A Grateful Heart

It's Christmas night. The last two days have been hectic, but among the best I can remember. I have been blessed with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the blessings in my life.

Yesterday was fairly quiet, with the weather as it was, there was no going outside or getting out of the house, so we stayed in, made eggnog, and other preparations for Christmas dinner. The kids sat at the kitchen table and made these cute little Christmas crafts from kits I'd picked up a couple of weeks ago. We watched a movie. They got along. I kept finding myself just watching them and feeling grateful.

Even Tony got in on the action and made an ornament. He played with the kids. We had an impromptu birthday party for Kathleen's friend Marina who turned 18 yesterday. She's another one of our "adopted" kids. We love her.

This morning, of course, we woke to the pitter patter of little feet....pounding up and down the stairs as they ran back and forth reporting to each other that it wasn't time to get up yet, and no, dad was not giving in and getting up. We made hot chocolate and had family prayer before opening presents, and once again I was overcome with gratitude for my life.

The blessing of Christmas, the chance to focus on the birth of the Savior and our gratitude for his life and example for us, even when everything isn't done perfectly, is something I am so grateful for. I find myself wanting to somehow capture this feeling so that I can pull it back out for future use when the stress of "daily life" begins to take over again, and I start to forget....

Run for your Life!

The boys got to participate in the "fun run" at the cross country meet that our school hosted. It had rained that morning, so the course got VERY muddy.
That didn't stop anyone. Joshua even lost his shoes in one particularly nasty mud hole. My eternal thanks to Kellee for going back and getting them for me!

This is Kellee, running with Josh, and carrying his shoes.

Our good friend Caleb, who also runs, was running with Joseph.

Kathleen and her team preparing to run in the district meet.
They did really well.

Kathleen's passion is running. She loves to run cross country and had another great season this year, except for a couple weeks off for hip problems. Now they are gearing up for track season. Keep running, Kathleen!

More Updates

This is Sam's favorite chair. It's a bean bag chair that she sits in to watch Mickey Mouse and drink her milk every morning. It's her routine, and it's so funny!

On this day, she decided to play with the antenna headband that goes with her Halloween costume. She kept it on for quite a while.

This was superhero day at school.

Kathleen playing with her camera.

Makala playing with her camera. This is her friend, Katie.
They were on a bus to somewhere.

This is Makala with Samantha and Colton. Samantha and Colton have been betrothed since birth. It's all been worked out already.
We've decided it's much easier that way.

Long Time, No Write

Okay, so I finally got around to moving the pictures from my phone onto the computer. So here they are, in no particular order. Above, Sam, in her favorite bean bag chair watching her favorite show (Mickey Mouse) with her favorite blanket.

Joseph and Joshua with a bomb robot at our new fire station's open house.

Sam eating her snack in a laundry basket. Couldn't keep her contained any other way!

Sam discovered the plastic cabinet.

Makala and two of her friends at a band concert last year.

Sam discovered riding in a wagon.

Sam discovered Sadie's crate. (Sam is into discovering things.)

This has been a big year so far for Makala. First, she auditioned and made the all-district musical, "Seussical, Jr.," then she auditioned and made the All-Region Honor Choir, then she auditioned and made the All-District Honor Band. So last week we had:play performance Thursday and Friday night, Choir concert Saturday night, play performance Sunday afternoon, and Band concert Mon. night. She took Tuesday off of school for a much-needed mental health and sleep day! Above is Makala and her friend Katie after the band concert.

These are all the kids from her school that made the Honor Band.

The Band concert with their guest clinician. They spent all day at a nearby high school rehearsing for the concert that night.

Makala at her school's choir concert where she was recognized with all those who made the Honor choir.

Samantha was an adorable little ladybug for Halloween and Makala was an adorable spider witch. (sorry Makala, I know adorable isn't what you were going for, but you were.)

So sweet!

This is from when Makala and the band played at the High School football game.

The boys got to sit in a helicopter at the fire station open house.
More updates to come.......

Wild, WILD West

The boys got to spend 4 days, (not nights, dang it) at Cub Scout Camp in June. I went with them the first day. Their very first activity was a shootout at the OK Corral. Here is their whole group for the week. Some of the boys are in our pack and some were from another pack. They were all the same age, though.
They're getting their instructions. Don't they look excited?

Soaking wet and ready for anything.

Decorating flags for the walking stick.

Hitting the water slide.

(Joe in the hat)
Making their Indian-excuse me-Native American vests, with some help from Dorian Cook. He's a red shirt, helping out.

(Josh)

The boys had a great week, with archery, BB shooting, making rubber band shooters, (wonder who came up with that one?), and lots more fun stuff. This was their last year to go as cubs. Next year, they will go as red shirts and help out like Dorian.
My how they've grown!!

Sorry, Mom!

Sam and Jackson

Enough of this crawling stuff, my knees hurt.

Okay, Mom, before you say it, Yes, these pictures are all of Samantha. I took them pretty much all at the same time and the other kids were all long gone. (You can catch a couple of them in the background if you look carefully for camo swim trunks.) They never came back...really...except to forage for food. And once I put the camera away, that's all she wrote. Not enough memory cells left to remember to pull it out again.

But I still had to post this because this was the day she really decided to start walking. Because the deck surface was rough, so she figured out pretty quick that it didn't hurt her feet as much as her knees. After that day at the pool, she was off and running...Literally.

My friend Jami and I took my kids, her kids, my cousin's kids and a couple of another friend's kids to this awesome water park in Valley Ranch. Yes, Jami and I and TWELVE kids. And you were wondering why my brain cells were diminishing. I have to say though, the kids were FABULOUS. Not a single problem, no one drowned, we took lots of food, and they ate it...all of it.

It was a great day.