Blast from the past

I was watching some of our videos from a while ago. (O.K. a long time ago). I can say that because I can't believe how fast my family is growing up (and we have a LOT of videos).
This one is of Elsa when she was 4 years old. (I guess it wasn't too long ago). I decided to share it with all of you because she is so funny. In this video, we're at Legoland and she is driving? the little lego cars. She is having a hard time keeping her foot on the pedal and steering at the same time. Anyway, here is the little movie. Don't worry if you don't find it adorable and hilarious as I do. I understand that I might find MY own child more funny and cute than someone else would think of her. I'm rambling now......here it is....Actually I uploaded this one of Abby playing peek-a-boo at Disneyland while we were waiting for the parade to start. She was so cute! The video of Elsa wouldn't upload for some reason. (maybe it is too long). I'll try to upload it to you tube first. Anyway....here's Abby....

Will miracles never cease?!

About a week ago, we were all sitting and watching a movie one Friday night. While we watched, I painted Abby's finger and toe nails. She loved it so much that when I was done she asked her Dad if she could paint his nails. To my surprise he let her. He even let me take this picture. What a good Dad! I guess the power of Dad and daughter is BIG! The song by The Cranberries, "You got me wrapped around your finger" runs through my mind as I think about this.
BTW, Do you love Abby's tongue? She does that when she concentrates. (She gets that from the Singer side.)

Happy 2010!

I know it's been 2010 for a while now, and I am just now updating our blog. I've been pretty busy trying to get our house de-junked. (I still have a long way to go.) Anyway, I had a few minutes, while the kids are sleeping, to blog. So here we go.

For New Years Eve, we had a pretty fun evening. We had pita pockets and all the fixings for dinner, then did fondue. (My favorite). We dipped pretzels, bananas, strawberries, and marshmallows in milk chocolate and white chocolate. MMMM, YUMMY! We also watched one of our new movies we got for Christmas. Monsters vs. Aliens. It was fabulous and we all had fun together as a family. So now here are the pictures to prove it...

Then, of course, we also had cookies and this really yummy pumpkin spice cake. No wonder the kids were able to stay up for the New Year. Well, actually Elsa was the only one who fell asleep before midnight. She did, however, make it until about 11:30 or so. Then Abby zonked out next around 12:15 and then the boys went to bed after the movie was over at 1:00. Needless to say we ALL slept in the next morning.

Our Christmas

On Christmas Eve, when we're are with Clint's family or just by ourselves, we usually will have pizza for Christmas Eve. It was a tradition carried on from Clint's family. I liked it because it was one less thing for me to do on that day to get ready for Christmas. Well, this year we decided that it might be fun to make our own pizza instead of buying it. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it because I knew that I would be the only one in the kitchen making it. Well, as it came closer to the time that we were to make it, I thought of different ways to involve the kids and Clint to ensure that I was not the only one doing all the work. Everyone was happy to help and we all had a blast making our pizza's. A supreme for Clint and me, and a pepperoni for the kids. It turned out a little doughy in the middle, but still was pretty good. Next time I'll leave it in the oven a little longer. Anyway, we then cleaned up the kitchen and then proceeded with our little Christmas program. We sang Christmas songs from the childrens primary song book. Then, the girls and myself told the story of Jesus with the flannel board. I don't know how much of it they actually understood, because they both had to put on equal number of pieces. It was a little chaotic, but Clint and I managed to help the kids understand some of the story. Then the kids opened their p.j.'s (another tradition), then since it was really late, they went to bed before Santa passed by our house because they were not asleep. Well, Christmas morning came and Yes, Santa did come! The kids came in to our bedroom and wanted to go out and see what Santa brought them. I love seeing the anticipation on their little faces. They lined up in the hallway from youngest to oldest. Then, I went out to turn on the Christmas lights on the tree. Then told them it was o.k. to come out now. We all had a wonderful Christmas and thanks to Grandma and Papa, and all their Aunts and Uncles, the kids were spoiled this year. We truly appreciate our family! Here are some pictures of our holiday....

