contagious

I am so thankful for this little guy. His smile is contagious, as well as his laughter. He loves life and loves to experience it. He is intense, he thinks outside the box, he is always moving, he loves to read, he loves to love others and be loved by others. I am lucky to be his momma!

generations

This is in no way a perfect picture, but it is perfect to me. It is the only picture I have of these two. This is my Grandpa Folchi and little Ellie G with her Great Grandpa Folchi. This is the first time she has met him and he quickly became her best bud. My sweet grandpa is in his 80's but he loved every minute of talking with her, showing her his pond, and playing with her. I love this man, you can't help but feel happy when you are around him. He is quiet and funny, although he never says very much he makes you feel special and a desire to be around him. I am so blessed to have such amazing grandparents who relished in my 5 young children without a care to the chaos we bring. I am so grateful this year that I was finally able to get my kiddos out to my grandparents home and hope to make it a tradition for as long as we can.

One

I am so Grateful for these AMAZING Women. We don't see each other nearly often enough and when we do it is never for long enough. But I love them and have so much fun with hem when I do see them. I am so thankful I get to learn from their examples. They are truly strong, loving, kind, Women.

one by. . .

I am Grateful for This Dude!! He is loving and caring and has taught me kindness, positivity, how to be a good friend, and sticking to what you know is right no matter what. I am so thankful he chose to get baptized this year.

name them

I am so grateful this amazing Girl is mine. She made me a mom and has taught me more about myself, Heavenly Father, the power of prayer and loving others than anyone else. She is such a great example to our family and leads by example. I am so Thankful she is my little girl. I am in awe of her and want to be like her when I grow up.

Lunch

I made lunch! I made lunch without a child screaming at me, it was joyful it was heaven my sweet littles were off playing so happily together. Not to mention the fact that they were so helpful and allowed me to make sure they got bathed and my bathroom got the cleaning it has been needing!

Count your Blessings

Today I am Thankful for this hansom Devil. . . He works sooooo hard at work and at home. He works and works and then when he wants to stop he keeps going so he can support me. He is funny, kind, sweet, very very patient, loyal, supportive, happy, easy going, spiritual, deeply devoted to God, and willing to serve in any capacity. This man is smart but even better he is willing to put in whatever it requires to follow through. He knows what he wants and does not deviate. We are so blessed that we get to spend Eternity with this guy!

KIDTOWN

Back in December the whole third grade was divided into small groups and given the assignment to come up with an idea of something to sell.  Then they wrote up a business plan, asked for a loan from their parents which they would pay back with interest, wrote and produced commercials to play for the student body, and designed logos for shirts to be made up for advertising.  Then in January they turned the school into

Kate's group decided on the store Pretzel Palace!

Here are the owners of Pretzel Palace! 



 



 

These kids did great!! They sold out of Pretzels long before the stores closed! 

All proceeds went to pay for a field trip they get to do in April.  I was able to go up to school and help with the store although, her group did not need any help.  Instead of helping I sat back and enjoyed watching Kate interact with friends and learn some real life lessons on costumer service, thinking ahead, and taking initiative.  She is such an AMAZING  girl who seems to adapt and thrive no matter the situation she is put in.  I love her! 

read to me

Sweet Ellie reading her baby a bedtime story

LOVE

I know this is a theme that keeps coming up but next year when Hyrum goes to Kindergarten and Emma is bigger this little relationship will be forever changed and I want to make sure I remember it.  For it pleases my soul and fixes my mood every time I witness it.

First Date!

Finally!!  This handsome man and I had our first date in Indy.

It has been so long we could not even figure out what to do.  Between the snow and our budget, there we're not a whole lot of choices.  So we dropped off our kids came home did insanity got dressed and went to chipotle.  At first thought we could not believe we were going to spend a date exercising and eating but by the end we realized how nice it was to exercise without any interruptions and just get up and go.  We had so much fun!

Snow Snow Snow

Yes we moved to Indiana for the coldest winter they have seen in 20 years.  We had a whole week of snow days at the beginning of January turning our 2 week Christmas break into a 3 week Christmas break! 

So some things I have loved about the snow so far. . .

I Love having all my kids home all day

I love playing games and doing science projects and such with my kids all day long

I love that my kids are home and we have time to get their chores done

I love how pretty the snow looks


Some things I  am not loving about the snow so far. . .

