"I am glad for many things"

Summer Utah Trip

2011-10-06T18:27:00.000-07:00

Better late than never! The kids and I spent a wonderful 2 weeks in Utah this summer. We spent lots of time with friends and family. We went to the rodeo, the parade float display, spent a week at Aspen Grove, went hiking, swimming etc. Of course, the kids loved the flying part of the trip too. It didn't hurt that we were upgraded to first class - free of charge! Economy will never be the same! We missed Jim, who couldn't come due to work. But, we had a fantastic trip!

First Run

2011-09-23T19:22:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I participated in my first official road race. A neighboring town was having their annual 5k and I decided to give it a try. I can proudly say that I ran (slowly) the whole way and survived!

Emi took this pic after I got home. I don't think it's such a great idea to post a pic of yourself at 8:00 on a Saturday morning, wearing no makeup, and having just finished exercising! :) But, seeing as this was such a momentous occasion I guess I'll post!

Back to School

2011-09-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

Everyone is happy to be back in school! Yippee!

The Beach

2011-08-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we took the fam to the beach. It was a gorgeous New England summer day.... couldn't have been any better. Narraganset R.I. is our New England beach of choice. Jim and the Kids had a great time playing in the surf and I enjoyed reading a book on the beach! :)

Building sand castles! Jim isn't too happy about me posting a pic of his 'white chest'.....but hey, he can't help it - thankfully he's been in a cold air conditioned office all summer!

James playing in the sand. James was awesome in the surf this year. He and Jim went clear out and caught some big waves. James also loved chasing sea gulls on the beach. It was hilarious to watch!

Emi striking a silly pose. She is always our little mermaid at the beach....constantly in the water!

Clara and James coming in from looking for shells and smooth rocks. Ah, the simple pleasures of a day at the beach!

Happy Birthday James!

2011-08-07T19:32:00.000-07:00

James turned FIVE on July 14th. I can't believe my "baby" is five! He has been looking forward to his birthday for months. We had made a paper chain when there were only about eight days left...and each day he would cut a link off. The morning of the 14th I rolled over and opened my eyes to see James standing at my side of the bed, grinning and holding the last ring from his birthday chain. Another cute thing he's done for the past few months is ask about the size of his clothes. "Is this shirt a size 4T? I can wear it for just a little bit longer then." OR "This shirt is a 5T.....I can't wear it until my birthday." His favorite shirts were those that read "4T/5T because I can wear those now AND later." So funny! :) Here are a few pics of the birthday boy.

For James' party we had a bounce house, pirate games and water guns. Super fun!

James and his baseball birthday cupcake!

The Fam on James' big day.

James chose cheesy scrambled eggs & homemade cinnamon rolls for his birthday dinner.

Getting ready to open presents.

Legos! A new favorite!

Ohio

2011-06-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

Last week we enjoyed a family vacation to Ohio. Jim's parents are serving a mission in Kirtland, and we figured it was a great time for a visit. It's a 10 hour drive from CT and the kids were great....we've reached the magical age of easy traveling, hooray! We enjoyed all day Thursday touring the sites of Kirtland. It was a very educational experience. By the end of the day, James said "PLEASE no more tours!"

Visiting the Kirtland Temple.

Grandma & Grandpa giving us a tour at the Newel K. Whitney store.

At the Johnson Farm. (One of our favorite spots)

On Friday we went to Cedar Point (an amazing amusement park). It was only about an hours drive west of Kirtland. We were there from 10 am to 10 pm. The kids (and Jim/Me) had an GREAT time. If you like wild, scary roller coasters then this is the place to go! It's known as the roller coaster capital of the country and it truly lives up to its name. The girls went on everything and James wishes he could have gone on all the coasters - but he did enjoy LOTS of kiddie rides! :)
Emi and James on the kid swings.

This ride was a heart stopper. Jim and I both loved this ride (the girls decided not to ride this one....I nearly chickened out, but I'm glad I went....amazing!)
Top Thrill Dragster is a behemoth, standing 420 feet above the Cedar Point midways. It opened as the tallest and fastest coaster in the world back in 2003. A hydraulic cable launch system - launches riders from 0-120 mph in less than four seconds.

This coaster is definitely a winner. Emi and Clara both rode on this one! Millennium Force is the park's star attraction, standing 310 feet above the Earth. It broke 10 world records when it opened in 2000 and continues to deliver ultimate thrills to those who challenge it. Dive to the ground at an 85-degree angle and reach speeds of 93 mph during your two-minute journey. (I can't figure out why I can't get this pic to display in a larger size...oh well)

Pint size roller coaster for James!

Mom and Clara in the front!

At the end of a great day!

The next day, we headed to Niagra Falls. It was a beautiful day and kids were amazed by the huge falls!

Time Flies

2011-06-12T18:17:00.000-07:00

I love the beginning of June for many reasons, one of which is the fact that the kids get their Paul Cryan black and white pictures taken. They turned out great - I realize that my opinion is extremely partial :) My Mom has patiently been waiting for me to post these!

This is Emi's 2004 picture - she was three! Oh, how time flies!

And here is Emi now - 2011! Fun to see these side by side!

Emi likes this one because she she thinks she "looks like a teenager"!

I love this one of Clara - the little movie star.

Clara loved posing for the camera! The photographer is absolutely hilarious and is amazing working with the kids. Clara was just eating up the whole experience!

My little boy is getting much too big!

Sewing

2011-06-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

I've sewn crafty things before...but never anything to actually wear! I had three opportunities this past week - Clara needed a green skirt to wear for her first grade play....Emi needed a white Egyptian outfit for Egypt day and then the girls 'needed' some cute church skirts!

Clara was a carrot in her first grade play :)

Emi the Egyptian - her skirt is made out of an old dress shirt of Jim's!

I saw this cute skirt pattern and had to give it a try. My good friend is a 'seamstress extrordinare' and she guided me through the process.

Front shot.

Back shot.

New York City

2011-05-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

When Mark, Kimmie and baby Spencer were visiting, we decided to have an 'adventure' and take everyone to New York City. Jim and I have gone to NYC many times.....alone, and have loved it. We figured the kids were all old enough now, plus we had one adult to every child. Safety first! We packed some snacks, piled into the car and viola! Two hours later our party of seven was exploring New York City.

The day was a great success. The weather was perfect, the kids behaved beautifully and we enjoyed lots of touristy things - Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, China Town, Time Square and Central Park.

