As Always....

As always I have fallen behind, so here's the catch up. Easter was celebrated to the fullest at our house and then some! I love conference not only for the inspiring talks and the spirit we feel in our home, but also because it means I can stay home after the sat grave shift and enjoy a sunday with no running around. This year was even a bigger event with Ethans birthday. He was born on Easter conference sunday, so 11 years later here we are. It brought back so many memories. He turned 11! Oh my! He was so stinkin excited. Since he is going to be with the 11 yr old scouts, Ben and I thought we would splurge and equip the kid with an awesome back pack(Ben couldn't stop talkin' about it) and a good sleeping bag. Tonight they will be put to the test on his first scout campout. We'll see how good the stuff works through this crazy snowy weather. I must admit I'm a little worried that he will stay warm and be safe! I'm sure all will go well- I'm just being a mom!




The kids got a lot of candy in their Easter baskets- Ethan and Jake got watches as well, Jocelyn got some new jewelry, Riley a bat and ball, and Owen a new ball-he won't let anyone touch the sparkle ball and I must admit it is a little fun to lay with. I also attempted an Easter picture a couple weeks ago and this is the best one out of like 20! As soon as it warms up a bit I want to try again. It's just so much work to get them all happy and cute at the same time.






Spring break was so much fun for us. We did something new and headed to Goblin Valley with the trailer. Mom and Dad and Lauras family came also. The kids loved it! The first night was a little cold and windy(bummer) but the rest of the week was beautiful. We all got sunburned. We were able to hike(partially) a slot canyon and then the next day we went to Goblin Valley and just let the kids run around. We are definitely going again- thanks Laurie for you tourist info!








More recently Ethan and Jake had Greek week and one of the days was crazy hair day. My kids don't seem to have a hard time with this.



Shoes at our house are not safe with Owen around. There is not a time of day that this kid doesn't have shoes or a hat on. He thinks that he can go outside if he has shoes and a hat- doesn't matter if he's still in jammies or not.


Ethan was part of his schools production team - Monkey Business- they met quite often and finally the hard work paid off. Ethan did great and was very entertaining. He does a great Willy Wonka. He may have a future in acting!

Kinda dreading it....

So this past saturday the kids started up with soccer again. They were all excited to see their friends again and play soccer. I was unable to go and see them play but Ben said they did great and he took a bunch of pictures. I have to admit I am not looking forward to the crazy practice schedule but at least practices haven't overlapped with anything except for Jocleyns dance class. She will just have to miss the first half of soccer practice I guess. If that's the only conflict, then I will manage! But now that means not only there is something going on each day but now there are 2 and 3 things each day and saturdays are full of games- oh how I will miss my shopping time for the next couple of months!

Jake


Jocelyn- she towers over everyone she plays with or against!


Ethan- played goalie for the last half of the game.


Also, last friday the fifth graders had their wax museum. Ethan was Albert Einstein, and a great one at that! I was surprised when he picked Einstein only because he is so into the space program, I thought he would pick an astronaut. Guess what he will be for Halloween?
This is his friend. She was Annie Oakley. Ethan tends to have a lot of girl friends and I think they are all adorable! What a lucky kid- one day the boys will be jealous of how he has a way with the girls- lets just hope thats a few year off from now!

One last hoorah of the season!

Last week we woke up to this-


yeah! snow!!! The kids have been asking for snow and since we had bought 2 new sleds weeks ago the snow looked like it would never come. So we did a little of this-

and this


and some more of this.



Owen giggled the entire way down ,every time he went down. It was hilarious!
The kids had tons of fun and I didn't have to find something to entertain them on their day off of school. It worked out perfect that Ben had the day off too.

Later that day Ben took Riley to the car show. Riley was so excited-as much as Ben was- Doc Hudson from Cars was there and Riley was ready with his own little Doc Hudsons from his collection.


Also Jocelyn announced a couple weeks ago that she had a loose tooth and finally-finally it came out. With a little help from me "I'm just going to wiggle it" and it was out. It was barely hanging on anyways so don't think I just yanked it out! She had to share the news with everyone she came in contact with. Oh my baby girl is growing up and I'm not ready!



