in your life. It was adorable. I wish we had it on video. It got me thinking about all the times we freak out about things in this life only because we are too 'young' to understand that everything is going to be alright. I guess that is where trust/faith comes in.

Anyway, in summary: we loved our time in Montana and we can't wait to go back!

What can I say? My kids are adorable

2011-06-13T07:19:00.009-04:00

****Warning**** This post is nothing but tons and tons of cute pictures of my 3 kids and contains no interesting news or tidbits about our lives and what's going on with us right now. So feel free to skip it if you are not a grandparent of these cuties.

Anndra:

Lincoln:

After trying on Mommy's lipstick:

While playing around with the camera:

Parker:

At his soccer team's end-of-the-season party:

with his teacher on the last day of school:

doing one of his invented science experiments:

As promised, pictures Grandy took at the park:

Lincoln & Anndra are finally learning to share their toys better:

Check it out - both hands in the baggie at the same time with NO screaming or hitting!!!

They are even learning to share their mom! The fact that Lincoln is letting Anndra sit on my lap for this story time and not insisting that he be in my lap as well is an INCREDIBLY big step for him:

Of course, they are always happiest when Parker joins in too.

I am LOVING having THREE kids - our family feels just right. :)

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Paul

2011-06-10T19:17:00.006-04:00

My Dad turned 61 while staying with us - which gave us the privilege of helping him celebrate! This included a trip to Baskin Robbins so he could redeem his birthday coupon. :)

Parker took the following pics:

On the big day, we substituted oatmeal raisin cookies for birthday cake:

Ever young at heart (playing wii with Lincoln):

Glad we could be part of making your birthday special, Dad. Love you!

**********

Speaking of birthdays, best wishes go out to Maren (turning 4 years old today) and CONGRATULATIONS N & K for the birth of your beautiful baby boy!

A visit from Grandy & Grandpa Paul

2011-06-08T19:44:00.004-04:00

My parents have been here in Florida to see us and now have gone to Alabama to see Jess. My kids LOVED all the extra attention!

Grandpa Paul is the king of playing "This little piggie..." (Anndra has been asking for it several times a day since they left):

Please ignore the remains of chocolate doughnut all over Linc's face in this next pic:

He may be a grandpa, but that doesn't mean he's too old to play on the tampoline!

Grandy trying out Parker's mandolin:

It's always nice to have extra arms around to help with after-bath-snuggles. And I can't resist including one of Todd too:

Mom, I know this pic isn't the best of you, but I'm such a fan of bedtime stories that I just have to post it:

My Dad was a big help at dinner time. Not only did he faithfully take care of the dishes throughout the visit, but he also organized the grandkids to help get the corn ready to cook:

I had a primary meeting at the park Saturday - and while I was busy with that, Grandy was taking pictures of the kids at the playground (watch for these in a future post). When we got back, she pulled the pics up on her computer so the kids could see themselves in them:

Anndra's "little sister"

2011-06-05T21:28:00.004-04:00

It has been really great to have Brooke in our home so often this year. She is a wonderful playmate for Anndra.

I took a bunch of pictures the other day while they were playing in my chair:

They were having such fun - Laughing and giggling together. It is nice for Anndra to have another girl in the house. :)

May Birthdays

2011-06-01T22:13:00.004-04:00

I love that Todd and I have our birthdays the same week every year. This year both our b-days fell on the weekend, which made them easy to celebrate: any day that we both get to be home with the kids together feels like a special day.

Kelli came up from Orlando for my birthday and got to see Parker's last soccer game of the season. We had a fairly relaxing day and got big muffins from Sams instead of b-day cake. Anndra was very excited about helping me blow out the candle:

Then it was Todd's turn and, again, Anndra was a big helper. We decided to put all 34 candles on his cake and she loved pushing them into the frosting:

It took Todd so long to light all the candles, that by the time he got to the last ones the first ones were very short - nearly melted down to the frosting. So we sang a quick Happy Birthday and then he blew them all out with one breath.

What a handsome Birthday Boy!

It is hard to believe that next year on our birthdays we'll be preparing to move - these past three years in Florida have gone by so fast - I feel like I will blink and we'll be leaving already. But I have a feeling we have a great year ahead. :)

Best Big Brother on the Planet

2011-06-01T21:45:00.003-04:00

It makes me a very happy mom when I walk into my kids' room and see this:

Words truly cannot express how wonderful Parker is with his little brother and little sister.

With a six year gap between them, I knew I needed to be careful not to ask Parker to help with his younger siblings too much. But I almost never ask because he just does it on his own! He genuinely WANTS to spend time with them.

