Olivia started it!!

One day Olivia found the dry erase eraser and smashed it onto her face.
She came out looking like a coal miner (now thinking of Rachelle's husband!).
Anyway, Josh being Josh decided that it looked like fun. He "erased" his face - you can see the white lines where his eyes were slammed shut and the folds were.
Then, Calvin being Calvin thought it looked cool but didn't want to erase himself, so Josh held him down and did the deed for him. I, of course, had nothing to do with it - I just stood by and photographed.

I Give Up!

Do I cry or do I laugh?

So, I hope heaven looks like this!

A Firefighter's job

There are oh so many more photos, but this will do for now.

The above is the fire where Greg almost lost Firefighter "Bob".
There is a story behind this photo of "Bob" - those who are interested can inquire through email. :)

Liv

Why do we take so many photos of our babies?? :) Here are the latest.

What the???

So, Greg had a UGA antenna flag on his truck.

Had being the key word.

While he was in the store the other day, someone came by in the parking lot and snapped his antenna right off the truck!

What!?!?!

.

.

.

.

Oh, and on a slightly policital note . . . does the way Obama pronounces "Pakistan" and "Taliban" bother anyone else?

My Very Own Swim Suit

So, for those who know the story - and for those who don't but care anyway . . .

I finally got my very own swim suit this year! lol. I have been borrowing my mom's for years and decided that it was time I "splurged" and bought my own suit. As I am packing up summer clothes, I came across my suit and decided that it is just too cute to not post a picture of it.

Now, I would never take a picture of ME in the suit, so I took the photo from the website.

It took me a looong time to find just the right suit for me (right, KBB?) but I did find it and am in love with it.

I love it because it covers!

I love it because it doesn't cling!

I love it because it dries quickly!

I love it because I don't have to worry about handling Liv and her pulling on my straps!
I love it because I don't have to tug!

I love it because it is me!

I love it because I am jsut so darn comfortable in it!

There - now you know.

Don't you want one too? :)

Quote

I can't remember where I found this quote, but I like it:

"Children who know how to articulate their thoughts don't have need for a tongue stud."

:)

My Joy is Full

I love watching this video clip. My favorite part happens about the three minute mark. Notice the figures moving in the foreground and background. How awesome that must have really been. I used this video for a RS lesson a while ago and related it to how safe those children must have felt. How safe we feel when we think of angels "encircling us" at times, and how we should strive to make our homes feel just that safe for our children (and us)-it was an awesome lesson - - one that was truly led by the Spirit - I had very little to do with it.
I just thought I would share this video.

3 Nephi 17:
"21 ....and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

22 And when he had done this he wept again;

23 And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.

24 And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them.

25 And the multitude did see and ahear and bear record; and they know that their record is true for they all of them did see and hear, every man for himself; and they were in number about two thousand and five hundred souls; and they did consist of men, women, and children."

Just a few more of Liv

I just found these - one shows her hair, the other shows . . . well, it shows Liv. :)

Josh turns 6

He requested a home made yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I made everything from scratch and when I put it in front of him, he told me that he didn't want it after all. nice. Also, the Twizzlers got a major thumbs down from both boys. Well, we tried anyway.

Nighty Night

The sweet sight of sleeping kids does something for a mom! I feel like I can finally breathe when night comes and the house is asleep. Calv's in my bed but I am not sure why he was there. :)

Jan found these awesome armor pieces at her Dollar Store. The boys played dress up and put on "The Armor of God" on morning. You can see they even found a way to "gird about their loins" with some of Greg's socks. They battled each other, and they battled Liv. They were all slain at one point. We threw marshmallows to illutstrate the fiery darts of the adversary. They definetely had some weaknesses in their armor. It was a great lesson! Thanks, Jan!!

More Misc

K, so we had a lightening storm and I wanted to capture some lightning. Greg had very little faith in my reflexes and told me I would not be able to get a photo of the flashes of light in the sky . . . ha ha! I did it!

Belated First year photos

I tried posting these back in May, but the upload didn't work. Jan took these photos in her own studio. We had a heck of a time trying to keep Liv still for the pics. What a cutie, huh? :)

You know you're a firefighter's wife if . . .

You Know You're a Firefighter's Wife If:

You know what IFSTA, IAFF, SCBA, WSFTA, and ARFF stand for.

You can tell the difference between a house fire and a woods fire.

You know what kind of shift your husband has has simply by smelling his hair when he comes home and wraps his arms around you.

Your Husband's wardrobe looks like this: non-descript bottoms paired with any navy blue shirt/sweatshirt with a fire department logo on it.

