Santa

Super excited for Christmas. Saw Santa at the mall. Savannah sang at the mall with her Glee club. Isabelle sang with her class at school. Both did a great job. It is fun that they learned some of the same songs so we can sing them in the car. Adam keeps trying to "blow out" the candle shaped bubble lights that we have on our tree. We are having a great christmas time. Loves to all.

Horse Camp

In July we signed the girls up for Horse camp. They've always been obsessed with horses and they LOVED Horse camp. It was perfect for them. They were each assigned a horse to work with all week. The learned how to groom and saddle and ride and... Well more than i know about horses!

Isabelle sitting on "Lady" while her helper adjusts the stirrups.

Isabelle riding Lady. It was so fun to see such a little girl on such a big gentle horse. Isabelle is a natural she was so confident and excited. They even trotted! She was one of the youngest there and did Great.

Isabelle leading Lady back to the stall after her ride.

Savannah riding Heart. Heart was being a bit lazy that day and wanted to just stand there. Savannah did a great job and still had fun.

Savannah leading Heart back to the stable after her ride.

Cleaning Heart's feet. I laughed to watch Savannah pick up Heart's foot to clean it. She was one of the few that figured out the trick. She was amazing.

10 things i've learned about boys.

Boys:
1. RUN! Everywhere they go!
2. Want to be big!

3. Want to be like their dad. (notice the funny face due to the "car noises" -see #4)

(and yes, he is sitting on Matt's Handle bars!)
4. Can't play with toy cars without sound effects. (Cars don't make good church toys!)
5. Will resort to pushing a pink baby stroller around the house, but only with adding "truck" sound effects. (see #4)

6. Love Sticks, Poles, Pipes or anything else they can "Fix" (bang on stuff) with.

7. Love to "help". (Adam has become a proficient Dish-Washer Emptier. He still doesn't understand the concept of "loading" and it is generally a race to get it loaded before he puts all the dirty dishes in the drawer!)7. Love Balls: big balls, small balls, bouncy balls, bumpy balls, round or not, they LOVE balls!

8. Always have bumps and bruises. (especially when they tease their sisters.)

9. Lack patience and tend to help themselves to things

10. Are amazing and fun and perfect.

Admitedly I started this post months ago... forgive my tardiness! Busy being a mom and all that! : )

Miracles

On the way home from raleigh this weekend, (after visiting cita at her hotel pool!) when we were still about 30 minutes from home, and on the freeway, Our car suddenly lost power. Matt coasted to the side of the road and we were stranded. The closest exit sign was back the way we had come. (the sign said 1 1/2 miles) In the opposite direction we couldn't even see any exit signs. We had no cell phone. It was dark. We had all three kids in the backseat. The car wouldn't start.

Matt suggested that he would walk to the nearest exit and try to get some help. I was hesitant to split up, because then if help did come how would we get Matt back? but we didn't know what else to do. The girls have been learning about prayer in primary and one of them suggested we needed to pray. We climbed into the backseat and knelt where we could. We asked our Heavenly Father to help us stay together, and to get home safely. Then we told the kids to stay buckled in and Matt and I got outo of the car. We stood next to the van and matt said. "Lets try to flag somebody down." I felt silly standing there in the dark waving my arms over my head, but I didn't have a better suggestion. Within minutes a tow truck pulled over and asked what the problem was. Matt said we needed a tow and was he available? The man said, "Well, i'm on a call already, how far do you need to go?" Matt said "Well, we live in Rocky Mount" The man got a funny look on his face and said. "I'm going to Rocky Mount. I can take you there."

We felt so blessed and watched over. Heavenly Father hears our prayers.

Mermaids and Dolphins

We had so much fun in Grandma-cita's pool this summer that we came home and bought our own. We spent just about every day in the pool. Unfortunately we had SO much fun that i never took any pictures. :( But here are a few of the day we set it up. The water came out of the hose so warm that the kids played "slip n slide" while the pool filled.
24 hours and 5000 gallons later we had a pool! It is shoulder deep on Isabelle. Both girls became really confident swimmers and spent lots of time playing Mermaids and dolphins. The favorite game was when they got daddy to give them dolphin rides. We swam so much that Savannah's hair turned green! 1 week before school she said "I am NOT starting third grade with green hair!" I guess she got over it because the day after school started she said. "I need to go swimming again because my hair isn't so green anymore." Isabelle HATES getting her hair brushed (de-tangled) and all the swimming created lots of tangles, so halfway through the summer she convinced me to cut her hair.

So She started Kindergarten with a cute new hair do.

First day of school.

3rd grade at Englewood Elementary. Teachers: Mrs Lewis and Mrs Sykes Kindergarten at Winstead Elementary. Teachers: Mrs Bullock and Mrs. Nowell.

Missing teeth (one on top and one on bottom)

My sweet bunch of kids.

Whats up?

It has been brought to my attention that my last post is really old! What can i say? We've been having far too much fun this summer. However, in an attempt to update I'd just like to add a brief clip of exactly "What is up?" at our house.

"ummm, whats up?"

Sorry that is all you get for now.

Once school starts I'll try to update about this past summer.

