Happy Birthday Uncle Elder

Here is my brother Caleb - he is a missionary up in Washington state. As a tribute to him - I have posted the kids favorite pictures of him - I don't think they need much explanation. We love you Uncle Elder!!!

For Family Home Evening last week the kids each made Caleb a tie - here they are sporting the finished products. They are made completely out of duct tape and have I mentioned how much I love my cricut machine - I cut out all the designs on the cricut.

Spring Break

I had a to-do list of over 20 things that I really wanted to get done over spring break - instead this is what I did. I might have been a bit behind on laundry - here is what my couch looked like after 4 loads of laundry (I still had a load in the washer and in the dryer) - and you don't even see the 3 loads of bedding that I did the day before.
And I have boys who love to fold socks (OK - they might just like to have sock wars, but they have to fold the socks first, so they don't complain). For those of you who have never heard of sock wars - it is simple, you throw the socks as hard as you can at the other person and get a point if you hit them. I am a big fan of the sock war because the rules are - they fold all the socks, they can only use their own socks as missiles (that way half of the socks get put away before the war begins), and they have to put their socks away after the war (and refold any socks that come undone).

So - Spring Break is over and I am still behind - the only two things that I crossed off the list were Caleb's birthday package mailed and boys signed up for baseball. I also made progress on getting the boys to do their science fair projects and we are half-way done with the cub scout space derby rocket. Oh well - there will be a day when I am able to accomplish something again right???

I 'heart' snow!!!

It is spring break for me this week - I have been looking forward to this week since Christmas - I originally thought that I would pull the kids out of school for a few days and go somewhere fun - it didn't happen. But we did do something fun today after school. After 3 days of 60+ degree weather we woke up to snow this morning - so here are pictures of our after school sledding outing (maybe the last of the season?)
Here is Ethan trying the snowboard - he actually did quite well - especially for the generic snowboard - he kept his balance the whole way down the hill.

Miles liked to get a running start - I even caught some of the air under him in this picture.

Abby's favorite part of sledding is crashing - in fact, when I told them we had to go pick up the twins, Abby asked if she could do one more "crash".

These next pictures are from Christmas - I never got around to posting about them. For Christmas this year, instead of getting the kids a present, I gave them each coupons for activities with me. The boys got snowboarding coupons and they used them the next day. I think that this might turn into a tradition - the boys (AND I) loved it. I need to give a big THANK YOU to my brother, Michael - he came with us and not only taught Miles how to snowboard, but he helped me a bit too (I haven't been since collage - well, the first time I went to collage).

Ethan didn't snowboard, but is looking forward to growing into Miles's snowboard next year -here he is on his ski's. When we started skiing Michael was helping Miles and I was with Ethan - we had to switch though because I was having a hard time keeping up with Ethan - he is a speedster!!!

Miles picked up the snowboard really quickly - and loved it! He even talked Michael into taking him again a few weeks later when Michael was in town for my Grandpa's 90th birthday celebration.

Thanks Michael!!!! (Oh - and it was night skiing, as you can probably see from this picture).

We have had a fun winter, but as much as I love the snow, I am now ready to retire the sleds to the shed and get out the bikes. Here's hoping spring is soon coming!!!

A couple of "superior" kids

The Piano Festival was today - we have been working long and hard on their pieces but they both did a great job and earned "superior" ratings. Ethan earned his gold cup this year (3 years in the making) and Miles is one year closer to his second gold cup. We started a tradition 4 years ago that if the kids get "superior's" then we celebrate by going out for a blizzard at Dairy Queen. Well - I never realized when I started this how difficult it could become - I mean, going out for a treat , sounds easy huh. Well - for the first time since the twins were born we went out to eat - yep, just me with 5 kids. I didn't take a picture of Piper grabbing my salad and spilling it all over my lap, I also didn't take a picture of Miles dropping Abby's sundae upside down on the table, but I did get a picture of Miles and Ethan enjoying their well-earned blizzards.
I also have to share this funny video - for all of you who are wondering why Piper is beginning to weigh more than her sister - this is why. I think it is hilarious! Poor Paige. . .

More "duck" friends come to visit

We had visitors today - some of our best friends from the Oregon Law School Days. It was just short visit and we didn't have time to catch up on everything that has happened in the last 5 years but it was so good to see them. And guess what - they have twins too - only a month older than Paige and Piper. Here are Rebecca and I with our arms full of babies - from left to right - Piper, Paige, Matthew and Audrey.
Now, for some reminiscing - I went through old pictures and found some great ones. I love this next picture - it has got to be one of my favorite alltime. This was taken at Miles 3rd birthday party - the theme was Nemo and he loved puzzles so he was so excited about this present. He was helping me go through these pictures earlier and said - "Oh - she gave me that puzzle - I still have it" (in fact, he just helped Abby put it together). So anyway - here are Miles and Hallie, almost 6 years ago.

Here they are today - yeah, I am not sure who is more happy to have their picture taken - Hallie, Ethan or Miles. We didn't have enough time for them to warm up to one another, so Rebecca and Jeff, if you read this - we will have to get together again sometime. What would be really great would be to have a LDS Oregon Law School Reunion:)

Here are more "before pictures". This is our first Halloween in Eugene - the kids are 2 (might I add that I spent days making this costume)

Another Halloween picture - the next year when the kids are 3 (this is the last year of the homemade costumes).

Miles, Trinity, Jocelyn and Hallie - I think this was the start of Frank's 2nd year of law school - Fall 2004?

Here are Abby and Nicolas (he is more interested in the rocks than playing with Abby) - Nicolas was born a couple months before they moved and Abby was born after we left Oregon - but they actually ended up playing more together than the big kids did.

Hallie with Piper and Abby- she is a beautiful girl (and was more willing to smile when we weren't forcing her to pose with the boys)

I really tried to get a good shot of Miles and Hallie - I thought that maybe they would be more comfortable with a baby in their arms - still didn't work quite like I had envisioned in my mind.

Our families have sure grown since the Oregon days - we went from having 3 kids between us to the 9 pictured here. I was so blessed to have such great friends during that busy time. Thanks for coming to visit us - we need to get together again!!!

We have a princess living here

This is Christmas morning - Santa brought Abby her very first dress-up outfit - Snow White. Since then we have worn it almost daily and I am not exaggerating.
Here are Miles and "Snow White" at the Pinewood Derby.

This is a different night - I had put her to bed in only pajama's and this is what I tucked in before I went to bed.

Well, Grandma Gilmore gave Abby some money for her birthday and guess what she picked out - yep, a Cinderella dress-up, so now if Snow White is dirty (the only way I can get her to wear something else) she can be Cinderella.
Well - after 3 months we are still in the "princess phase" - any guesses on how much longer we have to go?

Piano Recital

Well - it is that time of the year again - Music Festival!!! The competition is next Saturday, but my mom had a recital yesterday as kind of a "dress rehersal" for the big day. The boys did a great job - their mom hasn't sat on top of them as much as she would have liked to do - but they both pulled it off.

Ethan is up for his gold cup this year - since you can't hear him introduce his songs very well - I will tell you that he is playing "Trumpet Tune" by Gurlitt and "Race across the Serengeti" by Roubos



Miles is playing "Minuet" by Mozart and "Kool Dudes" by Myette (look for the sunglasses on the "Kool Dudes" song - he didn't put them on until after he turned around, but he sure looked like a "Kool Dude")