Madison is 9

Today is Madison's birthday. I can hardly believe she is 9 already. here are some pictures I took of her.
She is such an amazing and talented girl. Sometimes quiet and shy, other times loud and giggly.
She loves to spend time with her family and friends. She loves church, and though sometimes she won't admit it she loves school too. (especially her teacher Mrs Scheller)She loves all animals but especially loves Horses, dogs and cats.
Some of her favorite things to do right now are: she likes to make earrings, Make hair flowers, Play the Wii, play outside, play with her friends (especially having late nights), read, paint her nails (when I let her)Make up songs on the piano,and pretty much anything mom is doing.
My sweet little baby girl is growing up.
Some of the things I love about Madison are:
*Her happy smile
*Her cute personality
*Her ability to make others happy
*Her cute laugh
*she is smart
*I never have to tell her to do her homework
*she makes good choices even when mom and dad are not around
*she is eager to please
*she is helpful
*she likes to cuddle
*she is eager to learn new things
*She is kind to everyone. I lOvE yOu MaDi GiRl!!!
LoVe, Mom

Madison's FHE lesson

Madison wanted to share with the family a talk she heard at a friend's baptism. She told me what she wanted to do and I told her that would make a good family home evening lesson. So here is how it went.

First she asked daddy if he would come up and help her to which he was glad to oblige. (he didn't know what was coming he he he)
the she said ...lets just say you were younger than 8 and you died...( she wipes a glob of peanut butter on his nose) when you get to heaven they will let you in only if you are clean...you are not quite clean but you have an older brother that will clean it off for you because you are so small. Then she uses a paper towel to wipe his nose off.
Okay now lets pretend you are older than 8 this time(she wipes quite a bit of peanut butter all over his face) but you are not baptised....
because you are older you have more sins but if you accept the Gospel and get baptised your brother will again be able to wipe away those sins. Paper towels are again used to clean off his face.
Okay now lets pretend that you get baptized but you make lots and lots of little mistakes....
(she then puts LOTS of peanut butter all over his face) now you have to choose if you will let the Atonement work for you and make you clean again or not.
Then she gave him a bunch of paper towels and let him go to the bathroom to get it all cleaned off.

Madison gave us a great example of how baptism and the Atonement can and should effect us in our lives. Great job Madison!
And thanks for being a good sport Dad!

Madison's Birthday party

Highlights from Madison's 9th birthday party...

Pretty easy party this year. She wanted a late night so everyone wore their jammies.
We opened presents...
We decided on "Hanna Montana The Movie" for the video and had some of my young women come teach the hoe down throw down (Thanks Shaleese and Aimee!)

The girls all had a good time and Madison is happy.

One of the best things about fall is...

jumping into a pile of leaves almost as tall as you are
and rolling around in them with the ones you love
"dog pile on Koda"
GoT HiM!!

Ahhh to be a kid again!

More Halloween fun

We wanted to make caramel apples yesterday after trick or treating, but we got home too late to make homemade caramel so we decided to wait and do it after church today.

I forgot to take pictures of the actual dipping but here is one of Bailee twirling hers waiting for the caramel to cool enough not to drip all over.
the finished product.....mmm they look good!and tasted even better!

I think we just started a new tradition.

For the recipe to make the caramel look here.

Halloween 2009

Our fun neighbor Glenn came over to show us his costume while we were getting ready to go trick or treating. He made tome stilts that strap to his feet and had an awesome hat that actually was a head on top of his head. He looked way cool and scared the kids a bit even though they all knew who was inside the costume.

Alex and Kirsti dressed up a few times before Halloween for other activities and decided not to dress up for Halloween on Halloween. To see Alex's costume click here Kirsti never did get dressed up at home and cleaned up before she came back so we never even got to see her in her costume thus no pictures. (she thinks this is funny)

So we just have the younger three this year.
It was kind of hard to get a good shot of all three for some reason. Too much shade or too much sun.
Bailee the fortune teller... Full view and close up...

Madison...er Wednesday full view
And close up
Harrisen the fire fighter full viewAnd close up
Lance got to go trick or treating with up this year.They were so excited for the first few houses...
Then not many people were answering the doorHarrisen's "soot" in his hair started to run when his head started to sweat...it looks even more like he was crawling through the fire now.HaPpY HaLoWeEn EvErYoNe!!!

Annual pumpkin carving with the Bouwhuis side of the family

The Bouwhuis side of our family gets together every year the Saturday before Halloween to have soup and carve pumpkins. Here are some pictures of everyone having fun getting their pumpkins ready for Halloween.

Alex gutting her pumpkin
uncle Mark marking his for carving
Me and Bailee cutting away (I think I'm working on Harrisen's)Bailee cutting and Harrisen trying to find the top to his
Becca marking hers for cutting while little Tressa plays with her (Becca's) phone
Madison's finished pumpkin
Bailee's finished pumpkin
Kirsti's finished pumpkin
Harrisen's finished pumpkin
and Alex didn't finish hers until later so we forgot to take a picture.

And what would the annual pumpkin carving day be without Uncle Rob and his masterful works of art...
Here he is carving away

For his son Zealand he carved a "Bobot"

I tried to get Zealand to pose with it...he didn't like that idea so muchand for his daughter Tressa the prince waking sleeping beauty...She was proud to pose with hers
and here is Mason's idea of what a pumpkin should look like .....
in case you couldn't read it here is a close up of the sticker on his belly Silly Mason! We love your sense of humor!

Everyone had a blast with the pumpkin carving and we sure missed all those who couldn't make it this year....Dang H1N1.