My Favorites

Chase LOVES the camera and taking pictures. These are some of my favorites that he has taken recently. Maybe we should get him a camera for his birthday.

Last snow of the season?

....I sure hope so! I think I spoke too soon about those peach blossoms!

Peach Trees

Yay! My peach trees are still alive! Let's hope for continued warm weather so the blossoms get pollinated and we get peaches this year!

Braces

New braces for Rion! Complete with purple and black bands. Here's to the fun it will be for the next year!

It Must be the Water

Yes, we are adding to bazillion women already expecting out there! I did make the official announcement on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, but thought I'd better finally put it on the blog. We are expecting child #4 on September 14, 2010. Hopefully sooner. :-) We are excited, expecially the kids. Now, let's hope it's a girl!

Peek-a-Boo!

What?...doesn't EVERYONE take a bath with their hat on?

A Mermaid or a Whale?

Recently, in a large city in Australia, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym.
It said, "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"

A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern,
Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans).
They have an active sex life, get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp.
They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia. Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don't exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human?
They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them...where is IT? Therefore, they don't have kids either. Not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me:
I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate with my friends. With time, we gain weight
because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy,
we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. Beginning today,
when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, ¨Good grief, look how smart I am!¨

New Quotes

Yesterday:

Chase: "I hungwy! I want a fwoot snack! Pweety Pweese? Pweety Pweese? Pweety Pweese? I want too!"



Today:

Hailey: "I'm not very good at drawing diamonds."

Me: "No, but I bet you'll be good at wearing them."

Hailey: "Got that right!"

Riddle

Question: How do you know when your 3 year old is using the camera?

Answer: You get photos like these....

...and videos like this.

Christmas Festivities

We had our Annual Christmas Party tonight. What a ball! This year's Festivities brought about 42 people. Not too bad at all! We ate, laughed, sang, and exchanged presents. Can't wait until next year!

The Happy Hosts

Winners of the Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest

The funniest presents. We combined them for comic relief.

The fabulous guests!

...and the renowned singing. What fun we had!

Difference

I've heard that the Auto feature on digital cameras is not the best way to take a photo, and using the flash can make the image loose some quality as well. I thought I'd test it out on the tree. It's really hard to capture the beauty of an object with lights, so here is the experiment...

with the flash...

without the flash...

What a difference! I'm going to have to learn more about this!

Bed Time!

Hailey isn't too happy about that fact.

Christmas Concert #1

This is Rion's last Christmas Concert in Elementary school. Depending on what he decides to do in Middle and High School, this could very well be his last concert! Only time will tell. The kids did a great job, and the ones that did the swing dancing were great! Good job Rion!

Hailey's Praises

This is a prase of Mary and Josus and Jesus.
Mary Mary hush see the child
Josuf Josuf look see how mild
This is Jesus This is are King
This is are Savyour his prases We sing
By: Hailey Warren

Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer

General Thanksgiving
By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America
A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLIC THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and affign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpolations of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;– for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;– for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;– and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;– to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by confidently being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

(signed) G. Washington

First Snowfall

And it's not even Thanksgiving yet! I wonder what this winter has in store for us?

Toothless Wonder

At this rate, she's going to have to ask Santa for a whole new set of teeth!

Christmas Tradition Idea

I came across this idea this morning as I was looking for Christmas decorating ideas. I LOVE IT! I found the idea here. (I love reading 320 * Sycamore blog!)

And the idea is...

Wrap up 25 Christmas books and place them under your tree. If you like to do a 24 day advent calendar, then use 24 books. Have the scriptures be the 24th book. Unwrap and read one book each night, and finish off with the birth of the Savior either on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day, depending on if you do 24 or 25.

I'm actually excited about this one! Now I need to go through all of our books and pull out the Christmas ones. I think I'll go to thrift stores and see what I can find as well. Check out the blog for some great book suggestions! Happy Reading!

Organization Please!

This is the current state of my linen closet. I just know you all want to help me get it organized!

Conversation

Hailey: "Mom, when can I get my ears pierced?"

Me: "When you're 12."

Hailey: "Will I be out of the house by then?"

Me: "No, honey, you'll still be living here."