The first snow fall of the winter!!

It finally happened!! On December 4th- it snowed! Usually by now we have had some snow off and on since October. Not that I am complaining about the beautiful fall that we had but now that it is December it finally looks like Christmas around here! It is the first year since we have been in this house that the pond has not been completely froze over on Thanksgiving. It finally has a thin layer of ice on it now. (The long warm spell did not make for good hunting as Ted didn't see any elk on his hunt this year. Too bad they can't go again later in the year if they are unsuccessful on their first attempt.) The boys have had fun playing in the snow. I forget how fun it is just to be out in the snow tromping around building snowmen and having snowball fights. They wish they could be like elf and pelt them like a machine gun!!!

Temple Lights!

After the birthday party on Friday, we drove up on Saturday to see the lights at Temple Square! I am still like a kid when it comes to Christmas lights, especially at the temple. Jarom came with us and of course I used him to take photos!! Hello!?

Grandma's 90th

For Thanksgiving this year, we went to see Grandma Ellsworth for her 90th birthday. It was wonderful! It was so great to see everyone. Some of my cousins I had not seen in quite a few years. We met at the church because where else can you feed and entertain a family the size of a ward!! The kids ran around and played like they had known each other forever. Friday, after Thanksgiving, we had the birthday party. My cousin had us each make a birthday card or letter or photo page on 8 x 11 paper and then she compiled it into a big book for her. It really turned out neat and she loved it. Another gift was a digital photo frame in which we all sent photos to my uncle to down load onto the frame. Her first comment was "how do I turn this thing on?" Danielle and Kelly put together a beautiful video of her life with pictures and video clips and we were able to watch that. Everything was very well done.

Helping

This is Emma helping me fold laundry. She puts on everything that is hers. She has on about 5 pairs of "winder pannies," her tights on backwards, and her pj top on inside out. This is mild by the way!

Think Ted's proud?

"Daddy's little deer". This dress was a baby shower gift from my awesome friend Peggy.

The Nutcracker

The first grades put on a rendition of the Nutcracker this year. Ted and I were a little skeptical because Ti's kindergarten class put one on 2 years ago that included the entire k-2 grade. It was terrible!!! We since have a new music teacher and they have cut it down to include only the 1st grade. We were pleasantly surprised at how cute it was and Tate loves to perform. He is not one bit shy or nervous. I will now be looking forward to two years when Joe gets to do it!

quotes from Ti and Joe

Ti-
Ti is the type to want to hurry through things to get them done. When it comes to school work, the result is some pretty sloppy handwriting. I often make him write things over or practice writing neater which he hates!!!! Anyway, the other day he was doing his homework and I was in the office when I could hear him muttering grunts of frustration. He finally storms into the office and yells, "OHHHH! My handwriting is so sloppy! That is why I am not having for my job being a poet!"

Joe-
I asked Joe to sweep up a mess that Emma had made on the floor (Tate had swept the kitchen floor earlier). I see him go to the broom closet and then a bang and an "ouch!" was heard. Joe then says, "Mom, Tate made a good trap. When I opened the door the broom fell on my head!"

Crash!

Snicky finally learned to ride a two wheeler and earned the nick name Crash!! After my CRASH trying to teach him how to ride a bike in September he was pretty scared to take those training wheels off for good. I had to put them back on or he wouldn't come with me when I went on the bike trail. The other day when he was riding the bike the training wheel broke! So. . . that meant he had to finally learn or no more riding for him. He was pretty worried. I tried to tell him that he had been riding a two wheeler for months because he hardly used the training wheels anyway. I finally convinced him to trust me (is that a point of mis-parenting? I had to talk him into trusting me??!) Anyway, I literally put him on the bike gave a gentle push and let go. He took off! He went all around the cull-de-sac and then up to the stop sign and back all the while with the hugest smile on his face. When Ted got home he was so excited he couldn't wait to show off! He decided it was time that he did all the tricks his brothers could do; standing up, one handed, going off the infamous lip of the driveway (it didn't claim him but it sure did me!) riding faster than is brothers could chase him, thus earning the name Crash. He took some major headers but nothing that was going to deter him. You should see him strut!

