Catching up--Joseph turns 8 and Baptism

Happy Birthday Joseph!!!
Joseph wanted to go to A1 chinese Buffet. This would not have been my first choice, but Joseph loved it. Aunt Suz had taken him here in the summer and he was exited for the family to try it. Joseph loved the all you can eat jello and shrimp. I have never been to a chinese buffet before and I do not think I will go to one again. :)
It was so nice to have the whole family together for this special day.
John and Joseph before the baptism.
Cousin Abby was baptized the same day with Joseph. It was such a special day. We love Joseph and his sweet spirit and the good boy he tries to be. We are proud of his decision to be baptized.

First Day of School!!!

Because we had such fun and busy summer that I have not blogged in a long time. Hopefully I can post some of the highlights in the next few weeks.

The house is getting quieter. Johnny moved into his apartment last week and Josh goes up to BYUI this weekend. The remaining children are excited to all have their own rooms now. ha ha Joseph started 2nd grade, Caroline started 7th grade and now attending the junior high. Jake and Natalie are in High School in 10th and 11th grade. Jake and Natalie even have Chemistry together which will be nice for studying.

Happy Birthday Joseph!!!

Happy Birthday Joseph!! Joseph is definitely a ray of sunshine in our home. He usually is the first one up in the morning and greets me with a smile and "good morning". He is always happy and can put a positive spin on almost everything. He is very social and loves to play with cousins, friends, and new friends he makes where ever he goes. He keeps us laughing with all the funny things he says. He had a halloween birthday party with all his friends dressing up. We also celebrated on his birthday up at Oma and Opa's house with cousins.
Garage sale Presents:

Since Joseph is my last child, I have a really hard time buying new toys when I know I will get rid of them soon. Also, Joseph already has toys from his older brothers (legos, brio train, action figures, etc). For his presents this year I found all these great things at garage sales. I think the total I spent was 13.50. $5 for 28 chevron car collection. $7 dollars for a playmobile pirate treasure set and viking ship and 50 cents for 2 robots and 50 cents for a beanie baby. Joseph was thrilled will all his gifts and I don't get mad when he loses all the teeny tiny playmobile pieces.:)

"Old fashion" Photos

We went up to Grandpa's Bear Lake Farm House for Labor Day weekend. On Sunday we had some time to spare before church and I convinced a few of the children to come outside to take pictures around the property. I put the pictures in Sepia, because the kids had on really random colors. When Joseph saw them in Sepia format, he said, "wait I don't remember being old." I told him, no I made it look that way and he said, "a yeah old fashion like you." ha ha :) I think next time we are up there I will try to do a "real" photo shoot and coordinate the outfits and talk the older boys into participating.

Freezer Stencil T-Shirts

We went up to Al's house last week and did some more stencil T shirts. Caroline just painted with the soft scrub bleach like Natalie did last year. Natalie and Joseph were both done with the freezer paper stencil method. Joseph wants to do another with a drummer. This is fast fun project and a great way to refurbish a T-shirt.

Coolest Joe swimming lessons by Joseph

I had a fun and it was really hard. I learned back stroke. My favorite thing to do was dive for rings. I loved going on the slide on the last day.

Cool Dad T-shirt

For father's day Joseph drew a picture of John with the label, Cool Dad. I used a paint brush and soft scrub bleach and copied his picture onto a T-shirt I bought at a garage sale. I thought it turned out great. Joseph was so proud to see his art work on the T-shirt. I thought this picture was funny because John had just woken from a nap and his hair match Joseph's picture. :)

Mid Summer Night's Dream

Natalie and Joseph have been very busy this week performing 8 times in Shakespeare's Mid Summer Night's Dream at the junior high.  This is just a few short clips from the play.  They both had a great time and we are very proud of both of them.  Joseph favorite part was bowing at the end.

Job satisfaction

Yesterday as I was making Joseph's lunch he asked me, "Mom, you like being a mom?" I replied,  "I love it."  He said, "ya, cause you have no chores" as he looked at the children's chore chart on the refrigerator. Ha! Needless to say, my job satisfaction is very high. 

First Snowman of the Season

Joseph and I had a great time making this snowman today.  You can't see them but Joseph gave the snowman pockets so he could carry his action figures and toys.

Joseph 1st day of Kindergarten

Joseph was very excited to go to kindergarten.  He is so friendly and social and always eager to make friends.  He will do great.  I am a little sad--the house is very quiet without my little buddy around, but wow I have 2 hours and 25 minutes without any interruptions to get things done.  Just when I start missing him he comes  home and I will have 3 hours with him alone.  I think kindergarten is definitely for the moms to help them ease into full time school.  I have decided to split the time using half of it to clean/cook/organize and the other half is for me to do whatever I want.  I am excited for this new chapter in my life.

 

Preschool Graduation

Joseph graduated today from preschool.  When he came down from the stage he said, "I'm just like Johnny."  I hated to tell him he still had 13 more years of school to be just like Johnny. 

The ultimate lego table

This coffee table used to have a glass top until Natalie broke it while capturing a bug.  Recently I discovered it makes the best lego table. I line it with a blanket so when Joseph is done playing I easily dump all the legos back into his buckets.  The legos have actually have stayed in there for a few days because each morning he would want to dump them in.  I may take the table downstairs in the play area to be a permanent lego station.