Cute Picture Round Up

Went through my phone tonight and found these gems. Enjoy the adorableness of our three. Biased? Me? Nah!

I almost forgot! Brent and I have new callings. He's a ward missionary and I'm the Bear den leader. Go Scouts! Sammi is still adjusting to first grade. She loves riding the bus but doesn't like the cafeteria food. So I guess I'll be packing lunches. Elli also did not like lunch when she went to preschool last week. Make that two lunches I'll be packing! Sammi had her first test on Friday and has another one tomorrow. It's mostly review stuff right now. I hope they move quickly before she gets bored with the novelty of the classroom, worksheets, and what not. Surprisingly she doesn't like art very much but I'm hoping once they get the class rules down and the teacher trusts them more they'll be able to do more of the things she likes. Elli doesn't get up early so I'm afraid how this week will go as she has to get up at 7 every morning for preschool. Though she is excited to go. Usually. Especially once I promised to make her lunch :) Scott did very well his first day without sisters. He played with a train for over two hours! Such dedication. He loves books and scissors. Fortunately the two interests have not collided yet! Knock on wood. Now I'm rambling. Good night.

Baltimore Trip

We took a trip to visit my sister Ann, her husband Andrew, and their beautiful daughter. It was a ton of fun. That doesn't mean that we didn't have any challenges... kids may have cried, bedtimes may have been a little challenging, but overall we had a great time! We had a lot of fun going to an art museum, a train museum, and the Smithsonian Aerospace, American History, and Natural Science museums.We also went to Artscape, but unfortunately I didn't take pictures there! Here are a few of the pictures that I did remember to take.

Here was one of  my favorite things at the art museum. It was the most amazing toothpick sculpture ever!

Amber and I both found the styrofoam cups carved into cool faces.

Scott was a big fan of the dinosaurs... until he had an absolute meltdown at the natural science museum about 5 minutes later.

The kids and I did the obligatory picture in the giant shark mouth at the Smithsonian.

They have so many cool things at the Smithsonian! Unfortunately they wouldn't allow pictures of Old Glory. The experience seeing Old Glory and learning more of the story was definitely one of the major highlights of the trip.

While Amber took the girls to the restroom I saw something that caught my eye. It was kind of fun to find a little bit of LDS history in our nation's capitol.

It was very hot in Baltimore! Fortunately Ann recommended the splash pad! To be honest this one didn't really have many fancy things, but seriously this was one of the best splash pads we've ever been too!

That was a little peak into our trip to Baltimore. Families trips are great. Things never go as planned, kids always have to go to the bathroom when you're nowhere near an exit, and the weather always does goofy things, but when it's all said and done they are totally worth it. There are so many fun memories from the trips and activities we do as families, and I'm glad I have my family to make those memories with.

February 2012

 Here's a glimpse of February. We had a lot of fun celebrating Valentine's Day, taking a pottery class at the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, painting, shopping, dressing up and losing a tooth.

Scott getting sleepy after filling up on a yummy dinner.

 Super Scott saving the world one milk jug at a time.

 Playing in the kitchen at the Children's Museum.

 Sammi dressing up in the Pioneer room at the Children's Museum.

 Elli dressing up in the Pioneer room at the Children's Museum.

 Sammi lost tooth number 3. She worked a long time on loosening it and finally letting Mom pull it out. The Tooth Fairy knew how hard she worked and how patient she was and rewarded her with 2 dollars!

 Scott discovering fingerpaints. He loved squishing it through his fingers. By the end it was all over his head.

Wearing hearts for Valentine's Day. They picked different shirts with hearts every day for the week before Valentine's Day. Sammi is making a heart with her arms.

 On a shopping trip to Hobby Lobby. These three are such cuties all together when we are out.

I went through a box of papers from graduate school and found this paper where I doodled my name and Brent's. I think this was before we were engaged. It even has Scott up there in the top right corner. 

February went by so quickly and I can hardly believe it's April already. The children are growing fast and learning so quickly. Sammi is starting to read more fluently. She's moved into first grade math. She's learning to roller skate at our homeschool co-op. Elli is also learning to roller skate. She writes her name. She knows all her letters and tells me frequently that she'll learn to read tomorrow (already a procrastinator!) Her favorite song is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Scott loves all sorts of balls. He loves for me to bounce a ball off his forehead. He's started stacking blocks instead of knocking them over.

