366 Laughs- January 26th 2016

1/26/16

Here's a game for you.

Find the difference between these two pictures.

366 Laughs- January 23rd 2016

1/23/16

Cub Scout Pinewood Derby!

With most of the family down and out sick, only the Cub Scouts and Dad attended.
Timothy got 3rd place!  And Samuel got to participate even though he's no longer a Cub Scout, having turned 11.






And for your enjoyment, here's a Doc (from Back to the Future) hanging from the ceiling fan.

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 13th 2016

1/13/16

This is on our front door.  I found it and gave it to Tom for Christmas.

I think it speaks truth :)

Come in, We are Awesome!


Please do!

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 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 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.