Uncle B.J.'s Visit 2014

 As usual, we had a fabulous, if not too quick, 2 weeks with Uncle B.J.  The kids look forward to this all year and they are never disappointed.  We spent the week playing video games, watching movies, eating treats, playing with chalk, and singing "Let It Go" from Frozen.

My pictures are all in random order, but at least they are here!

B.J. has such a huge talent with kids.  He understands each of mine so well and has so much patience with them.  We always joke that he needs to take a week vacation when he gets home because he has got to be exhausted.  I swear he didn't sleep the whole time he was here and he always had several children climbing all over him.

B.J. gave Cameron the nickname of "MR. Mo Mo" and Cameron loved it.  He snuggled up next to B.J. and kept saying, "B.J. calls me MoMo!"  He obviously didn't remember B.J. from last year, but I guess we have talked about him enough that when B.J. got out of the truck for the first time, Cam sprinted out of the house, across the yard, and jumped into his arms. I loved it.

He also loved for B.J. to push him in the swing.  He would say, "Higher, higher, higher, B.J.  Okay, dat good B.J."

Another favorite was, "Come outside me B.J., and Watch me B.J."

Griffin was in video game Heaven!  While the big kids were at school, he and B.J. played tons of games and Griffin was able to actually beat a few of them.  If there is such a thing as being talented at video game playing, Griffin certainly is.

We spent a day at the new aquarium with B.J., Mimi, and Josh and Jess

Sunny loves her Uncle so much.  She just always wanted to be with him and snuggled up right next to him.

B.J. with 6 of his 7 nieces and nephews.  Jackson was at a party.

Love this one!  You don't often see a normal picture of B.J. where he is not covering his face.

We all watched Flight of the Navigator one night.  Sweet Griffin tried so hard to stay awake, but he just couldn't do it.

Jack and B.J. of course, played tons of video games.  Jackson had just gotten 2 new games for his birthday and they were able to beat the first one and Jack is almost done with the second game.  It is a pretty hard one, and was pretty cool to watch.

I just realized I don't have any good pictures of Lila with B.J.  Well, they spent lots of time singing.  She showed him all her favorite songs and videos.  She also loved drawing with chalk and learning how to do the monkey bars with B.J.

Thanks Uncle B.J..  We love you and can't wait until you can come again.  It really is the best time of the year around our house!

Basement

Work got started on our basement on March 8th.  We are so excited.  We have really outgrown our house and we need the extra space pretty badly.  We are going to have a new family room, 2 bedrooms, and a bathroom.

Things were moving pretty quickly until we got to the drywall.  The guys were supposed to come on a Wed morning, but didn't end up getting to our project until Friday.  That slowed us down a little bit, but overall things are going really well.

This is Jackson's room

Today and Wed. we have guys here doing the mudding and taping.  I think all that is left after that is finish carpentry, paint, and carpet.

Sunny's room

This is the window well outside of Jackson's new room.  It is in the back of the house.  The other two windows are on the sides of the house.

Jackson's window from the inside.  It was hard to take pictures because it is a little dark down there.  There are no lights hooked up right now.

Sunny's window.  She has a ladder in her window well, and we will probably get one for Jackson's room too.

Happy Birthday to Lila

Sweet little LuLu turned six back on March 14th.  She had a wonderful birthday and I have lots of pictures to post.  For now, these will have to do.

I have been trying to get Lila to cut her hair for a few months  She always said, "NO WAY."  She loved her long hair.  I did too, but it was just getting so hard to take care of.  Finally she agreed to trim it and then today at the salon, she decided to just go for it and chop most of it off.

We love it!  IT is so light and I think it will be much easier to take care of.  I think she looks so grown up.  

2014 Word For The Year

A couple of years ago, a good friend of mine told me that she doesn't do New Years resolutions, she does a word for the year. Like a family theme of sorts.  I thought that was a fabulous idea and so last year I chose a word for our family....and promptly forgot all about it and and never did anything about it, and now I can't even tell you what the word was...FAIL on my part.

This year I decided to put a little more effort into choosing a word that would be meaningful to our family, a word that would allow us opportunities to grow, and a word that would be allow us to spend more time thinking about the people around us and learning to serve them.  Then I decided I would blog about it because I think writing it down will help keep my accountable and make sure we stay focused for the year.  

So, the word for the Blair Family for 2014 is:

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,

 even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.

Ephesians 4:32

I am so excited for this new year.  I have so many great things going on in my head that I want to do with my little family.  I hope that over the course of the year we can grow closer together, love one another more, and learn to see people as Christ sees them.

A few of the quotes that I am feeling inspired by this year:

"I suppose the thing I most would have liked to have known or been reassured about is that in the world, what counts more than talent, what counts more than energy or concentration or commitment, or anything else - is kindness. And the more in the world that you encounter kindness and cheerfulness - which is its kind of amiable uncle or aunt - the better the world always is. And all the big words: virtue, justice, truth - are dwarfed by the greatness of kindness." ~ Stephen Fry

Kindness in thought leads to wisdom,

Kindness in speech leads to eloquence,

Kindness in action leads to love.

-Lao Tsu

School Pictures

I never buy the kids school pictures, but this year I actually wish I had bought Jackson's.  First good school picture ever for him!

This year, instead of sending home proofs (which I usually take a picture of myself), they sent home these tiny id cards.  So, here are my pictures of the tiny pictures they sent home.  Not great, but it works.

5th, 4th, and K

Sunny's Singing Debut

My little Sunny Bunny has a beautiful voice and really loves to sing.  She is also very nervous about the idea of singing in public.  Usually if I suggest it, she shoots me down right away.  Last week we found out that her activity day girls group was having a year end talent show activity.  I asked her if she would sing and she said, "YES!"  I know, right!!!!

She chose Taylor Swift's song, "You're Not Sorry" and Ryan played the guitar for her.  I was so, so, so nervous because I wasn't sure if she would actually go through with it, if she would cry, if she would forget the words, etc.  

The night came and she was ready.  It is too bad you can't see her feet, because she was sporting a new pair of cowboy boots and she looked great.  I know she was nervous, but she did an amazing job and I am so proud of her for conquering her fear.

There were about 75 people, girls and their Moms and Dads there, and the whole night was great.  I loved watching all the girls and seeing all of their unique talents.  We live in a pretty special neighborhood and I sure do love all the sweet girls that Sunny gets to grow up with.

Weekend in Cedar City

The kids got to meet baby George for the first time and hold him for a couple seconds.

Sunny is so much like me.  She just loves babies so much.  It is really cute.  She does a really good job with them.

We spent some time at the Pioneer Museum while we were down visiting Josh and Jess.  The kids liked climbing in the old stagecoach.

Panning for gold.

Can't remember the real name for this, so I will call it:  Pushing the heavy stone around to grind it up into powder :)