"Excitement" during the day: Sarah 'misreading' the map and we ended up traveling through the Bronx. Seeing Jack Sparrow walk down 5th Avenue. Jim having his pocket knife confiscated at the Statue of Liberty (security check!). Jim loosing my nice McClaren stroller. (He likes to say someone stole it from him at gunpoint, but he actually left it leaning against a bench in the subway). James being quite traumatized by the number of people he saw with piercings and "stamps" on their bodies. Emi and Clara periodically plugging their noses and saying "What is that gross smell?" Seeing a bald man walking down the street with a cat sitting on his head.

We all had a fantastic time in New York City!

Waiting at the Subway Station

In line for the ferry to Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty. A nearly two hour wait!

On the ferry boat. The kids loved the boat ride!

There were some serious 'gale winds' on the ferry ride! Just kidding, this is actually Jim showing off his upper body strength....much to the pleasure of those on board the boat!

The kids loved the statue of liberty. They all came home with souvenir Statue of Liberty key chains!

Lady Liberty

Not a great candid shot of me and Mark....but this is us on Ellis Island. A fascinating place. Very interesting!

The fam at Time Square. Jim does not have a happy face in this pic. Probably because he had just lost my stroller....and I was not too pleased with him! :)

Last stop of the day was Central Park. The kids loved running and climbing on the huge rock formations in the park. I have no idea where their energy came from at the end of such a long and adventurous day!

Life Cycle

2011-05-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

Today I was driving James and his "best buddy" to school. This is the conversation that I overheard from the backseat.

Andrew - "I have a loose tooth"
James - "Ohhh - Wow! After you loose all of your teeth, you get to be a pirate!"
Andrew - "Yah, and after that, when you die, you get to be a skeleton!
James - "Awesome!"

So there you have it! The life cycle according to 5-year-old boys!

BOY------PIRATE------SKELETON

Birthdays

2011-04-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

Emi and Clara had their birthdays months ago, but they were very patient in waiting for their 'friend' parties! We had both parties on one Saturday. Clara's from 10 to 12 and Emi's from 1 to 3. They were a great success! Here are a few pics of the fun day. Clara's pics are first.

For Emi's party we played BINGO. Instead of bringing birthday gifts, each girl brought five small bingo prizes. Every time we had a winner, that girl would choose a prize from the prize table - and put the prize in their 'goodie bag'. Each girl left with eight fun prizes. It worked wonderfully!

I also celebrated my birthday this month. I was in Utah for General Conference on my actual birthday (a fabulous trip!), and I returned home to house full of decorations and cards. Jim bought an adorable little cake and insisted that it be lit with all 34 candles. The kids thought the cake was hilarious and looked like a fire! I also have wonderful neighbors and friends who surprised me with lots of yummy goodies.

Double Digits!

2011-03-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

It's been nearly a month since Emi turned the big 10. Here are a few pics from her special day.

Delicious!

2011-02-16T12:39:00.000-08:00

Look familiar?

I saw this desirable fruit at Stop&Shop (our grocery store) the other day.....and I HAD to buy it! Is this awesome or what!? We've had lots of fun with this forbidden fruit - I can't wait to see what it tastes like :)

Two days later this fruit is now a beautiful orange/red color. More true to
life - thus I needed to add one more picture!

More Snow

2011-02-02T18:08:00.000-08:00

REALLY? This snow business is getting to be down right ridiculous! These pics are after two more consecutive days of snow and sleet. We easily have a good four feet of snow in the middle of the yard, let alone along the sides of the road and driveway where great mountains have formed! Jim has had to clean off the roof twice already. A risky business, but somebody's got to do it! Roof cave-ins and water damage are a serious issue around here! One man started his house on fire yesterday while using a propane torch to melt the snow off of his roof! :)

I'm afraid I've got a serious case of cabin fever. We've had so many substantial snow storms that my kids have not attended a full week of school since before Christmas break!

Snow and lots of pics

2011-01-27T17:16:00.000-08:00

Questions I ask myself every other day lately:
#1 It's snowing AGAIN!?
#2 Does the outdoor themometer really say that!?
#3 Do my kids ever go to school!?

PICS FROM THE LAST MONTH:

Frosting!

Christmas morning

"Ahoy Matey!"

Having baby Amelia visit for a week was soo fun! Built in entertainment!

Of course we loved having Alan & Lindsay visit too! New Years Eve fun!

Ice Skating!

Sledding on one of the many "snow days = no school"

Emi's first violin concert

Happy 7th Birthday Clara!

Christmas Pics

2010-12-22T11:43:00.000-08:00

Dressed up for pics before Church! Emi sang a solo in sacrament meeting on Sunday. She did an amazing job, way to go Emi! Everyone is excited for Christmas!

Catching up

2010-12-15T12:49:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that the holidays are upon us already! I feel like we just celebrated Christmas about two weeks ago.....and here it is again! I guess that's what happens when you get older. I haven't posted in awhile, so here are just a few pics of what's been going on around the Steele household.

Clara lost her front two teeth! (sorry the pic is a bit blury)

Emi practicing her violin.

You know that hot, clean smelling steam that blows out of the dishwasher while on the dry cycle? James loves it.

Boy fun. James giving his matchbox cars a bath.

Camping

2010-11-16T17:59:00.000-08:00

We set up tents in the basement and the kids "camped out"! We used battery tea lights and blocks to make a 'campfire' and told stories around the campfire before bed. The kids had a great time sleeping in their camp tents! And Mom and Dad enjoyed NOT sleeping in tents! :)

Trick-or-Treat

2010-10-31T19:21:00.000-07:00

October is my favorite month. I live in New England because I love fall! The amazing colors, the leaves swirling across the streets, leaves falling from the trees like snow, mums and orange pumpkins on the front steps of every colonial home.....it's just so quintessential New England! Love it.

Okay, now on to Halloween. I love Halloween because a. it's in October, b. the kids get super excited about it, and c. all of the yummy candy! Enjoy the pics and Happy Halloween!

Emi as a pretty swamp 'monster', Clara as a witch and James as a shark.

Carving the pumpkin!

The finished product.

Jim is amazing. Look at this awesome pumpkin with horns, bloodshot egg shell eyes and goo coming out of it's mouth! The kids lost interest in the carving process after about 20 minutes and left Jim with the job. He's mister fun and creative in our house! Great job dear! The eyes glow when it's lit - very spooky!

The clan at our annual Halloween gala.

Rummaging thru the spoils of the night!

