School and stuff

Just some pictures the girls thought would be fun to share of some school projects.

Lauren dissecting an owl pellet (what they get rid of after they've eaten). She did a great job and was very thorough. You can then find out what they had for lunch. Ours had some rodents and a vole.

Hannah grew a crystal tree, as we were studying crystals.

Hannah had to make a model of an animal and plant cell for her science class in co-op. She had great fun in thinking creatively of objects she could use for the parts of each cell. The animal cell is filled with Karo syrup, pasta noodles, foam pieces and beads representing the different organelles. The plant cell is completely edible, made with cookie dough and decorated with gummies, icing, licorice and other candies.

We received a kids cookbook for Christmas from our friends and Hannah has really enjoyed it. She cooked all our dinners for an entire week. As a fan of food network, she wanted pictures of the final products.

A yummy shrimp and pasta dish. The cute boy, sneaking into the picture, is just an extra bonus!

A delicious pumpkin pie souffle.

A very yummy, cheesy lasagna.

This was not only fun for Hannah, but very nice for me too. It's fun to see her enoying something that I also enjoy and getting to share that with her.

I'll have to try and get some good pictures of Lauren's artwork, she has really done some nice things. She really enjoys the pencil and pen drawings.

It's really fun to get to see the things that interest and excite them as they study and learn new things. It's also fun to learn right along with them, things I've never known or have just forgotten.

A great way to start the new year......

with a visit from our dear friends. We enjoyed having them for a long weekend. Just hanging out, playing, talking.......the stuff we're used to doing with each other.

Sharing a late Christmas together.

Getting a ride from a friend and brother. This was too cute, the little ones loved this. I think Isaiah did too.

Caleb and Eliana both have a love of other peoples shoes. I think Caleb may be responsible for this, but it was fun to see them enjoying the wide selection of shoes to choose from. I think Caleb liked having more boy selection to choose from and enjoyed these brown ones the best. Eliana liked wearing them on her hands as well as her feet, silly girl.

Though it was a little chilly, we enjoyed some time outside. The big folks took up a rousing game of tag football.......

Team A.......

Team B......

The rest of us played........

Though we miss our friends, we're glad that we're still close enough to visit and enjoy our times together. Not the same as walking out the front door, but treasured just the same.

New Year's Eve

New Years Eve, we usually play games, snack, watch a new movie, snack, more games, snack, watch the ball come down and toast in the New Year. We enjoyed trying out a new Wii game ~ Outdoor Adventure. It is loads of fun, even the boys had fun, with some help. We also watched Journey to the Center of the Earth , in 3-D, very fun.



Our New Years Toast involves Poppers that "pop" when you pull them open and then contain a joke, small toy and a fancy hat. We toast with some sparkling cider. The girls think this is such a treat.

Hope the New Year is treating you well! Cheers!

Christmas Card Picture

Just thought I'd share our card photo. It's a nice one of the kiddos. So hard to get everyone looking in the same direction and smiling.

Christmas Day

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring..... well I am always up late, wrapping and stuffing stockings.




Some pre-Christmas pictures of tree decorating. It's always so much fun to go through the ornaments. The girls really like finding their own and remembering the stories of why they got that particular ornament. Aaron really had fun hanging ornaments this year. Caleb really enjoyed un-hanging ornaments ; )


I had the boys birthday balloons reinflated for Christmas. They both are just crazy about balloons and these were a huge hit on their birthday, so I saved them. They enjoyed them just as much the second time around.


On Christmas morning the kids can't come down until they hear the "Hallelujah" chorus, another tradition. We usually do stockings first, which they love.

Christmas breakfast is always a sausage casserole and cinnamon rolls. We put candles in the rolls for the birthday baby. And no surprise that Aaron took great delight in blowing them out.

Just some random pics of opening gifts. This was Caleb's first year really being able to open the presents, he found it to be quite fun, and of course the paper and bows were way more exciting than the gifts.

Gotta love a girl who gets a book and just has to read it right then.

Caleb discovered chocolate this Christmas, it was inevitable, given that he lives with several chocolate lovers. Once he discovered what was underneath that shiny wrapping he was quite intent on eating all he could find. We had to hid them, because we found him searching everyone's stockings once he had rapidly depleted his own.

A great action shot!

We had a fun and relaxing day. This year I didn't cook, usually we've had soup and fresh bread. But this time we used one of our New Year traditions of having snacks and hor d'ourves for the day. No cooking for me, we just grazed.