365+1 Week 48

Photo's #330-336

"Number" We have several Christmas count-downs in our house.  This cute one was given to us by a dear friend and it has quickly become the house favorite- the girls just love erasing and writing in the new number with the chalk each day.

"Tree" I have come into the front room several times to find Eva looking up into the beautiful lights of our main tree from down below.  I can fondly remember doing this as a child, except ours was always a fresh tree filling my senses with the fragrance of pine, and many years it was dusted white with flocking (accomplished by my parents taking the tree out on the back porch and turning on the old Kerby vacuum in reverse!). No matter the circumstances, the wonder of the season through a child's eye is always magical!

We have attended Story Time at the library in Lehi once a week for over 8 years!  Abby wasn't even 2 years old when I started taking her, then I was pregnant with Liv, then I had two toddlers while simultaneously carrying Eva, then I had three children who loved all the activities, stories and games.  We always brought home a large bag full of books that we would read together. We had the same Head Story Teller each and every year and she once made a comment to me that she has enjoyed watching my family grow up with her! Now, all three girls are in school, and we no longer are able to attend that morning story hour, but we do still go over every other week after school and pick out books.  No longer do we fill our bag to the brim with picture book (Eva still likes a few), but instead, Abby picks out fat Adventure chapter books.  Olivia is in the same section selecting Fairy Fantasies, and even my little Eva is now in the reader book section picking out level 2's.  Oh how the time seems to have flown right by before my eyes!!

Abby has started her Science Fair Project.  She is grinning from ear to ear as her father helps her. Can you guess what her experiment is by this picture?

Today I have another picture of the on going Science Fair Project- because it has basically taken over our lives!! Everyone is in on the research.  Log books have been made and the fascinating results are starting to take shape.  Do you know what she is testing yet?

Abby's Chorale Christmas Concert was this evening.  It was sooo wonderful!  I mean really really wonderful!! Paul and I were so impressed with all the performances from the 4th grade up through the High school.  Truly, no joke, her music teacher had that 4th grade singing so well we thought they sounded better than the high school.   She had them singing Bach in perfect harmony.  Oh, and Abby was giving the assignment to play the chimes for one of the songs and she took it VERY seriously, she was doing "Air" chime practicing all week at home and she did a spectacular job!!

Weekend game night.  We always have a fun time together and some of us get very excited when we have been dealt a good hand!!

365+1 Week 47

Last week was filled with birthday fun and holiday celebration!  Enjoy!!

Photo's #323-329:

"Stacked"  Olivia was so proud of the height she had achieved while stacking up the Jenga pieces with patience and precision.

Even though her birthday wasn't until Wednesday, with it being so close to the holiday we decided to have Eva's party on Monday.  We invited friends, had a donut tower (she doesn't like cake these days), opened many fun gifts, including this Cuddle-up-it Yellow dog from her Dad that she had been wanting for weeks!  Then we went over to the Kangaroo Zoo and jumped out every last ounce of energy left in them. I think this photo is classic- pure excitement over every detail of her day!!

The Eva celebration continued today by enjoying a lunch out at her favorite restaurant (Winger's, because of the popcorn) with Grandma and Grandpa.  Another perfect afternoon for our darling little girl! (Also, Abby has learned how to crochet and that is a scarf she made for Eva around her neck-it turned out really cute!)

"Fly"  We went with several of our cousins down to the Air Extreme in Provo.  The kids had sooo much fun!  At first Eva and Liv didn't think they were going to like it, but once they got over their nerves and gave jumping into the foam pits a try they were hooked :)  I took so many fun pictures of everyone flying through the air doing fun tricks, but decided on this series of Brooklyn teaching Abby how to do her very first forward flip!!  Yes, Abby now thinks she is qualified for the Olympics!!!

Thanksgiving started out bright and early at the Fleet Feet Turkey Trot 5K.  Abby and I had been training for several weeks and she was ready to set her personal best and place in the top three in her age group.  I made these fun ear warmer headbands for everyone that was running in our group and I have to say they turned out sooo cute!! We received comments all along the race route and it was perfect because we could easily find one another amid the crowd of near 1000 people.  It was by far the biggest race Abby had run in and I wish I had a camera on the route when she looked in front of her and then behind her and said "Holy Cow Mom, there are so many people running!"  She did run her best race yet, crossing the finish line in 30 minutes flat and took 2nd place- being edged out by a mere 30 seconds for the top spot!  But she didn't care because second place received a pumpkin pie and this girl loves her some pie!!  As usual, my family of runners cleaned up again with Kobe, Jill, and my Dad taking first place in their ages and bringing home THREE Turkey's!!

 As for the rest of the day it was relaxing and fun as my family gathered at my parents house for a traditional meal in which Jill and I were put in charge of carving the Turkey- a first for both of us and it had to be documented- much harder then it looks, even with an electric carving knife!

 And of course we had the table of pies, one to delight every set of taste buds!!

