Take me out to the ball game

We went to Mormon day at our local baseball field to watch a baseball game.  It was dollar hot dog day.  The concession stand person said they have never sold so many hot dogs.  I thought she has never had so many Mormon's there before, we are a frugal people!

Holly loved hang out with the other girls from our stake.  Some older girls (actually young adults)  took the kids to the kids place area to play.  Can you dig Holly's side pony tail?  She did it herself.

Josh trying to get the game.

And us, should never go with someone taking a picture going up, but going down. I love when we get to go together as family.  One of the best parts was we got in free because of a reading thing the kids did.  They each got two free tickets.  I think this may have to be a family tradition as long as we can cash in on that.  We didn't stay for the whole game or we would have been there to midnight it was slow going but Don and I enjoyed it.

Berry Pickin'

We went berry pickin' with our friends the Pehrson's and

Susan.  My kids love Susan.  Every Monday we go to her house so I can quilt and they watched Netflix and had a cookie or two that Susan always had ready for them.  I think going to her house was one of the things the kids would miss when school started again.

We picked blueberries and Susan picked blackberries. Yum, but man it was hot!

Cub Scouts here we come

 Josh has been counting down until the time he could go to Cub Scouts.  He goes to a troop that meets at our church building.  His den leader is awesome, she has a ton of boys since the beginning of summer.  Oma and Opa gave him part of his uniform and we got the rest. 

One of their activities they went to the firehouse and took a tour.  The firemen got a call while we were there, but they came back shortly after leaving.  The firemen were very patient and answered all our questions.

 I think this was the best part of the tour.  They turned on the hose and the boys played in the spray that dropped from the main stream.  He has gone swimming, picked up trash at the park, worked on Faith in God and other goals, and he is still excited.

Josh's baptism

I can't believe he is already this old.  My little bug already baptized.  From the moment I entered the room I started to cry.  The Elders had set up the font and room.  They put out the nice chairs had a table with the podium on it; another table with tablecloth on it and pictures of children and Christ and a small round table with flowers and a place for programs and to sign-in at the door.  They even pushed in the piano.  It was beautiful!  That started the cry fest right there.

Don was the one to baptize Josh.  As he said the prayer he choked up, it was sweet.  Josh was beaming when he came out of the water.

We tried to make it a family affair, unfortunately Don's parents couldn't make it at the end so we rearrange somethings.  I wanted all the grandparents to be involved for sure.  I had Holly give the opening prayer, Aunt Arwen gave a talk on Baptism, Don baptized and Uncle Mike and Opa witnessed, the cousins sang a song, Oma gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and I said the closing prayer.  It was a spiritual experience that I will always cherish, I think Josh liked it too.

Josh's Birthday Great to be 8!

 Josh turned eight this summer, yay.  Our kids only get parties on certain birthdays, this was one of those years, he was so EXCITED!
We set a slip n slide and sprinklers and a huge beach ball that sprayed water out of it (thanks Uncle Mike and Aunt Arwen).  That's one of the perks of a summer birthday you just set up a bunch of water stuff have some water guns and let them go at it.  Through in a Spiderman pinata at the end (thanks Oma and Opa) and can life get any better.    The draw back to a summer birthday is that many of your friends are out of town, due to family trips, but

that's ok the cousins filled in quite nicely. 

Opa on the grill, hot dogs and hamburgers.  Sporting a UT hat, go VOLS, just kidding I am not really into sports.  Oh great, now they're gonna kick me out of Knoxville.

Holly and Cousin Eden

Holly enjoyed all of her cousins, she has three girl cousins so there was always someone to hang out with, ah that's the life.

Arwen holding Emmalynn and sporting a new do.

Katerina and Marion.

Oma taking pictures in adorable braids.

Josh getting ready for the birthday cupcakes I made little lego pieces on them.

Josh opening a ton of presents!

School Field Trip

My kids' principal is an adventurous woman. She decided to take the WHOLE school on a field

trip! This last week it was Dr. Seuss' birthday. 'The Lorax' the movie was coming out, so what perfect timing. The kids studied from Dr. Seuss books the last two weeks. In Josh's class they talked about pollution and the enviroment. Even math was taught in a Seussy way.

The kids were soooo excited to go. I went to chaperone in Holly's class. I guess we had a huge chaperone turn out, because the only kid I was asked to watch was Holly.

Each child got a High-C and a small bag of popcorn. It was great and I loved the movie. I thought it had a powerful message, and it has inspired me to do a new baby quilt. I am so blessed to be able to go with the kids to things like these.

