Spencer's Cloud Pictures

Spencer is our family meteorologist. He spends an hour or two on the weather everyday. Recently he took these photos of storms approaching in the distance. We love the North Carolina thunderstorms and clouds!

 See the squall line right on the rooftops?

 Mammatus clouds are beautiful, especially when they take up the whole sky and are mixed with the sunset as they were this particular night.

 Perfect anvil cloud

I named the cloud in the middle a geyser cloud because it looked like it was shooting up.

Week Ending 6-21-15

 Yoga time. One afternoon I came into the living room and found all 8 kids doing yoga while listening to Piano Guys on Nathan's laptop.

 Samuel loves to get water on the door of the fridge then spill it, then clean it up with a paper towel. Here he spilled my whole water bottle on purpose. So I got him a towel and he gladly started cleaning it up while Nathan snapped a picture.

 Alexis and I have been doing a lot of sewing projects and Sam entertains himself by getting pins and sticking them one by one into the arm of the rocking chair. Every night I clean them up and the next morning he does the same thing again, making trips to the container of pins on my desk, back to the rocking chair with each pin. It's pretty funny.

 Last Sunday the 3 little kids were sick so I took them home after Sacrament Meeting. I settled them on the couch with pillows, blankets, and juice and we watched some old home movies. It was kinda fun.

 Sam fell asleep at 10:30 and I moved him to his crib where he slept until 3. He woke up feverless and seemed to be over it. Small little bug, whatever it was. My kids either had a fever for a day or threw up in the morning and was fine the rest of the day. The oldest 3 never got it.

That same Sunday Kylie got her young womanhood medallion!! She does personal progress faithfully nearly every Sunday after church and was so excited to finish. She's an outstanding 14 year-old. I couldn't ask for a better firstborn. I'm so proud of her.

Kylie was conducting the opening song of FHE when Samuel wanted her to hold him and started conducting the music too. 

 This week I picked up Madalyn's glasses--the first child in our family to get them. I'm not sure who took this picture, but it turned out cute. Now they can be glasses buddies.

 Makenna eating a smoothie popsicle. 

 Alexis has spent weeks sewing panties and cloth diapers for hers and Kaitlyn's baby dolls (along with burp cloths and a dress, but she was mostly exited about the panties because their dolls came with potties and she wants to potty train them and have plenty of underwear to have accidents in.) When they were finally finished on Friday she set up a little store and she and Kaitlyn went shopping for underwear and potties, bibs, and baby dishes. She also made Makenna a cardboard potty (on the left) since she doesn't have one and they potty-trained that baby too.

 Thomas was excited to pull his tooth out while Kylie and Madalyn were at youth conference. It hadn't been very loose when they left, but he worked on it for 2 days and finally pulled it out just after the camera went dead. Spencer had been trying to video it, so we have about 5 videos over the course of the 2 days, but Tom could never do it until the camera went dead.

 Thursday night I wanted to go for a walk but it was too hot so I said it would be nice to have a gym membership for times like this, or to have gyms have $1 drop in rates or something. Spencer said they should have free mother's night outs. The next morning I came home from a walk to find this sign on the door by Alexis. It says "Welcome to the free exercise place for moms." Inside my room I found a trampoline (La-z-boy chair), weight center, exercise bike, and this treadmill.

 Doesn't it look like a treadmill? Alexis is super crafty with cardboard.

 The left is the level and the right is the minutes.

 Finally finished Samuel's stocking!! It's a counted cross stitch that has taken me since January. It's been really fun, but I'm glad it's finished so that I can start the new baby's while we're in California the next month.

 I also made a baby blanket for our new addition. It's been a really productive week, which is good because next week we're off to Tennessee and then California!

Field Trips

Last Category: Field Trips

I warn you, there are a lot of pictures. And some aren't very good since they were taken with the ipod. But since our kids look at this almost daily, I want a lot of pictures for them to remember these special days of their lives. I'm so grateful for the fun we've had this spring. I'll always cherish these moments with my sweet young'uns. 

