'til the numbers end...

Selah at the Louisville Slugger museum in Kentucky

2010-07-02T15:11:00.006-04:00

Selah could barely hold it, but she had to take her turn holding an authentic Mickey Mantle bat.
During Spring Break our family went to visit Matt's cousin, Aaron, and his family in Kentucky.
I had never been there before. It was beautiful and we all had a great time with the cousins.

Brower turned 6!

2010-07-02T14:57:00.005-04:00

Brower had a great year in Kindergarten. He loves to learn and can't get enough. He is very patient when he wants to know how to do something. He will sit and watch until it is finished. The picture above with Uncle Aaron, Brower is watching how he makes waffles from scratch. He'll do the same with electricians, builders, athletes, and anything else.
The two kids sitting next to him are a couple of his best friends. Francisco is his best buddy and Rachel is a little sweet on him. And I think he likes her too (although he would never say it). She is a very forward little girl, but so cute!

Sumner's Birthday...

2010-07-02T14:29:00.006-04:00

Sumner loved the candle on his cupcake. He kept reaching for it while the family sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He got really frustrated and started crying until we finished singing. As soon as he got his hands on the treat he was just fine!

Growing Up Fast

2009-12-20T19:07:00.002-05:00

Everyone keeps asking me to post some pictures of Sumner. He is the sweetest, best baby ever!
Just look at that smile! He loves his jumper. The other kids come by while he is jumping and swing him as high as can be. He gets a kick out of that.

Matt and Jeff finished the Atlanta 1/2 Marathon!

2009-12-20T18:54:00.003-05:00

Libby and Jeff came all the way from Pittsburg to visit us for Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day, Matt and Jeff traded the turkey bowl for running over 13 miles to finish the Atlanta 1/2 Marathon. They both did awesome and still had enough energy to be part of the festivities.

Should We Be Worried?

2009-12-20T18:41:00.005-05:00

Ira has been spending a lot of time walking around the house with this purse. If I had any concerns about gender identity (I didn't), those concerns were without a doubt eased. I decided to see what he was carrying around in this little princess purse. I found that it was VERY heavy. The picture below is what I discovered when I opened it...

Ira's a smart little boy....looking all innocent, while secretly stashing all of these bullets right in the open! He's been fascinated with all things gun since going to the range one day with Matt. He got to wear ear plugs and learn all about gun safety. Needless to say our little guy is all boy!

Halloween Night

2009-12-20T18:36:00.003-05:00

Emma decided to be a DIVA and Eliza was a dead bride. Can you tell? She's the one slumped over. Savannah was our little princess, and the boys were tough guys, as usual. The children can't get enough of this picture!

Ward Halloween Party

2009-10-25T17:37:00.005-04:00

Savannah, Eliza, and Ira waiting to play a game. Aren't they so cute?

Selah had a great time at the party. She never slowed down. She has taken Ira's long held position in the home as being the most destructive and crazy. Today on the way to church she was beating Brower (our 5 year old) up in the back of the car. She does the same to Ira on a regular basis. The girl is ruthless, but somehow they still always want to be with her.
Emma, the dead bride and Bethany, the gymnast.
Emma was intent on being something dead this year. She got her wish. In this picture she was playing the part. She didn't smile because she said dead brides don't smile. Now she's over that and wants to be a DIVA for Halloween. I told her she doesn't need to dress up for that!

First tooth!

2009-10-02T12:25:00.003-04:00

Savannah finally lost her first tooth during FHE this week. She is very excited because she is in second grade and pretty much everyone else have been losing their baby teeth for years!

The REAL storm

2009-10-02T12:17:00.004-04:00

Everyone was so excited when the water started to rise. The neighbors came over with boogie boards and went surfing. Eliza is in the top picture taking her turn surfing. It was fun while it lasted. The water kept rising, making me a little nervous. Matt was out of town, so my awesome neighbor came over and dug a trench that led to some drains. The water flowed out of our backyard as fast as if we had flushed the toilet!
Quite an adventure, and something the children won't soon forget!

