Let it Snow!

We got some snow today and it was wet enough for Julene to make a snowman all by herself.

Jared was just as excited to go out and brought me his snow pants to put on. I still can't believe how many connections he makes.

Here is the finished product. It's not very big, but Julene and Jared were thrilled. Julene knew exactly what she wanted. She told me to go inside for the carrot nose, something curvy for the mouth, a hat, and scarf. I like the tumble weed arms. She also added snow ears later.

Today was also the last day for school and the Christmas sing. We enjoyed all the numbers.

Nathan was so animated and bouncy during his numbers. His body just feels the music all over.

Marianne was very cute and reserved. She was the only one Jared actually saw and he was pleased to see someone he knew singing.

Janae's grade sang Carol of The Bells and she got to be one of the chimes throughout the piece which she was thrilled about and practiced her part very well. She also got braces today. Yes, this is something new for all of us. She has been pretty excited and picked red and green bands for Christmas. We'll see how long the excitement, and soreness lasts.

Last week Janae, Nathan, and Marianne had their clogging Christmas program. We all enjoyed it. Janae and Nathan were so fun to watch. Janae is as dramatic as ever and her team is getting really good.

Nathan's boy group sure do some fun things, and he is becoming quite the stage presence. We tease him about his cute bum shakes at the beginning when they have their back to the audience. He says he was just trying to relax before the music starts.

Marianne was pretty nervous and told me she wanted to quit, but I said she would have to wait until after her performance and not let her team down. She was the most nervous about their Christmas dance which they had only practiced a few times and were doing freestyles in, but she seemed to be one of the ones who remembered it the best. She still says she wants to quit and doesn't like performing. We'll see what the new year brings.

The excitement is just overflowing at our house. I think it elevated on Sunday with the Christmas program. I still love hearing Randy's choir numbers. They did his new arrangement of Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring. He included two violins, soloist obbligato, piano, choir, and french horn. (I suppose the french horn can sometimes be included in the woodwind category.) It had a very classical feel, which I really liked. They also sang an arrangement of Silent Night that was just beautiful.

I taught the 4 year olds the Christmas lesson, and they were just enthralled. There truly is something spiritual in retelling the first Christmas. Our class also gave sharing time, which wasn't quite so magical. Julene was teasing, lifting up may skirt, and trying to talk in the microphone. Would she have been so bad if I wasn't her teacher?

Everyone came home from church with lessons and gifts for Christmas, and more gifts and treats came home from school today. Can you feel the energy? Can we make it just 3 more days? What if Santa doesn't bring what you asked for?

Never too late to say Thanks

It's been a while. I meant to post soon after about our Thanksgiving and time just got away from me.

This is Marianne during her class's Thanksgiving reading.

We were able to have my Grandparents, Parents and brother over for Thanksgiving. We were a small enough group that we could use the china that had belonged to my Great-Grandmother. Julene thought it was pretty special that we could use the fancy dishes that were in the living room.

The Monday before Janae had us make a family gratitude paper chain that she got from her Activity days leader. We hung it around the light above the table. It seemed to help us get into the spirit of the holiday. Nathan even suggested going around and saying what were thankful for during the dinner. But we forgot, and he reminded us to do it while we were having our pies. They both knew the real purpose, even if us adults are more worried about the meal.

Our only problem that day was me getting a cold. It worried my grandparents, and they left the next day. (Which was better for the weather anyway.) Almost everyone has taken their turn with it lasting about a week, and we're doing great now, except Jared seems to have gotten a new one. It's hard to see the constantly dripping nose, that he doesn't want wiped.

Our children have been really excited about the Christmas season. They got out all the decorations the day after Thanksgiving. I was surprised how big Janae and Nathan are getting. They did so much themselves. I would not have been that ambitious. Nathan brought out the train, and Jared has been enthralled with it ever since. He can now say Choo Choo Ain. He comes to get anyone who will help him turn it on or fix it if falls off the track. Thankfully we now have many others who can work the train.

My best purchase for the season was 4 chocolate holiday countdown calenders. We usually have two advent calenders that I do my best to keep track of whose turn it is. But this year with everyone having something of their own, there has been no arguments about the other calenders. I will have to do this every year.

