What Daddy's Do Best

With late Church from 1-4 in the afternoon naps can be tricky.
We either come home and let the little ones sleep knowing we will be up late that night.
Or we try to hold them through the whininess and put them to bed early.
This is David's effort at keeping JuJu awake so we could put her to bed early.
Awesome job.

YW Sleepover

I had 10 young women from Church come to my house for a sleepover.
We had a great time brainstorming ideas for camp, eating, charading, and watching ET.
These girls are seriously the most well-behaved, sweet teens I have ever met.
I am so impressed with them.
As you can see from above, Miss Caterpillar came in handy serving as a pillow for 3.

Sister Love

This is where JuJu and Ella Joy spend much of their afternoon.
They work as a team to get this swing going high.
JuJu usually stands while Ella Joy does most of the work.
Love seeing them play happy together.

North Dakota Daylight

All the others are in bed.
Georgia had a late nap.
It's 9:30 pm and the sun is still hanging around.
By summer it will stay up til 10:30.
Sometimes it feels like we are on the moon.

My New Lawnboy

Basking in his grass clippings.

I'm Back

So it's been awhile.
Since moving to the Big ND I haven't been my normal blogging self.
I'm not sure why.
Maybe getting used to a new place.
Busy.
No camera.
Shared computer.
Trying to figure out if this is really my life?
Whatever it is or was I think I will be posting more often.
Thanks to Jan for the sweet plea for my return.
It warmed my heart to know I was missed.
It helps too that David got me my OWN computer and a new little Elph.
We have been sharing for all these years and it was time.

Well  hello to all and hopefully you will find our life here in Minot as interesting or entertaining as it was in Miami. Here is a double rainbow that showed up over our house last Sunday during an afternoon shower. It was beautiful and Ella Joy was freaking out. I think she thought she would see Care Bears sliding down at any moment.

Family Night

 Its Family Night-- a Mormon practice where we gather together, teach a lesson, play a game, have a treat.  Some are enthused!

 Some are deep in thought....

 Others are wishing they could travel to Mermaidia...

 While others just come to be cute.

 The goal to get together as a family, sing, pray, learn a Gospel centered lesson, and feel the Spirit.

And wow! with such a captivating teacher who wouldn't want to have family night every night!

Grandma Christie

But don't call her Grandma.
Its just Christie.
So after keeping JuJu for a month my mom came for a 2 week visit.  She just left on Sunday and the family is depressed. I think David is the most depressed.  He would like her to move in permanently.

I know I have written about the wonders of Christie before but I can just never say enough.
I will do my best to share her wonder but I think to truly understand it you simply have to see her in action.

During her visit she cooked dinner every night and then insisted on cleaning so we could spend time with the kids and each other. She did laundry daily and folded it right out of the dryer.  I don't think we have ever had so few wrinkles in our clothes.  She cleaned the oven and I mean cleaned behind, underneath, inside, and all around. Dusted all my blinds that have never been dusted. Washed the windows. Put together our new lawn mower, mowed the front yard. Put together the new weed whacker and edged the front yard. Played with the kids, read to the kids. Fixed our bikes. Fixed the vacuum. Grocery shopped.  Took JuJu and her friend to the waterpark, took all the kids to the park. Babysit so we could go to Bismark for the day. And the list goes on....

Thanks for everything Mom!! Come back soon!!!

Eat Clean Gourmet Dinner Night

A little yoga posing after our big meal.

Group shot--sadly missing a few girls because of my last minute planning.

Several months ago my friends and I decided to start a gourmet dinner night.
We rotate homes and change the theme.
In December we did Thai food at Margel's.
January was Greek at my house.
In March we did a Paula Deen night at Jaymie's.
For May we got all our recipes from Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Cookbook.
The food was delicious we had a mango quinoa salad, Moroccan chicken over lentils, pasta salad, roasted vegetables, Tuscan bean dip, and fruit for dessert.
I really love doing these nights because I get to get together with my girlfriends,eat delicious homemade food, and learn a new recipe. I scheduled this one while my mom was in town so she could meet the girls and enjoy Minot's Finest Dining--truly.

Our New Playset

Our new playset finally arrived and the kids are ecstatic!
It is so nice to have our very own playground right outside the back door.
Now we just need to cover the egress windows so that Georgia doesn't take a 4 foot tumble.