More Elf Pictures

December in a flash

This month has been a crazy month---Gregs mom broke her arm in 3 places, had to wait for the bruising to go down before surgery. Went to have surgery and she had pneumonia, had to wait again and then 2 1/2 weeks later finally had surgery to repair her arm and put her arm back in place in her shoulder. Howard has also started basketball this month. ughh. He is loving it. Meanwhile I have been busy finishing up last minute presents and trying to get in the mood for Christmas. I love Christmas. I love everything about it and it has been so crazy it was hard to get in the mood. With some prodding from Greg we put up decorations and I listened to Christmas music everywhere I went and the spirit of Christmas came to me. I love the magic of the season. We have had some fun in my bathroom this year. I decorated the shelf with some snowmen, angels,etc. and everyday someone would move the pieces. Russell admitted to moving things around so then Greg started moving things and then most of the family is in on the rearranging. It has been fun to see where everything ends up. Who knew we had so many elves in our house.

Melissa Christmas caroling

Melissa went on a field trip Christmas caroling to old folks home afterwards they went to Starbucks and the cashier told them to go and sing to a table near the back and they ended up singing to a table of developementally delayed adults. After they sat down one of the ladies came over and sang a song she had written- it was called "Jesus is my Santa Claus".I am so proud of Melissa and her friends for sharing Christmas spirit and thinking of others.

Following his own Shots

Andrew is a great kid and has a good head on his shoulders. He follows his own direction and not afraid of being different. Last year on the basketball team all the boys had white shoes and he wanted black. This year after tryouts all the boys talked about getting black shoes and he went for the white. Not only in basketball but in other areas of his life he makes good decisions. It does make it very easy to find him on the court when he is the only one wearing white shoes

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Howards Baptism

Howard was baptised this past month, I am so proud of him and his decision to be baptised. Grandpa Tate flew out from Utah to be a part of this great experience. He was here for 5 days. The kids enjoyed his stories and playing games with him. Grandpa and Grandma Bingham came also, we are so glad for the support of family and friends. (Andrew was sick and is absent from the pictures- he missed

Graeters ice cream, yum)

Snowball quilt

I am on a roll, another one bites the dust. This quilt top has been done for several months just needed to be finished and now it is done. I have been trying to get rid of scraps which has been fun, i love bringing them out and rememering where they are from, what I made with them. etc. Several of the blues are from a quilt I made my parents, the dark green is from my quilt, a cream one is from a blanket I made Melissa when she was 4, pinks are from her quilt I made her when she was 8. ahh memories.

Halloween-belated

I am a little late but still wanted to post. Howard and Russell drew on their pumpkins and I cut them out. Russells is the one with all the eyes ( i think he ended up with 6 eyes). Melissa and Andrew stayed home and passed out candy and the little boys and I hit the neighborhood. We did it in 40 minutes and had plenty of candy.Melissa passed out to 6 kids this year. This is an all time record for us, last year we only got 4. It was such a nice night to go and always a good time to say hi to the neighbors.

Happy birthday Howard

My cute little man is 8, I can hardly believe how fast time goes. He is such a happy kid who loves his family and wants to be just like his big brother. He is always on the go,loves to play football, basketball and baseball. Happy birthday Howard -love you.

Who's daughter is this?

Melissa had spirit week a couple of weeks ago I only remembered to take pictures on nerd day and 80's day. Ok I don't think she is mine, I was not a nerd in high school and I did live in the 80's but I don't think I dressed like that so not sure who's kid she is. Maybe she is her dads daughter.

Walking Turtles

I have been on a roll. I am trying so hard to finish some of my tops. One done 2 more to go. I love the turtles on this baby blanket. The best part is that I am done with this before the baby is born. woo hoo!! Melissa loves this and said this is one of her favorites I have made.

