Christmas Card the Scrooge Way

I'm sorry that it has come to this. Instead of us sending out a cute little picture of the family with a witty letter that informs everyone of the goings on and whereabouts of every family member, we have instead reached the point where you have to come to us if we're going to do this little christmas tradition. School's been busy and Amanda's been away so really you're lucky that there is even this to fall back on. Merry Christmas to you all and we look forward to seeing those of you who live in the Spokane and Louisville metropolitan areas. As for the rest of you, you'll probably be better off without us invading your home for 7-14 days.

Mrs. Kringle's Cake 'N Crumbs Holiday Cookes Bake Off

Feel free to check it out on Sarah's page (Her page looks much more festive)http://sarahharward.blogspot.com/2009/12/mrs-kringles-cake-ncrumbs-holiday.html

Because my sister, Sarah, and I are on the VERY VERY NICE list, we were able to get a copy of Santa's Favorite Cookie recipe to share with all of you.

Of course, we're not ashamed to ask for your votes in return!! Click on the button at the top of this blog and be sure to vote (many, many, many times) for our cookie to win the Bake Off!! I'm sure it will earn you a spot on the very very nice list too!!!

Macaroon Cookies

6 cups of sweetened coconut flakes

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla

3 egg whites

Mix the coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the three egg whites until stiff. Fold in the coconut mixture. Plop onto a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Once they're done, let them cool on the baking sheet. When they're cooled, melt 1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Put a plop of chocolate on the bottom of each cookie, then smoosh onto cookie sheet to spread the chocolate out. Let chocolate cool and then ENJOY!!

Oh and as if exercising your right to vote isn't enough motivation, there are prizes for voters also! Good luck, and thanks for voting.

Monkey Joe's

Since Daddy went back to Cambridge we've been having all sorts of fun. First of all the babies (Bennett and Miles) had to go to the ER and were diagnosed with upper respiratory infections, so they are both on antibiotics.

Miles decided to top his big brother and not only get an upper respiratory infection, but he also popped a tooth out (he's only 4 months old)!

But even with all the problems Miles is still a super happy little guy.

We decided to gorge ourselves with pizza at CiCi's pizza but the kids enjoyed the 'balloon maker man' much more than the pizza. The boys got these really awesome Alians, and Maya got a swan (she was crazy about it)

This was the Monkey Joes mascot. Funny story-Bennett was afraid of this guy and was sitting on my lap when Porter asked why he was scared I said "Well sometimes little kids are afraid of people in costumes" to which Porter responded "You mean he's not real?" (he was dead serious)

These two boys sure had a blast together.

Bennett was asleep when we first got there but once he woke up he was lovin' it.

Poor Porter was sweating up a storm

Maya was a little distracted by all the stuffed animals you could buy (especially the snake)but she also had fun!

Good ol' Aunt Sarah. I think she had more fun than the kids (except Bennett who kept kissing and hugging her every time he got off one of the jumpy things) This picture was taken shortly before Sarah went slipping down the kiddy slide face first and scared poor little Grant to death.
Even with all this fun we sure miss our daddy!
Daddy we love you.

I guess he made it.

If you were astute enough to recognize the change to the blog banner, you will have realized that this is the defining moment where we officially welcome Miles into the Elmer family. After a 3 month trial period where he had to endure all sorts of obstacles to be considered vigorous and strong enough to be considered an Elmer such as the "laundry basket on the head" challenge which he passed with flying colors, or the "roll off the couch" obstacle which he again completed so flawlessly that we have unanimously decided to accept him as a True-Blue Elmer. Needless to say most of his challenges were overseen and carried out by his now two year old older sibling Bennett who also had to endure the same "hazing" process as did Miles and so he felt that he could carry it out without parental approval. So, Miles, because of your bravery in facing such daunting challenges and overcoming them with grace, poise, and sheer determinacy, we have awarded you a spot on the official blog banner. Congratulations and watch out for Bennett, he still thinks that the testing needs to continue.

In other news, last tuesday we decided to drive all night down to Floyd's Knobs, IN for thanksgiving to be with the Porters. However, a few hours before we were supposed to leave, Porter thought it would be a great idea to throw a bungee cord around our indoor fire sprinklers and they promptly went of drenching everything in our living room with gallons of water and fire suppressant. The TV, Couches, Chairs, Books, DVD player and all of Dad's games where soaked not to mention the 3" of water soaking the carpet and draining down to the Management office below us. Amanda grabbed the kids and bolted to tell management who came up and began the clean up process. Luckily most of the books, games, and couches could be dried out, but the managers said that the chemical that comes out with the water isn't great and we'd probably have to throw everything out. So what's a family to do when their apartment is soaked to the bone and their much needed vacation is looming just hours away? We just spread things out in the dry areas of our house and left them to dry while we made the 18 hour drive to Kentuckiana. We had a great Thanksgiving visit with the Porters launching rockets, eating turkey, and watching Brad propose to Jessica.

Since I only have 17 days left of class and deadlines for my projects are looming, Amanda decided to stay with the kids so that I could get my work done without having to feel guilty about coming home late. I guess she didn't realize that she and the kids are my anchor in this crazy world of academia and how much I rely on their presence to keep me sane, but hopefully I can get my work done and stay focused. Well, day two down and 17 more to go. I hope I make it. I love you Amanda.

"Wha'd You Say" Chronicles

In order to Chronicle all the funny things our children have said or done over the past few years, we've tried to chronicle them so that they will be able to look back and see how much fun it was to have them as kids. There were very few dull conversations in the Elmer house.

Maya "Porter was our first baby, then me, then Bennett, and Miles was our last baby."
Porter "Miles isn't the last baby we're going to have 17"
Maya "How do you know that?"
Porter "I can just feel it"
Maya "I'm going to have 100 babies when I grow up."
Porter "MAYA, 100's a lot"

Bennett (pulling on his onesie) 'uh off' (I want off)
Me 'you want your clothes off?'
Bennett 'clothes off'
Me 'why do you want your clothes off?'
Bennett 'uh pee on floor' (I want to pee on the floor)
Me 'No we don't pee on the floor. Do you want to pee in the potty?'
Bennett 'uh pee on floor'

Casey 'Where does Brad live?'
Porter 'With Jessica'
Cassey 'No he doesn't live with Jessica'
Porter 'Why'
Casey 'Because they are not married'
Maya 'But I saw them KISS'

Everytime we pass someone on the street, at the store, or wherever, Bennett says "HI" (sometimes repeatedly). Usually the person will say hi back, but sometimes they don't realize he is talking to them and don't say anything. I don't want him to feel bad so I say "Bennett, you are so friendly". Now he says "HI" then looks at me and quickly says "FRIENDLY".

Porter and Maya "ALERT! ALERT!, Bennett is getting out of his bed." (we put all three of them in the same room and now)

Maya "Mom, I saw grampy when he's carving and guess what, he first cuts it and then blows on it so it doesn't get hot."

