The end of May

Ken took the day off work to plant the front flower bed.  So fun to have him home :-)!  We took a break to head over to the school for Abbie and Spencer’s dance festival.  Spencer learned a dance from another country and Abbie’s grade did square dancing. Spencer is smack in the middle of the first pic and Abbie in the the pink skirt on the left side of the other pic.

Emma in her cute hat being outside with us while we planted.  She wasn’t too sure about laying on the blanket on the grass.

Neil got a backpack for Christmas which he goes through spurts of wearing constantly.  And Isaac picked up on this “fun thing”  and loves to wear this backpack Becca gave to Jessie a long time ago. Randy spent a morning with us and so we went to the park before we had to take him to work. This was our front yard one beautiful evening in May…..one of those days you were wishing it was already summer so you didn’t have to call the kids in for bed. Neil’s new ‘Phil the Pill.”  That boys makes me laugh. Neil earned his second prize from the prize box for unloading the silverware from the dishwasher.  A new police car. Memorial Day started off with a program at the cemetery.  It was very nice and just the right length for children. Some work outside and some baseball in the backyard for the boys. Then a BBQ and FHE with Ken’s family.  Jennie and Scott did a talent for us - a song about cold cereal that they had written for Jennie’s guitar class. Scott sang and they both played. It was AWESOME! Grandma lead us on a bear hunt. Neil help Grandpa with “if you chance to meet a frown.”  We played bocce ball for activity boys against girls and Grandma made lemon bars for dessert.  Grandma also told a couple of family history stories for our lesson.  Trying to remember….I think about when her family brought a sewing table home for her mom after visiting her grandparents and how someone had to sit with legs scrunched up the whole ride home. We stopped by Brian’s grave on the way home. Mark and Jessie got awards at the ceremony at school.  Mark for 4.0 and Jessie for high honors (she only missed the 4.0 by one A- in band.) Jessie had a blast taking stop action photos of the kids playing in the sprinkler after school.  And don’t ask me how Isaac ended up in just his diaper, ‘cause I couldn’t give you an answer.

Neil loves to be with Emma.  I love it too!

Ok...how often do you knock you glass FULL of ice water to the floor and have it land perfectly upside down trapping the water inside? And how do you clean it up without making a bigger mess?  Well, Isaac grabbed it and picked it for me...and it made a big mess. Lucky for me it was just water.

May's sibling date. French fries with Isaac.

BYU picture scavenger hunt for mutual night.  The kids had a blast!  Ken went too and Jessie is still joking about how he was booking it across campus and she was in the back huffing and puffing to keep up.

On Lagoon Day Mark and Jessie went with the babies and me to the new museum of curiosity.  It is so cool.  More on this later since we’ll probably be going several times this summer and it’s way past my bedtime.  Mark and Jessie were so AWESOME!  Jessie took Neil and Mark took Isaac to explore.  I didn’t see much of Jessie and Neil, but Mark and Isaac dressed up as a pirate and a raccoon something, made a stop action video, checked out the vet center and the music room and then we all ended up in the weather place.   Here are the kids in the wind tunnel.

Like a boss!!!!! First day of spring break to last day of school to learn to solve his rubric's cube. Some cards I made.

Our friend brought over a last day of school treat for the kids- ladybugs made from strawberries dipped in chocolate.  SO CUTE!!! and stayed and played potato heads.

Love this pic of Abbie reading to Neil. Neil is really getting into bugs.  Here is the lady bug he found. Jessie had the great idea for Isaac to be an elephant. Jessie’s fun picture of our family for her autobiography for English. Isaac is becoming a pill.  He decided that he “needed” bag balm on his hands like Jessie does and so he helped himself to the bag balm and her socks to keep it from getting on her sheets.  Not so bad….but it cracked me up when he found this stuffed animal hat to wear too.  He has since covered himself in bag balm another day, covered his legs in bum cream ‘beacuse he had a “sunburn”,’gotten in to the Neosporin “to put on Spencer’s sores,”and covered himself in hand soap several times.  He has such a worthy cause behind each incident that it’s hard to be really mad but the mess is so frustrating.  Here’s to growing up!

