366 Laughs- January 15th 2016

1/15/16

Sometimes I find random pictures on my camera.





Which child got an origami book for Christmas?  Hmmm.

366 Laughs- January 14th 2016

1/14/16

My photobombing family.

Or is that phamily?  Hmm.

But first, one of just Benjamin on his way to get donations for his Eagle project.  In Dad's hat from Germany.



Oh and Emilie just being adorable.

And again.


Now the photobombing starts...


Samuel, I think, knows...


More...

366 Laughs- January 8th 2016

1/8/16

Emilie being "half Sith".  She's cute though, even when she's trying to scare her brothers.



Timothy bought these Magz with Christmas money.  They were well worth it.  Look at that!
Plus the accidentally photobombing Nathanael.



Christopher with most of his Superman collection.  He really and truly loves Superman.

Some of these new ones he got for Christmas or bought with Christmas money.  He also loves Polar bears.

366 Laughs- January 7th 2016

1/7/16

Oh, no, Liberty!  You ate Michael!




We played with playdough today...
Samuel's guy looks like he's inflated.



He also made an elephant for Ginny.


He also took the pictures of the playdough.  I have lots of angles.

366 Laughs- January 6th 2016

1/6/16

I love my family.
Here's Juliana, snuggled up with a crocodile from the zoo she bought with birthday money last spring, and a big crocodile from Amazon she bought this week with Christmas money, reading the Enormous Crocodile (by Roald Dahl) with Benjamin (Tom's favorite book.)

Love it.  Oh, their names are Chomper and Snappy.



Ginny figured out these little Klip Klop princesses on horses (Liberty has one from last Christmas) just days before Christmas.  They are fun, they ride down little ramps with a little clip clop noise and motion.  Santa found it at a VERY good price and when Ginny got the hang of it, I was thrilled. (Moms have insider info, you know.)  Here she is playing away.  Her big brothers and sisters ALSO have a blast with these.



And then just a lovely photogenic Christopher for you.  As you can see, those front teeth are FINALLY coming in.

366 Laughs- January 1st, 2016

1/1/16

Well, we laugh every day even if there isn't much to laugh about, right?  There's always something to have joy in, and I used that last year.  So I'll take Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley's advice:
          “The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. 
                    You either have to laugh  or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache.” (source)

So here we go!

Here is the calendar we bought on Black Friday, Michael's birthday, the day after Thanksgiving, whatever you want to call it.  We needed a calendar, mom had a coupon, all the calendars were something percent off, we wanted some kind of souvenir from such a cool experience (the CAT Visitor's Center in Peoria, Illinois.  We went with family when in Illinois for Thanksgiving.  I posted tons of pictures on this blog, even.  November 27th)

So it was fun to put it up today.



It's a wider format than our usual calendars so we had to put TWO nails.  And we're spoiled by birthdays and anniversaries being printed in our last two personalized calendars so I had to actually write in everyone's birthdays!  The horror!  :)

365 Joys- December 27th 2015

12/27/15

I made these.
Yes, these.

Tom bought me new fabric scissors for Christmas.  (the replace the old ones I got in 1987... yes, that is an 8... for my sewing class in junior high.)  We bought BYU fabric for bow ties, but we saw that we had enough for real ties, too, and these two aren't going to do bow ties.

So yes, here is my awesomeness for the week.  Still need to finish 3 more bow ties.  (I've already made 2... one for a gift, one right here!)

365 Joys- December 25th, 2015

12/25/15

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!

We had a fun, family filled and simple day.

Looks like someone visited during the night... we love this tradition of secret giving and sharing.

The stockings were filled...


Even to setting up breakfast for the family. It makes things really easy in the morning!


Juliana found a giant fluffy giraffe under the tree with her name on it.

Ginny found it, too.

First fun present of the morning!

Lego/Duplos are always good for all ages.





A new friend.


Art projects of the future...

Hmm...


Emilie has new friends, too!

Benjamin laughing at someone...


Tolkien anything is good, right?  (this is an atlas, really cool.)

Magnets...


A Coloring book from cousins!

Zebra friend, named Stripe!

And a big dinosaur from a cousin secret Santa!


For some strange reason, Michael got a lot of ties... hmmm.  (and a cool BYU shirt!)


Drawing stuff and more yarn for Emilie!


Emilie?  (these pens are great... her cousins know her!)


An element of danger here... hide!


Always humor in Dad gifts... cookie cutters that look like they've already been eaten!


Nathanael's favorite gift...a Book of Mormon in Greek.


I loved seeing the joy in my children's eyes as their siblings opened gifts especially chosen by them, usually worked for and sacrificed for, and sometimes just thoughtfully found.

I loved the interest in each other and their likes and dislikes.  I loved that their cousin gift exchanges went well and they wanted to know how their far away cousins felt about the presents they had found.

We are blessed, no more on Christmas than any other day but I think we had time to sit back and think about it this day.  This is the last Christmas we all will be together for quite some time, and Tom and I may have been more mindful of this than the kids, but as we watched Michael enjoy this last Christmas at home, we definitely thought about it.

Next year, a few minutes skyping with a missionary may be the best present of all.  Remembered as we talked about it with the Elders over dinner tonight.

Merry, merry Christmas everyone.  We love you.

365 Joys- November 21st 2015

11/21/15

Emilie won the youth dance "Ugly Sweater Contest" along with a few other friends.

Yes, she made this herself.  It has flashing lights on the tree.

thankful for a creative daughter!

365 Joys- October 19th 2015

10/19/15

Even more awesomeness... pictures of Michael in a BYU sweatshirt.


He says he feels "official."