Valentine's Dinner

Tonight we had our Fondue Dinner.  We had cheese and chocolate fondue pots mixed with a Sunday dinner.  Of course the chocolate pot was the biggest hit!

My gifts for each of the kids were their 2009 Photo Books. 

I put them together back in January and I decided then to save them for Valentine's Day.  The kids were soooo excited to look at "their" book AND at all the other books.  I kept telling Stephen, "Look at them - they are STILL looking at the books!"  Some of the pictures they hadn't ever seen and of course some of the pictures sparked memories that we had to reminisce about.

I think this might be a tradition to get them done in January and give them out on Valentines Day!  Thanks again for the idea Sherelle!

Testimonies

I got this sweet facebook message when I got home from my trip to Tennessee. 

I don't know if Steve told you but Nathan went up - I believe unprompted and bore his testimony. Then Kaylee jumped up and went up and did the same. When she came back she said something to her dad like "that was so scary". Ashley says to her "Kaylee you did so good". Then Ashley is telling Rebecca to go up. So Rebecca goes up and bears her testimony, about trying to read the Book of Mormon before she is baptized, when she comes back Ashely again tells her "Rebecca you did so good" It was the sweetest thing. Wish you could have see it. 
-Amy

It made me sad that I missed this meeting!

He WON!!!

Do you remember this post HERE.  Well, we found another Percy Jackson contest and sent in his drawing. 

His picture features some of his favorite beasts coming out of the book in which Percy Jackson fights.  I was impressed by his drawing but after realizing that there would be only ONE winner, I didn't want him to get his hopes up.  But he WON!!!  You can see the link here http://www.percyquest.com/ The prize is a free spot at Percy Jackson's Camp Half Blood in Austin, TX.  Registration for ALL spots have long since been filled, so this is pretty exciting. 

In the book Percy Jackson goes to a Camp Half Blood.  Below is the book's schedule of the camp. 

How fun to try and recreate the book, by bringing it to life.  

I'm so excited for him!  I know that even more valuable than the prize which is worth hundreds of dollars, is that huge boost in Jacob's self esteem on how talented he really is at art!

Ashley's Trip to Grandma's Book

If you think I take a lot of pictures, you should see all the pictures my mom took when Ashley spent the week at her house.  She took pictures of Grandpa and Ash doing a puzzle, Her and Ash playing Candyland, Ash helping build a fire in the wood stove ... There were QUITE a few to say the least.
Here are just some of them ...

The fun part was that she printed them up and put them in a little photo book for Ashley to keep and remember her trip to Grammy's house.  It made it fun when she came home because she could sit with different brothers, sisters, even Aunt Tanya and do a little show and tell with her book.

Thanks again for having her Mom.  She LOVED her trip!

Valentine's Check List

Cookies Baked

Heart Attacks hung on Bedroom Doors

Mailboxes stuffed each Day

Valentines Lunches Made

Valentine Boxes were Crafted

Yes, Jacob "my bookworm" decided to hollow out a 1,000 page book for his Valentine box.  He thought that he was quite clever.  My hands (from helping him), thought otherwise!

Anyway, Valentines is wrapping up.  I just need to finish up Stephen's little gift and pull off the fondue feast.

Bokeh

Bokeh is a photography term referring to the appearance of out of focus areas in an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field.   It is actually a Japanese word and literally translated means "haze" or "quality blur".
One reason I like bokeh is because it puts all the emphasis on your focal point in the picture.

The MAIN reason I LOVE bokeh is because it hides any messes that might be in the background.  AND having six kids, there is always bound to be some type of mess.  I LOVE this above picture of Jerrica because she is the center focal point, you can't even tell what eyesore is in the background.
I noticed that she was standing in front of stuff in that first picture so I turned at a different angle to get this next one.

BUT after seeing how wonderful bokeh blurs out my messes, I might just keep taking pictures and not worry about where I am standing!

Fondue

We have a tradition to have a fancy dinner the night of Valentines Day.  We do this because restaurants are always filled.  Some years we have even made them into a dinner/dance night here at home.
I always try to have something special set by each of their plates for the dinner.  My mom would do this for us.  One year she gave us each a small frame with someone special that we loved (relative, teacher, friend)  I did this one year too, which was fun because each of my kids are close with different relatives.
Another year I did the classic stuffed animal for each of them to snuggle and love on.  That was the year Nathan got the frog which is now officially Jerrica's. 
Other years have been a special letter to them. 
However, I am VERY excited about this year's gift.  It's something that they were going to get anyway, and they are going to be thrilled with it.  I know it will be a treasure for many years to come.
ANYWAY, here is my little invitation that I'm going to give each of my kiddos.

