Homegrown and Heartgrown

Jonas' life in pictures

2011-11-04T00:29:00.000-07:00

Jonas had an assignment where he made a timeline of his life. I scanned and printed pictures for it and it was fun to see him grow up. He had to have an event from each year to write about.

About 1 week old

3 weeks old

1 year old

18 months old

Playing in the hospital ~2 years old

2 years old

Miriam is born

Panning for gold in Alaska

3 years old

4 years old

Talita

5 years old

Another hospital trip (as an example of the many times he's been there)

Reunion/Trip to Yellowstone

6 years old

Gideon is born

7 years old

Elijah is born


8 years old

Building the house

10 years old (didn't have time to dig out his "pro" pictures)

Adopting sisters

Trip to Australia

12 years old

(He had a Cousin Camp/ Trip to Manti picture here but I can't seem to find it)

Nearly 13 years old

So grown up... my little Jonas.

Fall Misc Picture

2011-11-03T23:55:00.000-07:00

Elijah found the cutest place to put his babies while he was waiting for me at the county office.

I vant to suck your blood!!

from Keith's phone. I've never really seen one alive before.

The stake had an 11 year old activity. They were able to act out a story.

Miriam and Kristina's group did the saving of the Doctrine and Covenants papers.

Happy Fall, Y'all!

2011-11-03T23:35:00.000-07:00

For some reason all the time that I thought I would have to do fun things with Elijah, seems to be non-existant. But we did manage to go to the pumpkin patch.

Luvin' the kittens... again and again. They were pretty tolerant of him.

Netina, the girl we went with.

Hay maze was a big hit. Funny how I always take longer to get out than the kids do.... and I can see over the hay.

Driving the tractor was the BEST!!

But rubber duckie racing was fun too.

As was bowling with the pumpkin.

And we didn't even get rained on. A very fun day!!!

Early Fall Concerts

2011-11-03T23:02:00.000-07:00

Oh sure. Out of all the days in October (there's 31. Really! I counted) the boys had to both have their concert on the same day. So we had to divide and conquer. I took half the girls and went to Caleb's concert. And all those years of beginner orchestra concerts and practicing have really paid off.

Pictures taken by Elijah (in an attempt to while away the time during tuning)

I love going to hear my children play their instruments any time. But I thoroughly enjoyed this concert. For the music as well as the little heart pitter pattering seeing my children perform.

Wish I could have seen Jonas play, but Keith said that he sounded wonderful!

Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere....

2011-11-03T22:40:00.000-07:00

Apparently, I'm still trying to play catch up.

The boys spent the summer hiking, working on the hiking merit badge. They went on quite a few nice sized hikes. Obviously, since I wasn't invited, these pictures were from Brother Tolman. You are hired, Brother Tolman!

I always worry about how Jonas will do with breathing. But my fears were foundless. While he did seem to tire easily (we're no stranger to that) we had NO wheezy problems all summer. (But the second it starts to get cold and school starts, bring on the meds)

They loved going hiking and this particular hike, to Shriner's Peak, got them saying that they would like to go back in the winter and go tubing there.
How could you not fall in love with these views???

Brother Johnson, Jonas' leader, the spearhead for the hikes and the go-to-man for all things hiking. Thanks for all your hard work, Brother Johnson!!

In case you can't read that it says "US Geological Survey Benchmark, Shriner Peak, Elevation above sea 1961 feet"

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

Considering that 4 of the children didn't even have any costume ideas yet, I think we did pretty well.

Jonas- Assasin

Miriam- Siamese princess, the only costume that I really made.

Anastasia- Italian dinner- we found this idea, last minute, on the internet and Anastasia fell in love with it

Elijah- Spiderman Extraordinaire

He has been soooooooo excited for Halloween. Since school started he has been asking "How many days until Halloween?"

Ryah- Beanie Baby. For weeks everyone has been speculating on what they were going to be. Ryah did only once, weeks ago then promptly forgot what it was. I came up with this idea to freshen her costume from last year. She didn't understand it, but loved everyone's reaction to it.

