Butterfly museum

We went to Denver to visit Grandma & Grandpa Clayton for Thanksgiving. The kids always enjoy going to the butterfly museum there.

They have a room you can walk through and see butterflies up close. Usually they tell you not to touch them, but the lady doing the presentation put that large butterfly onto Abby's hand.

This is a bird eating tarantula. ICK! Some of the kids wanted to hold the tarantula. I don't think Abby will ever do it. But then again neither will I. Haylee wanted to watch everyone else do it. Carter was fasinated by the spiders and bugs in their cages but when it came to holding it he wanted to but I think Mindi was the one actually holding the spider.

All they want for Christmas is their two front teeth!

Megan and Haylee are both missing their two bottom teeth!

Christmas

Well, I haven't posted in almost 3 months so I will have to do some catching up. I'll start with the pictures from Christmas.

Christmas jammies

Christmas presents

Abby's big present was a guitar. She has really taken as interest in music and is excited to learn any instrument. Jordan's big gift was the big roller coaster from KNex. It was well worth the $50! It is one of the coolest toys I have ever seen. However, I took a nap while Ben put it together. It took 5 hours. Still cool though. Meg got a lot of little things, mostly disney stuff. She got a disney princess trace and draw and a disney princess oven. It "cooks" with ice instead of a light bulb. Yes, no batteries, no power, ice. I was surprised that it actually "cooked" the cake that came with it. Tomorrow we are going to try a real cake mix and see if it still works.

Sad Puppy!

We didn't get anything for Yogi. He was sad and pouted all day. He even had to spend time in his crate because he was so jealous that the kids were getting so much attention that he kept biting them! I guess I better put him on my list next year.

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a good holiday!

Back to School

I wanted to post some pictures of the first day of school. (Jordan went to school with stitches in his hand after losing a fight with a soup can. Which by the way had to be put in by the doctor who told me Megan wasn't sick when she was 2. It was fun.) Also Meg lost her first tooth this week. And of course here's the baby.

Hello!

I am way too busy to blog, but since Bev & Brian (& Stephanie) are up here I decided I could spend a little time updating everyone on our family. (I am supposed to be doing homework right now!) As most of you know I am finishing up my pre-reqs to apply to nursing school at the U this Jan. I am also working full time at LDS Hospital at the ER as a Unit Clerk and in the Adv Cardiac Care Unit as a CNA & Tele Tech. Ben is still working at Detroit Diesel. Abby started 4th grade, Jordan 2nd grade and Megan Kindergarten. (Pictures to come!) Megan has grown leaps and bounds over the past 2 weeks. She started reading over night it seems and sits by Jordan and does his homework with him!! Jordan has caught up to grade level with his reading and is loving math. He also is excelling at any sport he tries. I only wish I knew how I could get him involved in more (or had the time!) Scouts is coming in June and hopefully that will help. Abby loves to read and is also very good at math. She is enjoying attending activity days and making new friends. They are all still playing soccer. Somehow we (mostly Ben) are able to get them to all their games and practices. Megan and Haylee are on the same team again and I am happy to report that during their first game they didn't hold hands on the field once. Megan hasn't personally scored a goal yet but when one of her teammates scores she cheers as if she had. Jordan is doing well, he knows how to get the ball up the field, is learning about teamwork and has scored a couple of goals already. Abby is on a coed team this year, her coach from last year couldn't come back and apparently their is not enough interest in all girls soccer here (I just don't understand!) She has been playing defender. When she gets a shot off she really does a good job but she is really intimidated by the boys and if they are around she lets them have it. I am going to find some time to take her out and intimidate her to teach her to be aggressive!!
I am posting a few pictures of our Disney trip last March for starters and I will have to get more current pictures downloaded. We really had a wonderful time. We spent 5 full days at the park and could have done 5 more if only we had a week to rest in between! Abby got to ride the Rockin' California Screamin' roller coaster and loved it, Jordan became a jedi knight and defeated Darth Vader, and Megan's dreams came true when she got to meet her hero stitch! (Ben really was there too, he was taking the pictures!) Here is a picture of him and the kids at the pier by Reed and Mary Ann's place in Oceanside. (Hope to visit again soon by the way! The ocean was beautiful and the kids can't stop talking about how much they loved Christian.)