Prayer

Today at church Tenley was playing with Ryder on the floor but as soon as it was time to pray she quickly folded her arms, bowed her head, and closed her eyes. And Ryder just stared at her. I loved that she was quick to become reverent and it was neat to see what a great example she is setting for Ryder. He is watching! And luckily she is doing what's right. 

Bike Rides, Frosties

The weather has been pretty mild which has made it nice for us to do more outdoor things. Brad took the older two kids on a bike ride yesterday and today we all went together. I've missed doing that! And later we all enjoyed some Frosties together. I haven't had a frosty since I was a kid. They are yummy!

Waffles and Exercise

Today felt like a Saturday because Kade didn't have to go to school. We slept in and made waffles for breakfast and they were delicious! Then, since I wasn't up early enough to exercise before the kids woke up they decided to exercise with me! I love it when they do that. Kade even used my 5 lb weights, which made it harder for me because I had to use my 8 lb weights. But I was impressed with his strength! It was a good morning!

My Kids

Today was an exhausting day. I've been working on tidying our house thanks to the book The Magical Art of Tidying Up, which I will appreciate when I'm done I'm sure, but right now it's a lot of work! Kade felt bad for me as he watched me try to figure out what to do with all of our kitchen things. But I was able to finish another category of things today so I'm one step closer! I took a little break afterward with Ryder in my room and it made it all better. And then Tenley snuggled with me on the couch and that helped too! Their happy, positive attitudes always brighten my days!

Lunchtime

We live just a few minutes from Brad's office so he's able to come home and have lunch with us each day which is so nice. The kids love it! And every day when he leaves the kids run to the window and wave and wave at Brad until his car is out of sight. We all love Brad a lot here!

Teeth, Birthdays

Kade has had a loose tooth for over a week now but has refused Brad's requests to pull it out. But today while he was playing with it, it finally came out! He thought he was pretty cool that he pulled out his own tooth!

Tonight we went out to dinner with the Simmons for Dale's 16th birthday! It was fun and the kids loved picking out presents for him.

Drawings

Tenley was asked to draw a picture at church yesterday of what heaven looks like to her. She almost had me in tears when she told me it was a picture of her and me together. I love my little girl!

Cooking Helpers, Little Movers

Tenley loves helping me cook. Today she pretty much made these sweet potatoes all by herself! She is getting to be such a big girl! Speaking of big, Ryder is getting more and more mobile each day. Today he sat up from laying down for his first time! And he loved clapping for himself each time. It's so much fun watching these kids grow up!

Indoor Water Parks, Red Robin

We had such a fun time playing at the water park all day. All five of us were able to go down the family tube slide which was an adventure! I was surprised they let us take Ryder, but he loved it. Maybe he'll be a little dare devil like Tenley. The lazy river was another one of our favorites. I'd sit in a tube with Ryder on my lap, Kade and Tenley would swim around in their life jackets, and Brad would try and get us all wet in the waterfalls. The hot tub, or warm tub really, was fun too when we got cold and Ryder was extra cuddly there. Ryder was so good the whole time. I think he loves the water. 

On our way home we stopped in Coeur d'Alene for dinner at Red Robin. In college Brad and I would always go to Red Robin for birthday dinners for any of our friends so it brought back good memories.

On the way home after dinner Kade said that was the best trip ever! It was petty awesome and we had a lot of good family bonding time so I'm so glad we went!

Running with Friends, Trips as a Family

It's been a busy fun-filled day! This morning some friends invited me to go running with them. It was early, but I'm glad I decided to go! I miss running with other people. It helps the time go by quickly. After getting home and getting ready it was time for Kade to go to school and I got to stay and volunteer for a little bit. Then when school ended we all picked Kade up and drove north to the Silver Mountain Indoor Water Park. We swam all night and will go again tomorrow! It was such a great day. These little trips as a family are my favorite thing in the world. Brad was so sweet to do this for me for my birthday. 

