March 30, 2014

  When Shelbi was three, she wouldn't be caught dead interacting with the cartoon she was watching.  If Dora said, "Catch the stars!"  Shelbi just stood there.  If Steve on Blue's Clues asked her a question, silence.  

  Bailey is just the opposite.  She immerses herself in the cartoon.   She seems to really believe that if she dances just like June on Little Einteins asks her to, the guards will fall asleep.

March 29, 2014

  I very nearly forgot to do Ryan's birthday party.  I toyed with the idea of just letting it go, but I'm sure soon enough he would realize that I forgot, and we all know Ryan's opinion on my memory.  So we threw it together within the week and it was a success. (Minus some wind that thwarted the bouncy house-ing.)

March 28, 2014

  This little girl was beside herself when her two older sisters got to go jump on the neighbor's trampoline and Mom wouldn't let her go.  Nothing a "drive" around Lowe's couldn't solve.

March 27, 2014

   I've been thinking about my parents all this week, as they've just begun their mission in Nauvoo.  These are from June 2000.  We visited Nauvoo with them on our way to my brother's medical school graduation.  I have very fond memories of this trip.  Hopefully we can reenact some of these pictures soon.  With five extra kids, of course.

 Yikes.  Apparently I was still figuring out the whole long-shorts thing.

March 26, 2014

  Don't remember if I've posted this before.  It's one of my favorite pictures.  This was June 2006, at Muir Woods in California.  Shelbi's on Jeff's shoulders, and Sydney's on Jeff's dad's shoulders. 

March 25, 2014

  I broke down and agreed to take the kids to the school sponsored night at the Discovery Center.  I had visions of too many kids to be able to do any of the activities.  But it's wasn't so bad.  The kids loved finding their friends and running around.

March 24, 2014

How the kids are spending their evenings these days.

March 23, 2014

  Shelbi and Sydney filled out brackets with us for the NCAA tournament this year.  Funny how when you have something riding on the games, they become much more interesting.  I don't think Shelbi has ever watched a significant amount of basketball on t.v., but she was nearly glued to it today, rooting for her teams.

March 22, 2014

   Erik is not a cub scout yet, but I took him to our church Pinewood Derby to watch.  He showed nearly zero interest in it while we were there.  We left early.  Later that day I found him doing this:

I suppose it's funner if you get to participate.

March 21, 2014

   This table was right next to the entrance to the kitchen at the restaurant we went to for dinner.  Many trays and take-out orders were placed and removed from this table while we were there.  Yet not one of the restaurant workers thought to throw away that Sonic cup.  It was kind of driving me crazy.  By the end of the evening, Jeff and I would say "Sonic cup" under our breath every time a server walked by us.   It was still there when we left.

March 20, 2014

See?  More wrestling...

March 14, 2014

(I don't know why this post is out of order.)

  Looks like the vacation is over.  We've had what we thought was a slow leak in our sprinkler in this part of our yard.  Water was running onto my neighbors driveway today and upon further inspection, it wasn't a slow leak in the sprinkler.  Underneath those rocks is black fabric to keep the weeds out.  And under the black fabric was a pond.  Jeff dug and dug through this sludge until he discovered that the leak was in the water line.  He spent about $200 and was out in the dark until 10:00 trying to fix it.  But it needed a professional.  The next morning we had a plumber come fix it.  The cost for the plumber?  $204.

March 19, 2014

Oh Ry-Guy

  Six things I want to remember about Ryan at this age:

1.  He loves to play with superhero actions figures.  There hasn't been a birthday or Christmas for a long time that he didn't get a new "good guy" or "bad guy" for his collection.  If he tells me he's bored, all it takes is for me to say that I hear The Joker is trying to break into the Batcave to kidnap The Hulk, and his eyes get wide and he's off to play it out.

2.  His first Christmas he got a stuffed dog.  He won't go to bed now without Doggie.  Doggie is the most beloved pal he owns.  Sometimes I want to be Doggie.

3.  He doesn't put much trust in my skills as a mom, particularly my memory.  I have never forgotten to pack his lunch, but he still reminds me all the time.

4.  When he plays hide and seek or any chasing game with the kids, from the noises he makes I can't tell if he's excited or seriously terrified.

5.  He's my only child who can raise his eyebrows independently of each other.

6.  When I ask him what the best part of his day at Kindergarten was, he says "Everything!"

March 18, 2014

  Amarillo and I are not on good terms today.  This is not cloudy, this is dusty.  I was driving Shelbi to her piano lesson today.  There were blue skies in front of us and rolling in from the east was a huge cloud of dust.  It moved like smoke from a fire.  It only took fifteen minutes to overtake us and lasted for hours.  So gross.

March 17, 2014

Her tongue came out every time she connected two pieces.

March 16, 2014

   The wrestling that goes on in this house is never ending.  This particular game had a name, but I can't recall it.

March 15, 2014

Story hour with a captive audience.

March 13, 2014

  Today's picture could have been of my complete meltdown when I realized that I deleted all 237 pictures from our Arizona trip.  But luckily it's of the computer download restoring them.  

March 12, 2014

  The long drive home.  Honestly, at ten and a half hours away, Phoenix is a totally doable vacation destination for us.  We'll see (and smell) you again, Arizona.

March 11, 2014

  Today I decided that my next money-making scheme is to open a children's museum.  You just fill it with random fort-making stuff, art supplies, and a pretend grocery store and then charge $10 a person.

The Science Center was a little more impressive.

March 10, 2014

  Phoenix happens to be the site of several baseball Spring training games.  Now, I am not a baseball fan.  But this afternoon was utterly enjoyable.  The stadium was small, the weather was perfect, our seats were in the shade, and the concession stand was close.

  Remember Ryan's YMCA routine from the PE program?  When they played that song at the game, Ryan was on the big screen for most of the song doing his whole routine.  I was too busy watching him, but Shelbi was smart enough to snap a picture of him on camera.