Fumble Recovery

Andrew has had some great games this year. He has played both sides of the ball and has had a lot of pain. During this game he recoved a fumbled ball by the other team-way to go Andrew. He loves playing football and has played this season with Severs Disease- his growth plates in his heel are trying to close but because of our dry conditions this year and him pounding on his feet all the time-it isn't happening and his heels have been painful. The doctor said he could play and if the pain was too bad he could take a break. Yea right - Andrew is too tough and likes to play. This football season has been top ten busy for us but it is almost over and I will miss it.

Welcome Fall

This weekend I finally put on a jacket, our weather this year has been too warm for me. Mid 90s all summer is too much, the older I get the less I like the heat. Saturday was beautiful and cool in the late 60s. I am excited to get out my halloween decorations and to go to the pumpkin farm. Bring on the fall- but winter wait awhile. :)

alien attack

My friend Sara had a baby boy last month, he is a chunker 11 lbs 10 oz. She named him Maxwell, Cute as can be-Well I made her this cute alien blanket to welcome him. I have been super busy and needed an easy pattern, there probably is one like this but I couldn't find one so I thought of it on my own and think it looks great.

Football Fever

If you are having trouble getting a hold of us. It might be easier to come to a game or practice. We are now in the midst of football fever at our house. Howard has practice Mon, Wed and Thurs and games on Saturday. Andrew has practice everyday and games on Thursdays. Greg has practice(coaches)everyday for the 9th graders and then coaches Howards team too.He has games on Wed.and sometimes has the opportunity to help the varsity on Fridays. Phew! sometimes it seems a little crazy at our house but we try and keep up. Howard and Andrew are both the number 38. Howard is playing quarterback and Andrew is playing tight end. Russell and I make it to almost all of Howards practices and we make everyones games. He can hardly wait until he can play. I think he will be a diehard like the rest of us. Go Bingham!!( Andrew is in purple in the middle of the picture with the ball)(Howard is wearing blue/white and is running the ball)

Sister Murdock

Sister Murdock has been our Young Women President for a couple of years. She is awesome, always has tons of energy and the girls love her. She and her family are moving to Iowa and we are so sad to see her leave. They moved her to Cincinnati the same summer we did so it is a little sad for me to see them leave. Melissa and I talked about what we could do and we made a wall hanging and then had all the young women and leaders sign it. Love ya and wish you the best Murdock Family

Bengals and Boys

Howard had a football game at the Bengals stadium last weekend. They had a great time playing where the Bengals played. It was very hot but we enjoyed the game-see Howard running the ball, very fun. Andrew is being a junior assistant coach so this year he got a "coach's" shirt. They look so handsome!!

Melissas Birthday

Melissa had a birthday this week, I can hardly believe she is 17.ugghh. I am so proud of the beautiful young woman she is becoming. She is such a great friend and is mostly happy. I know the decisions she makes know will help in her life. love you tons beautiful. Happy Birthday.

Quilt X Three

Gregs friend Don just adopted 3 kids from Russia. It was a long process that took over a year and several trips over there, but they finally came home with a girl and 2 boys. They are all siblings. We are excited for him and his family. Obviously you can tell which quilts are for who. Bengals obviously for where we live and the University of Florida was where Don went to college. I love the quilting on the girls, Usually I meander the quilting but since it was a girl tried to do flowers/butterflies as you can see on the back they turned out great-totally love it. I usually machine sew my binding but ended up hand stitching 2 of them and now think it looks so much better then my machine ones. Darn-it takes so much longer to hand stitch, but I guess the result is worth it.

Andrew Scout Camp

Andrew had scout camp last week, he had a great time and earned 5 merit badges and 2 partials. He will continue to work on morse code and semiphore, which was pretty cool with flags. It was a hot week and then rainy the last 2 days. I wondered if he had rolled in the mud by looking at his laundry and when I asked him he told me thay made mud angels. Nice.I believe this picture of Spencer and Andrew was taken before the rain. They look somewhat clean. So, I was sorting his laundry and found THE biggest wolf spider in his clothes.--ewww.He told me it was his pet. not happening in this house sorry.