The rest of our month....

Here are some things that went on in our month--

-Derek taught an NCCS seminar in Salem, OR.
-Mackenzie and Hannah sang in the choir for Stake Conference
-the kids enjoyed some playdates and park days
-we visited and got to know a new "grandma" from church
-Katelyn continued to practice her smiles. She's also sleeping 7 to 10 hours a night. Yeah!

Here are some photos

Mackenzie reading to Katelyn

Adam is often found here at the computer, working on Google sketch up,
or programming his NXT robot

Katelyn and Samantha

Laurel

Katelyn sleeping on a chair

Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving this year. During the morning Derek and some of the children went to play Ultimate Frisbee. Hannah and Adam really enjoyed it and each made some good catches.

By noon we had a good crowd at our home. Since we aren't able to be with family out of state, we invited over friends and "family" from church. We invited over 3 families this year. One happened to be Derek's cousin, David, and his wife Gina. We were excited they were in town and could join us. We also had two families we know from church, as well as a friend of one of the families. Our house was filled up! We enjoyed wonderful food, game playing and visiting. The weather was nice as well and the children enjoyed some outdoor play including raking and jumping into leaves.

This month we had put up a Gratitude Tree on the wall and it was great to see how full of leaves it was with things that our family members are thankful for. When Hannah took down the tree to prepare for Christmas decorations, she made a list of all the "blessings". There were 117 leaves! She said the one that was repeated the most was "Daddy".

"O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever." Psalm 136:1

Bookmark Contest

Last month Hannah entered a bookmark designing contest at our local library. The theme was "Libraries Change Lives". She drew three scenes that showed how books helped a girl choose a profession. A few days after the contest deadline, Hannah recieved a call from the library saying she won the contest in her grade level. Hannah was thrilled! Her prize was a free book and $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble (her favorite place to shop). The library also made many copies of the bookmark for her and others to enjoy. Way to go Hannah!

click on the picture to see the details closer

Concert Pianist In Training

Knot-A-Quilt

Hello!

For my Birthday, my friend gave me a really fun kit called a Knot-A-Quilt. I LOVE tying quilts, so it was the perfect gift. First I designed it. Then over the next couple months I began tying it together. I finished it recently and below are pictures.

Here is another quilt I tyed.







Love,
Hannah

Growing Katelyn

Katelyn has been such a good sleeper! She is now sleeping for 5 to 8 hours a night. She also has some good naps during the day. However, as she gets older, she is waking up more and loves to be held. It is fun to watch her watching everyone and everything. She doesn't seem to be bothered, either awake or asleep, by the "awful din" going on around her. Also, between 4 and 5 weeks old she gave us her first smile, and continues to do so once in a while. So sweet!

Katelyn wearing a dress Cathy's visiting teacher made for her, 5 weeks old

Getting some tummy time

Adam loves to hold his little sister. He calls her KatieCat because the noises she often makes reminds him of a cat (6 weeks old)

Katelyn has gotten more vocal when she is unhappy, going quite red all over when she screams. She also has quite a cute pouty face as she starts to work up to the scream.

Katelyn's Blessing Day

Today Katelyn was given a name and a blessing at church. Derek gave a special blessing to Katelyn and she was so quiet too. She also looked so pretty in her white dress.

Derek, Cathy and Katelyn

Derek and Katelyn (who's not too happy about taking pictures)

Katelyn Jane--4 weeks old

Babies are so cute when they yawn!

Halloween

The kids had fun dressing up this year for our homeschool Co-Op and a party at Derek's work place. Here are some pictures

Hannah as Eowyn from Lord of the Rings

Mackenzie the princess

Jamie the yodeling cowgirl?

Samantha as Snow White

Laurel the not-so-cowardly lion

Katelyn, our little pumpkin

Adam decided not to make an appearance this year in a costume. He doesn't enjoy dressing up as much as the girls do.

Derek also dressed up again and got very creative in copying the SQL fairy. The SQL fairy is the mascot of sorts for a software program that he was using at work for a long time. They had a picture of the fairy up in the office ( see the picture on this page http://sqlfairy.sourceforge.net/) He won the vote from his co-workers for the best costume again this year.


Halloween night we started a new tradition. No trick or treating! Derek and I love this, the children are trying to get used to it. We stayed home and had dinner, followed by treats the kids chose--donuts! We then had "lights out" all evening and they played hide and seek with flashlights. We also watched some of the World Series baseball game and a short movie. It was nice to just stay at home with the family, not answer the door for trick or treaters every two minutes, and especially not fill out home with mounds of candy!

Grandma's

With the birth of Katelyn, we were blessed to have visits from both of our moms. My mom came first and stayed a week, and then later Derek's mom came and stayed for almost a week. We enjoyed both of them visiting and they provided some needed service. It was fun for the children to have extra play time with them as well.

Grandma O'Dwyer enjoying Katelyn

While Grandma O'Dwyer was in town, we had a big rain storm. The wind was quite strong and took off branches of many trees. Across the street a smaller tree was snapped in half (in picture above) The top part is lying on the ground and the trunk left in the ground. (behind the stop sign)


While Grandma Taylor was here, the girls were always asking to have their hair braided. Grandma was kind enough to accommodate their requests. Here they are showing their braids off.

Grandma Taylor with Katelyn

Grandma Taylor with Laurel, Adam, Mackenzie, Samantha,
Jamie, Hannah and Katelyn

Lots of Moms

With so many siblings, Katelyn has many "moms". Everyone wants to hold her and help with her. Samantha and Laurel go so far as to copy what Cathy does, and they nurse their baby dolls.

Katelyn, Samantha and Jamie

Mackenzie and Katelyn

Samantha and Katelyn

Laurel and her "baby"

Samantha and her "baby"

The Beach

Derek was in the mood to go to the beach the Saturday his mom was in town. He especially wanted to go to a beach that is commonly frequented by Monarch Butterflies at this time of year. We drove to Natural Bridges Beach in Santa Cruz and spent a few hours there.

We started at the visitor center and then took a walk through a wooded area where the butterflies tend to go because of all the eucalyptus trees. We were told there were over a 1,000 there, but they were well hidden. The few we did see were up high. It turned into a nice nature walk anyway. Then we headed to the beach. The kids played in the sand and explored, and the older ones played in the water, getting quite soaked. (couldn't they tell the water was COLD?) It was pretty windy, so Grandma and I stayed in our chairs most of the time, trying not to be bothered by it.

Natural Bridges Beach

Cathy, Grandma Taylor, Samantha

Laurel playing in the sand

DerekAdam enjoying some book reading

At one point we watched a bird floating in the water. It was riding the waves and every now and then got tossed up high at the top of a bigger wave. What was funny was it's little kicking feet as it flew through the air. The bird seemed to be enjoying the ride, as it continued in this way for a long time.

Our growing baby

Katelyn has been such a sweet baby! She sleeps pretty well and eats well and is just plain cute! Here are some more pictures of her. (3 weeks old)

With sister Laurel

Katelyn 1 week old

Here are some more pictures of Katelyn at a week old.

Trying to suck her thumb?