Hope it's a stage!

Lately, this is Emma eating her dinner. After one bite (or no bites) she thinks she has had enough to earn dessert or whatever sweet thing she can think of. (She couldn't possibly be my daughter could she?)

The Oregon Trail

Ti's class this year is studying the history of the US. Part of that is talking about the pioneers and their movements west along the Oregon Trail. They acted it out at school using the farm next door. There are two 2nd grade classes and each class was divided into families of 5 and 6. There was a mom and dad and children. In Ti's case, he opted to be the mule. He was supposed to be the 16 year old son- I don't know where it went awry. Anyway, he pulled the wagon and did his part as the mule. They then set out different posts, forts and hazards along the way much like the old computer game. I volunteered to help out and be a pioneer and man one of the stations. It was so fun and the kids LOVED it. The farm also took them on a horse drawn wagon ride. The wagon was over 100 years old. At the completion of their journey around the farm and the different stations, they ended in Oregon City with corn bread and apple cider.





I included the chickens because I was laughing so hard at all the mothers who were scared to death of them. They kept saying, "I have never been this close to a real one! Why would anyone want to eat that?" I also wanted to show that it was a real farm and they purposely let the chickens out to add to the feel of the farm. It is so neat to have them (the farm) next door and they are so willing to help the school out.

Ouch!

As most of you know, Ted is preparing to go hunting. That consists of hours of preparation and packing. Some of that preparation is sighting in your rifle. We have a man in our ward who is a licensed gun dealer and all around gun expert. He has property close to town on which you can shoot. Ted went up to his a place a couple of weeks ago to sight in the rifle. After firing a few, one of the rounds doesn't fire. He takes the gun into the man's house and together they are trying figure out what is going on. They see that the barrel is indeed dirty and needs cleaning. The man then shoves a rod down the barrel that has the wrong size end on it. It gets stuck that last 3 inches of the barrel. They then try to hammer it through. Now it's not going forward or back. So Ted wraps a pair of vice grips around the end and wraps the strap of the gun around his boot. He is then yanking on the rod with all his might. (If you know Ted, that's a LOT of might!) The rod breaks and the handle of the vice grip nails Ted square between the eyes! He had a one inch gash clear to the bone and spraying blood. Pretty nasty. This is the picture he took with his cell phone.


He didn't get stitches though, he just put a few butterfly bandages on it and rubbing alcohol!! Can you say OW!! He didn't want it to get infected because at the time the only towel available to clean up his head was the greasy towel they were using to clean the guns.

Ti is a WOLF!!

We had a Pack Meeting on Thursday (October 23rd) complete with pumpkin rolling and a new badge earner!!

Ti is now a Wolf and so proud. I also know why they give mother's pins. I earned a wolf also!!

Sleep positions

Usually people have unique ways they position their bodies when they sleep, but Emma has unique places she likes to sleep. I have been to check on her several nights in a row and usually find something different.

Yes, Emma is under these baskets. I think she was pretending to be a dog.


She is under Joe's bed. I now have Joe and Emma in the same room in a trundle bed. She is sleeping where her trundle slides under Joe's bed. I have found her here several times.

Joe & Emma

The other day I hear Joe and Emma playing together and they are in and out of my room. Then I hear Emma clomping down the hall and Joe walking like he is dragging through mud. They finally make it to the kitchen holding hands. I asked them what they are doing. Joe is wearing Ted's shoes and Emma is wearing my Sunday shoes. They said they got married (Emma pipes in they got married in the Temple.) and now they are going to Home Depot. Joe has his wallet and says he's the dad so they can buy anything they want. After Home Depot they were going to Mexico!

