Ssilleelliss Family

Maui

2012-02-17T01:18:00.002-07:00

Gotta love the beautiful Maui. Click here for more photos.

Hawaii Day One

2012-02-12T00:51:00.003-07:00

Long Day, Awesome Fun.

(Click link to see photos uploaded today)

Snow Day

2012-01-20T17:10:00.001-07:00

We finally got snow! And it was good playing and packing snow, so we went out and played, all of us! So for a quick run down of our outside adventure. Hannah and I built snowmen, 6 of them. Our whole family is represented out there. From left to right you have Sam, Dad, Mom (Hannah even found hair to put on the head of my snowman), Hannah (there is a ponytail of hair under the hat), Michelle and Ben. Later I told Justin it was his turn to go build with the kids because Sam wanted to do a snow fort. They started by using milk jugs, that was working as you can see in one of the pictures but they discovered that just rolling a big snowball worked faster and was quite effective. Ben loves to "sample" the snow. And you can see Sam's ninja skills in chopping the snowball in the air so it can't hit him. Enjoy!

Two of the cutest girls ever!

2012-01-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

AJ took this shot of the girls today, and I just had to post it up for everyone to see. WAY TOO CUTE! I feel sorry for my future self as I'm going to have to beat off the boys trying to date these two cuties with a very large stick.

New Years Eve party

2012-01-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of pictures from our New Years Party. Lots of food, fun people and lots of cupcakes! We had a ton of fun, enjoy the pictures. I don't have a lot of commentary for them. The clock cupcakes were made by Megan, Liz did the insect and spider ones, and the picture of the remains of a dragon was from the Shirts family. Thanks everyone for coming and we wish everyone a very happy New Year!

Holidays 2011

2012-01-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning all - I decided to do a quick review of the holidays for the family and friends who were not around with us this time.
First, we discovered that despite major complaining, Sam, Hannah, and Michelle have a lot of fun when playing in the sand dune at Snow Canyon.

AJ and Ben also had fun, but ultimately AJ had to pick up Ben to keep him from eating the interesting bits of sand that he found. Needless to say we found some sand in his diaper later on.

Jared was there as well and he took this picture of myself and Sam jumping off the top of the dune

Finally, we climbed to the top of one of the sand turtles and got he three kids together for a shot. It was a beautiful day and a really happy holiday spent in Southern Utah. We also had a bunch of fun in the north during New Years - more on that later.

"Best Mom Ever"

2011-12-12T21:59:00.002-07:00

I just have to document this day in history. I was told four times, yes four separate times, today that I am the best mom ever!! This was from Sam. The moments are not super spectacular. First I served Sam hot fruit drink in his bedroom after breakfast. This was because he was staying home from school sick (should have gone to school, he was definitely not that sick--side note, he may think twice about that next time, he had to do 3 pages of math). Second, ramen for lunch. Well, what else do you serve a kid who is fairly picky and home from school that everyone else wants to eat. (Ben however has declared himself a non ramen fan by dumping his all over the table.) Third, chicken nuggets for dinner. Yes, there does seem to be a pattern here. And the final one actually has nothing to do with food. If everyone was ready for bed and we had had family home evening they could watch a Charlie Brown show on TV (this was on at 7pm, I was aiming for early bedtime). Best mom ever he exclaimed while throwing his arms around me. Ahh, melt a moms heart, for a least a moment.

There you have it, to get rave reviews from Sam, other than making him do "more math than we do at school", serve him easy, fairly non-nutritious meals and let him watch TV.

Although now we have set through "I want a dog for Christmas" with Charlie Brown and my kids all want a dog. I do too, but not if I have to train a dog in the middle of winter. Thank you sisters for helping teach me that. :)

Halloween fun

2011-11-06T16:28:00.004-07:00

Sorry we are slow on this, I had a grand vision of pictures from all the kids parties to post but then realized that we will not be getting some of those pictures for awhile so here is what we have. Here is the whole family just before the kids went trick-or-treating. It was a great night for trick-or-treating, I even sat outside giving out candy. (It was the warm before the storm, it rained all night and has been cold since then.)Up first we have The Dread Pirate Roberts. I happen to think he looks pretty handsome myself, and that sword is the coolest sword I have ever made (also the only one I have made to date--but cool none the less).
Don't be fold by the cuteness, Benjamin the Lion is really quite ferocious. You really should hear his roar (he does it in response to any of the other kids roaring).
Up next, the gorgeous Rapunzel, aka Tangled, complete with braided hair put up and adorned with flowers and also a skillet (which she almost did use on my sister's dog--oops). This dress will not make it into the Halloween box. She wears it often. The girls love to play "Tangled" and use a sheet as the hair. This is because the sheet can haul stuff up on the top bunk or they can drag each other through the house with it.
Next up, the mighty Hannah-saurus dinosaur. Her roar is mighty (which makes the lion roar as well) and she loves to chase small princesses through the house threatening to eat them. We added a flower to the costume this year, a little girlie touch.
And finally we have Sam the Ninja (or Pirate--he decided he could be both since people often mistook him for a pirate, although with that stick it ought to be pretty clear). I think he wants a sword like Dad but time didn't let that happen.
There you have it folks, the Halloween costumes of our family. The kids had a great time going to four parties and then out trick-or-treating. We have quite the haul of candy.

Family Reunion

2011-10-24T14:39:00.004-06:00

I know this is a little late (okay, almost two months ago this happened) but it's the issue of which computer the pictures are on. Yes, we have a lot of computers! But anyway, here are some collages from the Barnes family reunion!

This first one shows Grandma and Grandpa Barnes, the hit that the "fishing" was (with most of the kids wanting to help attach stuff once they had had their chance to fish, and the rockets. Sam spent most of this time there. Justin has now found himself an air compressor so I think we are doing rockets with the cub scouts sometime!!

And then we have slacklining and aerial silks sponsored by the Glenn and Natalie Wilson family. (I had some text on this photos but it apparently doesn't transfer over this way, oh well, someday I will figure this out--this also explains why my text is suddenly blue, I don't have an idea.)

We had a great time! Thanks everyone!

Goblin Valley

2011-10-17T14:19:00.002-06:00

We took advantage of a long weekend to go hiking and camping in Goblin Valley in September. It was great. The kids had a great time exploring. They went hiking up the white area of the rocks, did the junior ranger program, hiked a bit of a slot canyon, enjoyed a night program with a ranger, had a campfire (with s'mores of course), found out that scorpions glow under a black light, climbed goblins, found "geodes" (hey, Sam's convinced they are geodes), explored, explored, climbed, and climbed some more. Enjoy a collage of pictures from there (I have two other collages created but they are on a different computer of course).

My eyes are pink!

2011-10-15T22:32:00.002-06:00

This is Michelle the other day (probably her third outfit, I really don't keep track anymore, I do remember telling her to change out of pajamas and back into clothes before we could leave). Yes, pink would probably be her favorite color. This is followed closely by purple because that is Hannah's favorite color.

So here is my funny story from her when we were on the way to the bus stop to get Sam:

Michelle: Can we paint my eyes pink?
Mom: your eyes?
Michelle: yeah, I want my eyes pink.
We went on to have a discussion about how you can't paint your eyes because that is bad for them and would make you blind (no we did not even consider talking about colored contacts) and then you wouldn't be able to see and that would be sad. "Why?" she asks. My answers turn to you wouldn't be able to see Ben to play with him, you wouldn't be able to play on the computer, "I wouldn't be able to play Purble Place?" No because you wouldn't know where to click since you wouldn't be able to see the screen. So she agrees that painting your eyes is a bad thing. So we get to the school and she finds her sunglasses in the car and goes out onto the grass and turns and looks at me and says:

"Mommy, look, my eyes are pink!"

Under Construction!! Parts are now finished

2011-10-15T22:22:00.005-06:00

Here's a look at the destruction/construction we just finished living with at our house. We decided we wanted to put in laminate flooring in the hallway, living room, dining room and kitchen. This should only take a couple of days which turned into two long weeks. The picture of my bedroom isn't as bad as it became. We went on two different weekend trips during this and there was more stuff that was brought in. I had a path around the bed, into the bathroom, and out of the room and that is about it. It's still not all moved back out but it's closer. The other picture shows what my living room looked like for a week (washer/dryer/fridge all located there) and the little path to the front door.