Playin' in the Rain

2009-09-19T11:20:00.002-04:00

It's been raining a lot here lately, but for one reason or another there is always an excuse for them NOT to play in the rain. Either the storm begins right after they've showered, or it's dark, or there's lightening. Well, today is Saturday and it's been raining cats and dogs with no lightening. So I let them loose out back at 9 o'clock in the morning. I hope the neighbors weren't sleeping in!

Weirdo!

2009-09-10T10:49:00.002-04:00

Selah likes running around the house with nothing but a swim cap on. I guess it makes her feel closer to her sister's while they are gone to school.
That has GOT to be uncomfortable!

Picture Day

2009-09-10T07:32:00.003-04:00

Ready to pose for pictures. Today is picture day at school. I hope they look this good after recess. I'm not holding my breath!

Ira

2009-08-24T20:42:00.000-04:00

What a handsome dude. All ready for church....ALMOST....

Closer Look...

2009-08-24T20:36:00.002-04:00

Matt and I went out on a date on Saturday night and got a babysitter...as we often do. It is hard for the babysitter to focus on all 7 children at the same time. That is why we always tell them to pay close attention to Ira and Selah because they will slip out of sight and who knows what will happen!
So, as he often does, Ira found a way to slip under the radar and hide in Emma's closet. He found her fingernail polish on top of her closet and somehow climbed up and got it. He did a pretty good job painting his toes and got very little on the carpet. When we got home he was asleep so I had to wait until the next morning to take it off. We have 9am church and Matt is never there in the mornings to help. The boys wear salt water sandals to church so I had no choice but to scrub the paint off.
He really does love his sisters!

Best Buddies

2009-08-24T20:32:00.003-04:00

Selah and Ira each had a cup full of shelled peanuts they were eating out back on top of the ball bin. Selah likes to eat them, shell and all. Part of a shell is on her chin. They were having a good time though. Our favorite way to eat peanuts is to buy them boiled.

Selah and Papa

2009-08-15T20:37:00.005-04:00

Ever since Matt broke out the lawn mower, the hedger, the blower, and the weed wacker this summer, Selah has been petrified to go outside during the manicuring of the lawn. She'll scream if she just sees them being pulled out of the shed. So today was a real break through when she decided she'd have a go at mowing the lawn with Matt. She was very serious the whole time. Maybe she's over it! I guess we'll see next week when it starts all over again!

2009-07-29T11:09:00.002-04:00

Last night we had lasagna for dinner. Too bad we didn't get a before picture. She had sauce from head to toe. Matt decided to bathe her in the kitchen sink. As you can see, she had a blast!

Food Storage

2009-07-19T16:36:00.002-04:00

This was the meat that we bought, ground, bagged, and froze the other day. I only got a half a box (30lbs) because I didn't really know how much that would end up being space wise. I wasn't sure we could fit all of it in our freezer.
A friend in the ward came across a good deal at Sam's Club per box, so a bunch of ladies in the ward got together and bought a few. She had a meat grinder and invited us all to her house to grind away.
I love stocking up on food! It makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something worthwhile. I haven't done much stocking up on fresh foods. I mostly have the dry stuff.
Next time I'll get a whole box...30 lbs didn't end up taking that much space!

2009-07-19T16:25:00.002-04:00

The top picture is Brower, Ira, and Sumner right before church. The bottom picture is the girls right before they left to travel to Abby and Abba's house for two weeks! Selah didn't go with them, but I wanted them all to match anyway.
Emma, Eliza, and Savannah have been there for 24 hours so far and are loving it! Sweets everywhere they turn, prizes galore, and new clothes! Oh, and of course Abby, Abba, Erika, Marshall and the cousins.

Get over it!

2009-07-07T16:46:00.002-04:00

We thought that Selah had made a smooth transition from her crib to the toddler bed...until we found her one morning back in the crib. She has NEVER climbed out of her crib. But she is expert at climbing in. We have to be careful when Sumner's napping because she likes to get in and play with him.

Lunch

2009-07-07T12:28:00.000-04:00

Emma, Brower, Eliza, Savannah, and Ira eating lunch out back.

