This week

This week Afton spoke at a baptism for a friend in our ward. She did a great job despite her nerves and a VERY large crowd (about 50+). She even took the initiative without any hints to record it in her scrapbook:

see her name on the left there?!

I hinted that she might like to save the notes for her talk. She read most of it, but ad-libbed a bit on the object lesson:

sorry this is so light.

it says:

The Holy Ghost is like a yellow light -- it reminds us to be careful. Sometimes you need to slow down because there might be danger around. It comes from God. The priesthood holders are like the mailmen.

(object lesson) Water = world and people around you

pepper = temptations, sins, bad choices, & things from Satan

finger (she had the boy being baptized come up) = you

(then she asked him what happens when he put his finger in a cup of water with pepper floating on top--it gets dirty!)

dish soap = the holy ghost (he wiped his finger off, put soap on it, and tried again)

what happens? (the soap repels the pepper so it stays clean)

2 Nephi 31:12 tells about Jesus -read ** we learn that you have to be like Jesus to keep the Holy Ghost. That means standing up to bullies, helping others, being nice, and reading the scriptures.

 

ps, in case you're wondering, I made he write the whole talk herself, her rough draft was a bit rougher than this, I helped her write the final copy so it would be done faster :) --and a bit neater/easier to read ;)

 

 

and here's Rayna's big project from this week. She was supposed to get all her family's favorite modes of transportation and put them in a pictograph. she could have limited it to 3-4 types, but she liked the variety. unfortunately we didn't get all the categories in one line :) that one sitting a bit high on the right is motorcycle.

for those that are having a hard time reading the final results it says:

4 Stroller

4 Airplane

8 Car

2 Bus

11 Bike

6 Walk/run

3 Train

1 Limo

1 Helicopter

2 Rollerblade

1 boat

1 Horse

1 Skateboard

1 Motorcycle

 

(I'm guessing she has the biggest graph in the class! --there were 2 other jokes about horses, and 1 about camels that later changed their minds)

and just to give you an idea about Asher's big movements this week. he's doing a lot of planking and scooting backwards and has even managed to go from tummy to seated pretty consistently for the last few days. note his face. he does NOT like being on his tummy at ALL thank you very much!

happy almost April... and if I don't see any more snow 'til November, that's plenty soon enough for me!

Asher in January

as promised, here's a million, or nearly, pictures of Asher from January. I tried to narrow it down a bit, as I still have so much catching up to do, but here's a peek at how he's growing.

I see you... this is his serious face.

I'm havin' a ball!

His brother (and sisters) like to make sure he's not going to get bored... 

he he he :)

snuggling with Dad

fold in half you say, no problem!

I didn't get any pictures of the first time he tried solid food, because Daddy snuck him some pound cake one night at dessert... he was immediately a fan of ALL solid foods, and hasn't slowed down yet (except for peas... but he still ate them!).

yum!!! gimme, gimme :P

this day the kids were all taking turns with the camera taking pictures of Asher eating, so I had about 30 pictures of us, most of which were not very flattering to either of us ;)

it's true!

sleepy angel

baby, it's cold out-side!

I don't take him out on long walks when the wind chill is below 20 (aka, Wisconsin-esque), but occasionally we'd wait at the bus stop with the girls well-bundled!

so sweet!

chillin'

Asher is seriously the best-behaved, happiest baby, I can't believe it! he communicates so much with his face too, I feel like I usually know what he needs/wants, which is really nice. We're so blessed to have him in our family!

some early January stuff

So in my efforts to catch up, here's a little photo blast from the first half or so of January (there will have to be a separate post for Asher, cause I took so may pictures of him :) ) One fun little thing, a co-worker of paul's gave him a gift for the kids, it was a gingerbread train kit... it made for a lovely morning's work

the inside of the train worked great for carrying extra candies too... so Malachi knew exactly where to look for them!

the finished product had all 3 big kids names on it... you can see Rayna's there.
I almost wonder if they didn't bother putting so many candies on the outside just so they could snitch them more easily from the car :)

and a few other random pictures:

Afton enjoying a little light reading by the fire.
(it's the complete works of HC Andersen; I think she only read 1-2 stories before it got too big)

borrowing mommy's big earrings

wheelbarrow races in the playroom... he was actually doing great til I got the camera out, then he sorta collapsed

one of the warmer days when we had a day off school, we met some friends at the park.

I know, it's a weird picture of me, but I was there too, so I thought I'd better document it for posterity's sake

this particular playground has dozens of play structures, it's a definite favorite among the kids, zip-line, roller-slides, tons of climbing things, monkey bars, etc... and where do the kids want to play? the skate-park of course!

fortunately, there weren't any skaters there that day, so they could run and slide and climb all they wanted to.

I did manage to get one posed picture... they were supposed to pretend they were on skateboards.
(Afton, Revekahlei, Rayna, Khallilia, and Sunshine)

more soon...

rayna's picture

Rayna brought this picture home from school today. I'm not going to lie, it kinda made my day :). In conjunction with this picture, she'll be calling lots of family over the next couple days (it's hard since she's in bed before many of you are home from work/school (drat time-zones), and asking you your favorite method of transportation. (you're not limited to these options)

feel free to click on the picture and make it big so you can see all the words.

Rayna

Veukls

limsen, limo, van, car,

chran, bse, raskror, mosthchk, chruk

toxi, firchruk, triskl, mustak, sibebs

abellis, plescar

 

 

 

 

 

(Vehicles

limousine, limo, van, car

train, bus, race car, monster truck, truck,

taxi, fire truck, tricycle, mustang, bicycle?

ambulance, police car)

New Years Eve Hike

We started a tradition a couple years ago of going hiking (mountain climbing) on NYE morning so the kids would be tired enough to take a nap and then ready to stay up really late. We didn't have a handy mountain this year (there are some nearby, but not quite close enough for our purposes), so we found a pretty hike through a little creek at a preserve, and called it good. there are actually a lot of fun, pretty, little hikes around here, we've done a couple more since :).

unfortunately for our tradition, paul worked the first part of the day, so our hike was a late afternoon hike instead.

this bridge was a huge hit!

the ground was rather soggy/swampy, but it didn't slow us down at all.

considering the time of year, there was a decent variety of wildlife (geese and deer) and plant-life (lichen, moss, algae... lots of cool trees and stumps)

as we were getting ready to leave, there was a flock of geese that circled above us 4-5 times honking to each other. the kids loved it! they finally settled down in the pond not too far from where were walking. it was a good sign to head back home for the evening.

I'm sure we did something fun that night, but I don't really remember exactly what :(. I'm sure there were games involved, and lots of snacks... so far 2014 has been kind to us. happy new year!