9 Years!

Bennett turned 9 last week.  How can it be?!  He seemed so grown up to me this year when all his birthday desires were high top shoes and an MP3 player.  We actually vetoed the MP3 player and got him a bike instead, which he was super happy about.  It was the first bike we've ever really purchased for our kids anywhere but DI, so even though it was a Wal-Mart bike, he felt pretty awesome.  Yeah, it's got pegs and hand-brakes, baby.  BMX power!

He had an excellent idea for his party.  I mean seriously excellent.  It was the easiest, cheapest and most FUN party we've ever done; I highly recommend it!  He invited a bunch of his friends (and I do mean a bunch- Bennett is blessed with lots of awesome pals) to play Capture the Flag with us on Old Main Hill at USU.  We have recently come to love spending time at Old Main.  It has the perfect climbing and fort-appropriate trees around.  There is also a lovely new picnic site, a little bit hidden off the sidewalk on the South side of the hill, which made the perfect meeting place.

All the kids drew a card to tell them what team they would be on, and they each received a bandana (made by my sister-in-law, Kate and her fabulous serger) to show which team they were on.  Jason was one of the team captains, and my little brother, Lee, was the other.  That way I was free to hang out with Harper, who loved crawling through the dirt and pine needles the whole time.  The kids played 3 rounds of the game, taking hot chocolate breaks as necessary.  It was really cold that day, but we had warned that we would play rain or shine, so everyone came dressed warm, and truly, the kids were hot from running across that massive hill for over an hour.

Before we started playing, I had all the kids introduce themselves and tell how they knew Bennett (kind of like at a bridal shower or something!).  It was SO fun to have his friends from church, current school, former school, scouts, family friends, cousins, etc.  What a lucky little boy to have such nice friends from all over the valley.  And lucky for me, because many of their parents are also dear friends of mine.  We are so lucky.  And all these kids who didn't necessarily know each other got along GREAT at the party. That is because they are kids, and pretty much the nicest kids ever at that.

The ferocious green team!

Girl power!

Waiting to be freed from jail...

Red team ruckus!

Harper!

Sacrificing their jeans for the game!

After the second round.

Heading back for cupcakes...

Happy birthday!

Bennett and his trusty sidekicks.

Proud papa.

This week I have been ordering some photo enlargements of the kids, which means hours of looking through the 20 bazillion photos we have on our computer.  I don't know where time goes- I really don't. Bennett was such a beautiful baby, adorable toddler, charming kindergartner, sweet first-grader, second-grader, and now he's in 3rd grade- practically in 4th!  I am starting to panic a little about how fast this time is flying.

Bennett's birth was the beginning of the greatest time in my life.  I love him so intensely!  I am proud of the person he is, and grateful to him for the journey we are taking together...  Happy birthday, my little buddy.  xxoo

Luck o' the Irish!

Our St. Patty's Day was filled with good luck.  First there were gifts from the leprechauns, like gold in the boys' shoes, and new lucky socks.  Then there were the Lucky Charms cereal and green milk.  All these fun things set us up for a very lucky day.
First, Owen won an art contest at school!  His poster for the "Trees Are Terrific" poster contest was chosen to go on to the state level.  Yay, Owen!

And next, Finn said his name for the first time!  Usually he pronounces it "Pinn," as he struggles putting "f" at the beginning of words. But while we were at his speech class singing the song to introduce everyone, Finn announced that his name was "Fffffinn."   Everyone cheered!  Yay, Finn!  He was so proud!

The next night I was lucky enough to attend Celtic Night at the Ellen Eccles Theater.  The performance was by Inishfre Irish Dance, who I used to dance with.  Man, it gave me Irish dance fever.  I hope to have some time to dance again.  For now, it is really fun to watch my cousin, Jen's daughter, Naomi dance.  Her adorable class of little girls stole the show.  Way to go, Naomi!

New shoes!

Why, thank you, Julie Kirby, for fashioning this adorable shoes for Miss Harper Kate.  They are PERFECTLY PERFECT!

Uncle Lee

We have had the serious fortune of having my youngest brother, Lee, living by us in Logan while he attended USU for the last few years.  He is getting ready to move on now, perhaps working in the Teach for America program, perhaps to work in the film industry in Thailand, or perhaps to teach English in Russia.  All awesome options.  I am so proud of him and his hard work, and happy for him to start something new and exciting.  But ooooohhhhhhh, I get so sad thinking of how much we will miss him.  Seriously.  Sniff.

Lamberts Gone Wild: Spring Break 2011

I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking, "HOLY COW, that's a LOT of photos."  And you are correct.  If you really look at all of them, you earn a treat.

Jason was in California during most of the kids' spring break.  So we took them on a mini-getaway in Salt Lake City.  I was actually pretty bummed about this plan; I had our car all packed to go to Moab, but alas, it was not meant to be.  So Salt Lake Marriott it was.  And we did have fun.  The rest of the week was crammed full of local fun.  See for yourself:

Hanging out downtown...

Princess and the pea!

At City Hall, one of my fav SLC buildings.

Outside the amazing Salt Lake Library.  This place is seriously cool!  Like mind-boggling cool.

You can't really tell, but there is a huge, gorgeous installation suspended from the ceiling that I am trying to replicate in miniature for Harper's room.  It's made of little books with butterflies emerging from them.  Gorgeous!

Seriously, we skipped Disneyland this year, but the elevator rides made up for it!

Oh, how they loved it!

Kicking up her heels in the big city!

Mid-morning snack behind the library.

 A Day at Hogle Zoo.

Hogle Zoo.  Always fun... but especially when there are no other people there.

Finn LOVED the zoo.

I love this shot.  My pretty, glowy kids.

"Come here... Come here..." Finn kept saying.

I love this wonky picture of Jake and Harper.

 Ice Skating at the Eccles Ice Arena!

Jake was not a fan of ice-skating.  At all.

But Owen LOVED it.  It's his new fav thing.  He has been with his class, and then again for a birthday party this month.  He's getting really good!

Post-skating pizookie.

Harper eats the remnants.

 Adventures at the Treehouse Museum in Ogden with Jaime, Porter, and Blue.

LOOK at my sister.  She's so beautiful. And LOOK at her baby.  He's scrumptious.

Hanging out in a tipi.  Or is it tee-pee?

Harper loved the fire. 

Finn and Porter rustle up some grub.

Porter and his little burro.

Bennett and Owen spent a long time playing a game of chess.

CUTEST COWBOYS!

And this, my friends, is a milkable cow.  The kids were both disgusted and fascinated.

Little farmer boy.

An excellent week.  

The end.