the late family...

Do you ever wonder why that late family couldn't make it to church on time at 11 o'clock? It is probably not that they slept in, but that maybe their 1 year old locked them all out of the van.

Levi was so excited to go to church because he was going to take the treat bucket to nursery that I let him get in the van while we were finishing up getting ready. Big mistake. After a while I realized that it was a mistake, but didn't do anything about it until we all went to go get in the van. He had managed to lock all the doors (they don't all work electronically, so he had to do at least one manually)and all the keys were inside the van. We had to use a package of fruit snacks to lure him into the front seat to try to get him to unlock the door. He doesn't actually know how to unlock the doors, because that takes a little more motor skills, and his fingers are not strong enough to pull up the lock. We tried to get him to get the keys and just push the button on them, but he had already put them in the ignition and they were where they were supposed to be. After about 15 minutes he pulled the door handle open just enough to pop the lock and we were off to church. We were actually going to be on time, but were now 10 minutes late.

We laughed and laughed.

I love this look - it's the "you can't get me to open the door" look.

(re-enactment photos)

Crafty Girls

A couple of weeks ago my cousin Ashley, my sister-in-law Lorisa, and I got together for a little craft day. It took us all day, with children running around everywhere, but we finally had something to show for it.

They turned out so cute - good job girls.

Fun Sunday

Sundays are sometimes a lot of fun at our house. This particular Sunday, the girls did my hair and make-up, and I did theirs. We got some silly pictures while trying to play pictionary with the kids. It was so much fun. They were supposed to draw movies, so we would be guessing all these movie titles, couldn't get it, and then Charity would give us a two minute explanation about what it was - yeah, now we get it? Our kids are so much fun.

If you look close at the video you can see a nice streak of blush down my cheek.

Don't forget that the girls did my make-up.

I was trying to make a silly face with Seth,
but he was making me laugh too much.

Paint the house...

So the real reason I felt that I needed to blog today was because I found out someone actually reads it! Thanks to Grandma Whitney, I am actually updating the blog. So, on with the blog....

After a few days with the plastic, noise-making, toilet flushing dollhouse, we decided to trade Santa's gift for something we (meaning me) thought would be more fun. Now Sadie is the owner of a wood dollhouse. I am excited about this dollhouse because of all of the possibilities. All of the furniture, and walls can and will be painted. It came with a lot of furniture and accessories and will be so much fun.

First off, to paint the outside. Sadie of course chose her favorite color - green. Charity and Sadie helped with the painting and it looks fantastic. (If I do say so myself)

Sleeping in the box.

We got a new table and chairs, and the boxes were the perfect beds for the kids. They slept in the boxes in the front room.

Just pretending to sleep....

Now they are really asleep.

Christmas with the Cupsas

For Christmas dinner we went to our good friends the Cupsas. We had a great time, and later the girls did a program for us. Iana and Alexandra dance and sang - it was so much fun.

Alexandra, Sadie, Iana, Charity, and Levi.

Silly girls.

This wasn't just random dancing, it was coordinated, rehearsed, and hilarious.

Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful, peaceful Christmas day. We of course got up VERY early and had a great time opening presents from Santa. We love to take our time and play with our new fun toys. It was such a wonderful day.

Our first Christmas picture. Everyone's presents from Santa,
and the traditional box of Trix.

Ammon rips his present open.

Sadie's turn to dig into her stocking.

Charity helps Levi open a present from his stocking.

Ammon got a new racetrack.

Charity got a Leapster and some new games for it.

Levi wants to play with the racetrack too

Ammon and his new Bakugan.

Daddy has fun with Sadie.

Levi got some fun new trains.

Sadie and her new dollhouse (it gets exchanged for a better one later).

Levi got a new scooter from mom and dad.

Sadie gave charity some new doll clothes.

Charity looking through her new photo album.

Sadie likes her photo album too.

Everyone looking at the new games.
(Every year I am going to make sure there is a shot of the top of Seth's head - as you can see, there is not that much left.)

This is Levi's tv watching spot - he's wathcing his new Thomas movie, and wearing his new Thomas pajamas over his others.

Christmas eve

Every Christmas eve we try to act out the nativity . This year Sadie was Mary, and Ammon was Joseph. Charity did not want to participate so she pouted on the couch. Every now and then she would try to make an effort. Sadie was glad, because she got to be Mary.

Jospeh and Mary on their way to Bethlehem.

Jesus is about to be born - Sadie loved pretending she was pregnant.

Charity pouting in the chair.