We have already enjoyed some holiday activities. We went to the Festival of Trees where Janae was able to dance, and we were all able to see the fun trees. Nathan and Randy particularly liked the Lord of the Rings themed tree. Marianne and Nathan also were able to dance at a retirement facility this week. This was Marianne's first performance. She just beamed with excitement.

We have also made our sugar cookies for the season. (We might still make some more.) Sunday was Stake Conference, and Randy was in charge of the music. They sang Randy's I Need Thee Every Hour and an adaptation of Come the Fount. It was beautiful especially I Need Thee Every Hour. This meant that I was alone with the children and cookies were the promised reward for good behavior. We were very blessed that day. I seemed to have added patience along with their good behavior.

This year I had read about painting sugar cookies instead of frosting them. This went so well!!! It usually is big project with me frosting almost every cookie and then letting them decorate with sprinkles. Now they frost and decorate at the same time! This will be the new way to decorate cookies at our house.

We love all the Christmas music, and we feel glad that it is now no longer strange to be listening to.

I want...

He doesn't do this as much as used to. But we thought it was the cutest thing. He would stretch out his arms and lift up his shoulders whenever he wanted something - up, food, toy, or anything. His movement seemed to be exaggerated and we loved it. It is slowly starting to go away now that he is learning to talk more, and I'm starting to miss it. But oh, how I love that he is starting to talk and say the cutest words. And now it is his facial expressions that are becoming so dramatic.

This is life (especially with growing children.) We look back at the past with some sadness and fondness of what will never come again. We muddle through and hopefully enjoy what is happening now. Then look forward with anxiety and excitement of things yet to come.

Choo Choo Derby

Nathan participated in his second pinewood derby this week. He had lots of fun painting his car lots of different colors. He even came in second place in his den. We were surprised. Each car raced in each lane, and he seemed to always end up in the middle. We are sure excited for him.

Nathan's is the car with the orange side and mostly blue top.

Jared really like watching the cars race. He calls anything with wheels a "Choo Choo." We must have introduced him to our trains first and the name has stuck. It's a little confusing when he points to cars, wheel barrows and strollers and calls them "Choo Choos." He is becoming such a good talker. We can understand his names for his brother and sisters as well as the "Jar Jar" that he calls himself. It is so cute that most of his words are repetitive like that.

Halloween Night

We had so much fun being with our cousins for Halloween. It felt like a whirlwind of excitement. This is the only picture to show for it. All the big kids ran on ahead with Randy, but Julene and Emma managed to stay close to Jared in the stroller that couldn't cut across the grass.

Trick-or-Treating was a blast! We just started breaking off into groups depending on your speed, and sometimes they would merge back together in the culdesacs. Jared was just happy to stay in his stroller and only got 3 pieces of candy, but of course his sibling have oodles that they are willing to share. Marianne's pumpkin even broke because it couldn't hold all her goodies. Julene was such a big girl. She even ended up ringing some doorbells by herself quit a few times. She showed she could keep up and hold her own. We eventually made our way to Great-grandma's where there was cider and doughnuts waiting. This will be a Halloween to remember. We have never spent it together before and it was sure fun!

Halloween is for children or the children in all of us. We loved that some of the adults dressed up too. Especially Uncle Greg, the long hair, mustache, flashy shirt, and leather pants were quite a hit. It is so fun to be totally silly.

Halloween Party

My mom had a Halloween party a week before Halloween so we could all be there. It was a fun party for both old and young. I think everyone really liked the doughnut on the string game. We were worried that they would fall off on the ground, but the little ones were doing all they could to just get one bite. Marianne's kept going around her, and she would chase it with her mouth wide open.

Everyone else were pretty silly too, but eventually got some good bites.

Randy figured out it worked better using gravity and coming up on it from the bottom. He felt very proud to have eaten his entire doughnut off the string. Go Randy! The Doughnut King!

Jared and his little girl cousins couldn't get enough of Grandpa's spooky laughing tree. All you have to do is touch it and it will laugh. Jared would do a cute little dance every time the tree laughed.

Nathan decide to be a cowboy again because we had a matching costume for Jared. (My mother had made three of them for my brothers when they were little.) It was hard to get Jared to wear his costume. He really only wore it for this picture. He eventually wore the vest trick-or-treating with the hat on top of the stroller.