Maya said "Mom, lets pretend we're cowboys and we live in a cabbage" (I think she was thinking cabbin)

When Porter jumps into the swimming pool he yells "Geranium"

I was talking to Casey on the phone and before I hung up I said "Ok, I'll see you in a bit" Porter asked "Mom, who's comming over?" I answered "Dad" and before thinking (assuming it was my sister) Porter quickly replied "Is she bring her kids?" (age 6)

Maya walked into the room and started singing "I want that boom boom pow" (age 5)

As I was giving the kids popsicles I asked Bennett "Do you want a popsicle?" and he started singing "Bi - sickle, bi - sickle". I think we listen to too much QUEEN. (18 mo)

One day as my sister was changing her baby's diaper Bennett walked over, pointed and said "Ooohh, gross". (18 mo.)

While playing at a fast food play place my niece got hit by another kid and her lip started bleeding. Later Porter was telling me about what happened and said "Addie had blood on her face (after a short pause he started singing QUEEN) 'she had blood on her face, the big discrace, kickin' her kind all over the place, WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!'(age 6)

Me: "Do you guys want ants on a log for snack?"
Porter: "YEAH!"
Maya: "Uh...I just want the log"(age 5)

Maya "Momma, I just really want to stop sucking my thumb, but thats how Jesus made me."(age 4)

Brad (Porter's uncle): "Porter you're getting old."
Porter: "I'm not an old man sitting on a toilet reading a book!"(age 6)

Maya and I were sitting outside when she told me (in a questioning sort of way) "Mom, if I lay down in the road a car can't run over me?" I said "I think it could still run over you" and she said "oh yeah cause my head, heads are so fat."

One of Maya's friends mom's told her she had cute pig tails, and Maya said "they are not pig tails, they are poodle ears!"

Porter "Mom, why do your hands smell like THAT?"

Mom "Like WHAT?"

Porter sniffing furiously "I wish I had a dog, cause I cant tell"

During a discussion about how Porter is too young to have a girlfriend and how he can't have one until he comes back from his mission, he stood up on the couch and emphatically announced "I ALREADY HAVE A GIRLFRIEND" I asked who his girlfriend is and he yelled "NANNA"!

To keep the kids occupied during sacrament meeting, I gave Maya a bag of pretzels which she dutifully shared with her two brothers who were obviously starving, as well as the kids in the rows in front of and behind us. She turned to us and said in a kind of exasperated voice, "Everybody wants pretzels, but I don't have three arms."

Today in sacrament meeting a young man gave a talk and wrapped up his talk by saying, "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." Maya looked at Amanda and said, "Mom, that sure was an interesting prayer."

Maya lying on Amanda: "Mom, your heart is beeping real loud, you must really love me a lot!"

Maya was having a play date with a friend when she started telling the friends mom about something Brad had gotten her for Christmas. The friends mom asked "Oh is that you uncle Brad? Where does he live?" Maya answered "he lives in Nana's house." The mom then asked "oh, does he live in Louisville?" Maya looked at her confused and she asked "Does your uncle Brad live in Kentucky?" and Maya said "no I SAID he lives in Nana's house." Then the friends mom asked "where does your Nana live?" Maya thought about it and said "I don't know but she surly lives on this earth."

Maya (in a whiny voice) "how come you guys always get to stay up late?"
Casey "we don't always stay up late"
Maya "yes you do and watch movies and eat junk!"
(Oh, how true it is, she must have been snooping around the plethora of junk food wrappings on our night stands.)

Porter was saying our family prayer and kept thanking Heavenly Father for sending Bennett to our family "because we didn't have any blondies in our family and now we do."

Porter asked Maya "when will you stop playing with horseys?"
and Maya answered "I don't know, maybe when I die."

Maya had drawn a picture of a blob with one eye and showed it to Dad. Casey said 'That looks like Bob' (a monster in a new movie coming out). Maya quickly told him 'Noooo, it's a Cyclopes.'

Porter was pitchin' a fit about having to take his "Red Eyeball" drops. He said 'I don't like drops, they hurt my eyes'. Casey then told him they are the same as tears, and Porter said (in a duh dad voice) 'yeah but tears come out of your eyes!'

This is from when Maya was a really young, but twice she ate something and responded with 'I thought it was candy but it's YUCK'. Once it was a bouillon cube, and once it was a paintball (like from a paintball gun).

Casey bought a bounty of junk food at the store one night. The next morning the kids were all lying in our bed and Casey said go downstairs and see what I got you. They rushed downstairs and came back up with doughnuts. Then Porter said "Dad, I saw that you also got a nut pie!". (in case you couldn't guess it was a pecan pie)

While trying to pry information from Porter I asked him if anyone had gotten in trouble at school that day. He quickly (and maybe a bit proudly) said "Yeah, me!"

After explaining to Porter that dead people are buried in Cemeteries, Maya asked us "why don't the animals dig up the bones and chew on the skulls?" (YIKES)

Upon seeing a homeless man Maya asked me about him and I made the mistake of telling her he didn't have a home (thinking this would make her grateful that we have a nice warm home to live in). She quickly said "Why doesn't he have a home?" I said I wasn't sure and she said "he can come live at our house", then she said "I know, he's a pioneer".

Maya told Addie "I love you Addie" and Addie said she loved Maya also. Maya then looked at Sarah and said "My favorite is actually Jesus and Heavenly Father, but I DON'T love Satan!"

After being told not to tease Maya, Porter told her "You have CRAZY eyes"

I was in a rush trying to get out of the house so I could go to recipe group and in my hurry I did not read scriptures with my children. I put them in bed and headed out the door. The next morning when I was waking them up the first thing Maya said to me was "Mom, guess what? Me and Porter read our OWN SCRIPTURES last night. I read one and he read one" Sure enough they had a bunch of scripture story books in their beds.

Bennett had a little bit of drool on his chin and Porter said "he had a little drip beard"

I lost my voice and when I was talking to Maya she kept trying to look into my mouth. Finally I asked "what are you doing?" and she said "I'm trying to see the frog"

As we were driving we passed a dead skunk and got a car-full of stink. A few minutes later we were still saying "Pew wee" and Maya asked "How the skunk still stinks?" Casey told her "well the stink just doesn't go away" to which she replied "but our stink goes away!"

I told Maya "I love you so much, you'll never know how much I love you" and she said "Mommy I love you more than a pony". I felt so happy because there is nothing Maya loves more than ponies, until she said "I love you one hundred and a pony only loves you one". She doesn't love me more than she loves ponies but she loves me more than a pony would love me.

I asked Maya who she played with today and she told me "that girl with the Dora 'pack-pack' she was just little but I made her my friend, and that rascal boy from Porters class"

While learning to ride her new bike Maya screamed as the bike tipped over, she then said "Yikes my bike is wobbly and I screamed like a little human"

As we were getting ready for church we were sitting around eating breakfast. Everyone was dressed except casey who was still in his pajamas and Porter said "Mom you look very beautiful, Maya you look very beautiful, Dad (pause) you look very undressediful)

Bennett had a stinky diaper and Casey kept calling him stinky butt. After changing the diaper Casey said "ok there you go stinky butt" and Maya said "It's not nice to call humans stinky butt"

As we got into a boiling hot car after church, Porter said "Is this how a bacon feels when it gets cooked?"

While discussing why people have all different skin colors (again) we got onto the topic of albinos, when Maya (in a that’s not fair voice) says "how come we're not albinos and Bennett is, cause he has white hair?"

