Working Hard

I have always been thankful for my many family members who have taught me to be a hard worker, especially my parents and grandparents.  I am hoping that I can teach my children the same thing.  I love seeing their joy when they help out and accomplish something "grown up" like in these pictures where they are helping to haul wood and shovel snow.

Kylie escaped while I was trying to catch a picture of Brandt helping his dad-notice that she has no coat and no shoes on.  She was MAD when we made her stop shoveling and go back in the house, though.

This outfit cracks me up. The little pants are out of my mom's "magic drawer" and were Curtis' when he was little.  The hat is way too big, but she looks pretty cute anyway.

Kylie and Mckenzie

Brandt's Goldfish 2/21/12

In Brandt's word's: 

This is our fish town.  These are my fishies-Nemo and Sharkbait.  I got them when I was a three years old kid.  I liked to watch them and feed them and help daddy clean their tank. I took these pictures all by myself. Then they died last week-they looked like they sticked together and floated to the top of the water.  Daddy put them in the toilet.  Now they are in heaven so they can come back and be resurrected and have their bodies back.  Amen.

Snowball Dance 2/18/12

The snowball dance in the words of Brandt:

Me and Rylie danced.  We ate cookies.

Me and Kylie danced.  We were both happy.  Then me and Rylie were sliding-we went the same way. And we were spinning around on the floor.  We won cat food but then we traded it for dog food.  We had lots of fun.

Valentine's Day-2012

Our Valentine's Day was a full and fun one this year.  Brandt had a manner's party and dance at preschool; they do the best stuff and we had the best day!



Getting a boutanier from Miss Stacey so he'd be ready for the party

Chillen' out watching a Valentine movie with a few of his friends

And the highlight of the party-the dance.  Here he is with Kacie (one of only two girls there today and he snagged her) doing the twist.  Other favorite dances included the Hokey Pokey, the Conga, the Limbo, the Chicken Dance, and Looby Loo.  He is a dancing man for sure!

At the manner's dinner Brandt was the first to jump up to get chairs for the two "ladies" in the class.  So cute!

Which animal am I??

Brandt helped decorate the Valentine tree the day before and then got to take a picture with his favorite valentine-for now anyway...

We had Amanda Jean for the afternoon while Jana worked and my parents went to Logan for injections in my dad's back.  We packed in all the fun we could from painting faces to cutting out hearts for heart attacks.

Kylie was happy to be right in the middle of the action all day!

She had fun helping with the heart attacks.  This one is at my mom and dad's

And at the Hillier's...

And at Miss Stacey's

We need to work on being sneakier next time since we got caught at 2 out of 3 houses!  I love watching my kids find joy in making others happy.  Valentine's day was definitely a day full of love for us this year.

Mitten- Prayers are Answered

I'm not sure about everyone else, but it's hard for me to get in all the things that I'm "supposed" to with my little family.  I've been trying extra hard to get family home evening in every week, but we often do it on either Sunday or Tuesday nights since I have those days off.  It is so hard to come up with something to engage everyone from the 32 year old in our house on down to the almost 2 year old (jury is still out on which one is harder... lol).  I think it's paying off, though, because Brandt is starting to ask for family night many nights out of the week and becoming more willing to participate.  Last night we talked about prayers and Brandt was able to tell his own story about prayers being answered.  The other night he couldn't find Mitten, his little stuffed kitty from Arctic Circle.  It was a seemingly insignificant thing and one would think that it would suffice to just go to bed and look again the next day, but not for Buddy.  Once he gets something on his mind, there is no changing it.  Finally, he agreed to kneel down with me and say a prayer of help.  Within minutes we found Mitten in a quite unlikely place and he was so happy.  We then knelt in another prayer of thanks.  Such a simple thing, but one that I hope he'll remember since it actually meant something to him.  I'm thankful for a Heavenly Father who answers prayers, especially those of a little boy, and daily helps me in my efforts to teach him about making good choices.

Kids and Baby Calves 1/12

We love living close to my mom and dad's and helping out with the cows.  A family favorite is the new baby calves and the fact that most of my dad's cows are gentle enough to let us right in with them and even pet them at times.

This is "blackie"-the pet bottle-fed calf from last year and another calf.  I love the rest of these pictures and the smiles on Brandt and Kylie's faces that are evidence of their love for the farm and the animals.

Fun times!  Reminds me of my childhood and my grandparents...  Oh, how I miss them and those days, but wouldn't trade them for my kids.

Sleigh riding 1/12

My kids love the snow-just like their dad.  Unfortunately, there isn't much of it this winter, so they've resorted to sleigh riding on the grass/icy snow.

They enjoy it anyway. :)