Green Eggs and Ham

In March Matthew's elementary school invited the parents to come have Green Eggs and Ham to celebrate Dr. Suess' Birthday. Matthew was excited that they got a hat and thought life was pretty good to get his picture taken with the Cat in the Hat.

Timmy's preschool had a Green Eggs and Ham breakfast too, and I have to say it was a lot more edible than the one that was served at the elementary school. The kids both really liked it and actually ate most of the green eggs!

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess!

Fun Galore!

Timmy's preschool takes at least one field trip a month and for February they went to the children's museum in Portland. There was so much to do and my kids had a blast!

They painted their faces!

Bethany liked this! She is all about being pretty!

They dug in the big pit.
Timmy liked this conveyor belt and enjoyed digging in the recycled tire bits.

Sam liked the dig pit too but kept eating the tires!

Then we went shopping!

And last but not least the water area. I think this was everyone's favorite!!

This was a river table. The kids would make a dam and then let the ducks and boat go down the river to see where they would go. It was so much fun.

What a fun day!!
We love Preschool!

The Happy-Sad Vacation

I probably shouldn't say vacation but anything away from home is a vacation to me. We will start with the sad. We had to make the trip in the first place because my Grandfather Willard Atkin passed away. While this being sad it was happy at the same time. His mental health had been declining for a long time and in the past few weeks his physical health was also declining to the point that my grandmother wouldn't be able to take care of him at home by herself anymore. So his passing was a blessing and as much as I will miss him, I really feel like he was ready. I will miss walking into the house with my grandpa in his favorite chair asking,"How's my Ellen?" accompanied by a warm smile. He was a great man and raised a good family with eight children, two of them passing on before him. What a great reunion that will be for him! We love him and will miss him!

The Army giving their final gun salute! Scott thought this was "totally awesome". He asked if he could get the generals autograph. He is so silly.

My kids with the flag after the dedication of the grave.
My Eternal Family!!

Now for the happy. My kids would say the best part is they got to miss a whole week of school. The best part for me was being able to go and be with my family. I loved every minute of it. On our way to Utah Bethany kept asking if we were at baby Valerie's house yet. When we came in the summer Hillary had just had Valerie before we went home but then we ended up coming back to my Uncle's funeral and Bethany fell in love with her baby Valerie. She asks about her all the time and she was finally getting to go back and see her!! She couldn't wait.

When I took Bethany to the store in Utah for some new shoes she picked out this dress with shoes and necklace to go with it. Bethany loved hers and refused to wear anything else for two days because we all told her how beautiful she was. I thought it would be fun if Valerie had one to match. The morning of the funeral we started taking these pictures and telling Valerie how cute she was. Well Bethany was not having that. So she went downstairs after the pictures and got out her other dress and took it up to Valerie to show her how beautiful it was. Then she made me change her dress so she no longer matched Valerie. Girls?!

Bethany definitely loves baby Valerie!

All of my parents grandchildren. 10 boys and 3 girls!
Ian Brevin Jaxson Davis Bethany Emily Valerie Joe Josh Matthew Sam Scott Timmy

When I got home my friend, Kerry, brought over these beautiful flowers that she had knitted with a note from all of my primary children. She knew that my mom is allergic to flowers and so she made these for me instead. I love them! She is so creative!!

Happy Valentine's Day

For Valentines Day we always like to get our kids books. It was really great this year since Valentine's Day fell on Sunday. We all got up and went to church and after we got home and had quiet time(where my kids read from the friend or scriptures and yes this only happens on Sunday, though I wish it would happen everyday!)we gave them their books...So instead of quiet time lasting only an hour it practically lasted all day while they looked at their books and ate their candy.

Bethany's book came with a mat and princesses.
Obviously everyone had a good time playing with it!

Matthew with his loot!

Timmy got word and math puzzles instead of books to help him learn to read.
He had a great time putting them together over and over again.

Sammy would growl at anyone who would try to take his candy!

After we gave the kids their books Scott disappeared and I finally found him up on the top bunk reading. He finished both of his books that same day.

The week of Valentines Day Timmy had his preschool party. They frosted cookies and then handed out their valentines' to each other.Happy Valentine's Day!!

A QUICK GETAWAY!

In February I was needing a break so I called my wonderful friend Shauna and asked if we could come and stay. After the kids got out of school on Thursday we made the 2 1/2 hour drive to Maple Valley(just south of Seattle). As soon as we arrived the stress just melted away from me and my kids. They were so happy to be missing a day of school and be out of the normal routine and I was feeling the same way. While we were there we took the kids on a hike to Twin Falls. There is a look out point where you can see one waterfall and then you walk a little bit further to a big bridge that takes you over the top of another waterfall. We were only able to go about halfway until we had to turn around because of time but it was beautiful. I wouldn't mind going back when I had more time and hiking the whole thing.

Me and the kids on our hike.

This is the view from the first look out.

The kids being silly on the bridge.

Scott, Trevin, Matthew, Sarah, Nathan, Nathan's friend(I can't remember his name!), and Timmy. Bethany wouldn't be in the picture so I had to snap of quick one of her on the bridge.

The view looking down from the bridge.

After we got back from hiking Shauna and I went out to dinner and a movie while her sweet daughter, Aubriana watched my five kids! I enjoyed myself and I am so grateful for friends that are there for me when I need time away from my everyday life!!