I could actually use some chocolate strawberries right NOW!

Sucker Shoot

Today I put big suckers in each of the kids' mailboxes.  As the girls started sucking their suckers, I remembered a photo shoot that I had seen somewhere of the sticky sweet mess of kids' and their suckers.  So once again mom's camera came out and the real fun began.

  

And then just because I like to see Jerrica's facial expressions, I told her that she would have to give me her sucker back because picture time was over.  That's when this expression came out -

Just kidding Miss Jerrica, you can keep your sucker!

Valentine Decorations

I've had some emails asking about my Valentine decorations.   So I thought that I would share a few...
My mom ALWAYS has to go to the thrift store when she is in town.  I roll my eyes as I'm taking her, but then always manage to find a treasure or two for myself.  I found the "Works of Shakespeare" book that I thought would be fun on my holiday shelf.  I think that I will find some of his famous passages and mark them in the book. 

Of course ANYTHING in apothecary jars look fun.  

Then there is my LOVE tree.  The little girls keep stealing the hearts off, and looking at this picture I can tell that I'm a few short.  This tree was fun for Halloween because it was the perfect perch for all of my blackbirds.

Of course I have our mailboxes set out, crafts from the kids' school and pictures of the kids here and there.  AND that is pretty much our Valentine set up this year!

Trip Recap

I went on a trip with my mom and sisters.  Sisters feel closer than a friend.  They know all about your ways, and your thinking, and have sooo many stories about you.  I basically laughed until my cheeks and stomach hurt.

To start the trip, we met Alesha in Denver and then flew on to Tennessee.  Well, of course Alesha noticed the man seated in front of us and casually asked me if I felt comfortable with our flight seeing the literature that our fellow passenger was reading.  Of course that got the giggles going and trying to take pictures sneakily of him with our cell phones kept the giggling going.

Some of us enjoyed the flight with movies and snacks.  While others would get a little hot and flustered.

Kristy had little baskets filled with goodies for each of us when we got there.  She also gave us the neatest bracelets for our girls.  They are in different shapes.  You wear them on your wrist and when you take them off they go back into these shapes.  The girls wore them to school today and claimed that ALL their friends kept asking to wear them.

You can find them here Silly Bandz (Animal Rubber Bands) Pet Pack of 24


on Amazon.  Thanks again Kristy!

While we were there we went to the Wilma Rudolph statue.  Of course we had to go there, my sister is a runner AND Olympic fanatic!  Wikapedia says this about Wilma-
  

Wilma Rudolph was born prematurely at 4.5 lbs., with 19 brothers and sisters, and caught "infantile paralysis" (caused by the polio virus) as a very young child. She recovered, but wore a brace on her left leg and foot which had become twisted as a result.  Her family drove her regularly from Clarksville, Tennessee to Nashville, Tennessee for treatments to straighten her twisted leg.  She went on to win three gold medals at the 1960 Olympics in Track and Field.

Kristy was in the hopital for the majority of our stay.  She had cute things for her kids when the baby came.  Each of them got a baby pacifier sucker and a gift AT the hospital when they came to visit.

She also had printed up T-shirts using iron-ons for each of her kids.

Alesha made a Stork for Kristy's front step -

Of course there was a little photo shoot action going on AT the hospital -

AND at Kristy's house -

Kristy had bought a lot of ribbon and buttons for hair dooda's.  We made pony tail ribbons, covered clips and bows.  I learned how to twist the pony tail ribbons into messy buns.  Anyway, I do think that are girls are ready for Valentines Day with the new hair accessories!

We talked, told stories, shared ideas, ate wayyyy to much chocolate and just had a fun weekend together.  Thanks for doing this for us MOM!!!  And thanks for helping Steve run kids around this weekend DAD!!!

Trip to Tennessee

My sisters, mom and I flew out to Tennessee to see my other sister and her new baby.  

The problem was that she was overdue and STILL had not HAD the baby.  The day after we arrived she was induced.

 

How fun to see our new little nephew arrive!

  

  

  

 

 Now to keep up with these other kiddos of Kristy that are running around here!

Jacob is a Star Scout

Jacob is working so hard in scouting.  He is now a Star Scout.  His goal is to get his Eagle before he turns 14.  He has been on 9 campouts.  (He needs 20)  AND has completed some really interesting merit badges.  Go Jacob!!!

We are sooo proud of you!