Fabulous 4

Sage turned 4 last weekend! Yipee! She has been anxiously awaiting this for, oh, 11months. At least since we stopped celebrating her 3rd birthday. She loves celebrations. Already has the next 3 Halloweens planned out. We celebrated her turning 4 for about a week. First, at Thanksgiving, then at my Dad's the next night. We went to a wedding on her actual birthday and she was totally convinced that all those people showed up for her birthday. And there was dancing!
That was not all, then, we had a houseful of her little pals over for a Fancy Nancy party. It was divine.


At 4, Sage is totally and completely girly. She loves all things pink-still! Favorite ice cream-pink, favorite dinner plate-pink, favorite rock star-Pink...
Dresses, everyday, she wears a dress. Now that the weather has changed, you might think she would want to wear something warmer. Nope, in fact she really gets mad that I make her wear a sweater with sundresses that she is very insistant on wearing. She loves to wear her tinkerbell dress grocery shopping. We get lots of looks. I have pretty much given up on jeans for her-NOT going to happen!

She doesn't have an ounce of shyness in her. She makes friends everywhere we go. She has quite a few little girlsfriends now and a few boyfriends too. She is pretty sure that she is going to marry Hayden some day. She really wants to be a bride.
She goes to preschool with Miss Michelle who she loves. Sage always gives me a full report of who was naughty at school everyday when I pick her up.


Cousin Avery would tell you that Sage is a really good sharer, however Marlee would disagree.
I am thinking she might have a future as a party planner. She has very lavish ideas and loves big get togethers. Whether its a trip to Seattle or Idaho, she is always on alert to "get packin up!" I always like to peek in her backpack and see what toys she deemed important enough to make the trip.
She has a vivid imagination and energy to spare. She can out-talk about anyone I have ever met. (yes, she has totally surpassed Hayden-he does have her on volume though). She really loves to sing. Her favorite songs are Drift Away, Hit Me with Your Best Shot, So What by Pink, and Primary songs: I love to see the temple, and I am a child of God. She belts out the tunes in the car, in the shopping cart in Target, in the park, everywhere. She loves Hannah Montana. Sometimes when she gets really excited, she randomly will yell out, "Guitar hero, Aerosmith!" Not sure why.
She is at a very fun age, she is enthusiastic about pretty much everything, loves everyone, and is willing to try anything. She can be a bit sassy at time, but she makes up for it. I can't believe she is 4 already, couldn't be more proud. Love you Sage! Happy Birthday!

Novemeber Wrap Up

Found Marlee in the sink:
uh, where did November go? It was a blur, I vaguely remember that. Here is what we did last week:
I started back to work. Yup, after a year and a half with just the occasional weekend, it was time to head back. Its only a couple days a week, so its not too crazy (yeah right!) The girls go to the daycare at my hospital and Hayden does an afterschool program. I am enjoying some adult interaction; dietitians are a fun bunch!

Sage dressed herself for her first day of daycare; she wouldn't touch these shorts all summer long, but now that there is frost on the roof tops, why not. I did not let her wear this however, she had to change despite the protests.

Saw Twilight again, and I am pleased to say it was better the second time. Heath and my sister Kim went with me and they seemed to think it was OK so if you haven't seen it yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR???
Who is not thankful for football and a feast!


Thanksgiving was at Aunt Marie's this year. We had a giant crowd up on Camano Island. The food was plentiful and delicious. We had a ton of fun. I tell you, one thing I am so thankful for is being part of a family of amazing cooks! Marie makes all the bread she puts in the dressing, its fabulous! Kyle did the sweet potatoes this year and as far as I am concerned, he can do them every year. Those are my two favorite Thanksgiving foods. Heath says Pumpkin Pie is his fav. Hayden says turkey, Sage liked the jello, and Marlee was into the rolls and olives.
Hayden dancing with Heather, she married Brandon who works with Heath. The kids had a blast dancing. Heath asked if we should get a sitter for the wedding, I said no, it will be fun to all go. yeah, fun.

