Nathan's 7th Birthday

When we had Hyrum's Cat in the Hat party Nathan begged me to do a Lorax party for his birthday. He was excited to help with the planning and waiting the two weeks from Hyrum's birthday to his birthday was almost more than he could stand. When I told him that his cousins, Andie, Brendan, Jeremy and Hailey, would be here for the party he was even more excited and the wait seemed a little more worth it.


The Food

Breakfast for dinner?  Absolutely!  Marshmallows and Chocolate Teddy Grahams?  Yum!

The kids raved about the strawberry pancakes, the boys were thrilled to see such a full platter of bacon truffula trunks  and you can't go wrong in this house with fruit.


We moved out to the garage for Thneedville Bowling and the Truffula Ring Toss. 

I was explaining how to play each game when LeRoy, Kellie and Erika naturally gravitated where help was needed. LeRoy was the official hula hoop retriever and cheered on those doing the tossing.  Kellie set up the Thneedville characters for bowling each time they were knocked down.  Erika handed out Tootie-Frooties truffula treats after each person had their turn.  I particularly enjoyed being an observer and participant instead of being the one directing everything. Watching all the laughs, smiles and encouraging interactions felt like I was getting a glimpse of our eternal happily ever after.

The day before the party, after LeRoy, Derek and I finished the truffula trees, Nathan walked by, backed up and exclaimed, "those truffula trees are awesome!"  I hadn't told him what we were making so we were all thrilled that he knew exactly what they were.  When I explained that they would be tossing a hula hoop over the truffula trees Nathan interrupted me and said, "I get it!  Who-la-hoop!"  Oh, my clever boy!  All these themed, play on word parties are paying off.

For Thneedville Bowling I printed these pictures and taped them to varied sizes of containers from our recycling bin and added rocks to weigh the containers down (so the wind wouldn't blow them over) and make the game a little more challenging. The object of the game was to see if you could knock over Mr. O'Hare on the first try.


 The Cake

I have no idea where this look came from but we saw it numerous times during the night and found it quite entertaining.

This picture is one of my favorite from the party.  It sums up his excitement, is a clue to the silliness that went on, and is a pictorial description of the high we were all suffering from due to the sugar loaded dinner and cake that we pumped into our bloodstream.


If I had to pick one word to describe Nathan's last year it would be "reading".  He LOVES reading.

He reads until his eyes can't read another word.

April Showers Bring . . .

General Conference

Kellie and her kids joined us for Conference this year.  Instead of doing the feast that we had last conference we decided to do something a little more interactive in hopes of maintaining some kind of active reverence.  I must say they did extremely well.  Some did better at matching speakers to topics while others did better with stickers and bingo.

Among bursts of giggles and whispered conversations that just couldn't wait they managed to take notes, make place mats from past church magazines, do word finds, color, do sewing cards and puzzles.  We did have food that managed to keep everyone content and the "Apostle Treats" that bribed them into listening.  It was a wonderful weekend together.



Easter

I arrange activities for most of the celebrations in our family but LeRoy takes care of his favorite holidays which include Easter, the 4th of July and Halloween.  He boiled the eggs, set up all the coloring stuff, filled the plastic eggs and hid the eggs.



Free Spy Gear

Nathan's school had a fundraiser that only required valid addresses so that the company could send out post cards hoping for purchases.  I contacted our family members to let them know they would be getting a post card but that no purchase was required.  Kellie looked over it and decided to order a magazine subscription for her kids' school.  A couple of weeks later Nathan received a free spy set and Mario t-shirt.   Thanks, Kellie!



A New Primary Calling

I have been called as a counselor in the Primary which means I get to do sharing time every third month.  Since I am a very visual learner (and the younger kids can't read) I like to use pictures.   Nathan and Hyrum have enjoyed helping me gather pictures and props for the lessons (Nathan was excited to take his tomato plant to be a visual aid for Elder Ballad's recent conference talk) and I have loved getting to know the kids in the Primary and feeling of their trusting faith and growing testimonies.  Though I have been in the primary for four years I have been behind the piano and didn't have much interaction with the kids (I'm good at being invisible).  It is very rewarding to share conversations and scriptures with them.  What an amazing generation!



