North western New York

We did some church history sites and Niagara Falls with Denver's parents. Here we are after the Maid of the Mist (the picture are out of order. I have a lot to catch up so...

Walking through the Sacred Grove

Colson was a good traveler.

We also went to the E.B Grandin bldg, where the Book of Mormon was bound. We went to the Palmyra temple.

Hill Cumorah

sight seeing

The weekend after graduation, we toured Philadelphia and New York City.
We started by going to the reading terminal, one of my most favorite places in Philly. Then we went to Liberty Bell and Independence Hall and then the Rocky statue and art museum.

And of course, we made a stop by the Dental school and was given a tour by a pro.

Say Awwww.

May 13, 2010 Graduation

Getting dressed for Graduation. They called Denver's name and the kids all got up to take a picture with him. I was told there were gasps when people saw 4 kids!

The ceremony was long, but we had a perfect seat. They were box type seats so we had a couple 'boxes' so I was able to watch and listen and not worry about the kids leaving.

Denver J. Palmer, DMD

Denver's parents, aunt and sister came to Philadelphia for Graduation. It was nice to have family share in this wonderful event.

I am so proud of Denver and all his hard work. 4 years of Dental school hasn't always been easy for him. He hit some bumps in the road on the way, but kept driving. Way to go, Dr. Palmer!

dinners

We had 3 'goodbye' dinners before we moved. We had the annual goodbye picnic dinner that our ward members have, which I don't have a picture for.
Then we had Temple's banquet dinner. And our year (all member's of our ward, except 2 families) had a goodbye dinner.

All good food, but better company. We miss our Philadelphia friends.

Randomness

This is a whole wheat tortilla. Sterling made the holes in the eyes and then put it up to his face. Funny kid. Yesterday the weather was sooo nice! We started our day by going to our ward service project. After that we headed to Rita's for a free water ice (1st day of Spring every year they give away free water ices. Mmmmm). We will definitely miss water ice when we move.

We got our food and ate a picnic at the park. The park was busy, but the weather was so nice that everyone there seemed to be in good spirits and the busyness wasn't a factor. We stayed until 5:30ish and then decided we needed to get the kids cleaned for church the next day and then to bed.

While the kids played, Colson slept.

We love daylight savings (longer days now) and we love 11am church. We actually have time to do things as a family after church now. the kids were being silly and trying on these costume glasses. I got a kick out of Garrett with them on.

In The Friend (a magazine our church puts out) they have a section called "Friends in the News". Maelie and Garrett like looking at the kids and asked why these kids get to be in the magazine. So we wrote a few things and took this picture to submit to The Friend. We'll see if it gets published. If not, here it is:

Sterling (2), Garrett (4), Maelie (6) and Colson (5 mo), Pennsylvania, love living in Philadelphia. They enjoy reading The Friend, going to church, and participating in Family Home Evening every Monday night. They like to drive to Washington DC to see the beautiful temple. Maelie and Garrett are trying to do missionary work by being good examples and inviting their friends to church. Sterling loves to sing songs in nursery. His favorite songs are "I am a child of God", "Twinkle, Twinkle Little star" and "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam".

'What I've been learning about' by Maelie

Today I have been learning about how to write time at 5-minute intervals with digital clocks.I been learning about other times like half pasts and quarter till. time is lots of fun I realy like time.
Today we just got new movies from grandma we sure do have a lot of church movies we also have a lot of movies. movies are fun.
One day my counsin Laura told me a scary story and a funny story and read a princess story to me. princess are beautiful to me others do not think they are.
LOVE Maelie GOO GOO Sterling said by by to you and oo oo. 3-18-10

Spring! :) and Allergies :(

Our allergies have started. Even the kids are having allergy issues.

Tuesday

So, guess where the kids and I went on Tuesday?

That's right! The Dental school to meet Denver for lunch. Not my favorite drive.

Look Mom, it's working!

this is video taken from my webcam of my eyebrows in action. I actually sent it to my dr. because he wanted to know how things were coming along. Last time he saw me, the one eyebrow didn't move at all. I was so excited when it started working again. It's funny how something as simple as an eyebrow moving can make somehow so happy. I feel really blessed that everything healed so well and quickly. It's like it never happened!

SICK

Last night at about 2am Sterling came walking into our room"Can I daddy?" his little voice said quietly. (meaning can I come out of bed). He then threw up all over the rug in our room. Then he said in a tiny voice, "oh no, I spilled". We hurriedly woke up, got out of bed and cleaned him up. One thing I can tell you is that Denver is sooooo much better at dealing with throw up than me. I hesitate and he just does what needs to be done. We stayed up with him for about 30 minutes to make sure he wouldn't throw up again. (somehow that has become our magic number for waiting. Every time a kid throws up in the night, we wait 30 minutes before putting them back to bed). We put him back to bed and then about 5 minutes later we heard him throw up again!

So we cleaned him up again (or Denver cleaned him up again and I assisted by giving him things that he needed). After the hard part (the cleaning up throw up part) was done, I sent Denver back to bed because he had to take his boards the next day and I took care of the easy part (holding Sterling). I waited longer than 30 minutes this time. He finally fell asleep in my arms around 4:30am and then I put him back to bed, half expecting him to throw up again. He didn't and he seemed fine all day today. Garrett threw up Saturday night, sterling Monday night, who's going to be Wednesday night? (2 day incubation period).

Proof

This is just proof that I do get on this blog. There ya have it. The proof.

