'Tis the Season

Ben playing with some playmates.

Mindy and Mackensey performed many times in December with the Gess Elementary choir.

Maddy played the flute in her High School Band concert.

This is what Marianne felt about Maddy's band performance that started 30 minutes after her regualr bedtime. I didn't mind holding my sleeping baby who turns three in less than 2 months!

This is what Mindy thought about Maddy's band concert that was also combined with Jazz band and choir and ended up being over an hour long!

I couldn't resist the backdrop and Marianne posed for a cute Christmas picture. This was taken at the Long Term Care center as we waited for Mindy and Mackensey's choir performance.

Kayla poses with the snowman.

Singing Christmas carols on the horse (mule) drawn carriage ride. Luckily they just go around the block. That is always one of the coldest nights of the year! (waiting in line for 30-40 minutes before the ride doesn't help). Luckily there is hot chocolate and cookies waiting for you inside when you are done.

Marianne holds a staight face while sitting on Santa's lap. At least she didn't cry this time!

We started a new tradition this year. Since Maddy got a job as ski instructor, she worked every day of Christmas break (except Sunday) and was gone from 8am-4:30pm. We opened under-the-tree presents on Christmas eve after Maddy came home from work, and opened stockings on Christmas morning before she left for work. It worked out well.

Marianne tries on the mask that Makayla made for her while Makayla looks on. Makayla used her creativity and make homemade gifts for everyone.

Marianne likes her new outfit!

Christmas stockings times eight.

This year we decided that the kids would enjoy one big present rather than each getting a little present. We found a wii on craigslist that had a few games. They have been having fun playing with it this week.

This year is the first year that we have enough skis for everyone to go skiing together. We've gone up twice and this year Benjamin is learning how to ski.

The best news of this December is that Barry and I celebrated out 15th wedding anniversary on Dec 27th! We had a special day and went to the spokane temple, then drove to the cour d'alane hotel on the lake and walked around the boardwalk and looked at the over 1 million christmas lights. The boardwalk was icy and the lake looked cold. I'm just glad we didn't slip into the water. It would be a fun place to take the kids, but I wouldn't trust them to stay dry! After we went to the restuarant and ordered ice-cream. We had a similar date to this one when Mindy was a baby. I guess we could make this a tradition - once every ten years! Boy the time has just flown by! I think it is quite an accomplishment to be married for 15 years. I am grateful for Barry who is my best friend forever! I look forward to what the next 15 years will bring!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you!

7 Brides for 7 Brothers

This week Maddy performed in their high school play, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". She did really well as one of the townsgirls, and had a blast doing it. It was a cute play, and Maddy was so excited to do it because that is one of her all-time favorite movies!

Maddy and Jared posing in front of the "Oregon Mountains" backdrop.

Maddy and friends after the play. She put in many hours, especially this weekend with late rehersals and finally the play. It was quite a sacrifice for all of us. Maddy will have so much more time on her hands now that the play is over.

We did have our first snowfall of almost six inches this week. It was perfect sledding snow and the kids tested out our sledding hill that we especially removed rocks off of it a week ago. Mackensey found a small rock that we missed, and Ben got a small black eye from falling off the sled (Ben has a black eye about half the time these days.) Sorry, no pictures of the snow. We'll get plenty more chances this year to take pictures in the snow I'm sure...

I am so grateful for my husband, children and family. I'm grateful for our health and for the gospel. I'm looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with family. Have a great week!

"Mom, I love you!"

Maddy's first dance - Jenkins High School Homecoming Dance

Maddy's group of good friends. They have gotten together for parties at each other's houses. We hosted one at our house where everyone made pizza's, explored outside, and hang out inside. They are a good group of friends. There was no swearing and everyone was courteous and respectful of us and each other. Unfortunately Maddy is the only member of the church in the group.

The girls got together before the dance to do hair and make-up. 

Carving our pumpkins.

Cute kids, cute pumpkins.

Halloween: Zorro, cinderella, lollypop girl, cowgirl, construction worker. Mackensey is wearing a "Roy Rogers" shirt that Grandpa Thomason had as a kid. When I told her that, she said, "Who's Roy Rogers?" I told her he was like a superhero/Superman from the olden days.

I chaparoned a field trip to the Spokane Symphony with Mindy and Mackensey.

Mindy and Mackensey with a good friend from church.

I taught Makayla's primary class this year until I was released a few weeks ago. Now I am the counsellor in the Primary presidency over cub scouts. I went to a pack meeting last week and it reminded me of the pack meetings I attended with my brothers many years ago. Nothing has changed. We did the "round of applause" and the watermelon cheer (which is actually kinda gross when you think about it). I am glad to be learning the ins and outs of scouting before Ben gets there in 2 1/2 years.

Benjamin lost his first tooth!

