Happy 8th Birthday Lexi!

Happy Birthday to Lexi! She turned 8 on Friday and had a fun day. Yes, she had to do some school and even volunteered to help me clean the fridge. Luckily, we had some friends over in the afternoon or the day would have dragged on until her birthday dinner and presents. She wanted fried shrimp, mashed potatoes, apples, green beans, and grapes for dinner. She decided on chocolate cupcakes for desserts. I think it is so fun what each child comes up with for their birthday dinner. On Saturday, she had a party with 3 of her friends, and of course, her sisters. They decorated bags and visors, ate lunch and played. They are all such cute girls! We love Lexi and we are so glad she is part of our family. She is so sweet and calm and always gives of herself and thinks of the other person instead of herself.

Back to reality

I feel like I have been running all week trying to play catch-up. Returning home Saturday night and rushing to get ready for 9am church was just the beginning. We spent the week taking down all of Christmas and getting back into school. I thought I was pretty prepared but Monday morning came and I was out of printer ink and couldn't print off a lot of Lauren's sheets. I had to go first thing to pick some up and there was a constant need for something after that. Devon is doing so much better on his "R" sound and I think we are getting close to stopping speech. We will see what happens at our meeting this week. Devon went for his yearly check at the cardiologist this week. He still has his murmur but the doctor said not to worry. We will just keep going in once a year to check and have an occasional echo. Our teacher came Friday morning to check our assignments and that went well. She is a great help and support for me. That afternoon we had our co-op and read books about winter and painted snowflakes with glitter paint. The boys had their long anticipated air-soft gun war with friends and some neighborhood kids and they had a great time. The weather had been throwing me off this week. It is freezing in the morning and night (of course it is all relative to Minot, ND) and then we get up to the 50's and 60's during the day. Lance spent a lot of yesterday afternoon cleaning up the yard, watering, since we haven't had much rain, and fertilizing. Then, this morning there is a white layer of frost on everything. The girls put there bathing suits on and jumped on the tramp with the sprinklers. It was still a little nippy for my taste but they wanted to do it. I guess I be ready for the week ahead!

More Snow Pictures

More sledding, snowball fights, Christmas presents, and Christmas Eve nativity with the happy shepard and wise man in the back!

Let it Snow!

We had so much fun in Utah over Christmas. We had no problems driving and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley just as it began to lightly snow. We played in the snow, had snowball fights, went sledding, ate, visited with family, bowled and then at some more! It was a great way to spend our Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day at Grandma Lia's and Grandpa Bill's with aunts, uncles and cousins. Santa spoiled us! We had our Heninger party a few days later with the added excitement of having two returned missionary cousins joining us again! We didn't want to leave but the fun and the eating had to stop sometime. We arrived last night about 9pm without much problem except for the traffic in the Sierra's which slowed us down for a good hour. We arrived just in time to unpack and get ready for 9am church this morning and we made it on time!

Happy 38th Birthday, Lance

Lance is now 38 years old. He celebrated by going to work, having a birthday dinner, going to the church to get some things done and playing basketball. I am sure it was an exciting day for him. He wanted parmesan chicken, orange rolls, and turtle cheesecake for his dinner. Lucky for me I could buy the cheesecake. We couldn't ask for a better husband and dad, even if he is a little goofy at times. We love you!

Sinter Klaas

Thank you Sinter Klaas for all the goodies! We know how busy you are in Holland and yet you always seem to get our package to us in time!

Let the Festivities Begin....

The holidays are in full swing! The week was full of classes, school and lots of practicing. I accompanied the children's choir that we were part of last year for their Christmas performance on Friday. It always is fun to watch them perform and I enjoy playing for them on Friday. We had our teacher come that morning and spend about 1 hour per child going over all their work. It makes for a long morning but she is she great for us! That afternoon, we had our Children's Lit co-op group at our house and read books about teddy bears. It is always fun to get together with other homeschool families. I had to send them off quickly after to get to the concert for a last minute practice right after. It was a full day but filled with good stuff. Saturday, I spent a frustrating day shopping. I felt it took forever to accomplish so little. The children rehearsed for their parts in the ward Christmas program. Devon played a piano solo. He played "Angels We Have Heard on High" and played beautifully. The girls sang the song "I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas" with their friends. Lance couldn't get the flash to work on the video so I will put the video so you can hear a bit and then a picture so you can see them. We missed filming Devon so we filmed him at home right after the program.