Abigail's 6th Birthday

Abigail's 6th birthday took place over the course of one week. First, she got to open presents and eat cake and ice cream early because Grandpa and Grandma Bowen were visiting. Second, we celebrated her actual birthday by having her choice of cereal for breakfast (Trix) and for dinner chicken nuggets, french fries, and Jell-o jigglers. Third, she was able to have a birthday party where she invited her friends to a pretend slumber party. For a girl who loves birthdays, the way we celebrated this year was perfect.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

From Mario, Cheerleader girl, Clone Trooper, Buzz Lightyear, and Waldo!

By the way the Cheerleader, Mario, and Waldo had their costume crafted by the famous Sherrie. And yes, Waldo is outfitted by the magic of red duct tape!

Happy Mother's Day - Finally done

So Sherrie posted back in June about the great Mother's Day present that was in the works in our garage. Well a few weeks later (yeah, weeks... I need to get started now for 2011), here it is.

We had a lot of helpers (I use that term very loosely). Don't let the happy smile fool you. Dad's tools are always more exiting than the ones he has...


Nailing on the facing


Painting. Had a lot of good help on that.


Letting things dry for a last coat and some polyurethane.


And

here is what you (and especially Sherrie) have all been waiting for...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Now if the kids will use these new shelves/cubbies for their intended purpose...

Thanks to KnockOffWood.blogspot.com for the plans (you'll be redirected to ana-white.com), and a pre-emptive sorry to all the husbands who just got a new weekend project. There are a few things we would do differently, but overall it was a fun project, albeit much to drawn out...

Mothers Day/Fathers Day

For Mother's Day this year I told David the only thing I wanted was for him to build me some locker cubbies for the garage. Basically a place for the while family to hang coats, take our shoes off, and to sit. He then told me for him to do this he needed some tools. So, for an early Father's Day gift he got a scroll saw.

So here is David using his new saw and what my cubbies look like so far. I'm not sure it's fair that he gets to use his gift early and I'm still waiting. We'll post when they are built and all painted with hardware.

Birthdays #2

Kell's Birthday

Kell just turned 7. Since he had a friend birthday last year, we just had a small family party this year. We went to Incredible Pizza where we played glow-in-the dark miniature bowling, mini bowling (little lanes, little pins, little balls), played games, and ate pizza (or whatever else was on the buffet). When we got home we ate cake and ice cream. This year I made Kell a shark cake, but if he tells you he didn't like it, he did, just not eating it. He received a butterfly garden before his birthday and was able to watch the caterpillars form cocoons and turned into butterflies and then we let them go. He got a Big Bike and horn, a squishy dinosaur and two Kung Zhu pets.

Birthdays #1

Campbell's Birthday

Two months ago our baby turned two. He's a very active two year old that keeps us all on our toes. There's never a dull moment in our home, seriously, just when I think I can take a breather, Campbell has made more work for me. He's a very curious little guy, and the kids like to call him Curious Campbell, in fact, they often ask who I think is more curious him or George. This is fitting as George is one of his favorite PBS shows.

I don't know if it's because he's the youngest and watches all the older kids or if it's just his personality, but he seems to be doing things earlier than the rest. To give you an example, He has figured on his own that he can watch a Thomas video on the computer if he just puts the dvd in the computer. When I discovered it was in, I asked all the kids and David if they had put it in, and they told me they hadn't. He's a smartie and anything with buttons fascinates him. I'm interested to see where this will take him as well as us.

For his birthday I made him a train cake, since he loves Thomas trains (Sorry grandpa I'm working on the tractors). He got a Mickey Mouse tricycle that has buttons and makes lots of noise, a helmet, and paly dough that he likes to make his own colors with. For dinner we had Waffles, fruit Kabobs, and cake and ice cream.

EASTER

I had a hard time getting excited about Easter knowing that it would just be the kids and I. It's not fun celebrating anything without dad, but we had a good time.

The Easter Bunny comes to our house on Saturday morning so as not to distract from the real reason we celebrate Easter. So on Saturday the kids woke up to find their baskets filled with all sorts of things and eggs hiddedn all through the house. They all went searching for eggs. Campbell wanted to open and eat the candy in each egg before he hunted for another. I'm not sure he got it, but maybe next year.

We then went to Living History Farms for and Easter Egg hunt. The kids each got to hunt for eggs and prizes. Then we went home after Cole did a potato sack race. The crowds were outrageous.

Sunday I made ham, potatoes, rolls, corn, and Jell-O jiggler eggs. I admit when I first found out David would be gone for Easter, I didn't want to have a big meal. I then felt bad, because my kids love ham.

We also enjoyed being able to watch General Conference on TV. The kids did a great job sitting and listening to the speakers.

Cole at the Easter egg hunt (he was able to get a bunch because he didn't follow the pack)

Kell and Abigail right in the middle of the hunt

Kids wearing their new shirts from mom

Campbell excited to find eggs

The baskets

Spring Break

For Spring Break we decided to go to Minnesota. While there we stayed in a hotel two nights, went to Ikea, swam in the pool, played at Nickelodeon Universe in Mall of America, went to Science Museum, and played with friends. We had a great time!!

Who can resist a picture with Blue?

Log Ride was a FAVORITE

Carousel Ride

Kids with their bags from Grandma and Grandpa Bowen

Princess Peepers

For about a year Abigail was seeing the eye doctor every few months. The doctor detected a slight turn in her right eye that wasn't of too much concern until recently. Abigail started telling me she couldn't see some reds and then she complained about not being able to see the dark TV screen. I talked to the doctor at my visit and he suggested she have her eyes checked again. Sure enough, they had changed enough that she needed to get galsses. Abigail was so excited to finally be getting galsses. She picked out some pretty pink princess glasses with sparkly bows on the sides.

