Update on the FHE Club

About 6 months ago I joined the FHE Club to help me with our family home evenings. And after they were delivered, we had family home evening every Monday...until Lia was born...and of course any kind of routine we had went out the door, including FHE.



BUT, I'm happy to announce that FHE has started back up this last month! (sad that getting back to it took me 5 months...) And we have been able to get back into the routine every Monday.

And honestly, I LOVE these lessons! Pretty much no thought or preparation is needed on my part (big plus for me :). After dinner, I go into the office, get the box down, pick a lesson, look over it for about 5 minutes...and then we are ready.

And the awesome thing each lessonis, my kids really LOVE the little activities that come with each of the lessons.

In the picture below, the lesson was on Temples. The activity came with this blow up glob. I would pass the globe to Max or Ava, they would point to a country, and we would find the Temple(s) that were in the country, and the kids would put a sticker where the Temple was located. There was a little card with about 20 Temples with interesting information (which I really enjoyed).



So, if your in the market for help with FHE, I recommend these.

**and no, I am not affiliated with this company at all... :) **

Beautiful Lia in Purple

Lia wore this little new dress (a gift) to church today. Everyone loved it, she had many compliments and she really does look beautiful in purple.



A few pictures with her neck showing...
it's pretty rare to see that sweet little neck :)




A full body picture...look at those chubby sweet leggies!
Oh, I love her!

Outdoor Movie

I'm always so thankful for friends who invite us to do fun things. And for friends who have a plethora of knowledge about the city we live in. Thanks Jeni and Sara!

On Saturday night we went to a local baseball (team) field to watch a movie on the score board. We were just excited to get out and do something fun.

We had 5 families (including us) to make the night fun. Our kids each had a few friends their age to play with, and we of course had our most favorite people with us to chat and catch up with!

Kelly and her fam drove the long drive to play with us! And she and Jeni just had new babies too. We have met Will before, but got to meet little Olive for the first time!
Here's a picture of the 3 of us with our new babes.


The babies: Lia (5 months), Will (3 months), Olive (2 months)








Max got a hold of my camera...










Really a fun night. I'm not sure if anyone actually watched the movie...but hearing the movie in the background was fun :)

Max and "The Thing About Girls"...

Just heard Max say to Davey this:

"Daddy, the thing about girls is, they don't like spiders. And if you go through a secret passage, and girls see a spider the girls will say 'ewww a spider' and boy will say 'dude check out that spider'..."

I am laughing out loud.

He's learning all kinds of new stuff at school...and this is just the beginning, which is what I was scared of. :)

Max's First Day of Kinder

Alright you first time kinder mommies...you know exactly how I feel today...the feeling that someone is taking your baby away, or ripping your heart out. Yeah, that feeling. Sending one of your babies off to school, off to the world, this is a VERY hard thing to do. I told Davey that when Max goes on his mission, he would need to get me a valum drip for a week, and after of week of letting me cry in my bed, he could slowly take me off the valum. :)

But anyway, onto the first day of kindergarten!

First, last night Max and Ava were very lucky to have their daddy give them their special fathers blessing. They both were very excited to get their own blessing. Ava kept asking me if I would help her during the blessing. I said, you only need to sit there! But that is hard for her at times :) Davey gave them both really amazing blessings. Both blessing fitting to their personalities and both blessing them with things I was worried about. I was so comforted to know that they would both be watched out for. We are a pretty lucky little family to have the priesthood in our home.

I cried during the blessings, and pretty much the rest of the night. But crying last night was good...because I got most of my tears out before the big day.

Our day started out at 6:45 AM, (which most of you know is still night time at our house) when Max came in our room and said "is today kindergarten?!" He has been so excited to start school.

So we got up and got going. Breakfast, dressed, hair, lunch, backpack, shoes...for all of us, and then packed into the car to take our buddy Max to school. Ava too was so excited for Max to start school, just like she's excited for him for anything that he gets to do. She loves her brother and is his biggest fan and supporter.

Even though we were in a little bit of a hurry,
there is always time for pictures









Ava took this picture


Then some pictures with Av's






I said "do a funny face"...and funny enough they both pulled the same funny face as they did for last years 'first day of school' picture!




A picture with me


Then off to school. First, all the kids wait in their line (we will do this every morning) and wait for their teacher to bring them into the class room.

We all waited with Max :)










Max walking into his class


After we were all in the class room, his teacher invited all the parents to stay for a minute until our student was settled and felt OK for us to leave.






His teacher also talked to us about a few things to expect and asked if we had any questions...of course I was the ONLY one who asked "what do the kids do and where do they go if there is a disaster?"...

Last 'good-bye' to Ava


Ummm, this looks like a pretty intense kiss...
but he is actually kissing her on the cheek :)


After Max felt comfortable in his class, we left.
But I took one last picture before I walked out...


And I'm happy to announce that I held in all my tears until we were outside. Seeing Max SOOOOO happy and excited, made me happy and excited for him, it was hard to be too sad.

When we picked him up, he had a BIG smile on his face. And the first thing he said was "mommy, I had fun!"

What a great first day of kindergarten!
Great job Max!
We love you more than words can express!

**PS, thanks to all my friends and my mom/dad for the emails, texts and phone calls to make sure I was OK! I taught the lesson yesterday in RS and broke down crying because I was so nervous about school starting. I've had many emails from ladies in my ward making sure I survived the day. How sweet is that? Thanks gals, friends and my mama and dad!"**

My 3 Littles...Watchin TV

Ava...You're Not Welcome :)

Tonight Max had made a 'boat' out of a blanket and Ava was trying to help Max...but he didn't need the help or want the help. So here's the convo.

Max: Ava stop!
Me: Max, Ava was trying to help you. Please say 'thank you Ava'.
Max: Thank you Ava.
Ava: I'm NOT saying 'you're welcome'!! (with her classic scowl on her face :)

ha ha. Like my cousin Brody always says..."you can't teach that".

Love this little Ava...I love how independent she is and how she won't let ANYONE push her around. She likes who she likes, and she doesn't care if you like her or not. She is her own person...she'll say hi if she wants and give a scowl if she wants...She is smart and beautiful, kind and soft, gracious and thankful. I wouldn't change a thing about her.

ABC Potluck Picnic Party

Because of my amazing friend Mindy, (really such an amazing person) we were able to have the annual ABC Potluck Picnic Party in behalf of all our kids who are starting school.

**I met Mindy in Berkeley and then she moved to basically the farthest place ever...Alaska. She taught me how to be a good friend (although I still have a long way to go to be the kind of friend she is), how to be a good mom (again, a long way to go on my part), how to be creative and have fun idea's like the ABC picnic. Everyone needs a friend like Mindy, I'm glad I got to met her so early in my life. Love you Mindy! :)**

So, an ABC Potluck Picnic Party is this. First I assigned everyone who was coming 2 letters. We had L and H. Then everyone needed to come up with a food item that started with that letter. We brought Lemon pasta salad and Hash-browns.

We had the party at our friends pool...the perfect location for the party. I forgot to take a picture of the food table, but some of the food I remember was: Apples, Grapes, Tomatoes, Brownies, Watermellon, Hotdogs (for the letter I, because they look like an I), Fishy crackers, Cheese, Strawberries, Peanut butter bars...and so on.

Here are pictures of my kids at the party:



Lia with Brennen




Ava asking for ANOTHER treat...


And here's a few pictures of just Lia...I can't help myself :)