Emmie Sue

Emily found a BYU wig at Grandma's house (I think it's Aunt JB's) but she sure had fun wearing it, and other random accessories. Notice the shoes (and kindly ignore the lack of pants. Thank you)

We took Emily in for her 18 month check up and happened to mention to the Dr that she holds a pencil/crayon correctly - on her own. The doctor had never seen an 18 month old do that. I suspect at least part of that is because most people wouldn't bring it up. As far as we know, no one coached her on that - and even her older siblings aren't really good at how they hold crayons. We're not sure how it started, but we decided to get proof anyways.

I first noticed that she drew that way on one of those magnetic drawing toys that Shelly got for Christmas. She's since branched out to other drawing methods...


I'm not sure who did her hair that day. I have suspicions that she was abducted by aliens in her sleep who sent her back with that strange crooked water spout looking thing...

Dancing Snowman?

After the defeat of having Becca and Bryan build a bigger snowman than us the last time, Mark decided it was for a re-match. Since neither party knew either time that there was a competition, it made winning for both sides easier. They won the first round, but Mark took the second - although I think he might have had to bend a few rules of snowman making...

The kids wanted to make their own snowmen. I'm not sure if you can see the small one to the right of the big one in front of the tree. That one was Jason's. Shelly jumped on hers (leaf pile style) The remnants are in front of the dog (who you also can't really see to the right of the small still-standing snowman)

Here's Shelly with her 'big' snowman.


Apparently it's a 'Dancing Snowman'...

The Russian-ish hat? Pretty sure that's not covered in the official family-snowman-building-competition-that-the-other-party-doesn't-know-about handbook (that doesn't really exist - really makes it easy for that not to be in there doesn't it?) The arms to help pull off the whole 'dancing' thing though...

Shelly's Prayer

Shelly's prayer tonight: 'Please help Emmie-Sue to not wake up during the night so I don't have to sing her a song when I'm too tired'. Says quite a bit about last night... :-)

The kids all started out the night on the floor together, and Emily didn't sleep well. Shelly was good to her. I didn't even know they were up.

Grandpa Comes for a Visit

We had a fun rare opportunity to have Grandpa Gardner come and visit. The kids always love playing with him, and I'm pretty sure Grandpa enjoys playing with the kids too.

Trying to not let Grandpa catch them


It's a great way to play with the kids. Sit on the floor and let them run! Brilliant!

Grandpa trying to 'catch' the kids with the blanket

Emily wanted to join, but only sort of. Mostly she just wanted a share of the attention. I'm loving the one leg up, one leg down look she's got going on...