Creeper Chocolate Bar Wrappers

For Trevor's Minecraft party, we made these wrappers to put on the Hershey bars (1.55 oz) in the party favor bags.

I couldn't find a template that fit, so I made one.

Conference Sunday

I guess someone else has given up on posting to the blog (really, she's pretty busy), so here's a little vignette of us. We took a walk around the neighborhood in between sessions of General Conference last Sunday. We stopped by a local grade school to snap this photo.

Biking

Since March Anthony has been working on his Biking Merit Badge with his scout troop.  They've had lots of check rides that have been gradually getting longer in preparation for the two day, 75 mile, tri-state ride.  Yesterday Emersynne and I dropped him off at the church parking lot with all his gear for the campout.  Once all the boys had loaded their gear in the support vehicle the boys and leaders rode out of the church parking lot and headed for their campsite in Sturbridge some 25 miles away.

Today the ride continued with the boys needing to complete 50 miles in one stretch in order to get their merit badge.  Anthony made it to mile 28 when his bike broke down and could not be repaired.  I felt so bad for him but he was a trooper and finished up the trip riding in the support vehicle.  He and Jeremiah will plan a trip so he can do his 50 miles and complete all the requirements for his merit badge.  Anthony was disappointed but still had a really good time.

Anthony all set for the first leg of the trip.

It was super hot yesterday but the boys were well prepared.

Graduation

Today was a big day for Anthony.  He is officially done with Elementary school and will be moving onto Junior High.  Anthony had a really good year with straight A's all year long.  He's a hard worker and is very excited for the adventures that wait for him at Burncoat Middle School.  Can't believe he will be in 7th grade but I couldn't be prouder!

He found us in the audience and could no longer keep a straight face!

Emersynne took this picture of us

Anthony and his good friend Liam

It's great to be eight!

Two days after his eighth birthday Trevor was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was a really big day and he was very excited.  He put quite a bit of time and effort into helping me plan the program, carefully selecting who he wanted to give talks, prayers, and music.  It was extra special to have Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Wally with our family and to participate in Trevor's baptism.  We forgot to get a picture of Trevor in his baptism clothes but got some good pictures of him and the family afterward.    We completed the day by having pizza movie dinner and root beer floats (Trevor's pick!)

 

Pirate Party

The birthday pirate!

I found some cute pirate food ideas online and after doing some prep work I left Michaela to create.  She did an awesome job!

Croissant crabs

Octopus Dip

The highlight of the party was the Treasure hunt.  Jeremiah put a lot of time into creating the treasure map and burying the treasure.

The boys loved that they each got to take turns digging up the buried treasure.

They then got to divide the spoils (chocolate coins)

 Trevor said it was the best day ever so I'm guessing it was a success.  It was wild and noisy with eight boys running around but lots of fun!

Our weekend away

With Jeremiah's parents coming into town for two weeks Jeremiah and I jumped at the chance to get away for a few days and the kids got to spend some one-on-one time with Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Wally.  We took off for the Berkshires Thursday morning and enjoyed visiting museums, hiking, shopping at outlet stores, eating out, and having endless hours to talk uninterrupted.  

We loved the Norman Rockwell museum.  Amazing artist and it was really neat to learn more about his life and accomplishments. 

Funny how this one reminded both of us of our boys!

The weather was great and we loved getting some hiking in.  Mt. Greylock was a very steep and challenging climb but so worth it!

We had fun driving around the area and seeing the sights and came across the Tanglewood which is the summer home of the Boston Pops.  The grounds were beautiful and full of huge twisted trees.

We visited the Hancock Shaker Museum one afternoon and saw lots of baby animals.

Our last hike was on Washington Mountain.  Beautiful day but very soggy trails to navigate.

We had a great four days away and were glad to be heading back to our children.  It was great to have their hugs again and hear about their adventures while we were away.

Music Play

I got some pretty sweet presents yesterday. Two pounds of chocolate (half is really an early present for Tamara), Spam bandaids, dozens of snickerdoodles, new gloves, pens, favorite candies, The Prince of Persia DVD, a Perry the Platypus shirt (insert platypus sound here), and two Rock Band™ games for Wii ™ + the Beatles™ Rock Band™ Wii™ controllers...™.

I think my favorite moments so far have been seen my kids play the faux drums. Emersynne is cute, and Trevor was a surprise. He actually nailed a pretty tricky song playing for the (ready, Angie?)... First. Time. Ever.

I wish I could be home today when the munchkins arrive from school and make the long faces when Mommy says that it's homework time, not Rock Band™ time.

(from Randall Munroe at xkcd)

 Not to worry though, folks, the kids will be getting plenty of brain-rotting video game action in the near future if I have anything to do with it.

Creative Play

Trevor almost missed the bus this morning because he was playing in his room instead of getting ready for school. After everyone left I went upstairs wondering what mess of toys I was going to find. I chuckled when I found this scene all set out.




I can't wait to hear the story behind this one!

