Closing Prayer

The following is a transcription of Madison's prayer to close Family Home Evening:

Dear Heavenly Father.
Please bless the...um...pretend food.
Please bless the window where people will come and (high pitch voice) 'DING DONG.'
~the rest is a little vague because Gwen and I were laughing so hard~
Please bless the people who come in and then eat the pretend food, and then go away.
In the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen

The door was open...

Just a few seconds ago, I had the following conversation with Emma and Madison:

Upon finding the sliding glass door open, once again, for maybe the 5 bazillionth time, in complete and utter exasperation, I looked Emma in the eyes...

D: "Emma, you don't live in a barn, keep the door closed!"

E: "Dad, yes I do."

D: "No, Emma, you don't!"

E: "But Dad, I do. I take care of the animals."

D: "OH EMMA!"

M: "Dad, why are we in a barn?"

D: "WE'RE NOT!"

E: "We're in the barn because we're taking care of the animals Maddy."

Oh the joys of being a parent...to these girls.

Christmas

We'll start off with the PJ's the girls got on Christmas Eve, to set the mood for Christmas morning.
This was their cheese picture, where all three of the girls are saying cheese for the camera. Emma is giving an extra exuberant cheese.

Here, we told the girls to strike a pose...this is what we got.

Here they come, Christmas Morning!

Everyone just finished opening their stockings at the breakfast table.

Princess Lana

Princess Maddy

Princess Emma

Here's the Christmas Dresses

If that's not cute, I don't know what is.

Before Christmas...

SO, before we even got to Christmas, we were getting a whole lot of stuff. We had at least 5 secret Santas, and then someone decided to do the 12 days of Christmas for us...which was really fun trying to figure out who they were. We never did end up finding out who it was...that's fine. However, there were also those who decided they didn't want to go the anonymous route, and they decided to just come over and give us some treats, and then talk to us for a while. These next few pictures show a particular treat the girls thoroughly enjoyed. The candy (baby bottle pops) was from our friend Margene, whom the girls refer to as either Margene, or just Jeannie. They really weren't as sour as Emma is making the candy out to be. Anyway, all three of the girls ended up spilling out the sugar that is inside the bottles all over the table and licking it up. It was really cute.



If you take note here, Lana had grown discouraged with simply dipping the sucker into the bottle to get to the sugar, and has resorted to using her tongue instead.

Our Daily Testimony Meeting

This last Fast and Testimony meeting, both Emma and Maddy decided they wanted to bear their testimonies. So, I (Randall) got to help them out. They were both apparently very encouraged by the experience, and I have a pretty good guess that they will both want to do it again. You see, every day, at least once, the girls bear their testimonies. They climb up on our stairs, pretending it is the podium, and, one at a time, go into their testimonies, all the while Gwen and I sit down and listen.

Emma and Madison's testimonies are very similar, and they go something like this:

"I love to bear my testimony, I love my testimony, I love my mom and dad, I love to bear my testimony, I love my mommy, and my testimony. Jesus lives, and I love my testimony. I love my dad, and I love my testimony. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. (Joseph Smith's name gets put in occasionally, usually about how they love him.) Sometimes they even say...I know Joseph Smith is God. Yeah, I know what you anti-mormons are thinking...but we're working on that one."

Anyway, Lana wants to be involved as well. So she insists on getting her own turn. Her testimony takes about the same length to complete, but she only ever says two things. On her way up the stairs, she says " mony, mony, mony, mony...." you get the point. Then, after what seems like 2.57 minutes, she promptly says Amen. It's all very cute.

The whole ordeal happens on multiple occasions, each day. They always have to have their morning devotional. Sometimes we can't get them to do anything else.

Monkey Business

Heather and Ira invited us to this fun place called monkey business. Where there are tons of fun things to do.

























The girls and I played on everything.


We look forward to going back, especially when Daddy can go with us to have fun.

Halloween

So for Halloween day we went to our friend Margene's house for dinner and to pass out candy.
The following ore some pic of the girls wearing Randall wig.


