Piano Christmas Recital

Jaxton and Cooper were in their first piano recital ever. They hardly seemed nervous. They have practiced and prepared well for the day. Saxton played Carol of the bells and Chant Arabe.  Cooper played Rudolph the red nose reindeer and a Halloween spooky song.  I felt so proud of their hard work and their performance. I know they felt proud too.  They certainly have worked so very hard to be able to play as well as they do.  

Christmas morning

Christmas morning is always so magical. Kids were so excited this year. Jaxton asked for Pokémon. Cooper wanted a garnet birthstone necklace.  Kaylee asked for binoculars. Dawson got a large special train set. Nathan was more pleased with the packaging of his first gift bag. 

Nate's parents grandma and grandpa Frank another stayed overnight with us to enjoy Christmas morning with us. It was magical as always as the kids were so excited running downstairs to explain that the stockings were refilled and Santas sack was filled. Excitement and joy that is so much fun for me and Nate to experience. The joy of childhood.

Christmas Caroling

It has become a tradition that every Christmas afternoon we go caroling at a nursing home where many individuals are lonely during the holiday. Many residents had gone home to be with family but there are also some who don't have anywhere else to go so they remain at the nursing home. I imagine they are lonely and Great when others come to bring joy to them on the special Christmas day. We got a let rather large group together this year and went caroling at the Old folks home that grandma great Martha route son lives. She was not there, she was actually at Christmas with her sister. But we were still able to sing for many residents who were there Christmas Day.  It is even more exciting as the kids are older and able to sing along because they actually know the words to the songs. They can also read the music. I love to have them involved in service projects like this. To bring joy to others on Christmas Day.

Afterward we all read joined together at our house for Christmas day dinner. It was a nice gathering with lots of friends and good food. It is always memorable.

Nathan's First Haircut

Little Nathan got his first haircut today.  His orange hair reflects his personality so much. He is a little spitfire!  He handled his hair cut well.  

Preschool Grocery Store Field Trip

The preschool kids went on another field trip to the grocery store. Our tour guide was excellent. She got each child a goodie bag (grocery bag) and helped them fill it at each station they stopped at. They collected an apple in the produce section. They stopped to see the live lobsters. At the deli department they each got a slice of cheese. In the bakery they each got a cookie and watched a cake decorator create a minion out of frosting. She took the kids in the back "employees only" area and let them see the box smashing machine and the giant walk in freezer. It was a lot of fun.

Bear Den Cub Scouts

We have lots of fun in bear cub scouts. Roasting marshmallows whittling soap cleaning bathrooms carnival games, and a visiting member of the National Guard.  

Nates Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!!!

Halloween Fun

Halloween is so much fun with little kids.  We went to a few different Truck or Treats.  They played the Mummy Daddy game and the kids went up and wrapped Nate in toilet paper.  We picked up some pumpkins from the Leo Pumpkin Patch and the kids drew on faces that we helped to carve out.  It was fun to watch the younger ones get the goo out of the pumpkins.  

We had some yummy fun halloween lunch and of course we went Trick or Treating with friends.  Fun times!!!

Halloween Costumes

Halloween costumes has always been a big deal.  It was a huge deal when I was a kid.  We would get measured by a seamstress, either a friend of the family or my Grandma Hutchinson.  We would choose our outfit and begin the process in the summertime before Halloween.  Needless to say, my costumes were pretty awesome costumes!  It was always so planned out in advance.  So out of tradition I suppose, I carry this mindset into my own family.  We plan out our costumes early.  Some of them we buy, but I just love to put the costumes together.  I'm not the best seamstress, but I love to create and try.  So here is what we came up with for Halloween this year:

Jaxton is Harry Potter.  With a sweater and tie, Griffandor badge, wand, glasses, and scar.  We lost the glasses a couple of times and the wand.  Luckily, at the most important times, we found them! 

Cooper is an old man.  Church pants that are a bit big, suspenders, suit coat, glasses, hat and cane.  After wearing this costume to one event, he decided at the next to throw out the cane and be a "dancer."  You can only imagine his suave dance moves in this costume!  

Kaylee was Jasmine from Aladin.  We bought her costume, and then added accessories, hair, and shoes to it.  We spray painted her shoes gold, got her a black wig, and tied it with golden bands.  We made a headband for her with extra toole fabric and eyeshadow and mascara on her eyes.  She was stunning!!