Acorns

2010-10-12T18:22:00.000-07:00

For the past two months we have been hearing 'gun-shots' falling from our oak trees. Thousands and thousands of these monster acorns fall about 80 feet and bang, clank and crash into our car, driveway, deck and roof. Watch out, it can be very dangerous! :-)

Notice how many TALL oak trees completely surround our house. I swear each tree produces about a million acorns!

Look at the size of these things! This is why Jim's old Taurus is soo badly pocked with acorn dents. (The new cars are safely parked in the garage)

Another picture to show the gianormous size of these things. On occassion, the kids have worn their bike helmets while playing in the yard! The acorns really hurt if they hit your head!

The past month

2010-09-02T17:46:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, I finally have my laptop back again. After 3 weeks without it, I'm glad it's home. It has a new hard drive, so it's as good as new! Here's what has been going on around here for the past little while.

August/September was a rough month, but I made it...and brighter days are still ahead. I recently went thru another late-term miscarriage. This one at 17 weeks. Not fun at all! I thought it would be easier, since I've done this before (only a year ago), but it was actually harder. Surgery went well, and physically I'm doing fine, but the emotional road to recovery is a long one. But alas, life goes on.

On a happier note, school is now in full swing. Emi loves 4th grade. She is beginning violin lessons at school along with continuing her piano. She loves soccer and girl scouts too. Clara is known as "speed-o" by her first grade friends on the playground (the boys chase the girls). Her fast running is also evident on the soccer field. She scored something like six goals at her first game last Saturday! Way to go Clara! James finally started preschool mid September, and asks at least every 30 minutes if it's time to go to school yet. He loves it!

Here are a few pics of the kids this past month.

The girls on their first day of school!

James on his first day of preschool.

Sister soccer stars!

James can now ride a two-wheeler....without training wheels! He loves it and does really well. I now have to jog on our morning 'walks' together just to keep up with him - it's nearly killing me :) On Saturday, we went about 4 miles and he just smiled and pedaled away! What a little trooper!

Aspen Grove

2010-08-25T16:09:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a wonderful trip to Utah and a week at Aspen Grove! Fun times!

James' Bday and Old Friends

2010-08-01T17:52:00.001-07:00

Happy 4th Birthday James! This is James with a plate of blueberry pancakes and a candle. We sang "happy birthday" and opened gifts in the morning, because that afternoon we boarded a plane and flew to Utah. James thought it was great to fly on his b-day and it was a great surprise when a flight attendant announced his name over the plane intercom and everyone on board clapped and cheered!

In the tube slide at McDonalds. James and his two best friends Will and Andrew.

James' first official birthday party! We played fun games at home and then headed to McDonalds for lunch and cake. The party was a great success.

Flashback seven years....yes it's been that long since Emi was 2 and her cute little friends Hannah and Kalaya were 3. These three little musketeers were best of friends back in our 'early' days of livivng in CT. The Howards and the Arnes long ago moved away, but we're all still great friends.

Here is Hannah, Emi and Kalaya now! Aren't they all just beautiful? While in Utah, we got together with the Howards and the Arnes. The girls had a great time playing and us Mom's had a wonderful time catching up. We love our dear friends!

Trek and more

2010-07-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

Jim and I participated on our stake's youth Trek this past week. We were assistant wagon masters. It was amazing!!! Honestly, I don't think it could have gotten much more authentic. From pushing handcarts for over nine straight hours (through mud and rivers, over trees and rocks) - all the while going without food for 14 hours. To shooting muskets, killing live chickens with an axe and cooking them over a fire, to sleeping on the ground under a handcart! The youth and leaders in our stake are absolutely amazing! It was a privilege to take part in trek.

In other news, Emi got her glasses. She's thrilled and since this pic was taken, she has completely covered her glasses case with stickers. The glasses are shiny purple. She only has to wear them at school for distance, but she loves them!

On Friday night, we went to our town's 4th of July concert and fireworks display. We packed a picnic dinner, played ball, play go fish and enjoyed the beautiful fireworks. What a fun night!

James getting his "summer haircut"

Little Boy Week

2010-06-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

I took James to the doctor on Friday because he had a rash on his face....well, the doctor wasn't too concerned about the rash, but WAS pretty concerned about his raspy breathing (aka respiratory infection). So, for the next week James has to take antibiotics and wear this mask/nebulizer three times each day. The girls think it's great fun to 'help' James with his 'breathing' time.

James' last day of preschool was 'Super Hero' day!

One of James' best friends is sadly moving to CA. He lovingly gave this riding dump truck to James! We bought a new battery for it and it's as good as new. The kids like that you can drive in both forward and reverse! James is absolutely thrilled with his new toy and loves cruising around the yard and filling/dumping the truck bed with sticks, rocks etc.

In Rewind

2010-06-06T18:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in over a month.....life has been crazy. So in rewind, here's a few things that we did in May.

The kids all made wonderful gifts and cards for Mothers day, and Jim made me my favorite ice cream pie. It was great!

Emi and Clara just finished their year of dance classes with two fantastic dance recitals. Clara did tap and Emi did Jazz and Ballet. They both loved it!

We always love attending our town's annual Memorial Day Parade. It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time!

Spring

2010-05-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

Salt Lake Trip

2010-04-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

Overlooking the SLC temple at Sunset. Isn't this just a beautiful view!?

This is "Al-gator"....a huge stuffed alligator that a blind woman knitted for my Grandpa. (Yes, he does recieve some pretty interesting gifts). "Al-gator" has been well used and loved over the past 10 years, and so my grandparents recently decided to have him re-stuffed! He's as good as new! :)

James and Uncle Brent in one of their many amazingly cool boy toys. James absolutely adores Tag and Talmage and loves staying with Brent and Ang.

In between conference sessions.
Emi's first time attending General Conference. She came with Jim and I to the Saturday morning session. She did really well and had a great experience!

While in SLC we celebrated my birthday! The kids made this cute display out of pom-poms. Look closely, it says "happy birthday mom".

While in SLC we also celebrated Easter. Here are the kids getting ready for their Easter egg hunt. Between the egg hunt with cousins and three adoring sets of grandparents, we probably brought home about 20 pounds of chocolate!

Kiddos

2010-03-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

Nothing too exciting is happening around here. No news is good news, right? I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, so I feel obligated to post a few pics of the kiddos!

