Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break.  All four boys at home all day... with no relief for me at night.  Yikes.  It was actually not so bad.  Especially since they let me sleep in every morning!  Monday started out pouring rain.  Seriously!?  Luckily some friends invited us up to the church to let the kids run out their energy in the cultural hall.  Hooray!!  Tuesday was James' birthday (more on that later) so we stayed home and let James choose a lot of our activities for the day.  One thing he chose was these cup towers.

It was such an easy activity and it kept them busy for a long time!  We got out some plastic cups, lego men, and some bouncy balls.  The boys took turns setting up towers with men on them and then the other boys got to try to knock them down in three throws.  They even came up with their own rules and how to earn "bonus points".   (Thank you Pinterest for the inspiration!)

Wednesday we headed to the Science Museum.  I knew it would be insane since everyone was out of school this week... so we went at the end of the day.  It was perfect because people started to clear out.

The boys took a spin in the tornado machine (I have no idea what it's called.)

They took turns lying on a bed of nails.

This area was new since we've been there last.  It was a construction zone.  They could build a brick house, lay down sod and a garden path, paint walls, and build a dog house.  We stayed in this area for a long time.

Here is proof that Henry joined us too.  He was a happy little guy as usual.

The boys always love this area with the legos.

James had a great time with this pegboard wall.

And William spent a long time building a lego car to race.

And for fun, James decided to be an astronaut.  (Which was fun except for when a super rude lady told them to move and knocked Alex off the stairs so that she could take a picture.)

Thursday we had a little birthday party for James (again, more on that later). Friday we hung around the house a little more.  I think they were being bad guys...

By the end of the week the rain had passed and it was beautiful so we headed to a fun park.  Alex is a pro at the rock wall.

Overall, it was a fun spring break!

Conference and a video to make you smile

This coming weekend is General Conference.  What have you been doing to get ready?  Tonight for Family Home Evening I had the boys each pick an apostle to teach everyone else about.  William drew pictures to remind himself what he was going to share.

(left to right: pigeon, wiggling ears, chess board... do you know who he talked about and what the pictures mean?)

 And speaking of William... he has really been able to get Henry laughing lately.  Baby laughter is the absolute best don't you think?  So, as not to be selfish, I recorded it to share with you.  Enjoy!

Happy birthday to the best husband and dad in the world!  We miss you so much!
 

Home Is Wherever I'm With You

Well, we've been our house for about 9 months now.  For the last several months I've been meaning to take pictures of the house to share with all my friends and family spread out across the county but I wanted to get all my pictures hung up first.  That's never going to happen... No, I'm not being negative--just honest.  You see, in just a matter of weeks we are going to be headed out on a new adventure in North Carolina.  It has been a whirlwind of a month and Rich is already out in Charlotte for a third week.  So here is our wonderful house in all it's glory.... we're going to be sad to leave it!

View from entry into the living room

Living Room

Kitchen

Craft Room/Office

 

Master Bedroom

Master bath (is it weird to love a bathroom?  Because I really really love our bathroom/closet)

 

 Upstairs Bonus/Family/Playroom

Bedroom #1: James and Henry

Boys Bathroom

Bedroom #2: William and Alexander

And I did a quick little video so you could get a better feel for the flow of our house.  You can check it out here.

Sweet, Crazy James

Oh sweet little James!  What would we do without you?  You are my sweetest, most cuddly boy.  You are also the cause of much screaming (from Alex) because of your love of teasing.  You are a ball of energy and have your own sense of style--you are always wanting to wear cowboy boots to school and are often wearing your church vest over t-shirts.  This morning the two of us cuddled up in my bed for a little birthday interview. Here are your answers:


What is your favorite...
color? green
food?  pizza
toy?  Supermario  (I told him "that's not a toy that's a video game" to which he replied, "but maybe you can have that for your toy.  So... SuperMario!")
show? Sonic
animal?  lion (and all the animals in the Cat Forrest at the zoo)
comic book? Spiderman
song? the Beatles
What do you like to do?  play video games
Who is your best friend?  Austin and Jake
What do you want to be when you grow up? a ninja
Do you have a girlfriend?  No!


I am - five

I am afraid of - vampires

I like - to play video games

I like to eat - pizza

I don't like - vampires

I know - that vampires don't exist

I want to be -a ninja when I grow up

I like to watch - Phineas and Ferb

I like to go - to the zoo

My hero is- Flash

I cry when - Alex hits me

Mom gets mad when - I play with water outside {when I've asked him not to!}

Mom is happy when - I do not play with the water

What I want to be when I grow up - a police

I can't wait for - my birthday!!!

Something Mom says to me - "Do not play with the water"

Something Dad says to me - "Just a minute" (when he's on the webcam so he can show us something)

My favorite animal is - a cheetah

My favorite place to go is - the zoo

My Mom and Dad make me laugh by - tickling me

I know my mom loves me because - I do right things

I know my dad loves me because - he talks to me on the webcam

One Fish, Two Fish

Once again we had a great time celebrating Dr. Seuss.  We visited the library and checked out a whole pile of the good doctor's books to read in addition to the pile we own.  James had a friend over after school and we spent some time reading some of the books.

We've created a few traditions over the years to celebrate Dr. Seuss.  One that we love is to get out our duplos and create a "Seuss-ville".  This year's creation was lots of fun!

A few years ago we made a "cat-in-the-hat-pizza" and it has become another tradition!  So easy and so much fun!

And in honor of the Yink who likes to drink pink ink we had a little "pink ink" of our own--or perhaps it was just strawberry milk ;)

 I sort of thought that these cheese puffs looked like the clover that Horton carries around in "Horton Hears a Who".

We ended the evening with a special treat of "red fish" a la One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.  All of the boys thought that it was pretty special.

We capped the night with a reading of everyone's favorite Dr. Seuss books.  

We included a new read this year, "The Boy on Fairfield Street". It is the story of how a boy named Ted became Dr. Seuss.  It was really interesting to William but it was still a little long.  The younger boys couldn't get into.  I thought it was great! It was fun to learn more about this wonderful author and celebrate his work.

Happy birthday Dr. Seuss!