Thursday, December 25, 2014

Christmas 2014

It has become tradition for us to go to a movie on Christmas Eve.  This year I went for the first time!  I have always stayed home with the little ones...this year we ALL went!  The little ones are growing up!  We saw Big Hero 6...good movie.

That evening we had our traditional shepherd's dinner in our nativity costumes.  Logan was going to be a wise man during our nativity so he wore his wise man clothing and pretended to be a visiting rich man during our dinner.

After doing our reenactment of the nativity, we got in our new pajamas.

Those are some excited faces!




The kids have been in the tradition of having a slumber party on Christmas Eve...this year they had a great spot picked out for our first Christmas in this house.



Christmas morning came way too early for me!  Sienna was calling down the stairs at 5:59 a.m.  Ryan and I got up and went outside to feed the horses.  Then we went upstairs with the kids said a prayer and sang The First Noel.  Then the fun began!









We spent the day relaxing, playing Wii games, watching movies, eating a yummy ham dinner...and just enjoying the day together. 

Sunday, December 21, 2014

December 2014

It has been a great month!  In our morning devotionals we have focused on the life of our Savior.  He is the reason that we celebrate.

Kessiah, Jenessa, and Sienna were part of a piano recital.



We went to the town bowling party and some of the kids got to sit on Santa's lap.






As part of our homeschool group, we went to a nursing home and sang some Christmas songs and the girls played their piano pieces from the recital.



We had a great ward party where they turned the cultural hall into Bethlehem.  We had to get dressed up for the time period and sat on the floor to eat our dinner.  It was a nice activity that helped us focus on the true meaning of Christmas.

I took Mason down to Scottsdale for an eye appointment.

Decorating the Christmas tree is always fun.






A view from the stairs




And everyone gets a turn to put the star on the tree









We did our annual gingerbread decorating.  The kids each decorated a gingerbread train car and Ryan and I did a gingerbread house.







Sunday, November 30, 2014

Kessiah is 14!

Wow!  It's crazy how these kids keep getting older!  Ryan and I took Kessiah and a couple of friends to see the Hunger Games movie.  They came back to our house and decided to curl her hair...as you can see in the pictures!

I sure do love this girl!  She is growing into a beautiful and talented young woman.  She was pretty excited to win a science competition with her school recently...the prize was a $50 Amazon gift card!  She is becoming a great piano player and loves to read.  She is very responsible at caring for the animals that she is in charge of. 









Thursday, November 27, 2014

Thanksgiving 2014

We held our 2nd annual "crazy dinner" on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  Everyone got a food assignment and $3 and this is what we had for dinner!  I must be doing something right in our everyday lives because both Kessiah and Jenessa commented on how much packaged food we had!  That is something I normally try to avoid!  Thankfully, I was supposed to get a side dish and my pick was a green salad...at least we had something healthy!



On Thanksgiving morning, Ryan took Kessiah and Sienna to the park to play a football game with people from our ward.  The girls all had their food assignments to help me get dinner on the table.  And we enjoyed a yummy feast.



I truly have much to be thankful for!


Sunday, November 23, 2014

Weekly Wrap Up

Monday was piano lessons and 4H Robotics.  The girls made marshmallow launchers out of pencils.  Monday evening is our family game night.  Jenessa had a couple of games for us including worm races...2 people each got into a sleeping bag, started in the kitchen and "wormed" their way towards the master bedroom door!  Lots of laughs!

Tuesday Kessiah and Jenessa had book club.  I was grateful that another mom drove, I felt like I got a lot done at home during that time...plus I was able to make dinner!

I wrote about what we did on Wednesday in a previous post.

Thursday we enjoyed our homeschool group activity.  We have been learning about money/economy for the past couple of weeks.  Today we had a Market Day.  Every child came with something to sell, each child was given 50 cents and they had to sell their goods or services and buy from others.  There were several food items, bookmarks, origami, and games...we liked the chance to shoot a bow and arrow!  I had 4 kids who brought food items so it was a whirlwind of activity in our kitchen that morning!







On Friday, Kessiah had an orthodontist appointment and she got to babysit that evening.  Ryan and I went on a shopping date and bought groceries...including supplies for Thanksgiving next week!  In the mail on Friday I was excited to get the doTerra essential oils that I ordered last weekend.  As of Sunday afternoon I have used the lemon, deep blue, on guard, and the slim and sassy.



Saturday was 4H rabbit club, Sienna was excited for her first meeting.  That evening Ryan and I went with Sienna and Jenessa to an Activity Day activity where they were honoring their ward grandmas that have helped them with several activities over the past year.