Sharing

Awww...I just thought these pics were so cute. And in my opinion, Sophie is our best sharer. Lucy never misses a chance to beg for a bite whenever anyone is eating. She sits promptly on the floor if she thinks you may actually feed her what she wants.

Yay for Strawberries!!

This is always one of my favorite parts of summer! And by the way only 16 days until....it begins in earnest!

Renaissance Fair: Including Gracie's Big Break

All sorts of action is happening around our house like: Spencer and his KB24 Laker car at the pinewood derby.
And gorgeous Renaissance Princesses at the elementary school Renaissance Fair. Because they were out of these lovely ribbon crowns, Sophie scoured the fair and found one forgotten under a booth, and happily paid 25 cents for the VERY LAST crown. Tenacity sure pays off.

And our lovely Grace, who now is practically a celebrity because she was interviewed by our friend, and very talented local author, Ann Dee Ellis, for her blog. Grace is Ann Dee's official "Reader of the Week." Check out her interview here and I PROMISE you can't help but be entertained. (Bravo Ann Dee and Grace.)

And soccer season is upon us again. And even though we don't LOOK very excited, I promise we are. The soccer bug has bit us all. AW is Spencer's coach, so attending the games is like fun filled sports, along with a sideline comedian.

Just a few Sophie-isms

1. After being caught in her room with the Kirkland size jar of Jelly Belly's by Spencer, she said, "I wasn't eating them...I was just tasting them." Hmmm. I wonder... Survey says:?

2. "Mom, is your stomach fat?" Sophie asked as she poked my stomach. I said, "I don't know. What do you think?" "YES." I said, "What? I've had four kids...it's been stretched out and back four times. Aren't you glad I did that?" Sophie looked unsure and then said, "Yeah. I guess. But not for Spencer."

The Perfect Nest

So, where would you say the "perfect nest" resides? A tree house, a baseball glove, an old red sweater? Sophie brought home this charming little book by Catherine Friend that she just LOVED...and I loved it too....UNTIL---

This happened:
Sophie decided she wanted to hatch a chicken of her own...right in her own comfortable bed. So (while I'm sure I was doing something very important) she got an egg from the fridge, tucked it safely under her pillow, and went to sleep...so excited to wake-up in the morning to find her very own baby chick.

Whoops...


It seems that's not quite how it works. Poor Soph...she was very disappointed. And I had a hard time being upset with her...because it was SO EXCEPTIONALLY FUNNY!

Who says books don't affect kids? Not me.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow and Let it Snow Some More

Like most people in Utah, we got a ton of snow before and during Christmas. Spence went out and TRIED to clear the sidewalk. Adam shoveled the driveway three times in one day...and we decided it might be time to get a snowblower.

I was busy in the house doing something and Sophie asked if she could play in the snow.
"YeeEEEeeeS. Please play in the snow!"
Soon she came in looking for things for her snowman. I thought, "Oh, how cute, Sophie wants to build a little snowman..."
Little did I know it would be taller than she is, and planted right on our driveway. I said, "Sophie, did you build him all by yourself?" She nodded and said, "I've been practicing during recess at school."
I must say, I never built a snowman during recess...but maybe that's because I lived in California. Nice.

Twirly Skirts and Hermit Crabs

Well, it happened. Our six-year-old Sophie is now SEVEN.

She celebrated with a hermit crab named HERMAN and...

an exceptionally twirly TWIRLY skirt.

What more do you need in life?

Saturday Night GLITTER

Well, with Adam at the BYU volleyball game with Spence and Grace, I got to spend some quality glitter time with Sophie. Lucy was in bed...and we thought, WHAT can we do? Of course...get out THE GLITTER.

Actually, glitter makes everything better. Just ask Libarachi. So...here are our masterpieces:

Before fabulousness.

After fabulousness.

Sophie made up this whole story about how the other un-glittered birds were very sad AND lonely AND jealous AND saying not very nice things about one another.