James has the most amazing sunbeam teacher. Every week she goes above and beyond with her lesson and craft/handouts. James is always so eager to tell us about what he learned in Sunbeams. A couple of weeks ago, James proudly marched out of primary with a cup filled with dirt and seeds. He had learned that Heavenly Father created seeds and grass. Each day he dutifully watered and checked on his seeds.

James was thrilled when grass started to grow, and even more excited when "grass man's" hair grew so long it needed a haircut!

At least a couple times each week, James digs through his closet and pulls out his monkey halloween costume. He wears it around the house pretending to be a monkey, a bear or a puppy. On this day, all of his pretending wore him out, and he climbed into bed all on his own and fell asleep. Super cute!

Clara was one of two kindergartners honored at a town art show last week. She was so excited to receive her certificate and eat punch and cookies at the reception!

I really need to post an "art show" of some of her work. She'd love that!

In rewind

2010-03-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

Thankfully there is no longer snow in my front yard! (However, there has been several inches of cold rain this weekend.) This pic is from a couple of weeks ago. Jim and the kids had a great time building a snowman family in our front yard. Every day afterward we'd check the 'status' of our snowman and sing either "once there was a snowman tall, tall, tall" or "in the sun he melted small, small, small."

Emi celebrated her ninth birthday with an ice skating party. The girls had so much fun decorating olympic gold medals, showing off their twirls on the ice and of course eating cupcakes and drinking hot chocolate!

Kids Say the Cutest Things

2010-03-04T11:22:00.000-08:00

The other day we were at a playgroup. I was holding my friends adorable 5 month old daughter. Clara came over to me and said "Ohhhhh, she's soooo cute!!! Can I pet her?"

Happy Valentines Day

2010-02-19T13:55:00.000-08:00

This week has been winter vacation. The kids have had lots of fun at playdates, sledding, playing in the snow, attending library classes, going swimming etc. I'm happy to say that I survived winter vacation...and I'm looking forward to a return in schedules come Monday! =)

Below are a couple pics from Valentines Day. My favorite is the giant crepe paper heart that Jim and the Kids created on my bedroom wall. Very cute!

Teddy Bear Birthday Party

2010-01-31T17:11:00.000-08:00

Saturday was Clara's sixth birthday party. The party was a huge success! We came up with the idea of having an "adopt a teddy bear" party......at home. The girls loved getting their own teddy bears! Everything was bear themed. We had a bear treasure hunt, we made collars and personalized 'bear' tags, we took our bears to the 'vet', we played pet bear bingo and had bear story time. The kids had a great time!

Clara waiting for her friends to arrive.

Looking for a treasure clue....in the refrigerator!

The girls with their bears.

Making collars and birth certificates

Visiting the 'vet.'

In addition the the bears & collars, the girls received these teddy goodies in their bags.

The birthday girl enjoying her giant cupcake!

Skiing

2010-01-24T12:32:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Jim took Emi skiing for the first time. They went to Butternut and had a great day. Emi did really well! She took a first-timer lesson in the morning, and then spent the rest of the day skiing with Jim on the real trails. They skied all day and when Emi called me as they were driving out of the ski resort parking lot, she said "I loved it! I am an excellent skier!"

Happy Birthday Clara

2010-01-17T15:58:00.000-08:00

Clara turned six this past week! She had a great day and relished every birthday moment! She is a sweetheart!

"Big Boy"

2010-01-10T17:07:00.000-08:00

This week brought some changes, for James. For quite some time now, he has informed me that he is "a big boy" and now I am starting to realize that fact. Yesterday we took down the crib, put away his car seat (replacing it with a booster) and last Sunday he graduated from nursery to primary. This is scary, my children are growing up!

James loved his crib! He slept in it until he was three and a half - and never once tried to get out. He called it his "cozy bed". Just last week, he decided all on his own that it was time to move to his "big boy bed". This crib used to be mine when I was a baby. Jim sanded and painted it before Emi was born and it has been in use for the past nine years! It now lives in the attic :)

"Jesus want me for a Sunbeam!"

Jim's car post

2010-01-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

(This post is especially for my Dad and brothers. They all love cars, and think it's absolutely heroic, and hilarious that Jim has driven the Taurus for so long).

Well, Jim finally did it. He bought a new car today! The poor man has been driving the Ford Taurus for nine years now. Don't get me wrong, the Ford was a great car and it served us well. But it was definitely time for a new car. The gas gauge hasn't worked for years (Jim would fill up the tank and then reset the odometer, and he knew that he could drive approx. 250 miles before he needed to fill the tank again.) This method only backfired once, when one of my friends and I decided to track different walking routes throughout the neighborhood. I set and reset the odometer several times to record how many miles each route was. But, I forgot to tell Jim of my little exercise, and he ran out of gas later in the week!

The passenger window no longer rolls down, the car is pocked with acorn dents - we park it outside in the driveway underneath 90 ft. tall trees that drop strawberry size acorns each fall, and lastly the doors have some issues as well. Last winter, the driver's door would just randomly fly open without warning - while driving! Jim used a couple of bungee cords to solve this problem (who ever heard of tying yourself into your vehicle?) This winter the doors won't open. They freeze shut every night. One morning, I looked out the window to see Jim climbing through the back door and over the console into the drivers seat! Recently, the heat went out. This is absolutely unbearable in CT. Jim had the radiator flushed, and that helped to increase the "heat" from frigid to cool.

Thus, he finally gave in and began the search for a new car. We don't buy cars often (yeah, like every 10 years). We buy them, and drive them until they die! After weeks of research, looking from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts, we finally found the perfect car and the perfect price. Mission accomplished. Phew!

Here's an old pic of Jim and the Taurus when it was "new" - notice Emi is in a baby carrier!

Jim and his new Maxima....standing with Clara - she loves the moon roof :)

Christmas Fun

2009-12-21T19:41:00.000-08:00

Every year, Jim and the kids build a gingerbread house. Here is this year's creation. You can't tell from this picture, but Jim installed lights inside the house. He used his Dremmel and cut out the windows, then used parchment paper for iridescent window coverings. Then, he wired tiny flickering lights inside the house. With the magic push of a button, the lights turn on and off!

Every year we visit Yankee Candle Company's flagship store in Deerfield Mass. It's a gigantic Christmas paradise! The kids love all of the displays and they love visiting with Santa in his little workshop. He was a very real, a very nice and a very thorough Santa. He literally spent 10 minutes with every family. Thank goodness we visited on a Monday night when there were only four or five families in front of us in line! :) On the way home, we stopped in Springfield Mass. to visit the Bright Nights light display (another fun tradition).