Maya : "You know what chubby means?"
Me : "What?"
Maya : "It means your not fat you're cute. Mommy you're chubby"

Who Says You Can't Learn Anything from Cartoons (Part 2): While driving down to Nana's house in Louisville, the kids watched 3 hours of Looney Tunes. When we got there we went swimming and Porter took a diving ring, placed it on his head and said, "I'm from Heaven."

Maya was talking in here sleep after a long day of playing and catching frogs at Nana and Grampys house and this is what she said: Oh, I really want a froggy but my mom said NO

Someone's been listening to a little too much Johnny Cash. While listening to the song In The Jail House Now on the best of Johnny Cash CD I had this conversation.
Maya: "Momma, why's the little boy in the jail house now?"
Me: "I don't know why Maya, I'm not sure what he did to get put in the jail house"
Maya: "Maybe it's because he brunged his guns to town"
(I'm sure all you Johnny Cash fans know where she got that idea from. We'll just call her the gal in black)

While discussing where bees come from Porter told me "I know where they come from. First bees are mosquitos, then...then...then" He never decided what they become after they are mosquitos and before they become bees.

While looking up into the sky Porter asked me "Mom how could you get to the moon? In a car or an airplane?" I told him neither and he said "But an airplane can go in the sky". I told him that it can go in the sky but not to the moon and he said "Well if you told the driver it could!"

As we were walking the other day Porter walked up to my friend Elaine and out of the blue asked "Elaine, why do you always have a smile on your face?"

While walking back from visiting the horse stables Maya looked up at me and said "Mom what if a jaguar lived here with the horseys?" I said "I don't think the horses would like it very much because jaguars eat horses." Maya laughed and said "MOM jaguars don't eat horses they eat REINDEER!"

Maya had a dental appointment where they put her to sleep and when they were doing the pre-screening Maya said to the guy "excuse me" he said "yes?" and she said "the other day when we were getting ready for church I put a hair tie in my ear" I though to myself what a weird child I had and we continued the appointment. A few minutes later Maya started shoving her finger in her ear saying "I want to get that hair tie out so I can see what color it is" I asked her if she had a real hair tie in her ear, and after checking I discovered she really did! (the anestesiologist fished it out for us)

I walked into the living room and Maya was sitting in a chair rubbing a cheese grater on her stomach. She looked up at me and said "mom I'm cheesing myself!"

We were watching Weird Al videos on you tube the other night and the kids really liked the video of Fat. So the next night Maya was wanting to watch it and asked Casey "Can we watch the one with that fat guy with crazy hair like mine?"

Porter to Maya
P: Maya don't suck your thumb cause if you do your teeth get all crinkley and you have to go to the doctor and the dentist will put on bracelets and use special glue. That's what Hanny told me when she got her bracelets.

I hardly ever wear my glasses but put them on today and Maya looked at me and said "Mom, you look like a teacher, cause teachers have glasses!"

While eating dinner at Sams Club Maya excitedly said "Look what that girl is doin'" I looked and saw a woman sweeping the floor and thinking that couldn't be so exciting said "What?" Maya then said "She's sweepin' off the floor (Maya then paused and looked around) she could sweep this area because it's all dirty wordy"

The gospel has led to some recklessness in the Elmer household as of late. Driving in the car, we saw a biker and the following is the conversation that ensued:
Porter: I can't wait to be a dad so I can ride a motorcycle.
Dad: Porter, Poppy doesn't like motorcycles, they're dangerous.
Maya: Yeah you can get hit and fall and break your body open and your bones and your blood.
Porter: That’s okay, i'll be resurrected.

Porter had some keen observations at General Conference today. When Elder Bednar started talking he said, "He kind of looks like Obi Wan Kenobi when he fights Darth Maul". When Elder Ballard got up to speak, he said, "Elder Ballerina? Ha, That's Funny!"

While driving in the car Bennett was pretty fussy, and after a few minutes of trying to ignore it Maya yells "Geez Loueez child, you're being noisy!"

The other night while reading scriptures we read the story of Christ’s birth. We were reading the Scripture Story Books so there were drawings to go along with the story. When Porter saw the drawing of Mary he said
P: Is she alive or dead?
M: She is dead, why?
P: Because she is Beautiful.
M: What is so beautiful about her?
P: When I look at her face it makes me feel like I want to marry her.

"Awwww, Bennett's being so patient so I can get his boogers. He's just waiting and waiting" (Maya-after picking Bennett’s nose for him)

Maya (while licking the lid to the tub of laundry soap) "this tastes salty."

While at a friends house for family home evening, Maya who had been sitting on my lap sleeping suddenly sits up, looks at the mom (who was sitting next to me) and says "Excuse me." The mom says "yes Maya?" To which Maya responds "I'm not wearing any undies under my pants".

Maya fell asleep on the way to church this evening and when I woke her up to get her out of the car she said "mom I'm sleepy. (then angrily) You pestered my sleep!"

My kids like to pretend they are going to "New York-a" (I think they call it that because all the other place names they know end in A so why not New York? ex. Philadelphia, Indiana) and they say it all the time. So I asked them "What town would you like to visit?" (trying to get them to say New York-a for Casey) and Porter yelled out "Radiator Springs".

Maya: Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff Ruff Ruff (in a high sing song voice)
Mom: Maya be quiet, Bennett is trying to sleep.
Maya: But the puppy is in the shower and he's singing a song.(holding up a toy puppy)
Mom: Tell the puppy to be quiet.
Maya: But you terrify him!

Who says you can't learn anything from cartoons? Today Porter told Maya "If you're blue, you're cold".

This is what Porter just asked me when he saw I was looking through all your blogs instead of getting PBS kids set up for him "Mom are you just looking at dot com and not setting up our game?"

Porter was trying to put his video game on two players so Maya could play with him but he kept clicking past the screen where you choose the number of players and every time he'd pass the screen he'd say "Oh no I’m such a FOOL"

As we were listening to the music on the blog the song "Right there waiting for you" came on and Porter and I had a conversation that went like this
P-I like girl songs
M-Is this a girl song?
P-Yes
M-Why?
P-Because it makes me think about girls (Pause) it makes me think about you actually.
M-Oh really
P-It makes me think bout when you're getting married with dad

Maya just said "Mommy give me a kiss and I'll give you a treat!" So I gladly kissed her and she pulled her hand from behind her back and rubbed my forehead with her finger. I said "what was that?" and she said "SNOT"

We had to go have a new battery put into our car and as we were standing in line (forever) the kids started playing "eye spy" Standing in line in front of us was an older lady and her grand daughter (who was probably 20). Maya was trying to find something and said "eye spy...." while looking at the people in front of us, and Porter quickly said "two beautiful ladies?" (The ladies sure got a kick out of that. What a charmer)

On the way home from a busy day and shopping we were listening to a Disney mix and the song "A whole new world" came on. Porter said "I hate this song. It makes me feel in love"

Today Maya was laying on a pillow and Porter took another pillow, placed it on her head and said "Oooh yum a head sandwich" As he lifted the pillows to take a bite she pulled her head out and ran off saying "Yikes I’m not the cheese" He then began chasing her around saying "Come here meat!”

