My little snuggly baby...

... has been too busy to snuggle lately!

This all happened within a couple hours...
I can't keep up with him! ;)

**And yes, that is the same bruise from 3 weeks ago... I think he permanently dented his head!

Playing with Little People

I was quite surprised last night when Twinkle Toes called me into the nursery to see the "Little People go to Mass!" I guess she decided they had done enough farming lately and that it was high time to convert the barns into a church, choir loft and all! She also pointed out that it was a "Latin Mass since the altar is on the back wall and there is a communion rail." I asked her who was saying Mass and she replied that one of the priests is her Uncle (__), that her other two uncles are the Deacon and Subeacon, and the other little person on the altar is the altar boy. I love how she used the "Three Wise Men" for her uncles, and the "Prince" for the altar boy.


She even found an "organ!" (Although I am not sure what the organist is doing with a cell phone during Mass???)

It reminded me of the Church the boys built out of Lincoln logs. Anyway, isn't it cute?!?

A New Bouncy Chair

Remember this home video of Snuggles?

I sat Snuggles on the recliner for a second so I could vacuum, and then had to grab my camera! He is so funny!

Memory Lane Tag

Memory Lane...the tag that gets everyone involved. This comes from my cousin Meg. Be a good sport and play along (and YES, that includes all you lurkers out there!). Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!


2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. (If you don't have a blog, or don't want to post, please comment anyways!)
   

Sisters

For there is no friend like a sister, in calm or stormy weather, to cheer one on the tedious way, to fetch one if one goes astray, to lift one if one totters down, to strengthen whilst one stands.

~ Christina G. Rossetti

On Sunday, I had a rare opportunity to spend the afternoon and evening with my mom and most of my sisters! (I am the oldest of 12, and I have 5 sisters and 6 brothers... My sister Jamie lives on the opposite coast, and was dearly missed!)

Mom, Me, Mary, Jennifer, Julianna and JoAnn

About 3 years ago, my sister Jennifer (who is only 14 months younger than I) moved away, and I have only been able to see her a couple times since. This past weekend she was up visiting. It was so nice to see her!

We all met up at Mucho Gusto for lunch. It was so yummy!

We then went to see a movie. It is so hard to find a decent movie anymore, and they weren't too interested in seeing Prince Caspian, so we watched "Get Smart."

Have you ever taken someones picture in a dark theater, while you are waiting for the movie to start? The flash is BRIGHT!!! It caught Julianna (and Mary) by surprise!



After the movie Jennifer showed us a house that she is considering buying since she is hoping to move back!

Then we all headed over to my brother Brian's house to say "Hi!"

I got there first and snapped a couple photos (surprise!):

He was like, "What are you, the paparazzi?!" No... Just your favorite big sister! ;)

We had such fun visiting, and then mom took another couple pictures of us girls...

I sure am starting to look older... Especially when I am in between my 16 year old twin sisters! I can't believe that I am practically TWICE their age! No wonder I look wrinkly! At least Jen can still say she is in her 20's!

Nevertheless, I had a great time, despite my age! ;)


Before we left, we had to get a picture with Brian as well:

Yes, I am the only normal self-conscious one! Oh, and you should see all the pictures I am choosing not to show you... I promised to be nice!

Here's a better shot:

Numbers 10, 1, 7, 6, 2 and 9 of 12 children!

After mom took this last picture I said to her, "Can you believe this is just half of your children?!"

Big families are AWESOME!!!!!

Thank you mom and dad for being open to life and giving us each other. Now, if we could just get together more often!

Making Music

Even though we haven't been putting enough focus on music... Classical music to be exact... It doesn't mean that my children don't love music!! In fact, who needs instruments when you have: 3 stick horses, 1 stuffed football, 2 rolling pins and your big brothers belt.

Here they are:

(To turn music on, click audio button which is next to the play button.)

And since they insisted:

(I'm still having trouble uploading videos... I can't figure it out!! Sorry for the low quality! I also couldn't figure out how to prevent them from playing automatically... :S)

April Shower of Photos :: Day 13

"I want to know who ATE the butter?!?"

In case you were wondering...

...just what my children were doing last week while I crazily spring cleaned our home for Easter, they did get a little school work done, as well as watch some educational and religious videos since cartoon/movies were off limits for Lent.

The rest of the time, they spent many hours outside staying out of my way and burning off energy enjoying the beginning of Spring!

At one point, while the girls were napping, I thought it was just way too quite out there, so I looked out to see what they were up to. This is what I found:

When hubby got home that night, they asked him, "Daddy, can you get out your chainsaw and cut some more branches for us... We can't find any more!"

And here I was wondering just HOW I picked up Poison Oak!

Ring around the rosy

A pocketful of posies

"Ashes, Ashes"



We all fall down!

