How will you answer Dr. King’s question?

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is : What are you doing for others? "
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

What a great motto to live by! I've tried to start the tradition in our house that Martin Luther King Day is " a day on, not a day off". You can see what we did last year here. This year I knew we wanted to do some service but I was having a hard time finding something organized in our city. We decided that we would again take pictures the kids colored around to residents at Chad's care center. Maybe that will be part of the yearly tradition. We also went to the store and bought some items to send in a soldier care package. Maddie and Ethan then made some cards to put in the care package. I also tried to evaluate how we did last year as far as service goes. While we did do some great things. We could have done more! I would love ideas for this year!

We are so blessed and know that there are many others who are suffering and in need around the world. What's happening in Haiti and around the world like in countries in Africa just makes my heart break. I know that some people get caught up in not wanting to help or contribute because there is so much corruption, but not helping in whatever way we can just hurts those who are suffering the most. Our Savior is of course the best example we will ever have of providing great service for others whether we receive it in the way He would prefer or not. He is unconditional love. Soooo...count your blessings....and share them with others. It always puts a smile on everyone's face. :)

"The time is always right to do the right thing"

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have a 9 year old!?

Madelyn turned 9 a week and a half ago!! I can't believe I have a 9 year old. Our little Iowa baby is growing up too fast. We gave her roller blades for her birthday because she found my old ones and kept trying to wear those in the basement. She also got elbow and knee pads, and wrist guards. We also have the orthopedic doctor in our ward on speed dial. :)

Madelyn can be described as: smart, happy, grumpy, determined, talented, sassy, dramatic, spirited, helpful, capable, & fun.

Madelyn loves to: dance, play soccer, write song lyrics, go to school, eat junk food, listen to music (Taylor Swift), be with friends, visit grandparents, play with Emma, play outside, & play with her DSi.

Madelyn is: in 3rd grade, loving her teacher, loving dance, working on a solo dance she will compete with, very brave, helpful with Emma, going to be a great babysitter, good at tumbling, a good reader, great at math, and a super blessing in our family!

Snow Fun

We went tubing for our family acitvity on Madelyn's birthday. They were all in heaven. Some boys nearby spent a lot of time building up a snow jump and then kindly invited Maddie and Ethan to use it with them. Madelyn is pretty fearless and giggled and screamed everytime she went off the jump. Ethan not so much but he bravely kept going. Emma was pretty content just standing or sitting in the snow eating away (which really grosses me out). We all had a good time together. I had a hard time choosing just a few pictures so sorry for the pic overload.

Christmas Day

It's always fun to watch the kids as they see their presents on Christmas morning. We are very blessed! Here they are with a gift they each asked for (well not Emma-Santa just knew). Madelyn is of course making one of her crazy faces at the camera. Ethan is happy, and Emma is still waking up. She slept in on Christmas morning! She doesn't sleep in usually. She's sporting her usual morning hair. It was a good day visiting family, eating good food, and getting worn out (see bottom photoY).

Christmas Jammies

Here they are posing in their new Christmas Jammies they get to open on Christmas Eve. Notice Maddie's mismatched socks. It's her own little style mark since she seldom has matching socks.

New Nephew

Here's our new nephew. He was born just after Thanksgiving. I got to take pictures of him. He didn't want to snooze too much at first but once we put him in the basket he was really cozy. He's adorable with lots of hair and great cheeks.

Christmas Cards

So I took pictures of a few other families for their Christmas cards but I realized about the middle of December that I didn't have any for my cards. I quickly threw something together to take some pictures but I didn't have very much light to work with, or backdrops for that matter since I tend to shoot outside, and Emma would not cooperate. When I say would not cooperate I mean not even for a second really. Here are a few of the photos. Not the best but better than nothing. I put up a black sheet and put some Christmas lights, you know the netting kind. I'd seen this technique somewhere and wanted to try it. Didn't quite get it but it was worth a try. For the card I ended up changing the pictures to black and white because their skin coloring was pretty weird in most of them.

More to come....

Tree Hunting

We were a little slow getting out tree this year because we didn't think Emma would leave it alone once it was up but she proved us wrong and didn't even touch it once it was decorated. Here we are picking out the tree.

Basketball

Ethan played basketball this year and he loved it. His games were every Saturday at 8 am and each Saturday he would get up before any of us and get ready. He would come into our room with his jersey, shorts, and shoes on with a basketball under his arm and tell us he's ready to go. Too bad it would often be around 7 am. It was pretty funny to watch and his poor team would lose big time every game but he didn't care. Ethan was really good at dribbling side to side across the court...not so much towards that basket. He did get one awesome shot in for the season. It happened to be in the last game of the season at the buzzer. Yep he had a buzzer beater.

Catching Up! Halloween

I didn't even blog about Halloween so here it is. Madelyn was a dead cheerleader (despite my coaxing to be a cute one), Ethan was a Jedi Fighter, and Emma was Piglet. In the top corner picture is the whole gang that went trick or treating with us. Then below that is a picture while trick or treating at grandpa's house.