Andrea's Birthday

I'm quite a bit behind on my posts, so bear with me as I play catch up over the next few days. Andrea's birthday was clear back in May, but I didn't want to just skip these important events.Opening the presents! Here's Andie with her new recorder and pillow pet.
Still opening presents . . . it's about to be a book about being the big sister, since Mommy's going to have a new baby in June.

Blowing out the candles.

Here's Andrea with her puppy cake. She wanted a cake that looked like our new puppy, Dixie. I did the best I could!

Excited to open her presents!

Here's a close-up of the puppy cake.

My big 5-year old!

New puppy!

Over Conference weekend this spring, we surprised the kids with an early Easter present . . . a new puppy! She's a pure bred black lab and we named her Dixie.
Alexa has been begging me for a puppy pretty much every day for the past several years. We finally gave in with the understanding that she is predominately the one to take care of her.

District Science Fair

This is a little out dated, but I had to mention it. When Alexa went to the District Science Fair, she got first place! We were very excited and proud of her because she really did work hard on this project. Here's Alexa receiving her award and explaining her project to the audience.
Proudly wearing her medal!

Science Fair

Both Alexa and Landon were required to participate in the school Science Fair this year. Getting two projects ready was quite a lot of work, but both turned out nicely. Here's Alexa with her project at the Science Fair.
Much to our surprise and joy, Alexa took second place in her grade level. A first, second, and third place was given for each grade level. This qualified her for the District Science Fair.

Here's Landon with his project at the Science Fair.

Here's a picture of Landon's project. He experimented to see if hot air really rises. To test this, he made a giant balloon out of black garbage bags and brought it outside to let the sun heat the air in the balloon. He also tested it by creating a balance with a balloon on each end and then sticking a candle under one of the balloons.

Here's a picture of Alexa's project. She exerimented to see if the diameter of a straw affected how quickly a liquid reached her mouth. To test this, she got three different diameters of tubing that were 15 feet long and got on the roof to perform the experiment.

Bowling -- A fun family outing!

Back in January (I'm a little behind in my posts!), I took the kids bowling when my mom was visiting. They had a really good time! Here are some pictures of the fun event. Here I am helping Rylan bowl using the ramp. He got quite a kick out of this and could hardly wait for his turn to come around each time.

This picture perfectly portrays how Rylan felt about bowling.

Here's Andrea giving her best attempt at a strike.

Alexa decided to try bowling without the ramp. Thank heavens for the bumpers however!

Look at that form! Watch out professional bowlers. Here comes Landon!

Double digits!

Alexa wanted a Safari theme for her 10th birthday party this year. Here's Alexa playing "pin the nose on the lion."
Here's the party crew decorating their doorknob hangers.

Opening the party presents.

Here's the Birthday Girl with all her party friends.

"Hunting" for safari animals with the blow dart gun down at the church.

The kids played a game that was like a cake walk, but instead of winning a cake, they won bubble gum. Then at the end of the game, we had a a bubble gum blowing contest.

Here's Alexa's birthday cake that I worked really hard on. I had to get a picture of it before we cut it all up and ate it.

I can't believe Alexa is 10! Only a couple more years before she's in Young Women's. She's growing up too fast!Here's Alexa with her panda bear birthday cake.

Look at all those presents!

Here's Lexy sporting the new hat and scarf that Grandma Linda gave her.

Opening presents

Christmas morning

I'm a little behind on my posts, but I didn't just want to skip Christmas morning! So here it is, a couple of months late. This year for Christmas, Joe made the kids walking sticks. He put a lot of time into carving them and decorating them with leather, feathers, and beads. They were really cool looking and the kids loved them!
Here's Alexa with her new pajamas.

Andrea got a basket, bell, and handlebar tassles for her bike and in a few months, it will be warm enough for her to enjoy them!

Landon got a Leatherman multitool of his very own. Hopefully he won't cut his fingers off while learning how to use it!

Rylan loves dinosaurs and was thrilled with his dinosaur pop-up book.

Opening presents Christmas morning. What a joyous time!

Grandma Kathy made the kids new stockings this year for Christmas. Here they are filled to the brim with Santa's goodies.