Here are a few more of my favorites.

I love you the most, Aaron. I win.

I just overheard/saw the craziest "game" ever. Joshua was laying on the ground with his eyes closed and Noah was running around him, singing, "Dean man, dead man in a dish. How many pieces do you wish?" Joshua said 8 and Noah counted to 8 and then the "dead man," Joshua, got up and tried to get Noah. Who needs bubble gum when you've got a dead man?

Arwen likes to go to California mostly to visit her grandparents.

Grandpa Willy is one of her favorites.

If you can't find Arwen, she's usually cuddling on Grandpa Willy's lap.

Noah has a BLAST when we visit the grandparents house because he has 16 acres to run free and be wild and crazy and not worry about being too loud or breaking anything! Seriously, we VERY RARELY see the kids when we are there. They have too much exploring and playing to do.

He really is king of where the wild things are!

We visited Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen over Thanksgiving last year. Grandma has lots and lots of chickens! The kids love to feed (and chase) and play with the chickens. Except Lu. Apparently she is TERRIFIED of them.

And can you blame her...look at those chickens...they practically the size of her.

Poor baby. Where was her mother, you ask. I have no idea...probably out shopping or something. Of course Dad can't rescue her because if he doesn't take pictures, who will?

Looks like a chicken must be coming in for the kill. Poor Lu Lu.

We took a trip to the coast over Christmas vacation. There was a high wind advisory and a recommendation to stay off all the beaches because the waves were so high. We had fun getting on our winter gear and looking for whales. We didn't see any, but the kids had fun pretending to be swept away by the wind.

Noah was very sad to wake up on Christmas morning to find there was no snow. Where in the world does this kid think we live...we've never been anywhere that has any chance of snowing on Christmas. A few days later, we got a freak snow storm with enough snow to play in. The kids were in heaven. Too bad it wasn't on Christmas day...though Noah said it was okay that it was a few days late.

Lu Lu got this Reinedeer sucker in her stocking on Christmas. For some crazy reason she thinks that reindeer must growl. It was the funniest thing EVER to listen and watch her!

*The shutter on our camera died...so we haven't taken many photos as of late, except with the kids' cheap camera. Be patient...we'll get it fixed someday. I'll try and be better about posting all the photos we took up until it died.*

Ultimate Gum Kit...Noah's dream come true.

We got to make our own gum and pick the flavors. We had a lot to choose from.

As you can imagine it was a horrible mess.

But like any good scientist Noah persisted and though he disliked the sour batch he loved the cotton candy version we made, and even saved some for Mom and Arwen.

We went and visited Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen and all the Aunts and Uncles and cousins this year for Thanksgiving. Here are a few silly pictures from the trip!

Remember Fenton's Ice Creamery from "Up?" We went there. Twice. It is the yummiest place to get ice cream. Ever. Larkin insisted on sporting this fashionable hat the first time we went. Apparently she brought along her own treat :)

Noah made friends with a gopher snake.

Arwen fell in love with Grandma's chickens.

Joshua had fun playing the the ashes and munching on all the yummy pomegranates and persimmons from Grandma and Grandpa's trees!