Rainy Day Update

Most days this is what we try to prevent from happening on a minute-to-minute basis, but Bennett loves smothering his little brother and quite often we hear Miles crying after he's been napping for a few minutes and this is why. Bennett has crawled into his crib with him and well, Miles doesn't like to share the covers.

So we try to get them outside to run their batteries down a bit and I even tried putting them all up in a big Ginko tree and leaving them there, but that backfired when they started throwing "Poopberries" down on me. If you've never smelled a ginko tree in the fall, it's the same smell you smell when you're trying to pinpoint the stink at the dinner table and you realize one of the kids has stepped in dog poop while outside. Utterly pleasant.

But sometimes if your timing is just right, you happen to catch a glimpse of a rare squirrel up in a tree storing nuts for the winter and the sunlight bounces off her fur just right and you realize, she really is a beautiful squirrel. (No, you can't over winter in the tree, I don't care how many nuts you've collected.)

And finally, if you set a trap in the sandbox using only your leather belt and dollar bills as bait, you might just catch a raving 6 year old who happens to be the richest 6 year old I know after selling his used transformers for $58 dollars. I think he's mostly worried he might not get to count his money, again, for the 35th time. (No you don't have enough yet to build a money bin Scrooge McDuck.)

Guess who's two

The party is over and life with a two year old is keeping us on our toes. Bennett is really digging trucks so we had a little truck party for him.

Here he is sporting the cute birthday hat his friends Quincy, Allison, and Baby Aubree made him.

Can you see the excitement in his eyes? Fire and Yummy Carrot cake, does it get any better than this?

Notice how in the second picture his fork has migrated from his plate to the pan. Silly kid.

Good thing we had lots of helpers for the unwrapping. Bennett was pretty much clueless. He got a bunch of wooden trucks (from us) Some homemade cookies (from his friends Bella and David), a Mickey mouse club house DVD (from Quincy, Allison, and Baby Aubree), and tub of chocolate cat cookies (for people) from his friend (Emmie). What a great way to kick off the terrible twos!

Just this side of October.

It's been fall for a while now, but I thought you might enjoy what we've been up to as the air cools, the leaves fall, and the kids lose teeth.

Someone thought that Miles could use a small snack of Goldfish. I think his 2 yr old brother is the perpetrator of this thoughtful act.

Amanda convinced Porter that he could make some money on Ebay if he sold his Transformers that he never plays with anymore. So of course the money man is excited to get "$100" as he thinks there will be a bidding war over his battle damaged toys. Dad and Mom are not as certain as he is. We spent the better part of yesterday morning rounding up all the pieces we could find and unsurprisingly, only a few of them had every single piece.

Bennett was not happy with his big brother's plan to get rid of all those toys that he so desperately wanted to play with while we were trying to put together a million transformer pieces.

Amanda gets the kids outside almost everyday, especially when the weather is nice, and the kids love it. They usually just go to a nearby park and run around, and once in a while, pose for mom to let her know how happy they are that she is their "Teacher".

I think this was part of their Biology 101 class, or maybe it was Entymology 101. Either way, Bishop Gibb would be proud! I'm surprised he held that Katydid as close to the big ol' gap in his teeth as he did, it could have just crawled on in.

Bennett takes his trucks very seriously. Almost every morning he comes running into our bedroom and climbs on the laundry baskets to look out the window at the garbage truck that comes most mornings.

Maya loves showing her little monkey brother the ropes when it comes to climbing trees. Most days when we go outside, she can be found scurrying up a small tree or bush. I think she's a squirrel, or possibly an owlet.

But she also does well on the ground when she's frolicking among the leaves!

Most times when the kids are given apples to snack on, we'll find whole apples with a few nibbles out of them hiding under a couch cushion or rotting under the bed which initiated "Public Law 9002341. No Whole Apples for Children" which the president quickly signed off on. However, since they were outside and the President was in a generous mood, they each got their own apples. I think Bennett's face says it all, "You mean I get this whole thing to myself?"

The lot seems pleased by the Presidents leaniency. What a rag tag bunch!

SCHOOL TIME

A lot of people ask me how homeschooling is going, and although it's a complicated relationship (love/hate-maybe) I love my kids and enjoy having them around (most of the time). Here are a few of the moments I had time to grab the camera and snap a shot of the learning taking place around here.


Maya was going to the aquarium and was bummed that her daddy couldn't go, but he told her to take "Mental Pictures" and to come home and draw her favorite one so he could see what she saw. All through the aquarium Maya was holding up an imaginary camera and clicking pictures, then when she got home, she colored this beauty of a stingray, a turtle, and a starfish.

Nana got us these cute little chalk boards and we've had tons of fun with them. I don't know if you can tell, but Maya is showing her picture of a sand shark. They would draw pictures and try to guess what each other had drawn. It was a nice quiet activity:)

Play dough is always fun also. I gave in and actually bought play dough (I usually make my mother-in-law's recipe, it's great). Here is Maya showing off her "OWLET". Isn't she adorable?

One of the hard thing about homeschooling is all the stuff there is out there. I want to buy it all!

But sometimes we have to settle with what we can find in the recycle bin. Here are our tin can phones. We had talked about walkie talkies and the kids wanted some so bad. Casey told them about tin can phones, and we made them the next day. I think they were entertained for just as long with the tin can phones as they would have been with actual walkie talkies.

IT'S NOT FAIR!!!

Can you believe this sweet baby weighed 10 lbs. 5 oz. at birth?

And instead of 'chockie meelk' he use to eat feet.

I always thought he was a really beautiful baby (even with splat-o all over his clothes)

So tell me how my sweet angel turned into a...TWO YEAR OLD?

Two year olds get busted lips,

have mischievous grins

And are always demanding something, but we love him non-the-less. Who can resist a face like this?

p.s. we will do his cake on saturday so those pictures are still to come.

Boo to you!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2009

A storm trooper (yes, again) Flash Gordon (I don't actually know who that is but he's pretty stinkin' cute) and a Panda Bear (no she's not a skelaton)

Maya was super happy with this disgusting little plastic cocroach she picked up on someones porch (I think they may have been decorations and not for taking, but I was too busy counting heads to notice, and who can resist a girl who would choose a bug over candy?)

Here's Porter. He promptly counted his candy and anounced "I GOT 76 PIECES" while we were riding the T home.

Bennett was in heaven with all the candy. He held up his bag at one point and said "Candy" while looking at me with a face that said "Mom, are you ok with me having and entire bag of candy?"

Here is the flash showing off his muscles?

And yes Miles had a costume also. He was a peapod but it wasn't too long into the trial run before he looked like this...

...so he didn't have to wear his for trick-or-treating. Casey carried him in the Moby (at least one person asked if Casey was dressed as a pregnant man -ha-ha-ha-ha)

Look at those sweet sleepy lips

And as a bonus, here is a shot of Miles and I after raiding the kids candy bags:)

NOT PHOTOGRAPHED: Yep we forgot to take our camera trick-or-treating so we have no photos of the really fun ward party (where I won the prize for best chili, and it wasn't some silly little prize, it was a $15 gift card for Target! Porter was so excited for me -I love that kid-), or the super cool trick-or-treating on Beacon Hill (where Carly Simon and John Kerry (along with a long list of other celebs) own homes). Beacon hill was so fun. They had the streets closed off and the places was packed. Deffinantly the place to be on Halloween!

