What Should We Pretend Today?

Like most kids, our kids love to play pretend. They will play pretend in so many different ways. Among their favorites are: Rick & Cheryl, Primary, Joy School, Witches, Baby, Builder, Maker (a Maker is someone who makes cakes), Ice Creamer, Princess, Step-Sister, & so many more! Today I caught them playing Home Teaching, another favorites. I don't know why, but that one always makes me laugh. It reminded me of pretending some of those things also as a kid. I think one of my favorites was playing Pioneers.

What were your favorite pretend things to play as a kid? What do your kids do when they play pretend?

On a side note, Lexie wanted me to show you how "very cute" her hair was for church today.

Grateful for Generous Return Policies

Last Month:

This Month:
Over the last few weeks I have been replacing the trees that didn't make it through the winter. Only five of the ten trees had to be taken out (yes, we have pretty green thumbs). Our original ten trees were two different sizes (for the sake of clarity, let's call them small and medium). Five of the six small trees died, but all of the medium trees made it (knock on wood). Of course, our local Home Depot doesn't have "small" or "medium" trees like they did last year, so we went with the "large" when replacing our dead small trees. We had some concerns that this would look funny having three different sized trees along our back fence. I commented that it would look OK, kind of like a mountain range with varying peaks and valleys (really I just didn't want to replace or move any more trees than I had to).

Today:

P.S. Thanks for your help moving trees, Brett.

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

We had a great time up at the park today. Wish we could all make it there more often.

Merry Birthday, Rick!

Rick had a birthday! The kids were so excited & they did most of the planning for Dad's birthday. He came home early from work, which was nice. When he walked in the door the kids shouted "Surprise! Happy Birthday! Dad, put on your birthday crown!" Lexie insisted on him having one & the kids did a great job decorating it for him. We had the stools out of the kitchen because I was finishing cleaning the floor, so we used the stools & made a Birthday Train for him.

We went out for lunch at Jim 'n Nick's BBQ. It was our first time and we enjoyed it. Lots of yummy food & we had lots of leftovers. Good times.

After lunch we went swimming at the pool. The kids did well & a fun time was had by all. Then we opened presents.

We had yummy cheesecake w/ raspberries, blueberries, &/or strawberries. It was very yummy. It's Rick's Mom's recipe & he has it every birthday. We were lucky we had a 2 & 3 candle b/c we didn't have 32 single candles on hand.:)

It was a busy day & by the end lil' Ricky was tuckered out.

Happy Birthday, Rick!

Many Faces of Joseph

A Day at the Park

Cheryl & the kids met up with a friend at the park this morning. The kids had a blast & Andrew would not stop making funny faces. It was great. Joseph ran around saying, "Mommy, take a picture of me! Cheese!" Lexie had lots of fun striking poses for the camera. This was a little odd because they usually don't like having their picture taken. We've got some cute kids-they sure make us laugh.

After playing at the park, we did lots of shopping & ate a picnic lunch at the Temple. It was a very busy but very fun day.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Lexie & Joseph had lots of fun helping Mommy make the cake (as you can tell by their faces). They picked out everything: the flavor of cake, color of frosting, & the decorating which they did (I just frosted it pink, made the heart & wrote DAD). Once they were done decorating the cake, it was awesome to watch how excited they were about it. They kept calling for dad to come, telling how much he was "going to love this cake! It's so pretty!"

We had a great day & we hope our Dads did, too. Thanks for being great Dads.

Swimming Lessons

Lexie & Joseph finished up swim lessons on Friday. During their 2 weeks of lessons they made some real progress. They learned to like putting their faces in the water & Lexie even opens her eyes in the water now. Joseph's favorite things about swim lessons were the alligator & crab crawls. Lexie's favorite thing was learning to float. Mom learned that bribing the kids with cookies works really well. After days 2-3 when the kids got "scared" of putting their faces in the water. So, before lessons on day 4 we made cookies that they could have only if they did a good job & tried everything Miss Jordan (their teacher) asked them to do. We were amazed by how well they did things which they were previously too afraid to try. The kids ask to go swimming every day (they like to "play swim lessons" & take turns being the teacher). They are always excited to show Dad the things they learned in their lessons.

Thanks Jordan for sticking with them. We had a great time!

Falling Asleep

I love this girl.

The Wonders of Scotch Tape

A few weeks ago Lexie & Joseph got into the tape & used it to hang up a picutre. Since we didn't say anything about it, they have started to use it quite frequently.

Our Art Gallery Collection started out as one picture in Lexie's room

& spread to the living room,

the family room,

Joseph's room,

our bedroom (this is a note Lexie & Joseph left for Mom),

& of course more in Lexie's room.

The Collection not only includes pictures, but also sculptures (this week a toy chair),

& every collection needs tools (very handy).

Finally, the tape has been used as "bandaids" to heal many wounds.

We love watching their creativity and imagination flourish. We're excited to see what art gets added next to our collection.