The Helpful One

With 3 of my children in school, I had the younger 3 with me in the car. We were driving on the freeway and they were all quiet - the only thing making noise was Dr. Laura (imagine that, and they were not even asleep!) Anyway, I was listening to the radio program and then suddenly, without warning, I felt a clunk on my head :::ouch::: -- Emeron saw that David was done with his bottle and thought that I should have that empty bottle, and so he threw it up to me. Needless to say, he has a strong arm and a good aim! :) He was helping me, after all.

In this photo, Jacob wanted to open Anna's presents at her b-day party and kind, helpful Emeron was reminding Jacob that it was not his birthday. Jacob didn't so much appreciate this instruction from his older brother, and so Jacob made sure he knew it. :::yikes!:::



Time after time, Ems continues to show patience and kindness and is always helpful to give his little bro direction and instruction, and be the helpful one to his Mom. :)

The Best School Ever

It doesn't take Nan long to change her mind..... today when I picked her up from her school she said, "This is the Best School Ever!!" I'm glad to hear that from her. She was the one who BAWLED the night before school started and now is doing fine. :)

As a matter of fact, they all are doing fine. It is cute to hear them talk together about all the newness and bond with the different experiences they are having.

First Day of School

School started this week. Anna in 1st Grade.


Farrell in 3rd Grade.

Abby in 5th Grade.

In anticipation for school to start, we have all been a little nervous and excited at the same time. Today, as we pulled up to their new school, Abby said, “I feel like I just swallowed a bunch of butterflies.” I looked back at Farrell and he was white as a ghost, then Anna said, “There is something in my throat, I can’t swallow!”

The first day of school – at a new school - where everything is new......

Happy Birthday ANNALYN

Just a few days after Jacob's celebrations, we had Anna’s birthday celebrations. She turned 7!! We had a fun swim and splash party with a bunch of her friends and a family party for her as well.

Anna at her Friends Party.

Ems hanging out at the girly party.


Anna blowing out the candles (as they were being lit) to her Pony cake. (The finger smudges were compliments of Jacob.)


In honor of Princess Annalyn, here are 7 things you should know about her:

1. We know our girls were royal in heaven, but Anna has not forgotten this trait and she expects to be treated the same.
2. Anna likes all things girly!
3. She loves to sing! At any given time, you’ll find her humming or singing a song she has made up, or one of her favorite primary songs.
4. Anna likes to take her time doing things and not be rushed.
5. She likes to have the last word when tucking her in to bed at night, ie: She will say “I love you, goodnight” and then I’ll say, “I love you too, goodnight” to which she says “I love you three, goodnight” and then, of course, it continues “I love you four,….five,…..infinity,….. goodnight”. Yeah, she usually ends up asleep by around 1:30 in the morning. ;)
6. Anna is very talented in many ways, one of which is her creativity with art. She likes to color and create and decorate.

7. Anna is very friendly and easily makes friends.

Happy Birthday Annalyn!! You are a shining star in our eyes! We love you so much and are so happy you are part of our family!!

Happy Birthday JACOB

And Jacob turned 3!! My little super man loves Superman! He loves to puff up his chest and say, “Supa-Maaan”. On the day of Jacob’s third birthday we had playgroup here at our house and so Jacob had about 20 friends here to play with and eat cupcakes with!! Later on we had, yet more cake, in the form of his Superman Birthday Cake, with family. He loved all of his fun presents and the ouples of attention he received. He was so cute as he would spontaneously sing “Happy Bir-day to Gagob” throughout the day.

David happily playing with cousins!


Jacob opening presents....

The Supa-Man with his birthday cake.


They are all super kids!

In honor of Jacob’s third birthday -- here are THREE things you should know about him:

1. Because we all love him to pieces, he has more nick-names than anyone, ie: Jakes, Drake, Drakob, Jayka-Rayka, J, Jays, Cha-chi, Chach, Smokey Frog Legs, Smokey, Frogs, and Froggy to name a few.
2. He thinks everything about Emeron is the coolest – and wants to be just like him, have everything he has, wear everything he wears, say everything he says, etc!
3. He is a very happy boy and loves to say “Yaas” (yes).

Happy Birthday Jacob!! We love you so very much - You are such a special part of our family!

Watermelon and Sprains

Nothing says 'summer' like a sweet piece of watermelon! But from the looks of this shot, I wonder if it was heavenly sweet or superbly sour?



Ems prefers to eat a 'bowl' of watery-melon.



Here is Bailey enjoying a yummy slice! We sure had fun with our Oregon cousins when they came for a visit!



There were about 26 of us here on the 2nd and we had a yummy haystack dinner and the kids played and played.

On this same night, did any of you hear the absurdly loud scream around 8:30pm? Yeah, that was Anna, she was jumping on the trampoline with about 65 other people and came down weird, twisted her ankle, and let out a scream that nearly broke the windows at our house. Needless to say, she sprained it really bad and it hurt! Fortunately, we had a doctor at the house – Julia – who took care of her. Thanks so much for your help, by the way!! ;) Anna is doing good now, there is still a little swelling but she is walking on it with just the slightest limp. She has 3 days before her first soccer game. ::::crossing fingers:::: I think she'll play.

Primary Parade

We have a WONDERFUL Primary Presidency in our ward and they do so much for the kids around here. Recently, they hosted a Children's Parade - not on any particular holiday, just for fun. My kiddos wanted to dress up for this and there were a few other children that dressed up also. They decorated their own 'mode of transportation' (bikes for Ems, Anna and Abby; skateboard for Fare; and Legs for Jacob) there was fun music playing as they 'paraded around' and to complete the experience, the children threw candy to the spectators.





I shot more video than still-shots, but on this blog you can see even more parade pictures.

You know, I remember doing bike parades as a child and I loved to dress up and decorate my bike as well, but for some reason it seems that we decorated bikes differently back then -- crape paper woven through the spokes without a wrinkle, tall pole off the banana seat streaming something, matching colors, streamers off the handlebars nearly measured to perfection -- like my mom did it, and she probably did. Well, for my children the same concepts were used, mostly the same materials......but they attacked a table of balloons, crepe paper, tape and markers and in about 10 minutes were done and ready to ride!