And here are finished pictures. It's not as clean as I wanted it for pictures, but if I waited for that you might not every see pictures. (I do have four small children who know how to fend for themselves when it comes to getting food, and spilling it, and smashing it. And I also took the pictures to not show most of it. hehehe)

Loving it now that it is done. There is still some small stuff to do (finish up caulking, sweep continuously, etc). Oh and there is tile by the door to the garage and the in the laundry room but no picture of that. There you have it!

Pictures of Ben

2011-09-18T14:44:00.000-06:00

Here's to Ben

2011-09-16T22:22:00.004-06:00

Here are some fun looks at Mister Ben, as he is affectionately called (unless he is playing the baby, then it is just Baby). He is now one. He loves to run around with his siblings. He laughs easily and often. He's getting more personality (aka demanding), shrieking to voice his opinions and becoming quite the little tease already. We are quite happy to have Ben in our family, he is well loved by all. Happy belated Birthday Baby Ben!

Pictures to follow!

Hike the Wave!

2011-09-11T21:26:00.001-06:00

The Wave

When you next get the chance, take a look at the pictures above. AJ and I hiked the Wave last week and had a blast!.

Various hilarities

2011-09-01T16:40:00.003-06:00

This post is just some of the crazy things that happen around here. Sorry no pictures, they are on various other computers/cameras and not with me right now.

One theme for our house lately: Disaster is imminent. Case in point, I have a toddler who loves that he can walk. Loves it! And of course he is a monkey as well. I haven't seen him climb the bookshelves yet (Michelle tries but not Ben, yet) but he was quite proficient at emptying them. Everyday for several weeks he would clear them off. Sam decided to stack all of the books higher and they stayed like that for a bit, until I finally just put them back. He doesn't seem as interested in clearing them off anymore. We have moved on. The bathrooms. Oh the joy of things to do in the bathrooms. There are always toilets to flush or splash in. Toilet paper rolls that make great pull toys, and if Michelle has been around recently there is usually water on the floor (and counter and the sink will be filled so the duck can float) to splash and slip on. And our recent adventure, half a container of baby oil on the bathroom floor. I thought that was supposed to be a childproof lid on there! When Ben saw me coming, he quickly tried to get up and escape with the empty container only to promptly slip. I dumped him in the tub and turned around just as Michelle slipped on the oil slick and got the bottom part of her current favorite dress oil covered, into the tub she went. I quickly put a towel down before Hannah could have any issues. There are no pictures to document this event. But everyone I've told about it keeps laughing about it. Ben smelled good that day and Michelle's hair looked, well, oily.

And it is not just Ben who creates disasters. Michelle loves water. Washing the dishes (and counter and floor in the process), filling up the sink for ducks to float, getting drinks. Anything, but somehow it always involves water on the floor and her clothes all wet again. She is also quite talented at spilling her milk. She does wipe it up with a dishcloth, we have mastered that which is nice but sometimes Mom spends some time trying to figure out why the laundry room smells so bad only to discover a wet dishcloth in the hamper.

And my favorite quote from Michelle lately: I'm stepping on your ghost. It took me a little while to figure this out. She calls shadows ghosts. I first heard when we were walking home from dropping Hannah off, she kept telling me "I'm stepping on Ben's ghost hand." Once I figured it out I told her it was his shadow. She still calls them ghosts, but sometimes it is a ghost shadow.

Hopefully soon I will have back to school pictures and maybe some other fun stories.

2011-08-19T19:08:00.000-06:00

Fire and Ice - AnnaJune's work of wonder.

Jared comes to town! And other stuff.

2011-08-02T21:33:00.006-06:00

Below is the shore of the Great Salt Lake

Michelle had a low-key birthday last week. Daddy was really busy at work and missed much of the fun. However, she did enjoy blowing out candles on her birthday cookies.

Here's a picture of our Michelle girl on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. She's been here before, but on this night she had to be bribed to come along. After playing videogames on Daddy's phone to get there, she was able to stay awake and enjoy the wind coming off the water. Best of all, she fell asleep on the way home and was placed safely into her bed upon arrival.

Jared has come to town! He's actually been here a week already, and has apparently been having a good time of things. Here he is on the shore of the Great Salt Lake with Sam.

Happy Birthday!!

2011-07-28T22:11:00.000-06:00

So for Justin's birthday we went up the canyon and went hiking. No small event of course but a good time was had by all (particularly after it was over if you ask Sam). The kids did good, they all carried their own backpacks for the most part. They walked the whole way up and back (Michelle was carried on the way back). It was a 3 mile hike. There was still snow so we had ourselves a snowball fight. Justin's comment was "I've never had a snowball fight on my birthday before." Now he has. :)

My friend came over and babysat for us (thanks Tracey) on Friday night so Justin and I went on a date. We went on a picnic and a walk along the Jordan River. I have to show off his gift he got. This fabulous blanket! Doesn't it look great? This would be me bragging since I am the one who made it. I was most excited that I was able to get the top completely done without Justin knowing I was doing it. The back will be the U of U fabric and there will be flannel in the middle. It is meant as a nice blanket for wrapping up while he sits down in his office, either studying or playing computer games. Now just to finish it and more importantly finish it in a reasonable amount of time.

Happy Birthday to the greatest Dad and Husband around (of course we are biased). :)

Field Trip

2011-07-14T15:59:00.001-06:00

Kennecott Copper Mine
by Sam
We went to a mine. We saw rocks. We saw movies. We saw how the mine worked. The mine looked like an upside down pyramid. The truck tires were huge. It took years for the mine to develop. Trucks went down into the mine. There was a HUGE tire. I was not even half of it. I liked the mine.

Kennecott Copper Mine
by Hannah
We went to the mine. We saw rocks. We saw the big tire.

By Mom: This week was free at the mine so we headed out on a field trip. We were shuttled to the visitors center on buses. The kids loved the bus ride up because the little TVs were showing Tom and Jerry. I think Tom and Jerry were the highlights of the trip for a little bit. We walked around and looked down into the mine and then looked at some of the exhibits. They also had a movie but the line for that was too long and I think we got most of what they would have shown in the movie looking at the exhibits. The last time I went to the mine, about 8 yrs ago, it was kind of cool to see but they have a much nicer visitor center now. Lots of fun displays, pictures, and yes, short movies that tell how the mine works, how they process the copper, and even light up displays (push the button ones that kids love). And then, being the mean mom that I am, I made Sam and Hannah write reports about their trip. Then for fun I let them type them up on the computer, so above are their reports: 7 sentences was the requirement for Sam and I don't have a requirement for Hannah but she wrote 5 lines. :) ah, good times!

Summer fun!

2011-06-30T21:53:00.000-06:00

Don't turn your back on these kids for a bit or you miss big milestones, such as Hannah learning to ride a bike without training wheels. I was in the backyard working and came out front to check on all the kids and there is Hannah riding the little bike, going full speed. I didn't even help her. Nobody did, she climbed on and started going! I had just taken the training wheels off of it yesterday so we could start working on it but apparently she didn't need any help. No we just need to work on looking where we are going so we don't run into cars (which also almost happened, not a parked car either!).

And then a cute picture of Ben being my helper. Keep up the good work kiddo, we need all the help we can get with the that morning glory. It's either that or I give up and call it my ground cover and let it go. :)

We got the memo

2011-06-10T13:30:00.000-06:00

As I was visiting with my family last week it was mentioned how several people had short hair now (several had very recently acquired this new look, some of us a little longer). So the joke was, for those who hadn't cut their hair short, "Didn't you get the memo?" I was thinking about that the other day after I took Hannah in for a cut,

Above is the before picture. We chopped it as she will tell you. I told her we were going to cut her hair and she said, "No, we are chopping my hair." We cut off about 10 inches! The plus side of this is combing her hair is so much easier! We have started growing out her bangs as well and this cut lets us clip them back so much easier.

The scrape on the face is from playing outside.

And this last picture, I title it: Pinned you!

Although Michelle is the one who pulls Ben on top of her, pretty soon he will be doing it all on his own. He weighs just about the same as Michelle. Pretty soon she won't want to wrestle with him but right now she thinks it's great fun, although he definitely doesn't always agree.