I did black friday at Southcenter-5:00am. Thought I was going to die on the overcrowded escalator! Yikes! The top landing from the escalator at Sears was crowded with people who had no where to go. As I got toward the top, the stairs kept going, but the people had stopped and we all smashed into each other as more people kept coming up. Very scary. All to save a few bucks on skill saws, blenders, and video games. Of course, everything I was after had sold out before I swam through the masses.

A certain blonde princess turned 4! Big fun, but that will get its own post.
The smaller of the princesses started nursery at church, but that hasn't gone so well so it won't get its own post.

If November was a blur, I am sure December with be even more so. "Will be" -uh, we are already working on it...

Twilight Movie

So, since we have already stalked Stephenie Meyer, her website, and all the other fansites, read each book several times and did the midnight release for BD, we were not about to miss the midnight premier of Twilight. We have been counting down, watching trailors, seeing all the interviews on Ellen and Today, and pretty much everywhere.
So Stacy and I and our buddy Shannon got tickets well in advance and prepared to be dazzled.
Did it meet my expectations? Not even close. I was soooo disappointed. Stacy too. I think I will leave it at that as many people I have talked to really liked it. I did not. Perhaps my expectations were too high, perhaps I have read the books so many times I can recite whole chapters at a time, perhaps midnight is not the best time for me to watch a movie. An entire theater full of people, mostly teenage girls is typically not the place I voluntarilly hang out either. Maybe all these things contribute, but fact is, I did not like the movie, two thumbs down. :( It pains me to say that. I am going to see it again though, just to make sure.

Fancy Family

Have you read Fancy Nancy? Reglier hancy fancy, as miss Avery would call it. Its great. Hayden and Sage love the picture from when the whole Clancy clan hit the King's Crown for dinner. Its the cutest. Well, one night, Sage convinced us all to dress up like in the story and then the kids wanted to recreate the picture. This is our attempt. Even Marlee got in on it. She loved her fancy skirt and kept the hat on all evening.

You Can Stand Under My Umbrella

ella, ella, aye, aye, aye...
Love this funny picture of Sage from Auntie Jamie's 30th birthday Luau. Me and the girls went to Seattle. Heath and Hayden went to Idaho for Grayson's baptism. (Way to go Grayson! Sorry I wasn't there buddy!)
The birthday was way fun. We surprised Jamie. Lots of kids to play with and the food was divine!

Give the Boy a Knife

OK, so its just a teeny tiny saw, but we let Hayden help carve pumpkins this year. He has begged to help carve for the last few years. Don't know why i agreed, 6 seems a bit young to carve, but he showed me this was not true. He did a great job. While I carved the Mario pumpkin, he did the mushroom one. Yes, that's what its supposed to be. I drew it, he carved it just right, so its my fault if no one can tell what it is. heehee.
I love carving pumpkins, its one of my favorite parts of halloween. When i was little, my dad would have me draw the faces on paper and then he would carve them out. He was kind of specific on what sort of things were allowed-no curves. Yup, pretty much the standard triangle jacks. (don't tell him, but BORING!)
Well, must say, carving gets to be a task. Heath has zero interest in carving so he guts them for me and then disappears. This year it was really nice to have a buddy to carve with. Hayden was very patient and just kept sawing away. We had a really great time.

Mario, Nancy, and a little ladybug

We are riding a sugar high as we continually pump massive amounts of the candy aquired last night. Its been great! Marlee seems to prefer anything on a stick, Sage likes gummies and hard candies. Hayden says his fav candy is laffy taffy and some chocolate. Me, well, lets just say we don't have to worry about the kids getting their hands on any of the milky way darks. I confiscated all of those! Heath likes Almond joy-yuck.
This year Hayden was super Mario. He loves to play the New Super Mario brothers and Mario Kart, so guess it was a very good choice. Sage was Fancy Nancy from her beloved books. Pretty much no one knew who Fancy Nancy was, but she was dang cute anyway. The pink hair was her favorite part. She told everybody, "Merci" when she got candyMarlee was a lady bug. The monkey costume was too big, would have really been perfect for her, but she was adorable. "Cute as a bug" you might say!
We went to the trunk or treat at the church, visited a few friends houses in town and then played games with our friends Ted and Stacy. It was a really fun night. Kids didn't get to bed till really late, but hey, its only Halloween once a year.