Isn't Matt handsome?

2009-07-07T12:00:00.001-04:00

Concert at the Mall

2009-06-02T13:16:00.003-04:00

Every Saturday evening there is an outdoor concert at the mall. We decided to go and check it out last week. The boys had a blast dancing and jumping around. Ira kept trying to sneak on stage. The girls just had fun watching the spectacle. Selah and Sumner were strapped to the stroller the whole time. Aaaaah, summer!

Girls in Pink...

2009-05-24T16:39:00.002-04:00

Abby (Grandma Nickel) has given the girls some pretty sweet dresses over the years. The one that Selah is wearing used to be Eliza's. The one that Eliza is wearing used to be Emma's. Savannah is wearing Emma's old one. Emma's birthday was last week and Abby sent a much needed Sunday outfit for her. They all look beautiful.

Dapper Dan

2009-05-24T16:35:00.002-04:00

Sumner looking Dapper in his Sunday dudds. The second picture is after church while he is taking a snooze.

Cooking

2009-05-17T20:27:00.002-04:00

We decided to grind some wheat and bake a loaf of bread for each of the kids teachers.
Emma's birthday was last week and I totally forgot to bake cup cakes for her class! So, we all made some tonight to bring to school tomorrow.

One Tired Chica!

2009-05-11T09:48:00.002-04:00

Matt, Sumner, Selah, Ira and I went scouting out estate sales the past two weekends. We finally found some great stuff on Saturday. It was a longer day than we had anticipated, and the kids didn't get their daily naps. This is Selah on the way home. Ira was right next to her nodding off.
I'll have to take some pictures of the treasures we brought home. Matt did some wheeling and dealing and we came home pretty happy.

In Trouble

2009-05-11T09:41:00.002-04:00

Matt made Selah put her nose in the corner the other day for being naughty. Poor little girl was devastated.

It is hard to punish her...look at that face!

Our Little Angel

2009-05-06T20:55:00.003-04:00

I just can't get over the sweetness!

Lunchtime Prayer

2009-05-06T11:29:00.004-04:00

This is what Selah did when Matt announced we were going to have a prayer to bless the food for lunch. As you can tell she put down what she was playing with and got ready. Matt waited to start while I took the picture and she stayed like that until the prayer was over.

Selah is our little cutie and seems to be doing new things every day!

Sumner Warren Nickel

2009-04-22T22:44:00.006-04:00

He's finally here! The children, and us, have been eagerly anticipating Sumner's arrival and we can finally say that he's here. Sumner was born yesterday (4/21/09) at 5:09 pm. He weighed in at a hefty (for our family of six pounders) 7lbs 12 oz. and measured at 19.5 inches long. Heather is my hero! She, again, solidified herself as the toughest person in our home. That title will not ever be relinquished.

Heather and Sumner are both home and are doing very well. They both worked hard yesterday and are looking forward to some needed rest in the coming days.

We love you Sumner...'til the numbers end (and they never end).

2009-04-19T14:08:00.002-04:00

Here is Brower posing for a picture at the clubhouse in our neighborhood. I brought the children here to play on the playground. Brower preferred roller skating in the parking lot (which was vacant) with his new roller derby roller skates.

The Finished Product

2009-04-11T17:07:00.000-04:00

Easter Cupcakes

2009-04-11T17:01:00.002-04:00

Aunt Julie sent us a yummy recipe that has a nilla wafer at the bottom and a chocolate egg in the middle of the cupcake.
Emma, Eliza, and Savannah helped me bake and decorate.
Thanks Julie!!

Brower's bday party

2009-04-10T17:26:00.001-04:00

The kids really get a kick out of this picture. Selah is so funny looking, starting out of the corner of her eye at the camera. Every time we look at it we get a good laugh. It's on our desktop.

New Counter Tops

2009-04-10T17:22:00.002-04:00

FIGHT!!!

2009-04-01T15:35:00.002-04:00

This morning before school Ira and Brower were fighting over a blanket. They know that there are two of the exact same kind! The one that they refuse to use is on the floor right behind Ira!
All of us girls got a kick out of watching this.