Bird Zoo

May 6, 2015

The parakeets didn't land on us like they did the first time we visited 2 years ago, and the camera battery went dead after recording a lot of video, so we don't have a lot of pictures but we had a great time.

Overnight Trip to the Foothills 

May 13-14, 2015

For my birthday I would have loved to go to the Great Smoky Mountains like I did 2 years ago, but it's a bit far so I settled for an overnight stay in the foothills. First we stopped at the Raleigh Temple because I haven't taken the kids in years, then we went to the zoo and spent the night in High Point. The next day we drove to Hanging Rock State Park and spent the day hiking there before driving home after dinnertime. It was a perfect trip!

 Couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. Not too hot, cold, humid, or windy.

 After seeing the temple we went to a park nearby where Spencer fed the squirrels and the kids played on the playground and I walked the 2 mile loop around the lake.

 Getting back in the car. Alexis and Madalyn share a seatbelt next to 2 carseats while Spencer squishes between 2 carseats in the back. It's not the best, but it works and the kids are good not to complain. Hopefully Nathan will get a job soon and we can get a bigger van!

 After the park we drove another hour to the zoo. The only incident we had was that when we got Samuel out of his seat he was sopping wet--his jean shorts and all up his back. Apparently someone got him dressed early that morning but didn't change his diaper. Haha. At least we had another semi-navy outfit.

 Playing in the mister.

 Playing in the helicopter. I just wish we had the real camera for good pictures.

We had a great time, spending from 1-5 there and were about the last ones to leave. It was a nice quiet day at the zoo. The best part was riding the tram back to the beginning. We were the only ones on it and the breeze on our faces felt so refreshing. I could have stayed on it for hours. Next it was an hour drive to High Point where we bought dinner at a grocery store and warmed it up in our cheap, but nice hotel room. We all slept well and the next morning we drove an hour to Hanging Rock State Park. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures and it was such a beautiful place! The kids were great hikers and it was sooo relaxing hanging out there all day. Spencer, Thomas, Alexis and I hiked Hanging Rock (the others just did smaller waterfall trails with us and then read in the car while the little ones napped), which looks like this:

Here's one of the waterfalls we played in. Again, a wonderful trip and I'm so glad we went.

Last Field Trip: Aurora Fossil Museum, Ferry, and Bath, NC

May 21, 2015

 After seeing a tiny museum, the kids spent a short time digging in the mounds of sand for shark teeth.

 The highlight of the trip was going on our first ferry ride. It was really small and only 30 minutes, but a lot of fun.

 We were the only ones on the deck, so that was fun and I didn't have to worry about bugging anyone.

 Land sighted! It's so fun living so close to the coast.

 Once on the other side, we picnicked in Bath. Samuel soaked himself with the water bottle and loved finding these rocks. Rocks are rare where we live. I don't know if he's ever seen one before.

 Another mound to dig for shark teeth in. (Or run around on.)

 Alexis is forever finding "cute" nature items like this little green pinecone. For my birthday she gave me a little box of things she had collected from Hanging Rock, which was really sweet.

 Reminds me of ants going up and down a hill.

 Such a beautiful location for a picnic. Tall, shady trees, nice cool breeze and no cares in the world.

 Next we went to Goose Creek State Park. After the visitor's center some of the kids played in the sand or the water. Kylie and Madalyn read and Alexis sat and talked to me as we watched the kids play.

After staying home all of January and February, literally only using 1/2 tank of gas in 2 months, it's been fun to get out. I was kinda sad after this field trip, knowing if we don't get a bigger van I won't be able to take the kids on field trips next year. Glad I made the most of it this year and I'm so grateful for Nathan's mom sending us some gas field trip money, giving me the idea to get out.

Now we have a couple of weeks to play, do lesson plans for next school year, and get ready for a trip to California. As soon as we get back (Aug. 1) we're starting school and getting ready for the baby. This summer will go by fast!