Playing Trains

Erin and the boys came over for dinner on Sunday evening. ( Jeremy has been in Moses Lake all week on a big job ) We had some dinner and then the kids could hardly wait to get into the family room and all the toys. They were gone in a flash and playing while we were still eating. They played with most everything and then Avery really wanted all of the train tracks down from up in the attic. So - they picked up the toys and I brought the box down. Erin was a good sport and helped put it together (I'm not the best at fixing tracks). It turned out pretty good and they played with it for awhile. Then we had some peach cobbler for dessert. Bodee really likes to play trains and loves Thomas Train. He will sit for quite awhile listening to story books about Thomas too.

A few fun pictures from our play day at the mall. The boys really had fun and the Mom's did too. They checked in, took off their shoes, put names tags on and set out to play. They ran from one thing to another not being able to make a choice of toys. Then after they had checked out each thing they would go back and re-do them all several times. The crawl through toy had balls in the bottom section and once they were inside the crawl space we had to coax them through each little entry hole to get them to come out. There are soft couchs to relax on - that was my "fun toy". I had as much fun as they all did. There was one little girl that was determined to be the queen of the castle and she in no certain terms told the boys that were in there that this was only for queens, kings and princesses!!!! It was a delight to sit and watch the action. The little playhouse had play dishes, pans etc. and a box of dollies and blankets. There were 4 computers in the back of the room where older kids could play games. There was also a tv in the back with 2 very huge beanbags and that is where 6 little girls were all nestled in watching a princess type movie. It's a fun place to go and hang out for awhile.

TEMPLE CONSTRUCTION AND THREE WEEK'S CLOSURE. This is Dad in front of the new portico

DISHWASHER DILEMMA - Can you tell which is the new one? After leaking water on the kitchen floor, and after 15 years' of use, it was time.

Having lunch and playing at the Mall.

It's been a long time since I played Air Hockey. This was at the Mall when we had our play day. Course, Bodee was Erin's big helper

Walking the Boardwalk at Coeur d"Alene

It was cold but not as cold and windy as last year. The boardwalk was snowy and icy though. It is a fun thing to do if you are dressed for the weather. They have added a skating rink out in the front by the parking lot. Those people really looked cold to me. The lights were pretty and the dessert inside was actually the best part of all. Next year I'd like to take the boat ride across the lake to see the lights on the other side and Santa.

NO HAT PLEASE

This little Davis didn't want to go to bed and he didn't want to wear a hat. Totally not a New Years Eve partier. I tried though.

DAD'S NEW YEAR'S EVE HAT

We had fondue for dinner on New Year's Eve and later Dad made scones for all of us. We each got some poppers which had a paper hat and toy in for N.Y. celebrating.

RELAXING AT CORY'S PLACE

This is the night we went for a chili dinner at Cory and Beka's. It was really nice just to sit and relax and visit while the kids played games at the table.

FUN IN THE SNOW

This is Avery shoveling a path in the snow. Andy, do you recognize that hat???I think you wore it when you were about his age. I was watching the boys while Erin made a run to Costco and we decided to go play in the snow before it got too dark outside. Av just had to wear that hat and the scarf and two pairs of my stretchy gloves to stay warm - he thought. Bodee wheeling his wheels thru the snow drifts. Bodee kept taking his gloves off and I kept putting them back on. Oh, my gosh, I'm getting too old for this kind of actvity, but it was still fun.

PUTTING THE KITS TOGETHER

We are working hard but having fun assembling the hygeine kits. Ben is rolling a towel really, really tight so everything fits snugly in the ziploc bag.

ASSEMBLING HYGEINE KITS

This was our family project during the Christmas family party this year. We layed out all of the items to go into the kits and the littlest of boys took a bag and went down the line for each of us to insert an item into the bag. It went really fast and we could have done twice as many if we could have afforded more items. We did 24 kits and it was such a good feeling to just do that many. I brought the bags home and packed them into boxes and labeled them with our family name and ward and stake and took them to the Bishop's Storehouse. They, in turn, transport them to the warehouse in Hermiston and from there they go to the Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake.

Playing at Mindy's

This was our lunch date at Mindy's. Avery came with his whole cowboy outfit on, even spurs. He is riding Davis' new horse and it makes a noise just like a horse. Course, Bodee is reading up on Thomas Train's newest adventure and he's very serious about it.