Pop Pop and Arden at the Park Near Leana's Home and Other More Recent Photos

Here are some photos of the children, including some of Dad with Ardenita:

Pop Pop, Arden, and I went on a walk during our visit to Leana and DeLynn's home, and we took this photo.

Arden like to wrap her hair up in a towel like this.

Leo looking cool, not sure where this is.

 

Sawyer playing Samara's video game system (DS).

Samara making dinner; she does that on Thursday evenings.  Hey it's Thursday today, I can't wait!!!  She is taking after her mother by making delicous meals.

Tina, Sawyer, Anna, and Samara hanging out in family home room.

At the kitchen table.

Cute little girl in cute little glasses.

Mediocre-looking man in cute little glasses.

Beautiful princesses

Creation by Anna in nursery

Arden can make 3 french fries look really long, and like a mustache.  This was taken on a Daddy-daughter date recently.

Leo on a family walk/bike ride.

Anna enjoys riding her tricycle! Samara in background, and Sawyer too, but he is harder to spot.

the end

Lego Temple

Leo, Sawyer, and I had fun trying to build a replica of the Rexburg Idaho Temple out of legos.  Here is the finished product.

"Courage" by Samara

This is a writing assignment by Samara she made on 29 Jan 2013

Courage

Courage, the ability to conquer fear or despair.  In the song, "Nephi's Courage," it sings:
"...Nephi was courageous, this was his reply: I will go, I will do..." 

I feel courage is a good thing in our lives.  I think courage is whenever there is something you're scared of.  Whether it's something yucky or giant man-eating spiders, you go ahead, take the risks and brave it.  I also think courage is anything that is hard for you to accomplish and you do it anyway; that means you have courage when you brave the frigid air outside, or walk by the fence with the scare dog behind it.

Someone who I think is courageous is Corrie Tenboom.  During the world war two, she harbored a Jewish baby.  By way of a false wall in her bedroom, she courageously harbored many desperate Jews. One day a man came to Corrie's home pleading for 600 gilders, because his wife was in prison.  Corrie decided to give him the money.  He turned out to be a German spy, and later that day Corrie's home was raided.  Corrie and her sister Betsie were arrested and sent to a concentration camp.  Even though they were forced to labor all day and were exhausted in the evenings, they held secret Bible meetings with their Bibles they had risked concealing.  Later, after Corrie had been released she was speaking at one of her meetings when she spotted a man she remembered from one of the concentration camps, who had been a guard.  After the meeting, he approached her asking forgiveness; she courageously forgave him.

Corrie did something that was hard for her to do.  She also kept believing in God even though there were risks and she was living in impossible conditions.

The dictionary's definition states that courage is conquering your fears or despair.  My definition of courage is that courage is anything that is hard or scary for you to do.  The definitions are the same because they both talk about doing hard things.  They differ because  I believe that courage can be all things that are hard or scary; the dictionary says that courage is doing things that conquer fear or despair.

"Robot" by Samara

This is a picture that Samara drew for me some time ago of a robot.  After seeing her picture, Sawyer was inspired to create similar pictures, and Tina and I smiled to see how a big sister can inspire her siblings.

Kids' Picasso Renditions

Recently, Tina asked the children to create paintings in the style of Picasso.  Here are their creations...

by Samara

by Leo

by Sawyer

by Arden

by Anna

Father Daughter Activity Several Weeks Ago

Samara and I had the chance to attend a Father Daughter activity three Fridays ago.  I had such a great time.  One of the neat things we did was to fill out a questionnaire.  Here were the questions and our answers:

Father asks daughter: What is your favorite book and why?
Samara:  Beauty, because I like the way the author writes and the story too.

What is your favorite color? 
Brown, I think it fits me.

If you were a Disney princess, which one would you be?
Belle, but I would wear a dress with sleeves.


What kinds of things make you happy?
Reading, eating cheesecake, listening to son or reading book that brings back a nice memory.  For example, when I hear a song that plays during Zumba (exercise dancing) when I'm with Mom.


What is your favorite holiday and why?
St. Patrick's Day because I get to make Irish potato candy, have delicious corned beef and green drink.

Poem by Samara

Winter Days

by Samara Yoshiko Harrell, 10 April 2013

Oh why this solemn boredom,
oh why why this winter haze,
for slow and long are these winter days,
letters unsent, snowmen unmade,

No sun, just clouds the sky a pale shade,
there are no children playing,
no sleds left in sight,
it is late winter, so cold the night.

But it is not all just quiet and sober,
for these are cozy days, to stay out of sight,
the kettle a'whistlin, the stew just right
perhaps tomorrow, the sun will come out
the cold wind will too, just about

And we will go out and see the snow sparkle,
no longer gray and sad, so I dream of tomorrow, 
of snow fights and games, of friends happy and gay,
but most of all, I dream of a long winter day.

Piano Recital for Samara and Leo

1 April 2013

We attended a piano recital this evening for our Family Home Evening activity.  Among the students that recited were Samara and Leo.  They did an excellent job and have grown in their skills so much since commencing their lessons.

Leo played "Ode to Joy" and one other song. Leo does not always approach piano practice with excitement, but he is sticking with it and has made a lot of progress.  I believe he does enjoy being able to read music and mastering a song.

Samara played two songs that she has been working on very hard.  They sounded so polished and wonderful.  She too is enjoying the benefits of practicing hard. She likes to memorize the songs rather than read the music during her recitals.

And then my favorite part was refreshments...

Posted with love,
Tina and Ryan

Pop Pop's Birthday
March 16, 2013

Hello Omi and Pop Pop.  We hope you have a great day tomorrow celebrating Pop Pop's Birthday. 

We love you guys very much,
Love,
Anna, Arden, Sawyer, Leo, Samara, Tina, and Ryan