Number 5 is on the way!

Yes, Kid #5. We are due at the very end of June 2012. We plan to be surprised at what we get this time. Expect some exciting news in about 6 months.
Merry Christmas everyone!

Fun at home.

Tonight the kids wanted to go outside to play. It was VERY cold out. They had fun finding the winter hats, gloves, scarves, etc.
Emmalynn dressed Andrew up to go outside.
She found him a cute little hat and scarf, then put on one of Cassidee's sweaters.

Also, notice that she put NOTHING on his frozen little feet!!
Thanks for helping Emmalynn.

We also decided that it was time Andrew had his first haircut.
Andrew was getting quite the little mullet.
He did NOT appreciate Daddy doing the honors.
We got the first haircut out of the way regardless of the tears. Poor little boy.

This was a shot of the kids right before they went Trick-or-Treating in the neighborhood.
We had a witch with her little cat, and two spidermen (with big muscles!!)

We have a really great neighborhood for trick or treating. Way more kids than just the few ones that live here end up asking for candy. This year we counted, kind of.
I started the night with 230 pieces of candy. We ran out by 8 o'clock! I guess the early bird gets the candy around here.

Family Pictures 2011

We took some family pictures recently. Here are a few of them.
Individual ones are posted on the kids' blogs.
Adam and Andrew.


Emmalynn and Cassidee


All the kids.

Dan and Leesa (married 8 years in June)


The whole Jones Family.
Ahhh.

2 Years as New Mexicans!

In August we hit our two years in New Mexico mark. We are a couple weeks late getting our yearly by-the-Bloomfield-sign picture.
Our regular sign we've gone to before has road construction next to it so we had to go to one on one of the other roads coming into Bloomfield. This one is a bit bigger!
We really love living here and having the friends that we do.

The Start of a New School Year

It's always exciting to come to a new school year. I think the teacher in me is excited for school to start. It's a mid year point of reestablishing routines. Goals can be set and new friends made. I love the excitement of the beginning of school.
Here's an updated picture of each of the kids.

Emmalynn is in 2nd grade now and is 7 years old.
She will be taking piano lesson, soccer and 2 different dance classes, ballet/tap and clogging. She will be a busy girl!
And yes, she still has glasses, even though they are not on this picture. Out of her three pairs thus far we are down to one pair left.

Cassidee is in Kindergarten this year. She is having lots of fun with new friends.
She is also taking piano lessons, soccer and one dance class. She will also be busy!


Mr. Adam is in preschool at Ms. Sue's. He totally loves her and preschool.
He wishes he could be doing soccer and dance, but isn't old enough yet. (Thank goodness.)


And last of all, Little Andrew. He has started walking. He loves to bite anything around him...and I mean anything. He's lots of fun to have around, we just need to make sure the bathroom doors are ALWAYS shut!

The Summer Trip - Part 2

We made it home at last. Six weeks was a long time for the kids and I to be gone. We had lots of fun everywhere we went.
After our awesome week and a half at Jill's house in Nebraska we headed to Utah.
We saw my sister Ronda and her family. My kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins.
We had a whole week of Jones Family fun.
For Dan's family reunion we...
... did a service project by picking up trash along a walking trail in American Fork, UT.
...had a fabulous BBQ at Dan's brother's house complete with two waterslide-bouncehouses!
...had a mile long hike to a duck pond.
...had a picnic at a splash park.
...had the July birthday celebration at a park followed by a family baseball game.
...went to a play, Cinderella, in which our niece, Brynley, was a mouse. The girls and I also had a "princess tea party" before the play. Thank you Grandmama!
Then we headed to my sister Sally's house for her baby Annalee's baby blessing.
We got to see lots of other friends too.
We are glad to be home and the kids are looking forward to school starting. Adam especially! He gets to go to Miss Sue's preschool this year. He asks me every day when he gets to go.
The one bad part is that we forgot our camera at Sally's house!!! Grrrr. I was so good to not forget it the whole trip, and then I forget it the very last morning! Someday you might get to see some of the pictures!

The summer trip - Part 1

This summer is flying by. We've not been home for most of it.
I decided to take the kids all over the country this year.
First we headed to ND to see my parents. The little town of Tuttle where I grew up had it's 100th centennial celebration. Good times and great memories of me as a kid there. The kids hung out with cousins Sam, Livia, and Annalee Cook. They got lots of "scooter" rides from Uncle Duane and watched him feed his little calves twice a day. Only sad thing was that it rained a lot of the days we were there. Andrew had his 1st birthday party and we got to see a lot of our extended relatives. We hung out at the farm with Nana and Papa for over two weeks.
Then we came to Nebraska where we are now. All week long the kids have had fun at this day camp they've attended.
Cassee managed to break her arm on our anniversary and Emmee came home with a sunburn today. We'll stay through the 4th of July before we head to Utah to see the Christensons and all the Jones Family.
More later will come on that leg of the trip!