This is the trunk or treat at our ward on the Tuesday prior to Halloween.



We all dressed up for all Hallows Eve and had a great time. We also went to Heather's(my sister) trunk or treat to get double dips and fun.

So its been...a while

Wow well now looking at the blog I realize it has been a long while. So I will just skip to the now. It was a fun crazy summer, and a crazy quarter as well. It has all been great. I just can't believe it is at its end. Randall's finals have begun and Thanksgiving is next week. The girls are growing in every way.

Emma has been doing a joy school that me and three other moms teach. She loves the outings with friends and we miss her when she is gone. Her creativity, vocabulary, and cunning have expanded greatly. She has even started to create her own language! Which is difficult to understand at times, but always funny.

Maddy has an amazing memory and know quite a few songs "word for word". There still are ones that her and Emma sing that we don't want to correct them just yet, like "If your happy in your nose". Maddy loves to strike poses for us still and also loves to scream at the top of her lungs.

Lana is rather sassy, and very adorable. One minute she will be telling you no and scowling as she walks away, and the next giving kisses and soft strokes saying she loves you. Her vocab is very big, and she likes to add more each day.
Randall has been at the top of his classes. He has been greatly blessed by Heavenly Father in learning how to do his best in Law School. His school schedule we planned has been great too, just as if it were a job. Randall's favorite part of the day though is coming home. You would be excited too if you had four girls screaming in excitement that you were home everyday!

As for me I keep really busy with the kids, house, and the million and one other things I do! I like being busy while Randall is at school. It is even better though when he comes home and we get to share our day with each other and our girls.

This is our wonderful garden that is doing so well. It is so nerve racking to plant one little seed and expect it to grow with the right care...


so I planted several in each hole :). Now look at it!!! It is doing so good. We can actually harvest strawberries and lettuce, and much more on the way.

Temper Tantrum

This is our beautiful little Lana. Okay so it is not the most complementary picture of her but there is a story as to why. Lana is very particular and when she does not get what she feels is just treatment she reacts in the form of temper tantrums. You may be thinking oh that is why the picture. Well in a way yes but not completely. The real reason is this. Randall was giving Lana a bath. While in the bath he had to clean her face. Lana is not particularly fond of facial cleansing but especially when their is extras to clean of from being sick. While Randall scrubbed her face she began one of her temper tantrums to express how rude she thought this treatment was. From the screaming (leaving the mouth open) and shaking her head all about while standing she made contact with the tub and her teeth. Thus the picture showing her little chip. A memory we will have for about 7 year!

Happy #3 Emma

Now we get to say, when people ask us our childrens age, 1 2 3! Emma turned a wonderful three on May 12th. Just two days after we started moving in to our new place in Colorado.

On the Saturday after her birthday she got to have our family over to combined celebrate with Aunt Sammy! She loved it and so did we.

Happy #1 Lana

It was Lana's Birthday on the 19th of April and she had fun. Emma and Maddy had fun helping her open her present!
She was not so sure about the candle. I can only assume that she was contemplating what it would taste like!
Though she did not get to taste the candle , as her sisters have, she did get the cupcake and LOVED IT.

Daddys Girl

Lana has been a little more clingy than normal due to the move. So she is getting her bonding when ever and how ever she can. This was this morning at breakfast! Randall was trying to feed Maddy but had to be close enough to Lana so she could hold his shorts. She really loves her Daddy.

Tea Party

The girls are loving the new home. Especially the porch out back where they get to have "tea parties".




We fill the teapot with water and they go to town. Who needs a strong drink when water gets the giggles going!

Happy #2 Maddy!

April 9th 2010
First we started off the day with a yummy breakfast and then on to the present! She almost climbed into the bag. Then Emma suggested dumping it upside down.
I think her favorite present was the undies! She loves to go potty in the toilet like a big girl!
For her birthday fun we went to the lake to feed the ducks...and all the other birds that showed up. Randall taught Maddy that if you move toward the birds they back up, and if you case them they run!!!! He did not explain that the birds will not want to play with her anymore after that.