Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation

This past sunday was the Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation in our branch at church. This happens every year about this time. However this year was different because I got to plan the whole thing. Not an exciting task for someone with my limited musical background. I was called as the second counselor in our Primary last year. In a branch this means that you also get to be the music instructor during sharing time. It was somewhat of challenge getting all of the kids to know the songs well enough to preform them in front of the congregation. I wish I had a picture. They all did a fabulous job. Each child had their own talk to give and they even sang individual parts for the song "Follow the Prophet" Some of them were a little soft but they all did it and I am so proud of them for what they have learned and accomplished.

Joy School

Nicole, Ryan and I started Joy School this year.

We start our school time off with circle time which usually includes our school house (it has pictures of each of the kids in the windows), weather chart, calendar, and songs. So far it hasn't lasted too long because Ryan has a habit of trying to crumple or rip anything placed in front of him.

Next we do an activity like playdough where I can strap Ryan down in a chair. This part works a little better for us. Ryan is contained and Nicole's hands are active. This is when I try to to talk to them about the lesson. We like short lessons.

Last week we went on a circle hunt. It was lots of fun Nicole and I discovered lots of circles in our house. Ryan discovered some shoes(It's a favorite past-time of his)

First Day of School

First Day of School 2007


First Day of School 2008

The years go by too quickly sometimes...

Kaite's Baptism

Katie turned 8 this year. We had her baptism on Aug. 23rd, 2008. It was held in the morning at our Stake Center in Reading. It was a great day. Lots of friend from our church were there and Grandma and Grandpa Wilson were also able to be there. I am so grateful for my sweet husband who holds the priesthood rightously. Because he holds those sacred keys to the priesthood he was able to baptize Katie. It was such a sweet moment. I love my family.

Fireworks at the Mall

We were going to have a picnic dinner on the National Mall with our friends John and Kate. We had planned on picnicing and waiting for the fireworks. However, when we left the hotel it was raining. So we had our picnic at Subway and waited for the rain to stop. Once it stopped we walked down to the mall and hoped for the best. The kids had a great time runing around for a little bit. Nicole busied herself meeting everyone within a 1 mile radius of our picnic blanket. Ryan went in search of anyting with a round shape that he could throw. Katie was tackling John and Kate was capturing the whole thing on film! Needless to say we didn't get a lot of time to chat.
Then it started to rain. We hoped it would stop but it was not to be. The rain started pouring through our little tarp. Although the kids looked happy we knew it would not last long. We packed up and said goodbye to our friends and headed back to the hotel. We had just enough time to clean up before we headed up to the roof of our hotel to see the fireworks display. It had stopped raining just long enough for a fabulous fireworks display.

4th of July in Washington D.C.

We took a trip to Washington D.C. over the 4th of July. It was great to be in our Nation's capitol on the 4th of July.
We met our good friend Johnny B there and he joined us for the day. We started the day with the D.C. parade. The kids loved the parade.

Nicole and Katie smiled their way to the front of the crowd and had front row seats on the curb of the street!
Of course what is 4th of July without snow cones?
After the parade we had lunch on the mall and headed to the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum. We saw an awesome 3-D I-max film on Dinosaurs. In hindsight it may have been a little bit scary for Nicole and Ryan. They were cuddled up pretty close to Mom and Dad. They don't seem to be having re-curring nightmares about dinosaurs eating them so I guess it wasn't too bad.
We couldn't leave the museum without seeing the butterfly exhibit. There were lots of neat butterflys and one even landed on Katie's head. The kids really enjoyed the butterfly house.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

The entire time we were in Washington D.C. Nicole was singing this song. It took me a little bit to figure out what she was singing but it is definately Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Thanks to my new camera I was able to catch it on video as she ran around the pizza playground singing at the top of her lungs!