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!!

Weekend Projects

It was wonderful that there was no school yesterday & that Rick took the day off! We got started on a lot of projects around the yard. We're tired & sore, but so glad that they are getting done.

Yesterday we power washed half of the fence & we'll finish that this week & stain it this coming weekend. (This is what the half that isn't done looks like.)

We weeded & cleared the garden so we could build some garden boxes this year.

We thought they'd look better & hopefully grow better. The first 3 years of being here our garden was awesome. The last 2 it's done well, but not like we've wanted, so we're hoping this will do the trick & that it will be easier to add/change the soil. I'm excited for FHE on Monday so we can start planting out there! (And there is part of the half of the fence we did get washed.)

This is how I found Lexie & Joseph last night waiting for us to come do bedtime routine with everyone. I love that they are such good friends & that they love to read!

And since we did so much cleaning up outside, this little one thought it was a great time to come out of her diaper so we would be reminded that inside needs a good spring cleaning as well. Goofy girl!

Today while Rick was taking the kids to all of the "make & take" crafts at Lowe's & JoAnn's & picking up a few other things, Eliza & I did get the kitchen spotless. We got some more good work done on the boxes, played with friends, & I got to help one of my pretty nieces do her hair for prom. She looked lovely!

We love fun, good, hard-working weekends. Looking forward to this next one as well.

The Fort

A few nights ago, Joseph made this fort in his room to sleep in.

It's so fun to hear all of the talking & imagining that happens under there once they are sent off to bed. I hope they keep these vivid imaginations of theirs for a long time!

Alouette

Lexie got to bring home one of her dance recital costumes today. She barely made it in the door before she started putting it on to show it to us.

Eliza started playing with the plastic wrapper that the choker was in & Lexie said, "Eliza, you are going to like to recycle when you get older like I love to recycle." It was pretty cute. Lexie sure has a soft spot for recycling (or rather repurposing).

Six Months Later...

(Alright, so it was a little over 6 months.) Anyway, I decided to make this car seat tent for Eliza (before she was born) & I finally decided to do it. I don't know why I was so nervous about sewing it together & finishing it, but I was & so I kept putting it off. But, I found it took no time at all to finally just do it. So is the story of my life...I'm a great procrastinator. But, finally, I have a finished product.

Done. Time to get working on the next projects...

Happy May Day!

I love quiet Sundays. It's so fun to just hang out with the family. The kids love to read the comics with Rick each week. It cracks me up to see how excited they get about picking who gets to read what & taking turns. Good times.

And in other exciting news...Look who's sitting!

See, it isn't so hard!

Woah...starting to lose it...

Nice recovery!

She's getting the hang of it.