March 2015

Dr. Seuss's birthday is always a day to celebrate!

A beautiful spring walk.

Ellie loves her kitty. She plays with her like a baby doll. She named her Samantha, because her grandma's cat is named Samantha :).

When we visited Grandma and Grandpa, they found Grandma's old typewriter. They thought it was fun to type with.

Then they pulled out the really old one!

And they found the old cement mixer.

On our trip we bought a new van! Our old one was still working fine, but in anticipation of a 3000+ mile trip in the summer, John didn't want to risk driving it that far. So, we said goodbye to the trusty van we got when Caleb and Levi came home and drove home in this! The boys love that it has automatic doors.

Levi's Lego glasses. The windows flip down.

Caleb did a science fair project on fingerprints of identical twins. There are five sets of identical twin boys in our ward (including C&L) so he had lots of subjects. Yes, identical twins have different fingerprints. It's pretty interesting!

Levi's science fair project was on steam power, and how a steam train engine works.

February 2015

Ellie is really getting into coloring! 

And puzzles! She does all of her puzzles (about 8) every day. This is finally the month she became potty trained!

Ian cooking away. He was making a Canadian Bacon dish for his Social Studies report on Alberta, Canada.

Braces! Levi's mouth didn't have room for his new top teeth to come in, and they were twisting his two front teeth trying. So, he got braces on his top front teeth. He'll have them about a year, and then need more braces later when he's got all his adult teeth.

And Ian got braces the same day! He'll have his for about 2 years, but he'll only need them this once. After three trips to the orthodontist that first day, hopefully all the brackets will stay on for a while!

Ian turned 12!! We played some minute-to-win-it type games to celebrate.

Happy 12th!!

January 2015

Reading comics is the favorite pastime at my parent's house. We made a quick stop on our way to John's dad's funeral. Although we're saddened he's not here with us anymore, we're so grateful for temples and the knowledge that families can be together forever.

Ellie has taken up the piano. She picks out the tunes to songs she knows.

We finally finished the Book of Mormon! We started before Caleb and Levi could read, so it's taken a while, but we made it!

Pinewood Derby! Caleb wanted a driver in his car.

Levi wanted a dragon car. They both worked hard and made the majority of their cars themselves.

December 2014

Time to do a little catching up! 

Somehow these are backward....starting with glow sticks on New Year's Eve. We stayed up until the ball dropped, east coast time - 9 pm here! We played some games and then John and Ian stayed up to watch a movie until midnight our time, the rest of us did not.

When you get a flashlight for Christmas, you have to use it!

Caleb the wizard.

We didn't get a ton of snow, but enough for some sledding. Even Ellie tried a few runs down the hill.

Ellie likes to rearrange the ornaments :).

I got to be the mystery reader in Levi's class.

Ellie is learning to cut. She stays at it for a long time. She is also starting to enjoy coloring.

Our annual Christmas picture.

Trying to get them to all smile is nearly impossible!

What's better than playing in laundry baskets?