Our Family Birthday

It's hard to believe we've been married for 9 years! Where does the time go? But these 9 years have been wonderful! My friend, Kristin, was kind enough to help me steal one of her great ideas & take this picture for me with our wedding bands.

The kids sure loved celebrating today with us! We're so grateful to be a family & that families are forever!

Aunt Megan

It was so much fun to have Aunt Megan come out for a visit from her sweet home! We enjoyed lots of time playing with cousins, going on walks, shopping, they went on a hike (where we learned Andrew definitely doesn't have a fear of snakes), bbqing, playing games, & just enjoying time with her.

She made this cute bow & block for Eliza. She loves them!!

And here she is with the younger kids. I meant to snap one while Lexie was home but forgot. :(

Thanks so much for coming! Come back again to visit soon!

Hail Storm

Grateful that it was only a little hail storm (not a huge tornado like have been hitting the Midwest & South). It started out as marble & then to this golf ball size stuff.

It would break into pieces almost immediately once it hit the ground so I never really got one fully intact. This was the closest.

This picture was crazy though & the picture doesn't really show it (one of these days I'll get a great camera), but you could see sheets of hail just falling down the street once it past my house. I have never seen that before. It was amazing though to see.

Silly Kiddos

Yesterday we went garage sale-ing. We found a few fun things. Lexie wanted to put on some of the clothes we got. Once she tried them on she came in & said, "Um, these new shorts don't fit me." Yeah, because those are some jeans I got for Eliza.

Liza sure thought it was funny & laughed lots for us.

Silly pic of all the kids, we cannot ever get them all looking & smiling. But they are cute anyway.

Lexie loves to show us her tricks. She did really well with this one but I never got a great picture showing how well she can get off the ground.

All of my attempts sure wore her out.

7 Months Old

And she loves to read!

Now, I'm Ready!

The end of the world can happen now that I've gotten my Tree of Wisdom to 1000 feet on Plants vs. Zombies.

Life is now just about complete! Ha! Ha!

I am excited for this evening though. Rick & I have decided we will "Eat, Drink, & be Merry" for tomorrow...may never come. :)

A Quick Visit

We had to document that Aunt Janae did come to visit for a few hours on her road tripping adventures. It was fun to see her.

Kindergarten Program

Joseph's Kindergarten Program was a delight to watch. It was so fun to see these kiddos perform. They crack us up! I loved listening to Mr. T, the other kindergarten teacher, practicing the songs on his guitar with the kids as I'm helping in the classes & Mrs. W teaching all of the little rules with the kids. They all have sure learned a lot in Kindergarten. Here are some videos of Joseph's parts (he got to open & close the show) & a few songs they sung.

Joseph's beginning part.

"You Got A Friend in Me."

"The Vowel Song."

They also sung "Down by the Bay" & "What a Wonderful World." (Just didn't want to put the whole program up.) Joseph thought it was funny that I got to sign that song for a concert when I was in Junior High & could still do it for him. Some things we just don't forget.

The End.

We love his teacher & are grateful for all the hard work she's given Joseph & finding great ways to challenge him. She is wonderful!

Lexie adores her as well.

We are so grateful that we've been so blessed with awesome teachers!

Great Job, Joseph! As we were getting ready to do bedtime, I told Joseph it was fun to see all of his hard work pay off with learning parts, songs & practicing hard for this program & he said, "Yeah, but sometimes you don't get rewarded with money for doing a good job. Sometimes it's just a reward in doing it. You feel good inside." I love this boy so much!

Tackle!!

The kids love to play "Tackle" with Rick lately! It cracks me up to watch Andrew try to be like Daddy. I'm grateful that he takes so much time after a long, hard day at work to play with them!

Hmmm...

"Yes, I did brush my teeth. But, I think I forgot about washing my face." And I love his poor little finger. He got it hurt when he was helping Rick move the garden boxes. What a trooper.

Father & Sons Camp Out

Andrew went on his first Father & Sons Camp out. Joseph wasn't so sure he wanted him to tag along & even when they were coming down the stairs to head out Joseph told us, "Andrew wants to stay home to play with Lexie & Cassidy." Once we told him that meant he couldn't go camping with Dad, Andrew quickly changed his mind & was ready to go camping! (Nice try, JoJo!) But the boys had an absolute BLAST together!

They wandered around the campsite for hours exploring. The were fascinated with these cool "LEGO" weeds that some of the older boys showed them. They brought one home to show Mom how you could pull them apart & put it back together.

They had a great time hiking, climbing, & exploring! And they were so excited about having banana boats, hot chocolate, & sleeping in a tent!

Things got a little adventurous during the middle of the night. Joseph got up & started walking around the tent. Rick thought he needed to go to the bathroom so he unzipped the tent & started looking for Joseph's shoes. Before he could get his shoes out, Joseph took off running! Before Rick could get out to help him, Joseph had run across the creek (see picture below) & was running along the muddy bank & Rick's yells for him to stop weren't slowing him down.

