February Stuff

As any parent knows, each of your kids has a special place in your heart and there are special activities you kind of save for THAT child...one of the things that Luke and I do together often is make bread-my favorite pictures of him are often when he's kneeding (actually PUNCHING) a big ball of dough! Here he is one morning, still in his jammies, making bread...someday his wife will be really impressed that he knows how to make whole wheat dinner rolls!This is a picture of the kids with their cousin, Jocelyn...how funny are her little high waisted jeans! Haha

A Holly Jolly Christmas!

Well, Anteneh had his very first Christmas and it was great! Here are a few pictures...Anteneh playing with his new tool kit on Christmas morning...My kids' new cousin, Jocelyn, at her first Christmas!Luke opening his tool kit on Christmas morning...Grace in her new cheetah hat and purse...she is SO into Cheetahs right now!

Tis the Season!

The kids had a great time making their gingerbread house this year! Too bad all of the pictures I took were of them with the back of the house-haha...notice Anteneh's curls...I'm letting his hair grow out a little and it's so cute! His little curls are so soft and pretty! My sister is teasing me b/c Luke needs a haircut and she says he looks like dracula! haha..His hair does come to a point on his forehead...it makes me laugh when I look at it...but he's so stinkin cute!
and here is a picture of the kids(still in jammies) in their new craft room(the converted sunroom) painting little wooden airplanes!I LOVE this room! It's great for the kids to have their own table so they can leave all their craft projects out on the table even when it's dinnertime b/c they aren't using the kitchen table anymore! They have all their play dough, paints, coloring books, and ABC posters, etc...in there and the floor is ceramic tile so spilled paints and such don't hurt anything...also, the table they are using was my dad's kitchen table when he was little-it's where he used to do his homework in the 50's! Of course, he wasn't too happy when he saw I'd painted it white to match the trim!-oops! And here are the boys one day last week making 'puppy chow'...while they were at preschool, I got all the ingredients out and premeasured everything and set the bowls up and even put the powdered sugar in the 2 zip lock bags...then, I picked them up from school and told them we were going to go home and make 'puppy chow' and they were SO EXCITED! Of course, Anteneh had no clue what I was talking about but Luke had been asking for me to make it for days...seeing Luke excited, Anteneh was up for it! Notice the chocolate on their faces! Haha
And a picture of Daryn and I on our way to the Young Life Christmas Party tonight!

Thanksgiving

Well, so much has happened! I am so bad about keeping up with it...I know I'm a bad blogger, Tracey:) Here is a picture of Anteneh with his new baby cousin, Jocelyn Elizabeth Clements! She was born September 21...I got to be there for it...amazing...after watching my sister go through labor, she finally had to have a C-Section but Jocelyn was healthy and everyone recovered well...now, with my sister on maternity leave, we get to see Jocelyn every day!This next picture I just LOVE...it's my sister holding Jocelyn while she looks at our grandpa...Grandpa Chapin turns 92 this summer! Dad picked him up from the nursing home so he could spend Thanksgiving with the family...Anteneh in his chick magnet suit. (Don't lose respect for me, BFF in FL)
And Grace decked out in her Thanksgiving pilgram garb that she made in her kindergarten class!And last but certainly not least is my adorable hubby reading Curious George to the kids...how cute is this picture?!

Adventures in Being Anteneh's Parents

Ahh...the joys of parenthood...I noticed this afternoon that the frig wasn't very cold....immediately I knew it must have been Anteneh...if you lived in this house, you'd know why I am saying this! Of course, the thermostat on the frig was turned down to "OFF" and when I opened the freezer, melted ice cream and various other liquids came oozing out...so, after questioning the kids and finding out it was, in fact, Anteneh James West who had turned the refrigerator and freezer off, I made him stand in the kitchen and hold the (lawn sized)garbage bag while I proceeded to throw hundreds of dollars worth of food away. FYI: we are one of those homes that has a PACKED frig at all times...The garbage bag weighed so much, I had to drag it out of the house...it proceeded to snag and drip chocolate ice cream on my new J.Jill khaki cords...I know whoever reads this is probably having a lovely laugh right now...go ahead-I understand....but I hope your kids don't turn the dial to "OFF" on your frig tonight:) heehee...at least now that there is no food in our frig or freezer, there is less to move when we move to our new house in a week! HA! Maybe I should be thanking Anteneh...Actually, Daryn should be b/c as he was cleaning out the 15 Tupperware containers that had (previously)frozen leftovers in them, he was saying how he was so glad we wouldn't have to eat that stuff...what a lucky man:)

Halloween

Well, I think this pictures says it ALL:

That is Luke running from house to house on Halloween night-SO EXCITED as you can see...sword swinging through the air as he yells, "YEAH, Haha"
The boys were knights...actually, Sir Peter of Narnia-from the Chronicles of Narnia

And there is Grace, the Leopard, with the boys and all the cousins on Daryn's side.
And here is Anteneh with his first EVER birthday cake!!! His 4th birthday was October 24th! It was a great day!

Grace, the Poet

OK....so, I'm a bad blogger...I probably shouldn't even call myself a blogger...I could tell you how awesome this day was b/c we sold our house...but since I never blog you'd probably not even know we were trying to sell our house! haha...well, that's for another day...I had to share with you the poem that my brilliant 5 year old daughter made up today (after her soccer game and awards ceremony where she received her first ever trophy)

"Where shiny trophies have been given
And soccer balls have been kicked
And people have been kicking them
It’s a magical kind of sport.
It’s soccer." by Grace West
Grace (on the left)with her soccer friend...
I'll write more soon-promise:)

...it's the next morning now...I had to add this...when I woke up this morning I found Grace (who is NEVER out of bed before us) in the bathroom, with a sink of soapy water and a washcloth, lovingly shining up her trophy! Haha...and she has carried it around with her all morning...the thing is so big (considering it's a U-6 team!). I told her that I thought it would be a lot smaller and she said, "No, those are T-BALL trophies...this is SOCCER!" :)