Happy Halloween!

Beautiful Baptism

Our sweet cousin Camille was Baptised on Saturday. Yes, it was Halloween, but it turned out to be a beautiful day. We loved being with our cousins and grandparents to celebrated this special day with Camille. Marianne sure loved seeing her cousin get baptized. Camille is such a fun and caring girl. She even shared her Skittles present with Marianne, if your can't tell by her bulging cheeks.

Janae and Katie loved seeing each other too. Katie gave the talk on baptism. She is becoming such a thoughtful young lady.

Jared and Randy sure have fun together. Randy played his violin for church and at the end of the musical number Jared started to clap and shout "Dah Dah" for all to hear.

You can see Sam in the back of the picture. He is a very good pianist. He played the prelude for the baptism and the opening and closing song. It is great that he can accompany singing. He does it in priesthood too.

Here is our family. We sure enjoyed being together with our family and it made the holiday lots of fun.

Crazy School Days

Last week we had some Crazy spirit days at school. N liked crazy hat day and Crazy hair day. He was very creative with his hats. I think he wore everyone he owned. For crazy hair day he spiked his hair and wanted to wear his hair that way from now on, but was nixed by his dad who said it was distracting.

Ja we just did half her hair braided and M requested a straight up pony tail but this is the best we could do.

Ju didn't feel she had to participate which made it easier. She was excited about getting ready for Grandma's Halloween party.

Our Sextet

For family home evening a few weeks ago we had the privilege of hearing our family sextet. It wasn't beautiful but it was sure fun. Eat your heart out 5 browns. We don't even need separate pianos. Now I know what you're thinking. It could have been a septet if I had joined in, but someone had to take the picture and keep their sanity.

We do have a duet practicing at our house. Janae and Nathan are practicing their Christmas duet. It is so fun having Christmas music starting in September. I love good mostly religious Christmas music. It reminds me of participating in choirs when I was younger. Since that isn't possible, I have no problem playing our John Rutter Christmas music before Halloween. One can dream of the most beautiful choir in all the world.

God gave us families

God gave us families

To help us become what he wants us to be

This is how he shares his love

For the family is of God

A few weeks ago the children presented their program My Eternal Family at church. Everyone did their parts so well. It was so cute to see Marianne and Julene sing their songs. They particularly sang the chorus to the one above with lots of enthusiasm.

I really like it too. It really comforts me know that I am doing a great work being a mother and striving to raise a righteous family. This is what God wants me to be.

We are also striving to have a more loving home by following the council of Elder Bednar in General Conference last week.

"We should remember that saying “I love you” is only a beginning. We need to say it, we need to mean it, and most importantly we need consistently to show it. We need to both express and demonstrate love."

We are first starting with saying we love you to each other and adding simply ways to show it. We have already seen some blessings from just a week of being more conscious of saying "I love you" and giving needed hugs and encouragement. There has been more peace, love, and the presence of the Holy Ghost in our home.

We're still continually working on bearing testimony and living it, as well being consistent. Consistency is really the key.

"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great”

Going Vertical

He officially walks!!!

About 3 weeks ago we counted 7 steps. We were all so excited to count his steps, that he was counting too. "One, free, four, even" He was still pretty cautious and only walked between furniture and people. But now he goes across the entire room. We are absolutely thrilled! He still seems to think it's pretty neat and has his smile plastered on his sweet face. We are excited for this new phase and still enjoy the imploring look with raised arms when he wants to be carried. It does feel a little strange that we took down the gate blocking the stairs before he was a proficient walker. That just felt a little backwards. I also am surprises by his vocabulary and understanding, because he didn't walk I kept thinking he was younger than his age.

At the beginning of the school year Janae and Marianne got the hair cut short above their shoulders. I think they look so cute. I really haven't taken a good picture of them, but they did get their school pictures taken this week. This is my cute Janae who is growing into a beautiful and kind young lady.

My Man and His Choir

On Sunday the ward choir sang Randy's piece Like a Dove Descending with the accompaniment to Debussy's Arabesque. It was so beautiful and brought such a nice spirit to the meeting. Randy does such a great job with the choir. I really enjoy every number. (Not just the ones that he writes.) One of the things I really noticed this time was how much trust and love there is between him and the choir. They have developed such a great relationship. They know he will help them to sound their best. And there was know hesitation even though it was a difficult song with the parts coming in and out at different times. I know this all happens at practice that I don't get to see, but I can benefit from the results.