Three of the Girls

2009-03-30T17:58:00.002-04:00

Aren't they cute?? All three of these girls are training for the Peachtree Jr. Road Race that will be held on May 30th. It is a two mile run. Today was their first practice. Emma ran it last year and we all had fun cheering and rooting her on! I am very proud of them. They are such hard workers...when they want to be!

2009-03-30T17:56:00.000-04:00

Selah wanted to join the fun.

Dare Devil Ira

2009-03-30T17:51:00.002-04:00

Ira found a new way to ride his four wheeler. Steer with one hand, push the gas with the other, stick out your tongue, and just lay there. He didn't know I was taking a picture here as he was speeding around the court.

Love you pop!

2009-03-30T17:46:00.002-04:00

Everyone except Emma posed for papa since he is away on business. We all miss him and can't wait for him to come home. He had some fun today taking a tour of London on a double decker bus. He was on the roof in the open air. He said they had a lot of fun. Tomorrow the work begins!

Primary Activity...

2009-03-21T18:09:00.002-04:00

Brower, Ira, and Savannah waiting for the primary activity to begin. Savannah, always the poser.
At the end of this activity each child got to bring home a live gold fish. Since I have five children in the primary, guess how many are in our fish bowl? Wrong, they gave us 6...one extra because by the time Ira got to the front of the line, there were only two fish to a bag left. It's a good thing too. By the time we got home one of the fish was already dead!

Yes, I'm pregnant!

2009-03-21T17:57:00.002-04:00

Matt managed to get me to pose for a picture. I guess it's always nice to have a before and after shot. This is me 40 pounds heavier than I started out. Luckily Matt cropped the shot where he did! Only a few weeks to go and I'll get to hold the little maniac. He kicks me like crazy and is already 5.9lbs as of yesterday. He sitting low, head down and in position. Not comfortable, but definitely worth it!

Muscle Man!

2009-03-21T17:53:00.002-04:00

Papa decided to get Brower his first Under Armour shirt for his birthday. Since that is ALL that Papa wears, naturally Brower feels like he is the strongest boy ever wearing them. As Brower would say, "Look at these pipes!!!"

What a good brother!

2009-03-21T17:47:00.002-04:00

Ira and Selah spend all day together while the other children are at school. They really love each other. I'm conflicted whether I should put Ira in preschool next year or keep him home. He's not going to be in kindergarten for two more years. But, I do have the baby coming soon. He needs a little time to be social with the world. Selah will be lonely though!

Brower

2009-03-21T17:35:00.002-04:00

Abba and Abby sent Heely's. He was lovin' them in his underwear. He needs to put some meat on those bones!

Having fun on the court

2009-03-21T17:20:00.002-04:00

Everyone loves to come over and play in our backyard. This night was Brower's birthday, so off limits to the neighbors while we celebrated.

SNOW DAY!!!

2009-03-02T14:44:00.002-05:00

Here's Ira loving the cold. We haven't had a flake of snow all winter. Now that it's March, it finally got cold enough, after 2 days of constant rain, to snow. The children took advantage of it and had a blast playing with their friends all day. It should be gone by tomorrow, but one day is all they needed to tide them over until next year.

Emma having fun

2009-03-02T14:38:00.002-05:00

Emma was in charge of taking pictures. Most of the one's she took were of people's back sides, so I have very few to choose from. It's a beautiful day and there is our house and cute little truck in the back ground.

Eliza, freezing her face off

2009-03-02T14:35:00.002-05:00

Eliza came in a little early because her little body couldn't handle the cold. She has very little on her bones to keep her warm!!!

Savannah chillin' on the truck

2009-03-02T14:31:00.000-05:00

Selah

2009-03-01T20:26:00.001-05:00

Selah and Ira spend sunny days in the backyard playing on the basketball court. They have a fun time together.

Tough Girl

2009-03-01T18:39:00.003-05:00

Our neighbor gave us this four wheeler for Ira. Selah loves it and climbs on it every chance she gets.

Our little cutie...

