Christmas 2011

We spent time at Nana and Pop Pop's with Aunt Vonnie also, on Christmas Eve. Then we set out our cookies and milk for santa ( inside for the first year ever.. Marlee has decided its ok to let santa in the house now) and then Christmas Morning we had a wonderful day together as a family! We are blessed to be able to celebrate the birth of our Savior , whom we love!!!!

Halloween 2011

We actually went " trick or treating for real" that's what the kids called it lol!!!! We had a really fun night!!! Marlee was Gary from Spongebob ( she always thinks of the most unique costumes!), Sydney was a vampire, and Dylan was Optimus Prime the Transformer. :) It was fun!

Zoo

Marlee had a genetics appointment in st louis couple weeks ago, we decided to make a family day of it and head to the zoo! We picked a gorgeous day!

A jump in the leaves

One of my favorite things to do as a kiddo in the fall was to jump in the leaves. I would pretend i was a baby bird and I would make a nest of leaves, then jump out of the swing and land in my nest. Of course I thought I could fly. We took the kids and our neighbor friend to Riverview Park here in Hannibal and we had a blast jumping in the leaves - yes even mommy and daddy jumped in the leaves! What a fun day!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

Another family tradition- a visit to Mill Creek Farms for a hayride and pumpkin picking out! I have pics of the kids from the last probably 4 years at least in front of the how many pumpkins tall this fall sign! :)

Arts Council Quincy Playday

We love to do activities as a family, and one fall day we had a blast at the Arts Council in Quincy! We got to watch dancers and make pictures and hats!:) The best part was when the wind blew Marlee's picture onto daddy's tshirt and he looked like a tie dyed hippy! :) ps- isnt my husband handsome?? :)

Apple Festival 2010

It is a family tradition to go to Barry's Apple Festival each year. I did it as a kid, and now my kids get to! They had a blast! Big ole parade, rides and good food! :) Dont forget oodles of cousins and good friends!!

Catching Minnows in the River

Hannibal was flooded. What's new right? Well we decided to go over to John Hay and see just how high the water was. That is high quality entertainment here in Hannibal. It was either that or go to walmart. hehehe.
We took along a net and some old buckets. We were gonna catch us some fish, Huck Finn style!!!
We ended up catching a bunch of little minnows and we put them in our aquarium at home and they are sooooo cool!

Sunday Evening

It is always nice to sit quietly on a sunday evening and think about the week ahead. We have a busy week ahead, which is fine, I am thankful to have these things going on in my life. We have zoo day next saturday, we are about done with everything, im so excited. Tomorrow we are going out to lunch with family, which will be great fun. I have a home I love that needs to be tended too, and three beautiful babies who need care and sunshine and school! I sat down this afternoon to look over their schoolwork for the week. They are doing so well, and I really like our schedule. We school year round, and do about an hour a day. It really works out well! We get to play and do the things we need to do and have a great schedule where my kids know that this is the time we sit down for school. Im trying so hard to teach them things they need to know, not just reading, riting, rithmatic, lol, but also real world things, spiritual things, etc. We do little keepers of the home and little contenders of the faith, dylan will be starting cub scouts in august, they all want to do 4h soon, and in the fall we will be joining up with some st louis lds homeschool groups, and traveling down there a couple times a month for activities. All great things. Now, we have to have a huge yard sale in the next few weeks so I can afford to buy there new school books! They are pretty much done for the year, so I am excited to be choosing their new curriculum and working on it. Basically it is really nice to quietly sit here at my computer and think of a happy new week, hopefully full of sunshine. We have alot of stress in our family, lots of drama with disabilities, etc, but I love them! I "heart" my family!!!!

Another Memphis PIc

This is memphis, and he is smiling at you! please excuse the messy bedroom behind him. i was lying in bed and he came up to smile at me, so i took his pic. keiths jeans and everything are in a heap behind him, but he is happy! !!!!!

The Velveteen Rabbit

For family reading time in the evenings i have been following a list of classic literature and we finished the Velveteen Rabbit tonight. I always tear up when I read this story, it was my favorite when i was a child and it was the first book i ever bought dylan. i read the long classical version of it and tomorrow we will start on a new story, Raggedy Andy stories. Im excited because this is one of the few books from the list that i havent personally read! So it will be super fun!
I love this tradition in our family. This quiet comfy time before bed where we snuggle in the living room and use our imaginations and I love reading to my children. Sometimes when i think im not a very good mommy, i think of how I personally feel when i do this, and it brings a smile to my heart. I love my babies and i will continue to keep trying my best for them.
:)

Family Update for my friends and family

Hello everyone! I have invited some friends to view my blog, so I thought I would do a little "catch-up" for everyone and also for posterity LOL!!!!

