Double Digits!

Our CRAZY Zachary turned 10 this last week and we celebrated with an EXTREME Birthday party!

We made an Extreme Motocross Birthday cake that we found in the Family Fun magazine.

We also played some very fun games....We first played a Sporty Relay Race using a skateboard that had to be sat on and scooted across the lawn, shooting a basket and a football type "tire drill".

Then we played a few of the "Minute to Win It" games from the new game show on NBC.

On the game show the name of this tissue game is "Hanky Panky" (not a fan of the name, but we liked the game!)  Each person is given a full box of tissue and the first person to remove the tissues one at a time, using only one hand is the winner :)

The boys all loved this one! This one is called "Junk in the Trunk"...we used plastic eggs instead of ping pong balls and we used 12 instead of 8...basically the boys had to remove all the eggs from the tissue box, that was attached to their backs, without using their hands! :)

This one is called "Movin' On Up!"  Only removing one cup at a time the boys had to rotate the red cup from the bottom position all the way through the stack and back to the bottom position :)

This game is called "This Blows"...each boy had to blow up a balloon and only using the air in the balloon they had to knock down the cups off the table!! :)

The boys seemed to really enjoy themselves!! It was easy to put together and really cheap because the items for the games were all inexpensive or things we already had in the house!  Lots of fun for us and them! :)

My Posting Slump...

...is over!! (I hope) On my food blog that is!  Here's the link if you haven't checked it out in awhile: scrumdiddlyumptious!

Crazy Half Day!

Today the children had a "Crazy Wacky Hair Half Day!"  They both wanted something really crazy, and this was the end result.  As you can see they were both thrilled!! :)

Princess Presto to the Rescue!!

Amelia celebrated her 5th Birthday last week with a very special Super Hero Birthday Party!  She loved being Princess Presto from Super Why! 

She invited all her friends with a rhyming request:

Calling all “superheroes”! The time has come.
It’s Amelia’s 5th Birthday. Let’s have some fun!
We’ll rescue the world and save the day.
After we’re done, we’ll eat lunch and play!

When the children arrived we made superhero capes cut out of black, pastic tablecloth, and adorned them with large, sticky-backed felt stars and sticky-backed felt letters (each child had the first letter of their name). 
 
Then we tested the superheroes abilities with a relay race.  For lunch the children ate pizza and washed it down with a fizzy "Super Hero Power Drink" (sprite with pop rock candy!)  I attempted to make a cake with a recipe that I had not tried before, and it was a disaster, so last minute, Brian bought a cake at the store, and saved the day! (what an awesome superhero dad!!)
 
Amelia loved playing with her friends and when asked what part she like best, she said, "Everything!"

Christmas Wish Fulfilled!

The children have been talking about going to Disney for years now!  We have been telling them that we wouldn't go until Amelia turned 5 years old...(she will be 5 in January)  So, when we surprised them with a trip to Disney World a couple weeks ago, they were very surprised and extremely excited!  We didn't tell them until the day before we left, which made it really fun for us and them.  Here are a few cute pictures of the children:

This was a hot day at Epcot (about 85 degrees + humidity!)

In front of the Magic Kingdom on the 2nd day of Disney touring...The weather was perfect...low 70's with occasional rain misting, which kept people away!

We all had a blast and enjoyed visiting our friends who live in Florida :)

Our Christmas Miracle

Early Friday morning (4 AM to be exact!) we awoke to the piercing sound of our Fire Alarm!  As I began to gather the children, Brian tried to find the source of the smoke or fire.  No luck!  We couldn't smell any smoke and we didn't find a fire...??  Brian thought perhaps our detectors were going haywire and began to disable the alarms.  We still were nervous that there was some problem and thought perhaps the source was in the computer room, which holds most our electrical stuff.  While investigating Brian noticed a drop of water coming out of the smoke detector in the office...all of the sudden it hit us!!  The upstairs bathroom is directly above the office and water must have leaked through the detector from the bathroom causing the wires to get wet and setting off the alarm!!!  AHHH!  Sure enough...upstairs toilet was plugged and the water was running!  Almost a half inch of water was all throughout the bathroom and the carpet in the hallway and partly in Megan's room.

