Charity's 6th Birthday

It's hard to believe Charity is now 6 years old!  On her birthday, Hyrum and I accompanied her kindergarten class on a field trip to a small local zoo.  She also got to be spotlighted in her school class that day.  She chose her favorite foods to eat for breakfast and dinner.  Unfortunately, the evening of her birthday she came down with an awful stomach bug so we had to reschedule her party that was supposed to occur the next day.  She was a great sport though and we had her party a couple weeks later (when we got home from our family trip to San Diego).  She had a lot of fun with her friends and didn't seem to mind celebrating late!

Here she is on her second birthday....

 

And now her sixth birthday!  She's grown so much!

She wanted a cake with the number 6 on it, and she

wanted to decorate it all by herself with candy.

 For her party she wanted me to make Oreo cupcakes.

We love Charity and we're so grateful that she is part of our family!

Cinderella Ballet

Lydia and Rachel auditioned to be in the local production of the Cinderella ballet.  They were cast as lightning bugs and danced so well.  They had a lot of fun rehearsing and performing!

The lightning bugs wore headlamps backwards around their 

waist under their costumes.  When they were onstage their 

little behinds were flashing....so, so cute!

Hyrum turns 3!

Hyrum had a great third birthday!  There's something about your baby turning 3 that can make a mother pretty sentimental!  He enjoyed picking out his birthday meals, cake, and ice cream.  He and I also got to accompany Charity's school class on a field trip to a farm that day.

He was such a cute baby....he's sure not a baby anymore!

Hyrum loves trains, trucks, etc. and wanted me to make him a train cake.

His favorite present was (of course) a truck with a trailer.

At the farm with Charity's class

We love our little man so much and we're so glad he's part of our family!

Baby Animal Days

We took the kids to a local historical farm for its Baby Animal Days.  Our kids loved seeing all the baby animals and holding some of them.  Kenny and I had to laugh that there were so many city slickers there (us included) that were paying good money just to touch some animals.  It was pretty crowded but we still managed to have some fun!

Baptism Day

Rachel and Lydia recently got baptized!  In our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) children are not baptized as infants.  They can be baptized once they are 8 years old.  If you'd like to learn more about this, here's a link:  http://mormon.org/faq/topic/baptism

We had a really special day and we really appreciated so many family members coming to support us.

  

 

Rachel and Lydia turn 8!

Lydia and Rachel had a great eighth birthday!  It's so cliche to say it, but time really does fly!  It seems like just yesterday that life was like this:

Somehow time continues to march on though, and they keep growing up!  They had a party with friends this year to celebrate.  They absolutely love fairies so we planned a fairy-themed party for them.

Pin the wand on the fairy

Wand decorating

Butterfly pinata

 

 

Flower cupcakes- so easy!  The petals are Swedish fish!

Lots of friends!

We held their friend party before their actual birthday.  They spent the day of their birthday just enjoying being the stars of the day!

New rollerblades

I made them a Neapolitan Rose Cake.

Yum!

We are so grateful to have these kiddos in our family.  I can't imagine getting them one at a time- they were meant to come as a two-some!  We love you girls!

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas!  I realize I'm late on posting these Christmas pics, but I still wanted to make sure I did it!

 

 We started the Christmas season off by going to see

the lights on Temple Square.  Seeing all the beautiful

lights and the nativity there really helps to set the spirit

for the Christmas season.

One of our kids favorite activities is decorating graham cracker
gingerbread houses.  This is Rachel with hers.

 

 Christmas morning

 Lydia

 

So glad I caught Charity's excited look here.

Who doesn't love pink sparkle shoes?

Hyrum loved his new sunglasses.

This year we went sledding on Christmas afternoon.  It was

so much fun.  It was a great way to spend time as a family and

get some fresh air and exercise (hill climbing).

Somehow we didn't take any pictures on Christmas Eve.  Every year we act out the nativity story on Christmas Eve and play games.  Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures next year!  We had such a nice Christmas!  I'm always sad to see the Christmas season end.  I guess we'll start counting down to next year!