Cute babies, school programs, pancake breakfast and more

Sunday morning we all packed in Ken’s van to go see baby Ella at the hospital.  Jessie was taking silly pictures during the car ride.  For some reason Neil was sad, but then Jessie told him he couldn’t be sad any more because he had a happy sunshine on his head.  Three-year old logic worked….because then he was happy.  So silly.

Everyone was excited for a turn to hold Ella, and lucky me I got to go first.  Neil and Isaac smothered her with kisses.  What a fun day!  Congrats David and Lisa! (If you are looking for Emma in this picture she was sleeping in her car seat.)

Mother’s day treats:  Happy kids, cute button flowers from primary, fun cards from the kids and cranberry orange scones…oh and Ken didn’t have any meetings! When Emma gets tired she loves her thumb.

Little Isaac is really trying to show his independence…this time it majorly backfired.  I was inside and I looked out the window to see the neighbors who live on the corner on the block behind us walking towards our house carrying Isaac with a bloody face!  Apparently he had tried to ride his scooter down the hill and couldn’t stop when he got to the bottom so he went flying over the handle bars.  He had a huge goose, scratched up his nose, had a huge fat lip and his mouth was bleeding.  He scratched his chin and down the front of his chest from the zipper on his shirt.  I can hardly believe he let someone else pick him up and carry him. Luckily he can’t open the front door by himself yet, but once someone else opens it he is out like lightening.  Ahhhhhh…..a constant question around our house at the moment is “Where is Isaac?!!!”

Ken’s been going to the temple almost every Monday morning to the 6:20 session.  (Too early for me!) What a beautiful way to start the week. The little kids and I went to watch Abbie’s grade do their program on the history of Utah.  Lots of fun songs! David and Lisa came over for an afternoon to use the dishwasher’s sanitize cycle and so we got to play with Ella.  Neil couldn’t get enough of her.  It was so sweet! Ken and the teachers and priests have been practicing repelling for their week long trip to Zions. Emma’s first taste of rice cereal.  She did so well!  Neil and Isaac both got out of bed and so they got to try and feed her a bite too. 

After she finished the rice cereal she cuddled up with the towel….so tired. Her eyes are so BLUE.  They remind me of Jessie’s when she was a baby.  She’s not quite reaching for things yet, but she’ll hold on tight if you put them in her hand.

Mark had his head lamp out for a YM activity and Neil found it the next morning during breakfast. Spencer got to perform his 3rd grade program for all the students during school and then for the parents that night.  He did a great job and had one of the longest parts to memorize. For Ken’s birthday he requested some coupons kind of like Abbie’s Christmas ones.  The one for May was going to see the Sacred Gifts exhibit at BYU’s Museum of Art.  The two paintings I loved were one of the angel coming to strengthen Christ in the garden and another is his resurrection.  It was fun to be there with Mark and Abbie. Mark and Abbie headed out with Ken early on Saturday to help out with the Credit Union’s annual pancake breakfast.  This year was the best turn out yet! And after clean up was done Ken and Spencer got to go for a ride in this old car.  WOW! We are getting so close to finishing up the drawings for the plate kit we got for Christmas.  Isaac loves to have his hand traced and so that’s what I did on his and then he colored it in with the yellow marker. Spencer and his friend picked up 200 pinecones from a neighbors yard! After the pancake breakfast Becca went with Mark and Jessie to a hands-on science lab at BYU.  It was pretty cool with a science magic show at the end.  When I went to pick them up Rachel called and invited us to come join her for lunch.  It was fun to see where she worked.  (And the spicy potato wedges are to die for – if you’re a french fry loving gal.)  We also got to try chocolate almond milk and Neil fell in love with it. Rachel and her new car. Rachel brought down a heavenly dessert to share with us.  A 4 layer cake with butter icing, chocolate ganache and strawberries.  Divine! And Neil just couldn’t stay in bed so he got to read one more story perched atop his aunts. This summer the girls and their cousins are each making an “alter ego” quilt with Grandma.  They are so excited and finally picked out their fabric. I found a new recipe for French Bread that I wanted to try where you knead the bread one or two times every ten minutes while it’s raising.  It was a bit more time consuming than I anticipated, but it turned out really well!  It also came with a recipe for herbed garlic butter and that was delicious.  I really want to make it again soon.  Here’s the link if you’re interested: http://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/2012/04/26/cook-soft-and-chewy-french-bread-with-garlic-spread.html