Say Cheese!

We've been teaching Silver to smile for pictures.

Now whenever a camera comes out she says "CHEESE!!!"

and smiles as big as she can.

 Cheese happens to be one of Silver's favorite foods.

It's a GOOD life!

SamBo

I think a dog is a great thing for a child.

However...I also think I am personally not ready for a dog commitment right now...I am barely surviving each day with 3 little ones...I think adding a dog in the mix right now would completely knock me over the edge.  I can't have one more thing asking for my attention or rubbing up against my leg asking to be held :)

 Solution to these 2 conflicting thoughts:

Da Da Da Daaaa!

SamBo to the Rescue!

 SamBo is our neighbor's dog who roams the neighborhood.  He goes where the shade is in the summer (mostly our grass with the shade from the trees and swingset) and where the people are that will pet him.

 So we bought a bag of dog food and love it when he pops into our world for a visit and a treat.

 River made a bed for her SamBo out our back door.

Thank you SamBo! 

You make the girls and me very happy :)

Quote Board

For Christmas Morning, one of the presents was a container of Jelly Beans.  We told Silver she could have 3.  She studiously picks out one...then another...then a whole handful!!

When it rains and snows much our front yard/driveway turns into a GIANT mud puddle.  River and Silver were going to walk over to Paca's house for a visit and because Daddy was over there.  After 10 minutes I look out and see that they are still playing in the mud.  10 minutes more and Silver is knocking on the door after falling in the mud and getting completely covered head to foot.  After chaning everything she had on, I walked them over.  River kept walking and then going back to the mud puddle:  "I just don't know why my boots keep going to the mud instead of Pacas!"  After another attempt to go "Silly Boots, they keep wanting to play in the mud!"

Daddy overheard River pretending she was talking to Jesus:  I love Jesus more than Bears.....after a short pause...AND PIGS!!  River enjoys eating fruit snacks - when she was little she called them bears - like gummy bears so when she asks for bears, she's asking for fruit snacks.  Pigs are her favorite animal - because they're pink of course!  So to love something more than Bears AND pigs is truly more than anything else!

River brings me a pack of gum. "Mom! Smell this! Do you smell that yummy smell in your nose? It smells like Broccoli!!!" My girls LOVE broccoli! It is the first thing that is requested for dinner, and the first thing to disappear from their plates. Served with Ranch or cheese, it's the best!


Silver starts Screaming...a hurt wail. Immediately I hear "I'm Sorry, I didn't mean to!! I asked her why Silver was screaming. River "I accidentally bit her...but I'm SO sorry!"

I do not like olives. River reminded me that it is a rule in our house to try one bite of everything on the table. So, yes, I had to try olives again....

Halle-u-na! Halle-U-NA! HALLE-UU-NNNNAAA! River singing and dancing. She was trying to sing "Halleluja"

River has a very personal relationship with Heavenly Father. He is always on her mind and close to her. She says to me: I'll help you with that Mom! Mom: Thank you! River: "I just KNOW that Heavenly Father is smiling at me right now. My Primary teacher told me that when we do good things, God smiles...:) I always want to help God smile, instead of be Sad, cause when we do bad things, he frowns, like this....." Quite often she talks about God smiling.

We have jobs for River to do, and after she completes her jobs, she gets a ticket. She can turn in tickets to play with friends, tv time, special things, etc. She asked if she could watch a movie, and I asked if she had a ticket. She said no and asked how she could get a ticket. I said that if she cleaned her whole room she could get a ticket. She came back with "I have a great idea, what if I clean my whole room AND the front room." Hhhmmm, DEAL!

River: Mom, I just remembered a rule! Don't wipe your nose on your shirt, use a tissue. I kind of forgot!

Some of Silver's words: Chicken: Chichi or Chich-in Cracker: Cracki Blueberry: Blubblubblu :)

Imagine this said in Silver's little voice...drawn out and then voice going higher at the end. I asked Silver who each person's name was. Silver, what is my name? "Moooommmmyy". What is her name? 'Wwwiiiwwweerrrr" What is his name? "Daaaaddddyyyyy" What is her name? "Baaaaabyyyyy" What is your name? "Meeee!!!"
They asked me what name my account was under at the library. I answered "Brock". My goodness! I haven't been a Brock for 6 1/2 years!! I was known as Karin growing up. Everyone says my name differently. My family says car (like a car you drive) and -een like Halow-een. A lot of people called me Karen growing up and I was too shy to correct them. I also went by "Miss K", and "Brock" because people didn't want to mispronounce my name. On my mission I was Sestra Brock. Colt calls me Karin (careen - like a car careening out of control). Then I went from Brock to Henderson. While it was hard to give up Brock - it is an honor to share Colt's name and be known as his wife - becoming one! We were called "The Colts" by a family in Kanab and sometimes at church when they can't remember my name I am "Sister Colt". With River's friends I am known simply as "River's Mom!"

