Thankful hearts (and tummies)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and all your turkeys, too!

Once I start taking pictures they want me to keep taking pictures and then they get really goofy.

 We were able to celebrate with our friends, Steve and Tamara and Felix. They brought some food and I made some food, and it was all delicious. Fruit salad, cornish hens, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes were my contribution.

Tamara brought her sweet potatoes, turkey and rolls. I made the stuffing. It was all so yummy.

What a spread!

We also enjoyed dessert - Tamara made pecan tarts and chocolate pie, and I made a pumpkin pie. The kids all said they were stuffed (just like a turkey, so I really do have turkeys!) so you know it had to be good. We played games, talked, and had fun. It was very nice to have friends to enjoy the day with us!

Interesting.

 I noticed this a while ago. Do you see anything interesting or different?

Let's get a closer look...

Harmonie has an extra crease in both her ring fingers. I don't know what it means, if anything at all. I just thought it was interesting. None of my other kids have it so she's certainly unique.

Creative Little People

Marissa has always been a good artist, and she keeps practicing, too. Well, when she enjoys it so much you just expect her to keep it up. After Kemiah got her doll on her birthday, Marissa decided to draw the doll. She did a great job.

Benjamin is working on some requirements for his Communications Merit Badge. One thing said he had to find a creative way to share information about himself. This is what he came up with.

He drew the five places he has lived. The B is Legos. The E has his family, swimming, and reading. The N has fishing, camping, road trips, and climbing. He wasn't very excited about doing it at first but once he got into it, he really did a great job.

Sweet Snuggler

She still loves to snuggle. She was holding on to the bunny the other day and I thought it was adorable. (Of course I did!)

She has been waking up in the middle of the night for the past couple of weeks. I usually end up changing her diaper and giving her a bottle and then putting her back to bed. I do treasure those mornings when I wake up and realize she slept through the night, so that means I slept through the night! What a treat. I know (hope) she'll grow out of this soon because she really is just a sweet little person. I try to remind myself that the time with her is precious so I try to enjoy the snuggles in the middle of the night.

Super Saturday (Back on 11/15)

Every year our ward puts on a craft day. I get all excited when they first announce all the different things, but then I sort of fizzle. I realize I'm trying not to collect clutter and that's sort of what all those crafty things end up being. This year was no different but the girls really wanted to do a painting class. Since it was after the required sign-up date I thought we were too late, but Marissa was persistent and talked to the teacher of the class. The teacher said it was fine and they could just pay the day of the class. They were so excited. 

Kevin was going to stay home with the four youngest girls while I took the older four to the church. (Ben was going to help out in the nursery for service hours for Scouts.) Unfortunately, he had to be at the hospital to wait for a delivery, so I took all the kids. It worked out just fine and the girls really enjoyed painting.

I spent most of my time going between the girls, passing out paint for the teacher, and checking on the other kids. The girls caught on really quickly, but still struggled as they learned this new skill. It was a great experience and we hope they can keep developing this skill. I will have you know, they all paid for it with their own money.

I think they all turned out amazing and I'm so proud and inspired by my creative girls.

Hot Chocolate Smile

We spent the morning moving wood from outside to the basement so that we would have a goodly supply for the next month or two (depending on the outside temperatures). After lunch all the kids enjoyed hot chocolate for their hard work. Most of them ended up adding other sweet stuff but I just enjoyed the cocoa. Harmonie really enjoyed it and made the biggest mustache. Just thought I'd record that we are still using the wood furnace to heat our home, so that means we are still hauling wood from the front yard to the basement (and Kevin should be cutting down trees and gathering wood but he's really busy as of late). The kids fight, argue, and complain throughout the work. I try to change the subject with word/mind games or singing songs. Sometimes it works and other times they just want to be angry. But at the end of the day most of them write in their journals that they enjoyed hauling wood. Maybe that's because it's the only thing they can think of for the day but at least we have it on record that it brought them joy to work with their family (in not so many words).

Shocking!

One of my girls was playing with an old electronic organizer. The batteries are dead so she was just playing with the buttons and pretending. She looks at me and says, "I'm just texting my boyfriend so he can come over." This same child, while pretending with herself, was overheard saying, "I'm smoking a cigarette."

Aaagghh! How does she know about those things? Oh, did I mention she is my 4 year old?! It is sort of mind boggling! Well, it is to me. I'm hoping, for now, that it is just words that she is using and she doesn't really understand what she is talking about. I guess I need to make sure I have some conversations with this child so she learns the right things and clearly understands as she grows up.

Learning is happening.

One of Kemiah's gifts was wrapped in princess paper. One of the girls said, pointing to one of the princesses, "Isn't she pretty." Kemiah quickly stated, "No, she's immodest." Awesome! I am glad we have conquered one principle.... now I just wish they could catch the internal desire for being nice and kind to each other. I guess that will come as they get older - and move out of the house and then miss each other and wish they were living closer so they could spend more time with each other. Just the way life is.

Turning 7!

Here she is! Kemiah turned 7 yesterday! Because it was Wednesday (the first Wednesday of the month, even) the older kids had activities at the Church so we moved her party to tonight. We did have pancakes and ice cream on her birthday breakfast! She enjoyed helping make the decorative pancakes.

She wanted Ramen for lunch, so that's what she made. Two batches because everyone wanted some.

She chose California rolls for dinner. Yes, that may seem a little strange. Fortunately, Kevin found some sushi grade tuna at a meat shop in town so we were good to go. (Of course, I forgot to have him pick up the cucumber and avocado that we needed, so I ran to the store on Tuesday to get some, and I already had the rice paper.) It was yummy!

The older guys went to Church for their activities and the younger kid all enjoyed ice cream cones! I figured it was a good way to end her actual birthday!

This evening, we enjoyed crepes for dinner (her second choice) and then waited for Grandma and Grandpa Nichols for the party to begin. They arrived with the ice cream cake from Dairy Queen and present, and then Kevin arrived shortly after that. We were ready to rock! She was silly, as usual, and took several attempts to get all the candles out.

Everyone enjoyed the presents! It's always fun to see their reactions and excitement.

Take time to read the card, not just admire the money.

Who needs scissors when you can just punch it open.

a Hello Kitty watch (matches her glasses) and

Madagascar 3! Just what she asked for.

stuffed Pink Pig

Enjoying more chapter books.

Doll clothes and roller blades.

Tootsie Pops

Church shoes

Basket made by her brother, with $7 included

Her very own art kit!

a Doll to dress up in the clothes and roller blades

reading the new books

playing with the new doll

Such a sweet girl! Thanks for being our little girl, who is growing up and doing so much!