Our BUSY Easter Weekend

Thursday evening David and I, and his sister Eva and Mathan swapped babysitting for a couple hours a piece. It was nice to get away and have some quiet time. While we were out on our date (does doing a light clean on our temple count as a date??) Eva bravely colored Easter eggs with the kids. When we got home the kids were all tucked in bed, and we made plans to use those bright little eggs. Being that there was no school on the following day, we made some fun Easter-ish plans! We headed out to Woodruff bright and early for a yummy breakfast and Easter Egg Hunt at Eva and Mathans' house. The breakfast was delicious and there was proof of how good the strawberry-banana muffins were all over the carpet!! We had a good time visiting and spending time together. The kids had fun together with their cousins. And the goats had fun on my van! =) Here are some pictures of the occasion... The cousins: May, Nathan, Ellen, Thomas, Aubrey, Emily, Jay and Betsy.

My five little monkeys waiting for the hunt to begin!David and I squinting in the sun. A goat, ON my van. I was laughing pretty hard. Something you just don't see in most places!

Saturday morning was Scout-A-Rama and the district races for the Pinewood Derby. We all got up early, braved the weather (it was pretty dang cold, windy, and overcast for a while!) and went to the park where they served us a pancake breakfast.They set up lots of booths, candy, and activities for the kids to do. We played around at the park for a few hours. Nathan and I then headed over to the church to watch the races. Nathans car was entered for show. It was a fun time with just me and my Nathan! After the races they announced the winners, and handed out metals for all the participants. It was fun to see them all lined up on the wall. Nathan didn't place, but he did get a two metals! He was more thrilled about the TWO metals then he probably would have been about a trophy! Wheres Waldo? Nathan is the one in the scout shirt! hehe! He is wearing the tan cargo pants, next to the boy in the yellow shirt.After the races we headed home and then David went to the church to help take down Pinewood Derby and set up chairs for Stake Conference. (Can we say, OVER-scheduled weekend?!) David then stayed for Leadership Training. He got home, and I headed back to the church for the Adult Session of Stake Conference. The meeting was wonderful, full of the spirit and I got to sit with some Peterson family, and no kids, which was neat. =)

Sunday Easter morning was fun as the kids found their baskets, played with their new toys, and ate way too much candy. (I forgot to take pictures, sorry). By the time we headed to the church I had some pretty wound up kids! I feel sorry for the poor Brewer family that sat behind us... The meeting was nice, and the spirit was strong (when I could feel it between wrestling and quieting five kids who were all on some serious sugar highs).

I am finally winding down from the crazy weekend, and cleaning up the mess that came with it. Boo hiss! I wonder if things will ever slow down?? Probably not...

Spelling Bee 2011

Nathan participated in the 3rd grade Spelling Bee this morning. He got a packet full of words last week and has been studying them nightly. He is an awesome reader, and one of his favorite books just happens to be a dictionary he got for his 7th birthday. He was well-prepared and ready for the Spelling Bee (probably without any studying). There were 30 kids (top 6 from each class) competing. On his second word he thought Mr. Yates (the principle) said "watch", and spelled it correctly, but he really said "wash". Which was incorrect. He was VERY disappointed, and came and sat on my lap for a couple minutes, heartbroken, when the judges decided to have him try and spell "wash" again, after hearing it in a sentence. He, of course, spelled it RIGHT. No problem, just a misheard word..

So after that little drama for Nathan (and me too), he was back in the competition. He spelled every word right, and the number of kids began to dwindle off. It was a long haul, and he performed well. He got to about 6 kids left when he finally realized that he might just win this thing, and started to focus! It got down to 4 kids, three girls and one boy. I was SO NERVOUS, even though he seemed as calm as can be! They started using harder words, and he WON the Spelling Bee with the words "yacht" and "diesel". FIRST PLACE!!!! I am such a proud mama, and haven't stopped smiling ear to ear yet!!!!! He is such a smart kid, and he DID NOT get it from me. Great job Nathan! We are SO proud of you!!

...and he is already talking about next years Spelling Bee....

Recent FUN pictures

"Mama, I'm humbree! Open dis peez!"
Poor kiddo, going to church just wore him out!

"Mommy! Take a picture of me! I'm a monkey!"

Daddy takes a break and bonds over Battleship with his boys.

What happens when the brownies are gone at our house.

Looking better then ever!

ANNOUNCEMENT! We are now officially the owners of blinds! It has been nearly 7 years since we bought this home, and we have most tackily hung blankets in our windows for that time. I finally talked my dear husband into the idea of looking a little less white trash, and bought some blinds. They look GREAT! We ordered them online from Blinds.com (great prices, by the way), waited a few days, they came in the mail, and we had them up and installed Saturday morning. Here are a few shots of the befores and afters for your viewing pleasure....

