Judah and the lotion bottle- I think the lotion won

The boys sometimes get into trouble during nap time :) Today was one of those days. this is how he came downstairs after Caleb went to check on him....We have a Eucerin lotion in their room that he found. At least he knew he had to put it on his face right ....Oh those boys keep us laughing and on our toes.

Life with our little ones is full....

Kloe outside practicing walking

Kloe having tea with her "Aunts" :)

Kloe and Mady watching Praise Baby with their "Uncles" :)

Getting their school done...together

I am so glad to have some of my grandchildren as close as they are . They fit right in too with the ages of our little ones...and for the most part they all get along really well. They are being raised together and  it has been a neat experience to have children who are the same age as some of my grand children are. I especially appreciate this since I have some grand children who live far away and I hate that. You have heard me say it before that long distance grand parenting is so hard. When you don't see each other but a few times a year it is so hard...the children grow up and we miss out on their life. We miss all of the grand children and are thankful for the opportunity to at least have some of our grand ones close.

Our " Brave" 10 yr old Gracie

Gracie loves the movie Brave. So for her 10th birthday that was our theme. She also told her teacher at school she wanted long hair...I think because of her affection for Brave. I had this idea to make her a Brave wig for her party and she loved it. We ate her favorite foods and she requested pudding for her dessert. 

We played bingo and had light sticks.

I bought butter cookies and we always try to eat them into as small a ring without it breaking...Rachel won.

Happy Birthday to our sweet Gracie.

What do you do when it has rained for days...you dance

Trying to get the kids moving when we have been inside for days is not hard when we dance. We use the Just Dance on the Wii but don't play it competively . They love it. It helps to let them get some exercise and much needed large muscle movement.

We will also go to Walmart and do a photo taking scavenger hunt or we have even played hide from the other part of the family ( mom's team vs dad's team) in Target.

What are some of your late Winter need to get out ideas ?

Well, we tried to teach them to sign , I love you

Jesse did pretty well we thought .....

Until he displayed this :) 

Oh well...finally he did get it and loves to show us his sign of I love you. Judah tries too.

Whoo knows what this is ?

We are wrapping up our 2 week study of owls this week. Today we dissected owl pellets. It took hours for them to finish but it was interesting and we learned a lot. We will finish by going owling at nite . Hope we can find some . If you ask the kids they can even identify the different calls of an owl.

God's Provision

I woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise- orange, reds, yellows all the way across the horizon. I did not have my camera or there would be a picture . This afternoon we had warm weather in the 50s , black, dark clouds, rain, a period in the am where it snowed huge flakes for an hour,wind, cold temperatures, a thunderstorm, hail and then this beautiful double rainbow.....Sort of reminds me of God's provision as we walk thru the journey of life. We have our times of peace and safety and our times of storms and darkness but God always is there beside us no matter what comes our way…this rainbow was a good reminder of His presence.

God is the provider...

When it is His work....

He provides !