I asked Colt to bring us "something green" from the store on his way home. He brought us Brussell Sprouts and Artichokes. Hhhmmm, next time I'll need to be a bit more specific!

Christmas 2010

We enjoyed our Christmas!

I like digital pictures...but sometimes there are technical difficulties - I accidentally erased all pictures from our Christmas day :( 

But to focus on the positive - I have 2 cameras, and not all our pictures were deleted.  Some of the week after Christmas were salvaged from being on the other card.

 A new Bathroom Floor!

This looks so much better!  Even when it was clean - being white it always looked dirty.

This has made our bathroom look classy, and quite a bit bigger too :)

Thanks Colt!

We got our girls bunkbeds for Christmas.

We had a lot of fun with the box.

They pretended this was their airplane, and they are waving as they are taking off into the air.

They played for quite awhile here...flying up in the air, and getting in and out of the plane.  

We got a zoo puzzle that is really fun!

River can put most of it together by herself - I was really impressed with her ability to figure it out and stick with it until it was done.

Sometimes little sisters can be quite frustrating - she keeps spreading out all the pieces! 

 Putting together our bunkbeds!

River can touch the ceiling, and Silver's in a big girl bed!!

Oh Happy Day!

Cookies and SNOW!

I did a post earlier on Lebkuchen cookies!

We made another batch, and I grabbed some pics of us making our cookies:

This batch took us many many days to complete. 

The first day it took me 5 hours from start to finish - we started and got all the wet ingredients added together.  With everything that can crop up through the day (I NEVER know what I'll get - it keeps me on my toes - I wonder what we'll run into today?) I didn't get a chance to add all the dry ingredients until after 11 that evening.  I put the dough in the fridge, and it was a couple of days later that we finally got a chance to roll it out. 

I've learned not to preheat the oven until just before we are ready to cook them, even a cake mix can take us a whole lot longer than the oven takes to preheat :) 

 River kept saying that it didn't feel like Christmas because it wasn't a white Christmas - it was a brown/muddy Christmas!   Soooo....I went to change Summer's diaper, and came back to SNOW!

Happy White Christmas!

Hot Chocolate and Christmas Songs

Here's a new tradition that we started this year that we'd like to do each Christmas:

Hot Chocolate and Christmas Songs Family Night

VIDEO:  Silver Singing

VIDEO:  River Singing

Colt came home and put the groceries by the door as he was getting more groceries out of the truck and didn't want to track mud across the carpet. 

River was our big helper and helped carry the groceries to the kitchen - one thing at a time of course :). Unfortunately, the gallon of milk was too much for her.  Silver  had grabbed a gallon and was struggling to get across the front room.  River said "Silver, look, this is how you do it"  She hoisted the gallon up as high as she could get it, and then we watched in slow-motion it seemed as she went over backwards with the gallon of milk.  It hit the carpet and split the jug open with milk gushing everywhere.  We quickly salvaged 1/2 gallon before it too ended up on the carpet, and grabbed towels to soak up the standing milk. 

I then took out the carpet cleaner and slurped up the remaining milk.

Sounds like a good night for hot chocolate to me! 

We sang songs of Christ's birth and of Santa and the Reindeer.   

 FHE Lesson:  How Repentance is like cleaning up the milk.

Sin/Mistakes - Spilling milk on the carpet. 

Towels:  We do what we can to fix it/clean it up and then Carpet Cleaner:  Christ's atonement fixes it the rest of the way.

Definitely a Tradition Worth Keeping!

Ornaments

One of my favorite traditions is an ornament for each child for Chrismtas. 

Colt's family did this for him, and when we got married, we had a whole tree full!

We also do an ornament for the family!

 This year's ornament - I think it's neat that they light up and are under the tapestry that reads:  "In His Light"

 This are very beautiful ...

and extremely fragile!

We had 2 break this season...

The kids have their own Nativity set that they can play with. 

River is always playing with this and rearranges the figures in different ways while telling the story of Christ's Birth.

 This is the Family Ornament from 2 years ago when Silver was a newborn for Christmas.