Latest Happenings!

I haven't blogged in a while so here is an update on what we have been doing.

St. Patrick's Day (or "Patrick's Day" as Matthew calls it) the kids had fun dressing in green. That is, after I convinced Matthew that it really was St. Patrick's day. They had a St. Patrick's day party at school on another day so he got a little confused. That evening Karl brought home hats for the boys and a tiara for Summer. Needless to say they thought that was very exciting. He even brought them home some cool St Pat's day drinking glasses that light up. This always makes dinner more exciting. For dinner we had corned beef (I couldn't talk Karl into having the cabbage). It was a fun day for the kids though and the first year we have ever really celebrated!

The 3 boys

Matthew being cheesy

Our St Patrick's Day princess

Steven also being cheesy

Daddy and the kids

On Thursday the 19th I hosted our wards children's reading group. It was supposed to be somewhere else but those plans fell through. Since I am the one who started the group as part of my calling as the literacy specialist (I was just released from that calling yesterday) I moved it my house. It worked out great because Karl had to work the evening shift that day to cover his store so he was there and helped. We did a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme. Karl read the Very Hungry Caterpillar, which is one of my kids favorite books. Afterward we did a craft where we made caterpillar antennas. It was successful I think. Now that I have been released from my calling I don't know if they will continue the group or if this was the final one.

The cute antennas! I let the boys pick out their own colors that is why the color combo is kind of odd. I made Summer a green one with orange pom poms it was cute but got destroyed before I got a picture.

Steven messed his up too, but I think they are cute.

Summer wearing her Very Hungry Caterpillar shirt. She missed reading group because she was napping.

Steven wanted me to take his picture when I was taking Summer's.

Here are the instructions for the antennas:

Cut a strip of construction paper about 2 inches wide and long enough to fit snugly around your child's head. (I had to use more than one piece of paper to get a strip long enough). Tape or staple the strip into a circle that fits or child's head. Tape pipe cleaners (I used green) to the strip wherever you want the antennas to be. If you want curly antennas first wrap them tight around a pencil, stretch them out and then tape to your headband. Glue a pom pom to the top of each antenna.

This is a very easy craft and they look really cute. It only takes about 5-10 minutes to complete.

Sunday, the 22nd Summer took her first step. She didn't realize she was doing it. Karl let go of her hand for a second, she took a step and then dropped to the ground. She just needs a little confidence. She stands on her own now. She will let go and just stand there and grin! It is really cute!

I haven't gotten any pictures of her standing but I thought these were cute!

Both this bow and the red & white one in the pictures above were made by my sister. You can check out "Shaylee's Corner" in my list of blogs to see more of her work.

Karl and I have both received new callings. Karl was called as an Elders Quorum instructor and I was called as a youth Sunday school teacher. Karl still is serving as a Scout Troop Committee Chairman so he is holding two callings. I was released from my calling as the literacy specialist. I was ready-I enjoyed it but am ready to move on. I was actually really scared of my new calling as I have never worked with the youth before but I have taught once and it went really well. We have great youth in our ward.

We have struggled lately getting Matthew to do his jobs. So we decided to give him a little incentive. Karl told him if he did his jobs for 10 days straight without complaining we would take him to Chuck E. Cheese's. He earned so we took the kids on Sat. Matthew walked in, looked around, and said "This is amazing!" He and Steven both had a good time with the games and stuff until the mouse came out. Steven was scared to death of him and for the rest of the time either Karl or I had to be holding him or holding his hand or he would freak out. But both boys were excited to win tickets and trade them in for prizes. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures.

Kids Say and Do the Cutest Things!

My kids never cease to amaze me with the cute things that they say and do! Here are a few of the things that they have done lately. On Saturday we went out to lunch and ordered some onion rings. Matthew took a bite of one and threw it down and said "Slimy onions, yuck!" Hmm-well why do you think they call them onion rings! Later that day we decided to go for a walk. Matthew proceeded to draw a "map" for us to follow. So he guided us on our walk saying things like "now we turn left" "let's go straight", etc. He had a great time and by the end he had learned a lot about left vs. right. It was a great way to teach him about directions.