Dressed up in our Christmas attire for church on Sunday!

Christmas crafts

2009-12-17T09:45:00.000-08:00

It's so terribly cold outside today, that I figured it would be a great day to stay home and get some crafts done. I bought some adorable Christmas fabric in Utah and I really wanted to sew some pillowcases for the kids. My dear friend came over this morning to help me out. They turned out soo cute! I feel very crafty! :)

Leaf Peeping Pics

2009-12-06T19:30:00.000-08:00

I realize that it's now December, and Christmas is just around the corner.....I'm just a bit behind on my blogging. I know no one likes excuses, but seriously, I had swine flu for the first 2 and a half weeks of November, and now I'm finally better and still playing catch up! So, here are a few of our family leaf peeping pics from October! (Where has the time gone!)

I absolutely LOVE fall in Connecticut! It's totally worth living in New England, just to experience the gorgeous fall colors and fall events each year. Leaf peeping, pumpkin putches, fall carnivals, apple picking etc. Oh, the simple beauties of Connecticut!

Halloween

2009-11-01T15:28:00.001-08:00

Clara wore her super cute Halloween dress to school this week. She looked adorable and was a big hit in her class!

Clara as Snow White - marching in the Kindergarten Halloween parade!

Family pumpkin time - carving our jack-o-lantern. The only requirement was that everyone had to put their hand in the pumpkin to touch the goo. James loved it!

This pic is turned side ways (and I don't know how to fix it). Anyway, we hosted a little Halloween party on Halloween night, complete with spooky food. Here are the "mummy dogs".

This was probably the favorite..."Bones and Blood". The kids thought it was great!

Our last spooky main dish was "Mummy pizza's".

All the kids ready to go trick-or-treating! What a cute group!

The morning after trick-or-treating! Clara put her candy in piles and then pretended to open a candy store, selling each piece for $3......what a business women!

Emi organized and counted all of her candy. The winner candy was 15 packages of whoppers!

James put his candy into rows (like a parking lot). Gee, playing with all of this candy is soo much fun!

Super!

2009-10-27T19:52:00.001-07:00

"Super Girl" and "Super Boy" to the resue!

Conference!

2009-10-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

About mid August, I recieved a phone call from my Mom. She informed me that she had just been asked to speak in the October General Conference! Of course I couldn't miss it! Jim and I talked it over and decided that just I should go, since our entire family had attended the previous two conferences. He graciously volunteered to man the home front while I went off to Utah for the weekend.

Now here's where things get interesting! Just two days before I was to leave for UT, my Grandpa called and informed me that he had business in the east the following weekend....so why don't I just stay in Utah for an extra couple of days after conference and then return to the east coast with he and my grandma? "What a fabulous idea!" said I. And a glorious nine day trip was born! Poor Jim was now tied into being Mr. Mom for a much longer time. Nine days of tending the kids is at least six months in what he and his friend termed "Dad years".

This pic is out of order....for some reason I can't get it to move to the bottom of the page! Whenever my Grandpa comes to CT to visit us, he stays in a specific Marriott hotel. He stays there because he knows how much my kids LOVE to go swimming at the pool when he comes! He is an amazing Grandpa!

My Grandpa had church business in Nauvoo, Kirtland and in New England. This was our first stop, the Nauvoo temple. Absolutely beautiful! I have never seen such exquisite beauty! It was such a privilage and blessing to tour the temple. I absolutely loved it! To think of the extreme sacrifices of the pioneers who built and left this beautiful temple is truly humbling. I am grateful for the legacy and example they left for us!

Outside the Nauvoo temple. It was cold and clear...a beautiful autumn evening in Nauvoo. We attended several missionary meetings and then a cultural performance that night. It was great!

The next morning it was on to Kirtland. We toured the Kirtland temple, the Whitney store, the school of the prophets and other various sites. Then a meeting with the missionaries. Next, on to CT. We spent the evening at the hotel enjoying swimming (see above pic) and being with Grandpa and Grandma.

At home after church, posing with Grandma Ann. Grandma and Grandpa could only stay in CT for less than a day because Grandpa had a funeral to speak at and more scouting meetings to attend! But we gladly took advantage of every minute we were together!

James and Grandpa! The kids love their grandpa so much! Grandpa brought the kids our favorite treat.....Cummings chocolates. They loved talking with him, singing with him and looking at Chicken Calendars with him! What a wonderful visit!

Bosotn

2009-10-18T18:22:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we enjoyed a great Saturday in Boston. It was ward temple day, and the youth of the ward volunteered to babysit younger children at a nearby stake center so that parents could attend a session. What a wonderful act of service! It was neat to have Emi, Clara and James prepare and drive the two hours to the temple with us. Usually they're home with a babysitter, so this was a welcome change. They had a great time....and so did Jim and I! After our session, we enjoyed walking around the temple grounds and admiring the temple.

After spending the morning at the temple, we took the kids to the Boston American Girl store!

Emi and Clara were sooo excited! They dressed their dolls special, just for the occasion. They loved everything in the store (it was really neat!). Every girl's and mom's dream store! Even Jim and James enjoyed it!

Emi and Clara were thrilled with their purchases. Glasses for their dolls and trading cards for themselves.....plus they enjoyed making their Christmas lists! :)

After shopping, on to the Cheesecake factory! Jim and I have a tradition of always going out to eat at the Cheesecake factory after we attend the temple. The kids loved eating out and Emi and Clara thought it was extra special to bring their American Girl dolls to the restaurant!

"Big Boy"

2009-09-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

The other day, James said to me "Yesterday I was small, but today I am a big boy!"

Another James moment this week:

We had just gotten back from a bike ride, and I said to James "Good job riding your bike, James!" and he replied:

"Yes, I exercise. I am getting BIG muscles!"

Sometimes they say the cutest things!

Back to School

2009-09-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

The kids have actually been back in school for two weeks....but quite honestly it's been a very difficult two weeks! So, now I'm finally getting around to posting about school.

Clara absolutely LOVES Kindergarten! She has a wonderful teacher and has already made some new friends in her class. She is thrilled with her Princess backpack and loves to choose her outfit and accessories before school each day. She goes in the afternoon and James is really sad when the bus comes and picks her up for school. Every day I have to explain that he cannot ride the bus until he is five!

Emi coming off the bus on the first day of school. It is hard to believe that she's in third grade! She loves it!