We hope you all had a great Halloween!

Guess who set off the fire alarm at church today?

Yep, it was Bennett. Look at that cute little innocent face. Would you ever believe a devil lurks behind that sweet disguise? Right as we were leaving the building he reaches over and pulls the alarm. I was holding him at the time and, although I feel slightly responsible, I refuse to take any of the blame. People calmly left the building and the fire trucks arrived very promptly. I guess we can take solace in the fact that had it been a real fire evacuation procedures are running smoothly!

Pumpkins!!!

Everyone has been posting these wonderful visits to pumpkin patches and I'm completely jealous. I love pumpkins and think pumpkin patches are so great, but we haven't been able to go to one this year but luckily the pumpkin fairy (poppy) left each kid a pumpkin on the doorstep so we finally got around to decorating those last night, and the following is what ensued...

Porter working dillegently on his masterpiece

Look at those faces of concentration 'this is serious business'

Maya contemplating where to place the next stroke

'Seriously, you're letting ME hold a paint brush?'

Maya's Masterpiece

Porters pumpkin

Bennetts beauty

All was well and good until they started painting each other...

I'd love to blame it on the kids but I think Daddy's mostly to blame (he at least should have known better)

But look how happy they are

Porter thought it was so cool, he did not want to wash it off, and I just thought maya looked creepy.

Monkeying Around

When Nana was here visiting with gran they got the kids a huge bag of balloons, and that bag of balloons has provided hours and hours of fun. When air balloons started getting a little boring we decided to try some of the water variety. Strangers looked hesitant as we marched around outside with our camo shorts, Mohawks, and 'that devious glint in our eyes'.
Speaking of 'that devious glint'

Maya is such a great helper with Miles. She loves him to pieces and doesn't even complain too much about being spit up on.

Miles complains enough for the both of them

We don't see near enough of this handsome face, but he's working hard and makes the most of his time home with us.

We went on a nature hike with this awesome guide named Boot. The kids love him and he is excellent. I guess I decided to dress Bennett like Elmer Fud for the special day:)

Here are the hoodlums preparing for the hike

Maya who constantly forgets that the hikes are held on a Nature Sanctuary and constantly has to be reminded not to pick things and that "No we cant keep the cricket as a pet". On both of the hikes we have gone on with Boot he has told her "I love a girl who isn't afraid to touch BUGS"

Look at that chunky monkey

And the crowning achievement of our week...Bennett decided to paint his eye closed with rubber cement. I was looking up a red box location on the computer (a very quick thing to do) when Porter came running in saying "Uh oh mom, something bad (they always preface their stories with either "something bad" or "do you think it's something bad or good?") Bennett got the bottle with the cow on it and now his eye is stuck closed and he's holding a tissue on it". I ran out to check (because Porter was panicked and I had no clue what bottle had a cow on it) and sure enough Bennett had the rubber cement which is kept 'out of reach' (he used a chair to climb up and get it) and was holding a baby wipe over his eye trying to wipe it off. Obviously the baby wipe idea was flawed and I had to intervene. I rubbed and rubbed and picked and pulled until we finally got his eye opened. The the kids started telling me I was being mean because he was SCREAMING and his eye was opened so I think they thought I should leave the rest of the little gummy boogers on his face. So I did. It took two whole days for them to be all the way gone.

A visit from the Elmer's

My mom and grandma came to visit us last week but unfortunately my camera was in the shop so for pictures of that visit you'll have to go to my mom's blog (http://grampyandnana.blogspot.com/). We went to the aquarium and spent some time in Boston, mom and gran took a trip up the coast, we played at the super cool parks around here, and we really had a great time together. Then to ease the pain of them leaving the Elmer's came to visit!It was so nice to have them here for Miles blessing. It was a beautiful blessing for a beautiful baby on a beautiful day (the only thing that could have made it better was to have Grampy Porter here, but being a stake president is grueling)!

That baby is more than a hand full. He's pretty big for a two month old!
Blessing Miles wasn't all we did this weekend. We also...

...had delicious caramel apples

some kids like to savor their apples by mostly just licking them

While other kids just bite right in

but, Daddy may have enjoyed his most of all!

Then we all dressed like cranberry's and headed off for the 6th annual cranberry festival!

These were some of the crates they had displayed in a big barn

And here is some of the juice they also displayed

Here are the cranberries rocking out in the music section

There was an owl show that was awesome

although we all enjoyed it Maya might have liked it the best. She was on the edge of her seat (and Porter was on the edge of Grammys lap) the whole time.

Here is a peek at miles who spent the day sleeping in the Moby (I'd just like to say Moby's were made for urban livin'. It's just too bad I don't have a red one)

I sure wish we brought our waders so we could have waded out into those beautiful berries

I think Porter is pretending to eat a cranberry and Maya is pretending to be one.

Don't you just want to dive into that truck and take a swim?

Pretty amazing!

There was this massive sand pile that the kids played on forever. It was great fun.

Little miss sandy bum didn't mind getting a little dirty

Or a lot dirty for that matter

Our handsome Daddy supervised the whole sand pile (although secretly he was dying to run up that glorious mountain of sand)

Here is Porter sliding down the slope

Another peek at Miles

This is how Bennett spent most of his day. He and Poppy were inseparable on this trip. What will I do now that they are gone and I have no one to entertain the terrorist?

We didn't spend the whole vacation at the cranberry festival (we could have but we didn't). We also had some unforgettable trips to the children museum, Plymouth plantation (where we saw the mayflower and Plymouth rock, and a really cool Pilgrim and Indian village), Sam's club (that's a whole 'nother story), and a bit of exploring Cambridge.

It was a fun visit and we're sad it's over. We're always up for company (Who's next?)

We're actually doing it!

What if every day was like summer break, and you could play all day long.

What if you never had to catch the school bus and leave your cute little brother behind.

What if recess was spent playing with your best friend.

What if your teacher thought your were the absolute cutest kid she had ever seen, and loved you more than anything in the whole entire world?

What if you could enjoy learning from the comfort of your own home?

We're HOME SCHOOLING! I can hardly believe it, and most days I think to myself "Self, is this actually possible? Am I messing my kids up big time? How can I expect anyone to focus in this chaos?" But other days I think "this is pretty great. I love having these guys home with me!". The decision was not an easy one to make, but I've had this wild idea in my head for a while and always though that in a perfect world I would definitely do it, but the truth of the matter is that it took an imperfect world to make me take the plunge. Registering for school here is different that anyplace I've ever been. You can choose any school in the whole school system, and then they do a lottery in January to see who gets into which school. Well since we registered late we did not get into the school we wanted (That's like 500 feet away from our house) instead they put Porter in one school and Maya in another (from what I hear the school they wanted to send Maya to is the worse school in the district) (a little inconvenient). I drove past the schools and thought they were so scary I wouldn't want to walk by the better yet send my kids into them. Well long story short we're trying it this year. We are only here for a year and a half, how much damage can I really do?

Danny Champion Of The World

So we finished reading Danny the Champion of the world and to celebrate we decided we had to have a midnight feast of roasted pheasant.

Here are our little champions of the world preparing the "pheasant" Can you believe Porter was hesitant to touch it at first? Maya just dived right in.