Alina- Pippi Longstocking. This was her umpteen millionth choice and I made her stick to it the day before Halloween because I was getting whiplash. She was very creative putting it together.

Kristina-Half Man, Half Woman. Got this idea off the internet, to, and she loved it. Wish we could have had a little more time to put some more details in, but everyone loved it.

She had no idea what she wanted to be and then finally decided on a dress "like Miriam's" but we had no time to make it on Saturday.

Caleb- Don't know, but something with knives. He wasn't going to dress up but I encouraged him to. He was then glad because where we went Trick or Treating he was able to see a lot of his friends and they were all dressed up, too.

I don't like trick-or-treating so I usually find a carnival to take the kids to. This year was no ecxeption. However, we got running so late we figured it wasn't worth the drive. We walked the neighborhood and another neighborhood in the ward, saw some friends and tried to visit one if Keith's co-workers (he wasn't home) That was just enough time and candy. Fun times!

Oops, missed a gem

2011-10-07T06:18:00.000-07:00

Found another one that at first I thought was a "California" picture but then saw the writing on the back.

This one says "With the Old Fortress in the background in the old part of town. Town of Kamyanets- Podilskiy. 2008"

I'm curious about the date. The girls were in the orphanage for 2 years before we adopted them and we adopted them in 2009. I even looked closer on the back and sure enough it isn't a typo, it really does say 2008. I think odds are someone wouldn't have put the wrong date on it unless they were dating it long after the fact and the date was old. It doesn't look like winter so it would be about mid-2008. Maybe this photo was sent to them in the orphanage?

All treasure doesn't glitter

2011-10-06T04:57:00.000-07:00

Imagine our delight when in the hotel we see these pictures, scattered among the millions of pictures of the girls in California. This is a picture of the girls' biological mom.

We had our facilitator translate what is written on the back. This one says "Half way up to the top of the Goverla (Hoverla) Mountain... little "Goverlian" Girl."

"07.24.2000. Kristina at her Angel's Day with her God-mother"

What a treasure to have these pictures!!

'Arry Po'er

2011-10-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

You know the book about Jay Berry, who discovers a troop of monkeys roaming the woods near his home and decides to try to capture them to earn money to buy a pony and a gun. What follows are many adventures leading to the "Summer of the Monkeys."

Well, around these parts, having a serious lack of Monkey, this has been

The Summer of Harry Potter.

Kristina came home, near the end of school reading HP #4 (after reading the first 3 during the school year).

We watched HP #3-- around here you have to read the HP book BEFORE you get to watch the movie. All the older kids had read up to #3(I had read #1, #2 and some of #3 to the kids pre-adoption then they lost interest). That got Miriam interested in reading them again. Over the summer Miriam read #4, #5, and most of #6 (that is really saying something for Miriam, given her reading challenges). She would get her chore done quickly so that I could read a chapter or two to her after supper.

Then that got too slow for her and she read most of #6 and all of #7 all by herself. She begged and pleaded to have a set of HP books for her birthday. "Really Mom, it's all I want!"

Then Anastasia jumped on the band wagon. The chugged and huffed through some of #1 and begged and pleaded for anyone to read to her. Her most prized birthday present was 4 coupons for Mom to read an hour of HP to her.

Of course, Caleb and Jonas read each of the books over again...... several times.

Then started a spate of wand making.

No stick in the neighborhood was safe.

The kids would spend hour after loving hour, cutting, peeling the bark off, sanding and painting each wand.

Great imagination and discussion was used in deciding which magical object would be the core of the wand and what special power it was good for.

The house was filled with cries of "EXPELLIARMUS," "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS," "ALOHOMORA,"

and, my personal favorite from Elijah "MAXIMUS."

(Don't ask, I don't know what it means, either)

Of course, many a mealtime discussion centered around the scarred wizard and the whys and where-to- fors of his foibles. Well, that, of course led quite naturally to a Harry Potter Party to celebrate the end of the summer.