My little young man

Earlier this month Anthony turned twelve. What a big milestone! He got to celebrate with some friends by going rock climbing AND have a family party on his birthday.



His request for his birthday dinner was homemade Chinese food so we made yummy pot stickers and fried rice and ended the meal with ice cream sundaes.

I think for Anthony the highlight of all the birthday celebrations was being ordained a Deacon and passing the Sacrament for the first time. I was sitting at the organ and looked up as he turned with the sacrament tray and he had a huge grin on his face.


Since turning twelve Anthony has started working on his biking merit badge with the young men, started euphonium lessons, selected his classes for middle school next year, and babysat for us when we went to stake conference meetings and cheesecake factory after wards with some friends. I'm proud of my little young man!

Actual Eye of the Dark Lord may vary

Tamara and I had such a blast at the Cheesecake Factory on Saturday. This makes three times that we have met with there some other couple or couples from our ward after the adult session of stake conference. We stayed too late, but had such a good time chatting with our friends. We even got to see Sam and Brie Scott that just recently moved out of our ward. I hope we do this in another six months.

A new smile!

Abigail lost her first tooth today. It has been wiggly for a long time and she has been waiting and waiting for it to fall out. It had a little help from mommy but is now safely tucked under her pillow waiting for the tooth fairy. So exciting. Another child entering the awkward teeth stage!

Black out bullying

The governor of the state of Massachusetts declared today "No Name Calling Day" to help students understand that bullying will not be tolerated. The schools asked the kids to wear black today to show that they are committed to "Black Out Bullying"

My kids all came home from school yesterday very excited and looked through their closets to make sure they had black clothes ready for the big day. As I was helping Abigail get dressed this morning I pulled out her black pants and black shirt. She was a little confused because to Abigail wearing black means you are a "bad guy". I reminded her that it was "Black Out Bullying Day" She got all excited and didn't ask any more questions so I assumed they had talked about it in her classroom. As she was finishing getting dressed she turned to me and asked, "Do we really get to go bowling?"

Now I was really confused. Where did she come up with the idea that we were going bowling? Then I realized that when we were talking about bullying she thought we were saying "bowling". Poor girl was so excited because she thought we were going bowling when all she gets is wearing black to school and looking like a bad guy. She was a good sport about the confusion and went happily to school in her black clothes. Guess we will have to plan a bowling trip soon so Abigail can go bowling for real!

Love language

Whose is this?

 Whose is this?

Do-bee-do-bee-do-ba-do-bee-do-bee-do-ba

I wonder if my kids would be impressed if they saw who was hiding behind some seldom used icons on the desktop of my work computer?

This is what Christmas means

Now I feel bad. I'll take a better picture and post it later, but what you don't see very well here is that Natalie, when I gave her some paper and some crayons, drew a picture of the Holy Birth and titled it "This is what Christmas means" and added the caption "Jesus Christ is born." That makes me feel good. I still have a long way to go to be the parent I want to be, but I must be doing something right.

Freedom Trail

After living in Massachusetts for ten years we figured it was time for us to experience the Freedom Trail. Since the kids had the day off Jeremiah decided to take it off and we planned for an all day outing. It was a beautiful day so we stopped at Boston Commons and played at the park.

I think the kids would have been completely happy to just spend the day at the park but we really wanted to see the sights.

Our first stop was the State House and we even got a tour of the inside. Very impressive!


The kids were fascinated with the cemetery. We found tombstones for several famous people. Natalie really wanted to make sure we found where Paul Revere was buried. She was well informed of his part in history and Natalie wanted to make sure we saw the church where the candles were lit (we got to go inside that church as well) and the house where Paul Revere lived.


Because of Trevor's accident yesterday we had a bandaid on his lip. It really made him look like he had a mustache so Jeremiah added the final touch of special effects. We had several complete strangers stop us on the streets of Boston to tell Trevor that they liked his mustache. Trevor thought it was so cool. He wasn't excited about wearing a bandaid but that all changed when the bandaid became a mustache.

We did a lot of walking but somehow the kids still had energy to run around at the Boston Children's Museum. It was a great day!

Another Year Older...

....and wiser too! Happy Birthday Michaela.

Yesterday was Michaela's birthday. Between early morning seminary, school, and the youth temple trip we decided to celebrate Michaela's birthday on Monday. Everyone was home from school since it was Columbus day so we had all day to party.

These two are so good at pushing each others buttons so I always look for any chance I can get to capture the tender moments.


For the last three years Michaela has decorated her own birthday cake. It is something she looks forward to and it has been fun to see her improving her decorating skills.

I found these flowers for Michaela and as soon as I saw these bright and colorful flowers it made me think of her. Michaela brings so much brightness and color to our house and my life is so much better because she is in it!

Yesterday Michaela got to spend lots of time with mommy and daddy. Jeremiah taught her seminary class in the morning and because of our good friend offering to sit with the other kids that night both Jeremiah and I were able to go to the temple with Michaela. Michaela thought it was a great way to end her birthday.