Friday we just lazed around ALL day.  Really, we didn't do anything but snuggle and cuddle together on the couch all day watching shows- it was FANTASTIC!  Oh, also a smidgen of time was spent getting all of these girly toes into the Christmas spirit- let the count down begin!!

Saturday we set up the tree as well as all the other Christmas decorations. That evening we turned on the lights outside- I do really love this time of year!!

365+1 Week 46

Photo's #316-322:

"Music" Abby at home practicing before we go over to Grandma's for a lesson.  She has now passed my ability to help her- I am so proud! Today she started learning "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" in preparation for the Griffiths family Christmas Dinner Talent Show.

"Reflection" Tonight the girls discovered that if they shined their bed reading lamps against the closet doors they could put on a shadow puppet show.  I was particularly impressed with Olivia's cute doggy- it appears to be wearing a sweater :)

Tonight we had the chance to go and see the High School presentation of Peter Pan.  A couple of kids from our neighborhood were in it and they did an excellent job! I was quite impressed- the music was fun and the cast was very funny.  Abby loved when they all took flight (on strings) to Never Land,  Olivia was entranced by Tigerlily, and Eva- of course- loved Nana the dog as well as that hilarious Crocodile!!

"Handmade" Olivia has taken to stealing empty toilet paper rolls and turning them into masterful pieces of art.  Here is her latest, in honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Shortly after I snapped this photo she discovered a few more empty rolls. A cute little Pilgrim girl and Indian now completed her set.

"Drink" In preparation for the Turkey Trot 5K race next week, Abby and I have been going on evening runs together. She is getting faster, in fact I almost can't keep up with her when we run up the hills! She is dedicated and determined to place next week and I am positive she will achieve that goal. I have found it really fun to have her as a running partner!  Also, when we get our cold and chilly bones back to the house she insists on having a cup of hot chocolate, why not right?!!

Olivia had her school class devotional presentation today.  She was so nervous, which is a new development this year! I had to really talk her into going up on stage, but she conquered her fear and you would never have known from the audience. The theme was "One voice to change the world". They talked about hero's in history from the beginning of time up until the first Thanksgiving who stood up for what they believed and in the process had an enormous impact on our world for good.  She was cast as an angel in the pre-mortal world making a choice to follow Christ and come to earth to receive a body.  It was beautiful and heartwarming and she did an excellent job!!

My parent's celebrated their 40th Anniversary today!  5 of their 8 children and spouses were able to take them out to dinner and celebrate.  We had them share how they met and when they got engaged. It was fun to hear and wonderful to spend the evening together. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Guess what!

It's Eva's 6th Birthday!!!

Hooray!!

She couldn't have been more excited about it.

AND we have been celebrating for the last three days!! 

AND this is her new favorite sweater dress from her Grandma.

It's pretty much beyond words cute and perfect :)

Happy Birthday Eva

We love you!!!

365+1 Week 45

I am really enjoying the photo's for this last week.  As I look at them, they show the complete evolution from fall to winter that took place in our little town over just a few short days! One day it was 70 degrees, the next it was 25 degrees.  Hello Winter, don't stay too long!!!

Photo's #309-315:

"Screen" This is the screen that everyone in my house has been enjoying, the new Google Tablet that Paul surprised me with for my birthday- although I think the girls have adopted it as their own!! I have to say I do love the screen size and it is a joy to blog hop while sitting on the couch watching ANOTHER basketball game with Paul- thanks honeycup!!

"5:00" The leaves on our tree turned a brilliant bright hue of glorious gold just about overnight! Liv, Eva and Kate went to work raking up the first of the leaves to let go and flutter to the earth below.

Yes, we too braved the two hour wait in line at our local elementary for the 2012 Presidential Election. It felt good to let my voice be heard, and I sported that sticker proudly about town.  Eva wanted to know why all the adults were getting stickers- I told her just because you grow up doesn't mean you lose the love of receiving a sticker for a job well done!

I was going through the photo's on my phone today and came across this one. It is a terrible quality, but it made me smile!! The girls thought this was the greatest presentation of a burger on a plate EVER!! Paul was pleased with his order and I have to admit it was pretty impressive :)

The winds of change had started to pick up today.  In fact, almost every leaf in our previously gorgeous tree were now on the ground.  We pulled in from school and the girls saw the neighbors out raking and jumping. They had to immediately join in.  I am sure the pile was much larger in their youthful hearts than reality would suggest, but they jumped and played and threw leaves for a long while together- good times!

Sure enough, as predicted, we awoke to snow falling and it continued to fall all day and into the night.  Let the bundling up begin!

Liv spent most of the next morning out building her very own snow girl- she was cute and stylish with just the right amount of sparkle to reflect well on her creator. :)

365+1 Week 44

Ok, and NOW for the updated photo's! These include not only my photo a day but some of the girls in their Halloween costumes because they just looked so cute and had such a fun time on one of the warmest spooky nights to date! Abby went out with friends, Eva had a fun time, but only wanted to go around two neighborhoods, which left Liv and I out for the long haul together.  She really got into it this year! She could have gone all night if the houses weren't turning out the lights and calling it quits on her!!

