Dead fish, Cookies and Tie-dye

It's been a while since I have posted anything. Here are a few pictures out of order. 

 While at Sadie's soccer practice, Ash and Nate fashioned their own fishing pole from a hook they found by a pond. They didn't want to kill the worm so they placed the worm on top of the hook. Of course it just fell off in the water. They finally killed the worm and then caught a fish. They were pretty excited. We ended up dissecting the poor fish for a little science lesson. Dad had the right tools (and gloves) at his office.

 We have had a major project going on at our house. Cookies, cookies and more cookies. We have found that cookies are a great (and affordable) gift for referring dentists (and dentists that you wish to refer!). The kids are a super big help to me.

 We made 50 batches of dough, and stocked it in the freezer for baking day. The pictures are out of order, but the finished product is down a few pictures. I set up stations all around the kitchen. You can see the papers taped to the cupboard. Each station had the ingredients, amounts and instructions for that particular part of the cookie. We got a pretty good rhythm down. Nate needed a haircut and wanted it all shaved off. We didn't want it shaved off but figured he is 5 and it will grow back fast. We are glad to finally see some hair back on his head.

 Dave has a memory as a child of lying under the tree and looking up at all of the magic in the tree. I had to snap a picture of Dave and Nate looking together.

 We made 340 cookies yesterday. The chocolate cookies weigh 5 ounces and the cranberry/white chocolate cookies weigh 4 1/2 ounces. It was interesting how the different recipes needed different amounts of dough to make the same size cookies My scale came in handy to make each cookie the exact weight (and more importantly, size).

 Our oven went nonstop from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm.

 I was running an errand when Ash called to tell me that Nate definitely needed stitches. I was close to home, and came home to this cute sight. Ash was taking good care of Nate and Nate was beyond THRILLED to get stitches at Dad's office. I've never seen a kid so giddy about it all. He got 7 stitches and wore them so proudly.

 So glad Dad needed another implant! It makes for a fun long weekend before the implant! We had so much fun going on a hike in beautiful Estes Park. Before the hike, we had a picnic and the kids kept climbing through this "tunnel". They wanted Grandpa to go through, so off he went!

 The picturesque spot at the end of the long hike!

 Grandpa LOVES cherry pie so we had to stop at this cute cherry shop to get a cherry pie.

 Playing in the leaves.

 The kids all wanted to take such good care of Grandpa after his implant. Grandpa was still a little drugged!

The kids held their 2nd annual neighborhood Halloween party. They have so much fun with all of the planning. 

 Just some of the cookies all wrapped up. We did 100 bags in all.

 Way back in the summer, we tie-died about 40 shirts for home school group. My friend and I wrote a sentence about school and then diagrammed it for the front of the shirt. It was a fun activity to learn the tie-dye process!

Nate turned 5!

 We had such a fun visit from our favorite babysitter in Missouri, Christina! She helped us for a week with the kids while Dave and I worked day and night to get ready to open shop! Not sure how I didn't get any pictures of when Grandma Shelly came to help the week before we opened. Probably because we were never home to take the pictures of the fun they were having!

 What a fun visit from the Draper's! Nate wanted to re-enact the Civil War for his birthday party. We went to a spot behind our house and the kids fought. Ash and Sadie mapped out who would be on the north and south. Nate wanted to be General Grant. Nate's only complaint was that some of the kids didn't splat on the ground when they were "killed". He wanted full on acting!

 Dave and the cousins made Nate's Civil War cake. They had a little too much fun with the red frosting.

 We had a big open house for our office. The girls made a darling sign for a raffle we were having. The morning of our open house, Nate woke up concerned that he hadn't made a sign for the open house. He skipped breakfast because he was so engrossed in making a sign. We weren't sure where to put it but ended up putting it right on the front door. It was a hit. Especially the picture of Dad working on a patient. Nate is really into making "bubble" letters these days.

Ash and Sadie had a blast helping at the open house. We got lots of compliments on our two cute receptionists!

Let's Build a Business

May 11th we got word that things weren't going to work for us to buy the practice that Dave has been working with all year. In a really short summary, that day we decided to go out on our own here in Fort Collins. Since that day it's felt like a crazy sprint to get to this point. We've been working harder than we've ever worked before. This last week was full of mostly 16 hour days while we got the office all ready to open. It's been a whirlwind the last two months but it is finally all done. Dave starts work tomorrow. Mom made a last minute trip to save the day. We wondered how we would get everything done while having three kids to care for! Mom has been such a fabulous help to us!

Last week, the girls had an idea to make a surprise for us. They were doing webcam with Grandpa John and he had the idea to make a song for us. With lots of help from Grandma, they sang this darling song for us tonight. Their surprise also included a fun treasure hunt with cute notes and treats, and ended with us finding a gift card in our mailbox to Cafe Rio. They pitched in some of their hard-earned money to help pay for the gift card. The girls know how much I love that place, and they recently opened one here.

I cried through the whole song! Mom wrote all of the words on the plane ride here. I wish I inherited her talent of writing songs!

Here are the words in case you don't catch them all. And it's true about the 100 hours of painting.

Let's build a business, yeah, yeah, yeah
We can have a lot of fun
Let's build a business, yeah, yeah, yeah
Lots of work before it's done

100 hours of painting, done. Right?
You work all day and 1/2 the night. Together

Oh, we really think you're swell
Uh, huh, you really ring the bell
Ooh-ee, we want to shout yipee
Thanks for all you're doin
You're the best and we're not foolin

Let's build a business, yeah, yeah, yeah
Lots of jobs and work galore
Let's build a business, yeah, yeah, yeah
Never done, there's always more

Until you lay your weary heads
All tucked inside your comfy bed

Together!

