Christmas Choir

Part of our homeschool curriculum this year has Caleb, Miriam and Ethan learning to sing with the Heralders Children's Choir.  Tis the season for their Christmas performances.  Today was a bit of a marathon as they performed multiple times.  This photo is singing for the Santa breakfast. They sang so well!  The music consisted of old carols from around the world.  Some of the songs they sang are:

The Friendly Beasts

The Wren

Fum Fum Fum

Jinglin Bells

Deck the Halls

The Lord of the Dance

The whole program takes about 30 minutes and includes some dancing and solo performances.

This photo was taken between performances.  There was a lot of waiting to do, and the kids were good sports about it. This is Ethan, Miram and some of their friends.  They both sing with the younger Carillion Choir.  It is obvious they enjoy participating, they both wear smiles while they sing.

Caleb sings with the Classical Choir.  They are 10 years old and above.  I am loving seeing my boys in bow ties! (Caleb was pretty much born to wear a bow tie...)

This was Caleb's third performance for the day. (in total, he probably sang for over 3 hours today).  This is a special performance where the older choir was able to perform at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square they sang Vivaldi's "Gloria", which is in Latin.  I was so pleased with Caleb for memorizing all of this!  They sounded remarkable. Caleb is on the right in the back row, third boy in.

No photo is available of the choir's self-proclaimed head groupies: Leslie and Camille.  They cheered for the kids and got to know many of the choir members.  We are all exhausted and happy! 

Halloween (Quick, because Thanksgiving is upon us!)

Halloween was fun, as always.  This year it seemed to go on all weekend long!

 This is Seth and Ethan all dressed up for the annual children's party that the youth put on for them in our ward.  They are vampires of the most spooky sort.

Leslie and her friend Katie, all dressed up for the same party. Leslie was a fairy with a crown of flowers.

Also this year, we had a family party to celebrate. Cousins waiting for the signal to take care of those donuts!

The gruesome pumpkin line up.

Jake and Diana showing off their work.

They have a Jekyll and Hyde sort of pumpkin with two faces.  Diana was a good sport on Halloween.  She got more than she bargained for on this date!  Little brothers hovering around and a trip to the neighbor's to pick a whole apple tree!  All accomplished in costume. :)

This is the crew, ready to spoil the neighborhood for candy/parties.  Jake is a pac man ghost, Camille is a lovely princess, Leslie is a cat,  Ethan is a missionary, Seth is a lion, Miriam a cheerleader and Caleb a mad scientist. Dad is the ever faithful chaperon.  Just before he walked out the door, Seth abandoned his furry bits and told me he would just roar at people.  (hee, hee.)



Bear Lake

Proof that we had a vacation.  Proof that we had fun! 

Jacob returning from an invigorating plunge.

Cousins + Lake = Happiness

Home Base in the Shade

There is also a nice pool at the place we stayed, and the kids always have to go there after the lake to "wash off the sand".  This is an excuse to KEEP PARTYIN'!  I love this picture of Ethan.  Note the missing teeth in the smile.

And this is Caleb riding the inflatable whale.  The whale is a staple tradition and comforting part of the trip.  It has a droopy tail this year, but hopefully will be floating for some years to come.

Thanks to Dave and Tiffany for always being so nice to us to invite us to stay in their nice digs at the lake.

In Which Miriam Hosts a Tea Party

 A week ago, Miriam brought a handful of hand-written invitations to me and asked permission to send them out for a princess tea party.  How could I resist?  She assured me I wouldn't have to do anything.  She was right.  Camille did it! The sisters had a great time helping with the tea party.  Camille waited on the guests and Leslie took the photos (but Leslie had to dress up to enter the room!).  Here are some fun pictures:

The Guests.

The Hosting Princess

The Help.

The General Atmosphere.

Odd Odor

Something was not right. 
Something was definitely off.
Ewww!  What is that smell?!?! 
We searched on and off for about an hour, as it seemed to come and go.  Finally, we realized that the smell was corresponding with Seth's arrival.  What had thrown us, is that it didn't seem to immediately depart when he did--it lingered.

