When we made chocolate covered strawberries, Chris thought it would be fun to put chocolate all over James fingers and then on his belly too. I don’t think James minded too much.
What a cute chocolate face! This kid loves chocolate.
The girl scouts made some blankets and then got to deliver them to some ladies in our town. The girls were really excited to deliver the blankets.
Here they are with Helen Maxwell. Helen said the blanket was perfect because she enjoys bright colors and she liked visiting with the kids too.
We stayed at Elaine Hoyt’s house and visited for a little while. She has a big board with pictures of all her kids and grandkids and the girls loved asking questions about all the pictures and learning more about Elaine’s family.
When I was cooking one day I left a big block of cheese on the counter. James found it and decided to have a little snack! Cheese is not safe from this little guy, it’s his favorite food.
Elora bought herself a carved wood spoon at the local farmers market and decided that she wanted to use it to eat every meal.
Elora loves reading Harry Potter and she decided that Dirty Teddy was missing out. She spent a few days reading Harry Potter out loud to Teddy. Every time I came across Elora in the living room, her own room, outside, or in the kitchen, she was sitting with Teddy on her lap reading to him. She is so sweet. And all of enjoy hearing her read out loud.
I’m pretty sure Teddy is enjoying the book as well!
Elora fell off the monkey bars last month and we thought she broke it since she walked around with her arm stiff all day and wouldn’t bend it or move it. We went to the hospital. She was a little scared, but she was the only one there in the Emergency Room and the doctor and nurses all loved her because she would chat with them and tell them all about her kittens and the books she is reading and everything else. She is such a fun little girl and it is so cute to see her talk to people. The doctor let her help put the x-rays in the computer and pull them up on the screen. He was really great with her and she ended up having FUN in the ER. I’m so grateful to all the staff who was there that day, it made something scary into something exciting. And her arm wasn’t broken, so she just had to have a sling for a week (luckily!)
We had an awards ceremony for Elora’s girl scout troop at the end of the year. Here are our sweet scouts from this year: left to right: Kaylee, Sarah, Madi M., Madi O., and Elora.
The girls got to do a presentation for their parents of some of the projects they worked on this year. It is fun to watch the girls become better friends, work together, and become more confident as they talked about what they did this year.
And Elora who will talk to anyone, anywhere, is of course afraid to talk when there is a room full of people. We helped her right down what she was going to say that she could look at the card and not have to feel scared of the people in the room.
Oliver had his Tee Ball World Series. Each team got to play one inning. I didn’t know they were playing, I thought it was just a party, so he was not wearing his uniform. Luckily he had on his Superman shirt so he could still play. He spent most of the inning jumping for joy on the field. I love that kid.
Meanwhile, Elora climbed trees with her arm in a sling. Seems like a good plan to me.
James is just cute, so here is a picture of him running home after teeball!
We decided that we needed to make Knoedel – and Austrian dessert that I used to make a lot when we lived in Vienna. The ingredients are not readily available when you live in a small town in Utah, so we made up our own recipe and they turned out surprisingly well!
Elora decided she needed a knapsack to carry around the backyard, so I helped her tie one to a stick she found. It had a banana and books of course. Because when you go exploring you need snacks, and you need to stop to read!
The kids love to ask questions that require people to raise their hands. It has become sort of a dinnertime joke. Such as the following:
Oliver: “Who likes to eat rotten spinach? Raise your hand! Ewww…”
Chris and Marion: “Meee!!!” with hands raised.
Delayed reaction from James: “Me!” with both hands in the air. And then there will be another question and another and another…
So in the car the other day, Chris said, “Who wants to go to Walmart?”
All the kids: “Me!!!!!!”
We asked a few times and we even got the double hand raise from James. He just says “Me” in answer to every question and raises his hand and we think it is so cute.
And here are the goofy kids in Walmart trying on sunglasses. They are so fun.