Also she had a nursery rhyme day at preschool again and this year she did Jack and Jill. She did great and I was thrilled I didn't have to make a costume- I just had to search for a bucket in the garage! Easy enough!

Valentines

Each year the idea for valentine boxes gets bigger and bigger. This year was no exception- I had to say no to a few ideas! Ethan and Jake still came out with some pretty great valentine holders. Jake took a spin on Ethans last year idea of a monster. He put his own twist on it and I think it turned out darn cute. As for Ethan of course a -space shuttle. Also turned out darn cute - loved the red stars shooting out the back. I love having a box of creative goodies in our closet that the kids can use to create amazing things. BUT next year I'm thinking about sending them to their valentines party with a brown bag with a red heart colored with marker on it. Less stress and mess!



Jocelyn luckily made her valentines bag at school. She had a fun party and came home with fun dip. Who invented these???? They should be strangled or made to follow around every kid that is happily sucking up every bit of colored sugar, to clean up after them! That would teach em'!!!


Riley couldn't be left out of the sugar rush so the kids gladly donated to his cause. Can I just say I have loved my new camera for pictures just like this!!! It is so fun to take pictures of everything - it's hard to stop!

Ethan died and went to heaven!

This is what Ethan has been waiting for all his life! A Science fair! He loves loves LOVES science. He could hardly narrow down what experiment he would do for this years science fair. Really it was cute to see his face light up with the prospect of doing an actual science experiment. After a long week of searching and thinking we decided on "Does a peanut have enough energy to raise the temp of water". Ben and Ethan took a Saturday and burnt peanut after peanut to find out the results. Of course since they were boys with flames, they had to test other things too-jelly beans,goldfish, pecans,walnuts and other things also. They really got into it. For once we were also ahead of schedule on everything that was due but still spent the night before (or at least Ben did- I crashed on the couch next to him!) cutting out the flames for his display. I think it turned out great and Ethan couldn't stop talking about how good it looked! I love to see him get excited about learning. Things have turned a corner this year with finding out about his dyslexia and disgraphia - he is a much happier kid and I love to see anything to do with school make him happy. Way to go Ethan - You did great!

Oh the joys!

Again I have fallen behind on the blogging. I just can't help it. There are so many things that pull me away from the computer and then when I get a chance to sit alone without someone bugging me - it is late at night and I get caught up in reading other peoples blogs. So here is what has been consuming my life for the past month

Yes, that is a leapster- This was early on in the battle and it seemed to help him sit for awhile with the leapster- pretty good progress for a kid who absolutely hates being without clothes!
Riley has been the hardest by far! I finally decided he would have to be forced into it and then the bribing started. He now has a sweet collection of lightening McQueen cars. Luckily we are now only giving out starburst for rewards. It was getting expensive!
He has been doing great lately. One left to go- I hope Owen is easier!
Other than that we have all been very sick at our house ranging from flu to sore throats to ear infections. Lots of fun. We haven't been this sick at our house in a long while- guess we were due for it. So now that everyone is better and Owen isn't cranky and following me around all day, I have started to deep clean every crevice in our house. I can't believe how much I have let go since Owen was born. So in between all that I am still finding time to sew and do crafts. Again which is why the blogging suffers. Gotta go the boys will be home soon and I have been doing valentine parties at the school today so my house looks like a tornado hit it. I'm hopin' to celebrate Valentines with Ben tonight and won't be able to do that with a messy house. So AmyLyn now who's ocd? LOL!

Another project done!

So glad I got this done! I told Laura about it weeks ago. Someday my life will calm down and I will be able to start and finish a project in one day (sigh) one day- seems so long away!. Last year after a soccer game Lone Peak was having a huge garage sale and I spotted a stack of these shutters- big and small ones. We bought them all for a great price and payed for them with the last of our grocery money till payday- priorities my friends and not to worry, food storage got us through! Anyways it was fun to make and I'm thinking now I should antique the A more and also the shutters. I also need to get some fabulous updated pictures to hang on it. Finally one of my basement walls has something on it and soon the others will too- creative juices are flowing!!! (oh man I really dislike that saying- sound so messy!)