One and a half

Today, Marlee turns 18 months, one and a half years old!
I can't believe how fast this has happened. 18 months means time for nursery at church. Whoo Hoo!!! That is really exciting and also a bit frightening. I swear I was just lugging her around in an infant carrier. Time flys.
At 18 months, Marlee is a very busy girl. She hardly creates one gigantic mess before she has to rush off to destroy something else. If she wasn't so funny and cute and sweet, we might even be angry about this. We call her the destructo baby. She likes it.
Her favorites:
Person: mom, but barely. She loves it when Sage runs in to get her after a nap, they laugh at each other, not sure what is so funny though. She loves to greet Hayden after school and Heath when he gets home from work.
Place: Sage's pink booster seat. PLEASE mom, just let me ride in there once! or at any park with a slide, the bigger the better. No fear with this little one.
Food: yogurt, food off other people's plates. She is a scavenger. Marlee will ignore the food on her plate and scarf down all of Sage's lunch, even when they have exactly the same thing. I am on to her though, and now just switch plates as she climbs out of her seat to find new food. (Not to long ago, we were playing at the mcdonalds playland and she wandered to the table near us, climbed up into the highchair and began eating the little boy who had vacated the seat's french fries-yeah, I'm mother of the year! Talk about horrified)
Game: name that facial feature. She can't get enough of poking me in the nose. It is so funny. Coloring on the walls and table and carpet with stray marker is her new trick too. She seems to be fond of painting, but I only give her a brush and water which is ok because it serves as a drink when the painting is done.
Fetish: shoes. any shoe with do-Heath's work boots, my flip flops, Hayden's soccer cleats or Sage's black sparkle shoes. Her shoes are ok in a pinch. She is really good at walking in shoes that are way to big. Maybe she has a future as a clown...a mom can dream.
Comfort: binkie and her night-night (pink blankie). She loves to drop the binkie out of the crib against the wall so that when she gets up, we move the furniture around for a scavenger hunt. Its hilarious how this never gets old. She laughs every time I move the crib.
Word: "mama" Also: "bobo's" (from Diego), "pumpkin", she has a few words, but mostly she speaks gibberish. Boy, she can let you have it too if you make her mad.
"uh uhh" means yes. That can get confusing.
Animals: Dogs and monkeys. She makes a great monkey noise. She knows it too. Horses get her excited too, and neighbor cats.
Song: Shake it, by Metrostation. She seems to be a fan of Pink too. hmmm? But anything loud that she can dance to makes her happy.
Marlee is a tough little gal, she doesn't take to much abuse from anyone. Yet she has a very soft cuddly side that will absolutely melt my heart everytime. She likes to place one hand gently on my cheek and just look in my eyes. so sweet. She has a great sense of humor, love of adventure and an intense curiosity of just about everythink. I have little hand prints all over that just make me laugh. She brings me so much joy everyday. I can't believe how fast she is growing up.
I put together some pictures of the past six months. enjoy!

Something About Sage

My Sage is an amazing little girl. She recently accomplished quite a feat, however, I have been afraid to post it because i was sure she would revert back if i did. Back in September, we all went to have our teeth cleaned and the dentist had a serious heart-to-heart with Sage about her thumb sucking habit. As a former thumb sucker, i found it to be very cute. Not only that, it calmed her so why worry right? Well, the dentist told her she was a beautiful princess with beautiful princess teeth, but her thumb sucking was starting to move her teeth and if she didn't stop, she would not have pretty teeth for much longer. He also confirmed that princesses do not suck their thumbs. As a former braces-wearing teenager, I understood what he was telling her. So after the gorgeous hygentist (Sage was quite sure she was Sleeping Beauty) backed up the good doc, Sage decided enough was enough. Me, i wasn't so sure so i offered up a bribe-a princess dress if she could go 2 weeks without sucking her thumb. Well, let me tell you, the bribe was completely unnecessary. Sage has never put her thumb in her mouth since we left the dentist office. Amazing! Getting to sleep at night was a bit tricky for awhile, but she is working on it. She picked out a tinker bell dress and tells everyone how she earned it. I am so proud of her and her accomplishment.

