Birmingham AL Temple

Our ward Primary had a temple trip on October 4th, and while getting the kiddos all dressed in their Sunday best, I decided to try out a ponytail on Olivia. I'm not sure what she thought about it. She's been spoiled because I haven't made her wear headbands like I did the other two girls. If I do try and put a headband on her, she has it ripped off in seconds.

I really wanted to get a family picture by the temple, so we rushed to get one before all the activities started.

I was in charge of a group of kids and there were a LOT of activities planned so it became chaotic. I didn't get to take many more pictures. There was a ward member there who took each kid's picture in front of the temple and then they got their picture at the end of the visit, so I scanned those ones on our printer and here they are. They were so happy with their little pictures!

At first all the kids sat on blankets and sang primary songs while another ward member played his guitar. Then they got to go in the waiting room and a member of the temple presidency talked to them and answered questions. Then they had a scavenger hunt, puzzle activity, made a paper temple box, ate snacks, and colored. All of us adults were exhausted by the end and couldn't wait for the parents to come and get their kids! I think the kids had a great time though.

My Loves!

It must be hard work standing up on everything! She used to get really mad because she could stand up but couldn't figure out how to get back down to the floor. She has since figured that part out too.

Coop either refuses to look at the camera or makes faces. What a stinker!

My favorite pictures always turn out blurry.

Found the redheads playing together in the bedroom.

I had my camera out to take pictures of a giant spider and it's massive web. Lindsey came up and asked me to take a picture of her on her bike. She then posed at all different angles and made sure I got a picture of each pose.

Lindsey reading a story to Cooper. Lately everywhere we go people ask if these two are twins.

Little smartie put these two foam blocks together to make a camera. She would push the yellow circle in and out like a lens.

This picture reminds me of a home video of Sarah trying to color and Colter taking her things. Gotta love younger siblings!!!

This is a paper that Gracie brought home from school and I noticed she had written me a sweet note in the bottom left hand corner. "I missed you Mommy!" I love hearing all about her school day and seeing what she is learning.

One day Gracie came home with a fireman hat and they had learned about fire safety. They have a cool thing out here where they have a room with smoke in it and the kids have to actually practice getting low to the ground and crawling out of a smoke filled room. They also have a couple of doors set at different temperatures so that they learn not to open a door if it's hot. I was quite impressed! Grace told me that we needed a fire alarm in our house, so I showed her that we do have one. It is interesting that we only have one in our whole house though.

Me and Tim made these for the kids at last conference and they remembered them and asked for them this past conference. As each person speaks, they move them up to the pulpit. They always get so excited, and then frustrated when the talks go "too long" because they want to switch them more often. This time the girls said, "Can they go to the bathroom?" because they wanted to take the pieces out of their seats and move them. It was so funny to watch them grab one of the apostles and say, "He needs to go to the bathroom." I love my kids!

Love finding this little sweetie standing up in her crib. We moved her into the big girls room. Cooper missed her and had a rough time being alone in his bedroom for about a week. Now he's gotten used to it. Sweet boy!

This little girl is absolutely in love with her Daddy! Just look at that grin and giant hugs! She always gives love pats too. These are the moments . . .

National Museum Day

I guess at the end of September they celebrate National Museum Day by giving away two free tickets to museums all over the states. The museums are pretty expensive around here and since you were only allowed two free tickets, I just took the older two girls to the Sci-Quest Museum. I think they had fun, but as expected, the museum was crowded and we had to keep waiting our turn to try things. Some of the things we never did get to try because there were always other kids in the way, but I think it is a really fun museum. I'll have to remember this free ticket thing for next year.