Hiking in the merry month of May

In May we went on several walks/hikes in preparation for an upcoming "Pioneer Trek" we are going on with our church.  The kids never complained and were bounding up the mountain a lot faster than I was! We had a great time and loved every excursion. 

The perfect ending to a perfect day, S'mores!

April recap

April was a busy month for us. Easter was at the end of March, followed by General Conference, Spring Break (which included a visit to the LA Zoo and Travel Town) and then a birthday every week!  My parents also came to town for many of the events.  In between all the events there was also a lot of sickness in our family, ear infections, colds and other things, too. Since the birthdays will always fall in April, we're going to have to figure out how to keep the stress level down throughout the years whenever it gets to April!

  

 My dad pointed out that my daughter and I were matching one day.

 Dorothea's favorite animal.

 Celeste and her nickname from Grandma Julie, "Rapunzel."  She calls her that because she has so much hair.

 We had a great day at the zoo.

 Joseph turned 6 with a party at the fire station.

 

 Theo turned 3 with a party at the park.

 Easter egg dying in the back yard.

 Warren turned 40!!! With a party at home with his little family!

 Celeste turned 1 with a party with her siblings!

 

Reading with Opa Hanno.

And last but not least, Grandma Julie turned 60! That's all folks!

December Moments

 Celeste loves her daddy. She always crawls toward him when she sees him come home in the evenings. She removes his glasses, takes the pen out of his pocket and puts her head on his shoulder.

Joseph participated in the Kindergarten Holiday Program.  He knew all the songs and had been singing them for weeks at home.  He did a great job.

 The afternoon we got the tree out and decorated it was one of those perfect motherhood moments. For some reason it made me really emotional to see my children enjoying all the various ornaments that represent different stages of my life and people I love. It was such a happy moment. The picture doesn't capture it, but I took it for myself and to remember the feelings I was having. 

 Uncle Philipp and Baby 'Leste really bonded over Christmas.  He told her ten times a day how beautiful she was. What girl wouldn't love hearing that! /

 There is always an adventure being played out at our house.

I was bathing the little ones one December evening when all of the sudden, there was Santa standing in my hallway!

Santa and Kermit

I'm not a big Santa person, but when he shows up at Christmas parties, of course we go see him.

Kermit came to our church Christmas party and sang "Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer" including "then one "froggy" Christmas Eve...  Warren did a great job voicing Kermit and even had people telling him he should be the real Kermit.

 

Celeste was just cute as ever. 

Journey to Bethlehem

 Several years ago my friend Mary told me about "Journey to Bethlehem," a living nativity where you walk through Bethlehem. I've wanted to go for years and we finally made it.  You walk through Bethlehem, with shekles to spend on food and activities.  It is really well done and all the cast members take their job very seriously and try to help you have as authentic an experience as possible.  There was a petting zoo, a real camel, a shepherd trying to sell his sheep's wool etc. Mary and Joseph come riding through on a donkey looking for an inn to stay the night. The Roman soldiers are walking around the town, including the Emperor.  Angels appear in the sky to announce the birth of the Savior.  The children could make a clay candle holder, roll pita bread, drill, grind flour, learn to weave, bead some jewelry, sing and dance, play games etc. My children absolutely loved it.  It helped set the mood for Christmas.