Primary Program

The Primary Program always comes and ends with a great big sigh of relief. I love doing it and the kids are always so cute but I am always so glad when it is done. This year our theme was I am a Child of God with the emphasis on the fact that Heavenly Father has a plan for us. Plan being the operative word. I had the bright idea of making a very simple frame of a house and poster board house that would tape onto the front of the frame and illustrate so nicely the plan. Oh boy. Luckily I had a very patient teacher who was one of the hard-hat clad narrators who babied my flimsy house all through the program. It never fell down once!! The kids of course did great. The week prior I had promised the kids a piece of candy if they had their parts memorized. We went through the program twice. The first time I gave candy to half of the kids, the second time around almost every child earned a piece of candy. The Saturday before the program- EVERY child earned a piece of candy!!! Who says bribing doesn't work!!

Halloween Night

We spent Halloween night with the Niko's eating yummy food and playing Take Two. We stayed until probably midnight and then finally made it to our own beds sick with sugar headaches. A fun way to spend the evening. The kids of course were wild. Many have asked what Ti was- a UFC fighter of course. Here are a couple of more pictures including the Niko kids.

Seth being Steve Erkle.

Happy Halloween!!!

We had our trunk-or-treat on Saturday night. My neighbor Shirley came and took pictures!! We had a blast and I had fun teasing- more like scaring!- all the kids who came to get candy from me. Emma kept looking at me amazed saying, "Mommy the witch, mommy the witch!!" I think I had a little too much fun shrieking and cackling at all the people. Some did not know who I was and they were almost afraid to ask me. I was cracking myself up!

Hearts for Horses

For our pumpkin patch this year we went to a ranch that does work with special needs children. They also give riding lessons, etc. They had a bunch of horse games like steer roping, toilet paper toss, and last but not least, Horse Apple golf!! That was my personal favorite. They had to golf horse poop into a cup buried in the dirt. Then they even got to ride horses!! They didn't have the pumpkin patch like I was hoping but they had a really good time.

Joe is a "one hander"

Joe and Emma eating rice krispie treats in front of the monkeys. I think it is where they belong most of the time.


I remember when I turned five how excited I was to show how old I was by putting my whole hand up with all fingers showing! Man, I was so BIG! Now it is Joe's turn. He is so excited to say that he is five and show his whole hand. He also couldn't wait to be the birthday boss. He would tell Emma, "Now you have to do whatever I say because I am the birthday boss. If I say you can't play with any of my toys then you can't!" But luckily there is something called mothers- they always trump the birthday boss!

He had a fun day. We met Jenny and Lars at the Zoo. It happened to be a free day that day and was totally packed. (I think I opt for paying next time just to avoid the fiasco of the parking alone!) Ti woke up sick that morning and I almost called it off. Thanks to some orange medicine called Motrin he was fine enough to be bullying the birthday boy so I thought he was fine enough to be in school. So I took Ti to school and we were off to the zoo. I had to park quite a ways from the zoo (so did Jenny!) and by the time I made it there we only had about 2 hours. Luckily we had Jenny, the expert zoo navigator, and we made it through the zoo and only missed a few exhibits. Mind you, some of those exhibits were viewed as we were racing by telling the kids to hurry and wave at whatever animal was a blur. Lars wasn't feeling too well (again thanks to Motrin- we're not worthy!!!) and to top it off he fell out of the wagon and ended up with a nice shiner! But Joe was so glad that he came to the zoo anyway. Lars gave Joe a sonic gift card. Lars could have given him a million dollars and it wouldn't have meant as much. Sonic is his favorite place to go. He couldn't wait to give the "lady" his card like he was a dad. We had fun having shakes the next day.





We ended the fun day with cake and ice cream with the Niko's. He went to bed all smiles and I guess that is what counts.

Potty trained!!!

Emma is officially potty trained. Ted took her on Friday to get her present. She has been talking about this for weeks now. She was so happy, so excited and so CUTE about it. She had to get all dressed up in her pretty dress to go pick out her new Barbie with wings.

Fall Cul-de-sac Party

My friend Shirley and I hosted our 2nd annual cull-de-sac party. We had everyone come except 1 family. It was great. Last year, Shirley and I made all the food but this year we had everyone bring something. We had the best food! Ribs, pizza, meatballs, shrimp scampi (Thanks, Aunt Liz) salads, fried chicken, etc. It started raining so we moved it into the garage. Most people went home but the kids were still playing and it turned into a hot chocolate night. I love our neighbors! I am convinced it is because we do not (are not allowed to) have fences. No barriers. Ummm. . . parallels anyone?

