Watch out, Cinnabon!

A few weeks ago Alexa had seen the Cinnabon store and couldn't get the smell out of her nose. One Saturday morning she woke up and told me she wanted to make cinnamon rolls. I said that was fine but I was going for a run and she would need to get started on her own. When Tim and I got back she had the dough all made but was just mixing it with a wooden spoon. We got it in the bosch and everything was fine. She did tell us that she had to start over and that was the 2nd batch. We worked together from then on with her doing most of the work. She did a great job and her reaction when they were done was, "Boy, this takes a LONG time." (Did I mention we didn't eat breakfast until 11:30 that morning?) I don't know when she'll want to try this again but I'm always proud of her when she wants to learn and try something new. It was nice to leave for a meeting the other night and ask her to make some rolls for dinner (with a little help from her dad.

The finished product - good thing I went running that morning! But, if all 4 girls want to learn how to bake - I think I'm in trouble - I may need to start running twice a day!

"I'm a Big Kid Now!'

Here again is our darling, McKenna. Back in October I MENTIONED to Tim that we probably ought to consider putting McKenna in her toddler bed and out of her crib. It was more my way of getting used to the idea by talking about it. Well, Tim took that as, he better get on it and take care of things. So while I was gone one Saturday, he took down her crib and put up her bed. I came home and he told me he had a surprise for me. Poor guy, he thought he was being such a good husband and doing what I asked but I wasn't too thrilled. In just a few hours he had taken my baby away. I had a big girl. I didn't think I would have such a hard time with it but I did. The REALLY sad part was that she was absolutely thrilled and has never looked back. She now thinks she is as big as her big sisters. Sigh!

Here she is on her big girl bed. I was having so much fun taking her picture, I thought I'd share them all. (Mostly to make the grandma's want to come and see her in person.)

McKenna with her FAVORITE elephant. She doesn't sleep WITH it she sleeps ON it like it's her pillow. Strange. I wonder if I'll ever have to buy her a pillow.

Can you tell she LOVE'S to get her picture taken.

It was time for her nap after I got through taking her pictures so she climbed in to bed ready for one more photo op!

Here she is pretending she's asleep so we could get an ACTION shot.

Halloween 2009

It feels like Halloween was forever ago now that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Here are a few pictures of the kiddos from our ward trunk or treat and Halloween night.

McKenna

I love this picture of Livie. She can be so timid around people sometimes but this shows her cute personality.

A 50's girl, Pippi Longstocking, a smiley face and a pirate

(All recycled costumes this year - gotta love Dave Ramsey.)

"Clinging to our guns and our religion"

As I opened up our blog to share this experience I had today, I saw the last post that Tim made (without my consent.) and laughed. One week we are talking about guns, the next, prayer - I new EXACTLY what this post title needed to be. . .

Maya's class had a Thanksgiving lunch today and there were a few parents there helping. The teacher, who I really enjoy the more I get to know her, was reading to the kids while the parents were serving up plates. The teacher would send a few at a time to come get their plates and sit quietly at their desks. As it got down to the last few kids getting food the kids started getting a little impatient since they had to wait to eat until everyone was served. First, the teacher started to tell them to smell there yummy food. "Clothes your eyes and smell." Then I about fell over when I heard her say, "Think of all the things you are thankful for. Thank God for all those things you are thankful for." I was so glad. I wondered what the other parents were thinking. I looked around the room and they didn't seem to mind. The teacher continued, "Ok, what's the first thing you should do?" All of a sudden a kid shouts, "PRAY". The teacher said, "Uh, well - uh, no we can't - well, wait, yes, we can. If I make it into a lesson I can." She sort of looked around the room and looked at me. I was thinking, what in the world is she going to do? From everything I know, we are FORBIDDEN to pray in school, I mean, I think it's up there now with, Thou shalt not kill, isn't it? She then just said, "OK, bow your heads like we do for our moment of silence in the morning. Ok, Dear Father we are thankful for . . . ." And ended with Amen. The kids all had their heads down and eyes closed. I loved it. I have to say, it was the best feeling I've ever felt in a classroom and the quietest and most respectful I have ever seen a classroom of children. I can only imagine that's how it was back in the day.

By the way, to answer a few questions about my first shooting experience - I thought it was pretty cool. I think I'd like to try skeet shooting sometime. We haven't bought a gun but I seriously have been thinking about discussing it more with Tim. That's as far as I have gotten with it. I would be fine having one in our home with our children - I think I'd be most concerned about Maya though. When she came outside and saw the gun, she, of course, asked if she could have a turn. That girl can't let anything happen without her.

The new look of Casey!!

Well, we do live in the South, and as many of you may or may not know, Casey is quite fond of politics. Recently she was saying that with the current governmental regime in office, maybe it is time to start collecting some guns (or a single gun).
While at our friends house over the weekend, we were talking about this very topic and the following is what resulted from that simple conversation.
I have kept this post very short, sweet and to the point becasue Casey is out of the house right now and will be mad as HE%% when she sees this post. Enjoy--

PuMpKiN FuN!

