Caleb's Baptism

Caleb turned 8 years old on May 29th!  He was so excited, not just for his birthday, but also that he was going to be baptized in just a few days.  He wanted a Lego cake, so I decided to try fondant for the first time.  I got a recipe off of Allrecipes.com that was called butter cream fondant, it said that it tasted better than regular fondant....but it kind of melted so I had to shlop (that might not be a word, but it's what it felt like) it on and pat it in place.  Anyone have a recipe that works better? 

He still liked it (even all shloppy), and the kids loved the marshmallow nubs on the top. 

We gave him a Lego City police boat set, he loved that it actually could float and after it was all together we had to try it out in the kitchen sink.

We managed to catch the perfect expression with this present from grandma Child--a light saber.  Now he can give up on using sticks or forks or...socks...and actually have something respectable.  He also got a Moon Phase light from G-ma and G-pa Newey which he has really been excited about.  He knows he wants to be a scientist, he just keeps bouncing from space or marine or insect, I think he just likes learning about things. 

 On June 2nd, he was baptized.  What a blessing!  We had much of our family there (we missed those of you who couldn't come!) Caleb really enjoyed having so much support and love.  After all the preparation the actual baptism happens so fast, but the Spirit was strong and Caleb has been writing about it in his journal so I hope that moment is what he will remember the most.

 This is all the Newey cousins (minus Tanner who is still on his mission), I love this shot because of Rachel doing some kind of crazy Chicken Dance.  SHE IS HILARIOUS!  Of course, Seth wasn't being an angel at the moment either, as you can see he's in take off mode.  And Blake wasn't really sure why we handed the baby to him. 

 The picture with the adults was a little more sedate.  I think we threatened them with something, but I can't remember what it was...we're just missing my brother Robert and Tanner, of course.

 And here's the Child family, we're missing Geri and Cody and family, Desi and Nick and family, and Sam and Kolleen and (I guess we can count Audi the dog) family.  We have another baptism on this side coming up soon, so I hope we'll get to see them there. 

 For our traditional Baptism Present, we give the kids their own set of hardback scriptures and a journal with their names engraved on it.  He's been asking for a set, and a bigger scripture bag (which is in the works) for awhile so he was pretty happy with it.

And I don't have any pictures, but we've been enjoying summer break.  We've stuck to the schedule of chores, reading time, then free time so far.  Hmmm, I hope we make it all summer! It's been a hot summer so our garden is kind of fried, but my sis brought a new plant for us to try.  It's called Stivia (I'm not sure I'm spelling it right) but it's sort of a sugar plant.  The leaves can be steeped or ground and then put in whatever you want sweetened, so there is less processing than with white sugar, sooo it's supposed to be better for you and since it is sweeter than white sugar you use less of it.  It should be an adventure, anyway, and I'm excited!  Also growing at our house now is an ivy plant my aunt brought to us.  It's an ivy plant with history!  It's from a start from the ivy we had at our wedding receptions.  I'm not the best at keeping house plants alive (yeah, my degree is for OUTSIDE plants.  Heh) and managed to kill off the two we kept, so it's sweet to have a little bit of our history back.  But if anyone managed to keep one of those goldfish alive that we had a the receptions, that's ok, you can keep it.  I am very sure a fish wouldn't last too long in this curious household.

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And now I just have to share some cute pictures...

 

I'm still trying to get a "stinky face" picture.  She just doesn't want it captured for posterity, I think.  We'll try to sneak it out of her.

Caleb's program and celebrating the End of School

Caleb finished his 2nd grade year with a wonderful program. His favorite song from it was Lean on Me, and he memorized his part with out telling us that he had one. He's had such a good year and grown and learned so much.  He even started multiplication and fractions this year...and he's actually excited enough about it that he brought home two math workbooks that he wants to work in this summer.  If I didn't know better, I would swear he wasn't related to me.  But I am glad that he's excited about math.

He loved his teacher this year and was sad when she announced that she'd be teaching at a different school next year.   

After school on Wednesday the kids (mostly our social Felicity) wanted to invite friends over, and I wanted to try out something I'd seen on Pinterest...a water balloon pinata! But instead of groping them all together, we hung them all over the tree. They looked like colorful rain drops falling from the tree and lasted about that long. The kids and some friends had so much fun, I think we can call this a success (even though it takes a lot longer to hang them than to pop them!) and do it again.

Friday was the last day of school, so my three little helpers (hmmmm) helped me get ready to welcome Felicity and Caleb to summer!

Always excited and a little sad for the last day of school, but they had fun breaking through the streamers so we could officially start summer--first thing is otter pops!

Next we finished gathering everything for the first camping trip of the year.  We just got a tent trailer and were so excited to try it out.  Farris got off work early and we headed up Diamond Fork Canyon to find a camp site.  Of course, it was Memorial Day weekend and we hadn't reserved a site so it took a little (a lot) of driving to find a site that was empty but we were really excited to find a place that wasn't packed with people and was at a trail head.