I hope that as Anndra and Lincoln grow older, they will realize how lucky they are to have such a patient, caring, wise, fun older brother.

Camp Crystal

2011-05-28T13:40:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago the entire second grade at Parker's elementary school took a field trip to a place called Camp Crystal. I was lucky enough to go along as a chaperon. I always appreciate opportunities to spend time with Parker while he's around his friends because I feel like I get to see another side of him - and sort of peek into this other life he has at school.

Parker and S on the bus on our way there:

We went on a nature hike, stopping every couple of minutes to hear our guide (camp teacher) tell us lots of interesting things about habitats, ecosystems, plant and animal life, soil, and other things about our Florida environment.

Parker is on the far right and the guide is on the far left with the orange shirt and dark visor:

After walking around outside for a couple of hours (including some time by the lake where we took the first pic of this post), we were able to sit down and cool off in a tiny "museum" that was air-conditioned (hooray!).

The boy on Parker's right above (in the green shirt) is his other best friend and the three of them do everything together... in fact, now that I realize what good buddies they are I'm sad that I didn't get him in more of the pictures. For example, he was sitting next to Parker at lunch (below) but I only took the photo of the other two. :(

Finally, we got to take a hay-ride all around the camp:

The 2nd graders were disappointed that they didn't get to play on this climbing wall - but I, for one, was relieved:

After an exhausting day, the three friends fell fast asleep on the bus and stayed that way for the entire 40 minute ride back to school:

Butterflies in our house!

2011-05-26T23:39:00.007-04:00

There aren't too many things that can fascinate a 3-year-old and an 8-year-old equally, but my mother-in-law found one. She sent us a butterfly-growing kit in the mail, which included live caterpillars & their food, a cylinder-shaped butterfly house, and everything you need to take care of the butterflies after they emerge.

We forgot to take pictures of the caterpillars, but they just ate and ate and ate. Then over the next 2 days or so after receiving the package, each one hung itself up from the fabric at the top of the jar and formed a chrysalis around its little body. So we took lots of pictures the afternoon we transferred the fabric to the butterfly house.

Both boys have been excited about the experiment from beginning to end. The little insects actually came out of their cocoons while we were in Texas, but Parker sent texts to keep us informed. This picture was taken the night we got back and saw the fully grown butterflies for the first time:

Eventually, though, we had to let them go free. We all got up early Saturday morning and took the butterfly house to the back deck:

I was really proud of Lincoln for being so gentle with the tiny creatures.

And here's Parker holding one with its wings open:

We'll probably do it all again when Anndra is older since she was too young to really know what was going on this time. She was more interested in playing with a bubble wand from our trip (thanks again, Erika!) than in watching the butterflies:

She makes the funniest faces every time she tastes the bubble mixture, but it doesn't seem to stop her... she still thinks she has to put it in her mouth to get bubbles to come out. Silly girl.

Speaking of bugs, Lincoln also got a bug mask/glasses and insisted on wearing them while he pulled the husks off the corn the other night. I just HAD to capture the moment:

Mother's Day in Texas

2011-05-25T06:08:00.004-04:00

Being with my sisters made it a very special Mother's Day. I feel so blessed that we had these three little girls so close together. Since they will be doing everything at the same time (being in the same grade in school and such), it will help us feel connected with each others' lives no matter where we live.

Cousins having some quiet time with play-dough while 2 babies slept after church:

Aunt Jessie singing "No more monkeys jumping on the bed" with the little girls after they woke up:

On Monday the kids wanted to go outside, but it was hot, hot, HOT (I think it hit 100 degrees that day). No swimming pools were open yet, so we found other ways to keep cool outside.

Water balloon games:

Spraying the hose like a sprinkler for the kids to run through:

Even pouring a bucket of water over their heads:

Before we brought them in to take baths and put jammies on, we wrote messages with chalk on Erika's front walk. We knew Grandy and Grandpa Paul were coming Tuesday and wanted to make a fun welcome for them.

We had a small birthday celebration for Jane (who would turn 5 later that week). Since Lincoln considers himself an expert on birthdays, he watched over the candle-placing:

All 6 kids after Jane opened her presents on our last night at Erika's (Maren had already fallen asleep and didn't want to wake up for the party):

Sisters Reunion 2011

2011-05-23T06:18:00.007-04:00

Let me begin this post with an apology to everyone I know who lives in Texas that we didn't stop to see on our trip. We decided to go about two days before we left and we were on a tight schedule - so I could get back to Parker (who didn't come with us) and be back to work (baby-sit Brooke). Please forgive us!

