Denver Aquarium

Flotsam (or Jetsam, I can't be sure)

The kids and I took advantage of teacher inservice day and headed to the closest thing to a beach. Molly, Melissa, Bryson, and Grandma Jane met us there (and it was a good thing, too, because with all the crowds, it would have been easy to lose one of the kids). The top three attractions: the flash flood, shark tank, and feeding the rays--courtesy of G. Jane.

Family Home Evening

A family home evening lesson on the entanglements of the Evil One.

Ben refused to be caught dead in Saran Wrap (although there were zero inhibitions about losing his pants).

One Little Two Little Three Little Indians

Hiawatha in the backyard.




Sacajawea, courtesy of Ben and a box of markers.




Grace: "Monkey"
Ben: "No, I'm a Jilla."




Allie, breaking an vow she made with Staci (never to have a scout shirt in her closet).

Busy, and not a single picture to prove it!

1. James has been in Texas on business.
2. I am the new cub scout committee chair and last week was the blue and gold banquet. I am currently trying to figure out how to register the charter (a money-making scam if you ask me--I never knew how many hoops the church jumps through just to participate with the BSA).
3. The kids are participating in gymnastics lessons.
4. Friday was my birthday. James gave me some lovely porch furniture and he put that together yesterday.
5. On Saturday James and I did some painting for my mom.
6. Tonight for FHE we are going to talk about food storage (i.e. unpack the food storage and try to organize the basement a bit).
7. This week I start running more seriously.
8. The weather is starting to warm up, so we are also planning our yard overhaul. James wants to get the pond cleaned out and pump circulating. We need the garden area prepared, dirt delivered, grass seed planted, sprinklers figured out, bushes trimmed, trees fertilized, etc. It's going to be great!
9. Finally, the school season is simply busy. I'm sure Meri would agree. We'll be back this summer. I promise.

A Note from Tessa

(Tessa was sticking notes all over the house.)

More House Pictures

A freshly painted front door, a trademark panty door, and my favorite view from the side gate. Ben knew for sure when we moved in that the owners had left him a puppy in the large dog house.

Sexy Legs

I walked into my closet and wondered what in the world my nylon egg was doing on the floor. I soon received my answer. Somebody was embarrassed!

Family Pictures

New House

Staci called today and said, "For mine, Lori's and Pete's sake, PLEASE post some pictures of that house." For the last three weeks, James and I have been up until somewhere between 1:00 and 3:00 AM cleaning and painting. As always, it is a work- in-progess. I can't tell you, though, how nice it is to have another project. In fact, there are so many projects to do in this house it will take a life time to finish. We LOVE it. We want to stay forever (which is saying a lot since we have moved 13 times in the almost 10 years that we have been married).

A Christmas Carol

It took us until the last minute to roll out our Christmas video this year. The actors were on strike. Let's just say that one of our children puts the "ben" in Ebenezer.

2007 Sunshine on My Shoulders

2006 How the Grinch Stole Christmas

2005 Nativity

Merry Christmas!

Laundry

While Staci and I were frantically tackling our daunting piles of laundry, we both agreed that we needed the sign that hangs above her friend's washing machine. It reads:

"When I said, 'I do,' I didn't mean laundry."

Marie's Journal Entry

Marie started each school day with a vocabulary word written on the board. Her job was to write the definition and color an accompanying picture. This entry was written at the beginning of the year, so her spelling is a little difficult to decipher.

Translation: Worker means my grandpa's job is to ride on airplanes and he gets paid.

A New House

A while ago James asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I told him I wanted a house. Well Santa delivered. We can't decide which is more exciting, the large back yard or our interest rate (4.9%)! We have a few details that still need to resolved, but we're hopeful. We close on the 30th. Yikes.

Swimming Lessons-Autumn Session

Last week was the kids' final swimming lesson. Grandma Jane came to watch (that might explain why we actually have pictures of the event). I'd say the progess they made was worth every penny. Marie is swimming on her own for short distances, and Tessa is almost there. Ben is no longer afraid of the water and Grace...well, she's just happy to be along for the ride!

Tessa doing the elementary back float with her teacher, Spencer. (Chicken, airplane, soldier!)

Tessa is pretty fast on the kick-board.

Ben and Miss Gretchen. He LOVED her.

I wish this picture hadn't turned out so blurry. Check out Ben's awesome stroke!

Marie swimming on her own!

The indoor water slide. It is so nice to have access to a pool year-round.

Grace at the bottom of a kiddy slide. We are thankful she no longer crawls deeper than nose-level. Apparently it takes some degree of sense to turn around--as opposed to going deeper.

Odds and Ends

Are we good parents because we've been spending lots of time with the kids or bad parents because we haven't updated the blog in a month?

Tessa was the statue of liberty for Halloween.


Ben was a Tyrannosaurus.

Marie was a doctor, but she was at school when pictures were taken. Grace was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. She was taking a nap.

This is my pumpkin.

The kids caught catfish (not Halloween related--they were just having fun).