Big Boys

The high school football team came by recently doing a fundraiser. I told them I would buy one of their cards if they played catch with Hayden for a few minutes. He had seen them coming from down the street and was so excited when they got to our house. Then, I made them pose for a picture... Who knows if they will knock on my door next year.

Corny

Our Bishop at church is a farmer. A week or so ago, he got a whole dump truck load of corn and dropped it in the church parking lot. Mounds of corn! We were driving home from Hayden's baseball game and decided we should stop and get some. He grabbed an ear and started to swing like he was Ichiro. Some of the kids running around the parking lot were eating it raw. Sage thought it was a good idea but quickly changed her mind with the first bite. All three were excited to take a little souvenir home.
Mmmmm, the corn was fantastic! We froze 60 ears, and about the same off the cob. Our freezer is full of corn and nectarines!

1st day

Hayden's first day of first grade went well he says. I can't seem to get any details about school from him other than he now gets TWO recesses! Pretty big deal to him! Also, he is excited to be able to eat at school. So far he has mostly taken "cold lunch" but experiments a bit with buying hot lunch and sometimes just milk. He brought me a spork the other day because it came in the pack with a straw and napkin when he got milk and thought it was just too cool and handy to throw away.
I haven't been able to figure out what else happens during the day, it might be a secret because he isn't sharing. Sort of a first for Hayden...
Sage started preschool and loves it. She loves Michelle her teacher and has been waiting all summer to start. She knows a few of the little kids in her class and is busy trying to learn all her new friends names. She brings home cute little worksheets and is so proud of them. She was tickled to wear her Fancy Nancy ensemble the first day. "My shirt says mer-a-see, that means thank you"

Jack Johnson at the Gorge

For Father's day, we got Heath tickets to Jack Johnson, his fav. He had to wait a few months, but the concert was so worth it. We had not been to the Gorge for a concert before but had heard good things. WHOA! it was so amazing! What a view! We got us a little spot on the hillside and ate our Subway as the sun set and then settled in for a great show. Sometimes you go to a concert and the performers sound all distorted and its really a bit disappointing. Not Jack. He was as good and perhaps better than his CDs. Stacy took the kids for the night (I've said it before, but man, is she a great friend or what?!!!)
It was a very lovely evening, not too hot, not too cold. Millions of stars. Great music.

Olympics

So, I finally found the cure to Post-Twilight depression.
The Olympics!
Did you love them? We did.
We kicked them off with a opening ceremonies party. We had yummy Chinese food and good friends. We played the Wii-Mario vs Sonic Olympics, tried to do another game with frozen T-shirts that didn't quite work out like Family Fun said it would. It was a fun night. The opening ceremonies were phenomenal! I stayed up all through the parade of nations and fell asleep right before they lit the flame. Then I proceeded to try to stay up well past midnight everynight for the duration.

Heath and I were jumping up and down watching Michael Phelps swim. I was so excited for the mens gymnastics bronze. Nastia, Shawn...fabulous! Love all things gymnastics. Women's Beach volleyball was Heaths favorite, hmmm, wonder why. Hayden loved the basketball. Sage's favorite was the syncronized diving. She told me that she wants to dive in the next Olympics-go for it Sis, we will be there to cheer you on. She will only be 7, maybe she can dive for China, they like them young. Track and field was sorta disappointing. The 4x100 relays had me so mad I could hardly keep watching. But some of the later events were fun. The sweep in the 400 was really fun to watch. It was so great. Hayden keeps wandering about humming the Olympic Theme and I am already planning to go to the Vancouver Winter Games in 2010. Now, I just need to figure out what to do with my evenings.

