Pajama Elf!

No explanation needed - just a cute Elf in his pajamas!

Over-The-Door Santa

Kirra had Wood Shop class the last 9 weeks of the first semester and really loved it.  I think she liked Home Ec the first nine weeks just a little more - but that was due to a fabulous teacher.  Kirra loves art and loves to create and in wood shop she was able to create and then paint.  The top picture shows a Santa decoration I have that goes over the frame of a door.  

Kirra took it down, took it to wood shop with her and created one of her own! 

  

Pretty impressive and quite adorable!  She traced and cut each piece out of wood and then came home and painted him.  He will have a spot of honor over a doorway in our house next Christmas!

Snowman

Each year for Christmas we try to create hand-made cards for the kids' teachers.  

This year we used potatoes as stencils and made some very cute snowmen!

And a sampling of the amazing things Kirra is doing in her art class!  

She looks forward to this class each week and comes home with some pretty fabulous creations.  

I framed this and we will use it for many winters to come!

7 Months Old!

Not sure if its obvious, but I can't get enough of this cute face! Kind of funny we've been out of town for the last three of his "month birthdays".  First we were in St. Geroge in May, California in June and Utah in July. We absolutely adore this little guy!  

What a blessing he is in our lives and what joy he brings!

He went through a MaMaMaMa stage and I'm glad I got it on video (though I can't figure out why I can't get it to post on here) because he only did it for about a week. But he did certainly use it when he wanted his Mama!  I think in his mind it didn't mean "Mommy" but "Nurse!" He is sitting up really well by himself and when we got home from our Idaho/Utah trip we discovered he learned some skills without practice - rolling all over the place.  He was held pretty much for two weeks straight and when we got home and were unloading the car we put him in the family room on a blanket to play with some toys and soon found him over by the tile.  

Kyler is such a sweet baby!  He likes to observe things going on around him, make sweet noises, put everything he can get his hands on in his mouth.  He starting to eat 'solid' foods and hasn't turned away many things.  He doesn't really like to go to town on green beans like he does with pears or sweet potatoes, but he'll tolerate them. This boy LOVES his siblings and his daddy.  They are so much fun!  He is going to be one sad baby when they are all at school all day and he's stuck with boring ol' Mom!

 

Our favorite new trick is his tongue - he loves to stick it out!  Sometimes just a little like in this picture, but other times we get the full extent and whoa - this boy has a long tongue!

Keian's First Written Story

A successful start to summer jobs and educational activities.

 And I realize now that I need to get him paper that has wider lines.

Wans upon a time thar was a boy 

he wint fisheeg an that boy was Keian

Baby Swinger

Kyler's first ride in a swing!

After a day of weeding, tumble weed gathering and burning.

So nice to have that mess cleaned up! 

Exersaucer Cuteness

Nothing much to say except I love taking pictures of this boy - 

he is adorable!

End of Year Gift for Mrs. Higgins

I did something like this for Kirra's second grade teacher and thought it would work really well for Kade's teacher too!  I had Mrs. Higgins and Officer Higgins fill out a questionnaire about things they like.  I sent an email with pictures of the one I had done before to the parents of the kids in Kade's class and they were excited.  Then I set up a Google Doc with all kinds of options for the parents to choose from. I got smart this time and asked for the parents to send in the gift cards themselves - instead of cash and me getting the gift cards.  

It turned out great!

 I hadn't picked up the Sportman's Warehouse gift card when I photographed the book.