April 2014

Levi and Caleb are in their last Cloverbud (4-H) year. They went when they were 5, 6, and now 7. Next year they'll be too old. But it's been a lot of fun for them. This year one project they did was sew their own felt pirate hats. They did a great job!

We were getting out swim suits to see if they still fit. Ellie was so excited to wear hers :).

Ian's project....can you tell what it is?

Happy Easter!

Ian is trying to play a typing game, where you have a race car that races dependent on your typing speed/accuracy. Ellie was being helpful.

August 2, 2014

Caleb and Levi both made the choice to be baptized, after turning 8. We went to a family reunion for Daddy's family and held the baptism there. There was a room full of people, all of whom are related to Caleb and Levi. It was pretty neat. We're so proud of both of them for choosing to be obedient and getting baptized into the restored Church. One cool story, the Grandpa who lives there has not been well, and had been in a care center. Levi prayed that he would get better so he could come to his baptism. And, he did. He came home from the care center just a few days before and was able to make it. A prayer answered! I know they made the right decision, and that the gospel is true and will bring them lasting happiness if they do their best to keep the commandments. We're so grateful for everyone who came and participated with them, helping give talks, provide music, and conduct the service (their uncle is the Bishop), as well as those who traveled to be there.

Another fun story about the day. We were joining their uncle's stake baptism day. They hold separate baptisms for each child, but all on the same day. Our time was 5pm, and they'd been going each hour since 8am. We got there as they were finishing the previous service, and when they all came out of the room and saw us, they said that they thought they were the last baptism and they had drained the font! The font that takes 2 hours to fill, the font that nobody had a key to open the place that controls the faucet. But boy, did it ever get filled! Several people from that previous baptism pitched right in and ladies were filling pitchers in the kitchen and wheeling them to the font on a cart. Men grabbed the huge garbage cans (that were clean!) and used the janitor's closet to fill them and then dump them in the font. One man went home and got a hose and hooked it up to the outside faucet. About then they got the faucet thing open, and turned that on, as well. By the time they had it full enough to baptize Caleb and Levi (being small comes in handy sometimes), we didn't even have all our family there yet! It got filled in about 45 minutes. It was amazing. So many people we don't even know that we're so thankful to for their help. Actually, most of us just stood around not knowing what to do, they were all helping so much. One lady pointed out, "this is the gospel in action." John thought we should have just baptized them in the garbage cans, it may have worked! But, we didn't. It all worked out, and their uncle said what a shame it was to have to drain all that water when we were done!

March 2014

Ellie's "meal." She gets out toys and says they are crackers. She does put them in her mouth, so that's a good thing.

Ian is a Boy Scout! All ready for his first meeting! This month he went to his last Cub Scout meeting and was awarded his last Cub Scout awards. He earned his Webelos badge and his Arrow of Light. It was a lot of work, and he did it!

Funny story from the end of that pack meeting, it was the Blue and Gold Banquet and they had decorated with some helium balloons. One of the little brothers of a scout lost his balloon as we were cleaning up. And of course, it went to the peak of the vaulted gym ceiling. So, like a true scout (okay, he actually got volunteered to do it since he was the tallest, yet lightest boy there) he sat on our bishop's shoulders (he's something like 6.5' tall), who was standing on a table, and Ian used a broom to catch the balloon. And he did it! The boy was so happy. Then we were walking out, and Levi let go of his balloon.....we didn't save it. Sorry, Levi!

Ellie's first block building!

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Ellie was a little tired one day....she hasn't taken naps for months, but I guess some days you can spin yourself to sleep.

Ellie is starting to like helping in the kitchen.

Caleb's volcano eruption!

March was the science fair. Caleb did research on volcanoes, Levi found how how plants grow best, and Ian did a project with batteries. Ian's last science fair!

Ellie August 23, 2014

Ellie has made some wonderful progress!

February 2014

Ellie is really starting to play. She spent a long time building this.

We had plenty of snow!

I just love this picture.

Ian turned 11!! He wanted to bring treats to school, he had them during his math class. So I made these brownies.

He wanted a math cake. He's so excited to be starting Boy Scouts, and excited to be heading toward middle school soon. He's excited about growing up!

January 2014

Ellie's first day as a Sunbeam! Her nursery teacher moved up to be her Sunbeam teacher, which was wonderful - it took Ellie until she was 2.5 before she would go to nursery without crying. So this made the transition into Sunbeams go so smoothly. No tears at all!

A silly blanket-wrestling game. Levi is under there somewhere.

Caleb looks so grown up :).

Ian watching his top his grandpa made him.

Grandpa made Caleb and Levi stick horses, so Ellie made her own.

Ian's last pinewood derby. He won third place!! And did most all of the work himself.

This is the first time Ellie has sat down to play at the science center. This occupied her for a good 30 minutes! She's growing up!

Ian's carbon structure at the science center.

December 2013

Lots of Lego playing going on here!

Ellie wants so badly to play with her brothers' Legos, so we got out the 3 year old friendly ones.

This is about how Ellie felt about Christmas. She doesn't like anything to do with gift opening and all the confusion.

But, she did like the kitty Levi gave to her!

Ellie and her matching doll. Too bad she doesn't like it.....