A very handsome man

 

Spence got some new Sunday duds for Christmas and it is obvious that he feels devilishly handsome in them. Oh, and he has a belly button too.

 Happy Birthday to me I have the best looking kids in the whole world!! I might not deserve them but man! they are my sunshine!  (He is also showing off his muscles.)

more harmony

House update

Here is a glimpse  of the slump stone fireplace my mother helped me stain and Mark pressure washing to get ready to paint the exterior. 

 We also fixed the roof of the back patio- a little rain proves our new roof to be leak proof.

 Little Nate now has 10 teeth.  He is the most pleasant child! It has been harder to keep track of when his teeth come in because he is nearly always happy.

 The rain made it a little harder on the kids but they found ways to be helpful inside.

I have trimmed out all the doors- (all hung) where we will be putting carpet as well as the baseboard there and all the windows are trimmed, cased and caulked.

This is where my magic happens. You can see where we replaced the bottom half of the drywall- some areas we cut out 4 ft some 2ft and some just a few inches.

It's coming!

Chistmas singing with Harmony

Oh, there's lots more pictures but here is a few.

Sisters, Singing, and Service

we meet weekly and sing twice a  year to high schools, nursing homes, hospitals, senior centers and even single adult firesides  ; )

this time I enlisted help from others to take the pictures so I could be in some.
more coming someday.
I love these ladies.

A few ward parties

 Coming for a primary of 12-24; 75 is an adjustment for Camilla.  She is not the youngest but always seems to me so small.  I forget sometimes that she is only 4 (going on 16)

 She spends almost all day coloring.  She carries her colors and art journal with her everywhere we go.  The other day she told me that when she was a little girl she taught millipedes how to make their letters- like this she says and proceeds to draw the alphabet in the air with her finger.

 Christmas Bells Are Ringing was the kids favorite song this year (it had been Jingle bells the last few years).

Camilla loved Santa this year, Spencer wasn't so sure about this whole thing and Nate loved the candy cane. See Spencer's work boots? He is very proud of them. Such a good little worker- has to be right in the thick of all things productive.

Sugar Cookies

 There are times when i wonder why I take the time baking the cookies.  We could frost cardboard? Of course they enjoy measuring, mixing, rolling and cutting almost as much as licking off the frosting.

we are still here and had indeed a merry christmas

Life has changed for us quite a bit since Halloween.

We bought a house and are still working on it. We (all of us) spend every day all day minus Sundays and holidays out there working. We eat fast food for lunch and though my kids look like orphans they still charm the pants off the McDonald's employees. There are some days that I feel overwhelmed and more days that I feel like an inept mother, but we are really very happy.
Maybe we can move in by Valentine's day? Notice that I didn't say that the work would be done by then.  Our computer died and though my brother was nice enough to get it going again- we haven't installed anything on it yet making all computing very difficult. 
In October our ward was dissolved and we switched stakes- attended the Kerman ward for a little while and decided to make the move out to our Clovis ward so the kids didn't have to adjust twice. 
While not at all feeling settled we have new callings as a beginning to get to know our huge ward. Mark serves as the ward vineyard specialist (welfare farm raisins) and I teach CTR7 (9 boys! 3 girls). I have taught once and love them to pieces already.
I should be sleeping but can't quiet my mind tonight.