Guaranteed to make you smile

Rainy Daze

I cannot say I love the rain. But since we have had so much of it, we are making the best of it and really having fun! Rain, rain, and more rain means snow, snow, and more snow. So the past two weekends we have taken the girls skiing in absolutely prime snow conditions. I plan to take Caity out of school this friday for a day on the slopes just the two of us. (Gasp, I know, what am I teaching her about the importance of school attendance!)



We have also begun "Mommy and Me" time for Amber. We are finally addressing some of her 'middle-child syndrome' with success. Three days a week while Drew is sleeping Amber and I do some kind of special activity together. Feeling limited by the rain I dug out an old book that has several preschool appropriate ideas. We've been having a blast!

We made rainbows:





We washed money (who knew this was fun to a child?):





We made 'bath paint (food coloring and shave cream) and then 'painted' the entire shower:









We made super bubbles:





And played with regular bubbles:






And we washed windows (again, who knew?):





All in all we've had a busy week and a half. Its nice to see so many cheery smiles from 'little bee'. And I love to hear her ask every morning, "Is today Mommy and me day?" So much fun...

Another year gone...

It is official, I have succumbed to the convenience of ‘the blog’. With an incredibly full plate and time ticking away I just cannot take the extra time to print, copy, fold, and stuff newsletters. So here we are, keeping in touch via internet. On with the update!

This year has been very full. As a family we have enjoyed many trips. We started the year with an absolutely amazing trip to the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Disney World and Vero Beach. The girls have asked many times this year when we will be going back. Ah, the innocence of youth. We’ve also found ourselves in Utah and Camarillo several times throughout the year. And we are looking forward to a white Christmas this year in Utah with family. We are so grateful for the opportunity to travel, get away, and show our children new things and places.

Caitlin is in the second grade this year and excelling as usual. She has enjoyed baseball, soccer, and dance this year and is anxiously awaiting the New Year when she will finally begin voice lessons. I’m not sure where her love for singing comes from, but at least one Krinke will be able to carry a tune. Caitlin has also developed an intense love for reading. She soaks up chapter books like crazy. She is somewhat obsessed with losing teeth lately (perhaps because all of her friends are already toothless) and gets a tickle out of showing me how loose her various teeth are each day. So far the count is 5 lost and 2 loose.

Amber continues to surprise us by getting bigger and doing new things every day. We are actively trying to avoid ‘middle child syndrome’ but it seems we are missing so much with her. At the beginning of this year she was still my baby. Now she’s 4! Amber has started pre-school this year and LOVES it. She has developed and changed so much in recent months. She is still our little spit-fire and she definitely keeps things lively around here. But we are beginning to see so much more of her little personality. Amber is enjoying gymnastics and refers to it as “fun-nastics”. She anxiously awaits the day that she too can play baseball and soccer like ‘sissy’. I think perhaps she will be our little athlete.

Our newest addition, Drew, has had quite the year of changes too. It’s amazing how quickly life passes by with three children. Drew is already 6 months old. He joined our family June 29, weighing in at 7 pounds 13 oz. He has been an immense blessing in our home and is one of the happiest babies I’ve seen. He’s already eating solid foods, rolling, and is on the cusp of sitting and commando-crawling. Our lives are about to get even more busy!

Brad and I are surviving and enjoying the whirlwind. We feel very blessed this year. It has been a year of change and adaptation, full of its own challenges. But we are grateful to have such a strong support group of family and friends. We love each of you and wish you a very Merry Christmas and an amazing year to come.

Merry Christmas!

This year we wanted a white Christmas. So we loaded up the trusty sleigh and headed for Utah again. It was wonderful. We managed to drag my family along (some kicking and screaming) and together we skied, snowboarded, went sledding, rode a real horse drawn sleigh, made a snowman and snow angels, had snow-ball fights, went ice skating, and saw temple square all lit up for Christmas. We baked cookies, sipped hot cocoa by the fire, put together puzzles and played games. And then, of course, there were Christmas presents too. We did all there was to do in the snowy, below freezing, temperatures and loved every minute. We're so glad to have family that can put up with us 10 days at a time! : )

Merry Christmas to all!!