Mom: "Hey buddy, lets get you into the tub, something smells funny."
Seth: "Yeah, 'cause Bubba peed on me. " (Bubba is the neighbor's arthritic dog.) UGH!!!

July

July was a busy, fun month.  The kids spent lots of afternoons swimming in the pool in our front yard, usually with their neighborhood friends.  There was one day when the neighbors were all pretty much gone, and even Nathan and I ventured out with the kids. (I know, all that white skin is a bit much!)

 This is the super cool nail polish Leslie tried at a young women's activity. It is silver until it gets in the sun and turns pink! She was pretty fond of it, therefore it is documented.

Miriam is just interesting in this one.

This is the last photo taken by my little red camera.  It is a tent city in my basement.  And a pretty good one at that.  I am so sad my camera died, because I have no photos of my family reunion.  But we went to visit my parents on July 11th for a weekend with my siblings and a reunion with much of my mother's family.  I saw all of my aunts and uncles on the Murdock side and many of their children and grand children.  Nathan and I were also able to make a visit to my Murdock grandparents.  Grandma was in the hospital, but released soon after our visit, and Grandpa was in his new home at the assisted living center.

We slept in tents at my parent's home and visited.  We played in the water at Porter Park in Rexburg and mom and dad bought tickets for the carousel, filling it with their posterity.  That was my favorite part, looking all around the carousel at all the cute children and being amazed that two people, and 40 years of good living can turn into quite a busy crew!  We attended my cousin Amy Jo's graduation voice recital at the college.  Ethan kept leaning to me and asking how they made her voice so loud.  It was the first introduction to opera for him.  Then we went to the sand dunes--which was definitely my children's favorite part!  They came home with sand everywhere, exhausted and happy.

This photo was taken on the same trip at my  20 year high school reunion.  Five of the seven people that graduated in my class are here:

Back: Jason Vielma, Shaun Grover

Front: Jenny (Jacobson) McAllister, Tammie (Stewart) Smith, Terry (Wilding) Roberts.

It was great fun to see each other and talk and talk and talk.  And laugh.  We always did have a pretty good time together.  Shaun, Terry, Tammie and I were all classmates from kindergarten through 12th grade.  Lots of memories, we were just like siblings and we are glad to be back in touch with one another.

We also spent the 4th and 24th holidays with the McAllisters.  Food and fireworks. :)  Uncle Paul helped the little boys build model rockets to launch and that was a huge hit.  The McAllister ladies also had a quilting day tying four quilts.  We had so much fun, that we have scheduled another day, so we are piecing quilts to do it all again.

Ethan Turns 7

Ethan turned seven on the 21st.  It was a fun day full of swimming and sun.  This is him, showing the hole in his teeth where he lost one just the day before.  He likes to stick his tongue in that hole.

Sweet!  Presents include a few balls: plastic baseballs and a set of bases for playing in our circle. Two footballs, one is soft for playing catch inside.  Ethan could play catch all the time!

Walkie Talkies and a cool projector for drawing cartoons rounds out the loot.  Happy Birthday, buddy!

Girl's Weekend

A couple of weekends ago, the boys drove off into the sunset to go to the annual Father and Son's camp out.  This year was a bit different in that all the boys were healthy and ALL the boys went! This left just me and the girls and we had a PARTY! It started with a trip to a local art gallery (my beautiful girls are all artists, so I encourage them in whatever way I can, having NO artistic ability of my own).

In front of the Kings Gallery, ready to see the art and jewelry inside.  Miriam met an artist who was preparing his collection for exhibit and made a friend. She makes friends everywhere she goes.  She pointed to a blank spot on the wall of the gallery and asked if they would not put a picture there so there would be room for hers. :)

Car photos. Long ride across town apparently gets boring.

