babies new blanket

This is the adorable quilt that I am going to hand quilt for the baby. I am so excited, and in love with it. Each animal is made of a different kind of "fuzzy" material. My favorite is the pig... anyway, just thought I would share and I will have pics when I am done.

Hannah the Chef

Hannah has been begging me for a month to let her make chocolate covered pretzels. (because lilly did) I didn't have chocolate chips and always forgot to buy any, but I remembered and Hannah had a blast melting her chocolate and dipping each pretzel and put it on the wax paper. All of us totally LOVED her skills!

school projects this month

For science this year we are doing biology... I hate biology!!! We have hatched sea monkeys, are watching an ant farm, and today we did experiments with worms!!! We are yet to dissect things... The kids seem to like it.

In English we talked about the book "The hungry Caterpillar" Then the kids got to make these really cute ones of their own.

This month we talked about the 1700-1800's when new ideas were starting. The kids got to make their own inventions.... this is what they came up with.

Sarah made an automatic watering system for her flower garden.

Joseph made a giant tube to get his cars from the floor to his car bin (easier) :)

ITS A BOY!!!

Well, it is official. #5 is a boy due the last week of March or the first week of April!

(a shot of me at 19 weeks)

Halloween!!!

The finished works of art...

Carving pumpkins this year was a HUGE deal (not knowing that before hand...) Sarah and Caleb said they wanted to paint their pumpkins, not carve them. So, Shawn started the carving kids, and I started the painting kids.

Hannah decided what she wanted to do, cleaned out the pumpking, cut it out, and then decided to paint it... so she headed to the table to paint.

Joe decided that the inside of a pumpkin looks like barf and he was not going to clean it out, and Shawn was determined that he was going to... After all that (30 min), Joes pumpkin was so thick that it took him 30 min. just to cut it out.... but it looked great!

Sarah painted then washed it off twice before being satisfied with the "look". Then... decided to carve it too. She also decided that she coudn't clean it out without barfing, and I "caved" and cleaned it.

By this point Caleb (who had been slightly unattended) had painted the pumpkin, table, chair, his paint shirt, and the floor. I began cleaning up that project and told him we were done. That caused a HUGE two year old issue that lasted FOREVER. When it was over he wanted to carve his - like joe. So, we then proceed to carve his.... well we don't own a knife that would go through the pumpkin. So.... Shawn got out his drill and skill saw! It turned out great and it worked really well seeing as Calebs pumpkin was 6 in. thick!!!

After all that we ate lunch, took a small "break" and then began getting into costumes. Sarah is Kaya - from american girls books, Joseph is the grim reaper, Hannah is a rock star - not hannah montana, Caleb is a dinosaur, and I was a black cat - the kids said "a pregnant cat". It took me FOREVER to dress, make up, and accesorize all four of them! By the time we were done we had 15 min to get to the trunk or treat. Overall it was a fun holiday and we have LOTS of memories...

Halloween Cookies

For "Fun Friday" we made sugar cookies, frosted them, and then delivered them to some families in our ward. The kids had a blast, and I'm sure the neighbors loved them...

First "real" SNOW!!!!

The kids woke up to snow and couldn't wait to go out. They are just barely getting over the flu so I told them they had 20 min. and they had to dress TOTALLY warm. Well, they had tons of fun and made a snowman in that time too!
This is what Caleb is doing during the snowman and the first picture. Then we convinced him to get in the second one... he takes the snow from the grass and dumps it on the sidewalk. :)

They really wanted to sled, but there was just not enough snow...

Princess Hannah

Hannah went to a birthday party and came home looking like this.... She was so cute and we had to take some pictures so dad could see what she looked like. She is growing up so fast!

update

Well, Sarah got it.... She is so upset because now she has to miss the primary program tomorrow. The other kids aren't upset at all, but Sarah keeps coming up with ways that she can still go and do her part, like: "mom, I could stand out in the hall and then run in and do my part and then run out and we can go home." " I could just wear one of those masks on my face and do my part." "I am going to think of someway mom, just wait!" Anyway, here we are... AND I didn't know that you are contagious for SEVEN days after you show symptoms! That means we don't even start being normal until TUESDAY!!!!

THE FLU...

Well, we got it.... ALL! Last week was a great week. Shawn had a doctors appointment on Friday, then Tuesday and Wednesday. I had an OB appointment Thursday, and Shawn had an out patient surgery Friday. We started to put our lives back together Saturday and Caleb came down with the flu on Sunday. By Tuesday Hannah and Joseph had it, and it is still going!!! All them have had temperatures in the 104. ? and we have gone through three bottles of Iuprofen and Tylenol. I am getting no sleep and way too much "needing" (Sarah informed me that this is just practice for when the baby gets here...) Shawn, Sarah and I are just praying that we don't get it, and we are taking our Mona Vie VERY CONSISTANTLY. Anyway, just had to share our little piece of heaven with someone (or anyone who wanted to read it...)

CALEB...

Caleb doesn't think that he needs naps anymore... him at 5pm on the couch.

Caleb Is OBSESSED with Lightning Mcqueen. He watches it and plays it all day.

This is Calebs new hobbie / talent. He ask me for his OWN paints to paint a picture. I was in the middle of school and didn't want to, but he wouldn't settle for that... So, I got him an old paint set and some paper and a cup of water... He sat there for over an hour painting pictures. He doesn't mix the colors, he always rinses the brush between the colors, he wets the paint that is too dry, and he tells you what color he is using each time. It was so cute and amazing to see his talent and skill in something that I thought would just be another mess.

Calebe LOVES cleo, and she likes the extra attention...

Caleb is one of the hardest and funniest kids I have had the pleasure of raising... He is always busy, always "right" and he is learning new things every minute and telling you about it. He and I are not always friends, but sometimes he is just plain cute! Here are a few examples...

State Fair!

Sarah LOVED the goats!
Caleb driving the tractor.

Hannah driving her tractor.

Joseph driving his tractor.

The kids singing with a "state fair performer".

We went to the State Fair with the Tippetts! The kids had a blast, and we got to see EVERYTHING before they would leave. The downside to that was that it started to rain after we were on the other side of the park... It rained for hours! We finally had to just make a run for the car and get a free shower... The kids loved it.