At the bus stop after the first day of school. Everyone has a happy face.....that's a good sign for a great school year!

North Carolina

2009-08-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

The best vacation of our summer was definitely Outer Banks. We spent nine glorious days in luxury and relaxation. My parents, Jeff, and Mark/Kimmie flew out from SLC to North Carolina. Alan and Lindsay already live in NC, and we drove down from CT. (Even the drive was great.) The entire family spent a fabulous week together!

Below are a few pics of some of the fun things we did while in the Outer Banks:

Four-wheeling on the beach was one of my favorite activities. Only 4x4 vehicles are allowed on certain beaches, and we could drive/bounce around for miles! The kids had a blast, I laughed for hours, and Jim loved driving thru the sand and surf!

I have to include a pic of "our" beautiful beach house. It was incredible! Whenever we weren't at the beach or out on some fun activity, we were relaxing at the house or swimming in the pool in the backyard. James keeps asking when we can go to "Grandpa's house with the pool". He doesn't realize that the house was a rental.....but we all wish it belonged to my Dad :)

Every day we went to the beach. The water was warm, the sand was soft, the waves were perfect, there were tons of shells to collect, and the beaches were very family friendly. Emi was in the surf continually, Clara collected hundreds of shells, and James loved running back and forth from the waves to the beach. The beach is awesome, the kids just entertain themselves for hours. My brother Alan brought lots of fun kites and also encouraged some serious sand castle building throughout the week!

We spent one afternoon visiting Kitty Hawk (the first flight, the Wright brothers etc.) Neat!

We visited one of the lighthouses on the Outer Banks. The kids all enjoyed climbing to the top...I on the other hand was a bit nervous. Heights aren't my favorite thing in the world. I was just worried that James was going slip through the railing or something! Paranoid I know :)

Other favorite things we did that aren't pictured (I need to get some more pics from Mark and Kimmie) - I loved going crab hunting on the beach at night. You go around 10 pm and there are hundreds of crabs roaming the beach. Kinda creepy, yes.....but very fun to scream and run around trying to catch them (the boys caught them.....the girls just screamed). I loved playing tennis, riding bikes, attempting to play beach volleyball (us Dibb's are not athletically gifted.....Jim was the only one of the bunch that could actually do some damage to the volleyball :). Oh, and enjoying lots and lots of homemade gourmet meals! Fabulous!

Aspen Grove

2009-08-13T13:36:00.001-07:00

One of our vacations this summer was spent at Aspen Grove. Aspen Grove is a BYU run family camp located near Sundance ski resort at the base of Mount Timpanogus. It's a week of fun, adventure and excitement for the entire family. I grew up going to Aspen Grove each summer, so it was really neat to take my family! The kids had an incredible time....and so did the adults! Jim's parents and two of his siblings and their families also came up for a fun filled week.

"The adults"
Grandma and Grandpa Steele and the cousins.

Lots of face painting this week: Here is James as a pirate and Emi as a cat

Clara loved 'panning for gold' and James enjoyed 'horse back riding' - just a couple of the super fun activities at frontier night.

Emi fishing at the fish pond and Clara getting ready to climb the climbing wall:
Aspen Grove is located right at the base of Mount Timpanogus. (Jim and Brent were able to hike it.....and the rest of the fam took several shorter day hikes throughout the week). It's such a beautiful location, and just a great place to spend a week with family.

24th of July (a bit late)

2009-08-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

I'm quite behind in my blogging, so I've decided to work backwards. I'll document some highlights of our summer vacations starting with the 24th of July in Salt Lake City. We got tickets to The Days of '47 Parade and we all had a fantastic time. The kids loved the horses, the marching bands, the beautiful floats and the "pretty princesses".

Emi, James and Clara sportin' their shades as they watch the parade from the bleachers.

Dad, Mom and James....We LOVE visiting Utah and watching the parade!

This was our favorite float! We were a little partial simply because my Dad was in charge of building this float (that's my Dad walking in front of the float). It was a giant ship, and everything covering this float was donated to the church humanitarian center. It's covered with colorful quilts that people in my parents' stake made, and the waves are made of socks...that were also donated. Even the wooden ship frame was donated to a local park. Pretty cool! My Dad put forth a TON of work organizing and building this float, and it looked great! The kids loved seeing grandpa walk in the parade!

After the parade, we walked around temple square and took some pics. It was a beautiful, HOT, dry day.............ahhhhh! Summer in Utah!

The evening of the 24th, we drove up to 'This is the Place' monument to show the kids where the pioneers first entered the Salt Lake City Valley. It was fun celebrating a "Utah holiday". It's still strange living in CT when the 24th of July rolls around each year. I still think "Gee, how come no one's celebrating?" :) We had a wonderful trip to Utah, and thoroughly enjoyed visiting family and friends!

Happy Birthday James!

2009-07-14T18:45:00.000-07:00

James is THREE! We had a great day complete with birthday decorations, pancakes on the "You are special today" plate, a bike ride to the park, washing the car (a.k.a. playing with the hose), a trip to the library, swimming at the pool, James' dinner of choice (hot dogs, salad, chips and "root beard") and chocolate cake with chocolate frosting! What a day!

James was so cute today on his special day. He would sing "happy birthday to me" throughout the day, and whenever someone would wish him happy birthday, he would reply "tank you, I tree".

Emi and Clara were equally thrilled that there was a birthday to celebrate. They helped color birthday signs to decorate the dining room, and they were sure to give lots of extra hugs and kisses to the birthday boy. During morning and evening prayers, the girls expressed their thanks "for such a wonderful little brother" and that "we could celebrate James' special birthday." How sweet!!

Gifts from sisters, mom & dad and two sets of good friends delivered little gifts today....what fun!

James LOVES planes, trucks, diggers, tractors, buses etc. He received several matchbox planes and trucks.....and he immediately began pretending with them.

"Blow out the candles on your cake and make a wish......" Happy Birthday buddy, we love you!

School Pics

2009-06-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

I always look forward to early June because that is when my kids get their b&w school pictures!

This Week

2009-06-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

I have nothing new and exciting to post....but it's been two weeks, so I need to update! During the past two weeks, I have been absolutely obsessed with trying to find the right paint color to paint the exterior of our home. The people at Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore seriously know me on a first name basis and they just laugh when I walk in the door of their store! I have 10 quarts of sample paint in my garage and every surface of the shed in my yard is painted in all 10 of those colors! The good news is that I'm really close to finding the perfect color! The new windows go in this Tuesday and the painter is scheduled to begin after that.....I'm so nervous! I hope it turns out okay!

