Jessie

The other day I had an experience that I want to make sure Jessie learns about someday.  So, I decided to blog this story for her benefit, since I plan to print up this blog, so she can read it later when she can understand what it means.

On Friday, March 8, 2013, we were following our normal routine of picking up Josh from school.  He's in first grade right now.  We always park on a loop street near the school and walk in and wait for school to get out.  That day, Jessie, you had asked to park on the other side of the loop, so I did so.  This meant that we had to cross an extra street, but a very quiet street that has little traffic.  You tend to like to be extremely independent.  Anything you can do on your own and differently, you will.  When I crossed the street with the other three kids, you continued to walk along the sidewalk so that you could cross the street in a different spot all by yourself.  I had walked around to the back of the van with Nick still in the stroller, even though I usually go to the side and put Nick in his car seat before taking the stroller to the back.  I could see you very well from there.  Even though I knew I needed to put Nick in the car, I felt the spirit let me know that I needed to keep an eye on you.  I hadn't noticed the people getting in the car in the driveway you were about to cross.  But I listened to the spirit and watched as you slowly made your way over to where you planned to cross the street.  Just as you started to come into the street and across the driveway, the car started to back out.  You never even looked.  The driver of the car couldn't see you.  But because I had listened to the spirit and kept an eye on you, closer than I normally would have, I was able to yell at you to stop.  You didn't understand me, but the lady in the car heard me and stopped.  Jessie, I am so grateful that the Lord wanted you not to get hurt that day, and that I was able to hear him tell me what I needed to do to keep you safe.  I know that He watches out for you and that He loves you.  He has a plan for you, and I can't wait to see what He has in store for you.  I hope that you will always turn to Him for guidance in your life, so you can stay safe, and you can do what he wants you to do in this life.  I love you very much.

Love,
Mommy

Cold or Hot?

This morning, as we were climbing into the van to head to church, it was a bit chilly outside.  The kids hardly ever realize that it's cold outside.  At least until it would be too late to do anything about it, so I usually grab their coats and throw them in the van with them.  They usually get ignored, but not this morning.  Today, Emily grabbed her coat and started putting it on while emphatically stating, "Wow! I'm pretty cold!"  Joshua is funny.  He really likes to irritate the girls by saying random things back to them.  Today, he was into opposites.  His response?  "No!  You're pretty hot!"  :)

Somehow, I don't think he'll appreciate that he said this to his sister within the next few years, but I sure found it funny.

Pictures By Kids

Our camera started having issues.  After turning it on, I had to push a certain button a few times before I could see anything on the screen and take any pictures.  I don't know what is wrong with it.  If I take a picture while the screen is black, the picture is just black as well.  So, we bought a new camera, but during the switch, the kids got a hold of the old one.  Here are just a few of the pictures they took.

Nicholas

Mommy and Nicholas.  Obviously, Nick was not behind the camera here. :)

Joshua and Mommy

Joshua - I have no idea what this expression is for, but I thought it was worth sharing

Ardenwood Farm

In July, our neighbors invited us to go to Ardenwood Farm with them.  That's a historical farm on the edge of Fremont.  It was a lot of fun.

Jessie loves to look at animals.  This bunny was perfect, because it's cute, but she couldn't touch.  She doesn't really want to touch the animals very often anyway.  Perfect for my little Jessie.

Josh is petting a goat.  What fun!

Emily is absolutely the animal lover in the family.  I think she would love to live on a full blown farm.

Emily even found a cow to pet.

The farm has a few blackberry bushes that they let people pick from for a little snack while at the farm.

This is as close to the action as Nick gets most of the time.  Well, at least he can enjoy it.  What a cute smile.

July 4th Remnants

On Independence Day this year, we went and watch a really spectacular fireworks display by a family just outside of Bartlesville.  The next day, my mom had arranged for us to help clean up the mess from the festivities, so part of our family reunion was spent on a service project.  I thought that was really great.  It was truly amazing that with all the people that had attended, there wasn't much mess left behind by the spectators. Most of the mess was from the fireworks themselves.  That's awesome that people were willing to take care of their own stuff at the end of the celebration.  Somehow, I ended up with only one photo from the effort.  It is cute, though, so I had to share.

My nephew Wyatt, pulling his sister, Sammy.  Jessie's in the background with her little green skirt on.

My mom had bought some glow sticks for the kids, and we left them at the house that night.  Oh well.  So, we got to bring them back to California with us.  The first Family Home Evening that we had after the kids discovered them, we used them for the activity.

The three kids playing with the glow sticks in the dark.  The pictures didn't come out quite like we'd hoped.

So, we tried it with the flash.  That made things a little too bright.  But they had so much fun anyway.

Camping

We love to go camping.  But we usually don't make it out more than once a year.  This year, we had a chance to go camping as a family the first weekend of August.  It was our best camping trip ever...  or least complicated at least.

The kids all getting ready to go to sleep.  Sleep is so exciting when you are anywhere but your own bed.

Nick was even excited

About the "least complicated" part?  Yeah, that's our backyard.  :)

It was kind of nice not having the travel and all the preparations, and the fire to keep the kids out of, etc.  Oh!  And there was a nice crib for Nick to sleep in.  He was so mad when he had to go to bed in his own bed.  Not so exciting.  :(  Poor little boy.  

Did you notice how HUGE our backyard is?  Don't let the tent filling it up fool you.  It's just a really large tent.  ;)

Voting?

After taking these photos of Emily, I realized she looks like she just participated in voting in Iraq.  (Unless it's really some other country where they get purple fingers for voting)  Anyhow, Emily had a little mishap on her scooter.  She was speeding along, and attempted to make a turn a little too sharp and too fast.  She caught herself with her hands, but somehow landed in such a way that badly bruised the tip of her finger.  I thought maybe she had broken it, but she could bend it and everything.  The doctor's office, when I called, suggested that it was probably just a bruise.  Sure glad I didn't take her in to find out she had a bruise.  :)

Sure is a pretty color of purple

I seem to remember seeing pictures of people like this just after voting in Iraq(?).  Except they were generally not trying to pretend to frown.  It was a good effort, though.