Angels watching over us!

My friend Helen and I were riding our bikes on the bike trail coming back from the park when we saw police officers questioning some people on the trail. They were filling out forms and answering questions. I didn't think much of it because there were cars parked up on the street by two police cars. Ted happened to be gone dove hunting in Mexico so I take the kids on the bikes down the trail to Sonic for ice cream. I forget how early and fast it gets dark so by the time we are heading back and we had only been gone about 45 minutes, Tate discovers he has a flat tire. We have to go super slow while he walks his bike all the way home. The first half mile of our journey back home is in almost total darkness. The kids are scared about wolves and bears and I am thinking animals are the least of our worries. I was praying the whole way and planning what to do once we get to the road. Finally we make it and we follow the road the rest of the way home. Tate is such a trooper and never complained once while having to push his bike home. The next day my friend calls me and gives me the news of the cops on the trail. A man had attacked a girl on her bike and luckily someone heard her screams and called the police!! I think we had some angels watching over us that night. So now I am scared to go back on the trail. I am getting mace and I should take a self-defense class.

Here is Joe and Emma on a swing that is on the bike trail.

What in the heck was that all about??!

Becky (my sister) gives me this grandiose idea about teaching Joe how to ride a two-wheeler. She says to take off the pedals and teach them how to coast. That way they learn their balance and only worry about one thing at a time. So I am feeling like it is time to get my daredevil-of-a- son-and-I-can't-believe-he's-not riding-one-yet-anyway kid on a two-wheeler. (Besides I am hoping that he will be faster.) So, of course, as all good teachers do -they teach by example. I position myself (on Joe's bike!) at the top of the driveway heading down to the street. (Side note: Between the driveway and the street is at least a 6 inch drop- I am still wondering WHY!!!) "Look Joe, like this!" My legs are out to the side and of course bent so as not to drag on the cement. As I begin to gain momentum I am thinking to myself that the bump off the driveway is really going to hurt my sitting down area (if you know what I mean!) so I start to brace myself for a little pain in that area. I am gritting my teeth and I am sure I was closing my eyes. But when I hit the bump the handlebars collapse inward and I go flying off the bike into the street landing on my right knee and side.
There were several thoughts that raced through my head as I am lying in the street in pain. 1) Who just witnessed that!!? 2) I don't have shoes on of course and Ted is going to laugh at me because he is ALWAYS telling me to wear shoes. (Grew up in AZ what can I say?) 3) How many times have I told my boys when they bite it to "Stand up and walk it off! Come on be tough!!" 4) Oooooooouuuuuuuuuuuccccccchhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Looking down the driveway to doom.


My poor knee that took the most abuse!


I have to tell you that my foot was a lot worse than it looks on the picture, plus you can't see all the bruising and swelling on my foot, my knee and the other leg!! I will be so much more sympathetic to the boys in the future- I promise!!

Twin Falls Temple Dedication

The weekend of August 23-24, we went to Twin Falls to attend the temple dedication. It was such a neat experience as Ti was able to go as well. They had a session for the Bishops and his family members. We had everyone there but Kate and her family. We really missed them. The session was so special. President Eyring conducted and President Monson spoke. President Eyring then gave the dedicatory prayer. It was a short trip after a very busy August but probably the most important thing that we did. We were even able to put mortar on the foundation stone. It is a very beautiful temple right in Ted's parents neighborhood. You can literally walk to the temple from their house and see the spire.



A tree full of monkeys!!

We had fun just playing and eating together. It is fun just to be together as a family. I love watching all the kids play together and Ted's parents backyard is so beautiful. It is relaxing just being there. We had family pictures taken and some of the cousins. I am posting one of the girl cousins all looking at Emma. It is so cute.


Jay with Tate and Joe.
Emma and her Elmo!