a little story about A Little House and a little boy

I love, love, love the stories and pictures in the books by Virginian Lee Burton.

We have had some of the paperback books since Summer was little ( I probably picked them up at Goodwill.)

I bought Maybelle, the Cable Car in paperback when we were in San Francisco.

Recently I realized that Cole didn't have Mike Mulligan so I found this book:

which is hardcover and contains multiple books & illustrations by Virginia Lee Burton.

I just love the pictures.

I want to copy some of them and frame them...

A few nights ago, Cole asked me to read one of the stories from this book.

He chose The Little House, my favorite.

We took our time and looked at the cute pictures and talked about them.

After we finished the story, Cole asked me about the book and how old it was.

We looked at the front of the book and discovered that it was written in 1942.

Cole said, "wow, that's really old.  Did you read this story when you were little?"

I said, "Yes."

It was fun to just talk and look at the pictures.

Then Cole asked me what other stories and books I read when I was little.

So, I thought of stories and books that he would know.

I listed, The Pokey Little Puppy, The Box Car Children, Where the Red Fern Grows, and Charlotte's Web.

He stopped me and said, "Wow, that's cool that they wrote a book about Charlotte's Web because it was a really good movie."

And then I couldn't think of any more stories because I was thinking how funny it was that Cole just assumed that the movie came before the book.

So, Cole helped me out and said, "I know, the scriptures were written when you were a little girl.  Because the Book of Mormon is really, really old.  They had to be around when you were little."

Yep, that's true Cole, the scriptures are old and were written when I was young.

what a funny, funny kid.

All Kelli. All Week

This is because of Amara.  She is the one that forces me to celebrate my birthday all week.

It started at Church when she brought me my birthday candy bar.  And thus begins the Week of Kelli.

So, here are some things about me...

I made this quilt last month.  It has quotes and well wishes on the white blocks for a family in our ward that lost their 18 year old daughter last October to a lingering illness.  

 This is the other quilt that I finally finished.

I started it last summer.  I had planned on hanging it on the wall in St. George.

But, I like it a lot.  And it looks good on Cole's bed.

So, it might not make it to St. George for a while.

No more quilting from me for a while...my sewing machine is in the shop for cleaning and maintenance.  And will not be done for 3 weeks.  And in 3 weeks I plan on being outside doing yardwork.  Not inside sewing.

Cole-isms

 11/28/12

Poor kid, we totally had him convinced that we had forgotten his birthday.

He might need therapy...

Just wanted to record a few of the Cole -isms...

Cole loves to snuggle.  And I love to snuggle with Cole.  Especially when Rick is at work late at night.

One night I couldn't snuggle with him so he asked, "Is Summer available?"

A few days ago Cole asked me if I have always been the oldest in my family or if someone else was the oldest.

Said in a Mexican Restaurant in St. George in January..."It's like people walking up into your mouth."

(Maybe you had to be there to see the actions, but we couldn't stop laughing)

"I just burped out air."

"When I'm old like dad, well young, but still old."

"I just love Christmas songs. They're so jolly.  Whatever that means."

"When the zombies come I'm just gonna go up and yak at them.  Then if I don't have a gun, I'll just punch them."

Reflections

Sierra wanted to enter the Reflections contest this year...

I told her that was a great idea, but that she was all on her own.

And she did it. All on her own.

The theme was "The Magic of a Moment".

She entered 2 categories--3D art, and music composition.

Here is her 3D art:

The actual artwork does not go on to State Competition in the 3D art category.  

So, we had to take pictures and include the ruler for reference.

Then the photos are submitted for competition.

Here she is receiving her award for her 3D art...

 And for her musical composition...

Both projects are advancing to the State finals.  GOOD LUCK.

fall break

Rick has had to pick up some extra shifts at work--

Not by his choice but because of a vacancy in their group.

And the way the schedule works out and the shifts that needed to be filled, it left Rick working a TON the last couple months, including a 10 day period where he worked 9 of those days.

It was a killer.

Thankfully, fall break fell right smack in the middle of Rick's 10 day vacation.

Boy, was that lucky and boy oh boy, we all needed that break.

so, we headed to St. George.  Here are a few pic's of the R&R:

 This is Classic Cole.