I hate that Swifty has to drive on the icy roads that are too dangerous for anyone to be on because he is considered critical personnel

I hate that it is too cold to go outside and we all have cabin fever

I hate that there are coats and snow clothes all over the kitchen floor

Check out those icicles!

On the one day it warmed up enough to go outside we quickly made up some colored water and headed out to play.

Cole Squirting my camera

 

 Kate posing

 

My cowboys ready for anything

 

Cole and his crime scene

Hy and his crime scene

Kate digging out a tunnel

We also went sledding with a bunch of neighborhood friends, one day when it warmed up enough to be outside but I did not take my camera on that little adventure.

  

The Great Snow

The Great Snow storm of 2014, we got about 10 inches of snow in one day.  We were blessed Swifty was home our power stayed on and we were warm.  Looking out the window at the Great Snow storm!  It was a pretty spectacular view when you lie under the window and looked up and out. 

Once we got ready Swifty, Kate, and Hyrum went out back and shoveled a widow neighbors drive.  When they were close to being done she came out and offered some Gumbo and told him next time he was welcome to use her snow blower.   So funny!

 

Next Cole got to help shovel our driveway as well as some of our front yard neighbors walks.  The kids played outside in the snow and had a blast the first day.  Then the Great Freeze hit. We had below zero temperatures it was FREEZING!!!  It was the coldest it had been in Indiana in 10 years.  My kids 2 week Christmas vacation turned into a 3 week vacation.  We had a blast!  our extra week off included but is not limited to. . . .

playing the wii as a family
reading
learning how to tie your shoes
playing in the snow
sledding
playing in the snow
spraying the snow crazy colors
throwing boiling water outside and watching it turn to snow
                                                      watching movies
                                                     playing games
                                                        dancing
                                                           watching Pentatonix on you tube

                                                        We had so much fun and spent the week spending time as a family

 

BAT BEE

Bat Bee always there when you need a hug or someone to make you smile! 

Sledding

Swifty took the 3 biggins sledding with some of their friends.  We are loving having a sledding hill right in the neighborhood, we don't even have to drive to it! 

Ellie

This little girl cracks me up!  She is so animated and at such a great age.  She is kind and helpful.  She is a great helper, and loves to serve her family.  She says the funniest things.  As of late she has begun to walk around the house singing.  The songs we most often hear her sing are I am a child of God, Silent Night, and most recently I love to see the Temple.  She begs to watch What does the fox say on the Ipad all day!

So BIG!

This SWEET little thing is TROUBLE!  10.5 months and she loves toilets, toilet paper, cat food, my cell phone, and pencils, her favorite is a pencil in her hand while she is walking!  Man we gotta be quick to keep this girl safe.  At around 6.5 months she observed her siblings sliding down the stairs on their stomachs and very quickly taught herself how to go down all by herself, there has to be some benefit to being the youngest of 5!  She is walking yes at 10.5 months not just a little roam around furniture, she walks almost exclusively.   She says Addy for daddy and Mummm for mom.  She loves to mimic and laugh.  She loves to be upside down.  She cries almost all day unless she is being held.  She is a picky eater but getting better.  She is adored by us all.  We are soooooooooo lucky she is part of our family. 

new years

New Years was soooo fun!   Swifty was on call the day after so instead of having a big ole shindig we had a lil' ole shindig with our little posse.   We had a yummy dinner of party foods. We played the  Wii (unfortunately the only picture we got from our Wii U tournament was of my bum during just dance 4, nope not gonna show that one)

We played other games too.  We loved the ones with the Balloons.

 

 

 

 

We called our grandparents,  we set the clocks ahead so we could still be in bed by 9:00, our kids had no idea!   We were just the awesome parents that let them stay up until  midnight.   We aren't so old that we can't stay up until midnight, you see it is more a matter of thinking ahead and being prepared.  Swifty was on call on New Years Day and I wanted it to be a fun day, so when you consider those things staying up until midnight seems like a ridiculous idea! Finally to end the night right we celebrated the new year with some silly string!

 

Swifty actually got caught in some crossfire this year!  That never happens :)

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

 I love this group of people and the 2 others not shown.  They make my life better than I could have ever imagined it!

Snow

Things you may not here from a seven year old that has not spent most of his memorable days in the South

C: daddy daddy!  I must saw someone mowing their lawn with snow on it!

S:  that's not a lawn mower that is called a snow blower

C:  oh and he runs back out to play

Love it!!