Family Night At the Movies

Last night we took the family (minus Camilla and plus Grandpa) to see Frozen at the theatre. We don't take the kids to the movies very often because it's just plain crazy and crazy expensive.  But we all really wanted to see Frozen so off we went.

Sammy sat next to me and pretty much talked through the whole movie. The only time he was quiet was when his mouth was full of Grandpa's popcorn.  Luckily the noise was fine since there were only five other people in the theatre.  The fun with Sammy really started during the previews.  At the start of each new preview he would say to me, "Is this Frozen?"  He tripped in the aisle several times as he walked back and forth stealing Grandpa's popcorn time after time.  He sang along to the chorus of the songs - songs he had never heard before, but that didn't stop him.  Then during the climax of the movie, as the main character is frozen into an ice sculpture, Sammy starts crying (with real tears!) and saying "Oh no! Oh no!".  I comfort him by saying, "It'll be OK, buddy. It'll be OK."  And he looks at me, motions toward the screen, and says, "No it won't! ... Just look!"  It was adorable.  Then, to highlight the whole trip, as we're walking out of the theatre and down the long hall toward the exit, two men are walking past us in the opposite direction and he says to them, in a very compassionate and concerned voice, "Awww. You missed it! It's over!"  They laughed and said he was cute.  Then Sammy tripped, fell flat on his face, jumped up and kept going like nothing happened.

What a sweetheart.

Camilla's Blessing

Camilla's blessing day was a happy, peaceful, perfect day.

She started with a bath and combing her hair.

She wore the same dress Naomi wore for her blessing - it fit her perfectly.

Her headband is made from trim leftover from Naomi's baptism dress - which will be Camilla's also.

We didn't notice until later, but Camilla cut her first tooth this day also - hence the finger in the mouth in all these adorable pictures.  She really is such a doll!

Everyone was so happy to celebrate Camilla.  She is such a great addition to our family.

Daddy was able to bless her using the power of the priesthood.

Like I said, a perfect day.

Camilla was blessed to know the love of her Heavenly Father, to recognize truth, to know the Lords will, to be faithful, and be directed on her path.  It was beautiful.  I could feel God's love for this beautiful baby so strongly. And I could feel that same love for everyone else - since we are all God's beautiful little babies.

Millie Photo Bomb

Im trying to be better about blogging so heres a little photo catch-up of Millie.

Millie always has her eyes on the other kids in the room.

 Christmas dress

 My beautiful girls.

 She loves tummy time. 

 First solid meal!

 Jeggings!

Christmas 2013

Christmas 2013 was awesome.  Ang and the Qshurst-Mcgees came to town, Ruth and Mom both had the entire week off work, Richard came home each night to party.  It was all so fun and festive!  And we didn't even have to pack or travel!

It was so much fun to have Angela and Ruth and I all together.  I just love that my sisters and I are close.

We had an epic Nerf battle at our house.  Richard bought dozens of guns and hundreds of ammo.  The kids shot the adults, the adults shot the kids, teams lasted ... minutes before turning on each other.

Christmas morning we Worths stayed at our house to open presents.  The kids were pretty good about taking it slow opening presents and enjoying each other's happiness.

Asher really loved his "Inventors Kit". "Look! My very own blue tape!" he cried.

Any time we were hungry we just headed to Grandma's.  Massive amounts of pies, mashed potatoes, cookies, ham, etc.  We were stuffed for a week straight!

And love abounded.

A perfect Christmas.

Sammy's Big Boy Bed

There's an "extra room" in this house that doesn't count as a bedroom solely based on it's lack of a closet.  So for a few months it was my craft room (a dream come true for me!).  But one Saturday in April, it turned into Sammy's new big boy bedroom.  Everybody pitched in to move all the boxes of craft stuff out, Daddy assembled this bed we already had, we moved in the one other piece of furniture we have for this room, made the bed, and Sammy was all set!

All the kids felt that they needed to try out the new bed.

 Here it is looking all actually put together.

 And here is the happy little big boy (looking very little in the that big bed!).

We didn't force Sammy to move over to this bed because we didn't want him to feel kicked out of his crib.  We just invited him to try it out at every nap and bed time.  After 3 days he tried napping in it and did a great job. It took another two days before he willingly tried it at night.  But after that he was all in and he hasn't gone back!  The xuxa (pacifier) did make the move with him - but that's next on the list of things to go!  (Right before diapers)

What a big boy!

Isaiah's 6th Birthday

I'm afraid I did a pretty poor job of taking pictures on Isaiah's birthday this year.  He did have a very fun, family filled birthday though.  He started the weekend with a father/sons campout with Dad and Asher.  They got back around 10am - dirty and tired but very happy.  The real partying began after lunch when Aunt Karen, Uncle Jared and cousins Jessica and Joshua showed up.  Grandma and Aunt Ruth came over, too.

 We started with presents (we've discovered this works for us).  Jessica and family gave Isaiah some fun games!

 Isaiah was also very excited about the Batman watch he received from Mom and Dad.

 Then we all swam in the still-bathwater-warm pool for a couple of hours, gorged ourselves on pizza, then ate cake.  Isaiah requested a puppy dog cake.  Since he's made this request several years in a row now, I was running out of clever ideas.  So I did puppy foot prints made from Oreos.

After that Isaiah requested some Wii playing and we played until bedtime.  It was a fun-filled day that made this little boy happy.  And I do love to see that smile!

Asher's 7th Birthday

We packed Asher's birthday with as much fun as possible!  He woke up to a pile of balloons on the family room floor and his new goldfish.

The goldfish had arrived the evening before when Asher and Daddy went to the pet store together to pick one out.  (*Goldfish #1 died within 24 hours, but Goldfish #2 has been living strong for a month now)  

 Then we headed to the Perot Museum of Science.  Asher could not have been happier.  We even managed to leave Sammy with Grandma and Grandpa so that Mom and Dad could focus on the big kids.  It was a great morning.

 Below, Asher designed his own light show and then projected it onto this spinning wheel by cranking a lever around and around.

 Here is Isaiah and Daddy racing a T-rex (and not doing too bad!)

 Below Naomi and Asher are racing a Cheetah.  See that Cheetah? No? It was long gone before they basically even started!

 Then in the afternoon it was cake and presents.  A fish themed cake in honor of Goldie - the new fish.

 And Grandma and Grandpa joined us for the present opening portion of the party and won the "best present" award with a remote control car.

These days of making all my little ones dreams come true are long, exhausting days.  But I do love doing it for them.  There SHOULD be one day a year where all your dreams come true!