This is our life

2011-05-18T12:44:00.000-06:00

Hannah is very excited (or more excited this time than the last time) that her tooth came out. When the first tooth came it it was a bit traumatizing for her. She cried but not because it hurt, more because it was so shocking to her. This time she was more experienced but it was still a bit rough. It was almost coming out during primary and she did cry then because she couldn't get it to come out. Her teacher brought her to me and I calmed her down and took her to dad (since I still had to play the piano for a little bit longer). So, we have a five year old who has lost two teeth already! I think hers are coming in fairly straight too, unlike Sam.

Sam's recent activities include starting up soccer again and now being almost done with the season. The team is getting better and looks like they are starting to get the hang of things a little better. The picture shows Sam and his friend Ammon. Sam loves soccer and is always challenging his Dad to soccer competitions on the driveway. I know, why the driveway, we have plenty of grass? I think he likes the smaller area and he likes to have Dad at the bottom of the driveway so getting the ball past Dad gets the help of gravity.

And I just took this one of my girls playing puppy. Michelle is obviously playing the puppy having just fetched the frisbee and bringing it back to Hannah. And the cape, well she is super puppy.

By George I think he's got it

2011-05-11T13:54:00.000-06:00

At least that is what I thought the other day. He was letting me feed him and was opening his mouth for the spoon. This is fantastic, it meant that it took less time to feed him. Before that it would be sit and wait and wait and push the spoon in his mouth. It wasn't that he didn't like it (although he has his preferences) he just didn't want to open his mouth to make feeding time easy.

Some of the strategy is to use two spoons so he can play with one while I put food in his mouth with the other. We kept alternating the other day because he would grab it from me and try to feed himself. The above picture is after he was done eating and just playing with everything. He sure does make a mess while eating (and that was with me helping him).

Michelle always wants to help me with anything related to Ben. Yesterday he just wouldn't eat when I tried feeding him. Clamped his mouth shut, spit out the food, whatever. So I went to make dinner and Michelle promptly climbed up and proceeded to feed him. I don't know if he took more food from her or not. She was sure happy to be helping out.

Ben also has two teeth now. I think he has taken the longest of my kids to get teeth and then decides to get two in one week. His other recent accomplishment is learning to move. He can almost crawl. He can get where he wants now. I think he might of been rolling before I thought he was but was never sure whether it was him or his sisters helping him. Once I saw him do it there was no question of it. He could roll either direction and from front to back and back to front whenever he wanted. Time to start cleaning the floor better!

Easter pictures

2011-05-02T15:33:00.000-06:00

I realize that I am very behind in posting but I just want to quickly post some of these Easter pics. The girls got new dresses and the boys got ties (one week later but oh well) and I got a skirt. For now you just have to enjoy the pictures of the kids.

As a side note my yard looks the best it ever does in spring, I love it!

February Recap

2011-03-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

So here are the random photos of February:

And the special events of the month, Hannah's birthday and our anniversary:

Romantic Dinner for Three

2011-02-17T09:10:00.002-07:00

What do you do when your anniversary falls in the middle of the week and you have a 6 month old who still thinks he needs to nurse every 2-3 hrs? Well, we decided to just do dinner at home. I fed the kids waffles and doritos and salsa (hey, Sam picked and that's what he wanted--more importantly, he ate it with no complaining) as soon as we had picked up Sam from school. Then I made a nice dinner for us. The kids were told they could watch the movies they had picked out from the library last week so that we could eat dinner and enjoy each others company. I'm quite proud of the dinner I put together. We had a nice green salad, asparagus, french bread and orange chicken. I got out the nice dishes and put a cute centerpiece set-up on the table, complete with candles, heart candies, and the flower Justin got me a couple days ago. It looked so great. And then we sat down to enjoy our dinner, and who came to join us? Well, Ben was asleep and the TV was on so that rules out Sam and Hannah. Ah yes, that would leave the rambunctious two year old who can't just sit next to you while you eat. She has to climb on and off your lap. She also kept pointing to food that she wanted a bite of and I think she took all the rest of the cucumbers out of the salad bowl. And of course she wanted all the candy hearts (the girl has more sugar in her than anything else currently). So yes, we had a nice dinner and enjoyable company. And we even enjoyed the two year old antics. Sorry no pictures, we didn't think about that until we were doing dishes.

January recap

2011-02-10T22:02:00.001-07:00

So some of my sisters scrapbook. I have yet to jump on that bandwagon. That would just be more craft stuff to buy and another hobby to try to fit in my spare time. I have enough with my fascination with jewelry, sewing, and other crafts (thank you Jenni). I like all the cute little doo-dads for scrapbooking I decided, so it's best I just stick with what I have for the time being (it's safer if I just stay out of Micheal's but that's not an option really). But I do like the idea of an look at the month and Picassa offers a nice collage setting. January got two pages, one for overall and one for illnesses.

As for our illnesses, we are all healthy right now. Everybody knock on wood for that one! We are back in our routine of sorts once again. It's good to be back to regular chaos. For a week or two there I started each day with the thought of "really, well why not spike a fever/have a croupy cough/break out in a rash" because it really did seem like something new every day. Now it is once again, chaos as normal. And I mean that in the best of senses.

update on ben and interesting emergency room tv

2011-01-24T19:28:00.002-07:00

So, quick update on ben for those who didn't know. He's home and is actually doing well, but he's still on oxygen and is quite congested. he's smiling and laughing, but he now has a deep-seated fear of putting things in his nose. (That comes from all the suction he's had to endure.) we'll be able to tell his therapist later on in life what happened.

We're actually in the imc er right now - he's here to get suctioned and possibly have an ambuterol treatment. While we're sitting here, I can't help but laugh at what's on the tv here in the waiting room. In what has to be the most self-promoting advertising ever, world-wide wrestling is showing now. I can remember watching wwf wrestling as a kid, and then re-enact everything with my brothers and friends, usually on a trampoline. That show has to be the reason behind half the broken bones and emergency room visits every year.

Oh well - we should have our turn at suctioning soon. Everyone - watch out for rsv! (And the back-breaking body slam!) They'll both bring you to the emergency room.

Darn RSV

2011-01-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

This is how are week is going. Ben and I are enjoying (mostly) some quality time together while he gets over RSV. He got to ride in an ambulance to the hospital from the urgent care clinic and has been on oxygen since then.

But isn't this oxygen stuff great! Yesterday he managed to have enough energy to play and smile and kick. Just makes a mommy happy to see some personality again.

He's doing good and we are enjoying time to just sit and snuggle. And someone else gets to try to keep the house clean, I wish them luck. :)

Two years old have way too much energy

2011-01-10T14:28:00.004-07:00

I realized yesterday that an overtired Mom and an energetic two year old are not an ideal match. This mom just doesn't have the patience for it. There are no pictures for this post but here are some of the antics of late:

Said two year old doesn't think she needs a nap, until we go for a drive in the car. I really don't like her taking naps at 4 pm but I am deciding if I want to fight her every day about this one. She still needs a nap but only one hour worth.

This same two year old has an amazing knack of going through all of her laundry pretty rapidly. This is partly due to the potty training we are doing (she is doing fairly well) and also her desire to wear pajamas all day everyday. So I help her get dressed and then she will see her pajamas and she changes her clothes. And then she will find something else she likes and changes again. She is currently wearing her favorite nightgown which just got washed last night. We will have to see if she lets me take it off of her tonight or tomorrow morning.

Yes she has a name but it changes throughout the day and she won't do anything you ask unless you refer to her by the right name. This morning that has been "Super Sidekick." Last night it was puppy, some days it is Princess Peach, some times Baby. The other night she would not get on her bed until I finally said, "Puppy, get on your bed and go to sleep" and she looks at me, says "OK" and climbed on her bed and went to sleep.

Going to bed is another thing that needs help. Yes she climbed up and went to sleep the other night but if I recall it was probably 9 pm. She will just sit in her room and play until 9 or 10 every night. Last night it was a better time but I still heard her saying "No Mario, that's where Bowser Jr is" or something along those lines (although she was laying in bed at this point, there have been improvements in the last couple of days). If Hannah is awake the two of them just play until Hannah conks out and then Michelle continues playing for another 30 minutes or so.

She has to do most things by herself and that is often where my patience is tried the most. "I buckle myself." "Not those pants." "I do it." This often decided when I am in a hurry and don't want to let her take the time to do it herself.

Oh well, at least at night when she wakes up she has learned to call for Daddy!

What's on our wall?