Here is another little champion dying to help. He talked about chicken for the rest of the day.

Here we are continuing the preparations.

Here is the bird before being shoved ever so carefully into the crock pot to cook all day (it's great to come home from church to an ready dinner)
And here we are enjoying the midnight feast. I voted that Caseys "Chips" (french fries) won the prize for best dish, Casey voted that the "Pheasant" was best, Porter voted for the "Sweet potatoes", Maya was rather fond of the "Pheasant", and I think Bennett liked the Juice best.

Funny story about the sweet potatoes - we have this every year at Thanksgiving and it is my absolute favorite things. Porter really loves them too, and as he was chowing down talking about how good they were Casey said "Do you know where Mom got this recipe?" Porter said no and Casey said "Who do you think gave this recipe to mom? It's the best ol gal ever..." And Porter yelled out "Sarah" (sorry Sarah I guess he thinks of you as an ol gal)

Kickin' it Miles style

Miles was neglected on the last post, so this is for all you who complained about it (MOM).

One of Miles all time favorite activities (at leas he does it frequently).

Miles looking cool and FAT. He's getting so big it's amazing he's already been with our family for a whole month. The time is flying by and it seems like only yesterday he was still a new born.

At least I get plenty of cuddle time with the little guy. I usually have to wait till the other kids are in bed, but we enjoy our evenings.

As a fourth child Miles has to spend a lot of his time on the move. Here he is catching a cat nap in his car seat.

Oh and he wanted me to tell you he loves you "This much"!

Exploring Cambridge

Here we are outside our apartment on our way to find a new park to explore. (can you feel the excitement?)

Around the block from our house there is a tree where a squirel lives, and we see him almost every time we pass. Bennett is a little fascinated by 'squirly'.

I think it looks like Bennett and the fire hydrant have matching hair do's. The fire hydrants are all painted different colors here. I usually make the kids tell me what color they are in spanish (the other day Maya yelled out "Mom, I see a gris y negro one")

Here is Porter playing at the park. There were lots of fun things to play on so obviously he was totally engrossed.

There is sand at most of the parks here and the kids love it, but it's a bit of a pain to clean them up afterwards, especially Bennett who eats it by the handfull.

More pictures...

We are (always) having problems with our camera, so I am trying to take a ton of pictures before I take it in for repair (I'm just sure it'll be in the shop forever and I'll miss Miles whole infancy, so I'm tolerating less than ideal pictures for the time.)

This is one of Bennett's favorite games called "where Miles go?"

Here is the big guy with his first scratch. We are not really sure if it was self inflicted or if he had help durring a particually rough game of "where Miles go".

Maya has been such a great helper. She loves holding him and can get him to sleep pretty well.

Who would have though such a cute little boy could be so onery.

Happy family sweating their butts off in Palmayra

Once an artist always an artist

"What's supposed to be so fun about this place?"

Kickin it at the BEACH!

'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy', so the clan decided to take a break from the headaches of moving and unpacking, and head for the beach.

We even brought baby Miles along and he was a sweaty little angel

Porter couldn't get enough of running in the huge waves (we went the day of a hurricane, so the waves were big and the tide was high)

Bennett was really weirded out by the water and screamed bloody murder anytime anyone tried to get him to play in it, but he LOVED the sand (leave it to an almost 2 year old to enjoy massive amounts of sand in all over)

And Maya just loved it all.

They all had lots of fun, but the beach excursion left me wondering "What was God thinking when he decided to mix SAND, SURF, AND SUN (AKA SWEAT)?"

Baby Elmer #4

So here we are, at the hospital on day number 2 with the new baby. He was born yesterday at 5:58pm the 2nd of August and he weighed 8lbs 13oz and measured in at 22 inches. Amanda did amazingly well, she only pushed once and it was over. We couldn't believe it. Baby Elmer was not by any means small, but not huge like Bennett either. So now we are having a dilemma with naming this poor child. We both have preferences, but we can't agree on either, it may come down to thumb wrestling. I am posting pictures of the new baby and i'd like to hear your comments on our names, and hurry, we only have till tomorrow till we leave the hospital! 

Amanda's name:  Miles Jeffrey Elmer

Casey's (and Maya's) name: Elliot Niels Elmer

Home Alone

I woke up at 3:30 this morning and got my family ready to go to the airport. The kids were real troopers (so excited to go to the Elmer Family Reunion that they didn't even complain about the absurd hour at which they were being awaken).

Casey said the flight with went well (how many dads would take 3 kids on a long flight alone? Or even if they are willing to do that, how many dads would assume full responsibility for those 3 kids for a whole week? I know HE'S AMAZING)

So now I'm wondering what I should do with myself for the next week. It's so weird having only Fraidy as company. I've never been without my children, and it's surprisingly lonely. Don't get me wrong, the are some absolutely wonderful things about it like

• When I set something down I know it'll be there till I move it
• Getting myself ready for church was a snap (I woke up late and still got there on time)
• When I'm doing the dishes from a meal it's super quick
• As I'm working in one room there is no fear of what is happening in the next room
• The project possibilities are endless...

But as always, along with the good comes the bad

• There was no one to greet me, with coloring pages and hugs, when I left my young women's classroom today
• The house is so quiet it's creeping me out
• The cat is kind of driving me nuts
• I haven't heard little Benny say "momma, grampy, truck" in over 12 hours
• Casey wasn't here to tell me how great I look as I got ready for church
• There is no Porter to jingle around the Lego's in the Lego bucket (IT'S JUST TOO QUIET)
• I haven't been able to catch Maya sucking her thumb
• I guess most of all I just miss seeing those cute guys...

But for now I'll just be sitting here with my legs crossed, trying to hold this baby in until daddy gets home.

Now that's one BRAVE girl!

Notice anything different about this little cutie?

Look closely...

It's something small and pink...

She got her ears pierced, and boy does she feel fancy!!!!!!

Maya's cousin Addie has been wanting her ears pierced for a while now, but Maya always said she didn't want hers done "cause it'll hurt, right mommy". I would have been happy for her to be earring free for the rest of her life, but my Aunt Rhonda came to visit this week with her 7 year old daughter, Jenna. Jenna explained the whole ear piercing process to Maya (Jenna just got hers done a few weeks ago) and it really excited Maya. So Maya has continued to ask to have hers done since Jenna left. Yesterday at 4:30 she says "Mom I really want to get my ears pierced today and surprise daddy." So off we rushed to Wal-Mart, where we were told there was only one jeweler who could do piercings so they would have to do one ear, then the other. I had visions of loud screaming, and leaving the store frustrated, with a little girl with only one earring. The jeweler did tell me that if we wait till Tuesday there would be two jewelers and they could do both at once. Maya wouldn't have any of that. After assuring me she would be brave she hopped up onto the chair, hugged her elephant and proceeded to be pierced. They pierced the first ear and she just sat the with a little smirk on her face. I was AMAZED!!! Only 5 years old and not even even a whimper. They they did the next ear, and she hasn't stopped smiling since. I keep catching her touching the ear rings and smiling this really self satisfied smile (oh and she brags about it to everyone she sees).