Miracle you say?  YES!  We think one of the children had gone to the bathroom just a short time before the alarm went off, and plugged the toilet without realizing.  And the water only came through the floor (ceiling downstairs) about 1 foot in diameter, and it happened to be right where the fire alarm was, which caused the wires to get wet, which caused the alarm to go off, and alert us to the problem!  No one was due to wake for another 2 HOURS, so the toilet would have continued to run and caused a MUCH bigger, nastier problem than we currently have!  We feel very blessed!

Here's the damage:

It shouldn't cost too much to fix...we are drying out the carpet and plan on having it re-installed in a couple days (or maybe after Christmas...we aren't in any hurry), and we might have to replace the flooring in the bathroom...not sure yet.  We did have someone come to our home to access the damage to make sure we were doing it all correctly and not missing any water damage, and that did cost a bit.  Having the carpet re-installed will be an expense, but other than that we shouldn't have to do too much! :)

Cookbook Giveaway :)

Check out a fun giveaway on my Hobby Blog :)

Merry Christmas!!

Wonderful Family Pics!

My dear friend, Angie, is a wonderful photographer (check out her work)!!!  She took our pictures last week and I just wanted to share some highlights (BTW, it was raining...(ok, misting, not real rain) and getting dark, and they still turned out great!)

Family Group...Tulla included, who looks like she has just noticed a Squirrel! ;)

Here is our little angel Amelia...

Cute, darling Anna...

Calm and Cool Zachary (rare occasions only!)

Beautiful Megan!!

Their true personalities coming through...

Our beautiful girls...

...and the handsome boys...

The lucky couple...

The Beauty of the Earth

A couple weeks ago we had an amazing sunset, and I just had to share! Aren't we blessed to live in such a beautiful land created by such a loving Heavenly Father? :)

A Dream Come True!

This Halloween was a Dream Come True for me!! I have been wanting to dress the children as the "Four Seasons" for ages! Some good friends in FL dressed as the Four Seasons years ago, and I've been gradually grooming the children to accept the idea, and finally this year it worked! I also thought it would be so fun if I dressed as Mother Nature and Brian (the hum-bug) was Father Time! However, only part of that dream was realized...Brian said he would wear a watch and that was it!!! Oh well, we still had a great time coming up with the costumes!!

Our sunny, energetic Summer!! She was so excited to go Trick-or-Treating this year, and she outlasted all the other children :)

Our lovely Spring! This outfit was an old ballet costume that we revised! The rain boots were a last minute choice (I didn't think about shoes), but they are "Springy"...right? April showers? ;)

Winter (a.k.a. Jack Frost) turned out great!! The snowflakes on his shoulders are battery-operated lights that we poked through the fabric of the jacket. BTW, we found the suit at a second hand store for under $5 total, so I didn't feel bad about painting it and poking holes in it :)

The beautiful season of Fall...

Group photos with a close-up of my Mother Nature Crown, which is a little over the top, but it's how I envisioned it looking (when Brian first saw it, he called me a "Dork!")

Farm Field Trip

Anna had a field trip to the Thomasson Farm to learn about soil and the working farm, and also play! Brian, Amelia and I joined Anna and her class, and everyone really had fun! The weather was very cold and windy, but they still enjoyed going through a Jr. Corn Maze, playing with some children friendly farm equipment, jumping in a huge corn box (corn instead of sand!), petting the farm animals, having a tricycle race and the best part picking out a pumpkin to take home...

Anna sporting her tie-dye field trip t-shirt on top of 2 jackets and a long sleeve shirt! Like I said, it was VERY cold and windy! ...we were all grateful it wasn't raining!!

Amelia showing such excitement...almost borderline crazy! ;)

Water is such a fascinating draw for children...

Fall Flag Football

Zachary is playing football for the second year in a row, and he is really enjoying the game. He has really improved and has shown better focus. Each Saturday we get to watch him play, which we all enjoy too :)

The Chargers (Zach's team name) cheering for the other team after a fun game...

Brian practicing football with Zachary and the neighbors in the park behind our house...

Sisters Together Forever!

Yesterday was the General Relief Society Broadcast for all the women in the world! And given to us were messages of strong sisterhood and unity among women. I love listening to our general leaders who keep us directed towards our Lord and Savior. :)

Here is another tribute to Women everywhere (PAUSE music to listen)...

Grandparents Day!

This is Anna's last year in school to celebrate Grandparent's Day, and my parents were able to come, which isn't always a luxury in their lives. Here is a picture of Anna, Grandpa George, Grandma Judie and Amelia :) Thanks mom and dad!