The ring that won't let go!

Cameron bought a ring from a vending machine yesterday afternoon and slipped it on his middle finger.  It slid on okay but he later noticed that it wasn't coming off.  We tried dish soap, cooking oil, taping the finger, etc.  He began complaining that it was hurting and the knuckle on the finger was starting to swell because he was pulling on it so much.  Finally, Derrik came up with a plan:  remove his finger!  No,   :)  he used some pliers to gently stretch the metal until it snapped open.  Cameron was very happy and will never, ever buy one of those again!

Singing in church last weekend

The boys all sang in church services last weekend with their choirs. It's always fun to see what songs they've learned. This year added an audition-only choir for Ethan that he is especially proud of. Here are my photos:

Valentine's Day fun

Since the older boys were homeschooled this year, they didn't get the traditional Valentine's day stuff. So I decided to treat them to a Valentine's day scavenger hunt. Each clue starts with this: Roses are red, Violets are blue, I have something special, just for YOU!
Here they are reading clue #1:











This clue lead them to these FOAM swords:













Then off to clue #2 which brought them outside to the mail box for these notebooks and workbooks:











And clue #3 took them to the backyard for these:











Clue #4 lead them to the table for candy. Yes, I gave my kids candy for breakfast on Valentine's day. And they enjoyed every minute of it (I did too actually!) They also found a little letter from us.











Derrik and I went out to celebrate Friday night with some friends and had a great time! I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Stuff 'n' Fluff

January is gone, February is in full swing. Here's what we've been up to:
Ethan went to winter camp the end of January. He was in the mountains in 3 feet of snow! He had a blast!
Here Cameron and Ashton are waiting to say goodbye to Ethan for the weekend.








I chose to wear a red scarf last week when I took Ashton to Mommy and Me Preschool since it was our Valentine's party. As soon as he saw me he asked me if I was going to the snow. Then, a little later, he said he wanted a scarf too. So, here we are sporting our scarves at preschool.

Private Rock Concerts

Derrik, Ashton and I have been treated to several rock concerts in our living room. Both Ethan and Cameron have been entertaining us by doing a karaoke-style show where they play along to a CD with their guitars and keyboards. We sometimes get candy thrown at us as part of the show. It's been a real treat to watch them prepare and perform for us! Derrik even got in the act!

Happy New Year/Birthday Ashton!

We celebrated new years at a friends house and enjoyed their Wii Rock Band! The boys had a blast! We headed back to routine the following week and began the countdown to Ashton's 5th birthday.


We took him to Chuck E. Cheese for a small family party and he felt really celebrated. He enjoyed playing air hockey with Daddy and getting a hug for the "other" mouse, Chuckie!

He had a great day! Whew, now things can return to "normal!" :)

Gingerbread houses

Christmas Day

The morning started at 6:00 am or just a few minutes before. It's so hard for them to stay in their beds!

Here they are in the hallway waiting for us to get coffee and the camera ready! Pure torture!




Ready, set, GO!








The aftermath.....







Onto monkey bread!


Is that you, Santa?

Christmas Eve 2009

We started the evening with the Christmas eve service at church. At the service we are given a gift card for a free meal at a resturant and we are to go out into the community and find someone who is working on Christmas eve and give it to them. This has become a tradition every year and we have a lot of fun trying to find either a fedex courier (Derriks preference) or anyone out on Christmas eve that would much rather be home celebrating the holiday with their family. This year, we gave ours to a lady that works at McDonalds. She was very grateful for the gift!
We came home and had cheese fondue and steaks with the Hubbards. The boys then got to open one gift - new pajamas and slippers!

We then poured the hot chocolate into the travel mugs and climbed into the car to go look at Christmas lights! After that it's off to bed to dream of sugarplums and other sugary items until it's time for Christmas day.

Cookie decorating

We broke the record for decorating cookies this year. Between the four of us, we either ate them or just slapped frosting on them because we got done fast! I had to work quickly to get pictures!

Christmas is in the air

The tree is up, decorations out, and the preschool Christmas program is over. Christmas can officially begin! We decorated the house the weekend after Thanksgiving and then Ashton and I spent last week getting our preschool ready for their big performance last Friday night.


Saturday was the busiest day we have had so far. Ethan and his church choir served breakfast to over 100 people in what is called the "Angel Breakfast." There is a skit, crafts and the choir sings several songs throughout the morning. It was really nice. I love to see my kids sing!







Saturday was "Tata's" (aka Jim) 65th birthday. We celebrated with other families at the Olive Garden.

Next week will be the last week of preschool and homeschool. There is quite a bit of shopping and shipping to be in the next week but I look forward to all of it!

A week of firsts

The boys sang in church last weekend. It was Ashton's first time! He, like his mom, chose to dance instead of sing.

I never got sound when I loaded it, but you get the idea!
Ashton also got to go ice skating with one of his preschool classes.

He also lost his first "teeth" this week. Two of this baby teeth came in so close together that they were almost one big tooth. As his permanent teeth came up on the bottom, they pushed his two baby teeth out at the same time!