Best 7 year old ever!

I have to say that we have the best 7 year old ever! I went upstairs to shower and after I was done I heard some banging around downstairs like somebody was doing the dishes. As far as I knew Connor was the only one downstairs. I was thinking it couldn't be Connor doing the dishes! He always begs for help when we ask him to do the dishes. I came downstairs and saw Connor in the kitchen almost completely done doing the dishes by hand! He thought it was so fun! He even washed my big crock pot insert by hand and set it on the kitchen table when he was done. I'm glad he didn't drop it. It is pretty heavy and slick when it is wet. He would have been very devastated if he would have dropped it. He is such an awesome kid! Now we just need to wait and see what he is buttering us up for.

White Christmas

We had a white Christmas this year.  We got dumped on on Christmas Eve.  The kids have had fun playing in it.  Now, if it would quit snowing so we could make the drive to Wyoming we could celebrate Christmas with family.  We hope everybody enjoyed their Christmas this year.

Time

The other night I delivered Christmas presents from the Bishopric to some of the families in the ward. As we were driving to one of the homes, Brother Schmoldt leaned over and asked me "is time going really fast for you as well". This gave me a little bit of relief because I thought that it was just me. We need to treasure the time we have with the ones we love. Make the best of every moment. It is getting late.

Our new chef

Isaac cooked dinner tonight with very little help from mom. He made chicken and wild rice. He had to follow the instructions to cook the rice with peas added to them. While he had that going he diced up the chicken all by himself (he didn't even cut any of his fingers). After he had the chicken all diced he put it in the pan and cooked it up, then added lemon juice and shredded carrots. He did a great job. I think it tasted better than the last time I cooked that same meal. He had compliments all around. I'm going to have to have him cook more often. Kiley said she wants to cook the next dinner. I'll have to think of something for her to make. It's nice having kids that are getting old enough to start learning these things. I'm glad they are willing and wanting to help their family out this way. They are great kids.

New car vs icy roads

Can I just say how much I love our new car!!! Yesterday we had a pretty big snowstorm come through. We drove around to see how well our new car would handle it. It is so nice! Cordell made the comment that it will be nice in the summer, but it is awesome in the winter! The slush and snow froze over night so the driveway was very icy. I was thinking that in the van we would have had to get a running start to get up and out of our driveway and dart onto a very busy street. In the new car I didn't have to dart out like a jack rabbit onto 1400 north! It was so nice to be able just to pull out like I normally do and not have the tires spinning like crazy trying to get a grip! I love it! Now I feel safe driving in bad weather. Now if everybody else would drive careful and not crazy it would be great (but that is job security for me ;) ). We are very blessed to be able to afford a vehicle like this to get us around and keep us safe.

Book of Mormon

I just finished reading the Book of Mormon all the way through. I think that was the first time I have read it cover to cover. I have started it quite a few times and gotten half way through. Cordell challenged me to read it cover to cover. I am always reading different books but haven't read the scriptures like I should. I read it like a novel and got a lot of inspiration from it by reading it that way. It was a lot more entertaining and easier for me to understand why it is such an important book. I am going to read the doctrine and covenants next and will read it the same way. I know other people read them differently. I was able to feel the spirit so much more reading it as a novel. My mind was very open. I love the Book of Mormon. It has so much to teach us if we would just read it with an open heart and open mind.

Christmas concert

Tonight Isaac and Kiley had their Christmas orchestra concert. They did such a good job. They played 7 songs. My favorites were What Child Is This, and the Christmas bells one (I can't remember the name off the top of my head ;) ). When they played Jingle Bells Connor got very excited and leaned over and said, that's jingle bells! It was fun. I'm so glad we have kids that enjoy playing instruments and sharing their talents.

More Novemberfest pictures

Kiley and Connor's dance teacher, Terena Lund, sent us some really cute pictures of the kids from Novemberfest. They are so cute! I just had to share. Thanks Terena for the cute pictures!

Tree decorating

 

We had a fun time last night putting up the Christmas tree.  The kids thought it would be a good idea to listen to Christmas music while we were decorating the tree, so we turned on the Christmas music station on pandora.  It was a lot of fun.  I love our tree.  A lot of people do themed trees and try to make them look perfect.  Ours is all most all homemade decorations the kids have made during all the great Christmas Eve activities we do each year.  Every year we make an ornament to put on the tree.  Every homemade ornament put on the tree brings back wonderful memories.  I love the cross stitched picture of Christ behind the tree.  I did that picture years ago.  It is in a perfect place. It reminds us of what the season is all about, the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I hope we all remember him and his sacrifice during this time of celebration.  Because of his love for us, we get to live with him and our Heavenly Father again.  Merry Christmas everybody!

 

 

Hair Cuts and family fun

This weekend was the annual Nield Christmas party. We were able to make it there this year. It was such a fun time. It is always good to spend time with family. It was great to see everybody. The kids had so much fun playing with all of the cousins in the Nield family. The kids hair was looking very unkempt, so we decided to get new hair styles. The boys look the same. Kiley had the biggest change. She cut off a lot of hair and had some really cute layers put in. Every time we get their hair cut they look so much older. I think that is why I always put off cutting their hair until the boys hair is so long they almost look like girls and Kiley's hair is poking her eyes out ;).

 Kiley with her cute cut

 Isaac looking so much older

 Connor trying to look mad because is didn't want his picture taken

Our 3 awesome kids with their new hair styles

Miracle on 34th Street, McCracken kids' review

We took the kids to go see Miracle on 34th Street on the 28th of November. It was such a good play. I loved sitting their with my family and watching such an uplifting play. The actors did such a good job. It was so fun watching our kids during the play. A little way into it Isaac leaned over and said "I've seen this on TV before!" He thought that was pretty cool. Connor would laugh every time they would start singing "That man is Santa Claus" during the trial scene. I'm so glad we had the opportunity to go. This is what the kids had to say about the play.

The play was really fun. I liked the whole play.
- Connor

The play was good. There was a lot of singing. The set was cool. My favorite character was Suzie 😉 from Kiley

I liked the play it was good. The set was cool. My favorite character was Kris Chringle. From Isaac 😄😝😛😜

Kiley and Dawn's project

Kiley got a sewing machine for her birthday this year. I thought it would be fun for me and her to make a rag quilt. We went to Walmart and found the cutest fabric. It represented both of us. We found some fabric that had skulls with hot pink bows. We also got some hot pink fabric to match. We had a lot of fun cutting out the blocks and putting it together. Here are some fun pictures of our progress and our final product. Kiley is a natural little seamstress.

Merry Christmas

My awesome husband sent me this picture of the Baby Jesus. It is such a beautiful picture I thought it needed to be shared with all.

novemberfest

 Kiley and Connor before their Irish dance performance

 With some other kids from the dance acadamy

 All the dancers, their instructor is at the top. She is great with the kids.

Showing of their moves

(sorry there is no sound, got it off my camera)

Early Christmas

We decided to get our family an early Christmas present. It is soooooo nice. It has seat warmers. I am loving that part of our new car. It is very nice to have a warm seat to sit on when you get off of graveyards and it is freezing outside. It runs so smooth and has a lot of room. The kids said the seats are a lot more comfortable than our van was. Merry Christmas to us!

Dance

Yesterday Kiley and Connor had their first Irish dance performance. They had so much fun. They only had 2-3 practices before their performance. They did an awesome job. We are going to have a couple of great Irish dancers in our family.

New Blog

We decided that we should do a blog so everybody in our families can keep up with us and our fast growing kids.  I'm really excited to be in the blog world now.  Hopefully it will be a fun experience and our families will enjoy our family as much as we do.