We picked up her glasses and she was excited until just before I took her to school. I was fixing her hair in the bathroom and she was looking at herself in the mirror. She started to cry and say she didn't like how they made her look different. I explained to her that she'll get used to them and soon she'll look different when she takes them off. She went to school and has been okay since.

Finally a Piano!

David and I have been talking for quite some time about getting a piano, but were never on the same page about what we wanted. I wanted a real piano and David wanted a digital one. Well, after David sent me piano shopping I changed my mind and went for the digital. It had been great and the Kids love it. David also is able to practice at night when the kids are in bed because he uses headphones.

Cole and Kell have sarted taking lessons from a lady in our ward and so far are enjoying it. Abigail is excited for her turn to start taking lessons. As for Campbell, he enjoys sitting at the piano playing his own masterpiece. Of all our kids, he seems to be the one that really enjoys music.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is not one of my favorite holidays. Why do you need a holiday to tell someone you love how much you love them? As a kid I did like making cookies for the neighbors and secretly delivering valentines (they don't do that anymore). This year I decided to be nice and join in the celebration with my family. I made each of my kids a Valentine's pillowcase and gave them some candy. For David, I bought him a new snow shovel (wish it could've been a snow blower) and some dark chocolate Dove candies (his favorite). David bought me flowers and Hershey's Bliss candies (another favorite). David and I tried to go out to lunch on Friday, but that was changed due to a certain child's illness. We bought Papa Murphy's heart-shaped pizza for dinner (Saturday night), which was not as good as homemade. The kids all had parties at school and passed out there Valentine's. They each got way too much sugar, but I let them eat it all up to get it out of the house.

Super Noma No More

When Kell was 4 he lost his first tooth. This is earlier than most kids lose their first tooth, but Kell was born with a Super Noma (what't that?). As the dentist said, basically it is an extra tooth from God. Alright, so now what? Sure enough the extra tooth came in and the dentist kept checking it at his regular dental visits hoping it would come out in it's own, so the permanent one can straighten and come in halfway decent. Well, at the last visit, still not loose, so today he had it pulled. The tooth is huge, but the dentist said that it was normal for a Super Noma. You may notice a lot of empty spaces in his front teeth, this is because this past summer he lost two bottom teeth and one is FINALLY coming in and the other is slowly breaking the surface. Just last last Friday he lost the other top tooth at school. he was excited to tell me he had lost it when I picked him up at school. We got home and he proceeded to dig through his backpack to find his tooth. My first thought was ,"OH NO, he just threw it in his backpack and now it is lost" (if any of you know Kell, you know what I'm talking about). Luckily his teacher put it in a special tooth-shaped necklace to keep it safe until he got home.

Christmas 2009

Grandpa and Grandma Bowen and Aunt Lisa SURPRISED the kids and flew here for Christmas. They had a lot of fun. Kell had lunch with grandpa and Grandma at school and thought that was pretty cool. Grandma and Lisa made sugar cookies with Abigail. I hope they enjoyed it as much as Abigail did. I really appreciate there patience to let Abigail help, she is always begging me to help out in the kitchen, but I'd rather do it myself. All four kids really liked having them visit, in fact, not too long after they left, Abigail asked David if she could go on an airplane to visit grandpa and grandma.

Grandma, Lisa, and Abigail making sugar cookies.

Christmas Eve

Since we moved far from family we have been trying to make some of our own traditions during the holidays. Every year we try to get together with friends and decorate either gingerbread houses or big snowman cookies. This year we decorated big snowman cookies with our friends, so on Christmas Eve the kids decorated gingerbreas houses with Grandpa, Grandma, and Lisa. another trdition we have started is breakfast for dinner on Christmas Eve. I make breakfast casserole and homemade cinnamon rolls. This works out great for Christmas morning because instead of making a nice breakfast, we eat leftover cinnamon rolls.

Another tradition is the kids ornament exchange. Instead of exchanging gifts, the kids buy an ornament for one of their siblings each Christmas and they get to open it and put it on the tree Christmas Eve. The kids love this, and I really enoy seeing what they pick out for each other. They also get to open there Christmas pajamas, here they are at the top of the stairs Christmas morning sporting there new jammies. We didn't want Grandpa, Grandma, and Lisa to feel left out, so Grandma and Lisa got Mary Jane slippers and Grandpa got Christmas socks. I also got Mary Jane slippers (which I really love), but I forgot to get David some socks, so he'll have to wait until next year.

Christmas Day

We were all very blessed with wonderful gifts this christmas. Cole got an automatic nerf gun, Mario Cart R/C, indoor soccer ball, and a tabletop foosball table. Kell got Star Wars toys, Nerf gun, Toy Story Figures, and a Dragon (he told his class that was his favorite gift). Abigail got digital art studio for the computer, Mulan barbie doll, Londa (18" doll from g-pa and g-ma that she named), and sewing kits. I got Fiesta dishes, shepherds for the Willow nativity, sweater, and perfume. David got a cordless drill (he's already used and loves), cmall camp burner, and a Mario Cart R/C. As a family we got a WII. It was fun to play bowling with Grandpa, Grandma, and Lisa. It was nice to receive all these gifts, but the best gift this year was to have family come visit.