Joseph was terrified of something & Rick was quickly getting scared for him. Rick made a running leap over the creek (& then landed right into the muddy bank) before chasing down Joseph. He picked him up, calmed him down & took him back to the tent to change his clothes into the dirty, muddy ones he was wearing the day before. When Rick asked him about it in the morning, Joseph had no recollection of the midnight run. It was the first time we've ever experienced a sleepwalking child. Not sure we want to do it again anytime soon!

While the boys were camping, we had a girls night! Lexie invited her friend, Cassidy, over for a late-over & they did so many, many things! They played in her room, played with slime, made cookies & cupcakes, bows & basically just had a blast together. It was so fun to hear them chatter & laugh. We will need to do that again soon.

With all of the adventures, I still think it's safe to say that the weekend was a success!

Our Little Speech Problem

Well...at least one of them can say it correctly.

On A Roll

Lizabug started rolling over today!

It's amazing what you'll do to get your hands on some newspaper!

Good Morning!

The weather said nothing about snow here, only in the foothills & mountains, we were supposed to only get rain.

Hopefully the things we've gotten into the garden survive.

Duck & Cover

I had finally gotten Eliza asleep for a nap (after many attempts & even more interruptions) & then the city started testing the tornado sirens. Awesome. Of course she woke up. (Hopefully, she'll get an afternoon nap...)

The boys were cleaning up in the basement & after the test went for about 2 minutes, Andrew came running upstairs & told me, "Mom, it's a fire drill I mean a tornado drill!" I asked him what he does if there is a tornado at school & he said, "Say prayers!!"

He's right! I taught him the "duck & cover" as well so he could be doubly prepared!

Letter of the Day

I got the mail this morning (since I forgot to on Saturday), and I noticed that Lexie had a letter. I said, "Look, Lexie got a letter from her pen pal!" Andrew responded, "What letter did she get? Oh, is it an A?"

I love this cheesy, little boy!

Mother's Day 2011

Moms are the best! I am so blessed to have my mom! She is wonderful! As my sister Heather put it, she passed Parenting 1212 & I'm lucky enough to have been able to pick up many tricks from her (& other awesome siblings & friends)! Basically, I love my mom & think she is the best & am so grateful for her!

Rick feels the same way about his mother. (We're pretty lucky that way to both have awesome mothers!)

Thank you, Moms, for being the best & teaching us so much! We are so blessed to have you in our lives!

Our kiddos have been so excited about Mother's Day. For the last week they've been working on all sorts of Mother's Day surprises, telling me I can't go into certain rooms & not to peek as they walk by with something hidden behind their backs. It's been so fun to watch!

On Thursday, I went & had "Muffins with Mom" with Andrew in his class. He made me this great poster! And I really enjoyed playing with him & listening to him sing & just be so cute!

It says: My Mom is 12 years old. Her name is Cheryl. Her favorite color is pink & purple! She loves to bake soup at home in the kitchen with me! Mom's favorite food is cake. She always watches movies upstairs in her room with me. We play legos together. I love her more than my Daddy. Love, Andrew

On Friday, Joseph sent Rick this note (through his special delivery service).

It says: MOTHER'S DAY PARTY

Where: Big Room

What to Bring: cookies and brownies, green table, and cute party bags, tishu paper to match bags.

Day: Sunday, after church

Thanks!

Hope to see you there!

They are such the little party planners!

And so today, Rick made cookies & brownies (the brownies were for after dinner dessert) & we had a party! The kids sang "Happy Mother's Day" to me & we opened some fun presents.

Lexie made a little book at school & gave me pretty rocks & a shell she found & a flower that shows how her love grows for me. Both she & Joseph made pop-up cards for me, too. They love to create & make things! Andrew also colored some great pictures for me!

Lexie's book started with a picture that she drew of me & then it said:

About my mother: Her eyes are brown. She is 32 years old. Her favorite color is blue & green. Her favorite food is salad and pancakes. Her hobbies are taking care of my siblings. Her favorite place to shop is Sprouts. Her favorite thing to read is chapter books. Her favorite restaurant is Village Inn. Her favorite TV show is Wheel of Fortune. Her favorite animal is cats. Her favorite holiday is Mother's Day.

While I am at school all day, my mom spends her time taking care of my little siblings.

My mom is really good at cooking dinner and taking care of my little sister, and doing her work. She's as helpful and hard working as a busy bee.

Together, my mom and I like to color, cook, and read with me.

My mom is the best because she is awesome and wonderful! I LOVE YOU!

Joseph made this fun card in his class & I even got to help. (I was really good not to peek at what he wrote, though.)

It says: I love you because you help me with my homework. You get me presents I will like on holidays. You come to help at my class at school on some days. I love you and you are the best Mom in the whole world!!!

At home, he wrote this book, I Love My Mother, for me.

It says: I love my mother all the time when I am neer and far. I love her all the time every day she is mine. I love her at home or at scool no mater where I am she will always be mine. She loves her whole family any where they are. She loves her family I love my mom.......all the time she will all ways be my Best mother through them all.

After the party, Rick was kind enough to take my Mother's Day nap with Eliza.

The other kids thought that it was funny that they fell asleep & pretended to nap with them, too.

Then we played Legos for awhile & hung out. I got some fun one-on-one time with each of them.

After dinner we had the brownie surprise! I sure love my kiddos & am so grateful that I get to be their mother! They are truly amazing!!