Flag football

William and James have been wanting to play football for a l o n g  time.  Last year William still had pins in his arm though so he wasn't cleared to play.  Instead they played football before and after school at the park every day.  This year we finally signed them up for a flag football team.  We signed up with a bunch of boys from our ward which made practices convenient (they were close to home) and games more fun (lots of friends for all of us to talk/play with).

Unfortunetly I didn't get many pictures.  I blame it on the fact that it was right in the middle of our move and  I was chasing Lydia all over the field since Rich was coaching.  One of the moms took this picture while they did the team pictures one morning but I don't have one of William's team (sad!).

Thanks to another mom I have a few videos of the boys.  They really were great players!  Our bishop (who's boys were on James's team) commented several times how much fun it was to watch James.  He told me that James was "sneaky fast" which was the perfect way to describe him!

William was really fun to watch too.

It will be fun to see what sport they decide to try next year!

Fruit and flowers!

We have been loving our new yard.  It's like a little garden of Eden in the desert.  Lydia loves to pick the low-hanging fruit and have a little snack while she's back there.

She even needed to bring a plum in to her bath!

James and Henry also love to eat the fruit right off the tree--they especially love the apples.

Alex doesn't care too much for most of the fruit but he is a great helper at picking it!

The plums are just beautiful!

The apricots are all gone now...

But the boys made some freezer jam so we can enjoy them for a little while longer!

We are looking forward to our peaches, pears, pomegranates, and almonds ripening!


Not only have we enjoyed our fruit but I love our roses out front.

I've always loved yellow roses.

And I think these are the boys' favorite.

And I've always loved these purplish roses too... my mom had some when I was in high school.

Moments of Sunshine

I love to capture little moments of sunshine in our daily life.  Like this moment of Lydia and Rich reading together.  (Lydia has recently started to love reading... she loves to plop down on the pillows of the reading nook with a book.)

 And I loved that Alex asked me if we could go on a date.  He chose U-swirl and it was delicious!

Birthday celebrations

Alex had a great birthday.  He had been looking forward to it for a very long time.  It was a little rushed because we had a school function that evening and Rich had mutual but Alexander didn't seem to mind.  He loved all his gifts.

For his birthday he really wanted double chocolate banana cake.

I think he really liked having the school function that night so he could show us all his hard work.  He is a great boy!

Mother's Day

I'm so blessed that these five are mine!

And then we always need a crazy picture... or two... or three.

Giggle Garden Preschool

This year I had the opportunity to do a preschool co-op with some other moms.  It really was a lot of fun and Henry had such a fun time getting together with his new friends 2 times a week.  Right before school started one of the families moved but we were able to add someone else to keep it at 6 kids.  However, throughout the year 3 more of the families moved!!!  So our little group was cut in half.

We made cookies....

Learned letters... and did some crafts.

We even took a few field trips!  (One to the pumpkin patch at Gilcrease Orchard and the other to Anderson Dairy.)

 Occasionally I would even get creative with the snacks. (We were learning about penguins and polar bears this week.)

And here we "went fishing" with our pretzel stick poles, peanut butter for bait, and caught some gold fish! (Thank you Miss Rhonda for doing this so many years ago at the library)

 For Thanksgiving we had a snack feast!

 I lucked out to get Dr. Seuss week... so we made a "Dr. Seuss building" with Duplos. (Jayden was visiting us that morning.)

And we graphed our fish crackers.

 We even made oobleck that week. (Dayton's cousin was visiting with us that morning.)

 We ran into Rylee at the park one day right before she moved.

And we had Tristan over one day while his mom packed.

Because it ended up being such a small group at the end we threw out the idea of a graduation and decided on a low-key playdate at the park.  Henry busted his lip open in the first five minutes but finally calmed down enough to have a fun time.

Our three survivors--Dayton, Brynlee, and Henry.

It was a good experience for Henry and me... and he is super excited to start Kindergarten in the Fall.

Happy birthday, Alex!

Alex is SO excited for his birthday!  I think he has been counting down the days for at least a month!  Alexander is such a kind boy.  He is always sharing with his brothers, giving hugs, and trying to be a good friend and helper.  He loves to read.  He's always reading something and can read way beyond his grade level.  He is also an early riser.  Several times a week I have to tell him to go back to bed because it isn't even 6:00 yet!  We sure love you, Alexander!  Happy birthday!

What is your favorite...
color? blue
food?  pizza
game? Beat the Parents
toy?  Legos
show? Brain Games
animal?  copperhead
book? Ramona the Brave
song? Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam
What do you like to do?  play video games
Who is your best friend?  Caleb
What do you want to be when you grow up? video game inventor
Do you have a girlfriend?  no

I am - 7 years old

I am afraid of - nothing

I like - video games

I like to eat - pizza

I don't like - mushrooms

I know - songs

I want to be - a video game maker

I like to watch - Brain Games

My hero is- my friends

I cry when - I get hurt really bad

I'm happy when - it's my birthday

Mom gets mad when - Henry punches her

Mom is happy when - we help her

I can't wait for - Christmas
Something Mom says to me - "Do your homework."

Something Dad says to me - "How was your day?"

My favorite place to go is - Springs Preserve

My Mom makes me laugh by - tickling me

My Dad makes me laugh by - tickling me

I know my mom loves me because - she is nice to me

I know my dad loves me because - he plays king-of-the-bed with me