We quickly set everything up and went for a hike before the rain started!  We got hit by a few drops but what smells better than rain in the mountains in the spring?  Abigail was in a carrier backpack and loved looking around at all the trees, especially because she got to munch on graham crackers. 

After a dinner of tin foil dinners and peach cobbler (it's always surprising how much you can eat in the mountains) we roasted marshmallows for s'mores.  And then after pjs were on we did a un-camp like thing and watched a movie on the laptop.  In the morning the clouds were still threatening and a cold wind had come up so after breakfast we packed up and headed home, making plans for all the future camping trips we'll take this summer.  So ready for summer!  So excited for swimming and camping and water fights!  Bring it on!

Beginning of End of School Stuff

The end of the school year always brings lots of activities, field trips, and programs.  This week has been a little crazy, and we still have one more week to go!  Felicity went to the This is the Place State Park (her teacher took a picture of her next to the Burnett Cabin, our ancestor's cabin.) 

Joseph went to the Hogle Zoo.  Oh, the craziness that is the Kindergarten Trip to the Zoo!  I didn't get to go this year...I love going, but it's almost a relief that I had an excuse!  They both had fun, anyway.  Caleb had an All-Second Grade Kickball game that he was so excited about, it was boys against girls.  He's not sure who won, but he had much fun playing.

Another kindergarten tradition is the Kindergarten Store.  Each kid makes 10 things, labels them as $.05 each and brings fifty pennies.  Then they get to shop each others stuff and bring home ten new things and fifty new pennies.  I got an idea from the Parents magazine website and we made clothespin airplanes.

http://www.parents.com/fun/arts-crafts/kid/simple-wood-crafts/?page=4

I did the gluing (he tried to help but burnt his finger on the glue) and he painted.  It kept him busy for about an hour and a half and since he did it outside there wasn't much of a mess.  I have a feeling we're going to more of these projects

Felicity's class did the play "The Lion King" and Felicity was Nala.  She worked really hard memorizing her lines and was so excited when it was time to perform.  I painted her face before she left for school that day and she wouldn't wash it off the rest of the day. 

Getting a snuggle from Seth.  Every time one of the lionesses came on stage, he'd ask:  "Is that Sissy?"  He was pretty excited for her.

Joseph's Kindergarten Graduation.

He likes to pose for the camera, what a funny kid!  He's grown so much this past year, it's incredible. His teacher says he's so friendly with everyone, it doesn't matter what table she puts him at, he still finds someone to talk to.  Not sure if that's a good thing...  We've also been stopped at the grocery store with some little boy waving excitedly "MOM! That's Joseph!"  He's a major celebrity in the kindergarten world.

 His teacher did a marvelous job, we're so sad she's going to another school this next year. 

Here's our kindergartner!! Good job, Joseph!!

 Felicity's program was later in the day on Friday.  This year they learned about the history of Utah, starting with dinosaurs, moving up to the native tribes from this area, the pioneers and mountain men and then on to each individual county.  Felicity's favorite song?  The Beaver Song.  You'll have to ask her for a performance the next time you see her.

Lissy's teacher did a great job this year, too.  Thanks to all our wonderful teachers!

I realize this was a very Joseph and Lissy heavy post, but Caleb's program is next week, and he's having all his fun things next week, too (water day, PPPPP Party), plus his baptism is in just two weeks.  Here's the picture I took for his announcement:

Such a handsome kid!

  I seem to be only writing these posts about once a month...well, better than never!

Today I get to write as I listen to the kids and Farris make dinner and clean the kitchen for Mother's day.  Love it!

We had Stake Conference in the middle of April, and at the adult meeting on Saturday (by the way, the adult meetings are wonderful!) we were encouraged to take our children to the temple often.  We hadn't for awhile, so for FHE we took them to "touch" the temple.

Of course, they have to splash, err...enjoy the fountains.

Even Abigail got in on the action!

I do hope that they will grow up with the temple as an integral part in their lives, and I'm glad that we live close to so many so they have many chances to be touched back.

From 3rd grade to 6th grade (I think) the kids can do events in the Hersey's Track meet.  We've gone the last two years to cheer on Felicity.  This year she ran the 50 and 100 meter races and did the softball throw.  We were only able to watch the 50 and the throw, but Felicity was having fun. 

We're proud of our Lissy Lou!!

Abigail turned 9 months the other day, crickey! She's had a busy month.  Her first two teeth have popped out--we often see her rubbing her tounge back and forth over them.  She's gone from sort of crawling to a full fledged mover, inluding in Sacrement meeting.  Whoops. She's even started pulling herself up on everything, she is so determined to join the kids in their noisy games.  Her love of dancing is very entertaining, she even was rocking out to some people singing Happy Birthday in the park, and even joined in on the clapping at the end.  She does love music.   Her biggest adventure ended with my heart pounding and a carpet burn on one cheek:  she rolled all the way down our stairs.  We are so grateful that all she got was a red cheek, and we're all better at making sure the gate at the top is closed all the time.  She makes us giggle with her inquisitive personality and wiggly ways.  Love you sweet baby!