I haven't posted in a while...

because I haven't taken any pictures in a while. I know that is a pathetic excuse, but its true. I hate posting with out pictures. Some people are interesting enough to get away with this, but not me. In order to get some info out there with out writing a novel I'm just going to make a list of some of the events we've had in the last little while.

• I had my ultrasound and despite my measuring big, the baby is only weighing in at 6lbs 6oz. So no luck with my dreams of a super early induction. He did say he'd be willing to induce me the first week of Aug. so at least I will not go over this time:)
• We got our first zucchini out of our garden (Yummy. I love those guys)
• My mom and grandma, and aunt (plus her two girls) came up for a short visit. Although they were here for less than 24 hours we had a blast. We took the kids to a water park called Buccaneer bay and they all loved it. (here's where I really wish I had pictures)
• One of Casey's co-workers gave us an Amish Friendship Bread starter, and now we're all addicted (I don't think its from very health conscious Amish people)
• We finally got our car situation worked out with the shop that faultily repaired Casey's car (remember the burning bronco?). We were absolutely under compensated, but it's done and I'm relived.
• Porter and Maya finished their two weeks of swim lessons. They always love swimming lessons, but sometimes I wonder how those teachers do it. Maya can be quite the little stinker.
• Bennett has started saying Awesome (where did he learn that word?) along with tons of other words. His vocab. amazes me. Some of his most repeated phrases are "truck grampy backyard", "Asher hair" (his little friend Asher pulled his hair like two weeks ago, and he is unable to forgive and forget) "Stev-o truck" (yes he loves talking about trucks, and luckily he can pronounce it fairly well)
• I got all my freezer jam made. I bought 40 lbs. of strawberry's last week and between me, my sister, and my neighbor we got it all made into jam (in only two days). I amaze myself sometimes.
• Last but not least I drank two mason jars full of strawberry milkshake in one setting (I didn't intend on doing this, but I made two milkshakes, one for me and one for Casey, and when I finished mine and noticed Casey wasn't eating his (I think because I snuck a little banana in it) and I just couldn't let it go to waste). I DO NOT RECOMMEND ATTEMPTING THIS. I was miserably full after this episode of gluttony.

I'm sure now that you have seen how jam packed with excitement our summer has been you will be able to understand why I've been unable to post more frequently (OK, so I'm just lazy).

Incase you forgot...

I'm pregnant right now. All through the later part of this pregnancy the doctors have been telling me "It's going to be another huge baby" (Bennett was 10'5). Even with this constant warning I wasn't think this was too big of a deal (Bennett's birth was way easy), but I went to the doctor yesterday and they measured my belly and said the baby is measuring 39 weeks! (I should only be measuring between 33 and 34 weeks along right now. 40 weeks is when a baby is full grown) So lucky me I get to have another ultrasound. It's always exciting to get a chance to peek in on your baby, but since we are not finding out the gender of baby #4 it's also torture to know all you have to do is ask and the mystery could be solved. Don't worry I'll stay strong.

*the good news is this may mean I'll be induced early! Although I can't be induced too early or Casey will miss it (due to the Elmer family reunion that I can't attend, no i'm not too bitter)

Take me out to the ball game!

T-ball season is upon us, and Porter is our little star. The kids are so cute, and they all do the funniest things. I've never had so much fun watching a baseball game!

Porter is playing T-ball this summer, and seems to really be liking it. He has a difficult time keeping his head in the game, but that could be because his favorite things to do are touch his hat, and fill his glove with dirt.

Look at the power behind that swing!

Here are the little cheerleaders, watching and wishing they could be playing also.

Maya's 5th Birthday Party

We finally got Maya to choose something other than a pony party and what does she choose?Princess? Fairy's? Strawberry Shortcake? NOPE!

It's a SCOOBY DOO theme!

Here are the cupcakes, I think she really liked decorating them herself (with some help from her brother and cousins), and they turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

Here are some of the party guest waiting patiently to get a chance to clobber the pinata.

Here's the birthday girl getting vicious on the pinata, and receiving a birthday smooch from her favorite party guest.

Even though you wouldn't guess it from her party theme's this little girl is pretty darn girly.

Overall it was a real great party. We had a scooby doo mystery for the kids to solve. Someone (Casey dressed up in a transformers mask and poncho) had stolen all the party supplies, and the kids had to get clues to figure out where the supplies were dropped and eventually catch the culprit (who cursed those meddling kids).

It's hard for me to believe my little girl is 5 years old and will be starting kindergarten. I sure love having her around. She is a kid that is full of love, and is not afraid to show it. She's always the first to help someone who is feeling sad, and is quick to notice when someone is having a difficult time. The other day Bennett threw his sippy cup full of red juice on the floor and the lid busted off and juice spilled everywhere. Casey and I both were frustrated with him and Maya just quietly reminded us "Guys, Bennett is just a baby and he doesn't know any better." I sure love that little girl.

Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire

A few months ago we decided Casey really needed a work car, so (being the Nazi that I am) I laid down the law and said it had to be less than $1000. (For those of you who know Casey, you know he needs guidelines like this). Well (I think to spite me) he found the worst car in all of central Indiana and claimed it as his own. This car had no radio, the windows were cracked, there was rust on it, the interior was horrible, the doors didn't lock, the seats didn't stay upright, and there was a whole side panel that was a different color blue than the rest of the car. There was NOTHING nice about this car, but it seemed to be doing the job, until a few weeks ago. It just suddenly stoped running. Casey and my Brother-in-law Stev-o tried to do what they could but couldn't fix it so we took it to the shop. They said there were two problems and the repairs were going to cost almost $500. We paid the shop and I rejoiced that I would finally have a car to drive again. The next morning I get a call from Casey that went something like this

Me: "Hey, what are you doing?"

Casey:"I'm sitting in the back of a Police cruiser watching the bronco BURN!"

Yep, the car was completely engulfed in flames. The police and the fire department were there trying to subdue the flames. Casey had called 911 and as soon as he said his car was on fire the lady said "Oh is it the one on McCormic? We've already gotten a few calls about you." Luckily Casey wasn't hurt, and it seems like the repair shop is going to work with us to make it right, but only time will tell.

*this is not our actual car, Casey took pictures on his cell phone, but I don't know how to get those on my computer.

Camping at Jellystone Park

We've been trying to squeeze a camping trip in for a while now, and we were finally able to go last weekend. It was so great. The kids had a blast and we all enjoyed getting away for a bit. We went to Jellystone Park (Yogie bear was there) in Kentucky and it was so great. It was near Mammoth caves so Casey got to go do a tour of the caves one day, and the campground provided all these great crafts and activities for the kids. The theme for the week was Pirates so we got to make an eyepatch, pirates gold, and go on a treasure hunt.

We rented a golf cart for one of the days we were there and Bennett fell in love with it. He is still asking me to "drive car".

They did a little journal keeping about the experience. I think it is so cute when they concentrate on something educational. It's like I'm tricking them!

Bennett decided the Fire Pit (don't worry it wasn't hot) was a great place to play (of course, it's the one place where he could make the biggest mess in the shortest amount of time).

Porter was having a blast (it's hard to tell with his mister serious face on). It was difficult to get shots of him because he was so busy playing with his cousin Landon.