2010-12-19T18:53:00.006-07:00

Here at the Elliss household we're slowly re-decorating things, putting up new pictures, etc. Below are the latest images.
Ben the Cannonball - he's the latest and biggest addition to the household. Luckily for all of us, he's very good natured and can either be held or carried around on the shoulders. His huge size (99% for his age :)) helps prevent his siblings from throwing him around too much.
Hannah is learning her letters and sounding out words now. She's really looking forward to the age where she can go to school just like Sam. She's a monkey who literally climbs up walls, runs around in a cape, and teaches her little sister how to get her parents to do whatever she wants.
Michelle is loving life as girl who knows what she wants, and she wants it now, and you have to give in to her demands due to her dual powers of cuteness and screaming. She has basically the whole family wrapped around her finger. Luckily she can be defeated by simply not letting her take a nap during the day and cuddling her at around 6:00 at night. Out like a lamp.
Sam is doing great at school and at home - he's reading just about anything with words on it. We never knew how interesting the words on the cereal boxes were or what exactly the signs along the highway were saying. He's very competitive and keeps a tally of who is the smartest in his class, along with what he needs to do to catch up. But he loves playing games and also takes time out to do things that actually help other people.

Overall, the kids are doing well and playing well together. They're really into Mario (Sam), Princess Peach (Hannah), and Bowser (whoever is the bad guy at the moment - usually an uncle) - playing games all the time about Princess Peach getting kidnapped, rescuing herself and Daisy (Michelle), and jumping from couches to chairs to tables to avoid the lava. AJ is doing well - her patience usually runs out around 5:30, but I make it home by then to let her recharge for the next day.

Merry Christmas to all!

Recent Activities

2010-11-07T20:55:00.001-07:00

We had a busy October. Here are a couple of snapshots of our activities.

Here's the best photo we have currently for our family. This is up the canyon in Cedar City where we were for Heather and Jonathan's wedding. Next is the only photo we have of them (we aren't as talented at juggling children and camera yet).

And we had a fun day of baby blessings for Baby Benjamin and Baby Martin. Yes they are the same size but that's impressive for Martin who started out just under 3 lbs. And Benjamin is an overachiever (or overeater, however you want to look at it). That was a really fun day since we had my whole family there. And what a fun opportunity for cousins to be blessed on the same day.

And completely unrelated to the pictures we have some t-shirt sayings that fit my children so well:

"Everybody knows I was born this cool" is Ben's onsie.

"I have Daddy under my spell" for Michelle (if you don't believe it come spend the night at our house, around 2 am you may hear a toddler start crying and insisting that all she wants is her daddy).

And for both my girls (I don't actually have this shirt yet but I am seriously considering it): "This princess saves herself!"

I don't have any shirt sayings for Sam. His recent activities include doing a science fair project and making great progress in spelling. The spelling has led to him wanting to be quizzed on how to spell all kinds of words. Then he quizzes me on a few words, fortunately I have been able to spell all of them so far. :)

One Month

2010-09-25T13:57:00.000-06:00

Here's a couple of pictures from the last month. To start with we have the painting project. Justin asked me for a "honey-do" list of things to do while he was home on paternity leave. I gave him ideas like clean the house, a good cleaning, the kids want a rope swing, a sandbox, weeding, etc. The kinds of things I haven't been able to do all summer. So he decides to paint the house. The entire upstairs except the bedrooms is painted. I don't know how well the colors show but the lighter wall is a yellow with the kitchen being our accent of a brick red. I took this picture because it should an area that was really clean at the time. It looks really nice and I am impressed he managed to get it down. It did get done thanks to my mother-in-law, who helped us get good colors and helped Justin get started and our home teachers who helped him finish.

Benjamin is starting to get a "social smile" as the doctor calls it. I managed to get this picture the other day. Isn't he so cute? He's one month old but pretty much grown out of things that are 0-3 months size. He can wear some of them still but some are being put away already (not that I had many to start with).

We drove up the canyon last weekend and I missed being in the mountains. I didn't do any hiking or camping all summer (we did go to NM but we didn't camp or hike really, well I didn't). So we contemplated going camping this past weekend and decided instead to camp in our backyard. We had a short fire, which was perfect. Just enough to roast a couple of marshmallows and enjoy being around a fire and easy to put out. And then the kids and Dad slept in the tent outside. I decided not to since I knew I would just worry all night about whether Benjamin was cold, were the kids covered up, etc. They all loved it of course.

Cute as a button! Ben has arrived!

2010-08-29T20:33:00.000-06:00

Ben arrived last Sunday at 3:30 AM - a massive 10 lb 1 oz baby. He's really quite even tempered, crying only when he needs to be fed.

He has to survive a monkey of an older sister, who wants to help out in every way. She especially likes to try to shove the binky into his mouth, which is something that he doesn't like.

His older brother has promised to teach him everything he needs to know, especially how to survive two older sisters.

Here's where we are trying to get him to take a nap - Michelle is holding him to get him to calm down. It suprisingly worked.

Summer Fun

2010-07-18T19:09:00.000-06:00

I wanted to write more often this summer about all our activities and projects but, yeah, we can see how well that went. We had great plans of doing something everyday to help entertain the kids but I forgot how tiring being pregnant and the heat of summer makes you. We did get to go on two trips for vacation. We went to Philmont which I loved and I think the kids enjoyed. I want to go in another year or two when I am not so pregnant that I can actually walk around with my kids. Then we went to Southern Utah to the Elliss home. We saw my whole family in a matter of two weeks, except Glenn. Sorry Glenn, at least we got to see you after your trip to the junkyard earlier in the month of June (BTW, Sam thinks we should ask you how a car works since you spent "a whole week underneath a car"). We saw Jenni and her family on our way to and from Philmont. I know the kids liked that, especially since Dan shared his Diary of a Wimpy Kid books with Sam and then also taught him a game to play with Pokeman cards. Now he wants us to buy him Pokeman cards. We saw Amber for a couple of hourse before she headed back out on another mountain trek. We of course saw my parents (the main reason for the visit). Justin hiked the Subway with some friends and coworkers and killed his camera. Fortunately he just reached his goal weight and now gets to buy a new one anyways. We visited Heather in Cedar City. The kids loved taking Zoeken for a walk to play at the park and then feeding her ice cubes while they enjoyed their popsicles.

Some pictures from the summer. We have done things at home and gone on some excursions (mostly swimming at the rec center, free summer movies, play dates, and running through the sprinklers at our house, library trips). We have done some projects (ice melting and then just throwing the ice into the street, making popsicles, making ice cream, decorating sun catchers, and discovering K'Nex).

First we have Michelle and her fascination with bugs. She will always point our the bugs that she finds outside or inside. Now we are working on not trying to poke the "flies" that are really wasps.

Next we have one of our wear out the kids activities. Katryn has stayed at our house several times in the last bit (thus we have seen Krystal and her family also) and her and Michelle have loved riding their bikes down the hill. They go down, and then push them back up and go again. This can last at least 30 minutes. What do I do, sit in my chair and watch.

Almost everyday we have popsicles for a snack. Krystal said Katryn hasn't had too many popsicles before. Never fear, she learned quickly how to eat them. They both have gotten quite good at not making too big of a mess with them. Of course we go outside to the porch to eat them.

Our most recent activity was trying to make homemade ice cream. This recipe came from the Children's Friend Magazine June 2010. 1 cup milk, 2 Tbsp sugar, a little bit of vanilla. Put in a ziplock bag and then inside another with ice and rock salt. Shake for several minutes. This picture shows Michelle and Hannah taking their turn at shaking the bags. We then resorted to putting it in a can and rolling it down the driveway. After a while a of that we just put the bags in the freezer to thicken. It made really good ice cream, it just wasn't ready when I was expecting it to be (I got the impression that it should be ready after shaking it for the time it said, no such luck).

We are having a good summer so far. We'll see if we can get some more pictures from other activities as we finish out our summer. :)

2010-06-20T23:24:00.000-06:00

Quick update on the various things we've been doing. First, I ran up to some radio towers the other day during lunch - it was awesome!

Next, a picture of Sam's soccer team - we're going to have to sign him up again for the fall season soon and need to decide if we want to go with the same league or go with the West Valley Fitness Center league.

Next a picture of a summer storm coming across Salt Lake - I submitted it to KSL for their weather gallery.

Finally a shot of what Sam and Hannah are doing a lot of lately.

