Alex in Baseball

Alex has started baseball.  He is in the minors on the Padres.  He has a great coach and they are undefeated after the first 3 games.  That might be a little misleading.  The second game they played went unfinished.  They have to finish it at a later time.  It was an evening game and it got dark before they were done.  But they were winning at the end of 3 innings.  This is opening day at the parade.  We walked down the street and around the corner to the Major field where they had a ceremony of speakers and throwing the opening pitch.  It was fun.  Especially when they won their game later that day.

This is his team with the coach on the right and of course Alex had to look down right when I took the picture.

McKenzie's Birthday

We had pizza at home and then took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese's for McKenzie's birthday.  We got $20 worth of tokens and then let them at it.  They had a great time and it only cost us $20!!  Wooohoooo!  This was new since I had been there last.  They had this horse that you could ride and it had a screen in front of it that showed a race track you could race on.  The kids tried it but it was kind of difficult, especially for Allison.

Allison loved going on this car ride.  It had this guy in the car and Allison kept flirting with him.  Michael said she even kissed him.  So hilarious!!!  She probably went on this ride 7 or 8 times.  We all had a great time.

baby quilt

I made this blanket as a baby shower gift for a lady in our ward.  She has two boys and is now having a girl.  There were about 25 ladies from our ward at the shower and we had lots of fun.  The back of the quilt is all one fabric.  The light purple that is in the middle in the picture.  It turned out great.  But you know me, I had the missionaries to dinner the night of the shower and hadn't finished the blanket.  So I was cutting the seams as they were giving their spiritual thought after dinner.  Great stuff!

Delayne's Rainbow

When we were at Delayne's for New Years there was a beautiful rainbow.  We tried to get it posted to facebook as soon as we had pics, but it wouldn't download or something.  Jake and Julie Carr got their pic on FB before we could, even though it was right in Laynes back yard practically.  Anyway, here is what we saw...

Isn't it gorgeous?  There was a second rainbow above and to the left, which you may or may not be able to see in these pics.

Alex the writer

Alex wrote this letter to Mr. Johnson who was coming in to help his teacher at the beginning of the year.  She showed it to me when I went in to help and told me he is one of the best writers in her class.  She said he uses correct verb tenses and has a great writing style.  So here is what it says,

Dear Mr. Johnson,

Hi Mr. Johnson.  I wanted to write you a very cool letter.  I want to write to you saying that you are very kind and to thank you for volunteering your time, like for teaching us the bones.  To end this letter I will say that you are very amazing.

Your Friend,

Alex

I was very proud of him when I heard his teacher say that.  (BIG sigh)

Decorating for Christmas

This year I went to a gazillion garage sales and found about 80% of our Christmas items including our Christmas tree pictured above.  I got it for $5 which included 1 large bag of lights (only one strand of them worked) and some bags with ornaments and more strands of tinsel.  I was happy with how our tree turned out.  I look forward to not paying $40 - $50 for a Christmas tree next year or the next or the next.  I did miss the smell of fresh cut evergreen but I am told you can buy it in a can which I think we will do next year.  We found out this year that McKenzie is alergic to a ton of stuff including trees and that artificial is the way we will need to go in the future.

My parents gave this to us this year and I LOVE it!!!  I need to find a better place for it though cause Alex kept playing handball against the front door and his ball would bounce behind him and knock into the snowmen.  No permanent damage but that might not last long.  We'll figure out something better for next year.

I saw a pattern to make this wreath in a little booklet you find when you are in line at the grocery store.  It had a whole bunch of ideas for Christmas crafts and fun goodies.  I think I made 9 of these to give away this year.  It was hard work but I had fun doing it.

Thanksgiving with the Stapf family

We had a great time with Delayne and her family over Thanksgiving.  Here are Eliza and Allison playing a game with only a fraction of the pieces needed.  I guess it doesn't matter if you are two and three and don't know how to play the game anyway.

The weather was so great that weekend.  It was sunny and warm Thanksgiving day, got rainy Friday night and was gone by Saturday.  Thursday was a great day to go to the park.

This was such a great picture of Bonnie! 

Eliza looked like a little angel with a halo of light shining above her head.  She is the sweetest little thing and I love her to pieces!!  (Now if only I could understand her.)

All the boys were doing a great job of hitting the balls that Michael pitched to them.  Delayne and I got in on the action as well and did great!  It was tons of fun.  Brett chose to stay home and get some quiet time and hopefully got some sleep while the rest of us were at the park.

Ethan found a wall outside in the back to hit the soccer ball against.  He and Alex had a good time playing handball against our house.  It drove Delayne and Brett crazy!!  Oh, the noise!!! 











I didn't get any pictures of it but we had ham with mashed potato casserole, green bean casserole and some other stuff for Thanksgiving dinner.  (Sorry, its been a while and I've forgotten.)  I know we had pumpkin pie and Marinelli's apple cider.  We also had an apple pie we got from Apple Hill.  I love Thanksgiving!!! We also had the kids make turkey placemats and write on the feathers what they were thankful for.