For now we are off to the pool. : )

Two more weeks of summer!

Wrestling

Finally Matt has a wrestling buddy.

(notice the "fake screaming")

Adam adores his dad. When Matt gets home from school Adam "runs" over and gives him a big hug. It totally makes Matts day.

Here is another one with some sweet baby giggles...

which i've decided is my favorite sound in the world.

Accessories

Yesterday I left the kids at home and went to the mall. As I was walking into the store a man near the entrance caught my eye and smiled at me. I smiled back and blushed a little. --not because I'm interested, but because it is nice to be noticed by a handsome guy. So I'm walking through the mall thinking "Yup, I've still got it." When I look down and realize I've still got the baby's pacifier clipped to my shirt..

Caught in the act.

He isn't very subtle about it, is he?

Our boy LOVES his dogs and always makes sure they get their fair share.

We say he got that from grandpa. :)

Weebles Wobble

Not quite 11 months old.

And another one...

As you can see HE thinks he is old enough to be walking... The little monster. : ) At this rate he will be driving next week.

"Dear God..."

Isabelle's prayer:

"Dear Heavenly Father. I'm thankful for this day. Thankful for the food. Please bless the food.

Please bless my sister will get better so that we don't have to take care of her ALL day, because we really have other things to do.

Amen."

I hope he doesn't eat like this on his first date!

A Jar of Baby food, Three plates of Spagetti, Two Slices of bread...

I think he is finally full...

There is only one way to clean up a mess like that!

I admit i had a little help! :)

Spring Break- Journal

We had an AWESOME spring break last week. We did so many fun things. My only regret is that i didn't get enough pictures! So Sorry if this is boring to anyone. This is more of a journal entry than anything. : )

SATURDAY:

The girls ran a race with the Nash Dash. Savannah got a time of 36 minutes on the 5k, Isabelle got about 23 minutes for the 1.5 mile race! They are both Awesome runners and have so much fun. Then the county hosted an Easter egg hunt, and both girls had a great time. Savannah was super excited to get the "Golden Egg" Which she traded in for a giant chocolate bunny. We made it home just in time to watch Conference. (Sometimes I like that it doesn't start until noon on the East coast!)

SUNDAY:

was Easter Sunday AND Conference. It doesn't get much better than that. The kids had WAY too much candy(--Just the way it should be) and conference was uplifting and wonderful.(--Just the way it should be.)

MONDAY:

Matt spent the day (and the next, and the next) working on his car which is almost finished. The girls played in the sprinkler and on the slip and slide. We all started working on our summer tans and really enjoyed the 80 degree weather. (sorry about the snow- Utah people! : )

TUESDAY:

We had a play date with our friends the Millers. The kids played in the water some more and took turns on the Wii. The whole family came over for dinner.

Matt, Isabelle, and Adam Play Guitar Hero together.

(Adam gets really into the music. He loves to rock!)

WEDNESDAY:

Was cooler and we were all sunburned so we stayed inside and read "Harry Potter" and "Trixie Beldon"

Isabelle Chillin' with her brother.

THURSDAY: We took the Kayaks out on the reservoir. This was the first time we took Adam out on the boat. He was way too busy to sit still for that long and absolutely HATED the life Jacket. But he was SSSOOOOOO Cute. (This was the main time i missed my camera. imagine my little blond boy completely unable to move because of his life jacket which smashed his cheeks up and made his arms stick out, with a little green sun hat perched on his head.) We had fun. We tied the boats together and Matt dropped his anchor and we all took turns swimming and cooling off in the water. We LOVE our kayaks.

FRIDAY: I seriously can't remember what we did. i guess it wasn't that memorable. I'm sure i took a nap. : )

SATURDAY:

We went to the zoo with our friends the Millers. This time i did actually take my camera, so here are some pictures and narration.

Kendra miller, Savannah, Isabelle, and Kaelynn miller. looking at the fish. (we weren't even in the zoo yet!)

Isabelle

Savannah (Birds in the background)

These were the most beautiful frogs I've ever seen. The colors were so vibrant. The picture definitely doesn't do them justice. They looked like those polished colorful rocks you get at a gift shop. Maybe it is just the Hopper in me, but i LOVE frogs.

Isabelle posing on a giant bumblebee. The bee exhibit was really fun and included a live hive in a glass case, so you could see them actually working. Super neat.

We decided to do the backpack instead of the stroller for Adam. We didn't get any complaints from him! Sleeping.

Savannah Playing in the "Kidzone"

The zoo is full of these bronze statues of the animals. The kids wanted to pose on everyone. By the end of the day the dads refused to allow anyone near them!

Handsome and Buff as Daddy

Today as Matt was getting Adam ready for church Matt told him "You are as handsome, as buff as daddy!" Isabelle who was also helping said. "Who is Buffa's Daddy?"

Adam at 9 months old with his "New" Walker... (a hand-me-down from our neighbor.) This is the first day I put it in front of him. He is so determined to grow up fast. Yikes! I'll post another cute video as soon as we resolve a few computer issues we've been having.

Sunny Days

Today we took advantage of the glorious sunshine to take some photos