What's up?

This time of year has been super exciting

with many events!

Harry Perry and Supa Spaz got to be apart of

an extraordinary Eagle Court of Honor.

The cubs were asked to present the colors.

(put on the flag ceremony)

And Harry Perry got to carry the American Flag

in front of about 250 people,

of which our congressman was one of them.

He put the flag in it's place so the audience could say the pledge.

IT WAS AWESOME!

also...

we celebrated Supa Spaz's big 8th birthday

which means BAPTISM and becoming a new scout!

His baptism was a wonderful event.

This day will go down as one of my favorite days ever!

Later on in the month, Queen B and her preschool class put on a precious little presentation for Thanksgiving! She was the cutest Indian in the bunch!

Putting the Christmas tree up is a highlight of the season for our family.

Sweet P has done and excellent job of not touching the tree.
She hasn't plucked a single ornament off !
She has kissed a couple though! What a cutie!

And finally, our kids were asked to perform in the Huge Nativity exhibit that our church puts on every year.
Thousands attend this special event.
They had over 400 different nativities from around the world displayed.
They had special singers and orchestras playing throughout this three day event.

Three families in our stake were chosen to provide people to be apart of a LIVE nativity, the rest of the spots were filled with missionaries.

Our family was asked! HOW SPECIAL!

But they didn't ask for me and Joe....they asked for our two oldest kids.

They wanted them to be Mary and Joseph and sit very still, almost as if they were statues for about an hour.

They loved the kids so much they asked them
to come back and do it again the third day.

UNBELIEVABLE!
The kids were on cloud nine!
This time they wanted the kids to take change their pose every 15 min.They also wanted them to take turns holding baby Jesus for their pose.

That made this event even more special then it normally is.

We've started out the season with some very memorable events. We are grateful to our Father in Heaven every day for our family and the memories we get to keep.

ONE DOWN....a whole bunch more to go

Sweet P's Christmas present is made....I made it to look like her...now I just need to make her some accessories to go with it...a change of clothes, etc.

I love making Christmas gifts!

Summer pics

These are pictures I never put up because I couldn't find my camera charger....

so they are a couple months old...

but too cute not to post.

GO "Sweet P"!!

And "Queen B" acting quite grown up!

It's just easier.

I went ahead and made the blog public again.

The fact is, I don't

use names or places...

( You've probably noticed, that if you DO

leave a comment with any personal info, I kindly delete.)

And I've been getting alot of emails from friends asking

why I blocked them from my blog.

Which of course I didn't.

I have like 60 some odd email permissions

and just assumed that everyone I knew was on there.

Sorry about that peeps!

A sneak peak...

A very merry!!

We, in Stewartville, have enjoyed this month very much!

We have been celebrating

Christmas all month long.

We ate festive treats, watched Christmas movies,

enjoyed alot of Holiday related activities

and even went Christmas caroling for family night.

(where we truly discovered the depth

of our tone deafness!)

We had a blast....and now,

we put away our jingle bells,

our peppermint candy has all been eaten, and

the pine scented candles will not reignite for

another few months....

and I have to say, I'm a little sad

and yes, I am probably a little weird!

Merry Christmas to all....

and to all a good night!

Cake Pops....

(lemon cake pops...with sprinkles are "Queen B's" favorite)

A favorite family night treat!!

We made these chocolate covered strawberry pops

last month for our friends...
I have to say, these are my favorite treats to make.

I wish I had taken pictures from Christmas...
My Holiday cake pops were way cuter!!

because they're super festive!

We will be making a back to school batch...
and since one batch
makes like 3 dozen pops...

we need to spread the love!

Who's door will we show up at next?

mmmmmm!

My eyes...my eyes!

A total solar eclipse—when the moon passes in front of the sun and blocks it completely. It is an awesome sight. To see a total solar eclipse, you have to be in just the right spot on the earth.

If you are in the direct path, the sky will black out and all you will see is a golden ring where the sun should be.

This year it will pass through Thailand. They will have the best and longest view of it.
The kids totally thought that we should travel there to watch it. Thank goodness for the internet, we CAN travel there and see it for free!

It's not the same, I know, so we've decided to meet up in Dallas in 2024 for a family reunion. Our kids will range in age from 26 yrs. to almost 15. We might even have grandkids there to watch with us. And we will witness one of the Earth's most amazing events!

Happiness

Happy Birthday to you....

Happy birthday to you....

Happy Birthday dear "Sweet P"

Happy Birthday to you!

And many more!

Sadness

Oliver, O Oliver....Where for art Thou Oliver?

Our cat is missing.
(....sigh....)
Please come home Oliver!

I spy, with my little eye.....

Something 11 months old.

(click on picture to enlarge)

My 2 favorite things about 11months....piggy tails and first teeth...finally!

Butterfly in a jar

First we got a way cute caterpillar. Gave him/her a name.

Hoping that we named him/her right.

(at this point there is no way to tell if it is a him/her...cross our fingers)We called him Mario.

He just looked masculine.

(as opposed to a feminine caterpillar?)

He kept eating and eating.

We watched him grow and grow.

Then when he got tired of eating,

(many days later)

he walked away from the food.

This meant he was ready to "grow up"

We wanted to see the process start to finish so we

confined our friend to a lovely jar we called the slammer.

And there he goes. You're a great climber Mario!

He hung upside down for a day or so...


And then out of nowhere ...OH SICK, his back split open.
No, this isn't a scene from a butterfly horror flick.
This is what they do. (puke)
But we couldn't look away.

Holding back our vomit,

we watched as he did a funky little dance

trying to get out of his skin.

He then got very still.

The whole process from hanging

worm to neon booger only took

a couple minutes at the most.

WOW, metamorphosis is a perfect word.

About two weeks later he was RIPE!

His snot like outer shell

had turned black, then clear.

You can actually see his little

wings all bunched up inside.

AWWW, he's growing out of his ugly phase!

About a day after it got clear, he emerged!
WOW, I have to say, it is fascinating!
He didn't have much room to hang in the slammer,
so I helped him break out.





I very carefully picked him up,
without touching his new wings.
GOSH, he's so pretty.
Why did we ever think he was a boy?


I hung him upside down so he
could finish pumping the fluid into
his wings.....and you know what?



We guessed right, he IS a boy!

Dear Mario,
It seems like just three weeks ago
you were climbing on our hand,doing tricks.
And look at you now.
You came out of the slammer
such a beautiful creature.
We will miss you.
You were the easiest pet ever.
Goodbye small one.

Goodbye....