Camden's latest obsession

This boys loves his Elmo. You rarely see him without some sort of Elmo toy in hand. He is obsessed. Last night in his sleep he was talking, and saying "Elmo- I need ELMO!" Then when he woke up this morning the first thing he asks when I came to get him is "Elmo? I need!" He was so cute today. We had to go to the grocery store and he insisted on carrying both Elmo dolls and walking. People were laughing just watching him walk in the parking lot, and trying to hold the Elmo dolls. He could hardly carry both of them, and hold my hand (which he has to do if he walks.) but he wanted to do it all by himself.

Pinkwood Derby and Piano

Morgan got to participate in the "Pinkwood Derby" for the young women in the ward. The boys take is *so* seriously, but the girls are just there for the fun. They had a great time, and really didn't care who won- just who had the coolest looking car. Morgan decided she wanted a cell phone (since she is the *ONLY* one who doesn't have one. :) She did have a pretty cool looking slider phone, complete with a David Archuleta screen saver. Good job Morgan (and Matt!)

Morgan also participated in a piano recital and did a great job, playing, and having it memorized.I love hearing her play, and hearing the improvement week to week.

Pinewood Derby

Our ward knows how to put on a Pinewood Derby!
Dillon with the Extreme Machine.

Dillon participated in the Pinewood Derby. He wanted to build a yellow Hummer. He had so much fun participating, and building with his Dad. His car won 2 of the 4 heats. It may not have been the fastest car, but it sure looked cool!
Ready to roll!

Edging out the competition.

A Midsummers Night Dream

Morgan had her school play tonight. She had the part of 'Helena". She did AWESOME! Seriously- this girl was born to act. She does not get a bit nervous. (Not at all like her mom!) She really is great- and now I can't wait to see her Enchanted play in a couple of weeks. Good Job Morgan!

Taking a bow.

Serenity Now!

This has been one crazy day, make that one crazy week. We have been so busy from sun up to sun down. It's no TV/computer week for the kids. We haven't had one minute for them to miss it- so that's great!
Camden has been, well how do I put this nicely and lovingly? Well, a bit of a stinker. Just to list a few of his adventures today. He got into the fridge, and got out a yogurt. We have a lock on the fridge, but it wasn't locked. He looked like this when he was done with his yogurt.

Hmmm. I think I have something on my hand.

Yes- He opened it and ate without a spoon.

So I after I cleaned him up, I get to work on the couch, table, and carpet. While I am doing that, he gets into the wipe container and takes out EVERY. SINGLE. WIPE. and spreads them around the room, along with all of his diapers. I set off to clean those up, and he sneaks off into the pantry, finds a bag of goldfish crackers, and dumps them in the living room and steps on them, grinding them into the carpet. As I am cleaning those up, he goes into the bathroom, and takes out every flower out of the floral arrangement in there, and throws them everywhere, including some in the toilet. I start cleaning those up- and he gets into the Kix cereal and throws them EVERYWHERE. No- that's not mother approved! So, I clean those up, and guess what he does next? He takes his diaper off and poops on the carpet. Seriously. He has NEVER done that before. I am cleaning the carpet again, and he sneaks into my bathroom, and pulls my flat iron out of my drawer. He plugs it in, and it is laying on another cord, burning the other cord. Thank goodness that is all that happened. Serenity now!

Later, I took him to the park (to run off some of his energy!) He climbs up to the biggest, plastic, twirly slide, so I tell him that I will catch him at the bottom. He starts to slide, but doesn't come down. I look at the top, and he's not there, so I frantically call his name. He starts shouting, "I stuck, I stuck! HELP!" I run up the stairs, and there he is, half way down the slide. 100% stuck. There was a crack in the top portion of the slide, and he slid right into it, stuck up to his thighs. He was wedged in there good, and I am laying on my belly, so I don't slide down the slide, trying to get him unstuck. I am holding on by my feet, because he is far enough down, I can't reach him. It takes me at least 5 minutes to get him unstuck and he is yelling I STUCK the whole time. Finally, I get him out, after breaking a toenail, and scraping my knee pretty badly. His poor legs are scraped and bleeding, and the thing he is the maddest about, is that I won't let him slide down the slide. He starts yelling, "SLIDE! No way Mommy!"

