Merry Christmas!!

Thought I better get this up before actual Christmas came! Merry Christmas to all!

Happy Birthday Jimmy and Lizzie!

another late post! November 28,Elizabeth and Jimmy shared yet another Birthday! Lizzie Turned 12 and started YW's. Jimmy turned 9. Lizzie loves Horses and so we got her a 'day with horses' she did a trail ride and prepped the horses and truly had a great time! I don't have any pics of her on the horse as the batteries died. :{ jimmy opted for a game day at Howies game shack and pizza. Steve took the boys to that one! ;) But he refused to take pictures for me. grrrr. so all we have is their silly little birthday cakes on the actual birthday with family. oh well!

Wax Museum

At the Kids School, they are required to do a book report and memorize and recite a poem each grading period. They do their best to make the book reports fun for the kids by choosing 'themes' for them. I am so grateful that my kids enjoy reading, but it can still be a bear to get them to put the info down on paper sometimes! This last quarter, Lizzie's was Wax Museum. she had to read a biography, write the report, make a poster and then 'pose' as the person. As spectators, we were able to walk around the room, push a little button to make the person come to life and then they had a little speech prepared. I thought it was too much work, she had a blast. it ended up being pretty cool indeed. Elizabeth LaVon was Rosa Parks.

Updates

Although not as big as I had envisioned, I think we learned a nice lesson from this and we were all able to stop and remember all that we have been blessed with and all that we have been given. to say 'Thanks' for the big stuff can be easy, but being reminded of the small everyday things, was nice. it was a blessing to watch the tree gorw as the month went on as well. Ye another thing to be grateful for.

Graditude Tree

 
FHE this week I thought it would be good to have a lesson on Thanksgiving, actually a lesson on remembering to show graditude for all we have. All that we have been given. Some times its hard to see theose blessings, to remember them as blessings. So we created this tree, Its a gratitude tree. On each leaf we have written something that we are thankful for. I did this lesson in the begining of the month so that everyday we can add leaves when ever we remember something else to Thank our Heavenly Father for. I hope to fill the whole wall. We have some silly ones on there like, onion rings and legos, and some really special ones as well. I am grateful for all that I have. I am blessed unbelievably. I have felt loved my whole life. I have 4 healthy beautiful happy funny children, and a man who thinks I am beautiful and makes me laugh everyday. Together, We have a wonderful home that keeps us safe and warm. I have the Gospel in my life and I am truly blessed.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 2011

Its time to finally say goodnite and bid Halloween of 2011 a fond farewell. We had a great time and wonderful fun this year. the kids got to actually wear their costumes 4 times! and do many fun activities. We went on a nite hike trick or treating at our fun park we told you about already. Then we had our School Fall Festival, Trick or Treating fun at our local grocery store and made cookies. Then we had our Church Trunk or Treat carnival and Lizzie was in charge of the Cake walk! she loved every minute of it. Then the big finally, Out to Goodyear to my friends new house for a party and actual Knock on the Door Trick or Treating! We are had a Candy Overload this year. Thank Goodness for the Great Pumpkin! Kids were so excited that they would have a good haul for him this year. The more you give the better the gift they say! ;) So the kids divided up their candy filled the great pumpkin bowl and put it on the porch for him...This morning they were pretty darn happy with the fun stuff he left in its place. I Love me some Great Pumpkin!! ;)

Fall Break!

 
 
We had a Blast! We went Hiking, playing in the park. We visited a local farm, and rode a horse. had archery lessons too! We took a weekend trip to Tuscon, stayed in a hotel and swam at night! We visited Tombstone and the Silver Mine. We went to Old Tuscon, where they filmed some of Little house in the prarie and the kids got sworn in as official unofficial Sherrifs! The last day we headed to the Tuscon Zoo. So way cool! My new fav Zoo for sure! Its smaller, but very family oriented. We even got to feed the Giraffe! Hated the week to end. I love me a Minication!

Hiking

 
 
We found this really cool park up in the San Tan Mountains, back in the valley. It has some great hiking paths, easy enough for our family right now. and they have some super fun activities they host for the community like archery lessons this Thursday, and Halloween spookfest. Trick or treating on a hiking trail with flashlights! so cant wait for that one!! Pictures to come!!

dino museum

Last week we headed over to our favorite Dinosaur Museum here. the kids love it even though they seem to have the whole thing memorized. But at least its still new to Jojo!!
Fun side note: I have a picture of each of my kids hangin through that meteorite
 
 

Camping!

Steve Loves Camping. The Kids Love Camping. I Love my Bed! So Steve and some other Dads got together and took all the kids Camping for the weekend. They had a Blast! They fished, cooked, shot the gun, and dug holes to poop in. yeah, sorry missed it.

My Latest Addiction!

