January 11, 2011

Mommy's shopping buddy. Normally, Friday is our shopping day but we're a bit off schedule this week so we took Daddy with us to Winco and spent $120.00. That's about max for a weekly grocery budget for our family, and of course we hit our max this week because Dad was with us. Something about Dad grocery shopping causes the cart to get filled right up to the top. Yay Dad!

January 10, 2011

Sarah stayed home from school today with a sore throat. I think maybe she would have been ok at school but an extra day to mend never hurts. She spent part of the day just like this, with the bumble bee pillow pet she got from Aunt Melissa and Uncle Chase and Connor, watching movies. Judging by the fighting she did tonight with Dayton and Maggie though, she'll be back to school tomorrow!

January 9, 2011

Hopefully, this will be the worst Sunday family picture of the year. Shoot...it's only the second Sunday of the year. Not good. At least Dayton smiled though.

January 8, 2011

Ah, Saturday. Saturday's are kinda tough sometimes. Chance always has to work and I always feel like I need to be out doing something fun with the kids...but all I really want to do is stay home and relax. So today we bummed around the house (laundry, lunch, tv) until Nama called and invited us over. She had Maggie's birthday present; a Tinkerbell game for her new Mobigo! She wanted me to go home right then and get the Mobigo, but I said no. I'm so mean. Instead we went to Aunt Maggie's house and helped decorate for Presley's surprise birthday party. Boy was she surprised! We left Sarah there for the slumber party and came home for dinner and Pirates of the Caribbean. Not too bad for a Saturday!

January 7, 2011

This little girl is an angel. Everyone loves her because she is such a sweetie-pie. Her primary teacher (and the mother of Sarah and Dayton's best friends), Sister Haws stopped by today with a birthday gift for Miss Maggie. What a sweet lady! Maggie spent the entire day combing Rapunzel's hair so I'd say the gift was a hit.

January 6, 2011

Several weeks ago I decided it was time for Davis to learn how to cook so he's been helping me every night in the kitchen and I love it! I think he kind of likes it too, but he could be just humoring me. He's learning to follow recipes, chop vegetables, all kinds of things. Tonight he pretty much made dinner all by himself - Baked Penne. It was yummy and all I had to do was sit at the counter and boss him around! Love it.

January 5, 2011

Sometime last year Chance and I were called to be the ward librarians and it is the sweetest calling ever! No preparation required and it's a Sunday only calling. Except every fourth month when we need to cover Wednesday evenings. Since Chance works Wednesday evenings, its just me and the kids. I'm in and out as quick as I can partly because I put the kids to bed pretty early and partly because the kids want to get into everything! They are actually really good. Dayton and Maggie sneak back behind the portable chalk board and draw and Sarah practices her piano songs on the portable keyboard. Wednesday nights in the library for me are ok (I get out as quick as I can) but for the kids its fun, fun, fun!

January 4, 2011

John's birthday dinner! John turned 44 on the 1st and came over tonight for his friend's amazing cooking to celebrate...we had so much fun. Poor John though, the kids are all over him. He is a good sport and I think he likes the kids almost as much as they like him. In typical Meredith style, I agreed to crochet an afghan for John's gift but it wasn't done in time. Three weeks just is not enough! Oh well, a late gift is better than no gift. Right?

January 3, 2011

Davis loves his appointment with Dr. Gilman every six weeks! Look at that expression on his face...he's thinking, "Why does my mom insist on embarrassing me like this?" He's a good sport though, as is Dr. Gilman...check out the goofy pose he gave me. Davis has over a year left of braces and soon will have springs attached (the new technology which replaces head-gear). Sigh. Poor Davis, and poor bank account too!

January 2, 2011

The first Sunday of the year is always...interesting. The new schedule at church takes some time to get used to. This year we have the 1-4 block, sleeping in is awesome! Today after all our meetings we met as a family in Bishop Andrus's office and Chance set Davis apart as a Teacher. Eight months late, but better late than never. Bishop Andrus, Cameron Waite (YM President), Jack Hammond, and Ryan Rose were with us for the occasion. We are all so proud of Davis!

January 1, 2011

All through the month of December Sarah and Dayton brought home holiday artwork from school. It was all so pretty and Maggie wanted to participate too so I started printing Christmas coloring pictures nearly every day for all three of the younger kids to color. Many of those were cut out and hung on the tree, but the cabinet fronts got more and more crowded as the month wore on. This is a tradition we'll definitely continue next year. For now, the pictures are down and being replaced with school papers, 100% spelling tests, and more fun artwork as it comes home from school.