Who's your Student of the Month? Griffin's Mine!!

WOO HOO Griffin is the student of the month! Way to go Big Boy! We are so proud of you!!!

Explaining he got the award for being trustworthy, doing his work and making good choices in class.

Receiving award



The proud boy with his award!



Post award Doughnuts, thanks PTO



1 year Anniversary

Yep, as of February 11th we have officially had this house for a year.  In honor of that, I have decided to post some before and after pictures.  Enjoy....




boys room before

  

Boys room after





girls room before    

girls room after



guest room before

  

guest room after





guest room after

 

kitchen before







kitchen/dinning before



Kitchen/dining after

 

kitchen after

family room before

family room after



pool before



pool after



front room before

 

during...



after



 

Happy Face Found

Yesterday at church, Lewis had a meltdown.  We went out to get a drink of water and he couldn't be reverent enough to go back into the chapel.  So I sat with him on a chair in the foyer.  He wiggled and tried to get off my lap and when I wouldn't let go he broke into full blown crying.  So we moved into a classroom where he wouldn't disturb others. 

He had to sit on a chair, fold his arms and be silent, then we could go back in.  He was having none of it.  He spun in the chair, wouldn't fold his arms and sobbed:  "I hate church"  "My wanna go back in by Henna and Mae Mae"  "This is dumb"  "I am telling daddy on you"  "I wanna go home"  "I hate chairs"  were some of his more memorable phrases. 

Finally (30-40 min later) he was sitting correctly, and folding his arms but still screaming/crying with his mouth closed figuring I'd think that was close enough to silent to let him go back in.  Sadly, no, I wanted no more crying.  As we were sitting there the door cracked open and his friend Eden (age 2) appeared.  Lewis loves Eden.  He broke into a  huge smile and said "Eden!  Mommy, look, its my friend Eden, she made me find my happy face!  I'm not sad any more." 

And, he wasn't.  He gave Eden a hug and they sat in the chairs folding and folded their arms and then Lew and I went back into the chapel. 

Happy 12th Birthday Girls!

Yep, they're 12!  

Hard to believe I know!  It's amazing how fast it goes, only 6 years till they are gone, 2/3 of their time with me is over.  They had a great birthday on Veterans Day with all their friends, they made homemade pizza, handmade some Christmas cards, did a White Elephant type gift exchange and ate lots of yummy cupcakes (decorated by Grammy) and ice cream!  It was so fun. 

They are super excited to be able to go to Young Women's at church now.  They went to their first activity on Sunday night and tomorrow is their first combined activity with the boys.  Sooooooo EXCITING!    It's a whole new world people!!!

Zoe and Zander--Welcome to the Family

 

So we got  ourselves 2 new puppies in September.  We first met them in August on our travels to Utah but they were just a week old then and we had to wait to get them till they were 8 weeks old.  I only wanted one but the girls decided to pool their money and buy another one.  So we have 2 new babies who are perfect in every way except for the potty training part!  I figure with a life span of about 15-16 years, these will be the last puppies I ever train, yippee! 

Tiny Zander

Tiny Zoe

Lewis is really loving them.  He lays by them, goes in and out the dog door with them, hand feeds them food from their bowls, cleans up their poop off the carpet (he does a really good job too!) and pets them constantly.  He calls them the "blue one and the pink one" because of their collars.  He even remembers them in his prayers.  He is in heaven. 

Lew with the blue one

The girls are really happy to have a puppy they can call their own.  They got Zander.  Brad and I are happy too because we can make them clean up, wipe up, scoop up and wash up any accidents because it's "their dog!"

Griffin is so loving to them.  He gets them to play and run around and has a super fun time with them.  

Dinner Time

Sleepin with Daddy

Zander trying to sneak to school in Grif's backpack

Zander

Zoe

We are so happy to have them because it will make putting Daisy down that much less painful because we have them to cheer us up.

1st week of Nov. Forecast...SWEET!

Can't beat this time of year, although true perfection would be no 90's!

Happy Halloween

We had a fun Halloween week with lots of class party's, church trunk or treat's and scoring lots of candy. (Just in time for my diet to end!)  We even went to the State Fair with Grammy, Leksi, Amie and Brax.  It was one busy week and we loved it!!!

This year we had a Mario, a Luigi, a Witch and a Wal*Mart Greeter.  So fun!!  Lewis wore his costume everywhere we went, except the fair, the whole week.  He only answered to Luigi and he loved his outfit!! Mario had a birthday party and a class party that he loved and he has eaten his body weight in candy since Friday night.

Halloween has been a hit!  Now on to Thanksgiving and Christmas!  Let the fun begin.

 

This is our Daisy pumpkin.  It's gonna be her last halloween with us so we had to pay tribute to her.  She's had a good run but her health is really declining and it's time to make the tough decisions!  UGH.

Auntie Paula and Pirate Island

This past summer Auntie Paula took the kids and I to a super fun place....Pirate Island.  We ate yummy, delicious food and got lots of tokens to play games with, win tickets and claim prizes!  It was our last day with Auntie Paula and she made sure we went out with a bang!!!  THANK YOU Auntie Paula.

Auntie Paula and kids.  She ROCKS!

quote at front of store

winning tickets, Grif shows Mary what to aim for.

Our "money maker" for tickets.  Slam a winner rocked!

Pumpkin Crafty-ness

So my friend Jo got this super cute pumpkin from one of her friends and I thought I could copy it and give it to some of my friends.  So she sent me a pic and I showed it to Brad and he decided to 1 up it.  He did.  It is great!  I made some for my mom and she liked it so well she put in an order for a few more that she'd pay us to make.  She wasn't very specific so we made her 20!  (We really needed the money!)

It was fast and easy and I think it's so cute.  I gave them to lots of people but I am thinking the shape can be made into a Christmas ornament or Santas face and Brad can probably make some egg shaped for Easter so be looking out for those!  It was a fun, inexpensive but cute way to decorate for Halloween.