Trampoline Tricks

Top left: Justin with Nathan in the air.  Top right: Nathan and Spencer
Bottom left: 3rd annual stuffed animal count with neighbor girls.  Bottom right: Levi and Hailey

After months spent indoors we are all ready to be outside and the boys are thrilled to be jumping on the trampoline (it's so much bouncier than the beds).  It is also wonderful to be out with the neighbor kids again. Daily parties take place in our combined three acre back yard park with the sounds of laughter, squealing, lunches, occasional disagreements and oodles of imagination.

It only took a little reviewing, courage, and spotting from Justin for Nathan and Hyrum to remember their skills from last fall.



New Vision

Erika, Vivien and I all got new glasses so Nathan and Hyrum wanted some too.  We pulled out some old frames from Levi and I, popped the lenses out and they wore them around for a few days.

Kid Comedy

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Knock, knock, knock on my bathroom door . . . 

Me:  "Who is it?"
Hyrum:  "I'm your worst nightmare!"
Me: (laughing and glad I'm already emptying my bladder)  "Who taught you that?"
Hyrum:  "Cody Banks."


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After a needed discussion on stranger danger and role playing a couple of scenarios . . . 

Nathan: "Mom, are you forgetting something?"  
(lengthy pause and raised eyebrows for emphasis) "I'm a green belt!"


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Hryum: (enthusiastically)  "I found one of those red ticket things and Nathan wanted it too but guess what!?  We were going to fight over it but  we membered to be good brothers and work together so we flushed it down the toilet!  Are you so proud of us?"


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While cuddling on the couch . . .

Hyrum: (with big eyes, urgency and shock in his voice)  "Hold still!  I want to count those things on your head"

After counting in a whisper with his pointy finger hovering over the lines (aka wrinkles) on my  forehead . . . 

"There's SIX!  Is that a lot?"


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Thoughtfully looking out the van window . . . 

Nathan:  "I suddenly feel like a really big boy.  I am good at Tae Kwan Do.  I get to start gymnastics for the summer and I'm pretty sure I'll be good at that too.  I'm gonna be in second grade and take piano lessons.  AND  I'm wearing boxers!  I'm so grown up!"  (puffs out chest and sits tall in his seat with a big grin)


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Hyrum:  "Mom, you have such pretty nimples."
Me: (in complete surprise) "What?"
Hyrum: "Your nimples are pretty.  Daddy says that too."
Me: (holding back laughter)  "Show me on your body where your nimples are."
Hyrum: (pointing to his dimples) "They make your smile pretty."

I'm so glad he equates my laugh lines (again, wrinkles) with his adorable dimples.


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I found a sticky note that I had written a couple of notes on.  I cannot remember the dates that go with these but the boys were significantly younger.   Since one comment is about potty training I believe Hyrum was about three years old. 

Hyrum had an imaginary friend that he named Eric.  One morning he wanted me to get something from his room for him and when I asked him why he couldn't get it he responded, "Eric won't let me go in my room".  For a while we had to set a place at the table for Eric and make a bed on the floor for Eric to sleep on.

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Nathan and Hyrum had been sword fighting and then paused to have fruit snacks.  Nathan kept complaining that Hyrum wouldn't die when he had been attacked to which I replied, "He doesn't want to die right now, he's eating his fruit snacks".  I was on the phone with Kara at the time and didn't realize how funny that sounded until she started laughing.

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Potty training Hyrum was rather easy but once he got the hang of it I backed off thinking he had it down and then he started to have accidents because he would wait to long before going.  On one of those times when he ran in the house panicking and holding himself in a full run for the bathroom I joined him in the race with what I thought was encouragement.  It must not have sounded that way to him because he hollered at me, "Why do you always do this to me? Just calm down."  

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I do not remember what we were having for dinner on this particular night but Hyrum was getting very impatient as we waited for everyone to sit at the table so that we could have the blessing on the food.  LeRoy asked Nathan to say the blessing and Nathan is known for his long, thoughtful prayers.

Hyrum groaned and whined, "say a SHORT prayer cause this food is so hicious (delicious)."  

Let's Paws a Moment

and purrtend we have pets.

They take their cat naps wherever they purrfurr.

They are purrticularly fond of my bed though I have never given them purrmission to sleep there.  

Purrhaps it's not the bed they love so much, it's Hyrum.  

I wonder if my kids are getting anything out of morning scripture study 

beclaws they look just as attentive as the cats do  

and I'm pawsitive they don't get anything out of it.

