Our Friday Night Tradition

Since Luke is getting more and more busy in his doctorate program we have to make time to be together and just relax. We have started making Friday nights our pizza and movie night. Sometimes we make the pizza together, and other times we just pop in a frozen pizza. We also like to pop popcorn and sometimes even make a special treat. We pull out the sleeping bags, and lots of pillows and just hunker in together. We have really enjoyed this time with the kids and a change of pace.

Micali was getting the living room all set up for our special night:

Through Micali’s eyes

I never know what I am going to find when I plug in the camera. Micali has learned how to very carefully use my camera. She is just figuring out how to look through the view finder to see what she is taking a picture of so sometimes her aim is a little off.

She did tell me to say cheese!

sweet feet

Adorable!

Where is her other leg? Oh her other foot is somehow behind her.

OUR NEW OVEN!!

A weekend getaway

We had the opportunity to go up to Provo for a few days. Luke had a conference for Gifted students at the Provo Marriott. The school provided him with a hotel room so we all went along to keep him company! Because the principal had requested a roll away bed they actually just decided to upgrade us to a suite instead of taking the extra effort to bring in an extra bed. It was NICE!! We enjoyed swimming, sleeping in---YES!!! this actually happened, watching cartoons, ordering in pizza. Hotel life is actually pretty nice because it is so easy just to relax and enjoy things. There aren’t any closets waiting to be organized, papers to be filed, or shelves to dust.

We were able to spend some time with Austin, Kendra, Derrick and Dustin. Dustin has in his papers to go on a mission so besides the weekend of fun we just had with him and a weekend in April when Kayla is married we won’t see him before he leaves. It was nice of him to make the effort to come down from Rexburg even though he had a lot of homework. We watched Kendra play basketball, played the Kinect, played arcade games at a Fun Center, very much enjoyed ourselves eating at a Japanese steakhouse for the first time, taught Dustin the definition of invigorating, went swimming and just had fun talking and laughing.

We also spent some time with Beth and Kevin and their kiddos. It is always fun to get the kids together to play. They love being together. We helped James celebrate his 15th birthday and enjoyed some ice cream cake.

Of course the reason I have to write in all the details is because I forgot to grab the camera out and didn’t hardly take any pictures.

Although we didn’t get any of our errands accomplished we did manage to squeeze in a little family time into Luke’s full schedule.

Going to the eye doctor, coupon shopping, returning things to stores, and seeing friends will have to wait. When is the next trip?

So, the pictures I have of the weekend:

Abigail getting a last minute bath before we left. She made a terrible mess with her lunch.

Micali being so completely scared to death on a frog hopper ride. She just stared at her daddy as he told her it would be okay. When she got off she buried herself in his shoulder and cried for a little bit.

Daddy made it all better by taking her on a less bouncy ride.

Abigail in our suitcase when we were unpacking at home.

Balloon Festival

When there is ANYTHING going on around here we try to take advantage of the opportunity. This weekend was the Bluff Balloon Festival. We went early last year to the lift off and planned on going again this year but the kids slept in so we decided to try the “glow in”. We had never been to one so we decided to see what it was like. The newspaper also listed it as the most anticipated event of the whole festival. We invited our neighbors to ride down with us and really had a good time visiting on the drive down.

Last year in the morning they lifted off at least 15 balloons so when they only lit up 5 balloons I was a little surprised but the kids thought it was pretty magical and it was short and sweet---very equal to their attention spans.

Eli’s Birthday Fun

I talked to Eli the morning of his birthday to find out what he wanted for his birthday dinner. Since he loves anything with noodles or bread I figured I would be fine not going to the store. I told him that because it was his special day he got to pick anything he wanted to eat. He looked at me with a grin and said and signed Watermelon. Then he signed carrots and asked also for “CUTEcumbers.” I tried offering more suggestions and those were the only things that interested him. I did make macaroni and cheese to go with it but it was an AWFUL recipe that I will never make again. I should have just stuck with what he wanted.

