Pancake Breakfast

The credit union’s annual breakfast is one of my kids FAVORITE things.  Ken loves it too, but more so when it’s over and everything went well.  This year it rained almost every day the week of and the days after, but the weather was the best it’s ever been for any annual meeting that Saturday morning and boy was that a relief for an outdoors breakfast.

Ken and the kids mixed up gallons of pancake mix the night before and then Mark and Abbie went up with dad early to help.  Abbie put out the butter and Mark was the super-duper egg scrambler.  When we got there Spencer didn’t want to be left out and was assigned as the egg fetcher.All the kids were super excited to get a new t-shirt and to be able to play at the park.  Neil was the requested play toy and everyone got to take him down the slides – which he really enjoyed until Jessie took him down the slide that’s a tube and he screamed (we will mention that it was way past his morning nap time at this point).

Neil LOVES strawberries, but they are so hard for him to pick up because the little pieces stick to whatever they are in.I got sick of having to remember to close the bathroom door so we got a gate.  It has helped out tremendously but it also makes some things a little funny….so now we have a divider between the brushers and the brushee.When we forget to put the gate back up in the mornings and Neil notices he’ll rush to the bathroom and then swiftly shut the door behind himself.  Among all the exciting things to do in the bathroom boinging the doorstop is one of his favorites…it could be worse.

Another year of school…over

Spencer, Neil, Grandma and I enjoyed Abbie’s program.  Spencer’s favorite song was “BLT,” a three part round.  One group sang “Bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.”  Another group sang, “You take the bread and the mayonnaise and you put it together.”  Abbie’s group was, “BLT, BLT, BLT.”Abbie did a great job on her part – slow and clear – just like we practiced at home, but she was still quicker than my camera.  For the front of her portfolio for the year she got to draw all her favorite things: the 1st grade kickball game, summer, Thanksgiving, reading, her family, her birthday, drawing, her teddy bear, tomato sandwiches, flamingos, going to Missouri, and her name all fancy.Ken snuck away from work surprising us at Mark’s program.  I think the fourth grade program is my favorite…dinosaurs, Utah and our country.  At the end the kids sing a song about 9-11 and it struck me sitting there that all these kids were babies when that happened!  I remember sitting on the couch watching second plane crash in the tower and having Mark on my lap!  That song starts… “you broke our hearts, but not our spirit…”  I’ll have to have Mark help me with the rest, but I love it.Ken had to leave after the program, but the little boys and I stayed and looked through his portfolio while we waited for the computer lab to clear out so he could show me his Power Point on Uintah county and take down his body.That afternoon Abbie and I did a Noah’s art puzzle while I pondered and pondered on what to have for dinner.  Sometimes I just hate having to eat all the time, don’t you think once a day should be sufficient?Jessie had a late over that night and made friendship bracelets for hours.  We found a bunch of cool patterns online on try too.

I love digital scrapbooking!

In case you haven’t noticed: I love digital scrapbooking.  And I’m so excited because I have about 5 more layouts to finish and I can print my next book!  It’s only the first 5 months of 2009, but I just can’t wait to get my hands on it.  There is something special about seeing something you’ve created in print!

When I’m making a book I usually make the cover page last, but the other night I needed a little change from the documentary scrapping and decided to do the title page.  Luckily for me Shabby Princess just came out with a new template challenge and it was perfect for the cover.  So I took this (you can download it too here)…

…and turned it into this…

Here’s to hoping to complete this book before June!

A little of the everyday

For Spencer’s music class performance all the moms got to go sing Do-Re-Mi with the kids while they played their bells.  It was fun.  He was so excited to wear his bow tie. My friend had this AWESOME hairdo on her blog, thanks Audra, and I couldn’t wait to try it on Jessie. (click here for instructions)Last Saturday was beautiful!  Another long day of working outside, but everyone helped out so it was fun.  After lots more mowing the kids helped rake the grass and then took turns jumping over their pile.  Ken  and Neil re-mowed the lawn to even it all out and get the little bits that had been missed in-between rows.  And there is one really great thing about all the rain we’ve been getting (besides that it reminds me of Missouri) that is our lawn is bright GREEN!  We also planted cannas is about every place around the house we can think of and still have 5 bags of bulbs left!  If you want some please come get some.

