Memory

The great thing about having a 4 year old set up the game Memory is that the cards don't always get shuffled. Makes for a quick game! Can't say I minded today.

What have we been up to?

So, for all of you who care about what we've been up to for four months, here are some pictures and a brief description.

We celebrated Halloween by carving pumpkins. Audrey, Marie, and Peter just wanted to paint their pumpkins. Audrey was able to paint a pumpkin we grew in our own back yard! Richard carved the pumpkin he had painted for a school project. He was really excited about his painting job until he got to school and realized the other kids had their parent's help. Now, I have nothing against helping your child. However, shouldn't the child do the majority of the work? 

The kids enjoyed playing in the snow after our first snow fall of the year. It's the only time I took pictures, so...

I had a birthday! My fabulous sister made my cake so I wouldn't have to make my own. Since my birthday was on a Sunday and Scott was busy with tithing settlement, we didn't do anything that grandiose. However, we had a fun evening when some family was able to come.

I made a gingerbread train again this year. The kids had a great time decorating. The boys decorated the engine and the girls did the caboose. It was intact only long enough for the pictures to be taken.

Richard decorated another house at school. I think the proportion of candy to cracker is definitely higher than on our train.

Marie and Peter had their Christmas preschool program. They sang and participated in all the songs but were far from the loudest or most demonstrative.

Marie and Audrey had their Christmas dance recital. Audrey was in a "Grinch" production number. The girls were supposed to have "Who" hair. 

We spent Christmas Eve at my sister's house with all my family that lives locally as well as a sister and her family from out of town. After dinner, the kids acted out the nativity. Marie was an angel. Peter was a shepherd. Richard was the wise man. Audrey was Mary. 

Christmas Day came to our house. Here is the excited bunch before we open presents. Thomas woke up quite a bit later than the rest and had just sat down for some food. Everyone found something to be excited about and we got some great presents.

We have enjoyed our new house. We love that we have a play room for the kids to go to. We love the huge backyard. We (meaning I) love the much larger kitchen. We love the higher quality feel to the home. We love that we weren't on top of each other when opening Christmas presents.

We got to experience a leak in the roof that we affectionately named "Lake Thomas." Fortunately, the home warranty that the previous owners provided when we bought the home covered the reseal the roof. Unfortunately, we had weeks of snow sitting on the roof and so had to wait for that snow to melt for a roofer to come. In the meantime, tons of that melting snow damaged the sheet rock in Thomas's room ceiling and it's considered "incidental damage" and so is not covered. Can I tell you how irritating that is?

Scott was t-boned going to work on Martin Luther King Jr. day. The morning was extremely foggy and the other car didn't slow down to realize they had a red light. They were going probably 50+ mph. Scott was in his F150 and they were in a Ford Taurus. Fortunately, they hit the passenger side and not the driver's side. So, Scott fared pretty well. He did have some abdominal pain that was checked out in the ER and declared to be just muscle pain. Otherwise, he was just fine. It took over a month for the truck to be repaired. We finally got it back today.

Thomas still doesn't really talk, but we're starting to hear some words. We think. He finally decided to walk at 16 1/2 months. He's such a climber and in to things ever so much more than I remember the other kids.

Oh, and our camera broke. Right after Christmas. We're just getting around to mailing it in to be fixed. So, that's why we have no more pictures after Christmas.

Otherwise, life is about the same. Kids go to school. Scott goes to work. I go to work. Etc, etc, etc....