Tail End

So we had an incredibly busy summer. Last week we took a final trip to Seattle just the kids and I. It was too short as always. We happened to pick the worst weather of the summer for our week, but that barely slowed us down. We took off Sunday after church and got to my dads in time to watch some of the gymnastics.
Monday we went to Saltwater Park, a place I spent a lot of time at over the years growing up. What a nostalgic place! It poured on us, but that was OK. We checked out barnacles, and looked for shells. I think Marlee might have eaten some seaweed, but I am not sure. Hayden climbed the rocks and Marlee desperatly wanted to swim in the Sound, but as it was maybe 60 degrees, I wouldn't let her (oh yeah, and she can't swim). Sage was a bit more hesitant than the others, she was really bummed that the snack bar was closed.
We went at low tide and boy, was it low! There was an Army ship right off the shore doing cleanup of the bottom of the Sound. Pretty cool to watch. Hayden had been hoping to make a sand castle, but the park sand is too soft until it turns into rocks. hmmm, maybe we will have to take a trip to somewhere with great beaches for building sandcastles soon.


My Mom and Dad put together a great BBQ for the whole fam that night. It was way fun to see everyone-totally makes it worth the drive just for that.
Tuesday we bounced at a new bouncy place. Marlee showed her agressive side when any kids tried to take her ball. Sorta eye-opening for me. I have seen her get down and dirty at home wrestling with her dad and brother, but never to strangers. going to have to work on that. We did a little shopping at the outlet mall in North Bend with Avery and Jamie-Good stuff! Aunt Shelly took Hayden and Sage for the night. Wow! Marlee and me went to dinner with my parents and it was so peaceful. I got to check out the new Southcenter mall. Fabulous!
Wednesday, me and Marlee had lunch with Grandma Bird and Marie. We may have done some damage at Lasting Memories Scrapbook store. It was very nice to spend time with them. Then I got my kiddos back. They were totally exhausted-good work Shelly and Brianna! Dinner with Jamie and Kyle. Avery had some great books-Fancy Nancy and Alice the Fairy. Sage hopes to aquire them soon.
Thursday we hit the Rock before heading home.
Some of you may notice that there are certain things I do pretty much everytime I go to Seattle. Its never enough though. Sometimes its hard to be so far away. I hated all the nasty traffic, the rain was a drag, and its always hard to be away from Heath, but getting to see everyone was wonderful. I had a great trip and can't wait till we go back again.

1st Grade

I can't believe that summer is over! What happened? I swear it was just last week that I took the girls to the craft store to stock up on supplies to keep us busy this summer before school was out. As if that was necessary!
Hayden starts school tomorrow. 1st grade! Wow. We met his teacher today and got to see lots of friends from Kindergarten. He is getting to be so grown up. As I was unloading his school supplies, I watched him visit with his buddies Braxton and Rylie. They talked about the places they went and what all they had been doing for the past few months and then chatted about video games then the Olympics and it really hit me that he is not such a little guy anymore. I tried to keep from getting emotional but it was definetly a moment for me. Tomorrow he will head off to 1st grade, and be gone all day. Don't get me wrong, I am soooo looking forward to this, but it is also so hard to let him go. All day, that is a long time. I am really going to miss him, he is an incredible kid. So smart, so kind, so sensitive. I couldn't be prouder. I think the girls are going to have a tough time too. Sage is going to be lost without her big brother to play with. Marlee loves to wrestle with him and lights up EVERY time he walks into the room. He is so good to both of them.
So, 1st graders are pretty grown up. Hayden got a new Nike backpack because the old Spiderman one was for Kindergarteners. He has his own hair products because he likes to style his hair in the morning just right. He is excited to ride the bus. We got him a lunchable at the store today for him to take for his lunch-he thinks those are for special occasions. And he says that 2 recesses is pretty cool too. I know he is going to do well. I just think I need another week to get me ready for this.
Hayden and his teacher

Got Fruit?

