I'm not a superhero...

...but I play one in real life. 

I often realize at the end of the day that I have been wearing any number of things that the girls have had me wear. It's fun. 

Random house fun

I saw this idea online: “finger painting” in bags taped to the window. Anne did this during Lilia's reading lesson one day and Lilia had fun joining her. 

Jane found her way into the kids' fort. She loves playing like a big kid. 

Janie also loves eating big people food. Sitting in the high chair is probably one of her favorite things to do. 

One of our afternoons alone while the big girls were in quiet/nap time. 

I sent this picture to Spencer one day with the caption: “Where are my tire tracks?!” 

And followed it up with: “There they are!”

We have quite a long driveway, but it's not too bad to shovel. The best is that it is black! There have not been all that many days that we have had to shovel because it melts so quickly. It really is wonderful. 

Always fun with Janie. 

Anne lies playing with the princesses that Santa brought her. Here she set them all up with dancing partners. 

For some reason I don't have the “after” picture, but here is Anne's Beak. She started out really full and stiff. Anne would high-center herself to sleep on her when she was a baby. She had been very loved and Spencer decided it was time we brig life back to Beak. Anne was very reluctant and at first didn't want to hold her after she got restuffed, but she came around. 

Finding lidless markers is about the best thing in the world!

Post-Christmas random

I decided to toilet train Anne over the break.  We only had three accidents.  She did great and we are not looking back!  I think she is the first one all done before age three.

You can't help but love a baby's pasta face!

Benny's first erector set creation: a robot.  He just loves the erector set that Santa brought him and is already making his fourth project (with instructions - he has a couple that he has just done on his own). This has been so good for him be able to create different things.  And he does so much on his own.  He may need help for a few different things here and there, but most of it is all him.

December Random Happenings

Jane starts to climb stairs.

Spencer reading our first Christmas story of the month.  We were able to read all of the stories without having to double up too much!  It was nice to read most nights.

Benny ready for his field trip to see The Nutcracker.  Such a handsome boy!

Our first snow of the year.

All morning Benny was wanting to go out and play in the snow, but he needed to get ready for school. The first thing he did when leaving for the bus stop was make a mad dash for the snow!

Cutting out her hand-tracings to make our Christmas wreaths.  I never did get a picture of the finished products, but between Lilia's and Anne's hand cutouts we had enough hands for a wreath on each of the kids' doors.

"Nose covers."

Anne didn't want to be left out.

We made snowflakes to hang from our ceiling.  These were my three favorite.  Most of them have survived and are still hanging.

Ready to see Santa at Dad's hospital.

Waiting to leave to see Santa.

Ready for bed.  And other things.

After almost seven-and-a-half years of not having my teeth cleaned, I finally went in to the dentist.  They were very impressed with my teeth (it's true).  I had one old cavity they said as well as two that needed to be fixed (some shoddy prior work) and a partial crown.  Here I am after round one of three.  To better use our insurance I was able to squeeze in two of the appointments in December.

Spencer brought a few pairs of these home from the white elephant they did for mutual.  Lilia has really taken to them.

Listening to Christmas stories.  I love December because we find the kids randomly dressed up in nativity costumes.

Pretty braids.

Jamma time.

Round two.

Lilia asked to take one picture.

There are fourteen of these.  With varying degrees of Andy in the background.

End-of-November Random

Andy is our nail/cuticle biter.

Janie outgrew the bouncer.

Anne continues to dress herself.

Benny is great at helping to keep Jane entertained when I am working on dinner or anything else that needs to be done.

Stories in front of the fire when Dad was on call.

Lots of random happenings

I don't know where they got the idea, but Benny and Andy wanted to fly and made some suits for it.

Needed: haircut

Our timer shot to get a picture for Grandma's and Grandpa's Christmas card.

This turned out pretty well, but we ended up getting a nice one later.

Our Thanksgiving "Thankful Tree."

Our flax...

I had left our open 50 pound bag of flax up on my chair.  I think I knew this would happen.

A school worksheet of Andy's.

Our scavenger.

A growing Thankful Tree.

Andy's turkey from art class.

We finally got to visit with our good friends the Clarks who live in Ohio!  We are so grateful they were able to come and spend a long afternoon and evening with us.  It had been years since we had seen each other in Provo and it is fun to be close enough for visits like this.  I didn't get any pictures of the kids, but they played so well together.  Just like old times!  This is a picture of Chris and Laura pointing to a note Laura had written on our white board in Provo after a dinner we had with friends.  We kept it this long, I think we have to keep it forever now.

Disguises:

Lilia disguised as Benny.

I am not sure who this is!

Anne disguised as Andy.