Ken and I took a little trip to St. George with the two little boys for a couple of days.  It was some good and some sad.  Monday morning Neil quit nursing, AHHHHHHH…..  Spencer and I got to do some school things together – he typed an email to Abbie, we colored pictures and practiced letters – while Neil took his morning nap.  We had a tasty lunch at Brick Oven and then went to a really neat park right in downtown in St. George. 

At the park there is a cool fountain and a stream/pond with rocks to climb on.  We walked around when we first got there waiting for an elementary school field trip to load back onto their buses so we could use the bathrooms before we got all wet.  Then Spencer took off his shoes and took off.  I parked the stroller and got my shoes off and started rolling up my pant legs when Spencer ran up with a big gash on his foot from scraping up against the side of a rock.  So I re-shoed myself and had to go looking for a bandaid (the one I carry in my wallet I had given to Mark a few days before and I forgot to replace it). A grumpy lady in a nearby business gave us one, but then we just decided to back to the hotel.  Naps followed for Spencer and Neil.

Before dinner Ken and Spencer played some catch by the pool at the hotel.

While Neil checked the wheels on the stroller.

and then found some flowers.  He couldn’t decide if he should smell them….

…or eat them.Since swimming was out with Spencer’s cut foot we found another park to play a little more catch and then had fun taking Neil on the slides.

We took a walk around the St. George temple and then went into the visitor center and learned some more about the temple.  It only took about 5 years to build this temple.  And for a while there were apartments on the top floor for people to stay in when there were no hotels built yet.  The outside  is covered in crushed rock that has been painted white.Besides being one of the most painful 2 days of my life it was fun to be with my boys.  When we got home a friend let me borrow her pump and we’re moving ahead.

As for other Neil accomplishments this month, they have been so FUN. On his 11 month birthday he stood on his own for 20 or so seconds and within that week to added two more top teeth, took his first steps, learned to clap and had his first taste of popsicles.  WOW BABY!

You made it to the end, but don’t forget about the cannas….here’s what ours looked like last year.  You have to dig them up in the fall, but it’s worth it. They are so beautiful in the summer and the humming birds love them.  If you dead head them they’ll bloom all summer.

In our lovely Deseret there are track meets, popsicles and funny family photos

Spencer was looking through the hymn book during Stake Conference (kept him reverent) and asked Ken why we never sing some of the songs.  He picked out a song for us to learn and each week in Family Home Evening we’ve been learning a verse.  He chose “In our Lovely Deseret” which I love.  The song is so happy and upbeat.  Last week we learned the second verse and everyone had to draw a picture of one of the phrases to help us remember it.  Abbie and Ken’s did: That the children my live long and be beautiful and strong.  I LOVE Abbie’s candles!!  and Neil helped color the strong guy.Mark and Spencer had: Tea and coffee and tobacco they despise.  They drew some tea bags and coffee cups and then crossed it all out.  They did really well working together; I was really proud of that.Jessie and I had: Drink no liquor and they eat but a very little meat.  On the other side of Jessie’s page is a a tongue sticking out of a mouth and the oar of a boat for lick-oar (liquor).  And here is the eating a very little meat.Rachel finished that verse off but she would be mad at me if I posted that picture because I caught her mid-action: they are seeking to be great and good and wise.

For FHE treats everyone had to eat their ice cream out of a big spoon which made it fun and fast because we were limited to the amount you could balance on a spoon.On Tuesday we went to Jessie’s Hope of America concert up at BYU.  It was so fun!!  They sang songs about voting, our soldiers, the founding Fathers, etc.  The kids really loved “America Rocks.” Jessie is right below the J of her name.  One of Jessie’s favorite parts was starting the wave.  It went around the auditorium three times.  The kids were loving it.

Here is their closing song “You can be the light.”

This was so fun!

After the program was over Abbie and Spencer were SO excited to roll down the big grass hill.  But Spencer had a hard time rolling straight.  Some of the time he was rolling across instead of down and then he even managed to roll up the hill for a bit until he stood up and oriented himself and started again.Rachel decorated the kitchen and hallway for Cinco de Mayo with lanterns from the ceiling, confetti on the table and pictures down the hallway.  She cut out the letters for Happy Cinco de Mayo and put them on the fridge and all day long Spencer was telling me “Happy Cinco de Mayo” (pronounced like mayo you put on your meat sandwiches).  It was cute.  Rachel made a HUGE batch of waffles for breakfast and everyone was stuffed with just one, so we froze the rest.