Quilting Trick--Half Square Triangles

2010-06-04T17:03:00.001-06:00

I finally have tried this technique and love it, especially when you need lots of small half square triangles. I learned this technique from Cathy U'Ren and I am sure it is out on the internet somewhere. I did this for my friends who keep saying they need to sit down and do it with me but we of course can't make our schedules work out to be able to sew together.
For this example the pattern called for 2 3/8" squares to be made into half square triangles (and I needed 20 squares, or 40 finished half square triangles!). I cut 5" squares to start out. These 5" squares will give you 8 half square triangles. Draw an X on the back.
Sew your 1/4" seam on both sides of your X lines.

Cut the square in quarters and then along the X lines.

Iron your seams flat and then trim to the square size you need (not the finished quare size, don't forget the 1/4" seams). So mine were 2" squares. (Not in this picture, I hadn't trimmed them yet.)

One final note, I added just a little bit to have to trim them down. My pattern said 2 3/8" squares so I just figured 2 1/2" per square and then you put four of them in a square, hence the 5" square to start with. It worked wonderfully. Yes each one had to be trimmed but I didn't have to sew 20 separate squares to get my 40 I needed. I only have to do the 5 squares! Woohoo! Happy quilting!

2010-06-04T16:01:00.000-06:00

Test slideshow!

What my kids do

2010-05-20T21:20:00.000-06:00

We have to make regular trips to the library. Not a bad thing at all. We love to go to storytime and Sam always loves when he comes home from school and he has new books to read. I loved the day I saw Michelle lay down next to Sam and open up a book. She kept looking over at him until she was convinced that she was ready to look through her book. Now when she reads she makes noises or identifies objects (her favorites being dogs).

This picture shows exactly why I often cannot get Sam out the door on time. Fortunately this day he was already dressed. He sees a book on the floor and has to look through it. On several occasions I have gone to find him, calling out as I go that it is now time to go to school only to find him still in his pajamas with a book. And he gets quite mad when I take it away, even if he has read it a million times.

And this picture is just for fun. This is one of Michelle's lastest favorite activities: empty the pots and pans from the cupboard. Hannah taught her how to drum on the them one day. I just let them because it kept the happily occupied for about 45 minutes. Justin wanted to throw the wooden spoon away when he was doing dishes that night (it is broken, taped back together and we really don't use it). I told him absolutely not, it kept the girls quiet while I did stuff that morning. His response, it's worth it's weight in gold.

2010-04-18T20:47:00.000-06:00

Just some fun photos of things we've been doing lately. Hannah here is having fun climbing rocks during our hike near Red Cliffs in Southern Utah.

A volcanic rock in the same area. That was basically the most green available and it was just in the crack of a rock. Spring had not quite reached there.

A lens flare along with turning the photo to sepia in Picasa created the cool look above. Temple Square

Finally a fountain near Temple Square with a longer shutter opening.

Springtime Fun

2010-04-14T14:06:00.001-06:00

We have had spring weather and then snow and back and forth. I guess that is what spring is all about. On one of the nicer days we got out in our yard and started our garden. This is my birthday activity. As soon as it starts warming up Sam always wants to start planting things so we try to wait a little bit. Fortunately, peas, carrots, and broccoli can survive getting a little snow.

Here is the start of the garden. First box planted. And for an update, it is now growing. We have peas sprouting up out of the ground. I love it! The kids loved planting the garden.

Here's the smoothed out dirt and the drip system laying out and us with our seed packets.

Dad has finally decided to finish the last garden box (or probably the last one). Sam wants to help Dad grow corn. I already have the other boxes claimed with what I will plant. Corn had to wait for that last box. Hannah loved helping Dad. She handed him the screws and held the boards up for him while he drilled the screws in.

And this is what Michelle did during any of these activities. Dug in the dirt or bark quite happily.

That's the start of our spring adventures. We are keeping busy with the regular activities. Maybe, just maybe I will get around to posting pictures of more of them later on. At least you have these to enjoy for now.

My Adventurous Children

2010-03-12T15:25:00.004-07:00

I have been reading several blogs and love hearing the stories about their kids. So I finally decided I needed to write a couple of ours. We have had lots of birthdays, well, two but that's plenty in a row. Sam had a "not so good" birthday. He didn't get to ride the bumper cars and hurt himself playing on the playground. But he will tell you all about it so it must have been somewhat fun, right?

On of the toys he got was a helicopter. He took it outside to play with the other day and of course it ended up on the roof. He came and told me and I said we would have to get later, when Dad came home, unless I suddenly felt like hauling the ladder out back to get it (not likely). When Justin came home I told him about it and he didn't seem inclined to get it. As it got a little bit later in the evening I thought it might rain and didn't want to ruin his new toy already. So Justin asked Hannah if she wanted to be thrown on the roof to go get the helicopter (he asked her because she was standing right there). She said she wasn't sure she could get it. He told her "I'll throw you up and you get the helicopter and then you jump back down." She looked a little unsure about the jumping down part and then a minute later said "Come on Daddy, let's go." And do what he asked her. She promptly said "Let's go throw me on the roof and get Sam's helicopter." She was all set on being thrown on the roof. We both just laughed because she was convinced Dad was really going to throw her up on the roof and she was perfectly fine with that. Fortunately they did find a stick/pole long enough to get it down without having to throw her up on the roof. That's my adventurous child.

Sam's latest adventure is just to build obstacle courses to challenge himself and his sisters on. Usually the obstacle course involves the kitchen stools and dining room chairs, while I am trying to cook dinner. Justin wonders sometimes why they are all over the place and tries to put them back only to promptly have them put back in their "place" and see kids racing around them and down the hallway. I just work around them. He also likes to build forts with all the couch cushions. He makes forts for Hannah to play in while he is at school.

That's pretty good for now. I am being summoned to be "tested" on the Wii. We'll see if I pass the test and am deemed worthy to play on a higher level with Sam. :)

2010-02-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

Just an update from our life - we had Hannah's birthday party over the weekend as you might be able to tell she had a ball - AnnaJune took this shot of her just about to blow out her candles. She had some other 4 year old girls over and it was little girl power all the way!

Earlier on Sam and Hannah took over my camer and took pictures of each other. It was really funny to see what came out. They took pictures of things important to them - I was suprised at some of the toys that they loved and the pictures that they had put on the walls.

Sam's missing tooth -will it ever come in?

Finally Michelle looking a little lost during the party. She's really grown lately, not wanting to go to sleep at all, and using her 1 word (BINK!) to apply to just about everything. She also says Mommy and Daddy, but mainly it's BINK! (drink), BINK! (cereal), BINK! (toy), and of course, her favorite BINK! (Binky). If you don't do exactly which BINK! she's saying she will repeat it until she gives up on you and tries to do it herself, with amazing success. She also has gotten her older brother wrapped around her finger already, since he will help her get whatever she wants when she goes up to him.

Anyway, those are our thoughts from this last weekend. We saw the post from the Camisas and really want to go view the Ice Castle up in Midway now as well - I think the kids would have a ball!

Ditto, and the reason why we're not pushing the Road Trip anymore

2010-01-17T19:53:00.002-07:00

I just read on the K & M blog how they're going to be having a baby this August. That's awesome!

Ditto for us :) (We're due 2 weeks after them)

At the end of last year we were really pushing the idea of a group road trip heading somewhere cool for a week or more. However, since we're going to be otherwise engaged this summer, we have officially passed the baton on to the Shirts. They'll be heading up the idea for us. If there's a smaller campout before August we may be up for it.

That's it for now!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

My Day

2009-11-21T22:39:00.000-07:00

Guess what I did today? I completed one of goals for the year. That's right, I put a nice check mark (very happily I might add) next to run a 5K. The only reason this was a goal of mine this year was because Justin suggested it and I was wanting to lose pregnancy weight also so I thought why not, it should help right. I have sisters who run, I have a sister who runs marathons regularly (seriously, 4 marathons this year plus a couple other races, coaching running, etc), Justin likes to run, I should run. That pretty much sums up the reasoning Justin gave me. That and he thought that by competing I would maybe catch the runners desire. I don't know if I caught the running desire quite yet. But looking back on this morning it was kind of cool to compete. The best part to me was even with my very little training (yeah so part of the point was that I would train with running) once we got settled in at a pace there were only two people who passed me.

Here's the picture from afterward. I did get a t-shirt and they did a raffle drawing and Justin and I both won something there. We didn't stick around for awards, the wind had picked up and it was cold, and I am pretty sure we didn't place. Still I beat my previous (Monday night practice run) 3 mile time. We finished at 36:02. I ran (and walked) at a about a 12 minute mile. I am pretty impressed with myself. (Hence the long bragging paragraph.)