We decided to do it early so that Kelly could be a part of the celebration.

We made Cauldron Cakes (admittedly, they don't LOOK much like cauldrons, but they were YUMMY!)

Licorice Wands

And butter beer (which I don't have a picture of).

It was quickly decided to make it an annual End-of-Summer-Beginning-of-School tradition. We even have a list of new Harry Potter Recipes to try.

Shhhh. Don't tell the kids that I had much more fun with it all than they did.

One Last Hurrah!

2011-09-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

In order to get my sand and seawater fix I talked Keith into going to Ocean Shores for Labor Day.

My crazy girls in their swimming suits. It was pretty cold.

Then all of a sudden, when we were just about to leave, the wind blew the clouds ("the marine layer") away to gorgeous blue skies and sun.

Ok, I took WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too many pictures.

A fun way to end the summer!!

Look who came to visit

2011-09-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

Came and perched in our tree, looking for a morsel to eat.

Going for the kill.

A sit in the sun after snack.

Ooops, I mean during snack. Can you tell what he is eating?

More sunning.

Oh, there is a dog...

better get out of here...

Back to thelofty perch.

Where were you?!?

2011-09-11T18:51:00.000-07:00

(Excerpt from journal of our Alaska trip. We had been in Alaska for 10 days and were having the time of our lives. Caleb was 4 years old, Jonas was 2 years old and Miriam was barely 1. Sorry for the poor copies of some of the pictures, they are scanned in from our scrapbook)

11 September 2001
We were awakened by the cell phone ringing. It was Keith's parents telling us that terrorists had driven a plane into one of the World Trade Center towers.

We turned on the car to listen to the radio and warm up the car. After a while listening to the radio, we drove around listening to the radio. We were, as probably most people were, kind of in a stupor, in shock. Finally, we decided to find a coin operated laundry and wash some clothes. We found a nice big one and I went in and started washing the clothes.... They had a TV on in there so I got Keith and told him. We let the kids sleep in the car outside the door by the window where we could watch them. I don't know how long we were there. The kids woke up and, luckily, there were some jungle gym type toys for them to play with. Keith and I sat glued to the TV. We watched the second plane crash into the other tower and we watched them both collapse.

Keith took the van and went out to get some breakfast from McDonalds, which we ate at the laundromat. We finished the laundry and packed it all back up in the suitcases again. We didn't know what to do, didn't know if we could even get out of Alaska, or if we did, if we could get back into the "lower 48."
Finally, we decided we couldn't just stay in the laundromat forever so we went to see the University of Alaska Museum...... At the museum, I almost didn't want to get out of the car and be that far away from a radio, but we did go in....(here I tell about the museum, Babe the blue ox, mosquito totem pole, 10 foot bear ect)
We still couldn't decide if we were going to be able to get across the borders and if we should stay in Fairbanks. We made our way to see the Trans-Alaska pipeline. Apparently, the best place to see it around Fairbanks is about 10 miles north on the Steese Highway. It was neat to see the pipeline. Miriam could have stood up inside it with no problems, possibly even Jonas......

There was a little visitor's center there but it was closed and had a sign on it that said, "Due to recent events we are closed." Then we remembered that ALL planes were grounded, even the planes that patrol the pipelines. The pipeline was the biggest concern during all the terrorist attacks. They couldn't even patrol it very effectively without planes. With images of exploding pipelines in our minds, we left.
North Pole is about 10 miles away from Fairbanks. What a charming place. The street lamps are all candy canes. They have roads with names such as Santa Claus Lane.

