Ben's post about Trifle

We made this trifle about 5 days ago.

directions Add chocolate cake

in a bowl then chocolate pudding

then add chopped strawberries

then put in whipped cream.

This is me and Mom
with our trifle.



This is Mr. J it's Sunday
Dad and I stayed home because we were sick
Mom and Sarah went to church.

Sarah Firsts

I hadn't planned on starting Sarah in ABC School yet, but when a friend wanted to get one going and couldn't find more people I agreed to do it. We are doing a condensed version. Just once a week from now til the end of the school year. There are 4 kids altogether. So, here is Sarah on the first day of school.

She's the youngest in the group. All the others will be kindergarten age next fall. She's got one more year to go. But, I don't think it will be hard for her to keep up, and it's not like I'm worried about her being behind since we have another year. But, I felt like she would really enjoy the activities and even maybe make some friends.
Writing in her journal, she drew a picture of her favorite weather. Sunny!

We also started ballet this week. I still think I may have started her too young. She is only 3 1/2! She has so much time to learn all these things. But, on the other hand, she loves to dance and she LOVED her first class with Mr. Jef.

She was upset about her slippers. We bought some last fall that were more like a slipper than for ballet use. And that's exactly what her teacher said. So, he had some used ones for her to use. She's still mad about them, "I'm not wearing those dirty slippers!" Tough.

A New Year - 2010

Our New Year did not start out as planned. We went to bed on NY eve about 10 pm so that we could get up at 2:15 to leave for Las Vegas. Kannon has family down there we wanted to visit and my brother was blessing his baby on Sunday. We made it to Hawthorne, an hour away, and turned around to come home. Kannon (and the baby) were coughing the whole way. He felt like if we were supposed to go it would get better, but since it just got worse during that hour he felt we should go home. Ben cried. He was so disappointed. I was okay with it. The baby had been so cranky all week with his teething and hadn't been sleeping well and I just didn't want to deal with that anywhere but home. We slept off and on that day (kind of taking turns) and took down Christmas stuff.

I was glad that we didn't miss out on the primary breakfast where the kids got to meet their new teachers for the year. Sarah is just starting in primary this year and I felt like that would be kind of important.

Ben and Sister Beach


Sarah and Sister Madsen

After the breakfast we took the kids to Walmart to spend the $20 their great-grandpa gave them. It was fun to help them decide what to get. After that it was home to do some cleaning. Everybody helped and we even found some missing items (like the prescription ear drops!).

Kannon and Ben in the living room.


Sarah cleaning the bathroom sink.

Me? I just told everyone what to do and took pictures! JK.

I thought it would be appropriate to start off our year with new Sunday pictures. Ben is a CTR 7 and Sarah is a Sunbeam.

Then you've got to enjoy our little Joshua for a minute. He's 6 months old - Already! He is still so cranky. And I don't think I'd call it colic, but I guess I could be wrong. He seems to be teething, still. He just likes to be held and sometimes that doesn't even help. We have a swing, bouncy seat, and jumper. He got an exersaucer for Christmas. He enjoys jumping. Always has. He'll jump in your lap as long as your arms can handle it. He likes to stand, too, so we thought he'd love the exersaucer, but I think he feels abandoned when we put him in it. Or something. Sometimes he'll play for awhile, but more often than not, he's crying. He's also starting to enjoy the floor more. I guess because he's becoming more mobile. He can scoot in a circle and sometimes move backward. He gets up on his knees and sometimes up on his toes! I have mixed feelings about him becoming mobile. He still has the best smile and he's enjoying his brother and sister more - he likes to be entertained by them. We've been feeding him solid food now, and he likes anything we give him. But, now comes the pooping issue that we've had with all our kids. Ben drank prune juice - a lot of prune juice. I remember giving Sarah enemas all the time. Really don't want to go through that again. We'll have to figure out what to do because I see it already happening. Any advice on that one? Or are my kids just oddities?

Christmas 2009

I really wanted to do a puzzle during Christmas time this year. I bought this one at Savers. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be - hard to find the edges. I had it almost done and Sarah attacked it. I was determined to finish it and voila!

Sarah and aunt Susan. This was Christmas Eve. We did a family night with stories, games, songs, and good food.

We decided to be brave/different this year. We stayed the night at my parents house (8 miles away!) It was really fun to be there with everyone - minus a brother and his wife. When the 2 babies in the house woke up at 6:30 Ben did too. And then Sarah. I held them at bay, in our room, until 7 and then we woke everyone up.
Waiting in the hallway for permission to go see what Santa brought. This has always been the tradition in our family. We



Ben got a Didj - it's the next level up from a Leapster, which is what he asked for. He seems to be pretty happy with it.

Sarah has wanted a pink guitar for a long time. She also ended up with 2 microphones and a "Barbie singer" outfit!

Playing with her playdough. She really can't get enough of that stuff.

Playing Ticket to Ride - we love this game and I got it for Kannon.

Christmas night we lit the bonfire. Whenever we, or my mom, have garbage wood, tree trimmings, weeds, etc, it goes into the bonfire pile and when there are enough of us around, we light it. Because of the snow, this one was started with boy scout water (or gasoline!)

Ben and cousin Tyler eating lunch. It was cute to watch as Tyler (he's 3 1/2) wanted to do everything Ben did and go everywhere he went!

This adorable kitchen was my big Christmas project. My mom found it at a thrift store for $7. It was bare wood - homemade. I brought it home the week before Christmas Day and started working on it at night. I painted a few coats of the pink paint, and the stove rings. I used spray paint for the sink which is just a metal 8x8 baking pan. A couple of wooden knobs painted black with a silver pen for the markings and new handles on the doors. Kannon added latches to keep the doors from falling open and after Christmas he added a drain. We're still looking for a used faucet for the sink. Couldn't see putting $25 in for a new one! She got cooking pans and utensils from my mom and our neighbor. And Kannon and I found the mixer. She used the $20 from her great-grandpa to buy plastic food. Funny thing is, she uses her playdough as food more than anything!

3 Down - 1 to go!

Basically, I'm behind and don't care too much if I get caught up, but I already loaded the pictures, so enjoy!

We made Rudolph Rice Krispies

Cutting out the circles, even with a cookie cutter, was a pain!

Our pretzels were too small - they were supposed to be bigger to look like the antlers.

Playing Candy Land. SEE I DO do fun things with the kids every once in awhile!

And yes, she is wearing a swim suit in December!

The ward Christmas party and dinner.

Waiting to sing!

In line to see Santa. This is Ben's friend, Kaden. He kept picking Sarah up. They all thought that was just great!

Ben was hot(?) and Sarah wanted to be just like him!

See little teeth, and the evidence of more to come!

(ie. the running nose and drool)