Our nectarine tree was so loaded this year that one of the branches snapped from the weight of the fruit. Even after that loss, we still got 4 big paper boxes full. Nectarine pie, jam, smoothies, frappes, leather, even salsa; dried nectarines, fresh nectarines, frozen nectarines... any more ideas? They are soooo yummy!
Not as many pears, but they look to be manageable.
Oh, and if anyone was concerned, our pepper plants that were violated earlier in the summer have continued to produce and we are getting hot and spicy around here!

Breaking Dawn

OK, its been a couple weeks since my last post. Where have I been? Oh, a little town called Forks. Breaking Dawn came out on the 2nd of this month. So, now that I am on the last couple of chapters of my second read, I am starting to realize that life must go on...I absolutely loved this series. Breaking Dawn was not my favorite, but there is certainly enough closure for me that I don't feel like there should have been more. well, perhaps more Edward, but who doesn't want a bit more Edward??? My absolute fav part of the entire twilight series is found in the final pages though. good stuff.
Stacy and I went to the Barnes and Noble midnight release party. Just us and a few hundred teenagers and a handful of other obsessed moms. It was great. Stacy wore her Team Edward Tshirt with pride. I had a bit more trouble deciding. Team Edward on front, team Jacob on back. Love that kid!
No, I'm not kidding, we really wore t-shirts. We had a ton of fun. We made an agreement that we wouldn't talk to each other before we were both done, but 7:30 the next morning, Stacy was calling to discuss the first part. :) She is such a fun friend!
Imagine my shock when the paper arrived the other morning and found my friends from forks making headlines. (With a little creative help from Heath) We laughed pretty good over this. Isn't he funny?

Vacation 08

For vacation, we headed on a road trip despite the $4.25+ gas prices. 1st stop: Boise. We devised a 4 hour a day maximum drive plan so that Marlee would cope better. (umm, turns out naps are important too) We stayed at our beloved Springhill suites and had dinner at Wingers. Great start to the trip!
Second stop was Salt Lake City. We were there for a few days so we were able to do some fun stuff: Park City, where they had the 2002 Olympic games; the Hogle zoo, a really great mall-the gateway, and cousin Seran's 1st birthday party. Salt Lake is super family friendly. I wish we had stayed a few more days because there is so much to see and do.
Favorites:
Heath: Alpine slide, rock climbing with Hayden
Lori: The Olympics museum, the Flying Aces Aerial show, riding the chair lift with Sage
Hayden: Alpine slide, penguins at the zoo
Sage: The white alligator at the zoo, riding the carousel
Marlee: THE MONKEYS!!! "hi guys!" over and over and over-Didn't want to see anything else. Milkshakes at McDonalds.
Then on to Panguitch where we got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Gretchen and the boys. Lots of Wii and DS downloading, 4 wheelers, a parade and lots of visiting with family. Thursday we got to see most of the Mitchell clan, and Clay and Kristi and family. There was a bit of a discussion...
Do you dip grilled cheese in hot cocoa? How about toast? What are your thoughts on homemade syrup. Please leave me a comment with your views. Its quite important that you are very honest with your opinion. There might be a couple marriages on the line.
Anyway. We went to the gorgeous and amazing Bryce Canyon. Spent a day at the Cabin at Panguitch lake.
It was loads of fun, even if Henri's drive in didn't have English chips.
Favs from Panguitch:
Heath: riding 4wheelers in the hills with his dad and the boys, chubby cheese burgers
Lori: reading Eclipse on the porch during twilight :), Riding the 4 wheeler with Heath looking for the tree we carved our initials in when we were down on Spring break in High school-didn't find it though.
Hayden: The parade, riding 4 wheelers
Sage: getting candy during the parade, riding with mom and Gretchen to Cedar city and going to the Pizza Factory, and Beaver for cheese
Marlee: gathering up unattended drinks and finishing them off. Doing laps around the van in the driveway.

