More phone pictures from the last year

 The Young Women and Men in our stake had a fundraiser at Panda Express- win win for my little orange-chicken-loving kids.

 I couldn't wait until Christmas to give quinny her matching jammies.

 So many kids

emery went to speech therapy for her /s/ sound. All waiting rooms should have a movie playing. I keep the DVD player in the trunk in case I have an hour to kill in a room with no toys, books or TV.

 Ever since my kids were little I've taught them to do things for themselves- like order your own hot dog at the Costco Cafe. Bonus- sometimes strangers feel bad for the little guy who has to buy his own food and they'll treat him.

 Ward Christmas party

Quinn's first day as a little Sunbeam

She loves singing time and especially her music leader. When she's singing a primary song at home she'll stop throughout the song and give herself directions just like her music leader. "OK- now sing a little louder at this part and smile!" "Now sing this part quiet and remember to think about Jesus!"

 campbell and emery got to tag along for our young women/men ice skating activity. I laughed the whole night. Campbell had no shame using the little kiddie-walker. She flew around and around the rink like a speedy old lady.

 Until the Zamboni cleaned the ice back off the girls were pretty much walking on snow.

 campbell has 10 minutes to kill while waiting for emery's bell to ring so she wastes no time at all getting back to her favorite pastime. She has blown all her school reading goals out of the water. It still boggles my mind- I never would have predicted this for her future.

 We had 2 little guests for one of our school pickups. They got to see the park, trail, lake and kids' school.

 and quinny got kicked out of the baby carrier.

 All 9 cousins and 3 moms hanging out at naptime. Morgan was in town visiting so we had a sleepover with her and Katie and all the kids.

 quinn joined grant on his evening phone call with Uncle Johnny. It was very kind of Grant to share his daddy time.

 quinn and griffin had the talk and scripture and prayer for Primary. Griffin likes to do the scripture by himself now. It usually ends up being a fairly close interpretation.

 My only kid who will ever have a school-day birthday. The girls are all summer b-days. Griffin woke up and was all excited for his birthday festivities. After a few minutes I told him he should start getting ready for school so we weren't late. "Wait... but today's my birthday! I'm not going to school on my birthday- wight mom?!" Yes buddy... your school is 3 hours long- I think you'll survive.

 He had a Ninja Turtle birthday party with a few of his little school and church friends. It was a very energetic party. They drank "green toxic slime" so they could mutate into Mutant Turtles, made nun-chucks, learned ninja moves, used throwing stars to fight off bad guys, had a pinata and ended with a silly string war. Thankfully we could do a lot in the backyard cuz they were bouncing off the walls.

 And then I spent the rest of the day on the couch doing nothing and he put together his LEGO sets.

 quinn shoved a popsicle stick in her front tooth gap. Look what I can do wif my teeth mom!

 griffin and quinn fall asleep in our bed every night and then we move them into quinn's room. I take pictures of the little sleeping angels before we move them. They look so innocent and harmless and quiet.

 griffin got Dino in Maryland when we first moved there. He loves Dino and I make Dino talk to him with a totally ridiculous voice. We get invited to a lot of birthdays for Dino because griffin says his birthday is every day.

 Me: "Quinn, I'm not letting you watch any more TV- you turn into a little "wah wah" when you watch TV"
Quinn: "Actually mom- I only go "wah wah" when you turn it off!!!"

 Griffin has a dream of bringing maracas to his last day of school so he can shake them when the final bell rings. Like this...

 he still holds my hand everywhere we go. I love love love love this little boy.

 Valentine Party! I signed up for a no-fail treat to make this time after the Halloween fake teeth disaster.

 The kids are so good about including quinn in their fun school activities and treats.

 6th birthday lunch milkshake

Our favorite evening activity- I play music on my phone while the kids roam around on their bikes, trikes, scooters and skateboard.