We went down to cheer for Mark at his grade’s track meet.  Rachel joined us in the morning and watched him run the 400.  He was so awesome!  He was at the back for the first half to save his energy and then at the 200 hundred mark slowly started passing runners one at a time until he was first.  Then with only 100 to go one boy passed him and he just couldn’t go any faster.  I was so happy for his second place.  Awesome job Mark!  After that race we went home to put Neil down for a nap, get Rachel ready for work and eat some lunch.  The boys and I went back when Neil woke up but we had missed his 200 race.  He got second again.  Spencer was SO excited for the “Lollipop Race” they have for all the little kids that come to watch.  When he came back with his Tootsie Pop he told me that lollipops were tons bigger than regular suckers.  Mark’s last race was the 4x100 relay.  He was the first leg.The Friday before Mother’s Day Rachel joined the boys and me and we went flower shopping – always a dangerous thing for a Woodward to do.  This year I got a begonia and a gerber daisy to try.  I also found this cool flower that we splurged on.

We spent all of Saturday from 9 in the morning (well, Ken started at 7, but I couldn’t drag myself out of bed that early) until 5 in the evening, weeding, tilling and planting.  We got both front flower beds and the flower bed in the backyard planted, and the garden planted too!  Mark had started mowing our jungle of a lawn on Wednesday and got the front done.  The backyard had been started but the grass was so long that if Abbie or Spencer laid down on it they almost disappeared.  So while Mark helped weed I strapped Neil on my back in the baby carrier and tried making some progress on the grass.  It was slow going, but the mower only died on me a couple of times.  Finally as I was finishing up the last section I asked Ken to change it from the mulching setting to side discharge and HOLY COW! you could actually push the mower along and it didn’t choke or slow down at all!  You did have to go over each piece twice but it was SO much easier.  (I just had to write that down so we’ll remember to do that next time the lawn is taking over.)  And what was our reward for all the hard work…

….a BBQ with Ken’s family.  YEAH!!!  Is this making anyone else drool?

Neil discovered something new at the BBQ….can you guess what it was?Here’s your clue…Caught someone else sharing too…I mean who could really resist that cute little tongue hanging out all ready to try something new.  And he was perfectly happy to just have your popsicle touch his tongue – I think it was the cold that was really intriguing to him.

Rachel brought in a bouquet of lilacs for Mothers Day.And we tried to get a new family picture with Neil in it…but…this is all we ended up with before the kids had  to have a break….

…and then it started raining….so I guess we’ll try again later.

End of April Beginning of May

Abbie made a hopscotch board on our sidewalk that was 130 squares long!  She was so excited to show it to Ken and me.Aren’t sleeping babies beautiful!

The next to last day of April greeted us with yet another snowstorm.  We probably got 3 or so inches.  This has been a fun spring..never knowing what to expect weather wise.  But I’m ok with that because I’ve been able to put off that dreaded weekend of bring up summer clothes. On a Saturday afternoon we drew some pictures together with Spencer’s coloring changing markers.  He learned how to draw a baseball and Jessie did some Zentangled pictures to hang on her bedroom walls.

We had tin foil dinners that night and man were they delicious and then Rachel left like s’mores so she made some for the kids in the microwave.I love Jessie’s poses for pictures.  She didn’t want a s’more and had a Strawberry Orange Julius popsicle that Spencer and I had made earlier that week.  We made some for us and then surprised Ken at work with a glass strawberry goodness too.

Another cute baby picture.Neil LOVES to brush teeth.  We even gave him his own toothbrush which he happily chews on and then shares with anyone who will open for him to brush their teeth too!Abbie and Spencer both wanted to sleep in our bed…Ken came out and told me he had put a pillow in between them so they wouldn’t talk…I didn’t think that would really work until I saw the wall of pillow he had put between them.Mark was the main character in a play at school for Ground Hogs Day which kept getting postponed.  They were finally able to preform at the beginning of May.  At first Mark wanted to be the main character so he could have a lot of lines, but he was a little nervous the day of the play.  He did a great job speaking his lines slowly and clearly and knew them all…I’m not really sure why he was so nervous.  I think he may have not enjoyed the acting part…but maybe if the play had been a little more humorous it would have been more fun.

Some cards for Stamp Day.  I love all of them…the summery orange, the little matchbook birthday card and the fun flowers.  It’s so fun to create.