Visiting with Santa

                                 Here is Angela with Santa

                                   Christopher looking good.

                              And Kirsten with her cheesy grin. What a ham.

Angela is going to public school

This has been a rough and challenging year for Angela. With the birth of Elizabeth to one of Angela's close friends and neighbors moving to Aunt Shanna coming home from her mission. On the first day of November Angela tells me she wants to go back to public school. Mostly because she wants friends and I have on occasion forgoten to mark her lessons. It took awhile for there to be room for her as just until recently the 5th grade classes at Tendoy Elementary were all full. Finally I got a call from the secretary telling me that there is a open spot. Angela was so excited to go pick out a new back pack in preparation for school. I am also looking forward to spending more time with just Kirsten and Elizabeth.

So with this change coming, I ask myself do I regret home schooling my kids? At first I thought yes, but after thinking it through no I don't regret it at all. There are things and lessons that neither I or my kids wouldn't have learned. Since this blog entry is about Angela, I will say I would not have learned how gifted and talented in the area of learning she is. She excels at History, Reading, Science, and Math. She more then often finishes her school work in less then 3 hours. I must also remind myself that she may not have become so accomplished in these subjects had she not been at home doing her lessons with the Idaho Virtual Academy. SO that in and of itself made it all worth it for her during the last 2 1/2 years. There is also a time and place I believe for public school. Kids do need that interaction with other kids their age. Especially when they get into the 6th grade and beyond. I was going to put her back in public school in the 6th grade anyway. So when she came to me expressing interest in returning early I thought it's only a year earlier then planned. Not a big deal. I shall have to say I will miss Angela being here with me at home. Good Luck Angela. I love you more then you will ever know. Go make some friends.

A New Look

Angie and I decided to donate our hair to locks of Love. Trina Rowe was good enough to cut our hair to do so. I had to talk myself into it because I was so used to it being long.

Here I am in my before picture.

Here is Angela's before picture.

Here we are in our after Picture. Ken thinks the shorter hair makes me look slimmer. I just know for Angie this will make it much easier for her to fix in the morning. Sometimes it's nice to change things up a bit don't ya think?

Elizabeth's blessing

We blessed Elizabeth on the 20th of November. She looked so cute in her blessing dress.
Mommy holding her.
This pictures of Elizabeth is so cute. I love the expression on her face.
Grandma Tennant enjoyed holding her.
Of course Angela had to hold her little sister.
Grandpa Tennant holding Kirsten. They have a unbreakable bond. Can't you just see it in their faces?
Grandma Hubbard holding Elizabeth.
What a cutie. Love this baby of mine.
Samantha Melissa Griffin Grandma Hubbard Abby watching Sam's baby after the dinner wound down.

Halloween

So it's time to do a little catch up on the ole blog. Here are pictures of the kids wearing their Halloween costumes.

AMAZING Time at the Swore Farm Corn Maze

As part of a Idaho Virtual Academy activity Angela got to go to the Swore Farm and go through the corn Maze. Here they are at the entrance of the Maze.

Kirsten was so excited to go again. She helped us navigate our way through.
"Here all the pumpkins" Kirsten told us. She was thrilled to show us how big they all are.
My two cute girls in the John Deere Tractor. Grandpa Hubbard would be proud.
And how cute is a cow named Kirsten and a farmer named Angela? Love my girls.

We all love holding Elizabeth

Ken is such the ever loving father. I love these pictures of him with Elizabeth.
A close up of our sweet baby. She is only 5 days old here.
And of course I had to get all four of them together. Aren't they cute?
Angie holding her sister
Christopher
And of course we have Kirsten with her baby sister.
And you just have to have Mommy holding her.
Kirsten loved siting with Grandpa Downey.
Here is Grandpa and Grandma Downey holding Elizabeth.
And let's not forget my mom. She stayed with us for a week. I almost forgot to take this picture. I love them all

Shanna Returning from her Mission

These are some pictures taken at the Grand Junction Airport when Shanna came home from her mission. I think the pictures tell it all.

Shanna hugging her parents for the first time in over 18 months. I love this picture. You can just see the emotion. 

Shanna kissing Grandpa Downey. Such a tender moment.

Shanna hugging her older brother David. She didn't even know he would be there.

Shanna gave Mike and Cheryl lays made from fresh flowers. And of  course Kirsten had to be in the picture too.

Recent pictures of Elizabeth Jane

This is a collage of the pictures that were taken of Elizabeth when she was only 5 days old. A friend in our ward Catherine Auger took the picture. We thought they were adorable.

Kirsten's Preschool Field Trip

On October 5th, 2011, Kirsten had a field trip with her preschool class out to the Swore Farms located north of Chubbuck, Idaho. They had a corn maze filled with trivia questions used to direct people through the maze. After getting through the maze, the kids were allowed to go and choose pumpkins for themselves.