Derek and LeRoy are such a hypurrcrits!  They both claim to hate cats but then they get down on the floor and play with them. LeRoy would consider it a catastrophe if we got a picture of him stooping to such feline levels. 

Curiosity....good thing he has nine lives.

Get meowta here!

Let's not furrget the great help they are!  

Well, Oliver is.

We'd be kitten ourselves if we thought Harrison was anything but lazy.

Oh, the cattitude!

Yep, I'm purrty sure we have pets.

Hyrum is FIVE

and ready to take on the world!

I can't believe my little Hyrum, my baby, is five years old!
He has promised that no matter how old and big he gets he will always be my baby.

He is a little ob-Seussed.  Every morning he makes sure he is dressed and had his breakfast so that he can plant his bootie in front of the TV for Cat in the Hat on PBS.  At first I felt guilty allowing the addiction to start but since it has led to an obsession with Dr. Seuss books and he has started passing on his tidbits of new Cat in the Hat nature knowledge to the rest of us,  I'm okay with it.

Usually, the kids don't know what kind of birthday party we are having for them until the day of the party.  This is more for the benefit of the little boys who daily change their mind on what kind of party they want.  I spend about a week asking what kind of party they want and after about five suggestions I pick one and surprise them.  This time it was different.  Hyrum didn't change his mind.  He wanted a Cat in the Hat party.  He was so excited as we sat with red, white and black poster board and a Sharpie and the Cat in the Hat became a life size dart board.  He used every ounce of lung strength to blow up the balloons (See that red one in the top stripe of the hat?  He blew it up all by himself!) and he cut out his own clippings of poster board to tape around the Cat.  He was insistent that as darts were thrown/blown that we did not his the Cat in the face (top left picture).  After everyone else had a turn he popped the last two balloons at close range with slow, careful, acupuncture precision.

We spent time in our reading looking for foods mentioned in the Seuss books.  This became our menu.

Hop on PopCorn  - caramel popcorn
Diffendoofer Salad - green salad
Yot in a Pot - sweet & sour chicken
Sneetch Treats - chicken nuggets
Assorted Greens and Other Things - vegetables
Who Hash - fried rice (not pictured)
Seuss-shi - fruit roll ups
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish - duh
Truffula Sticks - fruit kabobs
Beezlenut Juice - bug juice

To top it all off, we made edible hats....Cat in the Hat style.

The Cake.  Derek and Nathan fought over the fondant tie.

He did have one birthday candle girlfriend but he couldn't decide which of his favorite girls it would be.

Along with his ob-seuss-sion he also has a healthy addiction to super heroes and this particular month the focus was on Batman.  Just as his Halloween Spiderman transformation took on a dramatic tone, his Birthday Batman transformation was even more spectaclular.  Not only was he super strong, speedy fast, and indestructible, but he would flap his chicken bat wings and fly out of precarious wrestling situation with his brothers enemies.

The After Party

Nathan and Hyrum were still going strong after the food, games, cake and gifts were done.
The "adults"?
Not so much.

St. Patrick Sunday

Each person had a Skittle Rainbow with a side of Rolo Gold on their plate.


After church the kids all helped get our dinner ready, adding green wherever possible.

The menu included chicken cordon bleu, pistachio muffins, cream cheese frozen fruit salad, 

celery, cucumbers, grapes, and kiwi strawberry juice.

We always have plenty of funny faces, flexing muscles, jokes, jabs and good company at our table.

Ticket to Ride (or "the train game" as we call it) was the game choice for the night.  When Erika plays we all fight for second place, we already know she'll get first.  Levi and Daymia were on a team, Nathan and I were on a team with Spencer, Justin and Erika playing single.  Erika won! Really? That was unexpected!  We all wonder how she can be the banker, get the most destinations, longest train and go out first but she usually does.

As the sunless winter wore me down I felt an overwhelming urge to create something so I pulled out the sewing supplies and got to work.  I had a kit that I had purchased a few months before on a clearance sale and determined that I would have it finished by March 1st.  This much sewing and quilting needs to be displayed for more that just a couple of days so my goal was to have it up for the whole month of March.  I initially thought it would be a stretch to get it finished in thirteen days but as I started quilting for the first time since having Lasik done I couldn't put it down.  I had to learn to adjust my eyes just right and look at it  differently than I was used to but once I got the hang of it I completely enjoyed it.

