Double birthday party

Benjamin and Luke shared a birthday party at Airborne this year.

 Pizza, cake, jumping, foam pits and a lot of dodge ball makes for a very fun party!

I don't understand why throwing balls at each other with great force is so fun for boys, but their dodge ball games were intense and they all LOVED it!

Jumping into the foam pits was a favorite as well. It is a fact that the kids socks were covered with thousands of little foam bits and had to be thrown in the trash after jumping in the pits :)

 Our boys have a great group of friends!

Tulip festival

This spring we visited the Thanksgiving Point tulip festival for the first time. It was lovely!

 We had a picnic and the kids had a great time following the map and finding clues for their scavenger hunt.

 We missed Michael who was in school and daddy who was at work :(

 Sara loved that there were tulips almost as tall as she is.

 Spring is so delightful!

Saving the ducks

The kids and I were on a walk recently when we saw a mom duck and her 15 ducklings. The mom duck quickly moved when she saw us coming and she walked right over a storm drain. The kids and I watched in horror as her ducklings dutifully followed her and one by one dropped into the drain. The mom duck circled the drain in a panic and we could hear her babies in a panic as well.

 We called animal control and waited anxiously for them to arrive. Thankfully they came quickly and knew right what to do. (I was told that they get called 2-3 times a week during the spring on cases just like this one).

Animal control was able to get the mom duck into a cage and then lowered the cage down the drain so that the babies would run to her. Worked like a charm! Such a relief to see 15 babies saved!

Boys bedroom project

Mid-February we started re-modeling the boys bedroom. This is our before picture.

 After a few trips to Home Depot and the paint store...

 It started to come together...

And finally... this is our almost finished project. We still need to hang the drapes, put up some shelves, and I have my eye on a bean bag, a rug, and some pillows, but we're almost there! Thanks to a very handy husband and three boys who didn't mind sleeping in the family room for a couple of weeks :)

Thirty-Eight

We recently celebrated Todd's 38th birthday. We are so grateful for this wonderful husband and father.  He is amazing!

Todd's birthday was a perfect excuse for us to enjoy his favorites; lasagna with béchamel sauce and chocolate ganache cake. His presents included a SeaHawks hat, golf gloves, a movie and a book.

HaPpY BiRtHdAy!!!

Easter 2015

General conference was on Easter weekend this year. It was a lovely weekend. One that I looked forward to for months leading up to it. It was wonderful to be together as a family and listen to council and encouragement from the Lord's prophet and apostles.

 Saturday evening the younger kids and I dyed Easter eggs while Todd and Michael went to Priesthood session.

I love that Michael is old enough for Priesthood meeting with dad but still young enough to come home and dye eggs.

 Easter Sunday was wonderful. We hunted for eggs, ate treats and listened to conference.

 In between sessions, we jumped rope with Mary's new double dutch jump rope.

We ate our Easter Sunday dinner at our dining room table. I'm enjoying every minute of these kids because they are growing way too fast!

Easter at Grandpa and Grandma's

My mom and dad held their traditional Easter egg hunt party before Easter. The kids had a great time finding and dying eggs with their cousins.

Sara's 4th birthday

Our sweet baby girl is 4 years old!

Some words our family uses to describe Sara are; cheeky, adorable, sweet smelling, loud, stubborn and a screamer.

Sara's 4 year old interview;

Favorite color- purple

Like to do- play outside

Favorite food- pizza

Favorite part of school- playing with baby dolls

Favorite part of church- going to Primary with Sister Watson

Who is your favorite friend? Me and Mary

What do you want to be when you grow up? Elsa...no wait...Anna

Favorite book? Curious George

Favorite movie? Cinderella

We celebrated Sara's birthday for 2 days. Saturday morning we opened presents. I couldn't bear to make her wait one more day. She was with me when I purchased most of her presents. Since she's too clever to re-direct or hide things from, she didn't forget what was coming and she asked me every 5 minutes in the weeks leading up to her birthday if she could open her presents.

She especially couldn't wait to open this purple tank top with her patchwork capris (she calls them her Capri Sun's).

We did mange to surprise her with the purple plasma car. I made a quick trip to the toy store while she was at school.

Sara is so squeezable. She is truly a little piece of heaven! I can't get enough of her precious little fingers and toes. She still has sweet smelling baby breath. Her whole little body is scrumptious!

Sara graduated from the front facing toddler seat to the booster seat. This seat is easier to move around but she can't buckle her own seat belt yet. This new seat will take some getting used to since she was able to click her own seat belt in the toddler seat.

Sara requested dinner at Cafe Rio for her birthday. She likes the nino quesadillas. We met my mom and dad and Sara's cousins there too.

Sunday morning (Sara's actual birthday) there weren't any presents to open but Sara didn't mind. She told us she didn't want breakfast in bed because she didn't want to eat by herself. She had to be part of the action. Notice she is caring for her baby and sipping from her princess cup while her breakfast is made. Breakfast is Sara's favorite meal of the day. She asks for breakfast first thing, bright and early every morning!

The kids in their Easter attire before church on Sara's birthday.

After church we had Sara's favorite dinner of noodles and then we ate her Cinderella cake.

She couldn't wait for us to get a knife. Why not dig right in?

Sara modeling her new birthday clothes before school.

Happy 4th birthday sweet girl! We love you!

Michael's golden birthday

Our Michael turned 13 on the 13th. We have a teenager in the family! Michael is such a great kid! Words can't express how much he means to us. We love you Michael! 

When the family was asked to describe Michael in one word, these are the adjectives that were used; delightful, hilarious, deep sleeper, funny, nice, smart and dedicated.

Michael's birthday interview;

Favorite school subject= science

Favorite music= Imagine Dragons

Favorite past time= building Legos & Nerf gun shooting

Favorite food= Mom's cheesy noodles

Favorite part of 7th grade= the 5 minutes between periods

What do you think of your family? My parents are nice and my siblings are funny

Favorite vacation spot= Disney World

What will you be when you grow up? An engineer (probably civil)

Something interesting about yourself? I have a lot of merit badges. Rifle shooting is my favorite.

The boys room is under construction so their mattresses were moved to the family room by the pool table for a couple of weeks. Michael's requested breakfast in bed came in the family room this year.

 Michael with his birthday presents.

 He couldn't wait to try his new air soft gun and he was thrilled with the extra ammo.

 After school the family went to the Dinosaur museum.

 Look at how tall this boy is getting! He will pass his mom up before we know it!

 Birthday dinner at Culver's.

 The week before Michael's birthday, we took a few of his friends to Airborne.

 I don't know who had more fun, Michael and his buddies, or Sara. She couldn't get enough!

After all that jumping, we went to Beyond Glaze for donuts. Ever want to see donuts disappear fast? Give em to teen aged boys!