Things are BUSY!

This time of year is always busy... especially at our house. (All of our children were winter babies) So we start in November for Ben, Madi and Brooke have birthdays in December, and Connor is the day before our anniversary... in January. What ever do we do for excitement the rest of the year right?!? So here is Brooke with her blackberry and whipped cream cake... She picked that! The morning of her birthday, she grabbed her backpack and was convinced, now that she was five, she got to go to kindergarten when we took Madi to school. That took a little explaining.

This was our first REAL snow fall of the season. We got five or six inches and the kids were in heaven. They were launching themselves off the slide on the deck.

This is the project I did instead of cleaning... It was a joint birthday present for the girls. They call it their reading tent or something like that. As soon as it was hung up they immediately grabbed books and settled down. It has been really FUN. (For Christmas I am making two pink beanbags for their reading corner).

These last two weeks have been... well kind of like... "AHhhhhhh!" I got really sick after we got back from Thanksgiving and then the kids caught it too. As soon as we were better an attack of pinkeye quarantined us again. We are almost over that plague, thank goodness... But a long story short... I was trying to do some fun homeschooling with Madi (she was home most of this week because of the pinkeye). This was our baking soda volcano science project. The kids loved it and making the volcano kept them busy most of the morning.

Christmas gifts or cleaning?

Do you ever have a hard time fitting everything in? Well, even if you don't... I DO! In a regular month I find it challenging to teach my children preschool, help THEM do THEIR chores, clean the house, laundry that never ever ever ever ends, read to them, make a meal or three, do my church calling, maybe fit in a little project here or there... (and what the heck is "me time"?)

So now that the holidays are here the real fun begins. I love to do homemade gifts... and it is really fun now that my kids are older, to teach them how to make gift for their friends and each other. Unfortunately, I don't have a maid or an Alice from the Brady Bunch to help with all the regular stuff. So each day its a, "Hmmm... do I do fun gift making or clean and clean and clean." Tough choice right? Well, the cleaning never stays done anyway, so what the heck.

Hope you are all having a fun filled holiday season!!!

Holiday's: Thankful for..... Christmas!

I think that I mentioned before that I am like a kid when it comes to holidays... Well, now it's getting closer to the Christmas season and I am getting so excited. Brett has to hold me down so I don't jump on the roof to put up the lights. I love thanksgiving too... but I really think it's a shame to squish all the fun holidays into one season and leave only a few "interesting" ones to hold us out until the next year. I mean, honestly, all you do for St. Patty's Day is pinch people?

No, really I think that Thanksgiving and Christmas are very appropriately situated on our calendars. What better to be grateful for than the birth and life of our Savior? So to all you "bah humbugs" out there: I am getting my Christmas music going, not because I want to blow right through Thanksgiving, but because I am most grateful for He who gave his all for us. So I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday filled with gratitude, love, family, friends, and of course a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast!

Bad Hair Day?

We had a little fun with the Halloween clearance stuff. I think its a good look on Brett.
I think the wig is bigger than Connor.

What a hottie!

Ben is a big cheese ball!

Brooke's Shirt goes well yes?

Halloween

I love holidays! Halloween is just as much fun for me now as when I was little. We had a ball picking out what the kids wanted to be and making costumes. I asked the girls to pick someone out of a story. Brooke chose Rapunzel. (Grandma Conover came up with the yarn wig idea). Brooke wasn't to into the idea when she saw we were making it out of tights... but when we added the yarn that hit her feet she was ok with it again.

Brett was a safari guide... nice hat huh? Madi was Little Bo Peep... that was a fun challenge! Ben wanted to be Mater. He was so excited watching me paint it but when it came down to it he only wore it for a few minutes... so then he was a cowboy again. Connor sported the same bear suit they have all worn. (I love the snuggly costumes... so much smarter for cold). And I grabbed one of my old prom dresses, added wings and a wand with a tooth brush. All in all we had a ton of fun.

Hope you all had a fun and candy filled holiday.

Spooky things are in the air

We are having fun getting ready for Halloween! I'm like a kid when it comes to holidays. (We started making these spiders and ghosties out of plastic bags when we were still in school). It was so much fun that it is now a tradition that the kids really look forward to. It's a really easy craft for the kids and a cheap decoration... plus it's really cute when the wind blows them.
It might be a little sad... but this is the tallest my corn grew. But who cares... it fits just right on our porch. And we grew just enough pumpkins for all the kids to have one.

Brooke, Ben and I made all the silly decorations while Madi was at school. This one is a bat... Brooke wasn't satisfied until we gave it fangs.

Brooke and Ben making "ghosties"

Fun at the Bingham's

I loved doing this when I was little! We had a laughing good time until one of the girls fell on top of Ben.Little Divas! While visiting cousins the girls had fun performing in their music room.
We also got to swim in their pool. Cold yes, but way fun. Brooke would turn blue before she'd want to get out.

Ben had a ball as soon as he remembered what the water wings did.

Madi had a sink or swim lesson. And guess what she decided on? I was so sad that we moved from California just as the kids were getting the hang of swimming. (We were spoiled with a pool just out our front door).