3rd trip to Utah in 3 months

 I just got back from a trip to Utah with our youth conference. At the "This is the Place" park, we each got to make three crafts. It was perfect to bring one home for each of the kids. Nate is crazy about his arrowhead necklace I made for him. He told me he would wear it for his whole life. I also have to point out Nate's tie I got at the consignment store for $2.50. Best deal for the coolest tie ever. It has lizards and snakes on it.

 This summer the girls made a goal to make dinner once a week. They trade off being the head chef and sous chef. I didn't get a picture of Ashlyn's meal last week. She made Chinese chicken salad and Sadie made muffins. For Sadie's turn, she made alfredo sauce from scratch since that's one of her favorite foods. They did such a great job putting the meal together and I love the help!

 Nate has a few pairs of pajamas that he loves but are getting too small. So we decided to pull out the scissors and cut off the feet. Nate was so excited about them. And now they can fit for a few more months!

 The kids have had a blast making their own mail system with our neighbors. They tied string from a tree in our yard to our neighbor's deck. They attached a box to the string. They take turns writing notes and sending messages in the box. Sometimes a note is waiting for them when they get home and they get so excited to go find a new message! It is so fun to watch! They have spent hours creating and recreating this  contraption.

Nate and I were both sad to be apart from each other for 4 days. He made this note for me before I left. In case you can't read it all:
Mom don't go. Don't go. If you do I will not let you go. Love Nate. I will save this note forever. Then when I got home, he hardly looked at me to say hi because he was just dying to show me the lego magazine that just came in the mail with Lord of the Ring LEGOS! The kids are so excited about the new legos and have big wish lists for their birthdays!

Utah Trip

 Nate performing with his class. They were being "pi pirates" and sharing the pi formulas they learned!

 We had a fun weekend in Utah for my cousin's wedding. We met up with Mom and Dad and got to spend the weekend with them. Ash, Sadie and Nate put on a Mother's Day program for us at Brigham Young's "This is the Place" monument. It was perfect weather and a beautiful spot for an outdoor program. Nate wanted my help for his solo so here we are, with Nate sitting on my lap while he sang.

 Nate was so excited to read a book to Grandma and Grandpa on webcam. I thought he would just read a couple pages but he insisted on reading the whole book. G and G were so nice to listen so intently to Nate!

 The girls and I did matching waterfall braids in our hair for church last week.

 Sadie dancing with my cousin at the wedding. They had soooo much fun together!

 Nate packed his BYU shirt to be sure to match with Grandpa! We called them the BYU buddies!

 Ash acting out a poem she wrote for me for Mother's Day.

 I thought this sign on the rock couldn't have been more perfect for the kids to do their Mother's Day program. It just seemed fitting since I have angels on both sides.

 The girls singing "Have I Done Any Good?"

I burst out in laughter (during the girls' sweet singing) when I looked over and saw Nate shooting us with his home made gun. Such a boy and I love it.

General Conference Week

It is so fun to live closer to Utah and to be able to hop over pretty easily. I think we've been there 3 times since we've lived here. We were able to get tickets to conference and were able to stop in and see lots of friends and family while we were there.

We were able to see our great friends from our Georgia days. They held Nate the day he was born and our kids hadn't seen each other since '08. The kids put plays together and playing huckle buckle beanstalk was a highlight! What fun we had and we look forward to our next get together!

I moved into the ward when I was 5. Shauna and I have been friends ever since. In some ways it seemed like nothing had ever changed...until we looked in the back of the car with kids everywhere! Just a few changes. We had so much fun getting together! Thanks for having us even though you were just a couple weeks from your due date!
On our walk back to the car from conference there were so many pretty flowers out that we had to keep stopping to take pictures!

Nate has turned into quite the monkey. One day I turned around and found Nate on top of the car.

Jack, skiing, and a bow and arrow

We got a new crate for our growing Jack. The first night, Nate wanted to get in the crate with Jack. They fell asleep so quickly. Nate sure loves having a buddy in his room. The other night I went in to say goodnight to Nate and he was having a full conversation with Jack. He was telling him that when Jack gets big, Nate will ride on his back. They will ride through the forest and Nate will slice off the coyote heads while Jack gets the other animals. Yikes. But...I really loved hearing Nate talk to Jack like a good, good friend.

We squeezed in two ski trips this spring. We were so glad Sage could come with us. Sage and Sadie were such fun ski buddies together. Ash was true to form and wanted to take the more cautious and careful route for skiing. I was so proud of her for trying so hard at something that didn't come easily to her. Once Nate decided he wanted to ski all by himself, he took off. It was fun to watch him fly down that mountain trying so hard to balance.

Dave helped the kids each make their own bow and arrow. They had so much fun making these. Ash sewed a quiver for Nate to hold his arrows.

Ashlyn as Abigail Adams

Ashlyn had a big report to write up on Abigail Adams. Along with the report, she had to give a 6 minute presentation in first person, describing things about her character, and then at the end the class had to guess who she was. All of the kids dressed up like their character. It was such a fun day at school! Ash did a great job.
The week before Ashlyn's presentations we were practicing curlers in their hair (and how many we would need to get Ashlyn's hair in ringlets!) so we did curlers for church.