2009-03-01T18:36:00.001-05:00

Selah isn't even 18 months old yet, but she is growing like crazy. Look at those feet!

Trapped!

2009-02-16T10:13:00.002-05:00

Brower thought it would be fun to play in the stool, until he got stuck and couldn't get out. It took both mama and papa to get him out...one to pick up the chair and turn it to the side, and one to pull him out. I think he learned his lesson, just take a look at the expression on his face!

Seattle Trip

2009-02-16T10:10:00.002-05:00

Stephanie, Erika, and I kicking off our Seattle get-away.

Room Service

2009-02-16T08:20:00.002-05:00

We were all very spoiled as we stayed in the nicest hotel in Seattle. We all totally deserved it so it was nothing but nice the whole time we were there.
Stephanie and Erika are preparing our delicious breakfast. Pancakes, hot chocolate and oatmeal.

Seattle Temple

2009-02-16T08:16:00.001-05:00

We had to take a picture while it was snowing so that my Georgia family would remember what it looks like!

Where am I?

2009-02-16T08:11:00.002-05:00

Anybody recognize this very familiar Seattle pig? Look behind me for a hint.

Happy to be Home

2009-02-16T08:04:00.001-05:00

Sunday afternoon stroll through the neighborhood.

Reunion

2009-02-16T07:32:00.001-05:00

Emma, Eliza, Savannah, and mom happy to see each other after a week apart.

Brower the Brave!

2008-12-25T13:48:00.004-05:00

Brower is really enjoying his new baseball gear! He got almost an entire uniform for Christmas helping him get ready for his first t-ball season coming up in a couple months.

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-25T13:15:00.003-05:00

Good morning! Emma came in our room at 6:30am wondering if she could wake all the other children up. We told her, as we had the night before, not until 7:00am. The girls just whispered and came to ask if was time yet about five more times.
Here they are, sitting in order of youngest to oldest....kind of. Ira wanted to sit next to Brower.

Santa Actually Came!

2008-12-25T13:10:00.001-05:00

Here they are assessing the haul. Ira was happy with just his wodden pop out gun and Braves hat. He didn't even look at the other stuff until we practically forced him to.

Christmas Breakfast

2008-12-25T13:06:00.002-05:00

Our traditional breakfast is always Jimmy Dean sausage, eggs, and cheese. We also have homemade cinnamon rolls and orange juice. It was nice to have some real food in the children after they attacked the candy in their stockings.

Sunday before Christmas

2008-12-22T14:21:00.002-05:00

Here's the clan right before church yesterday. Aren't they cute in their Christmas dresses and shirts? At least the boys are smiling!

Who is missing?

2008-12-10T11:34:00.003-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa Smith came to visit during Thanksgiving. We got a great picture before church with them. Matt was behind the camera, unfortunately, so we missed out having him in the picture too!

Family Home Evening

2008-12-10T11:29:00.002-05:00

For FHE this week we went to pick out a tree and decorate. Everyone was very helpful. Matt built a fire as is our tradition every year toward the end of us setting up the tree. We usually have hot chocolate too, but it was too late by the time we had finished decorating. We saved that for the night after.

Almost Done!

2008-12-10T11:23:00.000-05:00

Emma and Savannah helped put the lights on the tree.

2008-11-26T21:56:00.003-05:00

The doll house in the nursery at church got the best of Ira on Sunday. He split his forehead open at the beginning of the second hour. Luckily there was a doctor in the house and he brought him to his office so we didn't have to go to the ER.
He is a happy little camper and healing perfectly.

Barn Dance

2008-11-26T21:51:00.001-05:00

Savannah had a barn dance at school on Tuesday and guess who showed up??? Grandpa and mama. Savannah was so excited to dance with a boy and show off her grandpa.

Gramps with the kids

2008-11-26T21:47:00.000-05:00

Grandpa is building blocks with the children. Selah's favorite thing to do is stack them as tall as she can.

Utah vs. BYU

2008-11-26T21:39:00.003-05:00

Here is the night of the BIG GAME! We had a lot of fun with our friends. Even some BYU fans dared to enter. My parent's were leading the charge for the big blue.
In the end, Utah smashed the folks from down south! What a game!