Warm weather, Easter and Abby's 8th

I'm getting a little behind, but hopefully I'll be doing better because we used some of the tax rebate for a laptop, so I won't be cranking this out on an ancient (I hate that tech stuff gets ancient in a few years.  Our computer is about 7 or 8 years old, so it's VERY ancient) computer.  The laptop is much faster which is good because this is a picture heavy post.  What can I say, my kids are cute!

With the warm weather, the kids have been out a lot, and were glad when we got some more chalk.  They filled the driveway with pictures and came inside looking like they had been at the Color  Festival.  I'm not sure what rolling around in their chalk pictures does for the composition, but apparently it was necessary.  So was changing in the laundry room and baths immediately after.

 Our school has a tradition for Easter, the Kindergarten Egg Drop. Basically, each kindergartener takes a hard boiled egg, wraps it in something and the custodian throws it from the roof of the school! It's actually really fun and Felicity and Caleb both enjoyed using their imaginations to protect their eggs (Felicity: used her bike helmet, egg cracked. Caleb: put eggs in egg carton, put in shoe box with packing peanuts, duct taped it closed, all 4 eggs safe!). Joseph originally wanted to use balloons, think: the Up House, but we never got into the store...so we moved on to using LOTS of toilet paper duct taped around the egg and then put it in a box that was duct taped shut. Yes, we like duct tape. But as you can see from the picture (sad face) to no avail, his egg cracked. He still had a lot of fun.

BYU had its first Cosmo's Easter Egg Hunt this year in the stadium.  Thousands of kids, more than enough candy and prizes for everyone and a wonderfully warm day.  We had so much fun.  The kids love Cosmo the Cougar already, and now I think he's one of  their favorite people.  Errr, or something.

Victorious after the hunt.

There were several of these football pad-ish things (I have no idea what they are called) set up like little tents all over the field.  Seth, who had stopped at the first pile of candy he found and happily ignored any other prizes around him, climbed inside one to enjoy his booty.  He was nice enough to share a twix with me.  Good kid.

With the BYU hunt on Saturday, and then regular Sunday stuff on Easter (they went through their baskets Sunday morning), we ended up having our family egg hunt on Monday for FHE.  We assigned each kid a color to find, hid ten of each and then Farris deviously hid them.  Can you see the green egg he hid for Caleb in the picture below? 

 

Abigail turned eight months on the 11th of April. Such a sweet little thing!  As I'm typing this she's giggling hysterically at Joseph, she loves her brothers and sister a lot.  She sits up very well by herself and rolls and scoots herself around enough that she can get to basically anywhere she wants. She does get so very mad when she gets stuck somewhere, under a bed, between the paino legs or just in a corner.  She's so close to crawling, just not quite there yet.  Once she gets that down, she'll be everywhere! Still no teeth, but Felicity says that she can bite pretty hard anyway.  She still growls a lot and recently entertained the entire Relief Society with her comments.   We love her big grins and chubby cheeks and can't believe that she's already 8 months old--even though it feels like she's been in our family forever!

Abigail's 7th month pix and...I won, I won, I won

This is Abigail modeling a pinafore and ruffle bum outfit I made for a neighbor's little baby. The pinafore--found on Pinterest, of course--is from Smashed Peas and Carrots
http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/little-girls-crossover-pinafore-pattern.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+SmashedPeasAndCarrots+(Smashed+Peas+and+Carrots)
and is very cute and surprisingly easy. I made another one to auction off at our YW girls camp fundraiser dinner and hopefully will make one more that we can actually keep. The diaper cover is from MADE
http://www.danamadeit.com/2008/07/tutorial-the-perfect-diaper-cover.html
and then I added the ruffles. And is very cute and surprisingly got thrown on the floor and nearly sworn at a few times. It's the legs. And thefact I don't have a serger. You can do it! But if you sew like me, bring chocolate into your craft room and don't let the kids in, 'cause you might get grumpy.

Abby's 7th month picture.

Abby's still her smile-y little self and is getting closer to crawling all the time. She's not quite up on all four, but she did get up on three, precariously balanced, for a sec. She watches her older brothers and sister with a large amount of longing, she can't wait to be running around with them. It's amazing how much she loves them and gets so excited to see them even when they maul her. Always out of love, but still. No teeth yet, but she's constantly biting and drooling (that's been going on for months) and she's been really into growling. I think that's Seth "The Tiger"s influence.

And... I won! A Girl and A Glue Gun (a blog I read, see the sidebar. She's pretty entertaining.) did a drawing for soap. Yes, soap. Are you sitting there with that look on your face, similar to what Farris gave me when I said I won soap? Well, wipe it off and look at Rachel's Homemade soap etsy shop, because these are nice.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/RachaelsSoaps?ref=seller_info

So I'm excited.

And sleepy, Daylight Savings, bleh. I'll catch up on the rest later.