Jonas was having a hard time breathing so we stopped at the Santaland RV Park. No one was in the laundromat but we were kind of desperate. I plugged him in and then I watched the news on the TV there.... (Here I tell about Santa Claus House, sitting on Santa's lap, buying ornaments and postcards to mail to ourselves with the North Pole postmark).
At about 8:30 or 9:00 pm we got back on the road and headed toward Delta Junction. We drove by Eielson Air Force Base where cars were still backed up waiting to be searched so they could enter. There were also quite a few people around in their fatigues. We had heard on the radio all day that no one was allowed to leave the base and only a few select people were being let in. School on the base had also been closed.
I was still a little worried about Jonas' breathing and also a little freaked out over 9-11 so I talked Keith into getting a hotel that night......It was probably 11:00 or 12:00 when we reached there. I noticed that the only other people staying there were 3 red trucks that had something about Aleyska, which, I believe is the company that owns the Alaskan Pipeline. I didn't sleep well for listening to Jonas and heard the trucks start up and leave at about 4:00 in the morning. I think maybe they were patrolling the pipeline since they couldn't do it by plane.....

Flowers from the Canadians for 9-11

.....While I was holding Jonas for his treatment I saw a sign on the bulletin board that said something to the effect "we feel the pain of our neighbors (USA) and decry terrorism." It was really interesting to me how much 9-11 affected EVERYONE. We kind of got to see everyone's perspective on the radio while we travelled through the area. Alaskans were afraid for the pipeline. Canadians were "how can we support the US and where would they stand if the US goes to war... would Canadians fight too?"

That was 10 years ago and now we live in a completely different world. I'm so grateful for our country. Especially for the men and women in uniform (of all sorts) that are so quick to give their lives to preserve what we hold dear.

NEVER FORGET!!!

Where were you on that fateful day??

Almost Forgot....

2011-09-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

Anastasia loved all her presents. She got an UNO game from Grandma and Grandpa.

Beads and a gift certificate for a trip to the bead store to get more.

And a baby doll. She loved this doll because it was life-sized and cuddly. She's a good little mom.

But her most favorite present was gift certificates (4 of them) for an hour of reading Harry Potter.
Happy Birthday, Anastasia. We love you, tons!

And So it Begins...........

2011-09-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

Every year it is no different. I hate this time of year. On the one hand, fall is in the air, the anticipation, figuring out what kids need for school, the shopping, that is all fun. But the change in season also brings on the unknown, which brings on lack of patience and an abundance of loss of control. I'm always grateful when girls get use to the new schedule and calm down a bit.
Besides all that, I don't really like sending my kids away. And this year I spent the first day of school depressed. But as always, life moves on, and my list of things to do is no respecter of seasons.

Anyway, Here are pictures!

Jonas (finally) was able to get into the Challenge Academy (for talented and gifted) at Aspire Middle School, the local performing arts school. He has qualified for 3 years for the Challenge Academy but they have never had room. He LOVES Aspire and all his teachers. Not so excited about the long bus rides but DEFINATELY worth going to Aspire! (That is one full/ heavy bag he has there) He has to ride the elementary bus to catch the Aspire shuttle going and the middle school bus after the Aspire shuttle coming home. Makes for a long day but he does his homework on the bus so that helps.

Anastasia has Ms Hanberg this year. Jonas and Miriam both had her for 3rd grade. She is excited that they get to raise salmon fry after Christmas and then release them in the spring.

Ryah has Ms Peterson (Jonas and Miriam both had her for 1st grade). She is sooooooooo totally excited for school. Doesn't know any specifics but still is totally excited.

Kristina, as always was nervous and begged to be homeschooled. But it won't be long before she comes out of her shell and charms the teacher.

Alina is deliriously happy to be going to school (shh, don't tell her, almost as happy as I am). She is always bursting to tell me what her friends are doing. Her teacher this year is Mr Brownsmith. Kinda funny how she gets a male teacher every year... there aren't that many in our school.

Miriam is BMOC (big man on campus). Her teacher is Mr McIntosh. She is going to have a great year.

Everyone is. Bring on the books!
This is fast becoming a tradition. First day of school Elijah goes to the bus in his pj's. This year because Caleb gets up and goes early to seminary, Keith wasn't around to stay with Elijah and we didn't have time for him to get dressed. Next year he will be dressed, hopefully, as he will start kindergarten.