So this afternoon and this evening I put together a fall tablecloth. I cut it out last night so today I just sewed it all together. It's basically an easy quilt top with no borders, backing, or the like. It does need a small border to cover the edge of my table but it is on the table right now (under plastic--you don't really think I would use it as a tablecloth by itself). Kind of fun.

Now, do we think I can actually finish a quilt? Really finish a quilt, not just a top? We'll see but I am not so sure (only because I really like hand quilting currently).

Oh, here are a couple of good books about quilting:
The Lover's Knot by Clare O'Donohue (good mystery book)
The Drunkard's Path by the same author
The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini (good fiction book)

Fun with photos!

2009-11-12T07:05:00.003-07:00

AJ helped me clean out my basement office and we started to have fun with some backdrops and stuff. It's awesome when your wife has yards of fabric around that make fun backdrops :)

Halloween!

2009-11-07T15:40:00.000-07:00

Here are the much requested pictures from our halloween costumes.

To start with we have Sam the Volcano Blaster! This was a much discussed and negotiated costume. I think it turned out fairly well. He seemed to enjoy it. He liked that he could duck down inside it and explode out.

Hannah the Flower Princess. She loved the tutu and the hat, she calls it her crown. It's an awfully big tutu, note to self, not quite so many yards of tulle next time.

Michelle didn't get an original costume. This was worn by Hannah in past years but I only had so much time for costumes. She liked that she had a tutu. The first time she wore it she stood there and danced a little bit.

There you have it! Enjoy!

Sayings from the family

2009-10-26T17:34:00.002-06:00

There are no pictures to accompany these statements but here are things that have been heard around the house:

"No dancing on the table." This is for Michelle and her skills of climbing. For a little bit I was able to stop her by moving all the chairs away from the table. Now she knows how to move them to where she wants, counters with keys and laptops and phones. And of course tables are the next step after the chair.

"Are you an omnivore?" I was actually asked this question the other day by Sam after I won the race of running down the stairs. Apparently we are learning quite the range of stuff from PBS kids. And just a refresher (because I had to go over to know for sure), an ominvore is someone who eats all kinds of things. Oh the things I relearn from my kids.

"Where does it hurt?" This is what I ask from any crying child. It usually is minor and even if they think it is traumatic a kiss is all it takes and they are back to whatever it was they were doing. Wrestling, raising and running into each other, climbing on top of each other. This is how they are hurt, what are they not understanding here?

And the most often heard: "What can I DO?" Although why they still ask is beyond me. They never like my answer but still keep asking.

Want better ways to waste your time on the web?

2009-10-24T13:10:00.003-06:00

A couple of my favorite websites which help to expand my skills and education rather than just blind entertainment or news:

http://delicious.com/

Links which are much much better than the trash that populates sites such as reddit or digg.

http://lifehacker.com/

Tips on improving everything from your home life to your professional life - basically hacking your existance to be better

More modern tango music

2009-10-21T22:02:00.002-06:00

AJ and I were watching Dancing with the Stars (yeah, with both of us having been on ballroom dance teams no surprise there) when some cool tango music accompanied one of the dances. I've found myself really liking groups like Project Gotan and such, and this new group (to me) is right up that alley. Check out Otros Aires.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsPr_4CD1Us

Enjoy!

"First" Lost Tooth

2009-10-11T22:16:00.000-06:00

Here's the highlight of Sam's life, at least today, was that he his first tooth came out. I know the picture shows two missing teeth but the top one was a casualty of his active life at around 3 and the fake tooth (his new tooth he called it) came out towards the beginning of the year. The two bottom ones have both been loose and after eating an apple this afternoon the one was really loose. It was bugging him and he kept playing with it. Eventually he had his tooth in his hand. He is pretty excited and can't wait to tell all his friends.

2009-09-20T21:40:00.000-06:00

Three photos of the sunset on Sept 18, looking west over the Salt Lake Valley.

Can you imagine a dog that size barking at you?

More of the shadow of the dog across the sky.

2009-09-20T21:27:00.000-06:00

Fun times in the Elliss household. We went on a trip up to Millcreek Canyon - Autumn is just barely starting to show in the color of the leaves and the slight coolness in the air. We stopped off at Church Fork Picnic Area, and took some fun photos of us and the Buhlers.

Hiking in August!

2009-08-15T22:45:00.005-06:00

A million thanks to AJ for letting me go down to Southern Utah to get my hikes in. It was awesome to go with two different groups to do two hikes, and I learned a ton from each of them.

On Pine Creek I went with 2 older guys, both of whom were on Ski Patrol, and the other had extensive experience climbing. I'm going to have to take some outdoor sports first aid classes in order to be able to be a first rate guide, as well as some additional mountaineering classes.

On the Subway, I learned that 4 guys who are in shape and have no fear can rip through a canyon in record time. We only used 1 small rope for all our decents, and jumped right in on all the swims. The water was actually really warm and was enjoyable to swim around in due to the fact that it was all spring water. (This is opposed to the water in Pine Creek which was brown, stinky, and had unidentifiable things floating in it.) It was awesomely fun.

Both hikes were done on beautiful days, with no clouds in the sky in the morning and partly cloudy in the afternoon. The clouds were especially appreciated during the hike out of each, and I actually got away from both hikes without a sunburn! (Almost unheard of from a white pasty boy like myself.)

While it was a whirlwind tour of the two canyons, things went great, with the biggest injury being a tweaked ankle from Sally on the hike out of Pine Creek. My goals for next year is to learn a bunch of outdoor first aid, get a good rope bag, and finally get some more canyons under my belt.

-Justin

p.s. I'm not sure, but the photos may be cut off on the right - I'll look into it once I'm not so tired.

Summer Fun - Camping

2009-08-14T11:59:00.000-06:00

Here are pictures from our camping trip. We went to the ward campout and had a great time. The kids slept great, Mom not so great. I kept listening to the wind and thunder and then the rain. Oh and checking to make sure the kids stayed warm. There was a rope swing and dirt and rock piles which is where Sam and Hannah spent most of their time. We discovered the secret to Sam enjoying it and not wanting to come home early on Saturday morning: friends to play with on the dirt and rock pile. So our next camping trip we will need to take someone else with us.

2009-08-04T22:16:00.000-06:00

Here are the River Dancers. These skirts were my favorite, the top was probably what taught me the most.

Read the post below for the rest of the story. :)

Dance Costumes

2009-08-04T22:12:00.001-06:00

This is my project that I spent most of July working on. Sam is excited that I am done with my sewing project so we can do other things (like go swimming, play outside whenever, sew his costume he wants, etc) and Hannah wants to know when I am making something for her.

This first one are the Monsters, I made the pants and hats and helped attach the hair that Kellie made.

Then the Farm dancers (horses, pigs and sheep). I made the skirts and hats (aren't those hats the cutest!!).

The Robots, this one I only did pants, Kellie did the armbands and waistbands and headbands. Good thing to, they make the costume!

Cloud Dancers, white skirts which ended up looking much cuter than I though they would.

There is one more but apparantly Picasa only wants to let me do four photos at a time (I did them small to see if I could get that fifth one on there). These were fun to make and while they were time consuming I did enjoy it. I also learned quite a bit. I now feel a little more confident about altering a pattern to make it what I want it to be. Like a fuller skirt, size adjustments (not excessive), adding sleeves to a pattern that didn't have them. Before I could sew a pattern, follow the directions, but not make much in the way of variations. Doing this big of a project was a perfect way to get to try that out. Maybe someday (many years from now) I might be almost as good as my mom (I'm not sure I can be as good as she is). She's done Cabbage Patch Dolls (which we all still have as far as I know, I have mine) and three wedding dresses, who knows how many high school dance dresses and little kid clothes. For now, my next things are the quilts to finish and start thinking about Halloween costumes, and reclaim my neglected yard-oh those poor flowers, they don't stand a chance with that morning glory.

Updates for all!!

2009-07-14T10:47:00.002-06:00

First off, here's a link to a cool recipe book giveaway!

http://recipesofacheapskate.blogspot.com/2009/07/giveaway.html

Next, an update on us. We are really kind of busy. I decided to help a friend sew costumes for her dance classes (which is what I should be doing instead of doing this) and that is fun but there is a lot to do. Sam monitors the temperature to know when he can play in the water (as soon as it hits 80 he starts to beg to go outside).