BEFORE: AFTER:

AFTER:In the spirit of improving the outside image of our home, I also restained our front porch swing. It was looking pretty rundown and pathetic, and now it is looking nice and nearly new again. I love sitting on a porch swing. I have always had a swing, in the deepest earliest memories I remember. It just doesn't feel like my home without one.

So feel free to drive by, or look again at the pictures if you are not within driving distance, and see my beautiful new blinds and porch swing. I am pretty proud... =)

*Next projects: The grass and bushes, and get some flowers planted .... it never ends.

Dinosaur Diorama and Tooth Fairies

Aubrey had a school assignment that she worked hard on and here is the final project. She made a diorama, gave a presentation to her first grade class, and wrote a short paper (like 6-7 sentences long) about the dinosaur of her choice. She chose the Ankylosaurus. Our family now all knows more then I thought possible about that type of dinosaur! Luckily I have sons that like dinosaur toys, and there happened to be an Ankylosaurus in their toy bucket (along with 20+ more kinds too)! She was very proud of her diorama, and according to her teacher, did a great job on her presentation to the class. I am so proud of my sweet, happy, SMART Aubrey Sue! Emily just lost another tooth (#8). Having three kids resembling jack-o-lanterns, makes a lot of Tooth Fairy duties; it gets kinda pricey too! Emily is ahead of schedule with losing teeth and has lost two more teeth then Aubrey who is a year older then her! My kids are always so tough with losing their teeth. Emily actually waits until it is so lose that the wind would blow it out, and then approaches me with some toilet paper in a wad, and tells me to pull it.

Nathan, Aubrey and Emily also just had dentist trips and report NO cavities. That always makes a momma proud. Betsy is going in next week for her first visit to the dentist. She already has a cavity right between her two front teeth, and that is why I am taking her earlier then I normally do for my kids. I was hoping that I could just keep up with her brushing and that would hold her off until they just fell out, but it is getting big enough that it is turning into a problem. She isn't complaining about it (heck, she doesn't complain about anything!) but it needs to be fixed before the teeth naturally fall out on their own.

And great news for me, I also have set up an appointment to go visit an orthodontist and get an initial consultation for braces!! I am super excited to possibly getting my teeth fixed again. Yes, I have had braces before when I was about 13, but between rushing me through the braces, and moving with my family out of state, my orthodontist never got me a final retainer, and so my teeth slowly went back to how they were. I am looking forward to getting my teeth straightened, getting a retainer this time, and feeling better about myself... =)

Daddy's Boy

It is great to see a boy that loves his daddy so much. There is a bond between Jay and David that is unbreakable. Jay just loves to be with his daddy, and cries nearly every time David leaves for work, drives away, leaves for a meeting, etc. It gets a bit tiring to hear the crying, BUT I know for a FACT that this boy loves his dad!

I don't blame either of them. I love them both too!

I love these FUNNY faces!

BYU Ballet

Last month (the 4th of March to be exact), the BYU Ballet came to town. I thought it was a good idea for a girls night out. We first stopped at Trappers. The only time I can eat there is when I go without David because he doesn't like it. The girls got to pick whatever they wanted off the kid menu. It sounded like a great idea, except that I had 3 FULL plates of uneaten food that got to go home in a doggy bag. Silly girls.... They liked the french fries and the water, IF it had ice in it.

After the adventure at Trappers we headed to the ballet. They were bummed because there was a "meet the ballerinas" before the actual ballet. We got there on time, but what mommy didn't realize is that they were supposed to dress up like princesses for the affair. Oops! So they all cowered at their table, and fought getting up and visiting with anyone in the whole room! Aubrey was so afraid that the ballerinas would hate her because she didn't dress up. And of course, if Aubrey says something like that, it HAS to be true!

So Aubrey, Emily and Betsy all sat/hid at the table for a while. I finally convinced them that no one hated them for not dressing up and they slowly began coming out of their self inflicted shell. Here is the only picture I got with them and some "real live ballerinas". Betsy was beside herself! She was just thrilled as can be to be with actual dancers. SO SWEET!The ballet performance was really good, and their is some serious talent at BYU.

...I have nothing against men that dance ballet, BUT I do have something against men in skin colored tights dancing ballet! I just about covered my girls eyes! YIKES!

Pinewood Derby 2011

Nathan had his first Pinewood Derby race a couple days ago. He helped David work on the car for weeks. They designed it together and built it together. Nathan was really excited to get to the race and the weigh-in. Here is the finished product. It turned out pretty good I would have to say.

Nathan got 5th in the racing portion (it was a SUPER close race) and 3rd in show! He is very excited to go to district next month. He did great! I am so proud of my Nathan!!