Here are just a couple of pics from this past week. Hopefully we'll have a few more sunny days this week! To quote James "It's not a beautiful day.....again!"

James and Clara pretending. Here, they were making a 'secret little house' under the bathroom counter. Another favorite pretending game is airport!

Emi's second grade class hosted an 'author's tea' this week. All the parents come for tea - or lemonade :), cookies, finger sandwiches and most importantly, to listen to the kids read their original work! Very cute.

Our neighbor passed this little bike down to James. I went and bought a set of training wheels and now James is on his way! He's very excited about his big boy bike.

Dance Recital

2009-05-31T17:24:00.000-07:00

This week has been all about dancing. Emi has been taking a jazz class this year, and Clara has been taking tap at Terpsichore Dance Studio in Simsbury. Both of the girls have loved their dance classes and have been eagerly anticipating the year-end recital. We have spent many hours this week at dance classes, dress rehearsals and two weekend performances. The show was held at Kingswood Oxford (a private school in West Hartford). Emi and Clara both did an awesome job! They were so cute and they had so much fun! Emi commented that she could hardly wait for dance to start again in the fall, and Clara exclaimed that she loved to dance with all of her new friends! (The cute thing is that "all of her new friends" are teenagers!) The "big girls" are sooo great about watching over and helping all of the little dancers. Several of the girls have really taken to Clara, and they are all now buddies!

The girls had to be "on stage" about two hours before the actual performance began. So after dropping them off, Jim and I took advantage of being across the street from Blue Back Square and we grabbed dinner (and dessert!) at one of my favorite spots....The Cheesecake Factory. There's nothing better than date-night dinner AND afterwards watching your kids perform on stage. What a fun night!

Below are a few pics from Friday and Saturday night. This video is really poor quality (it's just from my camera...which was low on batteries) but it shows the first part of Clara's dance. Clara is the platinum blonde :) wearing a blue shirt and pink skirt. I love her poses!

Emi and Clara striking a pose on stage during intermission.

Pre-show prep. Riding scooters with curlers in their hair! Just a little tip....don't try to apply mascara to your five year olds eye lashes. It's not worth the drama! :)

It's very tricky to get a somewhat clear pic when dancers are moving all about on the stage! Emi's in the middle about to do a hop of some sort!

The girls posing during intermission with Piglet - one of the main characters of the show and one of their dearest friends!

Happy Memorial Day!

2009-05-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

I can definitely say that living in Connecticut has heightened my awareness of patriotism. It's New England, the birthplace of the American Revolution and CT is known as the "Constitution State". People here are very patriotic and there is a great respect and reverence for veterans and the brave men and women who are currently in the armed forces.

Memorial Day is a big deal! There are picnics (complete with historical and patriotic programs), lots of little league baseball games and many towns have parades. Simsbury is no exception. The veterans, firemen, police force, brownie troops, cheerleaders, HS band and little league teams all march in the parade. There are old restored cars too. The people line either side of historic main street and wave flags and cheer as the parade passes by. Our town puts on a GREAT parade every Memorial day.

Waiting for the parade to begin.....it was a beautiful sun-shiny day! James and Clara were both happy to spot both of their preschool teachers marching in the parade!

James loved the "fife and drum corps"! For the rest of the day he was saying "Me play drums!"

Emi is in the middle waving. This is her brownie troop marching in the parade. She looks forward to it every year!

Mothers Day

2009-05-10T17:32:00.000-07:00

My kids were so excited for Mothers Day, it was just too cute! I must say it was a wonderful day from start to finish. The goodies were amazing! Jim and the kids baked homemade cinnamon rolls and eggs for breakfast and the day ended with a homemade hot fudge ice cream pie....made by my awesome husband! I came downstairs this morning to find the dining room decorated with flowers, cards and lots of cute pictures drawn by my little artists. The girls loved going out with Dad to shop for little Mothers Day gifts and James loved helping me open the gifts :) I've included a pic of James and his tow-truck. He's enjoyed many happy hours recently playing with trucks and diggers!

After church this afternoon, we as a family delivered these Mothers Day gifts to a local nursing home. Throughout the week, Emi, Clara and I made these pretty tissue paper flowers. It was a really neat experience to deliver them today. The kids were wonderful about talking with all the different "grandmas". It was so sweet to see these cute old ladies just light up when the kids walked in their room and give them a flower. It was a highlight of the day!

Spring Break

2009-04-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

This week was spring break. Unfortunately is was rainy and cold for the first four days of the week. We did attend some fun library activities, and we went to the Imagine Nation children's museum in Bristol. The kids loved the museum! There was lots to do, and everyone found a favorite thing to do. Emi loved pretending in the store/kitchen/restaurant, Clara loved the climbing wall and jungle gym, and James loved the sandbox and water table. I loved that everyone was happily entertained!!

James also enjoyed the woodworking room at the museum. I love this shot....it's so boy!

Clara on the slide

The kids also had fun pretending to be news reporters....they enjoyed seeing themselves on "tv"

I think mother nature knew that I just couldn't handle one more day of cold, drizzly, depressing weather, because Friday was lovely and Sat. and Sun. were simply fantastic with 90 degree temperatures and blue skies. The weekend brought an ice cream outing to J. Fosters with some of our favorite "CT grandparents", a Saturday bike ride on the trail and the first BBQ party of the season with great friends. Hooray for spring break :)

Daffodils

2009-04-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

After a very long Connecticut winter, there is nothing more welcoming than the first signs of spring. After church today, we went on a drive up to Litchfield to see the daffodils. It was beautiful! The rolling hills, the ancient stone walls, the lake and thousands of daffodils!

Utah Trip

2009-04-09T18:22:00.000-07:00

(Sorry, this is a lengthy post!)

We just returned from a whirlwind trip to Utah. We went for General Conference and for my birthday. It was so much fun, but the time went by sooo quickly! Although we were only there four days, we were able to see a lot of family and friends. It was wonderful!

All of my children LOVE to travel. Seriously, they ask me every single day when our "next trip on the airplane" will be. Clara was especially excited for this trip because it was the first time she was able to use her rolling barbie luggage. (She got it for Christmas). She looked so cute rolling this around the airport!

