oh, Christmas tree!

Our living room is 25 feet high, so we couldn't have a fake Christmas tree, it would just look small in our living room. So, every year we drive up to a big forest and cut down a tree. You might think that there is just one beautiful tree after another but, no . There are lots are trees that are to small lots and lots of trees that are to big and many that only have branches on one side. But we always find a tree it always looks small and sad in the forest but it looks glorious in our living room.

                                                    my mommy, daddy and puppy

                                                     we throw lots of snowballs

                                                      and cry when we get hit with a snowball

                                                            we make snow angels

                                     and secretly plan to hit Xander with a giant snowball.

                                                 It's a long walk through the woods.

                                                       Molly and I love the snow.

                         We finally found a tree! But now we have to drag it back to the car.

Everyone asks how we get it home, we put it on the top of the car and tie it with lots of ropes. We        used to use zipties but stopped doing that when Xander ziptied Hans' hands together.

                                We drag the tree over to the balcony to decorate the top.

                                      Will comes over to help us untangle lights.

                                                      Ben puts the wreaths on the stairs.

                                                    Daddy puts the lights on the tree

                                                     it does look absolutely glorious!

getting ready for Christmas

marychristmas2014 from Mary Lehnardt on Vimeo.

I hope they call me on a mission

My brother Stefan is in Russia serving a mission, that's where he goes away for two years and teaches people about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. People who are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are sometimes called Mormons. We know that our Heavenly Father loves us and we talk to him when we pray. Every Sunday we go to church for three hours We have sacrament meeting and  then we all go to classes where we talk about the scriptures and the gospel. Missionaries go to different places in the world they do not see their families for years. Girls go when they are nineteen or older for 18 months, boys go when they are eighteen or older for 24 months. They email their families every week. On Christmas and Mothers Day we Skype. That is one of the reasons that I am so excited for Christmas we get to talk to him, we get to see him laugh and smile. His letters are good but it's not the same as talking to him. Stefan comes home next April and I can't wait!

Hello world!

My name is Mary and I am ten years old.

I have five older brothers.

Yes, five.

When people hear I have five older brothers they ask, "Do you like having all those brothers?"

I say, "Yes! But, sometimes they drive me crazy!"

The oldest is Ben. He tells a lot of jokes, and he goes to school at BYU. When he walks in the house everyone runs to give him a hug. He makes everything fun when he babysits. When my parents went on a trip he told me to make a list of everything I wanted to do while he was babysitting. Here is the list:

1. go to the zoo
2. have a tea party
3. play games outside
4. read stories
5. play dolls
6. go swimming
7. do brothers hair in funny styles

We did everything on the list!

Stefan comes next in line; he is pretty much perfect. He lives in Russia, where he's teaching people about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, he has been gone for one year and seven months and I miss him a lot.When he was at home Stefan worked and studied a lot, but if I asked him to jump on the tramp with me he would stop whatever he was doing and jump and play with me.

Hans just earned a 36 on the ACT Stefan did that too. All my older brothers are brilliant so I have a lot to live up to. After school, Hans sings with the madrigals, wrestles on a team and works as a student body officer.  One day when I was bored Hans said that he needed to wash his car and I said I would help him. We had lots of fun, I sprayed him with the hose and he didn't even get mad.

Xander thinks of jokes faster than anyone I know. He also likes robots and is very smart.
Xander works as a student body officer and plays the viola. He wants to be an engineer when he grows up and I think he would be very good at it.

Sometimes my Mom jokes that Gabe and I are twins but he is really two years older than me. Gabe loves Legos  and every Friday all of his friends get together and have an airsoft war; he has made a lot of friends from doing this. Gabe is always very nice to me he always makes me feel better when I am sad. He tells lots of funny jokes.

I love my mommy and daddy.My daddy is very funny and my mommy always knows how to make me feel better. They always take us on super fun trips and they are the best parents ever. My mommy and daddy buy lots of books for my brothers and I to read and they buy lots of toys for us to play with. I love my mommy and daddy!

And if you want to know more about me, well keep reading....

Lizzy surprises Hans-- my first vlog

Mary's 1st Vlog from Michelle Lehnardt on Vimeo.

Flower crowns

Lots of people think that making flower crowns is very hard, Actually it's very easy. there are two types of crowns there is a headband and a crown.In a headband the wire is tucked under your hair and the flowers are on top of your head. In a crown the flowers go all the way around your head. My mom also wrote a post about this on her blog.

1. pick flowers, we got a bouquet for $3.99 at Trader Joe's and picked flowers from our garden.

2. Other than flowers you will need floral tape, scissors and  wrapped floral wire. (you can find it at most craft stores.)

3.take the floral wire and measure around the persons head, cut it to how long it needs to be. Then take the two ends and twist them together and wrap it with floral tape.

4.take the flowers and cut them so that the stems are about 2 inches long.

5. cut several pieces of floral tape.

6.start with one of the biggest flowers and use floral tape to attach it to the crown.

7. keep taping flowers to the wire, until it's done!

                                   

Here are some pictures of me in a flower crown!

sick day

Today my brother Gabe with a sore throat and a headache, so he is not at school.


It is harder to do my schoolwork because Gabe constantly makes jokes and does funny things.


We made a playlist because we are driving to California soon and we were thinking it would be nice to have some music. We were dancing all morning listening to our favorite tunes.


 He's making chicken broth for his sore throat and pretending to make tea and crumpets.


 Gabe and I are cleaning the house for our mommy because we are just good kids like that.


Gabe reads the comics even though he is supposed to be cleaning.




I hope Gabe gets better but I wish he stayed home everyday because Gabe is such an awesome, nice, funny, helpful, silly pleasant brother. Get well soon Gabe!