Good Reads

I LOVE that Cakes has discovered books!

Some of our favorites:

The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and The Very Hungry Bear- Don and Audrey Wood-  Kai had this memorized at 18 months.  Sooooo much fun!
Piggies- Don and Audrey Wood- we spend a long time looking at all the great piggy pictures.

How Are  You Peeling?- Joost Elfers- so creative.

Any of Maz Lucado's Wemmicks-  can't get enough- they are all great. They made some into little movies- they are all fantastic! 

My recent books:

Kate Morton: The House at Riverton, The Forgotten Garden

Leif Enger- So Brave, Young, Handsome
Charles Portis- True Grit

Kathleen Kent- The Heretic's Daughter

Dauphne Du Mauier- Rebecca

I really liked all of these- for lots of different reasons. Have you read anything great lately?

"Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere."

Teamwork

All the boys building shelves in the garage together.

Good Times!

Starlight Skating

Our orthodontist (neighbor) has patient appreciation nights every now and then and we decided to take him up on the latest.  We headed over to Starlight Skating and I was transported back to seventh grade.  My friends would periodically head over to the skating rink for a good time.  This experience was exactly the same- the hokey poky in the middle- disco ball- "couples" skate with dimmed lights.  Too funny!  Some things really do stay the same!

If you want to feel rich, just count the things you have that money can’t buy.

Spring???

Is it warming up outside for you?  Is the grass getting greener- are the daffodils popping up?  Are your trees blossoming?

Well...it isn't here.  It is still snowing every other day!!!!  It usually melts off during the day- but it is very cold and the wind is biting.  We are already freezing our tails off in spring soccer- but since it is still snowing and I just found these cute pictures on Katry's camera- I thought I'd share.

Come on Spring.  You can do it- show yourself!!!

One More Accolade

Brigham- seen here acting in our Mutual Skits- was just accepted as one of only five Freshman Leaders in the National Honor Society.  Pretty impressive!  He is also hot stuff on the road as he has started taking Driver's Ed.  We are extremely excited that he is on the way to being a self sustained driver and can soon take himself to his plethora of activities!  Yippee!

Rainbow Explosion

Seth, Kaleb and I attempted rainbow cupcakes for St. Paddy's Day!   We had a great time mixing up colors and layering them.  They didn't want to stay in layers - but they were delicious all the same!

Handiwork

It is time once again for a re numeration of our children's various and sundry acquisitions.

Seth- above and beyond being so incredibly cute is also the winner of this years Crazy Hat Award.  He is sporting 12 of his 15 handmade hats.  Pretty impressive!

Brigham- in a quest to make money for his mission opted to enter an essay writing contest.  His efforts were rewarded with a third place prize and $45 added to his mission fund.  Katry was awarded the distinct of honor of being voted in as a "Knight of the Week" from her location of learning.  She was rewarded with candy- her food of choice.  It is a win- win situation.

These three little....okay two little and one ginormous monkeys continued the time honored tradition of procuring Straight A's once again!   While no small task in itself- Brigham is to be particularly commended in that he accomplished this while taking all Honors classes, being involved in many extra- curricular activities due to being on the student council,  and playing on the school's soccer and basketball teams.  Whew!  He wore me out just transferring him to all these places.  Katry is also on the student council and played soccer on 4 different teams.  Seth played football and soccer- and both kids were the leading strikers on the pitch.  These 3 Redds are defining Awesome-ness!!!

Adorable Kaleb finished up his debut soccer seasons with flying colors.  He was also the leading goal maker and star defender.  Often scoring from the defensive position.  His dad wins the award for the most patience- It is a lot of work to corral and mold young flighty whipersnappers (12 of them) into soccer players- or at least kids that kick the ball in the right direction 90 percent of the time!

While these are all great accomplishments!  Truly the best is that these are just super nice kids!

We are SOOOO glad they are OURS!

Absolutely Excelling in Cuteness!

Bounce House

I wish I had a before and after picture.  This room was originally intended to be a "pool" room, for an Endless pool.  We decided we wouldn't be putting a pool in it for ages so we turned it into a bounce house.

Imagine drywall-ed walls, untrimmed windows and doors, and a big pit full of all of our cardboard boxes.

Since we live in a rather cold climate- the weather is ick for 4-6 months of the year- we decided it would be nice to have another play area in the house.  The pit was perfect.

We put in a large trampoline and Brigham built a platform all around it and covered it in nice comfy mats.

He added basketball hoops on both ends and monkey bars to hang on from up above.

Bright, colorful walls and mats and you have the perfect area to bounce all of your winter time blues away!

Happy Bouncing!!!

Grandma the Great

We were so lucky to have my sweet, sweet Grandma come and stay with us for a week!  She is so much fun, she has a great personality and a quick wit.  We loved having her stay with us.

Please come again soon!!!  We LOVE you!!!

Dreams

Have you ever had a dream that you really wanted and then you finally got it......

and it ended up not being as great as you thought it would be?

This was one of those dreams.

Rescued by Daddy!

Giddyup!!

We went with Seth's class on a field trip to see the "Bodies Exhibit".  It was amazing.  If it comes to your area- it's a must see.  Dr. Redd accompanied us and he gave us an amazing tour- telling us all kinds of cool things about the body.  Fascinating!  They wouldn't let us take pictures of the bodies but they have a little children's section at the museum and we let the kiddos go for a little ride.  

Ride em' Cowboys!!!

Butter Babe

As in .......my Babe

Covered in butter!

Thank you Kai!