Jessie's husband was gone for training and she was going to bring her kids to Florida and spend a week at my house while he was away. But then we got the idea that we could drive together to see my other sister, Erika, in Texas (we miss her terribly and she may be moving very far away later this year). We decided this was our best chance for a sister weekend.

I drove with my two littlest on a Tuesday evening up to Alabama and we slept over at Jessie's house. Then all SEVEN of us (2 moms + 5 kids: ages 4, 3, 3, 1, and 1) piled into Jessie's van and drove all the way to Houston. We traveled the rest of the way Thursday and arrived at Erika's around dinner time. Erika was an amazing hostess. The weekend was full of good food, good fun, and lots of kid chaos. :)

The cousins enjoyed Addie's park:

We also went bowling at the Air Force base. This guy is one awesome bowler! Thanks, Brian, for putting up with so many women and children in the house for a few days.

These two are such great parents. Addie is a lucky, lucky girl!

Lincoln, Jane, and Maren (we referred to them all week as "the 3 big kids") did EVERYTHING together:

In fact, we had lots of groups of 3 - 3 babies, 3 big kids, and 3 sisters! Believe it or not, one of the very few pictures we got of the three moms was when Erika and Jessie treated me to a pedicure for my birthday:

Thanks for the great girl-time!

End of April

2011-05-22T12:30:00.005-04:00

I'm getting excited to post pictures from our trip to Texas, but first I want to finish sharing the rest of our pics from April.

My favorite picture of the month:

Swimming:

The boys with one of Todd's friends (his wife took these pictures).

Fun times with Brooke:

Sleeping angels:

My other favorite picture:

Ta-da!

2011-05-20T21:08:00.002-04:00

Easter weekend Anndra was tromping around the house being silly. Every time she walked through a doorway she would plant her feet, throw both her arms straight out to the side, and yell "Ta-Da!" in her loudest voice.

She'd probably been doing it for about 20 minutes before it occurred to me that I should take a video of it. Of course, as soon as she notices I've got the camera she stops, and when I ask her to do it she says "NO" and then sort of does it half-heartedly... oh well, it's still pretty cute.

Scouts, Elders, and Saturdays

2011-05-19T10:17:00.008-04:00

I wanted to go back and share a few of the things that were going on right before all our visitors came in mid-April.

Parker has had such a great year with the scouts. Last night was the Blue & Gold Banquet and he was awarded his Wolf rank, so now he will be a bear - GRRrrr! Here are some pics from two of the last activities we had with the wolf den.

A bike safety night where we practiced hand signals and set up obstacle courses in the parking lot:

We were short one bike, so the boys rotated through the job of being the stop sign holder. They were such good sports about it and had a good time designing some courses of their own.

The wolves also did a litter pick-up night. Did I already post about that? Anyway, Lincoln was able to join in on that evening:

Their favorite find of the night was a nearly perfect snake skin:

Last month Todd was called to be Elders Quorum President and Parker took some pictures while we were at the stake center for these three to be set apart:

Finally, I want to mention how nice it has been to have Todd HOME on Saturday mornings this year. The kids can't wait for him to wake up and play with them. One Saturday a few weeks ago I found them all on the driveway in their pajamas playing with their remote control cars. None of the pictures are great, but all together they show a cute family moment:

Another recent Saturday I wanted to share about -- our good friends had their second baby and we got to watch their older son for a little while so Dad could bring Mom & Baby home from the hospital. He is 8 months younger than Lincoln, so he plays with Anndra a lot too. We love this kid:

catching up...

2011-05-16T09:08:00.009-04:00

I took a break from blogging and now I have so much to post that I don't know where to begin!

I guess I'll start by finishing up Ben & Heidi's visit and adding a few Easter Egg Hunt pics. Then I'll probably post daily for a while to catch up - so for those of you who get these as email, get ready to 'hear' a lot from me! Thanks for your patience. ;)

We enjoyed showing Ben's fam many of Florida's creatures...

BIG:

and SMALL:

and everything in between (like the turtles shown here):

We kept the babies up on shoulders so they could see and couldn't wander away. Next time we'll bring a stroller!

We also had fun just hanging out together at the house. One night we got everyone out front on bikes, scooters, etc.

It was good timing for Lincoln because his legs finally grew long enough for him to ride Parker's first two-wheeler.

It made him feel like such a big boy! But he switched back to his scooter pretty quickly so that he could keep up with Uncle Ben's cool moves.

The day after everyone left, we joined some friends from church at a park for an Easter Egg hunt.