The picture in the middle is the kids and their new p.j.'s. The girls liked their's despite the look on their faces. The boys got cool boomerangs from Abby and Mom that we made with Clint's help. (They drew their names this year.) The girls got got jewelry boxes that Dallin and Elsa made with the help of their Dad. (Dallin drew Elsa's name and Elsa drew Abby's.) Calvin had Clint's name and he made him a coupon book.
Thanks to Ebay and Walmart Dallin got and Leapfrog Crammer, Calvin got a Leapfrog Didj, Elsa also got a Didj, but pink, and Abby got a princess oven that cooks with cool air. It's pretty cool. (No pun intended). The Crammer and Didj's are handheld video games that help them learn while they're playing. They love them and I love them because I can plug them into the computer and track their learning. Also they can put they're spelling lists, or math lessons right on the didj's and they will go right into the game. Awesome! Another great thing about them is they're WAY cheaper than Nintendo DSi's. I love that they love them. Calvin got a Star Wars and Indiana Jones game and Elsa got a Super Chicks game.
The boys got their tools and toolboxes finally. We got them last year and forgot to give them to them, so we saved them for this year. They loved them. The kids also got the movie "Aliens in the Attic". Clint and I thought it would be a low budget film. We were wrong, it was pretty good and FUNNY. The kids were pretty excited to get it. Thanks Aunt Lisa. The girls got Playmobiles that we've had for a long time and managed to hide all this time from the kids. They loved them. Well, we had a memorable Christmas and we all can't wait for the next one. Stay tuned for our New Years Eve!

So much to post.....

As I was doctoring up our photos in Picnik, I realized that I never actually did a post to show you the Christmas dresses for the girls.

I got a Hanna Anderson catalogue in the mail a couple months ago and they had the cutest sweater dresses for prices a little above our price range. So I thought, "Hey, I could probably make these, Yeah, I could make these." So with the help of a couple blogs which posted about repurposing sweaters, (I love the internet) I set to work. It took 1 day to complete both dresses and they were only $3 each. (I got the sweaters at D.I.)Abby's turned out a little too big, but that's o.k. she will be able to wear it longer.

Our Year in Review 2009

First, let me say that we hope that all is well with every one of you who are reading this. We truly hope you are doing well.
I guess I'll start with Abby. She is our little "firecracker". She makes us laugh and crazy all in the same day. She is full of energy and imagination. You never know what will come out of that girls mouth, but whatever she says will either make you laugh or make you go "Oh, my goodness! What did you do?" Like the time when she decided to cut her own hair. Many of you remember that post. Or just the other day she was playing with Elsa and we heard her say, "What is your name, dude?" Or when she plays "house" with her Mom and she proclaims that she is the mom and her Mom is the baby. Then proceeds to play the part and expects her Mom to as well. Abby just turned 4 in September and we can't believe that she is going to go to kindergarten next year. She is growing up so fast and so smart. She loves being a Sunbeam and loves all of her little friends in her class. She is pure joy to have in our family and we are glad she came to us.
Elsa is in 1st grade and is doing so well. She still hasn't said anything to her teacher or her classmates, but that doesn't stop her from making friends and participating in class. She has 3 little friends that love her and treat her as if she talked. Her teacher was telling me that one day she was watching them talk and they carried on a conversation with Elsa as if she was talking to them. At school Elsa is quiet, but at home it's another story. She is going to be 7 in February and she does not let any of us forget it. She is very imaginative and creative in everything she does. She also loves to draw and write stories and poems and is pretty good at it. We love Elsa and are so glad she is part of our family.
Calvin is 9 years old and in 3rd grade. He loves school and is in the gifted and talented program. He has a good teacher this year who is willing to challenge him which is such a relief to his Mom and Dad. (They had a hard time with Dallin and his teachers.) Anyway, Calvin is working on his Bear in Cub Scouts and is loving it. Although he would never admit it, he loves his sisters and brother a lot. When the school year started, Elsa needed help to find her dot where her class lines up to go to class. I secretly watched as Calvin took Elsa by the hand and showed her where her dot was. Also, there were a couple days when I let them walk to school together. I also secretly watched as they walked hand-in-hand to school. Calvin, is such a sweet and sensitive little spirit and we are lucky to have him as part of our family.
Dallin is 10 1/2 years old. He is in 5th grade. Yes! You read right. We have a 5th grader on our hands. He is home schooling with Nevada Connections Academy this year. As I said in Calvin's paragraph, we had quite a time trying to get Dallin's teachers, in years past, to challenge him. This school is working out great for him and he is loving it. It is still is hard to get him to stick to a task, but when he does, he does a great job. He is a Webelos scout and loving every bit about it. He has his Webelos badge and is now working towards his Arrow of Light. He loves his brother and sisters. He loves the gospel and tries his best to be a good example to his siblings. We love Dallin and are glad he is in our family.
Britta is still the Assistant Cub Master. She loves being in Cub Scouts with her boys. She is also the teacher of the Valiant 12 class and loves to teach those kids as they go from primary to young men and young women's. She is a busy wife and mother and loves to do digital scrapbooking, sewing, crafts in her spare time. She loves the Gospel and loves her sweet husband and children.
Clint has been working for American Asphalt and Grading for almost 7 years. He was just recently laid off and is currently looking for work. We are confident that with his skills and knowledge of his field he will find a good job soon. He is still serving as the Young Mens President and loving it. He loves to go on camp outs, hiking trips, mountain biking trips, etc with the Boys Scouts. He just went out to shoot bows and arrows with them and took Dallin and Calvin. They loved it and I know that Clint is thrilled that our boys are old enough to do stuff like that with him.
As we ponder all of the things that our Father in Heaven has given to us, it brings deep meaning this Christmas season. What IS the true meaning of Christmas? It is celebrating Jesus Christ and ALL that he did for us. We are so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven and the gift of his only Begotten. We hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas. We love all of you!
The Singers
Clint, Britta, Dallin, Calvin, Elsa, and Abigail

