Eliza's Learning

Eliza is learning so many new words. It's so fun to watch. She also is learning how to pray. She is typically the first one kneeling down for family prayers which is very cute. She's never really said much when it's her turn to pray, but this morning she actually said something so I'll call it her first prayer. It was cute. We were saying prayers over her breakfast (just  me & her since she decided to get up at 4:45 am she had breakfast much sooner than anyone else). Anyway, I said, "Say Dear" & she repeated. She didn't repeat the Heavenly Father. She said "thanks" for the breakfast and "please" to bless it. Then she pointed at the chair next to her where Lexie usually sits & she said, "Lexie" & I said, "Yes, we're thankful for Lexie." Then she went around & she said "Andrew" & then "JoJo". Once I said, "We're thankful for JoJo" she quickly threw her hands up in the air & said "Amen." It was very cute & I'm glad she's learning so much!

When Daddy's Away

Rick went out of town for work on Sunday & will come back Saturday afternoon. We've tried to cram a lot of fun in & also plenty of relaxing time while he was gone. We finished up swimming lessons which all of the kids loved at one point or another & also didn't love. But the overall consensus is LOVED swimming lessons  & their teacher & that they got to take them with some of our friends. It was fun to watch the kids all play together & the bigger kids swim during Andrew's lesson & then still be happy to swim for their lessons. Today Lexie & Haley surprised us by giving Joseph & Brooklyn dolphin rides across the pool. They've really become much better swimmers.

We've also had lots of time playing with cars. The kids had lots of fun setting up a track down the stairs & racing & organizing cars by color & just everything.

Eliza really wanted this picture taken. Oh & she's gone on the potty a few times this week, too. She's not consistent yet & thinks it's more a game than anything so I'm not actively training her. But we'll let her keep going when she wants to try.

Joseph created a paper airplane with a balloon, Popsicle sticks, glue & paper. He blows up the balloon & then lets it go & the airplane flies across the room. As you can see, there is plenty of room for passengers & a pilot in his airplane.

And here's Lexie & Vivi playing a princess game & wore somewhat matching outfits. They were super cute about everything & spoke quite royally.

We've had a fun week with lots of other fun activities of playing outside, inside & in between. We also did lots of (but not enough organizing) cleaning. However, I think it's safe to say we're all excited for Daddy to come home. As fun as the week was, it's always more fun when he's around, too.

A New Pet

Andrew caught himself a new pet (with a little help from Joseph). His name is Crickey Quicky. He's a cricket  friend & he really likes his new home. And Crickey is so happy to have a plastic cricket cousin in his house, too. Andrew likes to feed him, take him outside & talk to him. But he doesn't like to read him stories because he doesn't know what story he'd like.

We are enjoying our new pet & wonder how long he'll get to stay a part of our family.

Exercise Class

The kids wanted to start an Exercise Class. So they did. It was pretty awesome. We did lots of different exercises & I had fun teaching them different things & learning new exercises from them, too. They all had something different to say about it. Lexie said, "I like it because it helps keep me healthy." Joseph said, "I liked that it was fun, keeps me healthy, & helps me grow." Andrew said, "It helps me to grow & monkey in the middle." Eliza just really liked being part of it all & trying to do all of the exercises with the big kids.

New Word/Garden

Thanks to our awesome neighbor, Eliza has learned a new word: Cupcake. We had to try one of the recipes she made-the Andes mint cupcakes-they really were delicious & the boys had fun taking them to some of their friends.

And our garden (which we got started so late) is finally starting to produce. Granted, these are from the early girl tomato plants, but there are lots of good looking green tomatoes & also lots of flowers on all of the different squash plants. Hopefully, we'll have lots more in a week or two. But these sure were tasty!

Cow Appreciation Day

I saw earlier that it was free Chick-fil-A day & wasn't too keen on the idea of getting everyone dressed up. But then I made the mistake of mentioning it to Joseph & there was no going back. He wanted to make the outfits so badly. And so we printed out things & created the outfits so we could head there for dinner. It was awesome. I was only expecting to get a free entree but we got full free meals for everyone (& we could even have shakes as the drinks-bonus)! Needless to say, we had a blast & the kids played tons. Eliza LOVED the cow (from far away-but got the courage to give him a high five which she tells us over & over). She would watch him dance & dance back-it was super cute! We love our Chick-fil-A & it marked a great end to our Fun Friday!

Dominoes

We've played with dominoes a ton this week. It's kind of funny how it goes in spurts. But Joseph has had so much fun creating domino setups  & knocking them down & I'm pretty amazed at how well they all work. Andrew sure loves joining in the fun, too. (And Andrew has even learned how not to knock them down early-hooray!)

Lost Tooth

Tonight we were driving down to Colorado Springs to say good bye to some friends. On the way down Joseph said, "I think I'm going to lose a tooth." Then he started twisting a bit more & out it popped. He was pretty excited.

I love this boy's cheesy grin!
Unfortunately, the tooth fairy wasn't as prepared as he/she should have been for this tooth. Joseph wrote a note to the tooth fairy asking for pokemon cards instead of  money... The tooth fairy politely replied with an apology, I'm out, & maybe next time.