Dawson loves Curious George.  But every monkey costume I found was so big and bulky and unflattering.  Since we had a stuffed animal George, we decided to dress him up as the Man in the Yellow Hat.  He loved this idea.  He knew who he was and he was so proud of this costume.  We found him yellow pants and dyed a white church shirt yellow.  We made a tall yellow hat out of stiff felt and elastic.  He wore a black belt and black boots and a homemade felt tie with polkadots.  He carried his George around everywhere he went.  He was absolutely adorable!

Nathan's hair is orange.  It was fitting that he was a pumpkin for Halloween.  And one darn cute pumpkin he was.  I bought a costume which was a cheap one that could not do any justice.  So I decided to just make a costume the way I imagined.  I found some ideas on pinterest and bought some fabric and got to work.  I had to re-do it a couple times till I got it right, but once finished, he looked so darn cute in that thing!!  The first event we went to, he wouldn't wear it.  It was so big and bulky.  But he got used to wearing it by the 2nd and 3rd Halloween event and he would waddle around in that big costume with his hat on and try to carry his pumpkin bucket all at the same time.  Cutest baby ever!

Fall Time Fun

On a day off of school, we got together with some friends and went on a "hike."  There are so many fun wooded areas around here.  This particular area we had never been to before.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Colorful leaves everywhere.  It was warm.  We couldn't have asked for a better day for a hike.  It definitely was tricky with the little ones.  Several times I was afraid they would fall off the cliff of the trail!  And at one point Cooper slipped on a log he was balancing on and fell into deep muddy water!  Oh my goodness!  But the adventures the kids enjoyed during those couple hours were some they probably will not forget!  

Cooper and his friends found a log that crossed the river.  So they went across!! If Nate had been with us, the experience would probably have been a whole lot more controlled :-).  But a 7 year old boy has an imagination of his own and loves to explore.  He was so proud that he crossed that river on that log!  I couldn't help but capture the joy on his face.  

Preschool Pumpkin Patch

We took the preschoolers on a field trip to Hilgar's Pumpkin Patch.  They had a blast running around in the mazes, the playgrounds, and seeing all the many different sizes and shapes and colors of pumpkins.  What a cute bunch!!  

Left to Right:

James, Aubrey, Jonah, Keagan, & Dawson

Preschool Letter F

I taught preschool this week and we learned all about letter F.  So I took the kids outside in the Forest to find Fall leaves.  They were all so cute.  They thought we were lost in the forest and were looking all over to find our backyard and house again.  

Then, we planted Flowers.  Ive been wanting to plant tulips since we moved into our house 5 years ago.  So I had the preschoolers help me get started planting.  They each got to dig a hole and put in a tulip bulb and cover it up with dirt and mulch.  They really enjoyed this.  I hope that in the spring the tulips will pop up and I can show some of them that the seeds they planted really did grow! 

BYU vs. Big Blue Football

Nate got us tickets to go see the BYU vs. Michigan football game in Ann Arbor.  It was an awesome game.  The Michigan fans are absolutely crazy!!  Basically the whole downtown was shut down for the game.  Cops everywhere directing hundreds and hundreds of pedestrians at busy intersections, tailgating for miles from the stadium with full on generators, TVs, barbecues, and alcohol.  These were big time fans!  So Nate and I walking up to the stadium in our BYU gear got lots of smirks, funny looks, and laughs.  They even had a sign out one of the tailgater's that said "Free shots for Mormons" and they invited us to come on down and take advantage of their offer.  It was crazy!!  There actually was a large amount of BYU fans.  Of course BYU fans cover the country, whereas Michigan fans are concentrated right in Michigan and surrounding areas.  So we met lots of BYU fans like us as well as saw a few people we knew from our college days.  

Unfortunately, BYU lost.  So we got out of there early and as quick as we could before the crowds became unbearable and overwhelming.  We hit IKEA on our way home and picked up the rest of the furniture and supplies needed for the new Simplx building.  It was a great date trip!  

Dawson's Birthday Party

Dawson is suddenly into dinosaurs.  He loves them!  He takes a dinosaur everywhere he goes.  He wants to wear his dinosaur shirts and he loves to read books about dinosaurs.  So his birthday cake also had to have a dinosaur theme.