It is good to have some 1:1 time with Elijah. We have already played with balloons, done lots of workbook pages, learned how to fold towels and taken naps together. I guess I could get used to this.
(I'll try to get pictures of Caleb for another post)

Misc Summer Pictures

2011-09-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

Randomness.

Having fun with some actions that I got for Photoshop....

Elijah walking in his Daddy's footsteps.

Mom wouldn't let him us the soldering iron so he had to make-do with what he had when making his computer.

Sunburned from swimming. Jonas wanted to "see" his scar from surgery when he was 3 days old...

You can see it if you look really close

For some reason, the kids have been very interested in how ice works.

Welcome to Our Crazy World

2011-09-08T15:55:00.000-07:00

On the spur of the moment we decided to invite Kelly over to stay at our house. We ran him ragged.

After a long, long, hot ride home, right off we sent him to Scout Camp for a week.

Then we gave his muscles a workout weedwhacking our yard, pulling old sheds down and weeding the garden. We did all this for morning chores and saturday work.

Add to that trips to Olympic Cards and Comics to play Magic The Gathering,

5 or 6 girls hanging on the arms and every word

Harry Potter Parties with LOTS of food

A chore of his own,

and afternoon Wii sessions,

And that makes

For a very full summer. .

With only a little time to be homesick

Every one was sad when he flew home.

You are welcome to come back anytime, Kelly.

That is anytime you are up to keeping up with 10 crazy people.

Happy Birthday, Anastasia

2011-09-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

Birthdays are a big deal in the House of the Jones people. And Anastasia's was no execption. Anastasia, of course not listening to Mom, turned 9 years old. She was very glad that Kelly could be here for her party!

Spanking Machine

Chair lifting...

I have been replaced. And I'm ok with that. Kids want to decorate their own cakes. Other than the "base coat" I have moved to a strictly advisory position.

Anastasia wanted this cute beach scene cake we saw in a birthday cake idea book from Aunt Mara. And they all ran with the idea.

Octopus

Surfer dude.

Beach Bum

Mermaid

Surfer dude getting chased by a shark

Lifesaver dude.

Palm tree and warm sand.

Beach Ball Dude

Underwater sea fish creature dude

Buried in the sand dude

Yes, ALL that fit on one cake. Lots of fun! Happy Birthday, Anastasia!!

A rock

2011-09-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

Now, there is not much around here that I can't (not to mention won't) handle by myself with help from the kids. I'll tackle most things and generally, with some kid muscles and time. Most of the time (as long as there are no hefty decisions) I manage to be relatively successful in crossing lots of minor things off our list.

I've come to the realization that I have met my match, found my kryptonite, my achilles heel:

And no, it isn't this cute little boy (though the others would argue with that, probably), but his nice little seat.

This rock reared it's deceptively small, ornery head when the kids and I were digging holes in the circle to plant more blueberry plants before going to Utah. Knowing that Dad has a personal vendetta (and seeks revenge for a mangled tractor tiller) against all things rocklike lurking in the ground, especially big things rocklike, we set to work digging it out. After about two hours of digging (the kids spelling each other off) we had uncovered it enough to get a big 20 pound prybar underneath it.

For another hour we worked, dug, pried, cussed, er I mean sweated and pushed. We managed to get it up about 3 inches by lifting and stuffing dirt and rocks underneath it. Only then did I remember that we seem to have this big, red, ugly, smog-belching, beast in our back yard that was built for such a quest. And?!?! I have a key. So I fired her up and brought her on over for a try at the monster.

For another hour we worked. The kids pushing and directing and I steering and pushing the gas pedal. No such luck. The angle was all wrong. Without digging up the road or squishing the newly planted blueberries there was no way that rock was gonna budge.

We could really use some magic to help lift and transport.

But have no fear, we threw the proverbial tablecloth over it and consider our selves lucky that we now have a nice way to keep people from making our driveway creep into the blueberries... At least until Keith gets time to get the backhoe for the tractor put together to help us win the battle.

