Mad Scientist

When Peter turned six, one of his presents was a Mad Science Kit - complete with lab coat and goggles.  He has had a lot of fun with it and we've added to it as we've gone along.

One of the first things we did was a volcano for his Science Fair Project.

I'm not sure how I didn't get a picture of the final product, but it was very cool.

Another favorite is the Elephant Toothpaste... it looks like we'll need to get goggles and lab coats for the rest of the mini-scientists in the house too!

Sleepover

This is definitely the best kind of sleepover...

A fort in the middle of the day with a good movie, popcorn, and friends!

Christmas fun

We've had a busy and fun Christmas this year - here are the highlights:

My sister and her husband came for a visit and we were able to talk them into taking the kids to the Trail of Lights.  It was a little chilly, but they had a great time!

Our nativity goes a bit smoother every year as our participants are more willing to get into character :)

We headed down to Houston to hang out with the family and make yummy homemade pizzas!

 Grandma and Papa gave the kids geodes for Christmas so part of the fun was cutting them open to discover what was inside.  Leah's had a large crystal along with the usual stone formations.

And we got to watch Grandma and Papa open their mission call!

They'll be leaving in April for a 6 month mission at the Palmyra Temple.... it sounds like a Church History vacation maybe in the plans for us this summer!

Double Digits!

This beautiful girl is now 10!

No more single digits for her...

She is loving being a 4th grader and is officially tasked with keeping her teacher organized... this girl has tons of executive leadership ability.  The challenge is finding a healthy outlet for it.

So she is super active at school with student council and as stage manager for the Friday morning assembly.  She also loves being in choir and taking part in whatever art projects come her way.

She's currently the only girl in Activity Days, but she's gearing up for the next few months when four new 8 year old girls will be joining her - she's ready to show them the ropes!

We're so proud of our Leah and the beautiful girl she is becoming.

Here's to a great year!

Thanksgiving

We made the trip to Houston for Thanksgiving this year - I don't think we've gone down for the holiday since Peter was born!  It was great to be able to hang out with cousins - this picture was the only one we were able to get of them holding still.  The rest looked more like this...

We especially had fun getting to know the littlest one who is just over a year old.

Isn't he cute?
He thought all the kids were great fun and loved playing with them.

It was definitely a worth the trip!