HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMANTHA!!!

It is unbelievable that our sweet Samantha is 6 years old!! There are so many things to love about Samantha. Here are just 6 reasons why she is so wonderful.

1. She is so smart!!! If she wants to learn something she does.
2. She is very determined. Some times that seems like a flaw but she knows what she wants and I really admire her for that.
3. She is a loving sister (most of the time). The other night Colin had an accident before bed. I was kind of mad and told him I was going to make him sleep in it. After everyone one was in bed, yes Colin did get changed, Samantha came out of her room crying because she thought Colin still had stinky pants and she wanted him to have clean pants to sleep in.
4. She is amazingly creative. She can sit down with her box of Legos and build the coolest stuff. I can't believe the stuff she can build all by herself.
5. She is so brave. Sometimes she seems shy, I like to say she's cautious, but she will do things by herself. Over the Summer she took an Arts and Crafts class. She didn't know any of the kids and I don't think she talked to any one while she was there but she went every week and said that she had fun.
6. She wants to do what is right. She came to me one time and asked if we could read the scriptures so we "could get to the tree". The Tree of Life of course. So we started to read the Book of Mormon. I thought she'd get bored after a few nights but we read the whole thing.

The list could go on and on. Happy Birthday Samantha. We love you!!!!!

Samantha's Hello Kitty Party

Today was the day Samantha's been looking forward to for months. In November the boys had a Tonks truck party. Samantha told me she didn't know why everyone kept talking about Tonka trucks, when it was her birthday everyone would be talking about Hello Kitty and that would be way better. Well we've been talking Hello Kitty and it was great. She had a bunch of friends from church, school, and down the road over to celebrate her 6th birthday. We played pin the bow on the kitty, had kitty bowling, colored some Hello Kitty "stained glass", and ate Hello Kitty cake. Every one had a great time!!!

The Great Backyard Bird Count

It's day 3 of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society's Great Backyard Bird Count. For a few days every Feburary anyone and everyone in the U.S. and Canada can count the birds in their yards and report their counts. Check out http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc for all the info and to add your count.

We love bird watching at our house. We have several bird feeders and a bird bath in our from yard so we get a lot of birds. This is the first year we are taking part in the bird count and it's a lot of fun. We have a bird book so we can look up what kinds of birds we get. (If you'd like to know what birds are in your yard birdsource.org has localized lists complete with pictures.) It's so cool to hear the kids talking about red-winged blackbirds, finches, mourning doves, and hairy woodpeckers. Samantha even came home from school one day with a picture of a bird that she had colored like a red-winged blackbird (her favorite bird). How many Kindergateners even know what a red-winged blackbird is ?! So check out birdsource.org, and get counting. Monday is the last day!!

Snow Days!!

Dot loves to jump in the snow.
Patrick sweeps the sidewalk.

Dale helps the kids sled down a snow pile yesterday.

Today Dale and the kids did some real sleding.

Samantha loves it!

We got at least a foot of snow yesterday so yesterday and today were snow days. The kids have been having so much fun. Too bad I've been soooo sick. My ribs ache from coughing so much.