Emma Is Baptized

On the evening of September 28th,

our daughter Emma Jean

was baptized into

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

She is 8 years old!

Emma is wearing a white dress

to represent purity and cleanliness.

This dress was worn by 5 other girl cousins.

Grandma Nancy made it especially for 

getting baptized in.

It is weighted down at the bottom so

 it won't float in the water.

The boys like to check out the large font.

Probably dreaming of all the fun they could

have in there with their toys.

Mom braided Emma's hair to 

keep it from floating up during the baptism

because if any part of Emma comes out of

the water during the baptismal ordinance,

she will have to do it again.

Daddy is blessed to be a priesthood holder

and can use his power to baptize Emma.

They are all set and ready to go in their

white clothes.

Afterward Emma's friends came to offer

congratulations.

(Madison, Camryn, Emma, and Jordyn)

Emma even had her friend Mason say

the closing prayer.

We were so lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa 

come from Arizona for this special day.

They each gave a talk about baptism and the holy ghost.

Our family.

Emma and Madison

Emma and Mom

Sydney and Mom played a duet of

 "Keep the Commandments".

Passing Time at the Park

Grandma & Grandpa are here!

We celebrated the warm fall weather

by enjoying the park by the lake.

Grandma loves to tickle toes.

Nothing beats this view!

I think all kids could sit on the

swings for hours.

Splish Splash I Was Taking A Bath

Keira?

Maddie?

Where are you?

Huddle around the sink,

I found these two friends

giving their barbie's a bath.

With bubbles!

They were surprised to find that

the Barbie's could float.

Then they started giving

the dolls swim lessons.

It was hysterical to listen to

Maybe next time I will give them the breakfast

dishes to do instead!

KiKi-Bird

Keira is only a few weeks away from turning 4 years old.  And in our family that means we open up the box of hand-me-down clothes labeled 5T.  Our kids are always ahead in clothes and shoe sizes.

As I began to open the tupperware box I reminded Keira that not ALL of the clothes and shoes were going to fit and if it was winter clothes they had to stay in the box for another month or so.  She was so excited and bubbling with anticipation she couldn't contain herself.

With each new shirt or skirt or shorts I brought out she shouted "CUTE!"  Over and over again.  No matter how wrinkled or possibly a little stained the outfit was "CUTE!"  Keira even shouted those words at the hand-me-down underwear too!!  If only we could all have such a positive outlook on life.

Inspiring Children's Books

With school in full force around here, I spend many moments reading or helping a child to read books.  It seems that books have a special power to calm an energetic child when they snuggle onto my lap and listen to a story.  As a child, we had a hallway right in front of our bedrooms that had a long bookcase filled with books.  My mother was an elementary school teacher before us kids came along and she always had a passion for books.  Especially inspiring ones that taught an invaluable lesson to the reader.  As I have become a parent, I too, try to find books that instill qualities in my child that will mold them into the best person they can be.  Here are some of those books:

These few books tell stories that remind a child the most important things in life are family and home.  They also speak of truths like obeying your parents, being your brother's keeper and to be thankful for the home you have been given.  All important lessons we want our children to embed deep in their hearts.

Late Night Entertainment

One evening 2 of my precious kids

grabbed the camera and entertained

themselves for a few minutes before bedtime.

Model #1:  Emma

Model #2:  Sydney

(yes we let her wear her old

uniforms to bed as pj's)

Down the stairs.

I am wondering if they are showing off

my pretty artwork?

Ballerina?

Dancer?

Flash!

Posing on the stairs.

I think they could have a career!

A career as goofy girls!

Ta-da!

The end!

Party Hardy

You are invited to Emma's Cooking Academy!

Featuring the culinary arts of Master Chef Larry

and Master Chef Rachel!

Emma invited 8 friends over to enjoy

her 8th birthday cooking party!

We started out by supplying all the kids with

a homemade apron

and teaching them the techniques of

rolling out their own

dough to make mini pizzas.

Then we had an abundant amount of toppings

for the kids to choose from

to make their creations.

Coda and Stephen

highly approve of their pizzas.

Kaylee and Madison

loved their pizzas

and Master Chef Rachel's

homemade slurpee's!!

Avery and Kaitlyn

are friends from Emma's soccer team.

These 2 girls avoiding one of the funnest games.

"Smelly Tasty"

(but I don't blame them one bit)

3 daring kids got blindfolded

and we had them smell and taste

different things.

Then guess what they were.

One of our games was popping balloons with

a little strip of paper inside each one.

On the paper was a line from 1 of 10

nursery rhymes or songs about food.

"Everyone got your balloons?"

"Ready, Set....POP!"

They took the strips of paper and taped them 

to a sheet and tried to make the

lines in the right order so we could read them.

PRESENT TIME!

Make your own bracelets.

Girl Legos!

Color your own purse.

A Barbie where you can paint

designs on her hair!

A 3D Moxie Doll

Game for the family,

Apples to Apples.

Money!

And our close friends the Brown's

(who took Ben, Dan and Keira during the party)

gave Emma a Disney PJ and

a Sleeping Beauty Doll.

A soccer charm necklace with

her name on it and

BLITZ

(her soccer team name)

One more chance for creative

culinary creations!

Make your own cupcakes.

We had 4 different color icings.

Toppings like marshmallows,

jellybeans, gummy worms,

candy corns, m&m's,

and loads of sprinkles.

It was fun to watch the kids

try to get the mountainous

cupcakes into their little mouths.

Poor Avery was laughing and giggling so

hard at her sugary dessert she could

barely find time to eat it.

And the winner of the evening?

This little bit of sweetness.

It has at least an inch thick of sprinkles!!