Christmas Cheer 2017

Here are the kids sharing some Christmas cheer!

Click on each of the underlined links and it will take you to YouTube. (The files are too big to put directly on the blog.) These are songs they prepared for recitals or concerts, so we thought we'd share them with you. Merry Christmas!

Nina playing Carol of the Bells

Satchel playing Jingle Bells

Jude singing I'm the Happiest Christmas Tree

Nina on cello #1

Nina on cello #2

Jude rides a bike!

For the past few weeks Jude has refused to ride his bike because we have not taken the training wheels off. So finally, on the 5th of July, Matt took them off and without hesitation Jude was riding his bike. So happy and proud. He was ready and he knew it! :)

Nina's Wish List

Nina brought home a red paper stocking from school. At the top it said "Wish list" and she filled the stocking with a handwritten list. She said her teacher said it wasn't supposed to be a wish list for toys, but wishes for things for other people, things that would make us happy. Here's Nina's list:

I wish people can get homes that are in the Philippines.
I wish that my ukelele's neck can be fixed.
I wish that Camie could be alive.
I wish that Ethan can feel OK about his sister.
I wish that everyone can have a happy Christmas.
I wish that we can help people feel welcome.
I wish that friends won't argue.
I wish that the poor can have food and water.
I wish that we can all learn and be good students.
I wish that we don't get coal in our stockings.
By Nina

Easter Fun

What would Easter be without dyeing hard-boiled eggs and having an Easter egg hunt? Since Matt was in Italy this year, we headed over to Stansbury for some Easter festivities. We went to the community egg hunt, which was super short. (Lindy's family got there two minutes late and it was looooong over.)

Then we headed to Lindy's house to color eggs and have our own egg hunt. The kids had so much fun. Emily and her honyocks showed up, so it was quite a group.

Satchel loves babies and has proclaimed Vaha his favorite. :)

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was fun! For the first time ever, we got creative with our Halloween dinner. It's usually chili, or something semi-nutritious, but this year, we just had fun. We made mummy dogs and owl cupcakes. Everyone was happy with the awesome dinner. :)

Then we got into costumes and waited for Dad. He got to come home early so he could go trick-or-treating with us. We had an Indian, a kangaroo and a bumblebee. Couldn't have been cuter. The kids brought home more candy than they've ever had in their lives. They even got a stuffed animal from one house (Nina's favorite) and a can of soda from another house (Satchel's favorite--it was Diet Vernor's, and he thought it was delicious).

Precious Jude

I have always called Jude a "precious little nugget." If I say something else, like "sweet boy," he says, "I not a sweet boy. I a precious nugget!"

He also regularly sings this little song:

Nina's Baptism

On November 3, little Nina was baptized. She was soooo excited. There are 11 children in her Primary class, and she has gone with me to all the baptisms during the year. She is number 9 to be baptized, and she was thrilled that it was finally her turn.

She was baptized at the Bountiful Tabernacle (our stake center). We had to go early to get the white clothes and some instructions. I snapped this picture during that time, and you can see how excited she is.

She looked so pretty in her white dress, and she was so cute and confident as she stood up and was introduced. She positively beamed.

Nina the Butterfly

This summer Nina took dance lessons from one of the young women in our ward. Her group was called "The Butterflies." At the end of the summer they got costumes (which Nina pronounced ELEGANT) and had a recital. I recorded the dance for the grandparents. :) Nina is second from the left.

You can watch the performance here.

Sweet, chocolatey Jude

I wanted to record Jude to capture the way he talks. The funny thing is that he wouldn't talk unless he could see himself on the camera screen--it totally distracted him. Made for some cute facial expressions!

You can watch him here.

The rest of the conversation is here.

I always ask him, "Who do you love?" and his first response is "Travis." Always. Until the day I'm filming him and then he says, "Mama." :) That's my boy!

4th of July

Let the mowing season begin!

Here's a video of Jude and his "new" lawn mower.

Hey Jude

Here's a little video of Juder Tooter.
Click here.

our little leprechaun

Happy St. Patrick's Day to Aunt Camie! xoxoxo

Snow Days

I took these the last time it snowed. Jude didn't last long, but Nina and Satch stayed outside for an hour sledding down the little hill on the side of our house. Nina is a true snow bunny and she actually got Satch to stay out with her that day. I was amazed--that is the longest he has ever stayed out in the snow. They had fun!

Fun at Home

Nina and Satchel got new scooters for Christmas. They like to ride them on warmer winter days. This particular day, they decided to up the fun factor. :) Watch a video here.

Videos for Camie

We filmed the kids for Camie because these three little toots can make anyone smile. :)

The links are all on youtube:

Watch Jude here.

Watch Nina and Satchel here.

And watch the final clip here.

We think they're cute!

We took some photos today to try and get a good one we could use for Christmas cards. Getting three little toots to stand still and actually smile is not so easy . . .

It's (Almost) Summer!

On Friday, we all decided to get together at Brig and Shay's house on Saturday. For Dad's benefit I will go through the menu. We had hot dogs and polish sausages (with caramelized onions, thank you very much) and teriyaki chicken. The sides were a tasty pasta salad, several varieties of chips and watermelon. For dessert we made s'mores. (But for those of us who can't get enough sugar there were brownies and donuts too.) The kids had so much fun playing together they could hardly focus on eating. No adult had that problem.

It was cool and rainy, but it stopped raining in time for us to roast the weiners and the marshmallows. Here are a couple of random videos. Notice how big Avalon is getting. Cord kept saying she reminded him of a little chick, the way she toddles around.

We managed to get one semi-decent picture of the kids before they started with the funny faces.

Happy Easter

My kids love to color eggs. Nina was asking to do it as soon as she got out of bed. By the time I cooked the eggs and they cooled, I think it was 8:30. (Maybe she learned a wee bit of patience that morning.)

Jude Turns ONE!

We were in San Diego on Jude's actual birthday, so after we returned home he got to open his presents and have a cupcake.

He got three presents, and he loves them all. One of them was a keyboard from Grandma Risa. Thanks Gma! Maybe at Christmas Jude can play a few carols. :)

This video shows him trying to lick off all the frosting. When I broke the cucpake in half for him, he finally got down to business.

He is such a sweet baby. He gives kisses, he cuddles, and we can't get enough of him! It amazes me that he's already one. Now when we say, "Jude, how old are you?" he holds up one fat little finger and laughs.