We had a little party with Grandma & Grandpa and he opened up his gifts.  He got more dinosaur toys and a little balance bike.  He loves to ride it both inside and outside and he calls it his Birthday Bike.  Grandma in Utah sent him a build-a-bear gift card, so we went to get him a bear, and left the store with a stuffed dinosaur.  Go figure!

Happy Birthday big boy!! We love you so much!!

Happy Birthday Dawson!!!

Happy birthday Dawson. He is three years old today!! Here are some fun things about Dawson at three years old.

1. Dawson was just very recently potty trained. It took a while but now he's a champ. He is so proud that he can go potty just like all the other big kids around him.

2. Dawson loves to pretend. He likes to pretend to be animals set as cats and dinosaurs. He also loves the show curious George, and he will pretend to be short and act like George, which gets really silly.

3. Dawson adores his siblings. Jackson is so good with him at bedtime. Some nights Jaxton will read to Dawson in his bed and pray with him and tuck him in. It is sweet to see how much Dawson cares for his biggest brother and role model.

4. Dawson is way into dinosaurs these days. He loves dinosaurs. He brings his dinosaurs everywhere he goes. He will make them talk and play. He definitely prefers the cute nice toy dinosaurs over the scary T Rex dinosaurs.

5. Dustin's favorite thing in the kitchen is his warm milk, just as it was for all his siblings. He has to have a "bubble cup quote for his milk. The Cannot be old or bitten, but has to be new and clean. The milk temperature has to be just perfect. Then he will chug that milk down so fast! If his milk is not just right, often the tantrums arise.  More tantrums over milk then over anything else in his day. Got to have his milk!

6. Dawson is super goofy.  He tells us that he is "goofy like Cooper."  And he really is.  He loves to crack jokes, and he is only 3!.  His favorite word to joke around with is "bum."  He will call everything "Bum Bum."  He will say funny things like, "I eat markers," and then crack into a cute laughing fit.  He laughs at his own jokes, but he finds great satisfaction when others laugh at his jokes too.  It is darling.

7. His favorite TV show is by far Curious George.  He like it so much that sometimes he even begins to talk just like the monkey from the show.  He will use weird sounds to try to tell us what he wants, instead of words.  So we actually have been taking a break from that show and watching Caillou, which he equally loves.  But Caillou uses words for everything, so maybe he will try acting like Caillou.  :-)

8.  Dawson's favorite breakfast is oatmeal with chocolate chips. He also loves honey cheerios.  He likes all kid food and is a messy boy eater.  But he's an excellent eater.  Some nights he will eat more than all the kids combined.

9.  Dawson's favorite color is yellow.  He loves to play the acorn board game.  And he loves his duplo legos.  He enjoys books too.  One thing he kind of dislikes is his dog Bella.  He does not like her to go under his bed and gets really mad when she comes into his room.  He doesn't like her on the couch next to him either.

10.  Lastly, Dawson is a curious little three year old.  He will discover something interesting like the bathroom water faucet will spray when you cover the spicket, and so he will spray the entire  bathroom including himself.  Then he gets to practice drying everything off.  :-)  He will get really quiet playing with the dog's canned food, and I find him building a tall tower out of cans.  One time he discovered that marker showed up really well on the white couches we have and he made a nice design on those, that he also had to practice cleaning up.  I love this age so much.  It is challenging, but at the same time it is so much fun to see him learn new things each and every day!

Happy Birthday Dawson!!  We love you so very much!

Preschool Fire Station Field Trip

The Appropriate for September 11th, we took the preschoolers to the local fire station.  It was a hit!  The fireman that gave us the tour was excellent.  He let the kids in and out of several firetrucks at least 3 times and he showed us their sleeping quarters and lots of different equipment.  They got to hear the sirens on the trucks and the sirens in the building.  They also got to put their feet into the giant fireman boots.  It was exciting for all!  

First Day of School!

Here are the first day of school photos!!

Jaxton is a third grader in Michal and Suzy's class in the green farmhouse at Oak Farm.

Cooper is a second grader in the Red Barn with Meghan and Lori.

Kaylee is a pre K Primary student with Nancy and Julie in Primary 2 at Oak Farm this year.  She goes half day every day and is so very excited and ready for school!  She can hardly wait!

Dawson is a pre-schooler in a co-op joy school group.  He is equally excited to go just like all his big brothers and sister!