November and December

Here are pictures from November and December.  Things we didn't get pictures of, include a wonderful Thanksgiving with our friends the Zielkes.  They were great hosts and we really loved hanging out and playing games all day.
 Piano recitals are fun too.  We had a great Christmas piano recital. If you ever want your own personal recital it can be arranged :)  I am so proud of all my kids.  Instead of me teaching Jacob, I am having Adam do it.  I am paying him and he is doing a fabulous job, so now all 5 play the piano to some degree or other.  I love that our home is filled with music!

Adam and I also participated in the stake choir for Christmas.  Our director was phenomenal and it was so fun to sing Christmas music for so many weeks
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Our ward boundaries were changed at the end of November.  With the changes I received a new calling.  I am loving serving in the Primary Presidency.  The kids are so fun and are little sponges that soak up knowledge.  I love knowing what my kids are learning too.  Greg is still the Youngs Men President, which he really enjoys, too.  Overall I think the split has been a great blessing.

 I also had a little surgery in December.  I have had this persistent pain in my lower abdomen for years.  I have had cat scans, ultrasounds and many blood tests. They even had me try Physical Therapy.   Finally they sent me to a surgeon.  I had a lipoma, or fatty tumor.  I had it removed and now I am pain free! You really don't want to see a picture of that anyways!  On to the pictures!

  Our handsome Ben.


Our spunky, fun-loving Lizzy.  I love this girl's freckles.  She loves side pony tails right now.

Our Anna who is growing up way too fast.  She will be in Young Women's in just another 2 weeks.

Lizzy on the front row, third from the right at her very fun school concert.  Anna had a band concert the same time so we had to divide and conquer that night.

The day after Thanksgiving the girls and I went to see "Beauty and the Beast" downtown.  It was so fun to see it through a child's eyes.  I love those girls.  Here we are ready to go. 

At the theater.  What do you think?  Do they look like me?

The girls at the theater.

Adam has been the busiest of us all.  He has been busy with robotics, basketball and show choir, along with piano.  Here he is in his show choir outfit.  So fun to watch him develop his talents.  Sometimes I can't believe how awesome my kids are!  They seem so much more talented than I have ever felt!   They are amazing!

Lizzy, who now has a dislike of doctors had another wonderful experience to cement that in her brain.  She got her ears pierced for her birthday and did a great job cleaning them for the required 2 months.  Then she changed earrings.  She didn't like to change them a lot though because it seemed hard to get the new pair in. She started complaining about one of her ears and had this big bump on the back so I told her to take the earrings out and see if it felt better.  When we took them out we never saw a back.  I thought we had dropped it.  Nope.   2 months later and it still was there.  I got to looking at it closely and thought I saw metal.  I brought her in and sure enough the back of her earring was in there.  The skin on the back of her ear had grown over it. They had to cut it open and remove it.  Crazy, right?

Greg loves to take pictures of me at my best.  Whenever I cut onions it is a nightmare.  I cry and cry and it stings and my nose runs.  I had to chop about 5 of them one day so I donned the goggles to make it through.    Dorky?  Maybe.  But it really works!

We were very fortunate to have the chance to attend the BYU vs ISU basketball game.  We got awesome seats (NOT!) and our team did amazing (NOT!), but it was still really fun.  We saw some friends from Bettendorf who came up and sat with us.  It was great fun to talk with them and it's always fun to be at a BYU event.  

 

 

We all got to experience our first robotics competition too.  I didn't expect to have so much fun.  It is a really fun atmosphere with music and big screens and a fun, but nerdy emcee.  Adam's team was one of the youngest teams there.  Most of the other teams were from High School.  They really did well for their first event.  I was surprised how much Adam enjoyed it.  He is the one on the left behind the yellow flag.

Anna has really enjoyed the move to Middle School this year.  This is a science project and presentation she worked hard on.  They had to design a green home.  She did great with her presentation and really enjoyed it all.  They designed their home out of shipping crates with a roof garden on top.  Pretty awesome.

 

After years of collecting BYU stuff Adam paid Lizzy to put it all up on his wall.  Why couldn't/didn't he do it?  I have no idea.  Here is Lizzy's creation for Adam.  If this staring at this everyday doesn't direct a kid to the right college I don't know what will.  Go Cougars!

Greg and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary in December.  We got to go see the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas concert.  It was awesome.  I decided I want to learn to play the recorder before I die (not the cheap plastic kind that your 4th grader uses to annoy you, a real wooden recorder so you can play duets with your kids on the piano).  Greg if you are reading this, that is what I want for my next big gift.  Yes, I am serious!  Anyway,  I am so thankful to have Greg in my life.  Sometimes it is hard to even remember life without him.  I look forward to many more years with him.  I hope someday soon we will be able to get away just the two of us to celebrate.  Any recommendations for places to go?

 

Coming soon:  a video post with many of the things that have been happening and a Christmas post. 

Fall catch up

I thought I would do one giant post all about fall to catch up on things.  Fall is such a great time of year.  It is probably the most pleasant of all the seasons in Iowa.  It is a great time to be outside and spend time with the family.

We got to work in the yard one day in beautiful weather.  The kids know how to make work fun.

 

 

 

 

 

The girls have been dressing up and taking pictures of each other lately.  Anna took this one of Lizzy.
 

I got to cash in on a birthday present and Greg and I went to see "Ballet Folklorico" at Iowa State.  We had great seats.  It was fun to do something different.
 

 

Here is Ben and Lizzy enjoying the rain together.  I love that our kids are friends with each other.
 

What would fall be without a trip to a corn maze in the freezing cold?  We love corn mazes and we found a good one this year.  Come visit us in the fall and we will take you with us.
 

 

Greg got to travel to a new place for work.  He went to Sau Paulo, Brazil.  His passport is looking pretty full and varied these days.  He loved Brazil's people and their food.  Here are a few pics from his trip.  Think BIG city.

 

 

 

While he was away our wonderful youth from church held a carnival for the primary kids.  I took this picture for Greg because he and the Young Men he works with at church made it.  His name is Goliath and the kids had to try to knock him down.

This year we carved pumpkins without Greg, too.  I can't believe how well the kids can do these days.  I had to help Jacob a lot, but the others I helped very little.  Here is their handy work.

Lizzy's pumpkin

 

 

Adam's pumpkin
 

Ben's Pumpkin

Jacob's pumpkin

Anna's pumpkin

Halloween was fun this year.  Lizzy was a bag of Jelly Beans.  Isn't she cute?

The back of Lizzy's Jelly Bean bag.

Anna,  I see marvelous things in your future.

Ben the Ninja.

One of Anna's friends came trick or treating with us.  Jacob didn't want to participate in pictures but he was a knight.

The Jelly Beans just looked too good.  They had to be eaten.

Last year Adam didn't go trick or treating and regretted it.  This year he decided to go.  Yes, I let my eighth grader go trick or treating.  Adam said, "Mom, I think I am short enough I can get away with it."  He went with some friends and they got a haul!

I am not sure why this is sideways, but here is Adam and friends checking out their loot.  Adam weighed his candy and had over 7 pounds.  One of the other boys had over 10 pounds.  That is what a 13 year old calls a successful night!

 Anna had to blend two animals to make a new animal for science class.  Here is her drawing of her Toukey.

Lizzy having fun on her date with Greg

I loved this picture from the library.  This fall the kids have all enjoyed reading Brandon Mull's latest book, "The Arcade Catastrophe".  You should check it out, especially if you love "The Candy Shop War".

I am sure I have more pictures I haven't found yet, but hopefully you got a glimpse into our fall.  Now it is Christmas time!  Yeah!