At 11:45pm on February 28th I finished and spent the next half hour hanging it, adding ivy leaves to the top and swapping the curtain in the living room for the ones in my bedroom (the red of the curtains and the green of the table runner didn't look like Christmas, it just looked odd).

Levi, Derek and Justin all noticed it the next morning and offered lots of praise for the work done and how the room looked.  I had to point it out to LeRoy the next day when he still hadn't noticed it.  Nathan and Hyrum kept standing up on the back of the couch to count shamrocks and the quilted hearts in the center of the shamrocks.  Suddenly, Nathan jumped down and asked, "what are you making for April?"

My need to craft was still hanging on so after searching around online I found a bundle of scrap fabric and ordered it.  I didn't quite know what I would be making and figured once the fabric got here I would come up with something.   I didn't quite have enough to do what I wanted to with the center but I was so happy with the colors that it started to grow on me.  My favorite part ended up being the quilted daisies.

On April 2nd, after swapping out the curtains and ivy, our spring living room was ready with a
colorful table runner filling in the winter shadows.

February

I started getting calls from neighbors asking me why the bus was stuck at my house.  I had no idea what they were talking about until I looked out the window.  From my view all I saw was the bus stopped at the corner in front of our house.  From the neighbor calling from across the field she saw another neighbor's vehicle and the bus.  I walked out of the garage and could see the rest of the picture.  The kids at Justin's stop all walked over to the bus and then I got the gritty details from Justin.  Evidently, the bus took the corner too tight and snagged the back end of the neighbor's vehicle.

The police came.  A relief bus came.   No major damage, just an exciting morning.

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It was strange to only have four strings to run for our Valentine's Day annual tradition.

Luckily, we had Oliver there to provide additional entertainment.  It was Hyrum's first year doing it all by himself.  He had trouble winding the yarn up so I gave him a baggie to stuff it into and he felt all grown up.

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Nathan passed another belt test and graduated to Green Belt.

He is doing great with his kicks and formation and is starting to consider the Friday sparring session and possibly a tournament.  I'm not sure I'm ready to watch sparring and a tournament but LeRoy keeps encouraging it.

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Road Trip

Derek drove from Rexburg to Willard but that was as long as he could go without texting Sierra.  When we stopped at the Willard rest stop to switch places and take a potty break I came out of the bathroom and heard someone playing guitar.  I was surprised and very impressed to see that it was Derek.

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Winter Picnic

Levi, Daymia and Hyrum gave in to their spring fever and went on a picnic to Mesa Falls.  Unfortunately, there was still too much snow and the road was closed.  That didn't put a damper on their fun though (not much could with those three together).  They found a bunch of fish, saw a beaver and threw rocks into the river.  It's not exactly what we usually consider a picnic but they still enjoyed an outdoor lunch, nature, and plenty of sunshine.

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Mommy's Monkeys

Nathan started doing this very cute monkey face (as he called it) and Derek and Hyrum couldn't help but join in.  Nathan Monkey is about to lose his top two front teeth.  They are equally loose and with his tongue he pushes them back and forth at the same time.  He likes to walk up to with a big grin while wiggling his teeth with his tongue and then when we are sufficiently grossed out he pulls his monkey face.

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Justin works very hard on his math homework.

His tutor, Oliver, is a great help.

App Birthday and Lindsey Stirling

Justin is 14!!

Some of the best boy laughs come when they are playing games on Justin's iPod.  He is so good to teach Nathan and Hyrum how to play and they even disappear with his iPod occasionally.  I themed his birthday around their favorite games to try to out score each other on: Fruit Ninja, Angry Birds, and Cut The Rope.

The Food

Angry Birds Pizza and Salad
Cut the Rope Star Breadsticks and German Chocolate Spiders
Fruit Ninja Juice and Fruit Platter (with an Avocado Ninja)

The Activities (and a peek at the cake)

We knocked the recycled cans painted like pigs Angry Bird Pigs down with a well aimed plush Angry Bird.
We tossed peppermint candy into Om Nom's mouth while those not tossing tried to deflect the candy with pom pom spiders.
We used our pirate, army, ninja sword to bust open the strawberry fruit pinata that was thrown at us.

The little kid in each of us surfaced when our virtual app games became reality.

Erika did an excellent job on the pinata!