Kirsten had a great time as she would lead for a while through the maze. She did not know what the signs said, but she would look at the directions of the arrows on the trivia cards and choose a direction that way. Sometimes her method would work, but other times, Dad would have to intervene.

Entrance to the corn maze

Kirsten by a trivia sign

The sign should say it all.

These pumpkins where huge.

Kirsten choosing pumpkins

Announcing the Birth of Elizabeth Jane Tennant

I went into labor at 4:00am in the morning on September 30, 2011. I knew it was the real thing when the contraction didn't let up and came every 5 minutes. An hour later I woke up Ken and we got dressed and went on a walk around the parking lot of the church near our house.

About 2 1/2 hours later we called our midwife Michelle Bartlett. The kids woke up shortly after that. We then wrote an email to Christopher's teacher letting her know he wouldn't be in school that day as he wanted to be there when his sibling was born.

Ken found it amusing at me as I put make up on while coping with the ever more serious contraction. Yes it took 3 times at long, but I wanted to look nice for the pictures that would be taken after our baby was born. He also found it amusing again as I fixed Kirsten's hair for the same reason. While I fixed Kirsten's hair she looked up at me once in a while wondering why I would pause during the time I curled her hair to breath the contractions. Valerie our midwife's assistant walked in while I was fixing Kirsten's hair and also thought it was a funny sight.

Later our friend, Robyn Allgood, came whom we asked to help out with the labor and to take pictures after the baby was born came. She cooked Ken and I breakfast to give us both some needed energy, especially since labor was becoming more difficult. Because of Ken's amusement and grinning over fixing Kirsten's hair and doing my hair, I would burst out in laughter too. This in turn made Robyn, Michelle and Valerie laugh as well. I'm sure they thought I was a little crazy. I mean come on who laughs during labor?

Well, a little while later, I labored more in my bedroom. It got to the point where I felt like laying down on the bed to relax as the contractions were getting quite intense. What took me completely by surprise was shortly after I laid on the bed my water broke. This caused both Ken and I to make a mad dash to the birthing tube that Ken had filled the previous night.

As soon as I got in the water, I started to laugh again. This again made everyone else laugh all over again. This went on for what seemed like a few minutes, but was really around 45 minutes. Finally Michelle asked me to get on my hands and knees and breathe through the contraction and let them do the work. I would know when I needed to push and she was right.

It wasn't long before I knew it was defiantly time to push. After about 5 minutes she was out and Ken handed her to me. I was very eager to find out the gender of the baby. The cord was between her legs so at first glance I thought she was a boy. After a closer look saw that she was in fact a girl. It was a very fun surprise. I felt nothing more then shear elation over the whole ordeal. The joy that only comes through giving birth. Elizabeth curled up on my chest like she knew I am her mom. It was a priceless moment. The other 3 kids watched the scene unfold and were pleased as can be to meet their new sister. Ken was just as surprised and happy as I was.

I stayed in the water until the cord was ready to be cut and I was able to breast feed Elizabeth. After which the Michelle and her assistant Valerie helped me dry off and get into bed with Elizabeth. Shortly after this, Valerie weighed and measured her. I guess that she would be 8 pounds 10 ounces. Michelle, Valerie, and Ken were all amazed to find that I was right. She was also 22 inches long with a head measurement of 14.25 inches.

Anyway the expercie was very joyful and here are some picutes of it. This was by far one of the best birthing experiences I have had. Truly to me one of God's miracles.

Kirsten's 1st week at Preschool

Here is Kirsten being so excited to go to school. She was a little hesitant at first but she is ready now.
And of course she had to show off her new Princess back pack that she picked out herself. She is styling here.
Here she is on her second day posing with her teacher Miss Jen as the Kids call her. On Tuesday she learned about the letter A and the sound it makes and today she was read the story of Johnny apple seed. I think this will be a great year. Look at the excitement on her face. Yea for learning.

Kirsten's self inflicted hair cut

Well Kirsten decided while no one was watching to cut her own hair. From the picture you can see the damage to her bangs. What the picture doesn't show is how short she cut the side of her hair. It was cut above her ear. Only one way to fix it unfortunately.
Yup we had to get it cut even. My friend Trina Rowe was nice enough to cut it. It's just too bad it had to be cut so short. When I asked Kirsten why she cut it all she said was"I wanted to look like a boy." I blame it on the fact that Ken gave himself and Christopher a hair cut. So Kirsten must have felt left out to the point that she wanted it cut that short too. Now I have the challenge of making her not look like a boy until it grows out again. Silly girl. Oh well Hair grows right? Too bad it grows at such a slow rate. Sigh.

Christopher's Baptism

We were so proud of Christopher for making the decision to be baptized. Here he is with Ken and I. I love his smile.

The whole family came out to celebrate the occasion with us with a dinner following the baptism. All of my sibling except Alex and Eli came. Thank you for supporting us in this event. Family is the best.

Here is the five of us. Ken Me Christopher, Angela, and Kirsten.