This year's hunters - patiently waiting to begin:

Parker was really great at being silly with the little kids to distract them while we finished hiding the eggs:

Some of the boys mid-hunt:

It was a HOT, HOT day and we were glad for the shade these big trees provided:

Checking out their spoils:

Notice little Brooke (the baby I watch every week) in the stroller. She's still in that great stage where she is thoroughly entertained by watching the big kids do their thing. It's lovely - everybody wins.

One last thing. I'm including this final picture because it reminded me of the fact that Anndra is now the age Lincoln was when she was born (19 months). I can't believe he was really this little! ...barely talking, just starting nursery, sometimes taking 2 naps, still needing some help to eat, etc. They both have changed so much since then - it's amazing to me what a difference a year and a half can make.

Cousinship?

2011-04-29T19:43:00.008-04:00

If you and a friend enjoy a friendship, can you and a cousin enjoy a cousinship? I think that should be a word. :)

I thought about calling this post "Cousin Love" but it didn't seem quite right. Of course my kids and their cousins love each other, but it's too bad there isn't a better word.

This is my 100th post, and I'm glad it can be a little tribute to the special bonds that exist in this youngest generation of our extended family.

This last pic was taken as B&H were loading their van to drive home to Virginia. We had just copied the pictures from their camera to my computer and these 3 cuties were looking at them. I love how kids smile at pictures of themselves. :)

Hooray for cousins!

Beach Day

2011-04-27T19:43:00.008-04:00

We had beautiful weather while my brother's family was here. The day we went to the beach was windy, but other than that it was perfect!

First sprint to the water (well, boys sprinting and girls just taking it all in for a minute):

Lots of sandcastle-making fun:

Stopping to have lunch, after which Lincoln fell sound asleep:

Anndra with a mouthful of peanut butter sandwich:

Uncle Ben attempting to get a beach ball game started with the kids (didn't last long - too windy):

Meanwhile, the two littlest cousins loved blowing and catching bubbles:

More digging in the lovely wet sand:

Boo with attitude:

After Lincoln woke up, he and Natalie were inseparable:

They would run out to the water....

then sit and let the waves wash over their legs for a while....

then run back to the sand...

and lay on the sand to warm up... then do it all again, over & over.

Natalie also showed Lincoln how to write in the sand. I thought it was marvelous that they could interact so easily and carry on conversations all throughout these activities even though they are almost 3 years apart. Thanks for being such a great big cousin, Nat!

Burying Parker in the sand:

When I tried to take pictures of Anndra, she wanted to put sand on the camera - so I told her to put it in my hand instead and she thought that was a fun little game:

Our cousins got to have a second beach day on their way out of town, but we're sure glad we got to go with them for this one. It was a lot of fun, but what made it even better was sharing it with them.

Awesome Visitors

2011-04-26T20:54:00.004-04:00

We had a wonderful visit with two of my siblings the week before Easter. My sister & her family drove over from Alabama and my brother & his family came down from Virginia. With 10.5 kids (if you 'count' Jessie's bun-in-the-oven) and 7 adults (Kelli came up from Orlando) our house was a bit crowded - but I don't think anyone cared because we were too busy enjoying our time together.

We had to get creative with sleeping arrangements (for example, one night we had 5 sleep on the trampoline). But I thought it was sweet how willingly my kids gave up their beds for their cousins:

Of course we had too much fun to cover in just one post, so be watching for more to come. I'm just so thankful that my family loves us enough to come all this way to see us (poor B&H had to suffer through spring break traffic on BOTH ends of their trip). We loved having all of you as our guests - come back any time!

Answer, Winners, and Parker stuff

2011-04-11T08:50:00.004-04:00

Thanks, everybody, for playing this little game. The correct answer is: a Lincoln bite. He sank his little teeth into her skin because she wouldn't give him a toy he wanted. Poor girl. Obviously we're working very hard on the No Biting rule in our house right now.

It was really easy to tell it was Lincoln's teeth at first because each little mark was dark purple. Then a few hours later when the area had gotten red and puffy, I took those pictures (to show Todd when he came home from work).

So, although no one guessed that Lincoln was the culprit, we do have 3 winners for guessing a human bite:

my cousin Shari

Todd's mom

my mom

Also, my sister Erika was half right because she guessed that one of Anndra's brothers caused it.

In addition, I'm going to award prizes to my sister-in-law Heidi for the quickest response... and my dad for the most original guess (allergic reaction to pig starter - ha, ha, good thing we like her chunkiness).

I'm going to tailor each prize to the recipient (for example, oatmeal cookies for my dad). So be watching for a little something to come in the mail.

------

When Lincoln and Anndra are not busy learning that biting each other is wrong, they are happily cheering their big brother on at his activities - including:

SOCCER

He's in all green because this practice was on St. Patrick's Day.

