Please let me see what Santa brought?
Just because they are cute and mine =)
Waiting patiently for the real fun to begin =)
Too cute! I wish we would have gotten more with all the grandparents!
The boys getting the real fun ready!
Just Dance on the Wii!
Yes, we stayed in our pajamas ALL day! I think some of us stayed in our jammies the next day too =) Hope everyone’s Christmas was great!
Last night we decorated a Gingerbread House. The children had fun decorating their own cookie with lots of frosting and candies! Loreena took over the house, well the first part. The pre-assembled house was broken, so she tried really hard to get it back together. I think next year we will upgrade to individual houses. I just don’t want to buy all that candy!
Once upon a time, in a little city named Victorville, there lived a small family of 5: a papa bear, a mama bear, an older brother who was 9, a middle sister who was 7, and a baby brother who was 3. Now this family had been very busy during the year 2012.
The mama bear had been busy teaching the children bears about becoming knights and all the little bears were so excited, especially when they learned about Joan of Arc. After a break, from school that is, during the summer, the children bear got busy seeking for Truth, Goodness, and Beauty in Art and Music. They started with the renaissance and reformation time periods and currently await the beginning of their search through the baroque and classical periods. At church, mama bear had been busy serving in the Relief Society as a Visiting Teacher Coordinator and as a Gospel Doctrine Teacher (every other Sunday), but that all changed when she was asked to serve as the Stake Primary Secretary. That happened right when all the Ward Primary Programs began, so papa bear had to take care of the little bears almost every Sunday by himself! What a trooper!
Papa bear, himself, had too been very busy. After teaching Seminary last school year and working at a less than desirable job, he made some big changes! He started a new job, which works normal, 8-5, hours and made some calling changes! He was asked to serve as the Scout Master and advisor to the Young Men and the Seminary Supervisor. He was very busy and very happy!
Outside of school, the children enjoyed piano and their Martial Arts classes. Isaac was able to play the piano in Sacrament meeting 2 times! Isaac also loved to read books, especially the Eragon series. He even tried to be a vegan for a month in hopes his ears would become pointy and he would turn into an elf! Rebekah fell in love with the American Girls Series and started paying attention to the 18” doll she had owned for 2 years. =) She loved to spend her time playing with her dolls and being the most sympathetic bear on this planet! Benjamin spent the year proving to mama bear that not all bears are the same! He had a love for guns and destruction mama bear didn’t know existed! However, at the end of the day, he always wanted to snuggle and give lots of kisses!
During the year they went to Sea World with their annual passes, went camping in Wrightwood, and filled their void for more children with LOTS of exchange bears (all girls)! First in January, they invited Frederike bear, from Germany, to live with them until June. They enjoyed taking her to Joshua Tree to go camping, the Grand Canyon, and LA to see the Hollywood sign. While Frederike was staying with them, they also hosted 2 two-week exchange bears from China! These bears came to visit right in the middle of their Spring Festival, so the entire family got to have a Spring Festival Dinner! To keep this bear family’s summer alive, they hosted 2 more Chinese bears for 2 weeks! These 2 were especially fun because they were from Southern China! Such a difference in food and culture! While these 2 bears were there, the entire family, minus papa bear, got to go to Disneyland! That was a treat!!! In the fall, the bear family had just settled into a quiet, predictable routine, when they got a phone call. There was a Loreena bear, from Germany, who needed a new home for the rest of the school year. The bear family met with her and one week later, a new exchange bear had moved into their home.
Now this bear family continued to stay very busy and looked on the New Year with excitement, for they knew that they had no idea what new blessings were going to come their way!
So, this past June marked 20 years since I graduated from high school. Time flies so fast! In lieu of attending our reunion, 3 of my friends from high school, wait junior high, no wait, ELEMENTARY school and I had our own little reunion!We attended school together from Kindergarten until graduation. Okay, there were a few years that some of us tried different elementary schools, but I so don’t count that. We were in Girl Scouts together even though we attended different elementary schools. I love that fact that we are still able to get together and visit! We all live within a couple of hours of each other and 2 of our parents still live in the same houses and the third lives in the same city still! What I loved about seeing them is that even though we have all chosen different paths of employment, we still have the same morals and values taught to us by great parents!
Is it wrong for me to be happy with this while those on the East Coast are suffering? I LOVE fall foliage! LOVE IT!!!! And my husband LOVES me which is why he got me this tree for my yard =) Every year the foliage lasts longer and every year I love my tree more and more. I have only been to the east coast 3 times in my life, and every time was in the end of September, beginning of October. Beautiful!
With all that said, my heart goes out to all the people who have been apart of this horrific storm! One friend is concerned she may never get power to her house again! I can’t even imagine. These natural calamities are reminders of what is truly important in our lives! The more the come, the more perspective we have!
This summer we had 2 birthdays.