We got a tip about a great place for kids in North Salt Lake.......The Kangaroo Zoo. (Thanks Alan and Lindsay) It's a giant warehouse that's filled with inflatable jump toys! The kids bounced, climbed and slid to their hearts content. To make it even better, my cousin Laurie and my dear friend Stephanie came with their kids to join in the fun. It was awesome!

On Friday, after running some morning errands, we decided to try our luck and see if Grandpa Monson or Grandma Ann happened to be in their offices. Seeing as it was the day before conference, and both of them were swamped with meetings, it was a total miracle that we caught both of them! We always love to visit Grandpa Monsons office. The kids love to twirl in the big chair, and Grandpa loves to show them the treasures of his office. This time we saw (and heard) his actual bugle - yes, like a trumpet, from when he was in the third grade! Next, onto the YW offices. The presidency was having a lunch break in Sister Dalton's office, so we were able to catch my Mom. Sister Dalton had Emi and Clara try on a beautiful crown (see pic). She said "the thing I love about this crown, is that it's small and delicate, so in order to keep it from falling when you wear it, you have to stand tall and walk like princess!" It was true! She also had Emi, Clara and James stand at her office window, which overlooks the SLC temple, and they sang "I Love to See the Temple."

We spent two nights in Fruit Heights staying with Brent, Angela, Tag and Talmage. (Jim's brother and fam) Brent and Ang graciously offered to watch our kids while Jim and I went to conference. James was in heaven. Not only does this Steele household have an adorable dog, but they have awesome boy toys!!!! Jim and I drove up to the house after Sat. morning session to see James driving down the street in this tractor! He loves tractors! The kids loved spending time with their cousins and Jim and I loved staying up until 2 o'clock in the morning talking with Brent and Ang!

On our return trip, we were sitting on the runway in SLC and we heard this announcement "We seem to have a small mechanical problem, the wing de-icer gauge is broken. We can't fly to Detroit as planned, because it's snowing there, so we're going to fly this plane to Minneapolis instead" WHAT!? Not only is the plane broken (didn't a plane just crash last month due to ice on the wings?), but now they're flying us to a completely different city and we'll miss our connecting flight to Connecticut! To make a long story a bit shorter, we had to spend the night at a hotel in Minneapolis and catch a plane to CT the next morning. Oh, the joys of traveling! Highlights of this little diversion? Emi: Loved the 'volcano cookie sundae' dessert at Chili's that night. She's still talking about how delicious it was. James: Got to sleep in a 'big bed' at the hotel. And best of all, James: Got to 'ride a motorcycle'. There's a Harley-Davidson shop at the Minneapolis airport!

Hearts, Criss-Cross and Wreaths

2009-03-22T15:40:00.000-07:00

One of the many, many awesome things about having girls... is doing hair! Ever since I was about 8 or 9 Ive been practicing hair styles on my Cabbage Patch dolls and Barbies. Emi and Clara have been trained from a young age to 'play beauty parlor'. I love to do my girls' hair! This morning Clara chose Criss-Crosses and Emi wanted a Wreath. One of my favorites is the Heart (which we did quite a bit during Feb). We took a picture of James getting ready for church too - he wanted to wear Jim's shoes to church!

Okay, so I better add a front facing picture to go with all of these 'back-head' shots! Their faces are this MOST beautiful part of all!!!!

The Sound of Music

2009-03-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

About twice each year, all the sisters in our ward get to go to Relief Society together and the men take over the responsibilities in Primary and Young Women's. Today was one of those days, and Jim was asked to be the music leader in Primary. Jim goes all out in preparation - and this was no exception. He took a duffel bag of unusual instruments to primary. I think one of the favorites was the Stonelaphone (how do you even spell that!?) It's like playing a marimba, but with pieces of stone! Jim is quite remarkable at it - he can play all the primary songs on it. James loved helping Jim 'prepare' the stone songs and the girls both loved playing songs on their auto harps. Between the stones, the harps, the piano and the rain stick....we had quite the 'musical' house this morning :) The kids loved it, and it was a great was to pass a Sunday morning.

Kit Twins

2009-03-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

Emi loves American Girl Dolls! She loves to play pretend with Kit (her doll)....she and Clara spend hours playing with their dolls. Yesterday, Emi and I went to a local childrens consignment store to shop for dance shoes. (The consignment stores in CT are fabulous!) They didn't have her size in shoes, but we did find this American Girl Kit outfit! Emi was thrilled!

Ice Skating

2009-03-08T18:53:00.000-07:00

New Englad and ice skating just go hand in hand. The girls have enjoyed many ice skating outings this year! Last night we went ice skating at Simsbury Farms. It was a super fun family activity and to make it even better, some of our wonderful neighbor friends came too! Six adults, SEVEN little girls and James :) Emi was flying around on the ice! I was absolutely amazed at how good/fast of a skater she has become. She and her friends were playing ice tag. Clara began the evening by skating with an 'ice walker' (it's a metal frame that looks kind of like a walker....to help beginners learn to skate). She and her friends were having races. By the end of the night, she was skating on her own, and doing a fantastic job! It was cute to see how proud she was of herself.....skating on her own without any help. James did pretty well, considering he's two. His little skates were adorable. Jim's back is a bit sore....from leaning over to help support James as he 'skated'. We all had such a fun time!

James and "the pink donkey"

2009-03-02T17:49:00.000-08:00

My Dad sends us the greatest gifts. They are always fun, random and completely unpratical. The kind of gifts that only cool grandparents spend their money on! Well anyway, my Dad sent the girls this pink 'Rody' a few years ago. At the time, we were in the middle of moving and beginning major renovations on our home, so I packed it away, and forgot about it. Well, three years later the Rody has been found, opened and inflated. The kids are now bouncing around the house and are absolutely delighted with their new toy. James calls it his "donkey" and won't let the thing out of his sight!

Emi's Baptism

2009-03-01T17:29:00.000-08:00

Welcome! First of all, thanks to all my friends and family who have been blogging forever.....and finally convinced me to give it a try! Just remember, I'm new to this!!!

Last week was a very special week for our family. Emily was baptized! We enjoyed having Jim's parents, my parents, my grandparents, and my brother and his wife come visit CT for the special occasion. We truly appreciate the love and support of our families. It was wonderful to have so many visitors!!!

I can't believe Emi is already eight! She has been anxiously looking forward to turning eight and getting baptized! It was a beautiful day. Today was fast Sunday and Emi chose to fast for one meal and she also bore her testimony during sacrament meeting! She did a great job. We are so proud of her. She is such a delight.