Utah Trip- Wrap Up

2011-09-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

Rose garden at a rest stop. Photos courtesy of Kristina.

If I had a penny for every flower my children have given me I would be much poorer for lack of love and devotion.

At Multinomah Falls, getting a leg stretch. See those 9 whitish spots near the right? Yup, those belong to me.

Utah Trip- Manti Half

2011-09-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

Manti was our next stop.

Everyone loves this marble toy. It is ALWAYS the first one to come out.

Notice the swollen cheek on the left... from a mosquito bite (our only complaint about Utah, they grow too many mosquitoes)

While in Manti, we took pictures of keepsakes. (I won't post them all here)

And then headed for the hills. There is a certain smell in these mountains that is only here. A smell that seems to make everything ok.

Deceptively Dry.

The castle.

After twisting the arms of Wayne and Mara's family, they agreed to take us up.

Manti Canyon.

Snow White and Rose Red

Already sunburned, but enjoying the blowing of the whistle with no ramifications.

Moving Mountain

Cool tree.

We went looking for adventure and the mountains, as usual, delivered in spades.

"Front end first," Aunt Mara.

Yup, there he is, Handsome!

Leaving the world (or road, in this case) better than we found it.

Elijah kept asking to get out and "play in the mud" with Daddy.

Manti Mud.

Isn't this picture the very definition of "the mountains"?

Two hot girls.

Made it through that water crossing.

Miriam watching the bumper disappear in the water/ mud.

"Hmmm. How do we make it up this muddy hill?" Elijah gets his wish.

Not really IN the river.

Gathering rocks to help the truck get traction.

Enjoying all the new smells, but not daring to leave the port.

Yup, that is about the angle of the hill.

We made it to the cabin by Mara ferrying most of us up on the four wheeler.

The truck brought up the rear. But Grandpa didn't stay long as there were some ugly clouds on the horizon and he didn't want to get stuck in the mud.

Breathtaking view.

The cabin chair.

The best place to be a boy... or a girl, for that matter.

The beaver ponds down from the cabin.

We watched carefully over our little Cougar Bait, but she had a fun time.

Miriam holding really still to feed the squirrels peanuts.

Cousins had a blast and immediate family lines became blurred.

The cabin is a glorious place to explore.

Huge chip. We took up TONS of food but didn't use most of it.

Hungry or tired? Tired or hungry?

Aunt Mara pulled Grandpa's trick of counting to see who could last the longest without moving. She got to 400 and finally gave up. MOST of them were asleep by then.

"You are gonna have roast dog"-- Mara, when she saw how Tess climbed into the ashes to get warm.

In the morning, after a night spent worrying about Grandpa, knowing that people would be heading up to help us get down, we had a rushed breakfast, left most of our stuff, and started headed down.

The Hikers after getting a lecture about staying together and helping each other.

Tessa got passed around and enjoyed the ride. She also enjoyed the little runaround time she got.

All the kids helped each other through the mud.

Despite many warnings otherwise, two girls only had flipflops. Luckily, Aunt Mara is always prepared. She wrapped their feet with bandage to help keep the flipflops on. This girl gave up very quickly on that and chose to go barefoot. Crazy girl.

Elijah walking on elevated shoes that weighed 10 pounds. I kept saying "stay out of the mud," but he wasn't gonna have me ruin his fun. "But I WANT to get muddy," or "I WANT to get wet" was his quick reply everytime.

Stuck in the mud.

Sporting the new look. Muddy.

Then we came upon the scene of the crime, er accident. So grateful that Keith was with him and Wayne wasn't too far off. And that no one was hurt (other than pride). Love the adventures in the Mountain, but we really could do without the rollovers.

Wasn't too long after that we were met by those coming up to help us.

Soupy mud.

Our knight and protector.

Found an egg.

See that bear (er, bare) footprint?

All cleaned up, sunburned, and regaling everyone with tales of the high adventure.

