Let It Snow !!

The kids have been having so much fun playing in the snow. I can't belive how long they stay outside. Of course when they come in there is snow everywhere. I have to stop them from tromping it all over the house. It has been snowing for a couple days and it is supposed to snow a couple more. I wish the snow would stay on the grass and leave the roads clear. I hate driving in the snow.

Decorating the tree

We love to decorate the tree. We turn on christmas music and break out the egg nog. We really love christmas. It is nice to have that wonderful spirit that accompanies this time of year. The kids really look forward to this every year. Melissa was so excited she had to tell everybody she saw that she was going to decorate the tree.

Oh Christmas Tree !

One of our favorite things to do at christmas time is to pick out and decorate our tree. We had a great time doing this. There is this great little place we go too. They have a santa's village complete with Santa (on the weekends). They have several little picture opportunities, hot cocoa and candy canes. You can cut down your own tree or choose one pre-cut. It is so much fun the kids really have a blast.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have lots to be thankful for. We enjoyed the parade. I love watching the kids get excited about the various floats and musical performances. I love to see how excited they get when Santa makes an appearnce. Melissa was jumping up and down and waving. She kept shouting he's waving at me. I love how she thinks he is waving just to her. We had the missionaries for dinner. It was nice to be able to share our delicious dinner with others. I hope everyone had a great day and that you all have much to be thankful for.

Halloween

Well we had lots of fun for Halloween. The kids went trick or treating and got a ton of candy. We filled 4 big bowls with their candy. Melissa had so much fun she was leading the charge. She would say "trick or treat please" and people would melt. She ended up getting more candy than the rest of the kids. She really poured on the cute. When the other kids were tired she was still chanting more candy. She finally got tired a couple houses from home. I couldn't belive how much energy she had. The next night we went to our ward Halloween party and the kids got to play games and go trunk or treating. It was lots of fun. Kylie was Theodore, Scott was a zombie, Jason was Dracula, Sarah was Ariel, and Melissa was Cinderella.

Apple Picking

Here in New England everybody goes apple picking. Our first year here somebody asked us if we had gone apple picking and we told them no. They looked at us like we were crazy. Everybody goes apple picking how could we deprive our kids of that. So we now take our kids apple picking and I have to say it is alot of fun. So here are the pictures from our trip to Wellwood Orchard. They also had a petting zoo and the kids really enjoyed themselves. Except Melissa she is terrified of chickens.

Smiles Under Construction!

Well Scott and Kylie got their space maintainers. The first few days have been very funny. It took them some time to figure out how to talk as close to normal as possible. And they still seem to have trouble eating with them in. The orthodontist told them to wear it at all times so it is interesting. They have had to figure out how to play their instruments with them in also. But hopefully the space maintainers will prevent them from needing braces. So it is all worth it in the end.

Kylie

Kylie is in middle school now. She is getting way too grown up now. She is doing really well in school. She is in the advance math class at school and is doing math I can't do. SHe is alos in the band she plays the clarinet. She is in choir and has such a beautiful voice. She is also a peer counselor. She is a very busy girl. I cannot belive how grown up she is. We went to a meeting last night about girls camp and it is so weird that in a few months she will be going into young womens. She really does so much to help me I am not sure what I would do without her. She is looking forward to babysittig. There are a few people at church who said that when she turns twelve they want her to start babysitting for them. I am not sure how I feel about that, she is still my baby.

Scott

Scott is in fifth grade this year and he is off to a great start. He is doing well in all his subjects as usual. He is in band this year and is first trumpet. He really enjoys playing the trumpet and he practices allot. I am really proud of how hard he works. He is also a conflict manager at school. He helps kids who are fighting with each other work out the problem. He is a weeblos and is working really hard in scouts. He has a new scout leader he absolutely loves. He really enjoys scouts. He loves to read and his favorite kind of books are non-fiction. He wants to be an astronaut and even got a telescope for his birthday.

Jason

Jason was bapstized this month. It was a beautiful baptism and it was wonderful that grandpa was here. We are so proud of Jason's desicion to be baptized. He is growing into a very nice young man. He could not wait to be baptized, but he wanted grandpa here so he made the choice to wait. Jason is in the third grade and is doing very well. He is a great when it comes to his money chapter in math. The boy loves money. He is doing really well in school. His teacher says the only problem is getting him to stop being so serious. Which is really funny because he is never serious at home. He is always the one coming up with the jokes and zingers. He always has something witty to respond with. He really makes us all laugh.

Sarah

Sarah is getting so big. She turned six this month. It was great because grandpa got to be here for it. She started the first grade this year and is doing very well. They are helping her with her speach and her reading is coming along quite nicely. Sarah seems to be a social butterfly. Every time I drop her off at school she has several friends yelling for her to stand with them. It is good that she seems to get along so well with others. She is getting tall she is going to catch up to Jason soon. She is a great helper at home, she loves to fold the laundry. It is our thing. We fold the laundry together.

Melissa

What can I say about Melissa. She is unlike any of the other kids. She is full of energy and she has a very devious side. I think somedays her goal is to see how many things she can destroy in a single room. I feel like I run from one disaster to another with her. But somehow she has this ability to be so cute that I can't stay mad at her for long. She loves to dance and sing. She is always putting on a show for us. My whisk is always missing because she is using it as a microphone. She is so full of life that sometomes I am in awe. I think I may be in for some real trouble when she is older though.

Grandpa

Well we were really lucky to have Grandpa come visit us. We got to take him to the Joseph Smith Memorial which was allot of fun. We had Jason's baptism while he was here and he even got to give a talk for it. We also had Sarah's 6th birthday party while Grandpa was visiting us. We kept him very busy while he was here. He was like a rock star. Everybody wanted to sit next to grandpa. We were all very sad when we had to take him back to the airport. There were allot of tears shed. We look forward to grandpa visiting us again, and hope he can bring grandma with him next time.

Hey all

Well Britney inspired me to start my own blog. It seems like a great way to keep in touch with everyone. I will try to keep it updated so you guys can all see how big the kids are getting. And hear all about their crazy lives. School is in full swing and it seems we have very little down time.