We stopped at the Dancing Crane, an import store, to see all the fun things from around the world.  We came out with bells from India, earrings from Peru and smiles.  We also shopped at DI, a family favorite.  After all the shopping, we joined friends Alisa O'Berry and her baby Liam for a walk to Leatherby's and huge ice cream sundaes.  Home late, but still determined to party, we watched a movie and painted our toenails.  Saturday morning we spent at the yard sales.

Camille is showing off her finds, the necklace, the bracelet and the red top .  Love to shop at yard sales!

Yard sales took us past the cemetery where Grandpa McAllister is buried, so we stopped for awhile.  It was so nice to spend time with my daughters! They are fun and energetic and I'm grateful to be the mom.  The boys had a good time at the Father and Son's camp too, but they didn't have the camera.

Leslie's Promoted

Leslie has successfully finished 9th grade and was invited to attend the promotion dance.  We found this new summery dress to send her off in and I think she is looking radiant! 

I drove the last jr. high carpool run for the year and cheered!  Camille and Leslie are finished. Jake is already in Idaho working for the summer and today is the last day for Miriam.  Speaking of Miriam, she had a couple of end of year performances that we attended this week, but I didn't have my camera with me at either of them. Shame on me! 

Miriam danced in the school-wide talent show to High School Musicals "I Don't Dance." But Miriam really does dance!  It comes out of her heart and she isn't afraid of anything when she is on stage.  I am always amazed at her.  I also attended her Spanish program to hear her sing some fun songs in what is fast becoming her second language.

Jacob's Eagle Project

We have been working on this for awhile, but the project is finally done! Now just a few odds and ends and Jake will be an Eagle scout!  It is a lot of work! Phew!

Paperwork.

Jacob gathered items and funding for hygiene kits to send to the humanitarian center.

The people who helped.  130 kits were assembled.

Each kit has 2 hand towels, 4 toothbrushes, 1 tube of toothpaste, 2 combs, and 2 bars of soap.

This is delivering the kits to the humanitarian center.  The kits are sent all over the world to help those in disaster situations.  We were truly humbled to see all the donations from our community to help those in need.  This has been a great experience for our whole family.

Leslie's 15th Birthday

Wow! It is here! Leslie is 15.  She has been anticipating this birthday for awhile, sending out lists of her wishes to friends and family, lest they forget the big day.  The list I received looked something like this:
1. Tangled

2. Fashion bug cat eye sunglasses
3. Big sandwich
4. Bracelets
5. Rings
6. Heart locket (long chain)
7. Fresh flowers
8. Head bands- the cute kind with big flowers or bows
9. Boxes- any kind
10. T-shirts
11. Hats
12. Pink pens
13. Lip gloss- peachy colored
14. Pretty hair pins
15. Eiffel tower model
16. Chandelier earrings
17. Magazines
18. Lamp
19. Makeup
20. Nail polish
21. Books
22. CDs
23. Sharpies
24. Milkshake
25. School bag
26. Socks
27. Anything for my room- my colors are hot pink, blue (and grey, silver, white, and black)- Paris theme
28. Any suprises

Big Sandwiches were granted.

Anticipation.

Watch out for that guy!

Unwelcome help. Ppplllbbb.

Gorgeous bracelet (I picked it out, so I think so!)

Check out Ethan's face...he knows what is in there! (Tangled is one of those new absolute favorite movies!)

Happy Birthday, Leslie! (Note: Leslie says she is still accepting gifts. :)

Caleb's Band Concert

Caleb has been playing the trombone this year in band and I was able to attend his spring concert this week.  The band sounded great and I was impressed at how many kids have joined the band this year.  It was a fun concert.

Looking good, Son!

Hansel and Gretel

I mean, Hazel and Greta.  This was a fun play put on by the little girl cousins at a family get-together.  It is called Hazel and Greta, because these are two cousin names. Clever Hazel is usually the master-mind.

 Here are the children, approaching the witch's door.  Miriam is the witch.

My favorite part of this play is when the witch takes the children shopping for ovens.  How delightfully morbid!

Finally the police haul off the wicked witch and all ends well. Sigh of relief!  I'm so glad for fun cousins nearby!