Elijah showing of his photography skills....

Utah Trip- Bountiful Half

2011-08-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Utah to see Grandparents and Cousins is always a highlight of the year. We started off in Bountiful for the 4th. (Washington doesn't know how to celebrate the 4th properly so we were really blessed to be able to celebrate in Utah this year)

Aunt Kayleen playing in the traditional band that wakes people up on the 4th of July.

Facepainting at the 4th of July breakfast.

Yummmm! And snowcones.

Sorry, couldn't pick just one. She was just so cute.

The bucket dumping was the funnest part. Anastasia was the brave first one....

Kristina gets into the action.

Jonas finally gets wet.

Elijah got to get Daddy wet.

And then get wet sitting on Dad's shoulders.

Anastasia does EVERYTHING with gusto.

Star hair braids.

I had fun taking pictures of the fireworks.

I'll spare you ALL the ones that I took.

Then we went to a campground by Mt Timpanogos for the Jones Reunion.

Aunt Natalie put on a great Family Nite!

Walking sticks were a big hit!

Wish I could remember the name of this place.

(It was here that my camera battery died as SOMEONE forgot the charger back in Washington. Fired, so fired)
A fun time was had by all. But the adventure began the last night when we had a flash rainstorm and the road got covered in a mudslide. Luckily no one was hurt and the fast road crew cleaned it up.

Elijah and Maddie

2011-08-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

I traded babysitting with Lisa so that I could go to volunteer in the school and she could take her other daughter to her therapy without distractions.

Elijah and Maddie get along extremely well!

They play very creatively and for long hours.

This is one of their favorite things to do, read each other books.

Is it too early to think about marriage for my Bugaboo?? LOL

Their makeshift couch is a pile of cement that we are going to use for the foundation of our well house... too humid to store in the garage... Makes a nice place to read books, dontcha think?

Elijah's Pre-School

2011-08-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

Maddie

Emma

Eleanor

We made nests. Our letter for the day was N and we had to have a place to put our Easter eggs.

This is how it was a lot. Elijah got left out. When we watched Maddie, she and Elijah played like lifelong friends, but when all four got together Elijah usually got the short end of the stick. But he will hopefully know how to treat girls when he is older. He certainly has had a lot of direction from his sisters.

The Noblest Profession

2011-08-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

Jonas' teacher, Mr McIntosh, was a good teacher. He was a little distracted, though, as he and his wiife just had a baby (their first). And half way through the year his father passed away. Jonas was already gone to Utah before I even thought about taking a picture WITH his teacher....

Ryah's teacher, Ms Masson, was incredible. She worked all year long with us to help Ryah improve her behavior. Then one month before school ended she found out that she had cancer. We were all heartsick. She is a trooper and is doing well, however. This is the substitute teacher, Ms Mason.

Anastasia loved her teacher, Mrs Fossett. Jonas and Miriam also had her in second grade (she was Ms Johnson, then) so Mom was glad too!

Everyone loves Mr K! (Kiekaefer). He plays guitars all the time and has lots of fun parties.

I could not have hand picked a better teacher for Kristina. After the problems we had with Kristina's teacher last year, Mrs Richards was a breath of fresh air. She towed the line but was very loving. She also has lots of fun songs to remember things like multiplication.

Ms Rayburn is a fun teacher. She signs up for all kinds of ecology field trips. Miriam got to do water testing , go to a shellfish farm and the local marina to learn how to better protect the environment. She is also the Safety Patrol leader (cross walk guard). Miriam and Jonas both were members of the Safety Patrol.

Welcome Home, Dad!

2011-08-23T15:44:00.000-07:00

Keith went on a business trip to Texas. The day he was to come home I suggested (out of desperation from kids asking WHEN he was coming home) that they make him a sign. As is so often the case with my children, they took my idea and ran with it.

They made posters

Made muffins, colored pictures and decorated

They all missed their daddy... and so did I.

