I learned how to do a slide show!

Okay, so I am finally learning a few things about blogs and I don't feel so dumb anymore. My friend Peggy dropped by today with her kids for a few hours to eat lunch with my family and teach me a little more about blogs (Peggy is visiting from California and was in our last ward). It was great to see her after 3 years and reminess about our old ward and friends. I was SO excited when she taught me how to put on a slide show and music! I thought it would be much harder than it was! So everyone take a minute to look at my masterpiece. Oh, and I wanted to tell all my friends to PLEASE leave me a message when you visit my blog, I am not sure if you looked if you don't. So far I feel like I am writting this blog to myself! I will commit myself to keep up my blog if I know you want to see it. I love you Guys -Jamie
P.S This song playing is my new favorite, I've been listening to it non-stop lately. It's just so pretty and relaxing!- Enjoy

Circus FUN!

Friday night we got a phone call from the Bernhardt's (friends in our ward) and they invited us to go to the circus with them on Saturday. Of course we excepted, but we didn't tell our kids until right before we left. Our kids were so excited and were literally jumping up and down when we told them. We drove over to the Bernhardt's house, let the kids swap cars (some of our kids in their car and some of theirs in our car) and together drove to the circus.
When we walked inside the building it was smaller than I thought, but big enough to get the job done. The show was great, there was a band playing music and making sound effects, dancers stunt men, acrobats, bears, elephants, horses. . .you name it. We had a wonderful time! With their 5 kids and our 4 kids we were quite the crowd! All of the kids enjoyed blue cotton candy which was a big hit but incredibly messy. We took a few pictures to show you how much fun we had!

Our newest addition . . .TIA!!!

Gregg finally gave in and we got a cute little kitty. She is about 7 weeks old and very active! The kids just adore her and the kitten can't live without us. She is always so excited to see us, she reminds me of a dog. In the morning we take her out of the bathroom and she is all over us! The funny thing is that Gregg has really become fond of her (even if he wont admit it) and the kitty loves him more than anyone! Tia will come jump on his lap in the evenings and cuddle with him. We love our new addition to the family!
- The first picture is Maleah with the kitten, she holds Tia and rocks her like a baby doll, it's so funny.

TYLER

Tyler reports into the M.T.C on June. 25th, 2008. His father, Gregg will be visiting us from Germany for a week or so and then driving him to the M.T.C. We are happy to finally see grandpa again and we sure look forward to his visit! We will miss Uncle Tyler around here, but we know he will love his mission too (he will be going to Mexico City, Mexico). We love you Tyler!!!

School's Out

Boy are we BUSY!!! School is finally out and we have lots of plans to keep the kids busy: Library trips, free movies this summer, ice cream trips, trips to the pool, park and more! This summer I have 5 kids here each day (my 4 and another girl that I watch) so things get pretty exciting around here sometimes. I am so happy to be able to play all summer with the kids and not have to worry about schedules and homework!

Our Hodgkin family vacation to California is from June 27th to July 7th. We are heading to Six Flags, to Dillon's Beach and then to Sacramento to visit both of our family members. We are all REALLY excited and we are making a team effort to save for it. Dallin goes to my parents house and does chores to earn $, the kids sold chocolate dipped cookies to the neighbors, and Alise and Preston have been doing small chores around the house to earn a little extra. I think it makes it more fun for them to be able to help out. I am so proud of each one of them. We have over $160.00 saved in our little "Vacation Fund" (a small butter container that sits in our cupboard).

This Saturday we are getting a new DVD player for the van (since our other one skips and freezes all the time) in preparation for our trip. The DVD player is a lifesaver on long road trips, I am not sure if I'd get there sane without it :) I'll update you when we return and post more pictures.

Alise's Graduation

Alise is now a kindergartner! She graduated from Preschool and they had the cutest little ceremony for her. Her teacher said something special about each child and gave them a special gift, then we finished with an awesome breakfast which included just about everything you can think of! We had a great time and Preston is SO excited to take her place next year in Mrs. Nicole's preschool class.