Hawaiian Days

Today was Hawaiian Day at Meridian Elementary. While it felt strange sending my kids to school in their Hawaiian attire when there was ice on the ground outside this morning, it sure was fun to pretend we were enjoying tropical weather for a day!

Park Playtime...

We have been thoroughly loving and taking advantage of the change in the weather. While it is still rather chilly, it's been nice enough to take several walks and enjoy playing at the park.

Mohawk Madness

We are constantly being stopped by people asking if we style Jonathan's hair into a mohawk, which of course we don't...it just naturally migrates to that shape and has become almost a trademark for him. Well tonight at Josiah's birthday party we met a lady who enjoys the same style.


I think one of the best parts of this picture actually occured after the fact when Stephanie Earnhardt (my partner in crime) came over to me and said "I double dog dare you to ask that woman to take a picture with your son". To which I was able to pull my camera out of my pocket and say...I already did :) ha ha!!!

Double the Fun Skate Party

"Mom, are we twins now?" Josiah asked when he heard we were planning a combined birthday party with one of his closest friends - Emma Currey. We celebrated Josiah's 5th and Emma's 4th birthdays tonight at Auburn Skate Connection. He absolutely loves roller skating and adores Emma, so what a perfect way to celebrate!

Little Feet and Little Smiles

Just had to capture a picture of Jonathan in his little shoes before he outgrows them.

Jennifer brought these over last month & stamped an imprint of his feet on the bottom of the shoes for us to have as a Christmas Ornament/Keepsake. What a great idea! He appears pretty happy to be wearing them too!

Tea Time with Grandma

Grandma Hirst joined us for tea this afternoon and we had such a great time. She brought with her four teacups to add to our set (we've had a couple of teacup casualties over the past year or so). It was fun listening to her share what she remembered about each cup...and when she couldn't remember something about a particular cup, Abby told her that it was OK because SHE had a story now "This is the cup that my Grandma Hirst gave me at one of our tea parties".



The funniest part of our tea party came from a silly dictionary game. We would open the dictionary and with eyes closed point to a word that described ourselves. Not surprisingly, my mom landed on the word Divinity. I've always known she was holy, but it took on a new meaning when Webster told me so. ha ha

Ironically, I landed on the word Ferry - "A service for transporting persons..." That seemed only fitting since I'm known for "wearing" my children (either in a snuggly or a backpack).

Abby's first word was Mattress, which could be appropriate considering her brothers love to jump on her. However, I believe her 2nd word was more fitting: Chip off the old block - "A person who strongly resembles one parent in appearance or character." Hmmmmm....I wonder which parent she most resembles. My mom couldn't help but laugh at that one.

This cup was given to my mom by her best friend Marie Earnhardt. What an honor for Abby to use such a special cup!
This was one of my favorites growing up. I remember it sitting in the china hutch behind my seat at the dinner table when I was a little girl.
This is the cup who's story we can't remember, but are happy to begin a new story "The cup from Grandma Hirst"
This was Great-Grandma McQuire's favorite cup.

I Love to Megacook

We did it! Heather and I completed another megacook tonight totalling 60+ meals. As you can imagine, we thoroughly enjoyed chopping onions (not really) and fortunately had Abby around to capture the moment. Thank goodness we start each megacook in prayer...some portions of the day requiring more prayer than others!

We are both so thankful for our husbands who take care of the kids all day while we are busy in the kitchen. Likewise, they are thankful for the great meals we come home with when we are finished. Both families enjoy getting together at the end of the day to try one of the meals and celebrate yet another successful day of cooking.