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I am sure glad that I took care of the tomatoes yesterday because this is what my garden looked like today.

A couple of days ago we had some snow, but not enough for the kids to play in. Luckily last nights storm brought in enough for the kids to enjoy!

Today is my birthday and Sam made a special picture for me. It is interesting that when my girls draw pictures they draw a scene, but when Sam draws a picture he tells a story. Can you see the story behind this picture?

This year Caroline and Sam started swimming lessons at level 3. They can now swim well enough that I don’t have to keep a constant eye on them when they are at our community pool. Diana couldn’t take lessons at the beginning because she had a rash that took a long time to get better. By the second session of swimming lessons Diana’s rash was better so she could start at level 1. Caroline was able to pass level 3 after the first session, but Sam had to take it again until he finally passed. The kids love to go to the indoor pool here and they are looking forward to taking more swimming lessons when they go off track from school.

Sam’s second grade class did a puppet show last school year and I thought it was about time to make a post about it. The class broke into groups and did a tiny puppet show about a story they read in class that year. Sam’s group did theirs on Tops and Bottoms. The kids prerecorded their story so they could concentrate on working their puppets and props. I was not on my best form that day taking pictures so I only got one good picture. Here it is:

Sam is the rabbit on the left.

Down the road a ways the city built a new park. It is not that great, but since it is a change from the old on they have been going to it is like hitting the jackpot for the kids. One day I decided to take their pictures just for fun.

This past Saturday we had five little friends over to celebrate Sam’s 8th birthday. It was a very low key affair. To start things off we had Pizza and lemonade, while the boys talked about video games and other boy stuff. Then we played the candy matching game which is like memory where they match two of the same candies and then they win the candy that they matched(my kids love this game for some reason).

Then we played a game similar to pin the tale on the donkey. I had Anne draw me a picture of a boy without a face (she did a FANTASTIC job) and then the boys had to draw and cut out the facial features to put on the faceless boy. The boys had fun drawing and cutting, but I think the part when we blindfolded them and put the facial features on was somewhat boring to the boys that had to wait for their turn.

After that game it was time for cake, ice cream and then presents. The boys weren’t in to cake and ice cream all that much so this part went fast.

The last thing we did was the pinata. Sam chose a pinata shaped like a football, he got to choose the candy we put in and was really excited for this part of the party. We went one time through with the blindfold and after that I just gave them the baseball bat and let each boy have at it. After about three boys it was toast, broken in half candy flying everywhere, they had a blast.

That was it for the party and the boys went home their party bags and their bellies filled. I hope everyone had fun.

Now for the lost camera bit. I would love to show you all the cool pictures I took with our camera of Sam’s birthday party, but I have no idea where the camera went. Sam says I left it on my desk and someone must have knocked it off into the garbage and now it is sitting in a landfill somewhere. The last time I saw it, it was on the kitchen island by the fruit bowl. I hope it is not in the trash and that it is sitting somewhere in the house hiding out.

December was recital time. Emily, Anne, and Caroline’s recital was at the piano teacher’s house. Sam’s recital was at the West Jordan Library.

Emily played Petite Russian Rhapsody by John Thompson and I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables by Claude-Michel Schönberg:

Anne played the Raindrop Prelude by Chopin and the Minute Waltz by Chopin:

Caroline played Hogwarts Hymn by Patrick Doyle and Can You Feel The Love Tonight by Elton John:

Samuel played Chocolate Cake by Bastien:

What age is he at? The age where teeth fall out on a seemingly weekly basis. In Sam’s case, he lost three teeth inside of two weeks.

Prep work...

Over the years, the kids have become used to concept of me pulling their teeth out. I’ve talked to a few kids Buddy’s age and they all recoil in horror at the idea of their dad pulling out their teeth. Of course, I recoil in disgust at the idea of kids wiggling their tooth for weeks on end until the tooth is finally just hanging by a thread just begging to be yanked out.

Ready, Aim, Fire!

We don’t use fancy methods at our house – no string and hot coal, no string tied to the door – just plain old dental floss tied around the tooth and Dad gives it a firm yank. I would estimate that our success rate is above 90% and only very rarely do we have to use the method of last resort: needle nose pliers.

Success!

Fortunately for Buddy, we were successful this night and he is now the proud owner of a gap-toothed smile. About a week or so later we pulled out two of his bottom teeth within two days. He’s got another one that’s loose on top so we could really turn him into a hillbilly if we wanted to but I think we’ll give that one a few more days of wiggling before we yank it out.

I took these pictures a long time ago but am barely writing about them. This year my youngest started kindergarten. She has been excitedly looking forward to the day when she could get on the school bus with her older siblings and finally the day was here. Usually on the first day I like to take my kindergartener to school myself and take pictures there, but Diana wouldn’t have it she wanted to take the bus. So here are the pictures of my three little elementary school kids on their first day of school.

Every spring BYUFan and I sign up all of our kids for some sport through the county rec center. This year instead of having the kids all in one sport we had them in three different sports. Emily and Anne chose Volleyball, Texas and Luppin chose soccer, and Samuel chose Flag Football.

Last night was Samuel’s last game and I finally remembered to bring my camera. I wish BYUFan could have been there because I am not very good at taking pictures that turn out. Maybe next time we sign Samuel up for football BYUFan will be around to take the pictures.

The first two pictures are of Samuel attempting to kick off at the beginning of the game. He was not too successful so another boy had to do it after buddy had his chance.

getting ready to kick

Good Try Samuel!!

Usually Samuel is in the front line trying to keep the other guys away from his guy who has the ball. This time Samuel got to be the one with the ball. I think he did a great job.

Here comes the ball!

GO BUDDY GO!!!!!!!!!!

Sam had a lot more fun in flag football than he did in soccer. I am sure he wants to sign up again soon.