Master Dan

On January 18th, my very smart wonderful hubby Dan became the first member of his family and mine to get a master's degree! I'm so proud of him and his accomplishments! He is finished, but will have the official walk and graduation ceremony on June 5th (post will come later). He got his masters in psychology from the University of Phoenix.

Congratulations!

Set Your Piggies Free

Lately, we have been opposed to watching Sesame Street in our home. I am one that will only let my kids watch a show if there is something educational about it. Sesame Street used to be the best out there, but lately they are slipping and relying on cartoon and claymation that has no value whatsoever. It's so frustrating. Before we stopped watching it, however, we saw this clip that has set something in motion in our house. Socks are ending up everywhere but on our feet. Even Roswell was hooked. As soon as the video was over, he looked at his feet and took his socks off and tossed them across the room. If it hadn't been in the middle of winter, I wouldn't have made such a fuss. My ratio of misplaced socks is now soaring. Where can they really go? It's a cute video though, so I thought I'd share.

Dan's Florida Trip

Dan took a solo trip to Florida in January to meet this sweet little girl. Ainsley is the 1st little girl on the Earl side of the family. Dan had a wonderful time. It so happened that his parents were visiting at the same time, so there was a lot of helpful hands. I wish I could have been there too, but with Dono's school we didn't think it wise to have him skip. We'll just have to wait till the summer to meet this cutie.

Aidan being a good big brother. Dan loved spending time with him. Aidan woke Dan up every morning "Uncle Day-an", he loved it! He even got to take Aidan on a trip to the zoo.

And of course Dan visited the beach. Amy and Jason only live a few minutes away and Nama & Papa Earl usually stay in a hotel on the beach, so going to visit is not hard at all. On this particular visit Dan says that they saw a nurse shark feeding on fish only a couple yards out from the beach. Scary! Remind me not to go swimming in there!

Dan had a fun time (especially getting to wear shorts and sandals in the middle of winter!) and loved spending time with his family without the stress of looking after us too. We look forward to a day when we can go back together and visit.

Donovan't 1st Field Trip

I realized that I forgot some posts that I want to remember. On October 29th, Donovan got to go on his first field trip to Peacock Rd. Tree Farm. Nama & Papa Elliott had flown in the day before, and since I was in the midst of horrible morning sickness, Nama wanted to go with Dono.

Dono and Nama Elliott

Dono's class

Dono got to pick his own pumpkin.

Dono's class with teacher Mrs. Back

Donovan loved going on this trip. He talked about it for the longest time. He really loved sharing it with Nama Elliott. He has a field trip coming up and his first question was if Nama would be going with him.

We're Having a . . .

When we see babies we have such Joy,

The brothers promise they will never Annoy,

Will we need clothes or even a Toy,

Because we will be having a

GIRL!
Can you believe it? We're still in shock and so excited. (Isn't she cute sucking her thumb? Just like her brothers.)

The boys are excited too, mostly. Elliott cried and said he wanted a brother. I explained that he already had 2 brothers. But he said he wanted another one. I said maybe another time. When Daddy asked if they were excited to have a sister, Donovan shouts "YES" and Elliott says "I'm excited to have a brother after my new sister" We'll see, no guarantees. :) What a new adventure this will be!

Floor Hockey

This year, Donovan was interested in playing floor hockey for his school. Of course, he's Dan's child! So, we had him try it out and he loves it!

Dono in his new helmet

This is Donovan's 1st game of the season. He's new to the game, but for a beginner he is doing great and learning and getting better all the time!

Dono is on the right with the white helmet.

Dono's in the center of the picture with the white head.
His team has done great. They've played 2 games against the 2 toughest teams so far and won them both. Donovan has even gotten a badge to put on his shirt for playing while his team scored a goal (they give badges instead of the point system in pro-hockey). He's very proud of it and hoping to get more. They have so many kids on the team that he doesn't get a ton of play time.
I guess now I would be considered a hockey mom and Dan a hockey dad. We're glad we've got kids who are interested in many things.

Grrrr Jan 13th

This was so funny. Roswell found my tattered oven mitt, slipped it on and started growling at me with it. He's growing up so fast and continuously making us laugh.

