The purple on the wall behind her is one of the flowers that I spent hours painting. Maybe if you are all lucky I will post better pictures of them one day. 
YES!! She really did wear that to school!
Luckily this was a Saturday!
I thought her children would appreciate these someday!
It really is a bad idea. Especially if you are little. While unpacking, baby found a box that happened to have matches in it. I know, I know, we are bad parents but, what can I say...... Anyway, once I found this mess it had to be cleaned up. I didn't want to do it by myself and the big kids were at school and Daddy was working so I enlisted Isaiah. Trying (yes I do try sometimes) to be a good parent, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to teach him about matches and how dangerous they are and how kids should NEVER play with them. He asked me a few questions to clarify and got slower and slower at picking them up. Pretty soon (after I see those little wheels just a turning in his head) he informed me that he could no longer help me pick up matches because, (DUH) kids are not supposed to play with matches. What was I thinking?
One of my favorite memories of my grandpa was hurrying to his house on Saturday mornings so we could ride on his sled and feed the cows with him. At Christmas I asked my uncle Matt if he would give my kids a ride on his sled so they could experience the same thing. It was so cold, but oh so fun!
Luckily, Grandma and Grandpa got to go with us. Here is Grandpa remembering his driving skills and Uncle Matt.
Bethany and Elizabeth. They managed to have matching outfits without any planning and so I couldn't resist taking their picture together. Hopefully they turn out to be great friends!
Elizabeth and baby Johan. She is 6 months older than he is. She was so sweet and soft with him. Especially for someone who doesn't know what those words mean. 
Here are a couple of pictures of our zoo-loving little boy with his friend Lucy. She was so kind (along with her mom) to take us to the zoo for one last time. They had a great time together.
Emmalee with the flute choir before her Christmas concert. 
......we really do. But it seems when you have five kids, that it is difficult to get everyone to look the same place at the same time with pleasant expressions and eyes open. Thanks to our wonderful friend Sarah who was very patient with our fussiness, grumpiness, lack of smiling, crooked heads, awkward smiles, and closed eyes (I think Isaiah did all of the above)! She did a fabulous job. Maybe we will do better in a few years when we are a little older. Until then, our family photos have tons of personality in them and I think they are perfect!! I hope they make you smile as much as they do me! 
