Here is a whole bunch of random stuff I have taken with my phone and never bothered to put on the blog (all the way back to Sept 2014). Some of it I already posted on Instagram.
In September we went to an Emergency Preparedness Fair at our church. Livy and Cody went in a fire truck.
After the fair we went to see the Blue Angels fly in Baltimore over the harbor. The show was celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner.
Thanks to our friends the Davis' we had awesome seats on the top of a parking garage. Livy, Grace, and Kylee enjoyed the snacks and playing in the car just as much as they loved the airplanes.
One Sunday afternoon Livy fell asleep right in the middle of a book.
In May 2014 Cody and Kylee started piano lessons. They are both doing really well and their teacher is wonderful.
One day when the kids didn't have school we had Grace over to do a craft project. All four kids had fun making an animal mask.
We had amazing mums in our front yard this past fall.
We finally buckled down and did a Potty Training boot camp. There was unlimited lemonade and movies while Livy lived in undies for a few days. She has done remarkably well since those first few rough days. Within a week she stopped wearing diapers all together, even at night, without wetting the bed once.
On one day off from school we made sugar cookies. The whole day Cody was singing silly made-up songs while wearing this hat and tie. He was cracking me up.
Livy loves boots and swimming suits and she's usually wearing one or the other - or BOTH.
Our family went to an IMAX 3D movie of Madagascar at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore. Kylee sported her favorite glasses until she had to trade them for the 3D glasses before the show. It was a fun night.
Kylee is our writer. She lives for paper and pens. Here is one of my favorites that she wrote while Cody was having his piano lesson.
The Baby Panda
Once upon a time there was a baby born and the baby's name was Panda. Panda grown up to be a human his name was just Panda just so you don't get confused. So as I was saying that Panda can also be very kind but actually Panda is almost always kind to everyone even the people who were unkind also to Panda so Panda should also be working hard because for a lot of people have a hard time with be nice to people so you should do and be proud of Panda and do what Panda does too so good luck for you for the people who are doing what Panda's doing.
Livy drew a picture of me and I loved the long legs. When Steve saw it he said, "Better than the picture of me. 'Dad this is your fat head, your fat legs, and your fat body.' Not too much of a self esteem boost."
Livy loves to get her nails painted. Ten fingers means a different color for each one.
In preparation for our Christmas guests we bought some new games: Tenzi (dice game), Bang, a Carcassonne expansion, and Ticket to Ride. Over Christmas we also played Power Grid (we gave it to Lacey and Tyler) and Raquel and Brady gave us Incan Gold and Fazes (two games we had never heard of but ended up loving).
In a package from Grandma Ellen and Grandpa Dean the kids got snow hats.
Sometimes I like to take pictures of my crazy cooking issues and text them to Steve while he's at work to make him laugh. Here are some hash browns I made for the kids before school.
Since Cody has been eating gluten-free I was trying to make an egg breakfast sandwich where the eggs were the buns with a sausage patty in the middle. I didn't have anything round to cook the eggs in so I tried using a pumpkin and a turkey cookie cutter. The colorful cookie cutters turned the eggs orange. We didn't try that one again.
The bottom of one of my loaves of bread got stuck in the pan, but the top came out. You gotta laugh about it or you'll cry after 3 hours of work! :)
All three kids decided to do bubbles for their friends for Valentine's Day this year.
Every time my kids go grocery shopping with me they ask if we can get pistachios and every time I say maybe another time. The day before Valentine's Day was no exception. Little did my kids know that I had already bought some pistachios a week earlier and that they would be on the counter waiting for them on Valentine's morning.
And for Steve I decided to make chocolate covered cinnamon bears, one of his favorite treats. We haven't found anywhere that sells them here so I thought it would be nice to make our own. And since I don't like cinnamon candy it turned out to be a great gift for Steve since I wasn't tempted to eat them all myself.
Here is a video of Livy helping Kylee with her music flashcards. Livy doesn't know what the right answer is so she just says yes every time.
And here's a video of Kylee practicing her songs for their first piano recital in November. She knew them so well that she could play them with her eyes closed.
November was a big month for Kylee. She did her recital (with a lot of prayer) and a few weeks later she gave her first primary talk. We had forgotten to write a talk until that morning. During Sacrament meeting she reluctantly chose from a few ideas I gave her. When I had written three sentences she told me it was too long and not to write any more. We left it at that and I told her if she prayed for help Heavenly Father would make it possible for her to give her talk, but she would have to walk up there and she would have to start talking. He would do the rest. She was so nervous and wanted to back out. I sat in the back of the Primary room hoping and praying that she would be able to do it. Despite being nervous she immediately stood up and walked to the front when they called her name. I met her at the front and stood next to her while she gave a clear and perfect talk about how Elder Uchtdorf taught us the secret to a happy family is forgiveness. Since then we have talked many times about how we have to pray for help and then we have to move our feet and our mouths. I think that lesson will always stick with her and it's a good reminder for me too. She has since read a scripture verse in Primary (that was longer than her talk) and did beautifully. She is really growing up.
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