Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was pretty good.  We had a good time experiencing Christmas with family.  We had not been with extended family for Christmas in a very long time, so it was nice to have enough people to make a nativity scene!

Nativities with Cousins

Being near family this Christmas gave the children the opportunity to participate in two nativities with cousins from both sides of their families.

Jenna’s 7th Birthday

Literally only a few days before we moved from Georgia we had a birthday party for Jenna with her friends.  We had a good time and played some fun games.  My whole family misses our GA friends. Also, when we got to Utah we had a party for her with her cousins but I do not have any pictures of that.

We are moving!

We are moving to Utah!  It seems crazy, I know, but it is what we feel would be best for our family.  Anyway, below are three of my favorite things that just needed to be packed and I could live without.  Can you guess what’s in the boxes?

Police Station Tour

One of our friends from one of our homeschool groups organized a Police Station Tour for us and we had a good time.  Jenna had been wanting to go to this particular police station for years since the time when they first started building it.  The kids’ favorite part were the motorcycles (below) and there were a TON of them.

Jenna's First Ballet Performance

Here is a video of her first performance. She really likes ballet and I think she is doing well after only a couple months.

Soccer Videos

These are mostly for Ben to see Westley play soccer. Westley is quite good and scores many goals each game. At his first game he scored 11 goals with only 5 being for the other team! After that game he learned to only score in the other teams' goal and has since been doing great. When there is a bunch ball he almost always comes out with it. Sadly, I am awful with the camera and the videos. Here are some of the best videos. I have one more video and some pics to add later.

Halloween

For Halloween this year we went to our ward party (the first picture) and we went Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood (the first time in a few years).  This year Jenna was Sleeping Beauty (I think? I am writing this months later and I cannot remember what she was.), Westley was Spiderman, and Charlotte was Tinkerbell. 

Homeschool Co-op

We joined a homeschool co-op this year and the kids have been having a great time. The kids (babies up to teenagers) are divided into classes by grade level and the mothers teach the classes.  We have really enjoyed co-op and particularly like PE time.  The pictures below are from Polar Express Day at co-op.

Another Zoo Trip?

Yes we love Zoos, especially when they are FREE.  Here are some pictures of the kids at Bear Hollow Zoo.  This year was much more educational than last year since I had two kids who wanted me to read every word of every animal sign.  Westley particularly wanted to know what the animals eat.

August Vacation

Ben really felt that we needed to go visit family again so we took a trip to Wyoming and Utah.  On the way there we stopped by Carthage Jail and Nauvoo, IL.  I had never been to Carthage or Nauvoo so I was very excited eventhough we only had half a day.    Here are Ben and the kids in front of Carthage Jail.  By the way Ben is actually talking to MY Mom on the phone so I guess we can excuse the bad manners.      Apparently I found Nauvoo so exciting that I could only handle taking one picture!  Anyway, besides the visitors center we visited the Red Brick Store, the Black Smith Shop and walked/drove by many other places.

The rest of our vacation was even more exciting than Nauvoo and that is why I have exactly NO pictures.  I am actually quite sad about my lack of pictures and cannot believe we took none!  (Ben actually had the camera so we can blame him.)  I am really sad that I have no pictures of Char because Camping Char looked so cute.  Anyway… we went camping in Wy with Ben’s parents and a niece and nephew.  The kids really enjoyed it, especially Char.  My favorite part was the day it rained and we stayed in the tent to keep dry.  The kids played and I read my book.  Westley ate fish, Char picked tons of wildflowers, and Jenna dug in dirt so I guess they all enjoyed themselves.

We then went to Provo and showed the kids where Mom and Dad went to college, BYU.  They really seemed to enjoy it and now they all want to go there for college one day too. We finished up our trip by visiting my brother and his family again where we went swimming, to a museum, and a small town parade (which I love).

Potatoes

     Ben grew some potatoes this summer and he and the kids had a blast digging them out and washing them.  I guess dirt is fun for other people.

4th of July

Honestly, I am writing this so many months past when it happened that I do not remember much. (By the way do not go by the date, I changed it to be closer to the actual event not the time of writing). Ben’s sister and her family came to visit, we went to a ward party, and had some friends over for dinner and fireworks.  If I remember right we all had fun and all three of the kids liked the fireworks.

Eating Dinner. Yum! Watching fireworks.  The two year olds all piled on Sandy.  Westley and his cousin Ty watching the fireworks.    How many men does it take to light the fireworks?     Jenna and her friends.  I do not know what they were making faces about.

Science class, girl scouts, playgroup, school stuff …

Sadly, it only occurred to me in May that I should get pictures of the homeschool activities we have been participating in all year.  At least I have some pictures.  Below are some pictures from our science playgroup.  We meet together to do a simple science lesson and then let the kids play for a while.  This day’s lesson was on surface tension.  As you can see below Jenna got really good at making huge bubbles.

Charlotte eating something; that is all she does at these things.  Or on this particular day she did a little more because she sat in the bins with the bubble mixture.  At least she got clean. Westley was playing with the big boys and I just thought it was so cute. 

Another thing we did this year was a science class through the county that meet one morning a month for a couple hours.  Westley’s teacher was awesome!  She went to tons of work for each class and the classes were really fun.  This week they were learning about bats and caves. Westley even got to dress up as a bat. Jenna did NOT like her classes.  She thought they were boring because you mostly just sit in your seat.  I tried to explain that that is what school is and that is what everyone else does every day, all day, not just 2 hours a month. Another activity Jenna participated in this year was Girl Scouts.  She was in a homeschool troop that met during the day (making it easier for me) and was all homeschooled girls (hoping Jenna would make friends).  Well, Jenna seemed to like it all year until I asked her if she wants to do it next year and she said “no.”  Oh well, I found a really cool homeschool group we are going to join next year and I think it will work out well.  Anyway, below are some pictures from the End of Year Party/Awards Ceremony.

A Day at the Zoo

So if you have been following the blog for awhile I know it seems like we go to the zoo and others places kind of often, but do not worry we almost always get in for free or cheap.  This particular trip was free because of a pass through our local library. We were so glad that Ben was able to come with us on this trip too (except when he did not want to spend the whole day watching the pandas, whereas our kids would have).

This picture is in the parakeet house.  

The kids as meerkats and in a bird’s nest.

The beloved baby panda.  This is all Westley would talk about from the moment we entered the zoo.  He would have stayed there all day watching his panda cam (he calls it that because of the panda cam on the zoo website). Ben and Char walking around.  I did not get a picture but Charlotte really wanted to see the giraffes and was super excited about them when she did see them.

 

And of course no zoo trip is complete without seeing the elephants!