Halloween with the Nickel's

2008-11-06T15:58:00.000-05:00

The two pirates

2008-11-06T15:56:00.000-05:00

Superman, otherwise known as Brower

2008-11-06T15:54:00.000-05:00

Eliza, the sweet witch

2008-11-06T15:53:00.000-05:00

Hannah Montana (Savannah)

2008-11-06T15:51:00.000-05:00

Doctor Ira Nickel

2008-11-06T15:47:00.000-05:00

2008-11-06T15:46:00.000-05:00

Here's our lady bug

Party Time!

2008-10-24T21:17:00.002-04:00

I couldn't resist putting up another picture of Selah just happy to be enjoying someone else's birthday. She's just happy to be there getting yummy food and lots of entertainment.
Here she is eating everyone's pizza crust. When we were done with our pizza, we would throw her the crust. She loved it!

Aargh Matey!

2008-10-24T21:15:00.001-04:00

Here we are at the after party. Little did Eliza's friends know, after they left is when things really got going!!! Pretty motley crew, eh?

Party Girls!

2008-10-24T21:10:00.003-04:00

Here we are celebrating another birthday! This time, however, we invited friends other than our brothers and sisters. Eliza had a wonderful time with her school friends. They played every game you could imagine and ran around the house screaming half the time. One of my friends came over and took the boys so we could have a girl pajama party with no silly boys hanging around.
For her "cake" she requested mini brownies from Costco. I made frosting so they could frost and sprinkle them. We also had pizza and soda.
Tomorrow is the ward Halloween party. I don't think we are going to be getting enough sweets these next couple of weeks!

Happy Birthday Ira!!!

2008-10-23T20:48:00.001-04:00

Here is Ira putting sprinkles on his cake. The cake was still warm, so they had to frost them individually and add the sprinkles themselves. Of course they loved that!
They are all now showered/bathed and sleeping snug in their beds. Time to clean up the mess!

Nothing Better Than Balloons

2008-10-23T20:45:00.002-04:00

Grandma and Grandpa Smith sent some balloons that the children couldn't get enough of. There are so many birthday's that happen around here, and we never get sick of them. There is always so much good food and fun!

Not done yet!

2008-10-23T20:43:00.001-04:00

Here she is eating as fast as she can.

Happy Selah

2008-10-23T20:41:00.001-04:00

Selah is very happy to be celebrating Ira's birthday. Mostly because she gets cake that will soon be all over her.

Nice Hair!

2008-10-22T19:32:00.000-04:00

She loves smiling for the camera. She is walking all the time now. She prefers that to crawling. Matt will be surprised when he gets back.

Crazy Kids

2008-10-22T19:29:00.001-04:00

Things have gotten a little crazy since Papa has been gone.

Missing Papa

2008-10-20T07:11:00.002-04:00

Emma and I decided to take a picture for papa before we left for church. We don't want him forgetting what we look like!
We don't know when he's coming home, but we hope it's soon!!!

Jammed Finger

2008-10-15T10:22:00.002-04:00

Matt and I are on a coed softball team right now. I was playing third base and a guy was up to bat. He hit the ball a little over my head a million miles an hour. The ball hit my ring and pinky fingers and gave me a fat hand. This all happened in the first inning. I did manage to get up to bat three times and hit them all out to the outfield...only one of them was caught.
I am paying for it today. I am in a lot of pain and our next game is tomorrow. I am going to play though!
I'll never get these rings off!

October 12...Papa and Selah Celebrate!

2008-10-12T19:48:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday!!! Papa and Selah are eating cake in this picture while our own personal Budah sits in the middle of the table. Look at that belly!
We had a fun day of church and lots of food. Matt requested eggs and sausage for breakfast. I made that, grits, and toast with homemade bread.
For dinner he wanted enchiladas.
We are all very full and ready to relax.