Healthy

Nope this is not about Weight Watchers. The other day I was getting Josh's lunch ready and being quite lazy. I didn't want to put a healthy snack in just a quick one. He saw what I was putting in and said, "Mom, I don't like those.".
I looked down and said, "Fruit snacks? Spider man fruit snacks?".
Josh, "Yep.".
Me, "What don't you like about them?".
Josh " I don't like the way they taste, and they're not healthy for you either.


Me: Dumbfounded look on my face!
So there you have it from a 7 year old boy.
WE SHOULD EAT THINGS THAT ARE HEALTHY FOR US!!!!

Josh got glasses

So we got a notice from the school telling us that after they tested Josh's eyes we need to take him to the eye doctor. I finally took him after I noticed he couldn't see the tv from our couch. Our living room is pretty narrow, so I thought this is bad. The DR. said he could only see clearly like 2-3 feet in front of him. I felt terrible!

He picked out these glasses and I think he looks good. He came home the first day of school and said "Mom, kids liked my glasses, and they didn't even call me 4 eyes!"

Metcalf Bottoms- an addition to summer places

Our friend Lori, introduced us to this fun place of Metcalf Bottoms. I can't wait until next summer we are definetly going back. It's about an hour away and a perfect all day place. The kids could raft down or play in the water, or look for tad poles, and the list goes on.

Yes, it is that cold.

This is the life!

P.E Art Show

Yep, my son is so talented that he didn't have 1 not 2 but 3 pieces in the P.E. Art show. Okay so everyone had something in the art show. The first huge guy he did with 3 other boys the next piece he calls 'Super J' and the last piece is a fish and sponge bob is standing on its back. Not bad for a six year old. Our budding artist, okay so he may not be budding, but he is ours (and cute).

Awards

I can never get a clear shot of him. Josh was awarded a couple of awards. He got one for excelled reading, one for doing a math-a-thon and one for testing high in reading. Way to go kiddo!

Can I have a gold one?

So last week Josh told me during breakfast that his tooth felt weird. I felt it and sure enough, he has his first loose tooth. I am so excited! I told him that he is so lucky. When his tooth comes out that we can put it under his pillow and the tooth fairy will come and bring him a surprise. Then a new tooth will grow in it's place. He then said, "Mom, can I have a gold one?". I was like what. He proceeded to tell me that Dante at school has a gold tooth and that he hoped that he could have a gold one too. I told him that only the dentist can give those and I don't see him getting a gold tooth.



By the way the tooth has still yet to fall out and I can't even use the Beerman pinch method because the new tooth is starting to grow behind it. I guess it just gives me time to sew my tooth fairy pillow. Pictures to come upon completion.

Josh and a Friend

So today during sacrament meeting Josh was looking at the Friend. I was so proud he was doing one of the puzzles or things and he had scriptures he could look up to give him answers to the clues....and....HE WAS LOOKING THEM UP!!!! Opening the scriptures on his own and looking up scriptures. I was so excited. This is a new thing for him. Thank you primary teachers, thank you primary leaders, thank you Friend magazine publishers for making it fun. YES!

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa T

Grandma and Grandpa T came and visited us last week. We got to do some fun things while we they were here. They took us out to get ice cream, we went out to eat, we went bowling, we made Valentine coursages, my mother-in-law made me a flower arrangement, I made my 2nd sucessful turkey (it was delicious!)

Holly came in second place, now she did have bumpers and this rollacoaster thingy, but she loved it. Josh even did really good on his second to last turn he got a spare. He bowled his first try and got all down but 3. Then he held his ball pointed to the pins drew and imaginary line to the starting line, threw the ball, it pinballed back and forth between the bumpers and knocked the rest down. He was so excited and proud of himself. It was awesome!

Holly has decided....

I love to listen to my kids conversations, in the car especially. So Josh and Holly started talking about when they get married. Holly has decided she is going to marry Jack (you know the 12 yr old). I told her that she would have to wait until she got older and see if he wanted to marry her.



Josh on the other hand is unsure who he wants to marry, he is thinking about marrying a girl from his class at school, Alice. He also told me that he is going to live with us after they have babies. Why after babies? How are they getting these babies? HMMMMM....

Desperate for a pet

It was so beautiful today, that the kids went out to play, without jackets! This last picture is of the kids petting the neighbors cat, that foolishly wandered into our yard. They must have petted that cat for ten minutes and were so excited that they could pet it, that is until it was done and scratched Holly.

Who are we?

I am a prophet.

























My husband built something with tools.
























I had 2 of every kind of animal come on the boat.

I was one of the first people to see the rainbow.

Who are we? Holly and Josh did this for primary today. They looked so cute in their outfits. My counselors are so prepared, they prep for sharing time way ahead of time, unlike some people who do it the night before.