Warren’s was in July and the children made this banner for him.
Warren decided on an ice cream sandwich instead of a cake. Maybe that is because of his new job……Warren started working for a new company (a bakery) in June (the day before Bekah’s birthday) as a Warehouse Manager. He is loving it!
Bekah voted for Costco cake for her birthday this year.
Not sure what she opened, but apparently she loved it!
No we did not spend any time in Hawaii saying Aloha =)
Our summer began with saying good-bye to Fredreike. We were so lucky to have her in our home for 5 months!
She began her trip here with a stop at In-N-Out, so of course we went there on the way to the airport!
The next big part of the summer was saying good-bye, and hello, to new paint for the children's bedrooms.
Benjamin’s YELLOW room. He still wants more yellow =)
Rebekah went with a simple cream and multi colored polka-dots!
Isaac’s baby blue is in the planning stage of an Eargon/sword/battle scene. Or something like that =)
We then had 2 Chinese students visit with us.
Faye and Stephy were great! We really enjoyed them! (More about them and other things later)
Lastly, Damien, who was one of our French boys last summer, came back to visit. 
We had a ball with him… literally we went to a ball and did much, much more! He has just left =( It is Labor Day weekend and summer will be officially, unofficially over. We have been too busy, but we have enjoyed every moment!
Good-bye to our special friends from around the world! We love each of you and are grateful to have you all in our lives!
We had an extra special day this year! Thank you family =)
First I opened my door to a present hanging in the door frame. Then I had to hold on to the iron rod as I made my way down stairs fro breakfast.
Frederike didn’t make it into the picture because she had just woken up =)
After church, we drove to Riverside to visit the grandmas. First we took my mom a homemade strawberry pie with strawberries from our garden!
Then we took Warren’s mom a homemade lemon meringue pie.
It was a great day!
Our children have now been knighted Sir Isaac of Victorville, Knight of Hope and Lady Rebekah of Riverside, Lady of Love. Please see our home-school blog for pictures!
Our Best Bites isn’t just about good food… they are about family too! Here is a great chemistry/science project/craft for everyone to enjoy!
Did we get any family Easter pictures? NO. How sad is that! But we did get these…
And we did watch this resurrection video!
I am grateful for a living Savior who atoned for my life and yours! I am grateful for the promise of eternal life and for the joy that is given to me everyday and for the unimaginable joy that is to come!
Today, the Lehndorfer grandchildren got together for some spring cleaning at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. As a reward, we went over to Fairmont Park to play.
Bekah with some of the girls.
Isaac with some of the boys.
Benjamin with his cousin =)
Bekah learning that this activity makes her dizzy. (Does that count as school for the day?)
This was Isaac with his belated birthday presents he got today. By the look on his face when he opened them, his aunts and I were convinced he wasn’t overly interested in Legos, or Harry Potter, or Star Wars. We were home about 2 minutes before he began building EVERYTHING he got today. He only stopped for 5 minutes to eat dinner. All three took about an hour and a half!
This was one of Benjamin's presents. A Stomp Rocket. BIG… I mean HUGE… I mean ENORMOUS hit!
Cousin swinging.
Cousins eating (which mine never really did so they were starving when we left for home).
Perfect day! Perfect weather! Perfect FAMILY!
Isaac has been running Cross Country for 2 years and this year we joined the ranks of Track =) He is running the 4 X 100 relay, the 200 m, and is doing the standing long jump. This is a great sport for Isaac. He is part of a team, but his individual skill is what he is measured on. He is not a sprinter, but seems to have good endurance. When running his 200 m, he came in 4th in his heat with a time of 41 sec. Doing the math means he was running about 5 ½ mph. That seems very fast to me! I believe the number 1 runner was 31 or 32 sec. I can’t even think that fast!
We had so much fun! What a beautiful place our Heavenly Father has sent us!
Frederike and her friend picked out this camp site because of the great
trees to hide their tent in =)
Our favorite spot to climb, sit and be a lizard, and watch the sun rise and set.
Isaac found it first =)
Sunrise.
So the first night was about 34 degrees at its low. can you tell Warren is cold? We bundled up, but not enough. We did not have the same problem the next night (not to mention that it was probably 44 degrees that night).
This is just cute!
The first day we went from our favorite round rock to the square rock in the distance…..
On the way….
we touched it =)
Weird looking dead cactus.
Isaac’s secret cave.
Special girl time.
The 3 mile hike to an Oasis =)
We tried to burn Joan (see homeschool blog) but it didn’t work =(
Skull Rock… Winnie the Pooh would have been impressed.
Cholla cactus Garden… Amazing!
Cool rocks!
Cool insects, worm things, crawling around inside this cocoon? How about just Cool!
And of course we became Junior rangers…
Junior Ranger Training!
Who wants to go back with us next time?