Our scary pumpkins

Recreating the pumpkin

Livie with her pumpkin.

(That's all she got from her $15 fieldtrip. - Don't EVEN get me started.)
I realized that I am terrible at recording memories. I think this is the first video taken of McKenna talking. Enjoy Grandmas!



Of course, it wouldn't be a post without showing off how AWESOME my husband is. Not only did he do all the carving but he cleaned up after himself. You go, GUY!
All Lit up!

How did this happen?

How did I become the mother of a 12 year old? A young women? A middle schooler? I know it was just a few days ago that she was sleeping in her crib. Nevertheless reality is that Alexa had her 12th birthday. She is such a doll. We absolutely love her. The nice thing is that we know we aren't the only ones. I don't know anyone who doesn't just see what a wonderful girl she is. She is kind and loving. She is so good with little children. She is responsible, fun and level headed. She is creative, smart and thoughtful. I could go on and on but I'm sure you just want to get to the pictures.

On her birthday she wanted to come with me to a craft show where I tried to sell some of the things I have made (that's a whole other story.) While we were there one of the other vendors let her pick something from her booth since it was her birthday. After we got home and I rested up a bit we opened presents and then went and saw the movie 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' in 3D. The girls had never seen a 3D movie before so it was a lot of fun for them. Then Alexa picked Jason's Deli for dinner which we all love so it made it nice for everyone.

The Birthday Girl

Opening presents

She always wanted a vest (when she was little she used to call them zeffs.) So that's what we call them around here.

Jason's Deli

(If you have never been there, you gotta try it. Great sandwiches, soups, kids meals and free ice cream cones. We can eat there for less than it would cost to take the fam to McDonald's.)

While we were at the craft fair the YW came and heart attacked Alexa's room and through candy all over the place and hid some in drawers and in her closet, etc. She was so excited.

The traditional in front of the decorated door picture.
We love this girl and enjoy teaching her and learning from her. She is a great example to all and basically just a lot of fun to have around.

(if you're counting, that's birthday #2 down for the season.)

School Projects! (This is a definite Grandma post.)

The other day Alexa and Olivia both had projects due on the same day. It made for a busy afternoon for all. I had to run to the store because, of course, Livie didn't tell me that she needed a poster board. Not to mention it was family night. Then she had to cut out pictures of food for the board. Luckily we have a few cooking magazines (thanks Maren!) I figured I better blog this since so many of you were involved with it. Livie had to find out what foods people would want to eat at a fall festival (carnival.) Here's the final project.

Alexa had been studying Greece and she did her project on the coliseum. She decided to make it out of clay. The only thing I had to do was find the clay in the closet and cut some off for her. Then she obviously had to do some research and junk. This picture doesn't do it justice. The inside had seating and everything. She did a pretty good job and worked hard on it. I love that she is so confident and just figures out what she wants to do and does it without complaining or questioning if it's going to be good or not. Or if it's good enough. (I have so much to learn from her.)
Since I had to run to the store for supplies and the other girls were busy I pretty much put Maya in charge of playing with McKenna. When I got back they had made there own project. They recycled our recycling (beat that Al Gore.) They pulled out all the things they could find from our recycling bin and made this great train. Complete with stickers and art work.

It's BIRTHDAY Season!

While most people are gearing up for the holidays our family is getting ready for all of our birthdays. 4 out of 6 of us have our birthdays from October to December. (All about a week before every holiday - I know, bad planning.) We started birthday season off with my birthday. Tim invited a few close friends of ours to have cake and ice cream. In fact, he had them bring the cake and ice cream. Talk about delegating. It's always nice to know that others are thinking of you on your birthday.

You can't tell here, but this cake says 36. Yes, I'm closer to 40 now. YIKES!!!!
The Robinson's.

The next day my visiting teacher's took me out to lunch. It was nice to get out since my days events included laundry, picking up Alexa from school early because she wasn't feeling well and cleaning.

Neighborhood Block Party

When I was a kid I remember our neighbors had a few block party's. I also remember that as a kid I wasn't invited but loved the idea. We live in a new neighborhood and so EVERYONE is new. My neighbor, Heidi and I decided to put one together. We DID include the kids however. We put out fliers, set up tables, and rolled out the bbq's in the middle of our cul de sac. It was so much fun. Everyone brought a side dish, drink, or dessert and their own meat. We sat around and visited while the kids ran amuck. It was a great way for all of us to meet each other. We had about 15 families show up. We are hoping to have another one in a few months. I love going out for a run now and waving at my neighbors and actually calling them by name. Here are just a few photos (I was so busy talking that I forgot to take more.)

You can't see it in this picture but we had a ton of food and all different sorts. We have such a melting pot in our neighborhood - people from the Phillipines, South Africa, the Middle East, India, etc. With backgrounds like that, you can only imagine the wonderful food that was brought.