CUB SCOUTS

Food Drive

Litter Pick-up

Guessing game

2011-04-08T22:09:00.004-04:00

I end up posting a lot more pictures of Anndra than anyone else, but I think that is because she is changing so darn FAST. I want all the fam & friends who aren't nearby to see what a beautiful little girl she's becoming:

Now just for fun we are going to play a little guessing game. The first person to correctly guess how Anndra got this circle of redness on her leg...

...will win some kind of prize (that part will be a surprise).

Anndra says: Good luck!

Oh yeah, and today is her half birthday... Happy 18-months, Baby Girl!

Spring Break in UT

2011-04-05T10:04:00.004-04:00

We had a very enjoyable, very relaxing, very low-key vacation in Utah last week. It was just what we needed and it was WONDERFUL to spend time with Todd's mom and my brother.

Unfortunately, I misplaced the camera on the second day and didn't find it again until our last day... so here are some of the few pics we got.

We drove to the Orlando airport Saturday afternoon and ALL THREE KIDS fell asleep on the way:

Of course then none of them slept on the plane, but we survived anyway. :)

We went to Sunday night dinner at Todd's aunt's house and we got to meet the newest member of the extended family:

Todd's aunt also has a fun airplane-teeter-totter in her backyard:

As you can tell from the smiles below, Anndra and Lincoln loved it:

It was also nice to see REAL GRASS again. Even after a long cold winter, it looked/felt amazing compared to anything we have here in FL:

Monday night we had dinner at Olive Garden. Anndra could NOT get ENOUGH of the salad! We finally had to just push the whole bowl over to her so she could feast to her heart's content:

I have never known a 1-year-old to love lettuce as much as this little girl does:

Now this is where we 'lost' the camera. Fast forward to the end of the week. Here we are watching General Conference with Nate and Kristen:

Thanks for the super-yummy pancakes, you two!

Tallahassee Museum

2011-03-23T08:04:00.006-04:00

Drove to Tallahassee on Monday so that we could see Jess and her kids without driving all the way to Alabama. As a bonus, Kelli was able to drive up from Orlando and join us. Such a great day.

Meeting up in the parking lot of the Tallahassee Museum/zoo - the kids were thrilled to get OUT of the car! Here's Parker making sure his phone was working so he could make voice recordings about all the neat things we would see:

We started out with a picnic lunch - where we all got a little sidetracked checking out the cool caterpillars that were around. Kelli let one crawl all over her hand!

Anndra was more interested in her sandwich than the caterpillars:

The kids enjoyed the caboose (Kelli remembers climbing through it when she was little!):

Anndra was in a GREAT mood (which could be because - thankfully! - she napped in the car on the way):

Unfortunately poor Kate didn't nap and was not too happy. She was stuck like glue to Mommy the entire day (Jess, you really are a SUPERMOM):

Parker played Tour Guide and was a great leader. He'd study the map to see what was next, then announce it like this -"Who wants to see some otters?" - and all the other kids would call out: "Me!" "Me!" "I do, I do - MEEE!" And he/they did this again and again for each new exhibit or habitat. I should have taken a video - it was precious:

I was really glad we both brought our double strollers... with 5 kids under 5, there was never a shortage of tired little legs:

I don't think I've ever seen a bald eagle this close before:

Knowing that eagles are Todd's favorite animal, Parker couldn't wait to text his dad and send a picture:

We saw lots of other animals, but here are a few of our favorites (and why):

Owls (because Parker's reading the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series)

Wolves (because of Parker's rank in cub scouts)

Panthers (because they look so much like cougars - Go BYU!)

Then MORE caterpillar sightings - I think the kids had greater interest in these little bugs than in the zoo animals!

After all the outdoor exhibits, we were pretty hot - so we cooled off in the Discovery Center:

Once we were cool and rested we finished the day off with a short run around the playground (as in: Kids, get your wiggles out before you have to sit in the car for 2 more hours). Parker enjoyed the Tire Monster:

Our family in crocs

2011-03-20T14:15:00.002-04:00

I had this funny idea the other day about taking 'family pictures' without the people in our family actually being in them - using everyday objects to represent each person. Kind of silly, I know. But this is the first one I came up with:

Since this is appropriate footwear YEAR-ROUND in Florida, we have a pair for each of us and use them ALL the TIME.

I can't believe Parker's feet are almost as big as mine! And to be honest, Anndra has pretty much out-grown these cute little pink ones... she still brings them to me and asks me to put them on her feet even though her heels hang off the back - we'll have to find her some bigger ones very soon!