Spring Concerts

2011-08-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

Caleb has really enjoyed playing the cello in middle school. He really likes Mr. Sokolik. He was even chosen to be a part of the symphonic orchestra that travels around to different elementary schools to play concerts and get the elementary kids excited about middle school band.

A sunset after Caleb's concert.

Miriam's concert. Was supposed to be Jonas' as well but he was gone.

Mr Sears is AMAZING!! Besides the fact that it takes someone special and dedicated to be able to be a beginning orchestra teacher, he really knows how to handle the kids and encourage them to progress and enjoy music and their instrument. Sorry I don't have a picture of his face. Krisitina took these pictures.

This was supposed to be Jonas' concert as well, but he was already in Utah at "Cousin Camp."

Not really a concert but fun nevertheless. Vanessa Oblad used to live in our ward. She has spent the last couple of years building up a career in singing (she is AMAZING). She came to concert here with Marvin Goldstein. The local (incidentally in our ward) play director arranged for this group of kids to sing and perform with Vanessa (she goes by Vanessa Joy). Caleb, Miriam and Anastasia were able to do this.

I know you can't actually see any of our kids but they are there.

Easter 2011

2011-08-23T08:58:00.000-07:00

(Once again most of these pictures are taken by someone else. I think I'm training up some photographers, right? That's my story and I'm sticking to it)

A big nest that Alina and Elijah made to hold their eggs (and themselves).

Yeah!! Peach blossoms that made it past the deer.

And apple blossoms.

Flowers that Keith bought me for Easter.

Anastasia's Easter basket.... almost as big as her grin. At our house the Easter bunny comes on Saturday, while Sunday is reserved for discussions about Easter and why we celebrate it, what are the symbols ect.

This year we distracted the "little" kids with a movie while the older kids (Caleb, Jonas, Kristina and Miriam) stuffed and hid Easter eggs.

Then they helped the younger ones find them. Turns out that was THE funnest way to do it. All the kids asked if we could do it that way again next year. (with the possible change of letting Alina and Anastasia join the "big kids")

Someone else joined in.

Even Tessa enjoyed the commotion.

Our yard isn't much to look at, but boy is it the bees knees for an egg hunt.

I love that my kids love to hang out with each other. despite the obvious differences (in age and other things).

Of their own accord, they emptied out the eggs and divided up the candy evenly.

Yup, part them flowers so I can get to the real view!!

Decorating eggs.

Anastasia's homemade bib.

I catch the "after-holiday" sales and get lots of different kinds of egg dying kits. It is always fun to see what ones are fun and what ones are duds. This one was a BIG hit!!!

Keith tolerates the whole egg dying thing.

They all also liked the stickers.

And the marble kit.

We also like eating the eggs. We do about 10 dozen eggs and the kids get to take one for lunches and if (I stress the IF) there are any left over after a couple days we make egg salad sandwiches.

They like the candy also.

One big happy family.

Misc Spring Pictures

2011-08-23T08:36:00.000-07:00

Reading over this blog has taught me several things. 1. I'm WAAAAAAAAY behind. Way behind. Way, way, way behind. 2. I'm really behind. And 3. the errant family photographer has been (rightly so) replaced by a myriad of amateur, if enthusiastic, photographers.

You will probably get a lot of posts in the next couple of days (weeks) that will be mostly pictures (mostly not taken by me).

Elijah playing with Alina's math blocks.

He did this by himself. All by himself.

Alina trying to look like she is doing school work.

I get lots of these a day.

Elijah's book path. what is not seen is that it goes from one house (a random box) to another. Friends can visit each other. He took this picture and many more.

Miriam boxed herself up in this box in preparation of dad opening his "mail" and then promptly fell asleep. She was very patient and waited at least an hour even after she woke up.

These popsicles have been a lifesaver. Ever since we had a week to paint the inside of our new house we have used these popsicles for rewards and breaks. We wouldn't have made it through that week without them. And we wouldn't have been able to make it through all the working-outside-sessions that we have had since then... Especially since the girls have come home.