He did slow down when he heard we were going to have marshmallows. He couldn't wait for the fire to get ready so he dug in and had a few un-roasted.

Maya was a little more patient and had her side kick do the dirty work while she sat and waited.

Sometimes even the most patient campers have to endure difficulties. Lucklie Dad roasted her some good marshmallows and she would just keep hers in the fire untill they melted off the stick and sizzled on the fire logs.

Mr. ON THE GO. Sorry for the blur.

These aren't camping pictures, but Bennett loves playing in the kitty's house, and here they are cuddling together. If only I had as much patience as that cat.

Summer Fun

It's so great being able to have all the kids home during the day. More people to keep the this little 'terror' entertained.

More people to help with the chores. Why is it that once your kids get to a point where they are actually helpful you send them off to school?

More people to enjoy all the aspects of summer with. You can't tell but she was actually spraying over the car and soaking her big brother who was not so happy about the whole thing.

More people to cause mischief and exhaust their poor momma!

Elmer Update

Only a week and a half left of school left, and we can't wait to have Porter home with us every day!!! I think he will be excited to get to sleep in and spend all day playing with his brother and sister.

Maya finished soccer camp and LOVED it. I never would have guessed she'd like it so much. She has also been quite the little helper around here. I don't know what I'll do next year when she is in kindergarten.

This guy has been trouble as usual. He is now climbing out of his crib which brings on a whole hoard of headachs! He's talking up a storm and loves being the center of attention. He adores his Aunt Sarah (everyone always says he should have been a Harward).

We've been keeping up with our compost pile. Mostly filling it with watermellon rines.

And our most exciting news...We've added to our family (temporarly, we can't take her to Boston with us) Fraidy cat Elmer has been a great pet for the kids. She is super patient and very friendly. All the kids are smitten with her and are hopeing Nana and Grampy will take her when we leave so we can still visit her.

I was looking all over for the cat before bed one night, and couldn't find her anywhere. I finally found her curled up snoozing with Porter. I asked him the next day if he knew she had slept with him and he said "yes but that cat was driving me crazy". She's not a good bed buddy!

Happy Mothers Day????

I guess you can say I decided to give my mom a big laugh for mothers day, so I became a BLOND! I really didn't want to post these pictures, but this ones for you mom...

The Bishop and Brother Call were busting a gut laughing up on the stand today and I just had this feeling they were laughing at me, and come to find out they were!!!

I've become one of those people who it's just hard to look away from:) I'm making myself give it a few days to get use to, but I will probably go get some more dark put back in.

Some of the comments from church

-We thought you did it so Bennett wouldn't feel left out.

-Sister Hernandez got a new dress for Mothers Day and Sister Elmer got a new head of hair

-I love it, it makes you sparkel (bless you Sister Seymore)

-Amanda, your hair!

-You must be new in the ward

-I kept trying to figure out who Casey had his arm around

Get Happy!

Porter had a musical called Get Happy a few weeks ago and it was so fun to watch. Here are a few highlights from the show. I apologize for the shaky camera, I was a ways back.

Mystery Baby

Amanda had her 22 week ultra sound on Monday and me and the kids all went to see their new sibling. We have decided that we will keep the sex of this baby a mystery until the day he/she is born. Because of that the kids have suggested that we name the baby 'Mystery' which we laughed at, but it is pretty cute in retrospect.

They have advanced quite aways in technology in just 6 years since Porter was born and we were able to not only see our baby in black and white, but with the flip of a switch, we were able to see him/her in blazing 4-D. It was really cool, even if it did look like it's head was deflated.

As for names, we are getting closer to narrowing it down, which is a miracle as far as I am concerned as Amanda and I both are pretty stubborn about what we like and dislike and quite frequently they are not the same thing. So if Baby Mystery happens to be a boy, he will either be Elliot Niels Elmer and if it happens to be a girl, which were convinced it probably is, she will be Clara Belle Elmer. We like both names alot so were hoping we'll have twins!

Ok, so I am recommitted!

A few months ago I decided we were going to really work on lessening our carbon footprint and we started to recycle (just paper, but hey it's something). Well I never took the massive amounts of paper and cardboard to the recycling plant (I'm too cheep to pay for curbside recycling so I was going to transport it myself) and last week Casey had had enough. He threw away roughly 6 months worth of collected paper products! I really couldn't blame him, but I've decided I'm going to do better. My new goal is to not only find the recycling plant, but also recycle paper/cardboard, and also cans, and plastic. My greater plans for this scheme is to offer to take recyclables to the plant for my neighbors who want to join the effort. Oh yeah, and I'm doing a compost heap. We've been working on one for a while (by working on one, I just mean we throw all our yard waste in a corner of our yard and thats it), but now I'm going to focus on putting more kitchen scraps into it, and mayb mixing it every now and then. I've always been pretty intimidated by the concept, but I'm giving it a try. Any tips would be welcomed:)

Spring Break

YIPPIE! It's our first spring break with a school kid. I'm so excited to have Porter home for a week, but I think Maya might be more excited than I am. I really wanted to plan a bunch of fun stuff for us to do this week, but it seems like this is going to be a colder week than the last. Any fun ideas for us?

I'm as surprised as anyone!

Porter brought me the mail yesterday afternoon and there was a big fat white envelope from Harvard University. As you probably would have guessed, Fat=Good News, so I opened the envelope and found out that I was accepted to Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Next to my mission call, that was the second most exciting white envelope i've ever gotten. I wasn't even expecting it for another few weeks and then I was expecting a rejection letter and I had totally convinced myself that I'd be going to Upenn out of a lack of options and I had been preparing myself for Philadelphia again, which by the way, I would totally do again. So it looks like August is going to be a busy month with the baby coming at the beginning of the month, and then packing everything up and moving at the end of August out to Cambridge, MA! I'm really excited and left poor Amanda to carry the worry burden which she does so effortlessly. Who cares how were going to pay for, were going to HARVARD!

Our baby turns 6!

We've celebrated another birthday in the Elmer house. Porter turned 6 years old and I'm blown away by what an amazing kid he is. I sure love that guy!

Thanks to Grammy and Poppy for the totally stellar suit and Spanish missionary name tag! Porter sure feels fancy going to church now (he's a little show off).

Once again we are having a star wars themed birthday party.

Here's the cake! Probably the least impressive cake ever, but it did the job. The party was so hectic we didn't even get the candles lit.

It's chow time, but the birthday boy can't stop playing long enough to eat.

Here's the party guest. I think we ended up with 14 kids there. I was really surprised how many kids showed up. We were out of town the Sunday before so we were not able to get invitations to his church friends, so all these kids are from school.

Here's Porter with his aunt Hanny who spoiled him with LEGOS.


Here is Nana who also spoiled him with LEGOS and smooches.

And the highlight of the party was Grampys magic act (all using 'jedi mind tricks' and the 'force' of course). Although in all actuality I think the parents were more impressed with the magic show. Thanks Grampy!

It's still working!

So far so good. It seems like the camera is working perfectly. I do continue to have issues with the blur factor, but I think that comes from my refusal to use the flash, and am hopeful that outdoor summer pictures will be just the cure!

It's been a pretty uneventful week!

Bubble Bearded Boy

Bubble Bearded Baby

Rough and tumble little girl