After that, I took him home and put him down for a nap. We're hoping that tomorrow is a better day!

Disclaimer: I really do watch my child! I am usually pretty vigilant in trying to keep him safe. Please don't call social services on me.

Sweet talker

Logan is a Mamma's boy. He is the *biggest* sweet-talker. He can get so mad at his brother, but in the next minute, flip off that switch, and want to snuggle and cuddle with me. Yesterday in church he said, "Out of all the kids, who do you love the most?" I told him I loved all of my kids more than he could imagine, and in very different ways, but all the same amount. He says, "Well- I will just admit it. I love you more than anyone." Then he says, "I would have married you, you know." I said,"Well, I'm already married and you're my son, so I can't marry you." He says, "I know- it's just not fair that he got you first, because you are my first choice." Today he came home from school, with some of his schoolwork. The directions said to write about something that makes you happy.

He wrote: "I love my mom. She makes me very happy. She is nice. She is the prettiest in the whole world. I really, really love her."

I sure love that boy. More than any other first grader in the whole world. :)

**(I'm writing this down, so when he is a teenager and he hates me, I can whip this out to remind us both, that he used to think I was pretty cool.)

Strep again

Well- Morgan has strep again. I took her into a different doctor, than our usual pediatrician and he looked at her throat and says, "Those are the biggest tonsils I have ever seen. I really don't think I have seen bigger than that." He rated them a 4+ for size. Seriously, I don't know how she can even swallow. She has had strep 4 times in the last 5 months. I think it's time for an ENT consult. Thank goodness she will be better by next week. She has her school play- so she cannot be sick.

Easter

This year the week before Easter, we talked to the kids about what Jesus did the last week of his life. We read scriptures about things he did daily, before he was crucified. I think the kids really enjoyed knowing more of the last week of his life, and understanding the importance of the atonement. It surely brought a new perspective into Easter, and I'm grateful for Matt for doing that.

On Friday night, our neighborhood did a flashlight egg hunt for the 12 and older kids. Morgan had a great time and came home with a haul of candy. On Saturday morning, the neighborhood put on an egg hunt for the 0-11 year old kids. They break it down into smaller age groups. Camden was in in the 0-3 group- and he wanted nothing to do with it. He was completely grumpy and just saying "No way! No way!"

Dillon and Logan had a great time though. It takes them about 30 seconds to collect all the eggs they are allotted. Afterwards, there is a breakfast. It is such a fun tradition- one the kids look forward to every year.

Logan ready to take off on the hunt.

We did our own egg hunt for Easter, and our traditional treasure hunt for the Easter baskets as well. We enjoyed going to church- and then having family over for dinner afterwards. It was a great Easter weekend and hte weather was beautiful, too.

The kids figuring out the clues to find their Easter baskets.

Oh how sweet. :)

Spring Break

The kids have been on spring break this week. We have kept busy and I haven't had a minute to get on the computer. Some of our highlights are:


Last weekend started with general conference, which I always love. It is so great to be able to listen to the words of a Prophet, and his apostles. The kids were great and catch a lot more than I give them credit for. After the Sunday session of conference, we went to Matt's parents house, to celebrate his dad's birthday. As always, the kids love getting together with their cousins. I took the kids to the DI and let them pick out some silk ties, to "tie dye" eggs. They had so much fun doing that, and is something I think we will try again next year. In young women's they had a mother/daughter activity and Jenny Philips came to sing, and had a presentation. It was a wonderful message, and so fun to be with Morgan. Camden also took my camera for a swim in the toilet. We had to let it dry out for several days- and thank goodness it still works!