I realize now there really isn't much to write about. We are enjoying our summer. Hope you are all enjoying yours. Maybe I will take some more pictures soon then I will have something to post. :)

2009-07-12T22:14:00.000-06:00

Finally some photos of the nieces and a circus performance by the plethora 2nd Gen

2009-07-12T22:13:00.000-06:00

More photos from the lake, and some photos of the girls.

Random photos of the summer 09

2009-07-12T22:12:00.000-06:00

Sam is having a great summer - here he is at the local park showing his mad skillz climbing the arm slide.

Here's Hannah - she's loving being the older sister to Michelle. She teaches her everything she knows, expecially going down stairs and trying to get Dad to do things that she wants him to do.

Sam and Hannah going down the slide, as seen in the reflection off the pool at the bottom of the slide. (I had to get some artzy photos in here :))

Finally a shot of the little lake near us. We did a dinner with some friends of ours and ended up being rained on, however when we went to the lake we were able to get some cool photos.

2009-06-07T22:17:00.000-06:00

Some more photos for the next photo club contest

2009-06-07T22:16:00.000-06:00

Some more photos for the next photo club contest

2009-06-07T22:13:00.000-06:00

Some photos for the next photo club contest

one more basement photo

2009-06-07T21:19:00.001-06:00

This one shows the family room into the open area. That corner fits our corner desk (moved out of our bedroom) with a computer for the kids to play on while Mom can work in her room. :)

There is one more room downstairs. Justin's office but most everyone has already seen that so I didn't get any pictures of it. We have so much space now!!

Basement!

2009-06-07T21:17:00.000-06:00

We finally have a mostly completed basement (only a few small projects remain--bathroom, track lighting, closet doors). I say finally but it went lots faster since we decided to pay someone to do something they are good at while Justin started his own company and does something he is good at and enjoys. I just direct and say what I want and keep small children from getting into too much trouble. The pictures are while the carpeting was going in but give you the overall effect and it's what I have, so for those who have been wondering, this is the finished look. Now just imagine it filled again with toys and such and you can get an idea of the current look (and the lights and outlet covers are on now).

Here is the family room, looking toward the stairs so you can see the contrast wall.

This one is my room, a nice lavender room. My sewing is set up and I have to say it is a nice set-up.

The red room, it's actually called raspberry jam is really pretty. We didn't have the lights in yet so it looks more red in the picture. This room is the toy room, the walk in closet is filled with toys now, spilling out into the room. I like that they all just go in this room. Simple clean up.

Not a great picture of the bathroom but I just wanted to show the color in here. All the doors were stored in here when I was taking the picture. This color usually looks lighter, we'll see what it looks like finished.

Magic Monkey Bananas

2009-05-17T20:31:00.000-06:00

The other day I sat down with the kids and read them books. At the end of one of them it had directions and a recipe for Magic Monkey Bananas (or something like that). So we made them. Here's the event, nicely documented for you all to see. It's not hard: bananas, chocolate and sprinkles. Yes we had to each have our own set of sprinkles and the chocolate on the faces, well you have to taste the chocolate!

And the book that was our inspiration:

The bananas weren't bad, they weren't particularly great. We used M&M's for the chocolate because that was on hand, so they didn't melt as well as chocolate chips. The chocolate was good. I think the kids would have enjoyed them more if we had just done the chocolate and sprinkles fondue style. That's my recommendation for next time. And we would probably use other fruit as well (our picky eater doesn't like bananas currently). The book was really fun and cute.

More Celtic Rap!

2009-05-15T21:45:00.001-06:00

Actually it's french, but it's really cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDJ0McwKCwQ

Reminds me the Tango Rap - check out (mentioned earlier) project gotan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ4zObtAOuI

2009-04-26T21:54:00.001-06:00

And the final ones

2009-04-26T21:54:00.000-06:00

And more

2009-04-26T21:53:00.000-06:00

More photos

2009-04-26T21:52:00.000-06:00

Some photos to be entered into a contest soon

Do you like Tango? Good Tango Music?

2009-04-21T21:20:00.003-06:00

I present Project Gotan - they're actually one of the most famous Tango musical groups - they just sound awesome. The music captures the spirit and feeling of the tango in a very modern, expansive, yet personal way. Love em. (You don't even need to understand spanish to love the music, but it certainly helps :))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZk-LJ_KCMg

2009-04-02T11:02:00.007-06:00

We decided it was time to chop Hannah's hair. We could not keep it out of her face. Ponytails helped but it was so long she invariably ended up with food in her hair and it didn't always get clean. This meant it was always tangled and she often didn't want me to comb it because it took awhile to get all of the knots and gunk out. So, we decided to cut it to a more managable length. Here are some before and after pictures.

It ended up a little shorter than I planned and took another day to even it up. I got it halfway cut and she told me, "It's okay, I done." I did manage to get it mostly one length, short and then today was finally able to try to even it up. And I thought cutting boys hair was rough. This was my first attempt at cutting girls hair since cutting my friend Sam's hair in college (and that was with regular scissors, I still don't know why she asked me to do it). So anyway, now Hannah's hair is much shorter and it doesn't stay as well in little ponytails but it can't get as much food in it.

More music goodness

2009-04-02T00:40:00.002-06:00

If you like the idea of mixing youtube videos to make some really cool videos and music, check out http://thru-you.com

If you like blues, along with a bit of reggae, hiphop, etc., you'll like this.

2009-03-29T22:19:00.000-06:00

The amazing Elliss family!

Another fun musical journey

2009-03-26T01:19:00.002-06:00

Manau - Un mauvais dieu - French Celtic Rapping - oh yeah baby.

Hard Rock Celtic Music

2009-03-25T23:57:00.002-06:00

I'm going to try to post more on this website, for notes more than anything else, just so that we can keep up with things in life and remember them.

As for the title, I'm listening to last.fm a lot lately - the celtic music channel is just about as good as the thistle and shamrock radioshow for learning about cool new music in that area. One of the cool songs I heard was from the band Eluveitie - hard rock celtic music.

http://www.eluveitie.ch/

Take a listen - it's like listening to the sound track of some cool medieval fantasy movie.

2009-02-22T15:08:00.000-07:00

Trip to the park - Hannah on the swing, with Michelle riding Sam in the background (with a little help from Dad). This is to defy winter, so that Spring will come all the sooner!

Crafty Adventures

2009-01-23T20:38:00.001-07:00

We finally did it. We have had the wall paper border for almost a year and finally bought the paint and decided to go for it. We painted the kids bedroom. And we let them help! They loved it of course. We started with a pencil line on the wall and told them no paint above the line, and they were given very small brushes so they couldn't do too much damage.

And the finished product. It looks so cool in there.

And then my other crafty project. The kids also got to help with this for FHE. I feel so crafty!

2009-01-07T23:23:00.000-07:00

Some recent activities in the Elliss Household!

Preschool - the letter M stands for Masks, of course.

Building the house's tallest lego tower!

Baby Michelle

Baby Michelle again!

2009-01-03T23:17:00.003-07:00

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_ZdrMIB376xc/SWBSnpD6ZUI/AAAAAAAABwo/6A2_W46IN8U/s720/DSC_6348.jpg

2009-01-03T23:12:00.003-07:00

Arrgh! Hard to upload on Comcast Internet sometimes - I think they're deliberatly filtering all uploads to try to discourage piracy, but it sure is annoying when all you're trying to do is upload the some cool photos.

Anyway, this morning was awesome. Take a look - there are some other photos, but that one is probably the best.

2008-12-21T00:26:00.000-07:00

What do you think of this photo?

2008-12-20T23:09:00.002-07:00

I decided to join the Heroes club and start watching the first season. I'm starting off with the 'never before seen premiere episode' - it's pretty cool so far.

The guy's just about to pull a 'City of Angel's' right off the building.

2008-12-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

Hannah the wonder kid!

Thanksgiving Vacation

2008-11-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of playing at Grandpa and Grandma's house was helping pick apples. Even after we had tons of them, they still needed to be in tree. "There are more apples up there, we need to pick the apples."

Hannah learns about tea parties from her cousin. Kimberly said they should toast and Hannah replied "toast, we don't have any toast."

And we managed to get a nice family picture. Woohoo!!

