All Emmalee

Emmalee is wonderful when she is good, and a huge handful when she isn't :)

She loves to take care of Benjamin!

Sister Brienna, Emmalee, and cousin Jennica

Traveling in the van.

Time with Uncle Ken

I'm not sure what she is doing--just that she doesn't like to wear her pants very often.

After bath--in her princess jammies.

Bath time--first bath with Benjamin. She was excited to be able to take a bath with him!

Emmalee's first experience with a lemon.

She ate it for about 10 minutes, and then decided that she didn't like it.

And she drank and drank a lot of water, ate some crackers, and still had that "yellow" taste in her mouth :)

Playing outside in a hole the boys dug.

She loves to play in the dirt with the boys.

And she doesn't care how much dirt and mud she brings in the house. That is, until she has cleaned the floors. Then she will throw a fit if any dirt comes in!

So cute :) She will play outside (with the boys) until we drag them inside.

Watching a movie on Mom & Dad's bed.

Playing with play dough (that Brienna made). Notice the red cheeks--she had a cold.

Playing with her dominoes (while the rest of us played Mexican train with Brienna's dominoes).

Poor Emmalee had a runny, runny nose for a few days.

She didn't want this picture taken.

We love our Emmalee!

All Benjamin

I'm going to try to post lots and lots of pictures of my children--starting with the youngest.

Benjamin--almost 5 months old.

He's starting to push way up on his arms. And sometimes on his knees--but never at the same time.

His Superman pose.

All those push-ups tired me out :)

First time in the big bathtub. He had a death-grip on the bath ring for the first 10 minutes. But overall, he enjoyed it.

I couldn't get him to smile for me, though. He sure looks adorable!!!

Freedom after the bath!!

Benjamin loves to be sitting up--and doesn't like to be on the ground for more than 15 minutes or so.

Aunt Pamela

Such a happy baby!

Where Have I Been???

Where have I been? Well, from the last blog, you can see we had a snow storm over the weekend, so I spent the snow day (Monday) with the children. It was a nice "lazy" day. Actually, the older children each did a load of laundry, and Callum did the dishes :)

But last week got away from me, and so here are some of the reasons I was away.

Pack Meeting:

This is Callum in front of his invention (being a builder from "When I Grow Up).

I had to start pack meeting early so I could leave early (while the boys were in the middle of a project) so we could go to.....

Ethan's induction into the National Honor Society.

He desperately needed a haircut :) He hates getting his picture taken, so I took full advantage of this opportunity!!!

Our small school hasn't had the NHS for over 10 years, so it was nice to get it back!

Wow--a smiling photo. Alright--this was really a pose for the yearbook picture, but luckily I was right next to the yearbook camera!

from left to right: Ethan, Reese K., Mrs. Wagoner, Chrissy M., Heath Wagoner, Lana B., and Bodie M.

Saturday was a full day of Little Bobcat Basketball--the final games and Hoop Shoot :)

Ethan is in the "zebra" shirt to the left, and Callum is the shortest one on the court.
Callum looks so little, trying to shoot at the full-sized basket. He has the patience and perseverance to keep trying, and never giving up.

This is where he shot his free-throws. He finally hit the net on 2 of his shots. He will get stronger and one day will make the basket!
Callum placed 11th. The nice thing is, this program is free, the kids learn basic basketball skills, and all the children received prizes and treats.

Zane shot from the regular free-throw line, and came in 5th place over all.

Zane is an excellent free-throw shooter, and he is amazing at making 3-pointers (already--5th grader!). He will be a great asset to the Jr. High team next year (yikes--I can't believe he will be in Jr. High!)

We got home about 1:30 (on Sat.) from the tournament, ate lunch, and then I gave everyone (except for Brienna) haircuts. I even trimmed my bangs and thinned my thick, thick hair. All the boys look sharp--but I'm not sure if I have any pictures of them yet!

After haircuts, we worked on cleaning the house. I was a "mean, mean mama" and "forced" my children (especially the boys) to help me clean the house for 1 whole hour. Can you believe that? Making the children clean something other than their rooms--and for that long--60 whole minutes!

Then Brienna and I dashed off to the church to watch the Young Women's Broadcast. I am glad we attended--it was uplifting and refreshing.

So--that's why I haven't posted very often the last few days.

Oh--and one more reason. I have been working on (and finally finished it today) book #3 "Eclipse" in the Twilight series.

Snow Day?

School was cancelled today--because of the weather.

Now, I didn't get up at 5:30 am (when the phone call came) and take any pictures, but here is a picture at 2 pm:

It is in the shadow, so the new snow hasn't melted, but most of the other has melted.

There was wind during the night, and we do have 2 bus routes going more than 10 miles out in the mountains.

Yesterday was a blizzard--it was awful trying to get to the van after church. But this morning, it has been sunny here in town. It was windy this morning out of town so I guess the roads were quite bad--bad enough to close the interstate north of us to the Montana state line.

I called my piano students and had everyone come early so I could be done for the day. They all live out by the church, and they said they almost got stuck leaving their home. They got a lot of blowing and drifting snow. Luckily, we didn't get that in town :)

And so we had a sunny, snow day today!

Classified Ad, Part 2

Please list the following ad under the "Lost and Found" section:

Found: My voice! (well, it's a bit raspy, but it's my voice!!!)

When: Late Wednesday morning

Reward: Many words of thanks and gratitude. My middle child (well, #3) was not at all pleased that it was back. He didn't think 5 days was long enough. I think he would offer an award for my voice to be lost again (possibly even his Nintendo DS?)

Thanks to all who looked high and low for it.

I love the pre-school age--with all the cute observations, questions, and comments. This morning my Emmalee asked me, "Mom, are you yelling your whisper?" So I guess I am back to yelling :)


Joy, Joy, Joy!!!

Classified Ads

Please list the following ad under the "Lost & Found" section:

Lost: My Voice!

When: early Saturday morning (or possibly Friday during the night)

Description: Active from pre-dawn mornings until way into the wee hours of dark. Sometimes very loud (alright--yelling), but has a loving toneation at most times.

Favorite phrases:
Love ya!
Because I said so.
Because I am the mom.
I don't have to have a reason.
Hurry up or you'll be late!
Love ya!
Stop it right now.

If found: Treat w/TLC. Teach it to always say positive, kind words. Fill it with expressions of gratitude and love. (Maybe you can hold on to it for a day or two longer--I kind of like having my children coming close to me and looking at my face when I talk to them. And I haven't yelled for 5 days now!)


Reward: Words of thanks and gratitude. I'm sure my children would pay you NOT to return my voice, but I kinda like it :)

Besides, we didn't get to finish our spring cleaning because of the icky sicky bug that swept through our family. Do you know how hard it is to keep clapping your hands to get every one's attention? Then you have to whisper commands--put that here, no there, no--just get rid of it! It has been torture not being able to bark out commands from one room into another room. But on the other hand, I have seen my children much, much more since losing my voice! (since we have to be face-to-face to communicate at all).