 

Hi, My Name is Sue, and I'm Addicted...Not to cute little Handkerchief dresses, although I am now so enjoying making them...alot of them...if you have a little girl, you might start getting these cuties. But its the site I got the idea from. Its called Pinterest. and if you have discovered it, you know my problem. If you haven't yet, I say dont do it! It will be yet another reason to spend way too much time on the evil computer! Honestly, its pretty cool. it works like a bookmark sort of, except you can see others and they can see yours. no profiles or personal comments just 'Pins" say, you scrolling through some recipe blog, or some craft site and think 'Ooohh I want to make that some day!' and so when your ready to do so, you cant find where you saw it at, happened to me way too many times. with pinterest. I see, I pin it (hit button set on my tool bar) and there it is! saved w/ picture,link, instructions, the whole shebang, on one of my boards. so cool!! I have found so many fun recipe, decorating ideas and easy cheesy crafts for the kids. What was life like before the Internet? I shudder to remember.... :D

Picaso in the Tub

 

Katie Jo Marie hates to take a bath. Until Now...
she hates bubbles and shampoo. running water and wet toys
we usually just battle it out and get her cleaned up, but I found this fun Idea online and so far its a winner! Shaving cream paints! I bought shaving cream from the $store and added food coloring. she has a blast painting the wall and her body and then she loves to dive into the water to "clean up" so what if she smells like an old man, shes clean and her skin is so soft!!

 

Worth the Wait!

At least thats what Lizzie would say. she has been saving up for a beta fish. she had to buy the food,rocks,tank and fish all by herself. she was saving for a while and here he is Blue. yea. i know not very exciting but she is happy. :)

Mama's Little helper!

I remember when Lizzie and Stevie were little, they just loved to help cook, anything, and if they got to crack an egg? Life was splendid indeed! Now I have Jo and I cant pull a bowl out or stand at the counter for any length of time without hearing the chair sliding across the floor, 'I Hewp you Mommy?' Sometimes it makes the process a little bit more messy... But isn't that what life is all about. I miss my now big little helpers, But I thank my heavenly father everyday for my new little helper. It was super Yummy banana bread! Thank you Baby Girl.

Fun with the Cousins!

Just before school started we had a visit from some of our favorite cousins, the Hartleys!! We did some fun stuff and they got to visit their family here in Az so it was a win win for all! Our favorite thing we did together was Make 'spray paint shirts' basically you create an image/shape with contact paper, stick to your shirt and then with a squirt bottle you spray watered down fabric paint on it. they came out pretty cool for sure. Mostly it was just fun being together and laughin.

A Brand New School Year!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2011



Some are happy and excited, and some wish summer would start all over again! Me? well I miss them when they are gone and I think about all the plans we had for the summer, and the amazing new healthy habits we were going to work on and never quite got going. I really look forward to getting back to a schedule and all that can bring to a family. I am excited for them to be with their friends again, learning and sharing and just plain being a kid at school. But Me and Jo sure do Miss them during the day.
Elizabeth is 11 and in the 6th Grade now. Stevie is 10 and in the 5th Grade. Jimmy James, 8 and 3rd Grade. In Nov Lizzie will turn 12 and enter into the YW's program...But I can't talk about that right now. So happy for them. I just cant believe how quickly time is flying by. They are growing up so fast.
"The Days are long, but the Years are short." So painfully true.


Jojo Helped to make scrambled Eggies for everyone


Stevie 5th grade


Jimmy 3rd Grade


Lizzie 6th Grade


The Whole Gang!

Meet Molly and Toffee!

Molly Two Sox


Toffee 12 week old trail mix


The Newest Members of the Roberts Clan! We have been wanting a doggy for a long time, but with the move and then well, life, we seemed to keep putting it off. We decided that we would go to the pound every Friday, and see the dogs, until we found the 'perfect' one for our family...first Friday, first shelter... We found Molly. I know your thinking we're made of pure Jello, and although that is true about me, ( who waits outside, because I want them all), Steve is not. Either is Stevie who can have a real fear of Dogs. Molly is a 10wk old Lab/Heeler mix. she is smart, and so cute! she is actually really mellow for a puppy which is perfect for Stevie and Jojo. She is almost already potty trained! Heelers are crazy smart dogs. We wanted to get a kitty at the same time so they could grow up together. Toffee was the only one who went nose to nose with Molly and then licked her, Now its mostly Molly that does the licking but Toffee takes it...Until she is done, and then Molly gets the swipe of the Paw and the fun is over. Life is good. Molly and Toffee are fitting right in and Puppies are just plain Fun!




Self Portrait By Stevie and Molly


Princess doesn't seem to be as happy with our new additions as we are, weird. ;)


Bubble Guppies seems to be everyone's Fav.

Puppet Shows,Helpers, and WII x 3!

Even though Jojo doesn't know how to play the WII, she loves to 'pretend' and play with the Big boys. Of course, she doesn't know she is pretending...shhhhhhh.



Katie Jo Loves to help. whether its cooking, sweepin the floor, or Fixing the dish washer. She is Daddy's helper always...especially if she gets to wear gloves!!



Stevie is so great with little kids. and they totally love him! We had some neighbor kids over the other day and Stevie put on impromptu Puppet show. such a cool kid.