Our Family in 2009

On Sunday, we did our annual Christmas pictures. This year we did them after church, so the girls hair wasn't just so. Oh well, I think they still look good. It was an interesting experience trying to get the kids pictures. Abby didn't want to get in the picture and the other kids were goofing around with each other and I was getting frustrated (but not enough to not take pictures of it all), then suddenly Abby got in and they took an Awesome picture.
Not bad huh?

Christmas at Bass Pro Shops

Last weekend we went to the Bass Pro Shop so that the kids could see Santa Claus and do some of the activities that they had. We got a good surprise when we got there, because not only was Santa there, but his wife was too. It's pretty rare that any kid sees her, right? :) While we waited to see him the kids did all sorts of activities. The boys were more into fishing with the Wii, shooting the red ryder b.b. guns, virtual hunting games, and the R.C. cars. The girls liked writing letters to the big guy himself, playing checkers on the enormous checkerboard (until a kid came up to us and sort butted his way into playing) he kept saying, "On your next turn, I'm gonna play, o.k.?" I finally just let him play altogether. (Elsa was fine with it.) Then the girls had fun making candy cane reindeers, and they also liked the R.C. cars, and the shooting gallery.

Here are some pictures..... Elsa was smiling because she was beating me!The only reason Calvin was shooting the pink gun was because it was open!The girls love to ride 4 wheelersShe was sad because she didn't know how to hold the gun.She got the hang of it and did great!
She's a regular Annie Oakley!

Abby's such a nut!

Today, after church we did our annual Christmas pictures by the tree. When it was time for each kid to take their own picture. Abby went right up and did this pose. I could not resist such a cute little nut and took the picture. Then, of course, I had to take it straight to Picnik.com and put a santa hat and beard on her. She's so funny and makes us laugh atleast once a day.

The Spirit of CHRISTmas

This is such an Awesome example of what this time of year is all about. Sometimes we need the innocence of a child to remind us. Enjoy!

Snow flakes in the house?

Today, my kids and I decided to make our own snowflakes, since it probably won't snow again this year like it did last year. Of course we're not giving up hope. We're just trying to get in the Christmas spirit. (Not that we need help to get in it.) We love Christmas around here.
Abby and Elsa had fun making them. Abby felt a little frustrated at first when she would open hers up and it fell apart, but she got better as she went. Elsa loved making different ones, and she made some pretty cool ones. Dallin even made a couple. I made a couple, then really got into it and made everyone's initials in different snowflakes. See if you can see them. (D for Dallin, C for Calvin, E for Elsa and A for Abby.) This was a fun, spur of the moment activity and now we have snowflakes up in our dining room to help us stay in the Christmas spirit.

Traditions in the making

I love that all of my children are old enough to not only enjoy Christmas and EVERYTHING that goes with it, but that they are old enough to participate and, in most cases, help out in preparation of the many traditions/festivities of the season. (And they're happy to help).