January 2012

January was a busy month. We started it off with Scott's birthday and ended it with Brent's birthday. Both celebrated their golden birthdays (where they turned the age of their date: Scott turned 1 on the 1st and Brent turned 31 on the 31st). I meant for there to be great amounts of celebrating, but alas, life was busy and we didn't do much.

Scott turned one and ate a marshmallow! No cake for this gluten-free boy. It still seems to bother him. Scott has become so playful. He loves to follow his sisters around and play with them. He loves fruits and veggies, especially mixed together in a smoothie. He's now in 18 month clothes, though some long 12 month pants still fit.

Elli started the new year of with lots of crafts. She is not a fan of formal school time so we do lots of songs and imaginative play. She knows all her letters and their sounds but isn't ready to sound out words yet. She does like to play with Sammi's school supplies so we have fun all together doing school. Elli loves her ballet class and often sachets around the house to her own soundtrack.

Sammi is continuing to grow at a very quick rate. She's lost her bottom two teeth and by the end of January another was getting loose. Sammi is also learning at a quick rate. She is reading early readers but doesn't really like to read. She'd rather I read a more complex book to her. She's also spelling like a champ and a whiz with numbers. But her true love is art. She must do art projects everyday. She enjoyed Grandma Devine's visit where we learned to doodle and she got to watch tons of art videos with Grandma.

Brent went back to school on the last day of his month, a.k.a. his birthday. After having been out of school for 9 months he was glad to get back. We celebrated his birthday during family home evening the night before his birthday. At church Brent is still teaching the gospel principles class, now on his third time

I'm busy with the joys and fun of homeschooling, having three little ones and all the other responsibilities that pop up throughout the days and weeks. At church I am still the Primary President. We started the year by giving the children a journal to keep track of what they learn during sharing time this year and to help them memorize the scriptures that go with each month. The kids love them! We also participate in a homeschool co-op and I volunteered to teach two classes this semester: art to 3-5th graders and an animal science class to the K-2nd graders. My part of the animal science class is to do a craft each week related to the animals we discuss. I love all the focus on art! And Sammi loves to help me plan and prep the lessons, too.

Using Our Family Photos

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

You can get up to 5 free cards for Father's Day right now at Shutterfly! I just paid a buck for shipping and tax for this cute card for Brent.

Family Photos 2011

It was time to do family photos again. The last time we did this, Elli was barely older than Scott is now. Hard to believe it was that long ago! These ones were done by a fabulous friend here in Tennessee. We love how they turned out.






The best part, they are already hanging on my wall. It feels great to have all the empty frames filled. Our family picture was is Elli's favorite wall in our house. She loves naming everyone and gets SO excited when she sees all the people she loves.

Pre-Spring Break

We got to go to Colorado again this year for Brent's convocation for OMT. I look forward to this trip to see my dad, Kim, brothers and nephew and niece. Not to mention my fave friends from my high school days. We had so much fun! Here are some pictures to show just how great the trip was.

All the cousins.
It was such a fun dinner seeing them all interact together.

I love sleeping pictures! This is Elli when we arrived at Julie's house.

I went to bed with this beautiful sight.
I had to turn on the light just to get the picture. So glad they didn't wake up!

It's always so hard to get a good family picture. This one epitomizes the trial of parents to get everyone looking at the camera with a pretty smile.

Sammi's first kite-flying experience. She loved it! I love that I got to share it with her. Thanks Julie for having awesome kites and thanks to the Colorado plains for all the wind.

Isn't he the cutest? I needed a place to set him down while I took off my jacket and shoes. It struck me as so comical that I just had to take the picture. They were kind enough to stop the conveyor belt and let me get a good picture.

We had a fun but very exhausting trip. I didn't realize how adjusted we are to the humidity of Tennessee nor how much drier the climate in Colorado is. Poor Scott was stuffy the whole week. But from the moment we left the airport in Louisville, he has been clear and gunk-free. It's good to be "home!"