Marianne has been a 2 1/2 year old tornado recently. She has gotten more spankings this past week than the first 2 1/2 years of her life (probably 3 spankings this week). The last time I spanked her and was too angry to show her an increase in love afterwards. To distract her from crying I took her downstairs to get her dressed. Halfway down the stairs she said, "Mom, I love you!" Well, I picked her up right then and gave her lovin's and kisses. She is a handful, but also a joy and a blessing.

Have a great veteren's day!

birthday, band, train ride

Maddy eats her birthday breakfast in bed. Even though her birthday was on  tuesday Sept 18, we did breakfast in bed on Monday because our school district starts school one hour late every monday for teacher collaboration, so Maddy didn't have to be to seminary until 8am. This gave us a little more time for a nice breakfast.

Continuing our pinata tradition for this year. It takes several days to make a pinata, and Maddy's birthday snuck up on me. Realizing that i didn't have time to make a pinata with a balloon and paper mache, i asked maddy if she would be okay with me putting the candy in a cardboard box as her pinata. she said, "I don't care. You can even throw the candy in the air." I opted for the box, it was a little more sportsman-like.

Maddy (top row) plays the flute in the pep band. This was her first football game.

We took an historic train ride for a homeschool field trip. Ben has been asking me for years "When can I ride on a train." The train ride was a little boring (the speed of the 100 year old train was about 20 mph), but at least Ben will stop asking me that question!

I was asked to take family pictures for the families of our ward for a RS craft project. I took this picture for practice. I like the way it turned out.

Have a great week!

Is Zucchini Chewy?

Because of some dental work that Ben had done, he couldn't eat anything chewy. At dinner we were having zucchini, which is not Ben's favorite, and he turned to me and asked, "Is Zucchini chewy?" I told him that Zucchini was not chewy and he could eat everything on his plate. :-)

In August we had a ward campout on a lake. The kids were really looking forward to it and we had a fun time. We got permission to go a day early, so we were able to spend two nights there, and since packing and unpacking takes up most of the time for an overnight campout, this gave us more time to swim in the lake and ride the canoes.

Marianne loves to blow bubbles and be in the water. What a fish!

Mackensey fishing on the lake. She didn't catch anything that day.

Barry and his dad took the kids fishing. Mindy caught a 12 inch trout and was quite proud. They all said that fishing was a highlight of their summer. The fish tasted good, too!

Mindy and Ben overlook the Spokane River at Riverfront Park.

Maddy is the one in the middle with black shorts and a tan swimsuit. She enjoyed spending time at the lake with friends.

Maddy auditioned for a part in the play, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". She finds out tomorrow what part she gets. She is hoping for a good part.

Benjamin learned how to swim this year! All of the kids did a great job in their swim lessons and all passed their levels!

Makayla loves spending time outside, especially with the water.

Ben started Kindergarten this year! He lost his first tooth, too! Where did my baby go?

Maddy with friends at a wedding.

Mindy poses with the sun umbrella.

Have  a great week!

It's all about ME!

I spent six days in San Diego, so this post is all about ME and what I did on my trip! :-)

I wen to Lego Land with my parents and my two brothers and their families that happened to be their during my visit. This is a life sized Darth Vader made out of Legos. My children recently watched several Star Wars movies, so I took this picture for them.

My mom and I went to a session at the San Diego temple. She took me on a private tour of the themple. We saw the Youth Center where she works once a month, and the sealing room where Barry and I were married 14 1/2 years ago.

These were some of my close friend during high school. This picture was taken at our senior prom. We reconnected a few years ago via facebook, and we were all lucky enough to make it to our 20 year high school reunion. Only one of the four still lives in San Diego. One lives in Arizona, and one lives in New Zealand.

We recreated out prom picture.

My dad is working on building a house, so I was able to help out a bit while there. This is me with my brother Larry working on a retaining wall.

Of course we had to go to the beach! I wen't boogie boarding for the first time in over 10 years. It was a lot of fun. We were careful of stingrays, there had been 3 stingray incidents that day alone! We also spotted the tail fin of a tiger shark about 10 feet away. (they are about 2 feet long). I didn't know what it was until my dad was talking with another beach goer about what we saw and she told us her opinion.

Barry was great at holding down the fort while I was gone. He fixed pizza and breadsticks for dinner, took kids to swimming lessons and dentist appointments. This picture is Mindy after he put her hair in rag curlers Sat night. Oh, he also pulled out the fridge and stove and cleaned out behind them and vacuumed the refrigerator coils!

Marianne watched Mindy get her hair done and wanted hers done as well. Barry said she sat patiently through it all, but by the time the camera was taken out Marianne was ready for bed and in no mood to have her picture taken. It was hard to leave my family for so long, but I had a wonderful time.

Have a great week!