Maelie's post

today I went to church. I learned about the birth of Jesus Christ in class. Last night we couldn't go to the dance because Garrett was sick. we went to mcdonalds mom got french fries for Maelie and Sterling. Garrett got coke mom and dad got milkshakes and french fries. Maelie and dad danced. Sterling and Mom danced together last night with lots of music instead of going to the dance after all that maelie and Sterling went to bed then mom and dad had their snack from mcdonalds.

My bound blog

About a month ago I got my bound blog book in the mail. I love having it! It is so fun to read. The kids love it so much, but it's getting really worn and it's only a month old. I'm debating on buying another and keeping it safe from the possibility of getting ripped by a 2 year old.

This blog book only features the years 2007 and 2008. I'll be making 2009 and 2010 next!

The Stake Dance for adults

For the last 3 years, our stake has had a dance for all the adults in the stake. The first year we went. I picked up one of the youth so she could babysit while we went dancing. I was soooo excited because I never get to go dancing with my hubby anymore because we have kids. So, with my expectations astronomically high, we went to the dance. At the dance, I kept waiting and waiting for a good, new dance song to be played (you know, the kind they play at youth dances). I even went up to the DJ and requested songs. He refused to play any of my requests! They were reasonable requests, too. Songs that were played at youth dances and so forth.

Denver kept trying to get me to leave because he could see I was getting upset that no fun fast dance songs were being played, but I insisted we stay till the end, hoping ONE would get played. To my dismay, nothing! So the next year (last year), I was asked to make a CD of songs to play at the dance for the younger generation. I emailed a list of the songs I was going to put on the CD (with the dislcaimer that all of these songs are played at youth dances and if they're okay for our children, they should be okay for us.) to the DJ. He replied and said he couldn't play any of them. So, needless to say, we stayed home on STRIKE. :) It was more my idea. Denver didn't really care.

This year, the stake president asked me if I would make a CD again with the promise that some of them would be played at the dance. So I made a CD and sent it to the stake. The eve of the dance came and we got ourselves and the kids ready to go (babysitting was going to be provided by youth as a camp fundraiser). It was our last dance before we moved and I was getting really excited. We got to the church parking lot and unloaded our family. Once out, Garrett threw up all over the pavement. He had fallen asleep in the car, but we just thought he was exceptionally tired. So, I went in the bldg. to find a bag Garrett could hold on the way home in case he threw up again. I also peeked in the cultural hall to see what kinds of food was there and grabbed a couple creme puffs and cheese cake bites for the road. I also stopped by to say 'hi' to the stake pres.

As I was walking back out to the car with a bag and the goodies, a high councilor came out with these roses. He said he was sorry our son threw up and we couldn't be there to dance and then he gave us this consolation prize. It was really nice! On the way home, the money we were going to give as a fundraiser for babysitting was burning a hole in our pockets so we stopped at McDonalds for french fries and milk shakes (comfort foods for me). Once we got home, we put Garrett and Colson to bed and then had a little dance with Maelie and Sterling and ate our french fries and milkshakes. It turned out to be a fun night with a few bumps.

BTW, Garrett threw up a couple more times last night.

A lot of white, cold stuff

On Friday evening, the snow started and it snowed all night and almost all day Saturday. According to the weather reports, we got 28 inches! Tonight, 4 days later, it is snowing and is supposed to snow all day tomorrow and we are supposed to get anywhere from 12-24 inches. By the end of this storm, we should have the most snowfall Philadelphia has ever experienced in a winter season.
This is a icicle from our roof. The kids wanted to eat it as you can see. After the shoveling is over, relaxing on the snow.

Denver jumped up and landed in the snow and the snow covered him almost completely.

this is a picture of our Honda parked on the street.

I'm sure I'll get more pictures of our next storm.

Because of the weather, our stake conference is cancelled on Sunday.

4 months old

Colson turned 4 months old today! He is so fun to have in our home! He is a very easy baby. He will sit by himself happily for hours. His brothers and sister LOVE him or 'it' according to Sterling. He smiles all the time. He sleeps 12 hours at night! YEAH! I will know his weight in a couple of days at his doctor's appointment. He already had one haircut. He spits up all the time and is full of boogars so we go through a lot of burp rags and tissues. I love these orange shoes. Jordan, a friend of mine gave them to me and I think they are sooo cute!

There he is GQing.

What a cutie!

it was bound to happen...

After parking on the street by Temple University for 3+ years, it finally happened. There have been numerous cars that have gotten broken into by Temple over the years so it was bound to happen. We only have 4 months left, but we couldn't make it through without a break in. The good was that nothing except 2 dimes sitting out in the open was taken. I was shocked our stereo was still intact. This is one more thing to add to our Philly adventures.

Hand-me-downs

one of the great advantages of having 3 boys in a row while in school is you don't have to buy clothes. Here is a picture of Sterling and Garrett in their matching outfits. and here is a picture of Colson and Sterling in the same matching outfit!

Bumbo sittin'

We've heard alot of people tell us how much they loved having a bumbo. So for Christmas, Colson got a bumbo. He seems to like it so far.

Garrett's two front teeth

We noticed that Garrett's front tooth and gums above were turning dark. He had fallen about a week earlier. We took him to the pedodontist (at the dental school, the students are not allowed to work on their own children) and he had them both pulled. He did really well to our surprise. When he was all done, the secretary gave him free reign on the prize bucket so he loaded up his pockets. He also got ice cream from dad for doing such a good job. The tooth fairy came that night and gave him 2 quarters! He was one happy boy.