Team Work

***Note to Self

The next time hubby and I go out, make sure to ask the babysitter to put a pull-up on our 2 year old before putting her in bed for the night. ;)

SNOW DAY!

He likes to move it too...

Snuggles LOVES his bouncy chair... I just had to share a little video clip of him in it. He is going to have the STRONGEST legs, isn't he? He is a very "physically fit" baby! (This actually might explain his drop in weight on the growth chart... you think?)

Anyhow, his bouncing reminds us of that song as well... In the clip, I just played the beginning of the song, and left out all the junk. Sorry for all the silence the second half of the video.

Along the same lines, I was at Barnes & Noble last week, just me and the baby... He was asleep when we got there, so I just carried in his whole infant car seat. I sat it down as I was browsing through the Christmas Clearance items. A few minutes later I noticed a girl staring at the seat, as it seemed to be rocking itself! Snuggles was inside, pumping his legs and making it rock! I've never seen a baby move a chair like he can... It's too funny!

A Rodeo Allegory

In my post titled Our Christmas, I mentioned that my camera was getting filled with pictures of various rodeo scenes.

Captain received a Rodeo Set for Christmas, and all the boys, especially including daddy have been totally enjoying it... In fact, it turns out that they wrote a story about the guys that came with the set!

If you have a few minutes, hop on over to hubby's blog and read his post Fun with Christmas Toys!

Oh! Don't miss the picture of the cool little chapel he has in the captains quarters of his model ship!

Fire on the Stroller

Hubby received the book Fire on the Mountain for Christmas and has been reading it. Last night, he also watched a documentary, which was also about the South Canyon Fire, with the boys. Anyways, I moved the stroller from the car into the house before we went to town this morning, and here is how I just found it:

FIRE on the STROLLER

The red is the actual "fire"... Check out all the guys! They are even on the tire!

Where I've been...

Here are the States that I have been to, or through...

Create your own visited States map

Looks like I still have quite a bit of the US to see! But, I have traveled quite a bit of the US when you compare it to ALL the countries I've been to! They add up to a whole 2% of the world!

This was really fun to see! Now if I could just see a few more countries... Italy and Ireland are at the top of my list!

Where have you been?

HT: Doodle Acres

More Snow...

...and it's still snowing, with even MORE on the way!!

A Grinch Lapbook and Reindeer Craft

I have such lovely memories of my dad reading to me and my siblings when we were little. He was, and still is, so great at changing his voice to reflect the different characters of each story, and always had us children totally captivated. As a child, a few of my favorite books (and this could just be because they were my dads favorites) were One Morning in Maine, The Blueberry Pie Elf, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Even now, my dad pulls out these old, well loved, books to read to his grandkids.

Right after Thanksgiving, Homeschool eStore was offering a whole bunch of free downloads. I downloaded a few of them including "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" which included everything needed for the boys to make a two-folder lapbook based on our favorite Dr. Suess book.

We started by reading the book and watching the cartoon!

Then, I helped the boys assemble the foundation of their lapbooks using red file folders. After that, the boys made quite a few mini books to place inside the lapbooks. Their lapbooks are now packed with information, including: a vocabulary list, a list of their favorite Christmas songs, various facts about the book, a grinchy-quiz, a mini-biography about Dr. Suess, their definition of "grinch", a comparison of the book and cartoon, a letter to the grinch on why he shouldn't hate Christmas, a bit of copywork from the book, and much MUCH more!


While the boys were working away on their lapbooks, the girls had fun making reindeer and serenading Snuggles with Christmas Carols! It was so cute! (Snuggles was tucked into his cradle swing and they were standing in front of him holding a couple science books their song books singing Silent Night, and other Christmas songs, as he watched them smiling!)

These reindeer are so easy to make! The head is made from a tracing of the child's foot, and the antlers are their hands! Then you just add a nose, smile and eyes and its done!

Cocoa, Cookies, Crafts & Christmas Stories

After seeing Dawn's post about their Winter Holiday Storytime I just had to organize one for my own kids and a few of their friends.

I was able to reserve the local library's community meeting room and sent out invitations. It turned out quite well, and I think it would be fun to coordinate this on a seasonal basis.

I brought the cocoa and (my totally creative friend) Trina brought the crafts. Each family bought cookies to share and all the children brought their favorite Christmas story! We ended up having 27 kids from 5 families, including these friends. It was such fun!

The kids made ornaments and bookmarks, had cookies and cocoa, and listened to quite a few stories including: The Miracle of St. Nicholas, Christmas Magic, Hanna's Christmas, B is for Bethlehem, The Night before Christmas, Christmas in the Big Woods and Silent Night.

The kids even sang Silent Night together. It was so very sweet, I'm sure heaven was smiling!