Sunday Snapshots

Greg and Kristina come up for dinner nearly every Sunday.

We love to have them over and are glad they plan

to be in Provo for a few more years. Last Sunday, they

brought to Jon Klasson books - This is Not My Hat,

and I Want My Hat Back. Greg used his gangster accent

to read them to the kids. It was pretty great.

Alton sat in the high chair for the first time last Sunday!

He is so good! He likes to sit on his blanket and to play 

with his toys. Although in the last week he has begun to

army crawl across the room to get what he wants - paper,

big kids' stuff, or Dad's computer cords. 

Jonah finally got his new scriptures!

He picked out a football scripture case - which

I thought was okay until he and Max tried to get

a touchdown near the end of Sacrament Meeting today.

sigh.

Some Phone Pics

Ruby watched John and me run at the track a few 

weeks ago. She was wearing cowboy boots, so

she didn't do much running herself. She's such a pretty girl.

Milo evidently ran into a wall at Joy School this week -

just in time for family photos. Except, it was super

cold and windy yesterday when we tried to take pictures,

so we are hoping to try again sometime this week.

My Birthday!

On Friday night, John and Alton took me to Maria Bonita

for my birthday dinner. We hadn't been there in a while,

and the food was really good. Alton was pretty easy

to have with us. He tried to get everything on the table,

smiled at the waitress and other patrons, ate some rice,

and drank a little water. Bentley was at a friend's birthday

party, so it was just the four middle kids at home. They

ate pizza and watched Netflix. When John, Alton, and I

got home from diner, we had cake and I opened presents.

John baked me a cake, and Milo blew out the candles. :)

It was a pretty good birthday, until I realized that when

my brother Greg is my age I will be FIFTY.  doh.

Let's Bowl!

Bentley chose to have his friend party at Miracle Bowl

this year - and he invited GIRLS!

We've come full circle. When he was little, he invited

girls, but for the last few years girls have been gross.

Now they are not so bad. Evidently.

Here are the boys at the party.

And here's a shot of the entire group.

They started out with girls and boys sharing lanes,

but before starting the 2nd game they switched.

Here's the boys' final scores.

And the scores for the girls - one of them used bumpers.

Bentley bought each of his friends a sugar filled

slushie (kids bouncing off the walls), and they each

got an ice cream cone as part of the birthday package.

As if the snow outside wasn't cold enough.

6th graders are tougher than I am. :)

His friends know him pretty well.

He got 5 packs of ramen, a football, sports socks,

a pink baseball and a bunch of cash.

This seemed like a really good group of kids.

I was happy that I got to go supervise and to get

to know them a little bit. I was more than a little

happy to see that they don't seem to be pairing off - yet.

The Impossible Cookie

Bentley and Maxwell each had to do a science fair

project this year, and they decided to work together.

That sounded pretty good to me - one project instead

of two. I didn't, however, factor in sibling arguments.
They made six batches of cookies, and had to divide
up the work "evenly." That is easier said than done.
By the time they got to their board, they split up.
So much for half the work. sigh.
Their goal was to find a cookie that is healthier
than your average cookie, but that still tastes good.
They started with a yummy chocolate chip cookie recipe,
and then made some substitutions.
Cookie #1 - normal
Cookie #2 -  coconut sugar for brown sugar
Cookie #3 - whole wheat flour for white flour
Cookie #4 - evaporated cane juice for white sugar
Cookie #5 - applesauce for butter
They invited friends and neighbors over to taste test
and the winning cookie was the whole wheat substitution.
(Not the boys' favorite by a long shot.)

Maxwell's board (above)

Bentley's board (below)

Milo, Alton, and I went to the fair and got to see

both boys' projects, along with their classmates'.

Chicken Funeral

Bentley 6th grade class mummified chickens,

and had an elaborate funeral for them.

Bentley was Anubis, a jackal-headed Egyptian god.

Mindy took him to DI, where he bought a couple

of hats. He turned them into a jackal head by himself.

Milo, Alton, and I went over for the funeral, and Milo

was happy to see his friend, J. They played while the Moms

watched the funeral. Each chicken had an obituary read,

the mourners mourned, and hearts were weighed and eaten. 

Bentley's group had named their chicken

Bachman-Rah.

Bentley and Connor both borrowed their baby brothers

and took them to see the chickens' final resting place.

As we left the school, Milo stopped and said,

"Wait! I didn't see ANY CHICKENS!"

I explained that they were already in boxes, ready for burial,

but he wanted to go back to see for himself.

He got to watch the kids bury the coffins.

Warm Fuzzies

Milo's friends' mother had her 10th baby about two

weeks ago. These two little guys go to Joy School

twice a week, and then play at our house till the big

kids get home from school. The boys seem to have a 

great time, and I am usually able to get a few things done

while the boys are busy playing. The other day,

Milo told me that he and his friend aren't going to have

kids or get married, but they ARE going to live in

really big houses. His friend will be in the biggest house,

and Milo will be in the second biggest house.

It's pretty nice to have a friend.
Here they are with the "warm fuzzies" they made at Joy School.

The Vampire and the Pilgrim

A Deacon!

One week ago Bentley was ordained a Deacon!

Here he is with Grandpa Homely right after the ordination.
Warren, Mike, and Greg were also here - I wish I'd gotten a picture of all the guys.

I didn't get a picture of John and me with Bentley on 

Bentley's birthday, so we snapped one Sunday morning.
The day of the ordination. all five of our older kids
were in the Primary Program. I planned to get a picture
of them, but spaced it. :(
We DO have the one of the kids with their cousins
right before the program. It will have to do. :)

A Few More Cousin Shots

Cousins and Best Friends

Our kids don't get to see any of their cousins very often,

and sometimes it takes a little while for them to

play well together. Luckily, Warren and Becky were

able to stay for almost two days, so the kids had plenty

of time to warm up to each other. At their sleepover

Saturday night, Ruby and Kenna told me that they

were "cousins AND best friends."

I sure hope that lasts a long, long time.

Milo and Kristie

Kenna and Ruby

Milo, Jonah, Ruby, and Kenna - ghost hunting

the grandchildren - minus Spencer's baby GIRL!

Kristie!

Warren and his family were able to come visit over 

Bentley's birthday weekend, and we got to meet Kristie!

Alton and Kristie are just four months apart.

They were pretty good sports about having their

picture taken together (many times).

Bubba walked in the house and went right to

the toy box where he found the Iron Man mask

he loved over his last visit (back in June!).

I got to hold both babies for a little while.

 And Grandma got to snuggle a sleeping Kristie.