up-to-date... almost

so a few more things, so we're all caught up for christmas :). we've been really busy, but mostly playing around. here's a picture from a week or so ago, it's just so easy for me to take more pictures when paul's home, and i wanted to record rayna's 'mary poppins' outfit, that's what she calls this dress (i especially liked her knee socks).

 'crafting' with some friends. we made a bunch of snowflakes, and we put a lot of them up on our sliding back door, so when the sun shines we have cool shadows on the kitchen floor; it makes for a fun breakfast room.

 malachi LOVES this truck now. he plays with it almost every night after the girls go to bed, he's getting pretty good at stacking the blocks and shoving them through the shaped holes, but mostly he drives it around making siren noises :).

 most pictures of him i have now look something like this:

he loves the camera, and what can i say, obviously the camera loves him too!

we also had a fabulous visit to the zoo last saturday with daddy... unfortunately i left the camera in the car :(. it was really one of the best visits we've had in a LONG time, partly because we haven't been going as much with that miserably hot summer and then school starting for afton, and partly because paul got ot come with us, but the animals were entertaining, the kids got to see most everything they wanted, and the zoo wasn't crowded at all (it was predicted to be cold, but it turned out to be a nice warm day).
we had an especially great time in the reptile house, and playing at the bug house... of all the weird things for my "cutsey little girlies." we also enjoyed seeing an eagle eating some little furry thing, and an owl feathering a small bird... sounds so much worse when i write it down... suffice it to say, the things i would have taken pictures of would not have involved any of that, but lots of silly smiles, petting little goats, watching the flamingoes, and maybe crawling through the tunnles with the naked mole rats... oh, and afton and paul held a few birds in the children's aviary. we sure have enjoyed having that zoo pass, though i think we're ready to let it expre for a little while, it's a lot harder to get all the way out there with school... maybe we'll try somethign else next year! merry christmas!

afton's school days

so i tend to do better blogging when i can let the pictures tell the story. i'm not one for taking the time to write everything out, and don't have the general writing skills i so admire in others, but i figure it's time i take a couple minutes and share a little about afton. she's doing really well in her school. she's reading fairly well (understandably slow), and she's a great listener (at school). it's always nice to have someone else appreciate your child though, so it was a really nice surprise when afton got an award at her first 6-weeks (grading period) ceremony back in october. they only give out three kinds of awards, perfect attendance, nearly perfect attendance (missing only 1 day), and a good citizen award for one boy and one girl in each class that do an exceptional job at obeying the rules and helping others. afton was sick three times that first grading period, but she was a good citizen :). it made me happy, and i hope her too.

here she is sitting with some of her classmates on their rug

getting the award from her teacher, ms flores



i know i've posted a few pictures randomly throughout of some o fthe dress-up days at her school. they have a couple things each month it seems where they get to wear something special. as part of drug-free week they got to dress in super-hero costumes or t-shirts. we don't have any of those in her size, so we made one :) she was her favorite (though admittedly, she only knows the names, not who they actually are, or anything like that... she hasn't seen any of the movies), green lantern.

then again, at the end of the second 6-weeks gradin gperiod, afton got an award, perfect attendance. hooray for no more sickness! here she is with a couple of her friends.

i should have some more pictures from her school up soon, she just had her christmas program last friday, singing and dancing and cookies and milk,. and rayna and i got to attend (triple hooray for daddy getting to work from home that day so he could be here while malachi slept!!! !!! !!!). i need to upload those pictures still and hopefully i'll post them soon.

some more dressing-ups

some more of our silly days...

after church one day

just in case anyone wondered what i look like anymore... rayna took that picture,
paul doesn't take pics, so it's usually me behind the camera--i don't really change too much either

rayna was cold, she borrowed daddy's coat

malachi all dressed up for church in his snazzy vest. i thought he looked so handsome :)



paul's sister emalie just left on her mission and one sunday afternoon paul was writing her a letter (with the girls' help). as he was writing, afton was dressing him up to match her, and he didn't really notice... so we took a pic of the final product to send to her so she could see the effect letter-writing has on her big brother. please note his handbag ;)

trimming the tree



ta-da!



afton took this pic of the finished product...
it just might look better this way ;)
we love it regardless!

thanksgiving break

afton had a full 4 days off school for thanksgiving break (since she's afternoon class, tuesday was half-day), so we went to the arboretum with friends. it was a little chilly, but we had a great time (i didn't bring my camera so these are from jennie's fb--hooray for friends with cool phones!).

cinderella's coach

kindermusic with dancing scarves

more at kindermusic

there was free facepainting at the arboretum, and the ring-pops were a special treat left over from halloween. i think both were a huge success! and pretty fancy too!

we had a lovely thanksgiving day with grandma and grandpa f, and some others--including uncle steve and aunt dorothy and since it's been so long til i got around to writing this, we now know they're getting ready to go on a mission (as pres), so that's exciting! i think everyone had a great time, and i know the food was amazing! (though afton claimed the sweet potatoes were too sweet... anyone else ever hear of such a thing?)

malachi just woke up from his nap, so i'm cutting this post really short, suffice it to say, i'm very grateful for my amazing family, and i'm so lucky to be who and where i am!