House Guests....

Lucy, the sweetest little dog I have ever met! She let the girls carry her around all day, wrap her up in blankets, and dress her up!

Whiskey, the father of the other two. I think he's second in command after Missy! His name should be "the Urinator"!

Bamboo, the cutest of the bunch! He's a little character but has found peace and quiet hiding behind the plants nearest the house!

So, these adorable little furballs are our latest house guests! Dustin's co-worker is deploying and his wife is heading home to Viet Nam for 2 and a half months. We are babysitting these pups while she's gone. While things seem to be okay right now, I wasn't thinking so last night or throughout most of the day. Missy doesn't really like other dogs and they worked it out among themselves today who was in charge. I don't know for sure what the outcome of that debate is, however, the barking, nipping, growling, peeing, hiding, chasing, sniffing, and rescuing seem to be behind us for the most part! I think it may work out after-all! It's been quite the day, but I think we'll just have to get used to having 4 dogs!

Back to the Beach II!

Here are our other beautiful children last Thursday.

Biloxi Beach

Biloxi, Mississippi

Back to the Beach!

Thursday evening Dustin went to fill an assignment at the Bishop's Storehouse so I bribed the kids with a night of swimming if they would humor me with some beach photos. My goal was to get one good photo of all 4 kids. Ambitious, I know. I mean, really, did I really think I was going to get all four kids to even look at the camera at the same time? Honestly, I did, but it didn't happen! I did get some pretty good photos of the children individually that I am really pleased with so it wasn't a total loss. And the evening at the Natatorium was fun, too. I think for the group shot I am going to have to stick with the back yard and make sure Dad is home to help wrangle! Here are the photos of just Jenna. No, I did not ask her to pose. All I asked for was a smile. :)

Base Egg Hunt

Saturday morning we hit the road early to make it to the Base easter egg hunt. The boys and dad had been camping the night before and they made it home just in time to head to the base. We got there right on time for a quick parade and then the egg hunt. My kids were worried that it would be like that awful egg hunt in Great Falls two years ago when our whole family only got one egg which, luckily had 3 tootsie rolls in it! I couldn't believe they even remembered it, but they did. There was no need to worry, that's for sure! There were three age divisions completely separate from one another and plenty of eggs for everyone. I was happy they all had a good time.

Coloring Easter Eggs

Here are the kids coloring their Easter eggs. They always have such a good time at this. We always do it outside, just in case, and it's a good thing, too! Mom was the one to spill this year. I went and tipped the whole cup of blue dye over- right after I told the kids to be careful and before we had even started dying eggs! Oops! Good thing I also made 2 complete sets of dye cups! Surprisingly, Jenna raced through all her eggs in a flash and the boys were very careful and took their time. Jeff was especially careful and tried mixing several different color combinations. Now I have to figure out what to do with 3 dozen hard boiled eggs when Dustin and Henry are the only ones who like them!

Sprinkler Fun!

Jenna at Eastertime

Kelsey at Eastertime

Strawberry Jam

A couple of weeks ago we passed a man selling strwberries from the back of his truck in a parking lot on the way to and from school. I think I passed him for 3 or 4 days before the temptation was just too strong. I had to buy me some fresh strawberries! I have many fond memories of my mom in the kitchen canning all kinds of wonderful things. I canned several things when we lived in Georgia, but then we moved to Montana where most of the fruit is shipped in and I took a break from canning. This was the first strawberry jam I had made since I was about 12 years old. I had to call my mom several times for tips and tricks! I also had to go and buy all kinds of canning tools that I had gotten rid of, so this turned out to be some expensive jam. It's super yummy, though, and totally worth it!

Congrats to the boys!

Here are the boys with their quarterly awards. We are so proud of the boys and all of their hard work. Henry always does well, depsite the fact that a lot of his schoolday is spent driving his teacher, Mrs. Davis, absolutely bonkers! You gotta love Henry! I just wonder how much more he could do if he'd just quit messin' around. :) Jeff is an amazing young man. Even though his patch makes him legally blind he has pulled his Cs and Ds, which happened right after the patching began in November (he had very high marks prior to that), to straight Bs! I couldn't believe it! Wow! We are so pleased. He has an IEP in place and great teachers working with him everyday. He is really growing under the new program. It helps that Ms. Tootle always has all kinds of treats and trinkets in her room, too! Whatever works! The boys also received their perfect attendance awards. Jeff hasn't missed a day all year! Woohoo! I am so proud of my boys!