After the choir sings, he always asks me for feedback because he says I am honest. Sometimes the children are distracting and I'm not able to focus on the number like I would like. I tell him that I usually spend the time watching my favorite conductor. He leads with such energy and emotion. I like to see what he wants the choir to sound like by his direction. He sets the tone for the entire piece.

Last month Randy decided to try and record the choir singing his arrangement of More Holiness Give Me. He did this in his little recording booth with four people on the same part at a time. He has never attempted choir before so it was a learning experience. He found out that it works pretty well, but just takes extra time. I think he will attempt it again. He made his little ward choir sound so good. You can't quite duplicate the added spirit that comes from sacrament meeting, but I think it is the second best thing.

Pudding Face

Our messy boy sure enjoys his pudding. Nathan and Marianne found a package in the pantry and requested we make it. I don't make many extra things at home lately, It seems we're good to have dinner every night. I know that these little things don't take much time, but I sure feel overwhelmed. I blame it all on the sage brush right now. They really give me a headache, literally.

We had our last soccer games this week. I was doing so well during the rain, but then Janae's game was really windy before another storm. It has taken me two days to recover. I am hopeful that now if I stay indoors I'll have the energy to maybe make something beyond pudding for my cute deserving children.

Soccer Mom

With four children doing soccer this season, I can say with complete acceptance that I am officially a soccer Mom. I have been one for many years but never wanted to take on the title. I know I drive a van and have children, but I didn't want to be so labeled. I now will own the title with all the pride that accompanies it, and brag about my wonderful children which I take to all their fun events and cheer them on.

Julene has been fun to watch. When she is focused she is a great little player and usually scores a goal every game. She has also started keeping track of what she calls "goalies". This is when she kicks the ball towards the goal, but it is stopped by the goalie. This is a positive term, and she is as much excited by it as by an actual goal. She gets tired out on the field because she is always with the ball (since they have no concept of positions except for goalie.) I told her to start just playing half the field, and if the ball got behind her someone else could get it. This helped a little.

Janae's team play positions pretty well and have gotten some fun corner kicks that have resulted in goals. Randy is pleased that they're learning something from his coaching. Janae has scored some goals that were a team effort of some good passing.

Marianne has enjoyed playing with her friends and has improved. She's even a pretty good goalie. She had some pretty hard stops.

Nathan's team is really good. I've never seen such good team work in a team so young. They really play well and are learning some fun positions. They sure move that ball around fast. Nathan likes to tell me how many goals he and his team makes each game.

With the over lapping schedules I haven't been to very many of Nathan and Janae's game, and Randy hasn't been to many of Julene and Marianne's. So when we can all go, they sure get excited that we're all there to cheer them on. Which is a very fun thing for a family to do for each other.

Next week is the last week of games and in many ways it's time for the extra busyness to end. But we have had a lot of fun. We like going to the fields on these beautiful summer evenings and cheer on our favorite players.

My favorite red ball

My little buddy sure loves balls. Especially if they're red. He holds on to what he has decided is his red ball very tightly and protectively, like his sisters did their favorite blanket or doll. He's kept a soccer ball in his arms while in the stroller as we navigate from our far away parked car to the field without it once accidentally being dropped. We also have quite a few little balls around our house that he tries to gather up. I think his record is 5 balls clung to his chest.

We always try to remember to bring the extra red soccer ball for Jared to play with at the games. Then he is in heaven if no one kicks it away. He loves to through his ball and push it with his hand while he crawls behind. I'm sure once he can walk it will turn into kicking. It is so fun to see him lift the ball above his head and contort his face as he chucks the ball as hard as he can.

Sometimes he lifts it a little too high and it ends up behind him.

Julene loves to kick her ball back and forth with a friend while she is at the other soccer games. Most of the time the little stranger is eager to play in her game, and she makes a new friend. But a few times she has tried this tactic with older boys that are not too pleased by the attentions of a little girl and don't want her to play with them. She quickly rebounds and usually finds someone or me that will oblige. She much prefers this to her regular soccer games that she says are too hot and make her tired. It is true quite a few of her games have been really hot, and there have been times when both coaches have looked around for their missing players only to find them all getting a drink. They seem to have quite a few unofficial drink time outs.