Why?

"Why" is a question I get asked many times each day (especially by this little guy). Ironically, this morning I was the one asking him this question.

The kids were emptying the dishwasher & putting the dishes away when Andrew decided he really needed to lick the side of the stack of 14 clean plates before putting them in the cupboards. Lexie was horrified. All I could do was laugh to myself & ask, "why" with as straight of a face I could muster. Why does it make sense to a 4 year old to think that licking clean plates from the dishwasher is a good idea? I have no idea & neither did he. Hmmm...

Happy 4th of July

We had a pretty fun & festive Fourth. This morning we had a ward breakfast with a bike/scooter parade. Here are the kids all ready to go.

After the breakfast, parade, & tour of the fire truck, the firemen turned on the hose for everyone to play in for a bit. It was very welcomed (as a pregnant lady who was sweating b/c it was so hot out already)! The kids had a blast running around & Eliza had mixed reactions. She loved it, but then would get cold & want out so we did a lot of back & forth. By the end once the water stopped, she was super bummed & kept signing again! I think that every summer ward activity should end with being sprayed by the fire hose. It was awesome!

Once we got home we made dessert for tonight, Pop Rock cookies. They were pretty fun. The kids had never had pop rocks before & thought they were pretty fun (or pretty annoying depending on whom you ask). But they turned out pretty well.

The finished products.

We had a yummy flag sandwich for lunch.

We went swimming this afternoon before our BBQ & Joseph is getting really good at doing flips in the air. He & Lexie also really like doing front/back somersaults in the water.

The red, white, & blue drink we had with dinner. I'm amazed it worked.

 Rick's flag jello he likes to make every year. 

Hooray for the Fourth of July!

4th of July Party

Lexie & Joseph are expert party planners. They are so much fun & come up with such fun ideas, it really is amazing & makes us smile. On Sunday, our primary chorister did little toilet paper rolls/tissue paper firecrackers with confetti & songs inside that the kids got to "pop" & then we'd sing the song. Right when we got home from church, Lexie & Joseph were off in Liza's room working on party stuff making their own firecrackers. I had my doubts on how they would be able to do this themselves & also do it without creating a huge mess thus making it hard for me to get Liza to bed. Boy, was I surprised! We called them down for dinner & they hurried back up to work on more things & then down for scriptures/bedtime & they tried to squeeze every minute out of us to keep working. When I told them they needed to clean up, it was done & done so well with everything put away in little shoe boxes in the closet for them to work on the next day. And work they did. Every morning, day, afternoon & evening when we didn't have something else planned they were working on their party. On Tuesday they asked me for needles, thread, & scrap material so they could do some sewing. Joseph has never used a needle before but Lexie would  make fairy clothing for her friends at knitting club sometimes so she had an idea of what she was trying to do. They did great & I only had to help Joseph with threading the needle & Lexie taught him the rest. They gave me a list of fruits they needed me to buy more of at the store for juice they were making & we just got to be surprised this morning. 

Lexie & Joseph got up around 4:45am to begin setting up for the party. And here it is!

Since we had the ward breakfast at 8 & Rick needed to be over to help set up/cook early we didn't have too much time this morning to get started, but we did have time for the firecrackers & singing of some 8 patriotic songs. 

They did a great job of remembering to bring out the trash can to catch the confetti. I cannot believe that they kept Liza's room so clean considering all of the little pieces of paper they cut up & put into these toilet paper rolls. Awesome!

Liza loved the firecrackers, too!

Then we headed off to the breakfast & once we came back we had lunch with the juice they made for us this morning & played some more games. The juice was quite interesting. They used water, oranges, strawberries, & blueberries. It was...creative. They made a "Bean Bag Blast" game where we had to get 20 points as quickly as we could & they timed us to see who won.

Here are the prize ribbons.

They even decorated the box holding the bean bags they made.

And here are the bags. "BBB" stands for Bean Bag Blast. I love how Lexie even stitched a B onto one of the bags.

After that we played a trivia game with questions about America like how many white/red stripes on the flag, what are 3 symbols of America, America's colors & such. And after you got one right you got another piece of paper with positive affirmations like "Great!" "You're correct!" "Good job!" or "I couldn't have said it better myself." That sure made us smile.

Eliza was taking a nap during these 2 games so once she woke up, Lexie taught her how to do the bean bag toss & Eliza loved it!

We love how creative & independent these kiddos are & how they find so much joy in trying to make everyone happy. They certainly love our country & our family & we certainly love them right back.

Decorating Scooters

For our Ward Fourth of July breakfast tomorrow, the kids get to bring their decorated bikes/scooters for a parade. Today we decorated & it was a blast! The kids got so excited about everything & gave each other great ideas & helped with each other's scooters. (They really wanted to take their bikes but I said there just wasn't enough room for the bikes & them in the car.)

Of course, once we were done decorating the scooters, we had to take them out for a test spin!

Have I mentioned how much I love summer time & having these kiddos at home? It's so much fun!