Birthdays

I felt totally spoiled today for my birthday! Kade made me breakfast, lunch, and got take out for dinner. All with a little help from his Dad and Tenley! I guess his primary teacher had told him on Sunday that moms love it when someone else cooks for them. Kade took it to heart and made sure I didn't have to do any work in the kitchen today. I was impressed and felt so loved. He even made my chair at the table comfy with pillows and blankets. He is such a sweetheart! I feel so blessed. It was one of the best birthdays ever!

Decorating

I have loved having a home to decorate. Nesting seems to hit me more after I have a baby since we are home more often and I have definitely been nesting a lot lately. Making a house a home is one of my favorite tasks right now and I have a lot of work ahead of me but I'm pretty content with our master bedroom right now.

These two were acting like best friends tonight with their corresponding blankets and stuffed animals. :)

Best Friends

I talked to Becca, one of my best friends from Indiana, today for an hour and it was so great. We used to hang out and talk pretty much every day and I miss her a lot! She is such a good listener and advice-giver and I needed to have a good talk with someone today and I'm so grateful she was available. I really wish it would have been in person though! How I miss our dear friends from Indiana. They truly were like family to us. I love them all!

Home Bodies

I've never thought of myself as a home body. I love to get out and do things. Staying at home all day for several days in a row can make me stir crazy. When we lived in Indianapolis it was rare for us to be home all day twice in a row. We were always out grocery shopping, going to the zoo, the museum, target, the park, or out for a play date with friends. Being busy was necessary for me when we didn't have a lot of time with Brad I think. But lately I've really been enjoying hanging around the house in comfy lounge clothes, playing with the kids, organizing the house, playing the piano, and reading books. It may just be a stage but I guess it's good because the house really needs to be organized! And Ryder really enjoys napping in his own bed. The trick has been to not allow the kids to be on an electronic device all day. With the Wii, IPads, computer games, and Netflix, they can spend way too much time staring at a screen. So today I let them have one hour with electronics in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. We talked about this new rule with them, I set a timer, and there were no complaints! And they played so well together the rest of the time. I even got to have Yoda and Darth Vader with us for family night!

Scripture Movies

It's hard to find church related things for the kids to do on Sunday sometimes, but one thing they do love to do is to watch scripture movies! They've learned so much about different people in the Bible or the Book of Mormon by watching them and I'm so grateful we have them!

Kade's favorite right now is about Helaman and the 2,000 stripling warriors and Tenley's is Lehi's dream of the tree of life.

Saturday, McDonalds

We had a really nice Saturday enjoying time at home and getting some projects done. Then Brad suggested we take the kids to McDonalds for dinner. They always feel pretty spoiled when they get a happy meal and they love playing at the play place. It's one of the few indoor activities we have to enjoy here in the winter but we'll take it.

Hide 'N Go Seek in the Dark

Brad had the idea tonight that we should play hide 'n go seek with flashlights. The kids were excited but I had they feeling they might be too young and scared to play. We tried it out a few times and had fun but they might like it more in a few years!

Kid Talk

Yesterday Kade's friend Tanner came over to play and I overheard a very interesting conversation. They were talking about marriage and Tanner said he never wanted to get married because he thinks it would be gross to kiss a girl. That made me laugh! Kade's response was, "But you need a wife because she will love you and take care of you and make you stuff and she'll almost do ALL of the work for you!"

Oh, Kade is very good at paying attention to his surroundings! But I'm glad he at least has a positive outlook on marriage, the importance of it, and how much his Dad and I enjoy being married to each other.

The kids were cute playing together today! Ryder even started mimicking us and saying "uh-oh." It was adorable!

The Mini Muffin Game

I used to make muffins a lot to go with our simple dinners while Brad was in school. It was an easy and cheap addition. At some point Brad turned eating chocolate chip muffins into a silly game to see who could find the muffin with the most chocolate chips in it. He'd hand the plate full of muffins to each child and say, "Choose wisely my son(daughter)." Then they'd choose a muffin, bite it in half, and see just how wise their choice really was. After a while I started adding extra chocolate chips to a few of the muffins so someone could get really lucky! It was fun and silly. 

Tonight for the first time since we moved I made muffins and it was fun to play our silly game again. It brought back good memories!