366 Laughs- January 20th 2016

1/20/16

Samuel's 11th birthday!



He was so thrilled that his new panda bear came in the mail.  (favorite animal).  Yes, we're watching Piano Guys in the background.  This one.

Birthday cake.  More of a sandwich haha.  It was yummy.

It's too bad we had to clean up so much of it as stomach flu came through shortly after... Ginny is having spice cake.  I don't want to see chocolate cake again for a while.

Can't you tell he's thrilled?


Silly cat card.



Haha, another panda!


Percy Jackson books.




Another of the Harry Potter books.  :)



Yummy tradition!



And... addition to his Snap Circuits.  It's a case for all of them!   He got some for Christmas, got some more with Christmas money, got some more by earning money around the house...  another electronics lover in the house.



Yep, he's 11!  The eleven candles prove it.



We're glad to  have this kiddo in our family.  We love his quirky sense of humor and his fun impressions.  We love his quiet side and his crazy side.  He's a good big brother and a huge tease.  He's smart and cute, too.  He'll get me for that, someday.

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 4th 2016

1/4/16

Benjamin needs the Pizza Hut anthem and flag in the background here.  He strikes a great dramatic pose, doesn't he?

Another angle.

Complete with my clean laundry.

Ginny is singing about the joys of chocolate kisses and hugs.  The flash is bright.



We caught you drinking the Koolaid.

366 Laughs- January 2nd, 2016

1/2/16

Tonight our laughs came from decorating cookies that we've needed to make since Christmas when Tom got his ABC (already been chewed) cookie cutters.  Here's a recap:



So since our Kitchenaid is still out of commission, I picked up some clearance Christmas cookie icing (say that 3 times fast) at Target and one color was red... lots of bloody dismemberment, apparently.



But there was a lot of creativity, too.  It was fun.  Benjamin even did some after he got home from work and before heading to bed.  Which we are all doing early as we start 8 am church tomorrow!


BYU!  He made a "Y" out of white sprinkles.

I love the happy fish.  Those feet have problems.

Yay!  Cookies!  Yeah, she didn't understand decorating quite yet.

She was very careful with her decorating.

Samuel is having fun.

Timothy did a lot with gore...


Emilie's zombie... Tom was more meticulous.


Liberty decorating a butterfly.  The rest got scary.

That's where those feet came from.

Nathanael autographed his first few.  I guess they're collector's editions.

365 Joys- December 31st 2015

12/31/15

It's the last year of 2015!  Can you believe it?

I have no idea what I'm going to call next year's posts.   I'll think of something.  Before tomorrow?  Maybe not.  My fingers are sore because we finally got the strings for my new viola today!  I love it.



And tonight is the oft spoke of evening of snack dinner (as my kids call it) and fun foods night as we wait for the New Year and play games, enjoy snacks, and watch movies as a family.

I'm thankful that most of us are healthy and most of us are here.

Benjamin is on the Stake Youth Committee and emceeing the youth dance tonight (that got changed TO tonight even though everyone we know wanted it NOT on New Year's Eve so the kids could be with their families... ah well.)  So Emilie and Benjamin are at the dance, hopefully having a blast, and we're all here.

Our home is open to whoever wants to come snack with us! 

Happy New Year to anyone who reads this!  I hope your 2016 is better than 2015, and it doesn't matter if last year was good or bad, we just hope 2016 is even better! 

365 Joys- December 28th 2015

12/28/15

We finally got some snow!  (and under that is ICE... so Tom worked from home today.)





And it's always a good day for Vitamin C!  (see?)

I'm going to miss this  kid   adult human.

365 Joys- December 21st 2015

12/21/2015

Happy Birthday to Mom/me!


Emilie made me a cake and finished my doll I started as a Young Woman!
The cake is a Christmas tree.


What a day.  :)



Ginny is messy!

365 Joys- December 11th 2015

12/11/15

Samuel really likes this hot sauce.  We ran out and I just bought another bottle... this was his reaction.


I also love the photobomber and the cute background sitter, coloring on the couch.



Oh, and Benjamin started a new job.  Congratulations on another hire!

365 Joys- November 26th 2015

11/26/15

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was a day full of family in Illinois, some we hadn't seen in a long time, and some we'd never met before!

Cousin Holly, Liberty, and Monty.

Tom and baby Susie.  He has a way with babies.  Why do you think we've had so many?
He was teaching her about the Royals.  (her family are Twins fans)


Ginny learned about dogs.  Real dogs.  They lick.  And she LOVES them.  Chomper wasn't sure what to think of her.

Timothy found a friend for his moose in Ariana and Grandma's beanie baby bin.


Emilie being gorgeous.


Tabitha holding a baby because that's what she does.  (Baby Susie again!)


The kids' table, with cousin Toby.  Beautiful place settings and great food and family and talk and laughter.  And messes and tired kids and grumpiness, but that's Thanksgiving and we loved it.


And of course pies... always one for every person, plus those who just came for pie.

We contributed the pumpkin and chocolate pumpkin.  An experiment.  Lots of deliciousness there, folks.
Emilie, at this time, was finishing up "Nanowrimo", National Novel Writers Month, wherein she writes 50,000 words in a month's time which could be a short novel.  She didn't want to skip any days and here she is writing away.