After church yesterday we noticed that Steven was sitting on the couch with the scriptures open on his lap and he was "reading" them. A short while later we saw Matthew holding the scriptures and he would "read" a line and Steven would repeat the line. This is how we read scriptures with the boys. We will read a line and they will repeat it. It is amazing how they pick up words from the scriptures. We noticed that Matthew would slip in things like "Lehi" and "For behold" and the like. We were also impressed that he was able to turn it into his own story.

Summer's newest trick is rolling her hands. Steven loves the song "Roll Your Hands" that he sings in nursery. He always wants to sing it for Family Home Evening. Now if we start to sing it Summer will grin and roll her hands. It is adorable! She has also discovered the charms of Lucky Charms. Or should I say the marshmallows of Lucky Charms. It didn't take her long to start picking out the marshmallows and leaving the cereal. It seems as if every kids does that!

Last night Karl went to check on the kids after they went to bed and saw Steven and Matthew sitting by Summer's bed reading to her. It is moments like these that you cherish as a parent!

These are some of the countless things that are kids do on a daily basis that just amaze us.

Our big event of the week was a diaper craze at Karl's store. Walgreens had a great deal on Huggies last week. Karl's store got a load of diapers that he and I had to go and pick up ourselves at another store. He had told his customers that the diapers would be arriving at 4:00. All these moms started arriving at 3:30 and lining up. It was like black Friday all over again! It was pretty crazy! He picked up a second load on Friday morning. What a great store manager he is! Hopefully his customers appreciate him!

Summer enjoying some Lucky Charms-actually enjoying marshmallows. Notice that the cereal is all still on her tray!

Messy face!

This is after enjoying a fudge pop! Yum!

I think Steven has one of the cutest smiles ever!

Matthew's 5 yr old pictures

We took Matthew in to get his 5-yr-old pictures done. They turned out cute-he did a good job! Unfortunately I forgot that he had some stick on tattoos on his arms until we got to the studio!Other updates-Steven climbed Summer's dresser and pulled it over last night. We have anchors to anchor the dressers to the wall we just hadn't gotten around to doing it. We will do it now-though Steven was so scared I don't think he will be climbing any dressers anytime soon! We are just so thankful that he wasn't hurt. Also last night Karl took Summer into urgent care-she has an ear infection. They were gone when the dresser tipped. So we had a long and interesting Sunday night. Needless to say we are all a bit tired this morning!

This is our favorite!

Below are some of the enhanced ones

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

We have had some gorgeous springlike weather here (but that is supposed to end tonight) so last weekend we decided to take advantage of it. We went to a nearby park with a kite that one of Matthew's friends gave him for his birthday. Unfortunately the wind wasn't cooperating so we only actually got it up a couple of times. The kids soon got bored with it and went to play on the nearby playground. But Karl tried a little while longer. Wouldn't you know that right after we put the kite back in the van the wind picked right up! Just our luck. We also got out Matthew's scooter that my parents gave him for his b-day. He is learning how to use it! We took the kids to lunch that day too. It was all a treat for them since we spent the majority of the day looking for a new dishwasher-we found one and they just came and installed it yesterday! Yay!! Dishes just are not my thing so not having a dishwasher was challenging. But the kids enjoyed the break from the "boring shopping".

Trying to get the kite in the air

Steven got very excited-not by the kite but by the plane that flew overhead!

The kids got bored pretty quickly!

Where is your other sock, little girl?

Summer loved the red ribbons on the kite.

Time for the playground

Matthew's favorite thing these days is climbing up the slide.

While the kids were playing Karl was still trying to get the kite to work!

Trying out the scooter

Steven tried the helmet on but it kept falling off!

Stay on helmet!