Silly Children

Joseph got his Flat Stanley today and colored him to get him ready to send.

Lexie's new outfit that she's excited about.

Goofy kids! I love that they're all doing fun things.

Andrew is playing hide and seek from Lucy.

So cute girl.

Riley and Liza watching Sophia the First. The kids' new favorite show.

Joseph and his DI medal.

Lexie is devouring these Boxcar Children books.

Tonight Joseph gets to go cut out his pinewood derby car. The kids decided to race some of Rick's old ones down the tracks. Oh the fun times! It's crazy that we're getting ready for Boy Scout time!

And Eliza likes to help Joseph with his homework-since he needs it. Glad Mr. K. has a great sense of humor about things.

Wildlife Experience

At the Wildlife Experience today there was a consignment sale and one of my friends told me I should go because it was $1 to get in and then the exhibit was free. (Which is a plus!) So, I took the kids down. We haven't been there since Andrew was the little baby, I think Lexie was 4 at the time. So, it was time to take the younger kids. Plus, I scored a boy scout shirt for $10! Sweet!
After shopping we hung out in the exhibit and Andrew and Eliza loved it and got to play with friends-always great!

Eliza was just mesmerized by everything!

And she also would have to turn her body to see where each sound was coming from. So cute!

Then we went into the toy area and played with our friends some more. They all loved this avalanche thing and played there basically the whole time until it was time to go home to get Andrew to school.

It was a really fun time.
When we got the mail this afternoon, Lucy had a present from Aunt Megan. Thanks, she loves it already!

S-NO-W

Here's how much snow when we woke up this morning for the DI tournament.

And here's how much we got by the end of the storm.Certainly not the 20" they said it'd be. More like 4-5".

Yep, they shouldn't have cancelled it. Oh well, we're grateful for the opportunity but we're bummed that we missed it. And bummed at the school district and their decision. Oh well.

Destination Imagination

This year, Joseph was chosen to be on a DI team with his great friends. Logan's mom was the coach for the team. These teams compete in a range of areas. Most deal with engineering but all are about problem solving.  This year, Coach Deanna thought it would be good to really work on team work and learning to work together, listen and such and do a non-competitive challenge this year for the kids. So their "problem" was to throw a birthday party for ROY G. BIV. So they learned a lot about colors and what they mean and why. And they were super creative and made their props and learned a lot. Each week in their team meetings they also did Instant Challenges where they were given different problems to solve in about 10 minutes and be ready to present them. It was really neat watching them do them and watch their strengths develop.
Here's their team at one of their meetings.

Carly, Colton, Emma, Ashley

Jenna, Logan, Joseph, Vivian, Alyssa

Goofy Kiddos!

Tonight was the dress rehearsal. Here's Joseph as Flipper the Blue Dolphin.

Their performance. They made the igloo, decorations, leaning tower of taffy, penguin cupcakes and a pinata.

Joseph and his DI shirt he made.

So, we're expecting a big snow storm tonight.

Unfortunately, the school district who is not very quick to cancel school for a foot of snow decided to cancel the DI tournament tomorrow and they would be held on Sunday. So, Joseph had a decision to make. It was really frustrating that they did this. Many LDS and other religious kids couldn't participate. But we gave him the choice on what he wanted to do. At first he decided to do it. It was something out of our control and he decided it would be fine. He came down after praying for a bit on it and had tears streaming down his face and said, "I think it will be alright. But one thing I'm grateful for, if it is a sin, I'm glad I'm not 8 yet and haven't been baptized." Silly boy! That's not exactly how life works, but at least he understood the principle. The next day we were talking and not feeling as great about that decision. Then our friend called and told us they weren't going to do it either and that sold Joseph that he didn't want to do it either. It's a real bummer because the kids have worked hard and for months on these projects, but sometimes things happen and we just have to roll with what we're given.

Game Night

These kids crack me up! It's amazing how much they love to play games and love to play together. Tonight, thanks to Aunt Janae, (I think-right), they spent a few hours playing Monkeys on the bed. Good times!

First Bites

Lucy got to try some rice cereal tonight. When Lexie was a baby, Rick would get home from work and feed her a jar of baby food while I finished up dinner. Lexie & Rick both loved that time together and I think we will do that again with Lucy. She sure adores her daddy!

Getting a foot full of food! Silly girl!

This sweet girl surely loved her first few bites of food! I'm sure she'll enjoy all the other yummy goodness that we'll soon be feeding to her.

Delightful

It started snowing this morning and Lexie and Lucy (okay, all of the kids) were quick to run out in it. I love how much the kids delight in everything. Every sunrise, each sunset, snowflakes, raindrops, baby toys... I'm grateful to have such great kids!

Fun Saturday

We had such a fun day today with lots going on! Rick went out to play some football this morning and we had a car wash. It's been a few years since we've done this and Eliza did not know what to make of it. Andrew loved it! (Which is good, he liked it a lot when he was 3, too.) But I think Joseph enjoyed it the most today. He was the first and the last to play car wash and he also made the biggest mess.

Finally, Eliza decided to get her hands in there.

And she was somewhat delighted and dismayed at what she saw.

She really did love it!

While they finished up cleaning all of the cars, I hurried and got ready to go to the Temple and waited for Rick to get back from football and headed out.
After the temple, which was great (& it was nice to have so many friends from our ward before our first split in my session and so great to chat with them and learn more from them), I met up with Rick and the kids at the mall to go suit shopping for Joseph.
After suit shopping, we decided to take the kids to the Grand Lux for desserts. We let them pick some and then we shared them all. They were so excited! They had a fun time playing with the bend-a-roo toys while we waited.

Finally, desserts! Andrew and Joseph picked the chocolate cake. Lexie picked the red velvet cake and Rick picked the banana cream pie. We all liked the red velvet best.

It's not very often we take the kids somewhere "fancy" like that, or get them crazy huge desserts like that to share, but it was certainly a fun experience and I know they loved it!

Toys

We've been cleaning up and out some toys. Today I pulled up a tub of baby toys. It amazed me how everyone wanted to play with them. There were many cries of, "Hey, I remember this! Remember when we used to play this game with this..." It was so much fun to hear them and remember those moments with them when they were young-er. Each time I suggested that we get rid of this toy or another it was quickly met with calls of rejection. (Surprise! Surprise!)

It was also fun to see how these toys seriously entertained them for a good 90+ minutes.  I think this sweet girl really enjoyed them and will enjoy many of them for years to come.

After playing and cleaning this morning, Aunt Janae inspired us to watch some "Ghostwriter!" The kids are hooked!

It was so nice to have the kids home from school today. Slowly but surely we're getting the house straightened up (Spring Cleaning fever around here) but it is also so nice to have a fun break with them and just enjoy hanging out together!