Jared also loves cars! I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I thought we had such a collection of toys that maybe his preferences wouldn't be so stereotypical. But of his inclination for cars and balls is quite evident. The children have taught him to say "Dwo, dwo, dwo, go!" (One, Two, Three, go!) right before he gives the car a push. Randy has also mistaken him for Julene, when he came into his office pushing a car and making vroooom noises. We didn't realize his vocal abilities.

The children have been enjoying school and all the fun that it offers. My seasonal allergies seem to be quite worse this year, and I seem to have a sinus headache most of the time. It is good that the older ones are gone so they have activities to stimulate their growing minds. Julene has kept busy with puzzles, play-dough, coloring, games, educational computer games (and fun ones too), as well as virtual free reign over all the toys in the house. She is also very insistent to have her own homework to do when everyone else does theirs.

Biking to School

This year everyone going to school can ride a two wheeler, and since Nathan got a lock for his birthday, their bikes would be relatively safe at school. This has been the first time they have ridden their bikes to school. We live so close that in the past they usually rode their scooters or walked and not troubled with the bikes.

I feel bad a didn't get a lock sooner for Janae. She is in 6th grade and this is her last year of being close enough to ride a bike to school. (until High School... if she'll want to then.) School started last Thursday, so this is the official full week with the start of spelling words and such.

Nathan is going into 3rd grade and Marianne is in 1st. They were excited to go back... some more than others. Marianne loves having 3 recesses and eating lunch at school and getting chocolate milk. She hasn't missed us at all. We were pleased that she got the same teacher as Janae and Nathan. I asked jokingly if she was always going to request our children. We think she's great!

Julene has adjusted pretty well to having the older ones gone. I think it helps that Jared is older now and is fun to play with. She does ask when she will go to school, and she tells everyone that next year she will be going to the big school too.

So far they are doing well at waiting for each other and going and coming together. The girls say they have to wait for Nathan at the bike rack because his class is the furthest away, but it's his lock so he gets to open it. This is good because Nathan is usually the speedy one and has the hardest time waiting.

I was surprised how much I got done those two days. With nothing to schedule my time while they were gone. It was great to get some control over the house. Plus just two children at the store, and they stayed in the cart. This outing went so much quicker than our previous back to shool outings with everyone. The homework starts this week. Here we go!

Slow But Sure

Jared is doing a great job practicing walking. The children get so excited when they see him stand up by himself in the middle of the room. I will say that it seems to be taking forever especially because it's summer. His knees and the tops of his feet have developed very nice rough spots from all the crawling on the carpet. He also wants to spend more time outside but still tries to crawl on the cement. He doesn't like the feel of the grass so he has sometimes crawled straight legged. I keep hoping all of these efforts will eventually lead to walking, where we don't have to worry about getting all dirty and scraped up from the ground. I'm sure it will happen when it just starts to get cold, and we stay inside and wear long pants and socks.

He is doing so well with his stroller and can maneuver it much better than his older siblings could. There are some blessing from choosing to walk a bit later. He is also very good at going up and down the stairs. A couple of months ago he saw the gate left open and just knew that he should go down backwards. He has been doing it ever since. We try to keep someone behind him going up and going down, but it seems that every baby has had their turn falling down the stairs. So we will see if we can beat those odds.

I just thought this was a cute picture of Julene, Jared, and Marianne. We took the van in after our vacations to get cleaned, and they got to play in a pretend car wash while we waited. I must say I love my clean car. It's just like having it brand new. So worth the cost. Cleanliness is next to Godliness.

We just went to our schools open house and everyone is excited about the first day on Thursday. (except Julene, then I need to start making plans for her.) These last few weeks have felt a little slow since we haven't planned much more than trips to the library and shopping runs. We've started soccer and Julene is even playing. I think the anticipation was more fun than the actual games. She has scored the most goals on her team, looks like she learned a lot from watching her brother and sisters. Janae and Nathan have scored in their games too. Marianne is doing great being part of the team and has gotten some great kicks. Her team is starting to come together. They are all fun to watch, and Randy is enjoying helping coach the older two teams.