Can you spell snowman?

Jonas and I spend a lot of time together while the other kids are at school. Sometimes it's hard to entertain him, but when we woke up one morning this week to a little bit of snow he really wanted to build a snowman. He asked me all day and it kept getting later and later in the day. I finally realized that if we didn't do it now all the snow would melt and he wouldn't get to build his snowman and it was really important to him. So after I got my priorities straight we went out and built his snowman which he named "Snowman Mountain". (Mom, thanks for the snowman 'kit'.)





Several days later he had just as much fun kicking down Snowman Mountain as he did building him. I'm thankful that I'm able to stay home with my children and build snowmen before the snow melts.

Quinn came home from school last Monday very excited because she won the spelling bee in her class! She went on to the first grade spelling bee and came in third - out of the whole first grade! I'm thankful to have kids I can be proud of.

Also under 'events of the previous week', Jonas burned his little hand on the dryer. He's a funny boy and likes to put his clothes in the dryer in the morning before putting them on - you know how warm and cozy they are when they come out, especially on a cold morning. His curiosity kicked in and he thought he'd touch the fan in the back - the very hot fan. It was painful and blistered, but thanks to the medical world by that night he was pain-free. I guess I'm feeling thankful today - what are you thankful for?

National Bacon Day

Sam designated yesterday as National Bacon Day. He produced a video spot of the "Bacon National Anthem" to commemorate....enjoy.



We hope you all enjoyed National Bacon Day.

Sam really enjoys making stop motion animation. And he is quite good at it. For Christmas he received a laptop and purchased an HD webcam to capture the shots. He has his room set up as a studio ("monkeydudestudios"). He has special lighting, a green screen, and some specialized software. He spends a lot of his time building his own sets. He even recently asked if Jonas could move into Quinn's room so that he could expand his work area.

Here is another of his productions....an action scene.




Here is a link to his youtube page where he posts most of his videos:

www.youtube.com/user/monkeydudestudios

On using my talents

For a couple of years now I've struggled to find age-appropriate and modest church clothes for the girls, especially Mattie and Lauren. I finally decided to take matters into my own hands and make skirts for them. I took them all to the fabric store and let them choose their own material and this is what we came up with. Can you guess who's who?


I love that Mattie and Lauren will still do silly things because their mother asks them to - like twirling around for a picture.


I think they turned out really cute - the girls and the skirts! (Unfortunately our camera isn't working so well lately so we have this smudgy look to all of our pictures.)

Notes from Quinn

Quinn made each of us a card this year for Christmas complete with her sentiments towards each of us. Here they are:

Mattie and Lauren can't find their letters, but they both said similar things. "I love you. I hope you were good this year because if you weren't Santa won't come. I hope your Christmas is jolly."

"Dear Daddy, I want you to have a jolly Christmas. I want more than one gift."

"Mom, I really, really love you. I just hope you have a jolly Christmas. You are the mom I want to have.....I want more than one gift."

"Jonas, Sometimes you make me mad. I still love you."

And my personal favorite:

"Sam, You are mean to me, but you are in my family and when you are in my family I have to love you."

December to Remember

Hi all....Chris here this time. Julie put me in charge of updating our blog tonight. I think she is a little worn out from the holidays...and she really wanted to finish a sewing project she's had on hold since the December whirlwind started. She is upstairs working on it now.

At first I was reluctant to do a Christmas update blog....not that I'm grinch or anything but its the new year now and I'm ready to move on. Julie convinced me that we (I) needed to do an update to document our Christmas season. I didn't have much else going on tonight so I relented and started looking through the pics from the month. As I did, I started to realize the great month we had. It was busy for sure....but busy with fun activities, family, and Christmas spirit. So I'm glad I got this assignment....it made me remember how blessed we are.

Ok, roll the tape....

The month started with a Christmas dance recital by Mattie, Lauren and Quinn. They did great.

Grandpa Steve even came. Its been a while since he last came to a dance recital....judging by the picture below he must have enjoyed it...how could he not with these three?

The week before Christmas, my sister Brooke surprised us with a visit. Our kids were estactic to see their cousins and had a lot of fun throughout the week. It included a trip to HooDoo for some snow and sledding.

Christmas morning finally came. After a few obligatory pictures we tore into the gifts. Santa seemed to do a pretty good job this year.

We love the blanket Annee....it is wonderful. Soft and cozy and very coveted in our house.

So there you have it. Christmas 2009 documented. I'm going to bed.