Week 4: Boys

So we are only on week 4, I had to double check that because I was sure it should be about week 17 or so. This past week seems like maybe it could have been at least 3 or 4 weeks long.
My nephews were here. Dalton, Grayson and Gabe. Sunday morning before church, Hayden says, “Now there will be more boys than girls!” Yup, the testosterone was flowing!
Monday we did the water fountains and Playground of Dreams. Always a good time. At lunch I learned really quick that 6 kids eat a lot of food. I braved Fred Meyer for more groceries with all 6 of them. Crazy, huh? Acutally, it went extremely well. They were all well behaved. As we shopped along, some guy saw us, turned to his wife and said, “whoa, she’s got an army!” The boys laughed and laughed about that pretty much all week. Heath took a Frisbee and they all played during Hayden’s soccer practice at the park. Not sure Hayden was into playing soccer so much that night, he kept looking over at the Frisbee players.
Tuesday we got to start swim lessons for Sage. The boys all took their Nintendo DSs. Well except for Gabe, he had lost his by this point. We rented a couple of Wii games so that it could be all video games, all the time. Well, almost…That afternoon, I invited Michael, Brenna, and Nathan down to slip and slide with the guys and Sage. OK, 9 kids now. I must say, the 3 additional kids made life really easy-who would have guessed. Everyone was completely entertained, all I had to do was provide towels and popsicles. As if that wasn’t enough, when Heath got home we headed out on the river for some tubing and wake boarding. It was a gorgeous night! The cousins loved riding the tube. Hayden decided that he would rather hold the flag, a job he asks about every single time we get on the boat, but rarely gets. He said he really likes to ride with Uncle Kyle, so he will just wait till Kyle comes back and let the guys have turns instead. Dalton tried out the wake board. I would have loved to have gotten some pictures, but I was on the beach with the girls, and Hayden and Gabe who were having the time of their lives swimming and eating sand. He made it up though, so we screamed like crazy people as Heath drove by pulling him. Way to go Dalton! He was pretty pumped up about it.
By Wednesday, my house was as trashed as thoroughly as possible. I am amazed that only one DS was missing. Me and Dalton had turned the place upside down looking for it. Meanwhile, the other kids had pulled out every single toy we owned making our search slightly more complicated. No luck. After swim lessons, we went to the park with a couple of other moms from church. Hayden had a soccer game that night, so we all packed up to cheer him on. He did awesome! There is about 145 kids on the team so playing time is limited, but he makes his presence known. I love to watch him play, he is so serious about it.
Thursday we played the beloved candy bar game. Who doesn’t love a game where the playing pieces are candy bars and everyone wins??? We were hoping to take the boat out again, but believe it or not, the wind picked up. Grrrr…we went out for pizza instead-after some much needed quiet time watching a movie. Then, as if the candy bar game wasn’t enough, we did mystery ice cream game. 6 unmarked pints, you guess the flavors. Well, it was a tasty day. We all pretty much agreed that the ice cream game was our favorite between the two games. AND, I finally found Gabe’s DS buried under Sage’s carseat(???)
Friday, our time was limited, so we had to squeeze lots in: swim lessons, a little geocaching and a picnic, then we hit open gym at the gymnastics gym near us. 2 hours of running, jumping, bouncing and flipping. Too much fun. I sent them home with Heath, wore out. Then Marlee and me went shopping.
We loved having the boys here-Thanks Gretchen for letting us have them for the week!

Favorites:
Heath: Playing guitar hero with Dalton after all the small people went to bed
Lori: watching the boys crack up playing the Rabbids game, and dancing around to the crazy songs on Grayson’s ipod
Hayden: DS downloading with Grayson, playing on the beach with Gabe and Sage on the Bonsai.
Sage: The candy bar game, swinging at the park with Gabe
Marlee: the Ice cream game, the potato rounds at Eatza Pizza