Comparison

Here's what he used to look like... This is what he looks like now.... His eyes are not the same color as mine but they see just as bad as mine do, so he now enjoys wearing glasses. We picked them up Monday morning and I had to keep reminding him to leave them on his face so he could see better. So that's what's new with Ben.

Price Nature Center

After lunch today, we drove a little to the south of us to Price Nature Center. We parked the car and everyone got out, took off their jackets, and we were off. Domonique actually cried when I put her in the stroller. (Weird, she did that when I put her in the seat of the grocery shopping cart the first time.) We were off on a grand adventure - or just a stroll through the woods. It was magnificent! The air was fresh and piney. Oh wonderful smells. The sound of frogs was in the air. We had a great time walking and playing and picking up sticks and acorns and looking at all the different varieties of leaves that were on the ground. It was a wonderful time together. The drinking fountain was a hand pump so the kids had fun trying to work it and were thrilled when Mom came and helped them get some water to come out so they could get a drink. Today was the warmest day so far and we all enjoyed walking through the woods. Enjoy the pictures.

Help! What happened?

I added those two posts yesterday and it messed up the layout of the blog! Any ideas on how to fix it?

Update... April 12 - went to find help and found what I needed so it's all back to normal and I like looking at my blog again. It's amazing how set in our ways we get that it can really affect us. Anyway, glad things are back to normal.

I can still French braid!

I don't do it very often so I'm a little rusty but the girls really like it - although I have to pull a bit and they aren't used to that so they say it hurts. We had General Conference last weekend for Church so we didn't have to go to Church until noon so I had some extra time to play with their hair. They all looked lovely. I did this one time on the island, too, and I think that was the last time so it has been a while. Just thought I would share my beautiful girls with you! (And they don't have to have their hair braided to be beautiful - they just naturally are that way!)

Indoor fun

It was rainy yesterday so the kids built a fort. Ben had so much fun he was ready to do it again today, but made it bigger this time. The kids were a pack of wolves making their den. He showed me where they had their grain storage and their water storage. Pretty clever wolves, if you ask me.

It's been 2 1/2 years

Since my kids have seen the dentist. And that's just an approximation because I'm pretty sure we took them before we left Alaska, but I'm not exactly sure when. Well, I finally took them today and it went super great! I preped Kemiah telling her how easy it would be and that she would just need to open her mouth when they asked her to. I wasn't worried about the other kids but she doesn't like going to the doctor and she's never been to the dentist so I wondered what it would be like. Fortunately, she was last so she watched the other guys all climb into the chair, get the bib, lay down, and all the other fun stuff. I pointed out that it didn't hurt and it was actually fun. When it was her turn I think she got a little nervous, but then she climbed up into the chair and that was it. She was so brave and did so great! It was really a great visit and went really smoothly. All 5 kids were seen and only 1 cavity in the whole bunch. We do need to work on our brushing - I guess I need to be more of a participant in that activity so the next visit will go better!

I am really mad at myself because I actually took my camera out of my bag when we left to go to the dentist so I don't have any cute pictures of my little kids in those big chairs. Arg! I do have this really cute picture of Domonique playing with her toothbrush when we got home so this will have to do.

I'm 36!

I'm sure I don't look a day over 28 but really, I've been around for 36 years! Don't talk to my husband about it because he has a warped sense of time and age. Anyway, I enjoyed my special days. Yes, I followed the tradition from last year - My Fake Birthday (27th), Almost My Birthday (28th), and My Real Birthday (29th). The only thing that I do to really celebrate is pick my three favorite dinners and desserts to enjoy those three days. Sunday we had Mexically Soup and mini-cheesecakes with cherries on top. Monday we had crepes with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, and chocolate lava cupcakes with ice cream. Tuesday we had Cafe Rio Pork and Tres Leche Cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Yummy! It was fun! As I sat down at the table to do the cake stuff Kevin asked if we were going to do candles. Sure. So we lit some candles and sang the song. Then I was ready to eat cake but Kevin asked about presents. Emily got down and brought me a couple things that she made for me. Then Kevin brought in a box. It felt really light so I was very curious. I opened it and all it had were the packing peanut things. Then he brought in a dozen red roses! Beautiful! Then he brought another box that felt heavy. I opened it and was delighted to see a Blu-ray/HD DVD player/burner! Hooray! Story behind this is: we have an HD video camera so all our memories can only be watched on a Blu-ray player. I'm so excited to watch old videos of just before we left Alaska and then all the memories on the island! It will be so great!

On My Real Birthday I made special pancakes - with stars and swirls. We followed tradition and ate them with ice cream and syrup. Yummy!

Project Day

Last Monday, the kids finished their school work early so I encouraged the girls to work on the projects they received at Christmas. Emily had already started her wooden firetruck so she was able to finish putting it together, and started to paint it. Marissa's doll house is a little more labor intensive but she was excited to get started. It was a little overwhelming for me, as I read the instructions - sealing the wood, sanding, wallpapering, etc. I decided not to worry so much about that stuff and figure she'll be fine with the level of work she is capable of doing right now. I hope to make more time for that because we didn't get very much done on her little house. Ben has been busy building the military lego stuff he received for his birthday. I helped him with the first thing but he has done the rest all by himself and really enjoys setting them all out in his own little set up.