2008-10-12T19:44:00.002-04:00

Selah is enjoying her opportunity to shove cake in her face as fast as she possibly can. I think she's afraid that at any moment I will take it away. She loves all kinds of food and she doesn't often get much of the sweet stuff. I made a spice cake with whipping cream for icing.
The birthday boy and girl devoured all that they could while we all watched.

2008-10-12T19:38:00.002-04:00

After Selah licked her plate clean, she saw me with my cake and started toward me. Her expression is that of longing and impatience.

Matt's homecoming

2008-10-05T19:07:00.003-04:00

Papa came home a day early from his work trip that lasted a week. We decided to make it a surprise for the children. The children and I were sitting on the front porch, watching the fire flies and wishing on the first star of the night when Matt turned on his car siren and approached the house. The children were confused at first and then realized that papa was home!!! They all ran to the car yelling, "Papa's home, papa's home!" They gave him hugs and came promptly to our bedroom for their "prizes". Every time Matt goes on a trip he comes back with something for everyone.
This picture is of them waiting for Matt to open his bags and call each one to him to give them their prize. They were all very happy. Eliza got a box of High School Musical Cereal, Savannah got some chocolate breakfast straws, Emma got some much needed jeans and shirts, Brower got an iron man action figure, and Ira got a cool airplane that shoots off a gun and flies around.
I must say that I got the best prize of all. No, it wasn't the David Yurman ring he brought home for my birthday, (although that was very unexpected and well received!). My favorite prize was Matt coming home a day early to be with us before he has to leave again tomorrow. We spent a relaxing Sunday at the house watching General Conference. Between sessions we had a couple of families over for dinner. We watched the second session with them. It was very nice to spend time with good friends and be so full I could barely move.
I made some oatmeal yeast dinner rolls and some cinnamon rolls from the same dough. They were yummy! We also had roast with potatoes and carrots. My friend brought a salad, soup, and dessert. Oh yeah, I also made a buffalo dip for an appetizer. We had too much. I'm glad none of the talks were on being a glutton. That's what I felt like after all was said and done.
Today was wonderful. Sunday's with the family are my favorite!

Ira, the girly man

2008-10-05T18:56:00.002-04:00

I think Brower is pretty much over the phase of letting the girls dress him up to look pretty. Ira, on the other hand, thinks it's pretty cool to be the center of attention. I don't think he gets that we are laughing AT him, not with him. At least right after he got the pink gymnastics uniform on he went straight to the back yard, filled a cup with dirt, poured water on it, and started playing in the mud. I guess I have nothing to worry about. So what if he likes pink!

Culture Parade

2008-09-28T16:42:00.004-04:00

Here is Brower dressed like an Egyptian during school. Each classroom had to represent a different country and us parents had to make dishes from that country for everyone to try. In this picture Brower is holding Ira's hand as they get ready for the parade.

Flowers For My Birthday

2008-09-18T16:56:00.003-04:00

Matt has been out of town on my birthday for about five years running. It's not a big deal to me, but he has a tough time with it. I teach kickboxing on Thursday mornings. Today in class the lady from the front desk came in with this pretty arrangement of flowers and said they were from Matt for my birthday. He wanted to make it a spectacle in front of everyone so that I would feel special.
After the gym I met some friends at the Ninja Steakhouse where they cook the food in front of you. The children were entertained! It was a yummy lunch and I was happy to get to do something out of the ordinary.
After that I came home, put Ira and Selah down for a nap and tried to take one myself. After all, it is my birthday! Besides, I told a friend I'd teach her kickboxing class tonight. So I'm going to need some extra energy.
So, the day has been nice for me. Only one thing has bugged me all day....Selah has acquired this hideous screech. She just belts out a high pitched scream all day long. It gives me headaches and today she has been on super scream mode.
I didn't make a cake for myself this year, but I don't need the extra sugar anyway.
Happy Birthday to me!!!

An Evening at the Nickel's

2008-09-18T16:50:00.002-04:00

Eliza just had a shower and is nice and fresh. The boys, on the other hand, still smell like dirt after having climbed trees all afternoon.
Dinner that night was cheese quesadillas with black beans, corn, sour cream, and salsa. Tasty, very easy, and a crowd favorite!