Joseph got this marble maze for Christmas so he and I built it, which was lots of fun.
We have a lady we know here who paints faces and offered to paint the kids so she could practice. This is Joseph's dragon.
We played lots of games that the kids got for Christmas. This one is Hoopla. It is a crack up:)
Jessie's goldfish face.
I don't know exactly what this is, but Janie thought it looked Princess-y so she chose it!
Janie modeling the Valentine's Day candy necklace she made for her teacher (in Feb. NOT Jan.)
The Jaceman sledding.
We thought we'd try a new do to match the Jack O Lantern Jammies.
I love those little teeth:)
Jace wasn't sad in this picture, I just took it at end of his very long "CHEESE!"
After a bunch on the couch I decided that a change of position might be better.
This is funny because I was all wiped out from being so energetic for our photo shoot (it is a lot of work to get all the kids to smile and look at the camera at the same time) that I decided we had enough pictures. The kids sat on the floor and Jessie said, "Mom, take a picture of me and Jace." Well, Janie jumped in and then Joseph and this ended up being just as good as any of them!
There were so many people trying to get pictures and talk to their kids that I had a hard time getting a picture of Joseph. I think it is so cute that he leaned to the side so I could get this one. I kept hollering at him, but he couldn't hear me. He finally looked up and saw me trying to take a picture and just posed so cute.
Janie was totally still just waiting for me to take as many pictures as I could. I think I could use a little red eye reduction...
The star and her biggest fan!!
So happy with their hard work. Way to go kiddos!!
Our lovely gingerbread house. You wonder why my 4 yr old has a black eye??? Even though she is known for being feisty it is NOT because she got into a fight at school. She fell off her bed when she was sleeping and hit her eye on the corner of her nightstand. Poor thing. A nice old man felt sorry for her while we were at the post office (what would I be doing at the post office in December???) and gave her a dollar to buy a special treat:)
This is a picture of the nice side of our house. The other side was a little MORE decorated.
We love you Daddy and miss you already. See you next year:) (meaning January of 2011)
Here is the littlest 'J' posing for a picture! He won out and got to keep that crazy binki in his mouth.
Some friends of our hosted a Murder Mystery Dinner that was tons of fun. Here we are in costume just before the whole thing started. What did I learn??? Well, other than who committed the crime, I learned that I REALLY need to brush up on my Swedish accent!
The latest craft of the fall holiday. This was easy, fun and it looks cute too! I LOVE,LOVE,LOVE fall!!!!
We've had freezing rain for the last two days so Fairbanks is a gigantic sheet of ice. What does that mean? It means NO SCHOOL and SNOWMEN!!! The snow is usually too dry and powdery to even make a snowball, but with all of the rain we have WET snow!!!! YAY for snowmen! On top of that, it has been warmer(hence the rain and not snow) so we could stay outside for hours and not get cold!!!!
Daddy and the kiddos posing with our snow creation. He is just a few inches taller than Jeremy, the biggest snowman either one of us has ever made:) It was so much fun too! Of course we had a few snowball fights during the building of this guy and lots of running around in the snow. Janie could barely run in it without falling down because it was up to her thighs. Such fun for the kids to play outside.
Halloween costumes this year were a little odd. Jessie was going to be a doctor and Joseph a Ninja. The day before they both changed their minds. Joseph wanted to be a cowboy and Jessie wanted to be a hiker? Who wants to be a hiker???? Anyway, makeshift costumes from what we had in the house already was this year's theme!
Since Halloween fell on a Sunday we decided to celebrate a little differently. We had a special Halloween dinner. We ate bugs in a blanket, Jack 0 Lanterns, bones, and gremlins for dessert, all with some slime to wash it down. The kids had fun wrapping up the bugs and cutting out the Jack O Lanterns too:)
The only picture from swimming lessons that really turned out was this one. This little guy really is a trooper. He sat in that stroller for two hours every day for two weeks straight. We HAD to find things that would entertain him!
The kids have also enjoyed jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler underneath for a quick cool down. We haven't really had that many HOT days, but yesterday was beautiful so we turned the water on and let them play.
Jace didn't love it as much as we though he would.
What he does love though is his little slide. He would play on that for hours and hours and have the time of his life. What a sweet little man.
After the trampoline I tried to see if Jace would like just the sprinkler, but he really didn't even want anything to do with it. Janie had a blast and didn't care how cold the water was at all!
It has been a fun summer. The kids participated in a reading program and just got their free books yesterday. We woke up this morning to a big moose trying to eat our radishes out of our garden. No picture though because Jeremy chased him away. SAVE THE RADISHES!!!! Too bad I didn't get a picture of him chasing the moose away. It was a pretty funny:) He came home just in time. I haven't had one moose in the garden the whole time he has been gone and now just hours after being home one shows up. Welcome home hon!
We went to a little parade they had in town with a bunch of friends from the ward. The kids got lots of candy and enjoyed waving their flags around.
We made some "Fourth of July Guys." My mom and sister came up with this little crafty fellow and so we decided to follow suit and join in on the fun. Joseph and Jessie LOVED making them. Joseph actually made his and Janie's while she napped. They turned out cute and the kids enjoyed waking up to them this morning.
Oh how I just want to kiss those sweet faces!!!! I love, love, love how Janie's fingers are touching Jace's arm and how his chubby little hand is resting on her lap. It just makes my heart melt!
We didn't do Easter outfits this year so we did patriotic instead! Wow! All four kids smiling and looking the same direction at the same time. What a wonderful day!! We came home from church and drank sprite with red ice stars (out of crystal goblets too:)!