I'm Thankful!

What a week! Between Thanksgiving, Friends and Harry Potter, it feels like we've been going non-stop. Dan got to spend most of the week at home with us which has been wonderful!

I am SO thankful to be married to such an amazing man. Honestly - he puts up with so much and does so much for me - I am the LUCKIEST woman in the world!!!

I spent all day Wednesday cooking - but it was sooo worth it! Yummy Rolls, Yummy Pies and Yummy Dip.... what more could you ask for! Thursday was of course full of family and food. We went to my Aunt and Uncle's for Thanksgiving. The food was DELICIOUS and the company was of the best kind.
Friday we had friends over to eat and play games. We shooed the kids downstairs and put on Finding Nemo and had fun being adults and playing games.

Saturday, Dan's cousin, Newell and family came over for dessert and then stayed to baby sit the kids while Dan and I went to go see the new Harry Potter. I always have a good time being out with Dan, and I always enjoy the Harry Potter movies... obviously the combo was perfect!

I am SO blessed to have my family around me and my WONDERFUL kids! These kooky kids light up my life.

He's Home!!!!

We are all excited to have Dan back home! We survive with out him - and even manage to have fun - but life is just never quite as good as when he is home. I realized this week that no matter how much time and effort I put into trying to keep the house in perfect (well perfect for us) order - that it is just not possible with Dan gone - so instead of stressing about it this week - I did what I could and didn't stress about what I couldn't do. Plus we managed to get through a whole week with out anything major breaking or anyone getting seriously sick!

We managed to keep ourselves pretty busy. My aunt was very kind and watched the kids for me while I went to choir practice. Being able to go to Choir always provides some stress relief for me. The kids had a blast and came home nice and late and loaded with sugar! They loved it! Tuesday I had the opportunity to provide some meals for people in our ward and once again was reminded how the best way to forget your own minor trials is to help others. Thursday we went to the park with friends who then came over for lunch after. It was nice to have some adult conversation. I have really missed the friends I left in Texas, and really appreciate the opportunities I find here to slowly make new ones. Daddy came back on Saturday in time to help clean the house for Sunday. We also baby sat for his cousin's baby so the rest of the family could go see Harry Potter 7. They are planning on returning the favor. Their baby is less than 2 months old and sleeps most of the time still. I think they are getting the rough end of the deal! :)

Evelyn has mastered the stairs. She now goes up and down with ease. Dan took a video today and then had fun playing with it. :)


He also played with a few other videos he had taken recently and if I do say so myself they are hilarious!! You can see the others HERE my favs are the "putting on a shirt" and "brushing teeth"

Enjoy!!

Snow, Princesses and Giants... oh my!

Well we got our first snow of the season this week. The older kids loved it - Evelyn - not so much. Her first experience with it was walking in it while we went to pick up Eileen - so nearly half an hour in the snow was miserable for her - she was getting wet and cold and there was nothing I could do about it :( The kids spent as much time as they could outside playing in it. And while it looks like it's night time in these pictures - it was actually like 5pm and still pretty light out - but my camera make the pics very dark for some reason.... :P I tried turning off the flash, but it just made them blurry. So after snowing a couple inches on us (and that's rounding up) it didn't last long - however, now it feels like we have officially landed in Winter.

My cousin Frankie was in a production of Beauty and the Beast done by the Christian Youth Theater, so I decided to take the kids - hoping that it would be a fun and good experience for the kids - A good way to introduce them to theater with something I already know they like. They had a blast - Evie wasn't crazy about sitting on mommy's lap for over 2 hours, but she did amazingly well - she didn't get fussy until the last 20 minutes. Eileen, Anna and Aaron were enthralled - they hardly wiggled or squirmed the whole show - just a little clinging to mommy during scary parts. :) It was really pretty good for a group of 8-18 year olds. Some very nice performances by Belle, Gaston, and Mrs. Potts in the singing department and some good acting all around! As much as the kids liked the show, and as excited as they got seeing their cousin every time he was on stage ("mommy - their's Frankie!!!!!") the highlight of the day was getting to meet Belle after the show. The girl was very sweet and wonderfully patient with the swarms of little girls all wanting to talk to her and meet her and just be near her. She must have crouched down to talk to them all for over half an hour - LOL - I don't care how young you are - that gets uncomfortable!
And all of us with Frankie the fish monger after the show - yes this kid is just 10 years old - and he is about to pass me up.... Anna wouldn't get in the picture, and Dan is out of town, but hey- here's the rest of us!
Evie managed to do a face plant on the floor earlier today and ended up with a bleeding mouth and a seriously fat lip... my poor baby!!! Funny - sometimes her eyes look totally brown - but here they look green.... and ohh so sad :(