You know the difference between a police siren and a fire siren.

You see your husband tear up when he thinks of 9/11, even though he knew none of the firefighters on scene.

You have a collection of melted fire gear on display at your house - and a story to go with each one of them.

Your kids think the fire station is "Daddy's house".

You know that all of your smoke detectors work.

You know that you always have a team of highly-trained ems professionals at the ready (you know, in case a baby falls down the stairs or something).

You know that it is faster and waaaay better to take the ambulance to the hospital (NEVER go it solo, and actually WAIT in the waiting room!).

Your children can make good use of vaccuum hoses and rubber gloves.

Everybody knows a Firefighter, and will asume that you know them too.

You find it hard to sleep when your Hubby is at work.

You get severly angry when people don't pull over for firetrucks and ambulances.

You get to listen to stories about fires, mva's and in my case, sprinkler systems.

You've had some of the best holiday meals at the fire station.

You've lost all sense of what a "weekend" really is due to your husband's crazy schedule.

Your husband gets to go on field trips & preschool once in a while.

All of the teachers want your husband to "demonstrate" his skills for the class (yeah, right she just wants to see him in his bunker gear).

You feel like the luckiest girl alive when he comes home off shift and sends your heart a-flutter.

Our school room

For those who might be interested, I am posting photos of our school room. These are just candid photos of our first days of school. Our board is not quite as cluttered most days.
Greg found this white board for free and when we fed the missionaries one night, they helped him to hang it up. We love it!!

We cleared out our dining room and made it a school room. We put the Plan of Salvation on the white board so we could tie our lessons into it easier. I keep the Story that we read from the Friend open on the board so the boys can see what we talked about that morning during their day.
We set up a long folding table for the boys to share. They each have a side. I also write things on "their side" of the white board for them.
On the table we keep everyday school books and papers; a caddy with crayons, markers, scissors, glue and pencils and stickers for my to use while grading (I also sit at the table facing the boys when I need to be close to them while they work); we keep a tissue box and plenty of hand sanitizer handy; their scriptures and scripture journals (which are always left out and not in the school book pile).
It helps to have an artist in the house - Greg drew this "place value barn" for Josh. It was so cool. Liv thought the animals were all dogs and would point and bark each time she saw the drawing. :)

FYI, for school, we love:

Schoolhouse Rock DVD

Google Earth (we are marking temples in the lands we study so we can literally see how the temples "dot the earth")

Math U See blocks

Now, I know that most families don't have a formal room. That is okay! We chose to do this because I needed the structure and we wanted to keep the "formal education" feel for the boys. Homeschooling will doubtfully be a permanenet thing for our family. One day the boys will go back to public school and I want them to be prepared to sit at a desk with other students.

Keep in mind that we do not sit all day. This is homeschool, after all. :)

We're Alive!!

I haven't posted in a while . . . I simply haven't had the time. In fact, I don't really have the time now so I won't journal much. I hope you can figure your way through my myriad of photos here. :) They aren't in order, so . . . good luck!

I will tell you that this summer we took a mini-vacation to Lake Lanier Islands Waterpark during Greg's birthday. I arranged to have cake and ice cream and balloons put in our room before we arrived to surprise Greg. It was great!

Also, as news: we are homeschooling the boys this year. So far, so good! I am so excited about it - still! :) This was not a decision we made lightly, and we feel very confident that this is right for our family for right now.

K, let the show begin:

Liv is wearing a bookmark on her head. Josh on the waterslide.
Greg
My boys in the wave pool.
Liv got tangled up with Greg's birthday balloons. :)
Josh doing a cannonball off a "jumping rock" at an indoor pool.
Calvin's first day wearing his Bear uniform for Scouts - yes, I need to sew his Wolf patch on!
Calvin on the waterslide.

At the beach

Josh found some great bubbles at the sink one day and made some bubble soup for us.
Night at Stone Mountain.
Our sky during a lightning storm
Greg's birthday surprise.
Just chillin' at the kiddie pool while the boys played on the waterslides


Do you see that mittle stick figure on Liv's forehead?? Josh told me that SHE did that all by herself. She is so talented!

More at the beach
Look at the poor tree on the right . . . we had to say goodbye to our two trees this year. I will post an "after picture" later.
Liv's new funny face.
Liv's one-year photo



Liv's birthday balloons - each year we blow up balloons and leave them on the bedroom floor of the birthday person the night before their birthday. That way, they wake up to a colorful floor decoration. Of course, we only put Liv's balloons in her crib AFTER she woke up. :)

Every child's dream play!!
Hello down there!!