Fred Jr. and Steve

For William's birthday we gave him a few goldfish.  He promptly named them Fred Jr. (since Fred died back in October) and Steve.  It has been a good way for him to learn responsibility by feeding them and cleaning out their fish bowl.

Field Trip

A few weeks ago I was able to go with William on the 3rd grade field trip to Springs Preserve.  It's always fun to tag along on  fieldtrips.

I was charged with watching a few kids... to make sure they didn't get left behind as we went from place to place.

I'm grateful that I had someone to watch my two little boys and that William's teacher asked me to come along!

Daily Sunshine

The sky was amazing the other night.  I went out to get the mail and ran back in to show the boys.  They were pretty impressed as well.

Thanksgiving

 We had a fun thinking of all the things we were thankful for during November.  For Joy School Alex and I made a grateful list that reached from the ceiling to the floor. 

 Here is what it contained:  William, Henry, James, Alexander, Mom, Dad, BenSam, Grandma and Grandpa, scriptures, Anna, our house, Jesus, Heavenly Father, water, sheep, cozy beds, all animals, books to read, Bear, phones, food, helicopters, bikes, airplanes, our prophet, nuts, flowers, Grandpa Fisher, Dad's job, Grandma Fisher, temples, Jacob, the beach, cow that you eat, treats, sun, our bodies, colors, bacon, baths, crayons, Minecraft, good movies, Lisa, mail, Phineas and Ferb, mountains, apples, pioneers, broccoli, friends, every food, vacuums, bowls, electricity, and nice people.

 For Family Night we made a list as well. 

It included: temple, toys, Alaska, John the Baptist, Alexander, Oklahoma State Fair, Joseph Smith, Jesus, grandparents, Philo T. Farnsworth, church, Legos, Hyrum Smith, eyes, that William emptied and put away the dishes, that we read the Book of Mormon, doing flips in the pool {James}, books, Moroni, Heavenly Father, boys making their beds, Henry, our family is nice, being a good reader and good at math {James}, being a nice brother {Alexander}, missions, Santa, Lehi, Mom, Disneyland, TV, family reunions, George Washington, Crash (???), scriptures, our boys are athletic, food, play together, Dad, organized {mom}, Minecraft, Catie, got 100 on my test {William}, I'm creative {William}, Lisa, laser tag, hard worker {dad}, William, we can be together forever, John (James' friend), beach house, James, Abraham Lincoln, football, our boys are funny, good at building Legos {William}, cool stuff on the Lego castle, baseball, Anson Call, priesthood.

 We also made a little bunting of things we are grateful for:  food, angels, our home, the mountains near our home, the world, books, the universe, oils, Despicable Me 2, riding bikes to school, our family, Jesus, Bear, Dad, Rich, Dad, James, Mom, William, Alex, The Book of Mormon, Henry, President Monson, temple, Mom, clothes, Minecraft, vacuum

We were really lucky that Rich's parents came to visit us for Thanksgiving.  We had a great holiday and the food was delicious (if I do say so myself!)

 Friday we went over to the hotel that Rich's parents were staying at and went swimming for a little bit.  Thankfully the pool was heated because it wasn't that warm outside!

We also went to the buffet at their hotel in the evening along with Rich's Great Aunt and Uncle who live in Vegas as well.  We were there for a while but the boys behaved themselves very nicely. We are so glad that we had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa!

Late Night Movie Party

William declared this birthday one of the best ever.  It started a few nights before the big day when he helped me make some oreo pops to share with his class at school.

 This year we decided on a movie party theme.  Since we don't do sleep overs we agreed that this could be a "late night" birthday party.  Before his friends came over we opened some presents--he was excited about each one.  But he especially loved the Minecraft video game and pet goldfish.

 Once the guests started to arrive we started out the night with a few rounds of movie bingo.

 Usually we do cake at the end... but we didn't want to run out of time so we did that next.  William requested the Andes Mint cake (that Rich had earlier this year).  So yummy.

When tummies were full of delicious cake we moved onto the main event--the movie!

 James took tickets at the door and for the concessions.  He loved being involved... and loved even more that he got to stay up for the movie while the little brothers went to bed.

 Having a projector is so much fun.  We re-arranged the guest room and brought in all our big floor pillows.  Then we were able to show the movie up on the wall.

 I didn't quite time it right and we had a little bit of time between the movie ending and parents coming so we played some board games for a while.

It was crazy to have a house really full of boys so late at night but it was really fun too!  It's always fun for me to see my boys interact with their friends and be social.  I'm so glad that we could help William have a great birthday.

Sunday Temple Walk

One Sunday evening Rich gathered everyone in a huddle and told them the game plan: once jammies were on we would go on a special drive. 

Then we drove over to the temple.  It was the first time the boys had seen the Las Vegas temple... and the first time they have been up close to a big temple. I think they were pretty amazed.

 Henry tried opening up the doors and going in.

Walking around the temple was the perfect Sunday evening activity.  I'm so glad that we live closer to a temple again!






ps. I'm hesitant to share this story but I also don't want to forget it.  It's funny and embarrassing at the same time.  Alexander is finally potty trained.  It took much longer than the other boys but he's finally there.  After we took pictures near the fountain the boys ran ahead a little ways.  When we caught up to them we found Alex relieving himself on the flower bed!  Aaaghh!  He was proud of himself for not having an accident and insisted that it would help the flowers to grow.  It would have been much funnier if it wasn't at the temple.  We had a nice little talk about it afterward.  It will be a great story to embarrass him with in a few years.

Before we get to Thanksgiving I figured I had better put up our pictures from when we carved pumpkins.  Rich was out of town the week of Halloween and rather then attempt carving pumpkins with 4 boys I opted to wait until after the holiday.  And we ended up doing it when the little boys were in bed.

The boys did a good amount of gutting this year.

 They drew their designs out on the paper for Rich to follow.

 Rich did an amazing job of making their visions become realities.