Huh?

Okay. It's her story. So we had to put a few birds in "time-out" while they awaited their glittering.

And now...every bird is happy with their new sparkly self.


But really? Aren't they cute? Almost all ready for the Christmas tree.



And then we got in a little reading. So...this is how it feels to have one child!

Sophie just knows Grace and Spence will be very jealous when they come home from the game and find out about all the fun we had. Perhaps we should just sprinkle a little glitter on them and all will be well.

xoxo

Happy Halloween!

We took these wild ones to their Halloween Parade at school.

The whole Halloween crew.

Count Gracula.

Bucaneer Bones

I don't want to be a Ladybug...

Just one little bite...

Our beautiful Kimono Princess

What to be for Halloween

Sigh. What to be for Halloween.

This has been a MAJOR discussion at our house as of late. Sophie is full of questions. "Mom, if I'm the Kimono Princess, do I get to have the fan AND the parasol?" "Mom, can I be the Grecian Goddess?" "Do you think the Gypsy's cute?" "Do we have forty dollars?" "Mom, are you ignoring me?"

Yes to ALL of those questions.

All the while I'm trying to convince her to be Dorothy...or Daphne...or a Flamingo..(all the costumes we all ready have). But no dice.

We will not be deciding until the very week of Halloween, because of all the decisions that get changed from minute to minute. But really, if I had the chance to decide what I'd be right now. Anything at all...well, it's tough. I'd like to be a cross between Martha Stewart, Jack Johnson, J.K.Rowling, Heidi Klum, Julie Beck, Mother Theresa and Super Mom. So, don't make me choose.

"Mom. Are you listening?" S asks.

"Yes. Tell me again about the pirate costume my dear Soph."

What's new with the White crew.

Graces' soccer team "Red Lightening" just blew through and spanked every one they played. They were undefeated--a fact she is not shy to share with anyone who comes within a 10 mile radius. Good job Gracie! Lucy goose has been doing all sort of things like: getting two new teeth, AND crawling all over the place. And, as you can see- she loves the bath. The other day we had everyone in the bath tub...except for Mom and Dad (that would have been quite a show!) and Lucy loved all the attention. Sophie REALLY wishes she lived on a farm, but for now, she'll just have to be happy shucking the corn we got from the ward garden. She cleaned these babies all by herself. Good job Soph!

Back To School

Back to school...how sweet those words are to a mother of four...three off to school all day! The kids were just as excited as I was.

The first day went well, no one starved, got lost, or had a mean teacher. I think it's going to be a great year.

Can't help but love these first pictures with their first day of school newness and excitment. Lucy and I had fun at home. I actually could catch up on all the laundry...and make a menu for the week and few of our dinners. The silence at Lucy's naptime was golden. AHHHH.

First Day of School

First Day of School
Originally uploaded by jen93065

What? School already?

A Whole Lot of Summer Fun!

Oh my. What to do about a whole summers worth of pictures? Well. Here we go.

First. Newport Beach with the Madsen Family. Fun, fun, fun.

Las Vegas Log Ride.




And of course, Grace turned 8! And we went to The American Girl Place. Adam wanted to know if we went for Grace or for me? I say, it was for both.

Adam was so jealous he had to get in the action.



Family Picture 2008

And then we had a Bar-b-que at Grandma Davis' house...very remnicent of the good old days when we went there all the time when I was little.





Sophie lost two teeth.

And Grandpa Jack tries to light himself on fire! DAD! Really, the bbq almost killed him. href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeAZiMgNB4Vs4_7X0-c4y2AWzg21pbhrZO7hYxQPG3NDTk5qplDi6ZPehX9EOYpPUZB23iiIeZTTrqaL1WG-IO9Ep6aIce4IVTuimcN64ZrZWYTf-ilE5UP67KSAxOYdeGIFmXXxYddbXp/s1600-h/June-+July+2008+120.jpg">
And the kids had fun on the slip and slide.