Eileen was asked to give the scripture in Primary next week - so when we got home she began a full fledged talk on her topic of service.... Her premier example of service? David and Goliath - David served Israel by killing Goliath. She was busy writing down what she wanted to say in her notebook. Such a sweet, smart and hard working little girl!! I was just brought to tears by the idea that she may have gotten the desire to write her talk and use scriptures and her notebook from watching me do my lessons.... What a humbling thought about the influence we can have in our kids lives for good when we try and magnify our callings.

On Thursday night (before Dan left) we had Parent/Teacher conferences with Eileen's teacher. Her teacher recommended some areas that we could work with Eileen and then praised her up and down. We asked her for a recommendation for Eileen for a Gifted and Talented school in the area, and she commented that Eileen should have no problem getting in.

Anna and I had a cute talk this evening while i was making dinner. They talked about service today in Primary and it really stuck with her. She was helping me by holding the garbage lid open while I peeled potatoes and she was so excited to be 'serving' mommy. She then proceeded to serve me by helping sweep the floor and set the table. I asked her what service was and she told me that it was doing something to help someone. So I asked her how we serve people, and she told me that she could serve by doing things for them and being nice. She is growing so fast.

Eileen recently got a package in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Jones with this cute nightgown in it to go with the one they had gotten for Anna while they were visiting. Eileen was so excited at the cute nightgown made by Grandma Jones and Anna got hers out and got very excited that they could both wear them and so we took this picture to say

THANK YOU GRANDMA AND GRANDPA JONES!

Family Fun

The rest of our week has passed quickly - the kids have had a blast. Thursday we went to the playground with friends from church and the favorites being a funky slide and the see-saw for Aaron and Anna. For Evie though - it was these rocking pigs. She quickly figured out how to climb in to it and spent most of the morning climbing in and out and rocking herself. She LOVED it! The weather here has just been GORGEOUS! And out morning at the park was perfect (at least as long as Evie was contest to say with the pigs or swings - after an hour or so she started trying to wander off...)

Saturday was a bit busy. We went to a cousin's baptism in the morning. Dan being a witness and me singing. It was really beautifully done - and short sweet and to the point - which is of vital importance when you are fighting 4 kids... After we went to their house for lunch - where thankfully no one wet themselves or made too big a mess. Dan took Eileen to Costco in the afternoon and then in the evening we had some friends over for dinner and games. We played killer bunnies - which we haven't played in awhile since it's a bit involved to teach and no one else seems to know how to play.... But they did so we had a blast killing bunnies and stealing carrots.

Dan leaves for a trip to Chicago next Friday - I have to admit that after struggling with 4 kids all through Sacrament meeting today - I am not looking forward to next Sunday... maybe I can bribe them into reverence....

Sorry there aren't more pictures- but all the ones I took this week were of Eileen's birthday :)

Happy Birthday Eileen

Eileen had a great birthday - she got to have cupcakes at school, she got to go out for ice cream with Great Grandpa Francone and she had fun eating Mac and Cheese for her special birthday dinner and pink cake made especially by daddy and ice cream. She loved opening her presents and loved the cute clothes from Great Grandma Penny, the horses and cute shirt from Grandma and Grandpa Jones, the jewelery box and jewelery from Grandma and Grandpa Cox, the Barbie from Anna and of course, the make up box from Mommy and Daddy. Eileen had a little kid make up thing that she had bought for herself awhile ago - and after receiving this new, bigger one from mom and dad gave her old one to Anna. What a sweet sister! Anna had a lot of fun picking out the barbie for Eileen - she spent a lot of time looking and deliberating (well a lot of time for a 4 year old...)

I'm not quite sure where the last 6 years have gone.... I can't believe how grown up she is sometimes. She is smart, beautiful, kind and faithful. I am so blessed.

Some highlights of our evening!