Photo's #302-308 (plus a few more!):

"One word" These cute little words hang from my chandelier during the month of October.  I thought it was a fitting word for the upcoming week.

Family night carving.  Each girl picked out a pattern that they loved and then Paul helped Eva to carve her "Worried" face, Abby did her spooky ghost completely by herself, and Liv and and I worked together on the Hello Kitty.  By the time we were done it was dark but they insisted on being in the photo- what ev's :)

Crandall Historical Printing Museum in Provo. This afternoon I was a chaperon and driver for Olivia's class field trip.  This was the first time I have been able to go with her and she was so happy!! I thought it was a very interesting place to visit.  They have one of the very first printing presses ever invented, through to the one that printed the first copy of the Book Of Mormon, right on to the last one in the seventies before they went automated.  So fascinating- and I still can't believe that they used to line up the print one letter at a time!!

Halloween!! We had a fun time getting all dressed up and hitting the streets for some goodies.  I was my usual witch (I know, I need to get more creative next year) and Paul was my partner as a Salem Puritan- don't worry, he didn't set me on fire that night!!!

Eva was a cute little witch from Halloween's past!

But no witch is complete without a set of glow in the dark spider gloves!!

Olivia was our sweet little Monarch Butterfly

sometimes morphing into a scary Butterfly!!

Abby has been dreaming of becoming a Mummy since last year! I had to make that wish come true, even though it took FOREVER to wrap her, and she didn't break character all night!!

She was so creepy!!!

"Something starting with C"  Candy of course!!  We have so much candy in this house!

Happy 35th Birthday to ME!!! My wonderful mother in law took me out to lunch at my favorite place- the Cheesecake Factory- and then we spent hours out on a shopping spree in Salt Lake.  A really fabulous day.  Oh, and these shoes are my current favorites- velvety raspberry- LOVE them!!!

"Breakfast"  Not very glamorous, but it gets the job done on a very busy Saturday!!

365+1 Week 43

As you may have noticed, holiday's, my birthday, and fall clean up around the house has kind of put the photo posting on hold!! Never fear though, I have still been taking photo's- here are the photo's from two weeks ago for your enjoyment and I will be back tomorrow with last week!!

Photo's #295-301:

This Sunday night was our Young Women in Excellence event.  As part of the program I had my Beehive class do a runway fashion show to display the skirt sewing project we had worked on over the last month.  This is the skirt that I made- having wanted a chevron print skirt for some time I figured "Why not make it now!" and I just love how it turned out.  All the girls looked great and it was a blast MCing the event on the fly!!

First time back on the old tread mill this season.  Paul and I purchased this trusty rusty 11 years ago, nine months into our marriage.  A week later I was surprised to find out I was unexpectedly pregnant! Sadly, 12 weeks later, things took a  turned for the worst and ended in a painful miscarriage, and was promptly followed by another equally devastating pregnancy sorrow.  My heart was broken beyond repair. After a couple months of despair, doubt and fear, this tread mill nurtured my feeble heart back to the living. It helped me rebuild my lost self esteem, confidence and knowledge that my body could do hard things, and achieve whatever I desired it to do.  Is it silly to have such an emotional response to a piece of plastic and electronics? Maybe so, but it will be a sad day when it decides it is done supporting me along and helping me move forward one step at a time.

"Jack o lantern" was my prompt, but we had not carved any yet! So this was the best I could do!! They are such cute little guys, sitting up there on my shelf all happy and smiley!!

Play date with a school friend.  Liv and her sweet school buddies like to take turns going home to each others houses after school.  Today we hosted her bestie and they had a great time playing games and giggling together for hours.

"In My Town" First snow of the season! The girls were out of school and kept thinking they could go out and build a snow man or make a snow angel.  They had forgotten just how much snow is needed for those things and sadly it was all melted by that afternoon.

Today (with the girls out of school still)  was the semi-annual-great big-closet-change-out.  Every fall and spring the girls clothes have to be rotated. Summer things have to go to make room for the winter wardrobe.  It is a completely daunting task!! I kind of detest it!! But the girls look forward to it because what was old is now new again.  In the end it was great to purge out all the items outgrown and worn out. Piles were packed away until the next girl fit it, some were bagged up to send to family and others were shipped off to the donation center.  All the coats, hats and scarves made their way back to the closet, but only after a few hours of Eva placing them on her fav's so they could be stylish cute and cozy to!!

Sneak peak of our Halloween costumes next week!! We went to a neighborhood costume party and had a complete blast with all our friends.  We took these lemon coconut cupcakes (a current obsession of mine) and had a spooky good time, young and old alike.  Thanks again Gutke's for hosting!!! (Please disregard the dirty old pan that was somehow selected to display these darling cupcakes!!)