On Monday, for family home evening we made gingerbread houses. We had so much fun. We also got our tree that night as well. It was a surprise for the kids. We told them to get ready and get in the car, we were going to Lowe's. They thought that Dad just wanted to look at tools. "Boring." Well, when we got there, we walked around for a while, then finally walked outside where the trees were and picked one out. Needless to say, the kids were very excited. On Wednesday night, we decorated it. It was Abby's turn to put the star on top of the tree. Elsa had fun decorating the tree.Calvin had fun too!I can't believe Dallin is so tall, when it's his turn
again to put the star on top of the tree he won't need a ladder.Abby loved decorating the tree too!Notice most of the ornaments are at the kids level.
After they went to bed Clint and I rearranged the ornaments.How does our tree look?
Then we had eggnog together. The weather is finally acting like it's winter. On Monday we got a lot of rain. Usually when it rains here it only rains for about 10 min. Not this time, it started at noon and stopped at about 8 p.m. It was great, especially because we NEEDED it. It's suppose to rain all weekend too. Yeah! Anyway so now we can (and have) broken out that hot cocoa and marshmallows. Yum!

Abby got a little blog

After asking everyday for the past week she finally wore me down and I helped her create her very own blog. Since she can't type, or let alone spell (or read). I will be helping her with her posts. She will, however, be telling me what to write and what pictures to put on. So go here if you want to see her cute little blog. Since she and Elsa are so little and cute, I will be changing their blogs to private blogs. So if you'd like to view their blogs every now and then, just leave a comment and give me your email if I don't have it already and we'll "put you on the list." Actually I think Dallin and Calvin's will go private too.

I finally post on Elsa's progress

If you'd like to see Elsa saying her sight words. You can go here.

Spider Calvin finally posted

"Look Mom! No training wheels!"

Here is Abby riding without her training wheels. One day I asked her if she wanted me to take the training wheels off her bike. She said, "No way!" at first, but I told her that I would help her. After many days of asking her to let me take them off she reluctantly let me take them off. It went just as I thought it would. She just took off. The stopping part was a different story. She forgot how to stop, so I reminded her to pedal backwards and then told her to put her feet down. She did Awesome! She had a couple of falls, but like a good cowgirl, she got right back on.

This isn't the first time she rode with out her training wheels. For some reason that video would not upload. So you get this one when she learns to start off by herself, before I had to hold her.

We are Thankful!

For Family night on Monday, we talked about being thankful and why we should be thankful for what we have. I made a "thankful tree" and we put what we're thankful for on each leaf and put them on the tree. This is what our tree looked like.Calvin wasn't there because he felt sick and went bed early.
He felt much better the next day and went to school! We had a very nice, laid back Thanksgiving day. We had a nice quiet day. (well...as quiet as you can with 4 kids). While the turkey baked, the kids played, Clint and some of the kids went to Kmart and took advantage of the sale...well they went in search of candy corn, but didn't find any but got other stuff, so their trip was not in vein. As for me, I just sat around the house and relaxed. It was so nice to take a day and do NO housework. (Except cooking and cleaning up afterward, but that was no big deal.)

The day after, "black friday". Clint had to work, so the kids and I went shopping. Not too much, but got some pretty sweet deals. Then the rest of the day, Clint came home and he went to check out some of the deals and the kids played and I started putting up Christmas decorations. Yeah, finally!

Uncanny Resemblence

Have you ever wondered what you'd look like as a cartoon. Well I cut Abby's bangs the other day and realized that she looks a lot like suzie from Calvin and Hobbes. Don't you think?

Another tooth.....gone......

.....Finally! Elsa lost her fourth tooth. She would NOT let anyone touch it, especially her Dad, who, she thought, would loosen it a little more and have it possibly fall out. (He's a sneaky one.) Well, after many, many days it finally came out. We did manage, however, to get a video of it hanging, before she finally blew it out. (Literally, she blew and it came out.) Just watch the video and you'll understand.


We thought Elsa would be tough when it came time for her to lose teeth. Just because she had a high tolerance for pain when she was little. When she was about 4, she fell back on a chair and split her head open and needed to get 4 staples. As the doctors were numbing the area, she kinda made a sound like, "That kinda hurt." and that was all she did through out the whole process of getting staples in her head. Now, I can't even brush her hair without her screaming that I'm pulling her hair and it hurts. Crazy mixed up kid! We love her though and she makes us laugh atleast once a day.
I just had a parent-teacher conference with her teacher. She told me that Elsa was doing good and was very smart, but she wished that Elsa would talk to her so she could see just how smart she really was. Right now I help with assessments at home, where Elsa will talk and I video her so that her teacher can watch and see Elsa talking. If you want to go to Elsa's blog you can go here. I haven't been able to put anything new on, because it takes a long time to upload a video. I'm working on it though and there will be new stuff soon.