We also went to Idaho for a couple of days. Matt attended a presentation at BYU-I, and so we all went up to visit with his sister, and her family. They are so awesome. They housed us, fed us, planned activities for us, and are the best hosts. They are such great examples to us- and we wish we could get together with them more often, because they are the best. We were able to get away to dinner with just the adults, and that was nice. Then afterwards we watched Fireproof with them. One awesome thing that happened...Matt and I went to go get the movie from the grocery store Redbox. Elder Neil Anderson the newest apostle happened to be there, and we met him and shook his hand. It was so great- we only wished our kids had been with us! Some of the other highlights of the trip: coloring Easter eggs, making bird nests, going on a walk, and playing at the park, and going to the DI to hunt for a bargain. It's funny the kids have only been to the DI here a time or two, but both times we've been in Idaho this year, they insisted- and have a great time. They also had an egg hunt, and many other fun activities. The kids are pretty good in the car (as long as they have a movie or something to entertain them!) so Matt and I can actually talk in relative quiet. That doesn't get to happen enough, so it was nice, too. All in all- not a bad week! However- I think we are all ready for school to begin on Monday! :)

Birds nests:

"Tie dye" eggs. It's hard from the picture to see the imprint of the ties, but in real life are pretty cool!

Colored eggs

April Fools

We like to do little pranks on April Fools Day, but nothing too mean. I made chocolate dipped cotton balls with sprinkles for the scouts. I thought Dillon would love it, so I didn't tell him that's what it was. (He has a hard time keeping a secret, too, so I didn't want him to spoil the fun for everyone else.) I gave it to the other scouts and most of them thought it was pretty funny, and said they wanted to do that for various family members, etc. One called me a "loser". And Dillon, well he burst into tears and ran off and hid. He was so mad! He sure likes to play the pranks, but doesn't like to be on the other end.

I had to let him in our dinner secret after that, or he would have really been upset. He promised not to tell the other kids. I hate peas. It is one vegetable I just can't take. I hate any kind. It is Logan's very favorite food in the whole world- and I'm thrilled. I never made them for Morgan and Dillon, because of my dislike, and now they won't have anything to do with them either. I felt terrible for that, so vowed I would make them, so my other kids would like them. (Logan and Camden both love them.) Anyway- I made 'peas' out of green airheads, because I knew that would get a reaction. I also made them 'fish sticks' out of wafer cookies, and changed the salt and pepper shakers around. They thought it was great and loved having dessert with their dinner. And I'm glad April Fools is over. I hate waiting and wondering what someone is going to do to get me. :)

Recap

I just haven't had it in me to write this last week. I write this blog for preservation of my own memories, which means it may not be all that interesting to anyone else. So that being said here is a recap of our week:

Morgan got 100% on her math test. I told her if she got 100% on three in a row she could go to Cold Stone. (Her favorite- not mine!) This was test #3, that she earned 100% on . She has also been busy with her Enchanted practices- and she loves it.

Dillon earned his Wolf in cub scouts and had to kiss his mom in from of the whole pack. :) Dillon also got a "Cool Colts" ticket, which are hard to come by. His teacher gave it to him for his reading. Good job Dillon! He also had his 3rd grade program, and it was so cute.


Logan got all 4's on his report card. Except in handwriting he got a 3.5. Pretty impressive! Logan also got a huge compliment from the art teacher. She is there when I come to volunteer in his class. She pulled me aside and said how cute he is, and that he is such a great and helpful student, and she loves teaching him, because he is so excited and helpful. (This was great for me to hear, because I worry how he behaves in school. So far so good. All of his teachers have loved him.)

Camden has learned lots of new words like "Awesome!" "No Way!" "I handsome" "Fantastic!" and "Sure!" (Which is a great improvement over answering no to everything, even if he really means yes.)

Today there was a high speed chase that ended with my kids school getting locked down. The suspects deserted their car, and set off on a foot chase. One was apprehended, while the other was on the loose for several hours. He had a gun, and was right by my kids school. Helicopters searched the area for hours, and finally he was caught, and no one was injured. Thank goodness!

Lastly, I have spent the last 6 hours scouring my house. Now there is no dust to be found- and my back is killing me. :)

The end.