Quotable

Me: "Cloudburst, quit bugging your brother.  You're being a pill."

Cloudburst: "I'm not a pill, I don't even know what that means!  You can't swallow me and I am not tastable!"

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I just finished telling the kids that I saw an accident and called the police about it.  Sunrise said, "You talked to the police?  Did you tell them you're the Bishop's woman?"

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Sunshine: "Black Widow spiders are not nice.  But Daddy Long Legs are nice."

Cloudburst: "Why aren't the Mommy Long Legs nice?"

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Looking at our garden, Sunshine: "This is like having our own vegetable place!"

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Tornado: "You're a coo-koo head." (said multiple times a day)

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After I got annoyed with Sunrise for spilling water on the newspaper I was reading, he responded with "You just spoke to me with a sentence that sounded like it had an exclamation point at the end!"

Christmas #2

Thunder's brother and family left a couple of days before Christmas, so it was us along with Nana and Papa for Christmas morning here.

I always love seeing the kids when they peek downstairs.  This year they all woke up at 3am ("Heavens no!"), 5am ("Back to bed!"), and then for good around 7.  Sunshine got a giant remote control car that can flip over and switch wheel positions.  You can also see Cloudburst's one desire- a play kitchen.  Yes, she is 7 years old, but that's what she really wanted!

For months and months, Tornado has talked of nothing but Stinky the Garbage Truck!  He was so happy to see this smelly friend!

Here is the only picture of me, the hazards of being the family photographer.

All of our kids have a fold-out couch in their rooms for sleepovers (and a place to sleep in the middle of the night if they wet the bed) and Sunrise finally got his!

Some new jammies, socks and a new stealth gun.

Sunrise was really only interested in the chocolate in the stockings.  He hid small pieces and kept finding them and eating them throughout the day.

And here is Thunder's amazing brain at work!  This game is called MindFlex, and it really does read the intensity of your brain waves.  Depending on how "hard" you are thinking, it turns on a fan below the little blue ball.

Like every year, we all feel so blessed.  We were able to be surrounded by family this week and talk to others we miss on the phone.  And we feel truly grateful for the Gospel for our little family.  We hope you all had a truly wonderful Christmas!

Christmas #1

We were lucky again this year to have Thunder's family come join us for Christmas.  His brother, wife and two kids came for 3 days, and Nana and Papa came for a week.  Here are our kids dressed up for church the week before Christmas.

You can see that Sunrise was thrilled to have his picture taken!

Thunder took advantage of the snow and took his dad and brother out for a muddy spin on the Rhino.

After all, what's better than being splashed with freezing mud??

Cousin R1!

Uncle K with Tornado and Sunshine, chillin and watching a movie.

The cousins had fun making a snow fort together.  Don't believe Sunshine's face for a minute... he loved it out there.

We also had a kids' craft one morning, where each kid got a Christmas moose and got to make a nametag out of Shrinky Dinks.  Shrinky Dinks are so fun! Even if one falls on the floor of the oven, smokes, and gets all melted everywhere, they are awesome.

Cousin R2, rockin out!

Here is everyone assembled for Christmas dinner, a few days before actual Christmas day.  We fried our turkey again, and it was ahhhmmaaaaazing.  We also had mashed potatoes, corn, sweet potato casserole and rolls.

We also opened presents with Uncle K and Aunt V's family before they had to leave the next day.  It was awesome craziness!

We stayed up late getting everything opened, packed and ready for them to go home the next day.  It was such a wonderful visit, and as usual, too short!