We still live in hannibal, in a little house off west ely . It is perfect for us, has a big yard, etc and we love to play outside when it is nicer out of course. Im married to Keith, the brother of my best friend in later high school years. It worked out just great! He is amazing, the best daddy and husband. He just graduated college last year and works in quincy. I am really lucky to be a stay at home mommy and this year i have closed my online store so i can just be home and happy. i used to have an online used book store, that did really well, but took alot of time, so now, i am concentrating on my babies. i homeschool them, and we really enjoy it. My son dylan has an immune system deficiency so it really keeps him healthier to hang out at home in the cold and flu season especially, but he still has lots of great friends at church, etc. he is my transformer nut, loves anything to do with science and numbers, and is the most compassionate little boy i know. marlee is my beauty. she is six and has autism. it doesnt get her down though! she has made such huge leaps and bounds, you can hardly even tell she has it! she is an artist, both in drawing and in music. she has perfect pitch and angelic voice and loves to share it! sydney is our little troublemaker! she is a joy, says the funniest things ever, has a big ole belly laugh and gets into trouble at least 5 times a day!! she is very energetic, but brings the joy into our family as we laugh at the messes she gets herself into !

we have three dogs now ( which is interesting because i dont like dogs. LOL) our black lab sam is an " inheritance" from keiths aunt who passed away very tragically last summer, just five weeks after we lost our nephew ( what a year it was last year.) and he is an outside " farm" dog and he is gorgeous and we love him! Roxie is our half bulldog, half bassett hound and she is the queen of the house ( also the moose! LOL. ) and our new addition that im currently SELLING, is memphis, he is a full blooded english bulldog with champion bloodlines, so anyone interested make an offer!!!!!!!!!!

as for me, i still love the same things i used to, reading, writing, gabbing at my friends on the phone, scrapbooking, playing piano and writing songs ( still cant sing, lol) and my new love is blogging. i also adore photography and learning how to take better pics of my kids. i am in the process of attempting to lose weight, i gained alot of weight when i got sick two years ago ( much better now, but still on meds) and it caused a very large weight gain, which im now actively trying to lose! im a member at myfitnesspal.com and try to track my workouts etc.

my house is comfy and somewhat messy and we love it, you will have to move books over to sit down, or possibly move a science project off the table to eat, but you are always welcome to come eat and be with us at our house!!!!

to all my friends and family, i love you so much and im so thankful to have you in my life!!!!

FHE: Campout Night ( pretend of course)

It was defintely a pretend campout night- it is about 2 degrees outside right now! For FHE Keith took over and taught the kids knot tying, and other fun little boy scoutish things! We had a prayer and song and then we made smores in the microwave! It was just a fun and simple FHE but the kids LOVED it. I took pics, but need to find my card reader.
Still doing our best to stay in the habit of FHE every monday night. Since we do a gospel lesson daily for school, we have had some fun every now and then with FHE. Most times we do a lesson, etc the normal, but we do like to have some fun family nights too!
Last night we also started our family evening reading time. Im sooo excited about that. After the kids get their jammies on, we all gather in the living room to read from a classic book. Last night we started on the Velveteen Rabbit. Im using the classics list from an old fashioned education site. I am soooo excited! Ive read almost every book on the list already, from my childhood, and I cant WAIT for my kids to experience them. Velveteen Rabbit was my favorite book as a child and it was the first book I bought when I found out i was pregnant with Dylan. I was so happy it was first on the list LOL!!!
Ok, off to work!!!!

Its almost the weekend...

Hallelujah! There is nothing exciting going on this weekend, I just need a break! Im actually getting one tonight for a bit, my grandma is making us dinner and the kids are going to hang out at Keiths parents while Keith and I drive to Barry together to pick up dinner! It will be a kind of date!! Fun!
The girls are under the dining room table with blankets and pillows watching a movie and dylan is hanging out on the loveseat with his transformers watching a movie and Im getting a chance to update the lds zoo day page and get the latest gossip, like..... they are keeping Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black in new moon!! Yay! I love him! He totally makes a great jacob. Ok, now back to my world, lol.
Im waiting for the mail right now, keep hoping that the w-2 will be in the mailbox, that means tax return time!! Finally. We can get some things we have really been needing. Heavenly Father has taken care of our needs, but now that my car is broke down again, and there are a few bills that need paid, etc. we are eagerly awaiting tax return!!!!
Hmm.... cant think of anything else to say at this moment. Life is calm right now. Just the way I like it.