1.  Because he LOVES the monkey bars...

2.  Because his zipper is down.

 no wonder I have so many wrinkles.  I am always squinting.  Even when I wear sun glasses.

 Rick gave the kids a big spin in the tire swing.  I thought they were going to puke.

 It was good to just play with Cole.  We've had a rough few months...

 St. George has the best sunsets ever.  I can't get enough of them

And what's a trip to St. G without a visit to Veyo pies?

horizons echo

Summer's band played at Riverwoods a few weeks ago.

I think that place is cool.  It's not like people line up or crowd the area to listen to the performers.

It's more like background noise for an outdoor shopping experience, people waiting for a seat at a restaurant, or couples & families taking a break on a beautiful weekend evening.

The band members gained a lot of experience that night.  Lots of lessons.

Here are a few pictures from the evening....

Over You

A cover of "Lights" by Ellie Goulding

 Summer & Sierra did a cover of Ingrid Michaelson together.

This isn't a great picture, but I just like how everything looks as the sun goes down and the lights come on.  The whole atmosphere of River Woods is great.

Halloween 2012

 We walked down to Sage Creek to see Cole's Halloween Parade.

He really couldn't care less that we were there.  

His big concern was giving all of his friends a big high five as they walked past.

We had this tradition in our neighborhood when we moved in called the "Street of Treats".

I think it started out as a ward thing, but as ward things always go, someone didn't like something about it and "Street of Treats" became a neighborhood thing and not a ward thing.

Valeree was the original chairperson of this event.  

But, Valeree was preparing to move to Australia last October so she handed the responsibility over. And I gladly accepted.  

I asked around and the feedback was that we start the earlier the better in case the weather is bad and so the kids can get off their sugar high and into bed within a reasonable amount of time. 

So, Sadie helped me out last year and we fried donuts and handed out hot chocolate.  

It seemed like a hit because we got a lot of positive feedback.

So, we decided to do the same thing again this year.

I started at the beginning of October by making up flyers and spreading the word.

Everything seemed fine until I got this note in my mailbox on October 29.  

Seriously?

Thanks for signing your name.  

thanks for your input.  a month ago when it mattered.

Next year, YOU can be in charge.

Sadie and I decided to dress up like 50's ladies.

We made our own skirts.

From the same pattern.  How stupid was that?  

Mine was so long it was practically dragging on the ground.

Sadie's skirt fit just like it was supposed to.  

We even made a fluffy tule petty coat to wear underneath--mine just made my butt look bigger. 

I wore my poodle skirt (minus the poodle) to the school and one of the kids asked me if I was a pioneer.

Oh well.  At least I'll be ready if I'm ever asked to go on Trek.

and, of course, my eyes are closed.

(note to self:  make sure you are never in the same photo as Sadie.)

 

Still not any better.

 So, 2 days before the big day, right after I got the note in the mailbox and right after I checked the weather...I decided that we should grill hot dogs.  Rick had the day off and agreed to help.  

He was happy to test out some of his new toys (his pellet grill and his solar generator).

So here we are grilling and frying.  I felt so at home around a hot grill and hot grease.

Altogether we served about 120 hot dogs.

1,000 donut balls.

And about 160 cups of hot chocolate (next year we might need lemonade--it was too hot for hot chocolate)(if there is a next year)

 Summer and Sierra had a few of their friends show up...

Summer had the camera so we lots of pictures of Summer's friends and no pictures of Sierra's friends.

 Then Jon and Teresa surprised us by showing up with Lillie.

Scott got bored with the usual donuts he was serving.  

So, he grabbed a hot dog, rolled it in dough and threw it in the hot oil.

He made us all taste a little piece.  I have to admit, with the right amount of ketchup and mustard, it was  pretty darn tasty.

Here are my cute trick or treaters with Little at the end of the evening...

Halloween Past...

A few years ago, when Cole looked like this...

he said something that we cannot get out of our minds...

"Happy Hell-No-Ween"

over and over and over.

playing in the leaves...

a couple of cute witches...

Scooby Doo

Dad and Scooby...

Flashlights

Have a Happy

Hell-No-Ween!!