Halloween fun!

2008-11-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

So here are some pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes. Sam was a "dinosaur-dragon who eats other dragons" or something along those lines. Hannah was a "princess with stars," she was adamant about the stars. Michelle was a duck. In this picture she is a somewhat hidden duck by the attacking dinosaur and princess.

Here are the pumpkins we carved. We carved pumpkins at two different times, hence the differing decay levels. And the candles didn't want to stay lit for pictures outside. But it was fun and the kids enjoyed it. Hannah loves to clean out the pumpkins, Sam grimaced every time he stuck his hand in there.

This is just a cool picture that Justin took that I really liked. He's the budding photographer. :)

October fun

2008-10-13T17:02:00.001-06:00

This is one of my new favorite Halloween activities. This year was a little bit easier since I already knew that strollers were not feasible and the only one who would need a stroller is young enough to stay in the snugli and not pitch a fit about not getting out. Sam and Hannah loved the hale bale maze. Mom is a huge fan because I can see them while they are in there and not have to be following them constantly while they both run through there.

We went with our friend Spencer, this picture isn't such a good shot of him but my kids were sure cute! :) Now Sam is looking forward to carving pumpkins at Grandma's house and waiting desperately for me to finish his halloween costume.

Salsa Explosion

2008-10-13T16:50:00.003-06:00

One of the latest disasters at our house involved an explosion of salsa. Here's what happened (with the pictures to prove the disaster). Sam was kicking a ball around the house. I told him he needed to stop. "Why?" he asks. "Because I don't want you to break something." "But I'm not breaking anything." So he proceeds to kick the ball from the living room into the kitchen. The ball (just an inflatable cheap one) went into the kitchen, knocked a brand new container of salsa from Costco off the counter and onto the floor. Now the amazing part is how far and wide spread the salsa was while no more than a cup was missing from the jar of salsa. I know it looks like someone died but I was pretty impressed with my reaction. Yes I yelled at him but it wasn't too much or even too loud. Small miracles because two hours later I was still cleaning salsa from the kitchen (and the next morning was another 2-3 hours of cleaning).

I immediately had Sam help clean it up. He mopped the floor and cleaned the fridge and the pantry. This stuff went everywhere. It was on the ceiling, the living room carpet got a few drops, the wall above the cupboards, the pantry doors, it was impressive. I had to take pictures just to prove how big a mess it was. The kitchen was in need of cleaning anyway, but I hadn't planned on a huge cleaning. We spent that afternoon and the next morning cleaning the kitchen. The floor got mopped, the cupboards cleaned and some polish on them, counter tops cleaned, dishes done, walls cleaned, and ceiling wiped (pretty much only where there was salsa).

Here are the after shots of my nice clean kitchen. I had high hopes of keeping it this clean for awhile, but a couple of days later I decided I am fine with mostly clean. Just keeping up with the dishes and keeping the floor swept and the counters clean is a big enough job. I am definitely not the cleaning guru some of my friends are. :)

I guess having an explosion of that proportion every four years is a good thing for my kitchen. I think Sam has learned why the balls stay downstairs or outside. I hope, in the meantime, I will try to keep the counters clean. And we are trying to use a whole lot of salsa since we now have two containers open essentially. Good thing my kids like chips and salsa!

2008-09-25T14:11:00.001-06:00

Test post!

Six weeks old

2008-09-14T16:48:00.001-06:00

Michelle looking beautiful in her blessing dress. The red bows are the way I decided to personalize the dress for her. Hannah was blessed in the same dress but with different color bows.

Nice time for a family picture. Unfortunately Sam has hit the goofy grin when asked to smile for pictures. It's cute but mildly annoying when I just want a "normal" picture. Although, this is probably as normal as you will see this family. :)

This is Michelle at six weeks old with her very cute grin. The person who can get the most grins out of this girl practically on command: Sam. He will lay down next to her and then I hear this "Mommy, look at that really cute grin."

Sam's New Skills

2008-08-07T21:54:00.003-06:00

Yes, the long awaited day, in Sam's mind anyway, has come. With Dad home for a bit we were finally ready to take the training wheels off of his bike. I have watched him ride with the neighbors for the last couple of weeks and he can ride down the entire street without his training wheels touching so we knew he was ready. He was very excited as this makes his bike like all the bikes the big kids have. He watched Dad intently (probably a little too much if he has access to these tools in the future).
He was a little bit nervous at first and so they started down at the base of the driveway. Dad started by holding the back of his bike. . .

. . . gave a little push. . .

. . . and that was the end of the lesson. He was off and cruising. He loves it!! Now he just wants all the big kids to come out and ride with him.

Michelle Elizabeth Elliss - Born July 26th

2008-08-07T21:03:00.005-06:00

Hey All,

Little Michelle was born July 26th - she was awesome, the labor went great for AnnaJune, and everything went well. She was 8 lbs and 20" long, with slightly red hair and blue eyes.

The kids love having her around. Sam and Hannah love playing and reading with her, plus trying to get her to do things with them, such as watching TV and eating.

Recent Activities

2008-07-02T21:07:00.001-06:00

So I decided to try this out. Here are some recent photos, all of the Hannah girl.

We decided it was time to get the hair out of the face at least a little bit. I loved the face, you can't really tell that it's because the hair is hanging over her eyes and I had been combing it over her eyes. And as an added bonus, my belly sticking out, a nice pregnancy profile.

The new look, although a sometime wild and uncombed version of it. :)

Hannah girl loves the flowers, and loves to have her picture taken. Nice color coordination of the purples. So there is an update of Hannah. I don't know how often this will get updated but it's an attempt.

Other updates, we have three weeks left until baby #3. Hopefully this one will want to be a little bit early. That would be a bonus. Being 9 months pregnant in the heat of the summer is not the greatest idea but we are excited for this baby. Sam asked me today when I came home from my doctor visit if the baby was out. He is fairly excited about the baby and always wants to poke the baby or feel the baby move. Anyway, more later but not much later I hope. :)

Cuteness in the dance

2008-04-08T20:28:00.002-06:00

We're back for another week!

Bruno is complimenting the 2 young dancers who just did the paso doble - they are waayyy to cute to be able to dance like that. Bruno said that they were a gigantic ball of greatness - it was funny because he was trying to keep it from being naughty.

Sam fell asleep on the couch and Hannah is fighting it. More later.

Dancing with the Kids

2008-04-01T20:02:00.003-06:00

As a first post, we're looking at an exciting night at the Elliss household!

Tonight is officially Dancing with the Stars night at our household - we're all gathered in the family room watching the drama, passion... http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=index

and now we're watching the mango! ewwwh! But kinda funny. Steve and Jonathon dancing the tango.

It's great watching Hannah dance to the music - she looks like she's doing the chicken dance - we'll have to take a picture and post it.

Our favorites are Kristi and Mark, Marlee and Fabian, Jason and Edyta:

Now for some comments:

Jason (the NFL player of the year or something, like that's important in the ultra-competitive world of ballroom dancing) dances well and has a good attitude ( but not a 'I love everyone and especially fuzzy bunnies' attitude like Steve).

Marlee, the deaf actress, is really funny and is actually inspiring in the way that she performs, on the stage and off. I think it would be cool if she had some sort of high-tech beat indicator that helped her out.

Kristi is just really sharp and of course a great dancer. I'm really suprised that they invited her, since she has such a natural advantage having been a gold-medal winning figure ice skater - basically dancing on ice. She will be the winner, not only because she's a great dancer, but she knows what it is to train and compete, and she's hot. (Very important in this competition) Plus, there aren't really any standout guys, so I think she has this one in the bag.

Anyway, here's an interview with AnnaJune regarding who is going home tonight:

Ssilleelliss: "Who do you think is going home tonight and why?"
AJ: "I don't know, but I think Steve should. He's not a very good dancer"
Ssilleelliss: "What do you think of the controversial 'lift'?"
AJ: "The judges didn't mention it, but they should have. I want Shannon to come back, and Cristian is ok."

Ok, we're now at the end of the torture session! Steve and Anna are heading home! I think he was just too warm and fuzzy for this America. He would have done well on TeleTubbies, but here in the cutthroat world of ballroom dancing / reality voting, he was just a big target.

Sad breaking news - an Amber Alert happened today concerned a little girl who lived near where we used to live. 2250 S 500 E. It looks like a murder case. We're really happy we don't live there anymore.