She used two balloons, built up around it with cardboard, did two layers of paper mache, covered it in little strips of crepe paper, added spots and filled it up with health(ier) treats . . . granola bars, fruit snacks, fruit leather, pens, trail mix packages, crackers, gum and Mentos.  It took a real beating and held up long enough for each of us to take a turn being the Fruit Ninja.

The Cake

Making this cake was like spending 2 hours playing with edible play dough.  Though it was fondant, the concept was the same.  His Cocoa Pebbles Marshmallow Fondant Cake was all charged and ready for the party.  When we lit the candles and he was about to blow them out he paused and said, "hold on, I need to check facebook first", and then reached into the flames to press the facebook fondant icon.  The only problem with a cake this fun is that he didn't want to eat it.  Finally, he gave in and dished out an icon to those who wanted them.  Then he too sat with a side of ice cream and a German Chocolate Spider balancing on top of a slice of iPod and laughed with us while we relived the silliness of the night.

For his birthday gifts I had a binder with Lindsey Stirling violin music in it and 3 tickets to the Lindsey Stirling concert in Salt Lake.  He was happy to see the binder (mom, this orchestra music is so boring and easy) but when he saw the tickets he thought they were a joke.  Once he realized they were real he couldn't stop talking about it.

He got to pick two people to go to the concert with him (Erika and Derek) but by the time the concert came around five weeks later Erika had a new job and didn't feel comfortable taking time off for it so I got to go with the boys.  We were a little shocked by the setting and environment and felt bad for people who stood for 3 hours with their little kids and grandparents.  The tickets didn't warn us of this and as a matter of fact, they stated on them "all ages welcome".  Hmmmm, not sure that all ages want to be welcome with a marijuana haze in the room but okay, now we know.  It wasn't Lindsey that set the environment, it was the building and owners of the club we were at.  I guess dub step violin is treated equal to a rock concert and the Lindsey Stirling fans (us included) were not aware of this.

The group that opened for Lindsey was laaaaame.  One guy was in pajamas and looked like he had just crawled out of bed, another was dressed like he came directly from Woodstock in the 60's, the female guitarist probably fumbled her high self right out of a VW van but the male guitarist was not a bad looker, probably just drunk.  They took the first 45 minutes, while we were all standing, waiting for Lindsey, wishing Lindsey would come out, hoping they wouldn't slaughter another Beetles song.  The base pounding through the speakers was phenomenal(ly loud!).  We did our best to ignore the lack of entertainment on stage by using our glow sticks (that were handed to us as we walked in the door) to make jewelry.  The boys had me all dressed up so they wouldn't lose me in the loud, hazy crowd.

And then Lindsey came on stage.  A.W.E.S.O.M.E!!!!

She was funny, clever, danced so well and was incredible on the violin!  We didn't think seeing her live would be as wow-ing as watching her online videos (knowing we weren't going to have fire and water on stage) but we were completely wrong.  Now, the videos seem a little repetitive and not near as cool as they were before seeing her in concert.  Even with the lame opening act, the headaches that Justin and I got from the marijuana smell and standing for three hours, it was well worth our money.

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As I got each thing ready for Justin's party I showed them to Jenell.  I was excited about my pattern-free Om Nom, the amateur paint job of the Angry Bird cans, and I was thrilled with Erika's pinata and wanted to share them with the only other female in the house.  Her response was to tell me about the only birthday party she had (when she was 14) and how awful it was because her mom had her friends make bead jewelry that they baked after they were finished creating and how her mom gave them all lotion for gifts and she was so embarrassed (that's for old ladies) and she had nothing good to say about the party or her mom.  Her other details kind of slipped past me because my own mind started worrying that Justin's party was going to be too childish.  What if he didn't like it and 5 years later he is telling his friends about his lame birthday party?  I tried justifying it by knowing that if he was going to have a group of 14 year old boys over I would do something completely different but our birthday parties are for our family.  In a moment of panic I wanted to call a friend or sister to get their opinion but I would have to give so much back story about the party, Jenell's story, etc., that I decided to call Erika.  Never in a moment of panic have I depended on Erika.  She was amazing!  She said all the right things and was encouraging and uplifting and happy and told me to do the party exactly as I had planned.  Not only was I over my worry about the party but I was emotional at having such a great moment with Erika.  It is wonderful becoming best friends with her.