When Daddy got home he helped Eli frost his cake. He was mostly excited for the candles. I had showed him some pictures of cakes online and had thought about doing a Hot Air Balloon cake because of our weekend adventure (that post to come) and then had thought about doing a Blue’s Clues cake which he is really into right now. But after letting him pick out candles at the store I realized he didn’t really care what his cake looked like as long as he got to help put candles in it.  He doesn’t really eat the boxed cake mix cake so I made him a carrot/apple cake with a yummy whipping cream frosting. He couldn’t keep his little finger out of it. He loved helping his daddy with the finishing touches.

 

I love this picture! He never ate his macaroni (he said he didn’t want me to make it anyway) but he loved the cucumbers and watermelon. The cake was actually a hit too which made me happy I put the extra effort in to making something special for him and not just a “cool” cake that I would be proud of. 

He has a signing time “Happy Birthday” DVD that he loves to watch. That is his idea of a party. They play pin the tale on the donkey on the show so he thought it would be fun to play games. This was he and Micali’s first time with a blind fold and they thought it was hilarious.

Pin the nose on Blue went over pretty good too. (I totally cheated and used the cake template to make the game instead of the cake---way less work!)

Apparently I didn’t get any pictures of his present opening. It is all on video. He got a word puzzle game, magnetic animals , and a sleeping bag for our summer camping adventures. Micali and him were already trying it out today and could both fit inside.

ELI-ELI-O

“Old MacDonald had a farm Eli-Eli-O!” This is Eli’s version I heard him singing today. Totally cracked me up. Our little man is THREE years old!

Happy Birthday Kiddo!

1-11-11 Abigail is 11 Months Old

 

Abigail turned 11 months old on a pretty cool date. I was excited when I realized that yesterday. It was also on my half-birthday which I always celebrated in Elementary school because of my summer birthday. Anyway our Abigail girl is growing up and learning new things. She LOVES playing with her brother and sister. Often times she will just crawl right back to their rooms and be playing right along with them. It is weird not having her right under my feet all the time. She is pulling up on everything but not cruising yet. She still only says “Dada” and even that is only when she really wants to. She gets so excited when he walks in the door and starts rocking back and forth. She will eat anything we put on her tray and will still occasionally eat actual baby food if we mix it the right way. She is eating cheese, yogurt, beans, bread, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, bananas and probably a lot more I am not thinking of. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone. I finally updated the side pictures and it has already been nearly a year ago when I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of this sweet thing.

Family Shots

These were taken by our timer on the camera right before church on the 2nd of January as we were headed out the door.

It was a nice try at least. Poor Abigail ended up being quite sick this day. We left church early because she was BURNING up. She had a 102.7 fever when we walked in the door. ---No bonus points for being a good observant mom this day. But maybe a few bonus points for attempting a family picture!

A visit from Grandpa

 

 

Grandpa came down to see us on Saturday afternoon. We were so lucky to have him here for a couple nights. The kids loved playing with their grandpa and cousin and staying up late watching Polar Express. We enjoyed some late night games of Rummikub and the Bean Game. We also had some great food—elk steaks on the grill and Sunday night we had homemade apple pie and ice cream. I was so excited to use my new oven and I have to admit the pie was pretty tasty too!

---We missed Grandma and can't wait for her to retire soon so she can join Grandpa on any visits they make. Eli and Micali kept asking Grandpa where Grandma was---they were slightly confused having one without the other.

First week of 2011 FUN!!!

Micali trying to do her pretend sleep pose but couldn’t quite stop smiling.

About 5 minutes later I took the picture again. This time completely zonked out.

Micali with her Daddy before he left for work the first day of the new year. She was so excited he chose to wear the shirt and tie she got him for Christmas.

 

    Trying to get a single picture of Abigail’s ONE tooth was kind of difficult. Her tongue kept getting in the way. She popped her first tooth through on New Year’s Day.

 “Preschool” fun. I am trying to be better this year about doing actual planned preschool lessons for them at least twice a week. Due to illness pulling out some paint and a stack of paper was as good as it got this week.

Eli with the help of Daddy put together this nice drum set. This was created as a substitute for the ice cream container he had turned into a drum just moments before.

Micali and her horse(Ginger for now, once named Denali) were really getting into it!