My Little Reader

Donovan has been reading words since the beginning of kindergarten this year. He's read lots of little books and some library books with some help. During his Christmas break, he found this book and asked if he could read it to me.

I of course said sure. He read the WHOLE thing on his own cover to cover! It was amazing. It's I think 62 pages! I'm so proud of my little reader. I love how much he's learning even if it means that we can't disguise things by spelling them out anymore. Good job Dono!

Merry Christmas 2009!

Christmas was very exciting at our house. Dan woke up with a flash at 6:30am thinking that he heard the boys downstairs crinkling wrapping paper. Silly Dan, the kids are still in bed. But now mommy's awake too. So we get up and wait... wait... wait... Out of impatience, Dan wakes the kids at 7:30 (We were hosting Christmas dinner -lunch rather, and wanted to be all cleaned up before anyone arrived.) to get started.

The Earl boys in matching Christmas jammies!

Elliott started crying when he saw a stick in his stocking (refer to last Christmas post for our stocking tradition) because he didn't think he would get any treats for being good.


After the sticks were removed, Rossy found his treats.

We had to remind Ross to open presents, he kept wanting to play with his shoes. But hey, he's happy, right?

Enjoying gifts.

Found more shoes!

We had a wonderful Christmas and were once again spoiled by our loved ones! Thank you for all the wonderful presents!

We then had a fabulous lunch with other friends who have family far away like us. We also played fun games and even had a little excitement from all the kids. It was a great day.

Gingerbread

Nama and Papa Earl sent a fun Christmas package that the boys enjoyed making. First we got to make gingerbread men.

Before we started (as you can see, Ross really wanted his cookie)

Ross was happy he got some finally, but didn't want it to wear any accessories.

Putting on the hats and buttons.

Decorating

All done

Mmmmmm!

Dono's man

Oops, wasn't fast enough to catch him with his accessories.

Then we got to build a gingerbread train.

Ta Da! Elliott already wants to take the candy off to eat!

This was a fun activity for the boys, they had a great time. Thanks Nama and Papa!

Welcome Baby Ainsley! Dec. 17

Congratulations to Amy, Jason, & Aidan!

We welcome our newest niece, Ainsley Caileen Brown!

She's so beautiful, and the first little lady of the Earl grandkids.

Big brother Aidan.

Happy mommy Amy

A Night in Bethlehem Nov. 12th

Once again, we traversed afar (not really, only about 20 min.) to Bethlehem to celebrate Jesus' birth. Our branch youth got to play out the nativity for all of us. It was fun to dress up in period attire and have a nice night with good food and a good re-enactment. Even though there were a few mix-ups and some misinformation, it was a success. It was a great way to feel the true Christmas spirit.

Last of the Real Trees Dec. 12

We chopped down the 'ol pine tree. We went to a tree farm to find our Christmas tree.

The boys had a blast not having to walk forever to find the right one.

Roswell decided to chow down on the snow.

We found it! The boys helped Daddy cut it down.

And decided after we found out how much it cost (prices have gone crazy), that this would be our last "real" tree. :(

The day after Christmas we got a steal on a great tree that was pre-lit. Now I can put it up after Thanksgiving instead of waiting for a good weekend. That makes me happy!

Timber! Nov. 28th

After much debate and frustration over lack of edible fruit, we cut down our pear and apple trees. They were way too large and mismanaged and all the good fruit was too high up where we couldn't get it. We figured that if we cut them down now, we could start over again. So the Smiths and Drauts came to help us in our attack. I wanted to be a participant, but was under strict orders from Dan to not lift a finger (I had an earlier scare and was of course sick too).

Tom and Dan cutting the trees

Rossy being Stephanie's special helper.

Teamwork (Dan w/ Elliott and Roswell)

Elliott helping Stephanie fill the barrow with leaves.

...and delivering them to the burn barrel.

A cute surprise came back!

Tom and Dan making the burn barrel.

Burn away!

Even though our back corner is now barren, we have ordered a variety of new fruit trees to come in the spring. We will be having dwarf sized (but regular fruit sized) apple, pear, peach, and cherry trees. I'm very excited for them to come but sad that it will take a few years to reap the fruits. I'll update when those come too.