5 boys under 5

Ethan, Luke and I got to go to California Adventure with some of our friends from church, the Sewells and the Winschitls. We all had so much fun on Monsters Inc., Bug Land, getting free tortillas at Mission and riding the rockets! Here's a picture of the gang, from left to right: Luke (20 mos.), Ethan (3), Brian (3), Hunter (2), and Parker (4). It won't be too long before these little rascals are passing the sacrament together, learning to drive and sending in mission papers. Whoa....I better slow down, I'm getting emotional. :)

mr. president?

On Sunday Steve and I watched the broadcast of 60 minutes' piece on Mitt Romney. I thought it was generally well done. Check it out and tell me what you think. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/10/60minutes/main2787426.shtml

Beach, oh beach! How do we love thee, let us count the ways...

4. Free spirits....this, ladies and gentlemen, is the face of the future.

3. Kodak moments....they are both thinking, I won't look at Dad if you don't. Someone should have told me that siblings team up against parents at such a young age. I thought we had at least a couple years left....(sigh). Steve tried his hardest to get these two sons of ours to look at him and take an endearing picture....this is what we're left with. Just teasing, it cracks me up. You can never say they lack personality. Warning: Don't look to close at the sand encrusted snot coming out of Ethan's nose.

2. Sand digging/castle making....although its a little harder to do when you don't have any water to help mold the sand. Luke and Ethan were quite distressed that we wouldn't let them get water but they got over it quick.

1. Kite flying....check it out, Ethan isn't even letting go!! We wonder what Luke is squating for. Uhhhh, yep! You guessed it; could you smell it too? :) Business before pleasure, we've taught him well. hahaha...

slip and slidin' fun

Looks like summer is here. We broke out the slip and slide that the Texas Rasmussens gave us (I can't remember if it was Christmas or what?) and had some fun with some neighborhood boys this week. Luke wasn't so sure he liked it but he had fun watching the older boys. I put water in the sand/water table and let him play with that. He's really good at keeping himself entertained when Ethan isn't interrupting him. Ethan LOVED having his friends Parker and Hunter over to play. Thank you Texas Rasmussens for the fun gift.

finger paint saves bathtime

I'm always looking for new tricks that help my days with the boys be smoother and more enjoyable. Lately my favorite one is for bath time. I found a fun recipe for finger paint to make at home. I don't measure anything and its not highway robbery like buying the stuff at the store that stains my tub and leaves me scrubbing my tub after bath time (which is the LAST thing I want to be doing by that time. I just mix flour or cornstarch with clear, liquid hand soap and a couple drops of food coloring. The amounts of flour to hand soap depend on how thick or thin you want the mixture to be. Its been really fun in the bath tub. Ethan and Luke love painting the walls or each other with it. They also like how it turns the water different colors and leaves bubbles to play with. Sometimes they fight over the colors but nothing could be perfect right? hahaha...

happy birthday tia ev! and bye bye cancun, hello big screen!

Its been an eventful Saturday. We threw a belated birthday bash for my sister Evelyn at our house. She's so old, 27!!! Just kidding, Evie...wink, wink. Mae and I made dinner (almost used every dish and pot I own!) and dessert. Steve and I got a little break from our diet to indulge in the festivities. Steve was so good though, he didn't even go overboard! The first picture is of Evelyn and her daughter Ellie enjoying some birthday cake. Evelyn was so nice to let all three children (my two boys and her daughter) help her blow out all her candles. Ethan was so excited to eat cake. I think that's the only way we got him to eat his dinner. Luke, on the other hand, all we had to do was let him sit on Grandma's lap and he ate everything....that stinker. The second picture is of Luke wearing his cake, doesn't he look like he has a mustache? Clay and Mae said that he looked like Nacho Libre and we all had a good laugh. We thought it was perfect that he looked like a little Mexican wrestler for Cinco de Mayo :) I think we know what we'll dress him up as for Halloween.

In other news, Steve got a big screen TV today and what's even better is that we didn't have to pay for it! This one goes on the law firm's tab, thank you very much Seegmiller Attorneys! The law firm was going to pay for Steve and I to go on their Cancun trip but Steve talked them into letting him get a TV instead of going on the trip. Some think we're crazy but that's us. We found a good TV that was still cheap enough to get the TV stand to put it on....Ikea is the best deal. The bookshelves are my mother's day gift. The last picture is of Steve playing the Xbox with Clay on the new TV and e-center....well, all you can see is Clay's legs; sorry Clay. The e-center isn't complete yet. We're going to be adding a hutch at the top of the center that will connect the two bookshelves....happy mother's day to me.

Ethan is improving on his big bike. He's figuring out how to turn it by himself and maneuver around objects and start and stop on his own. I can't believe he's not using a tricycle anymore. Now if I could just get Luke to figure out how to ride his trike. I had to push him the entire way around the block today....my back was killing me! :)

its gone, baby, gone.

I cut the boys' hair today. I'm sad to say they are baldies now but it was time for a trim. I can't seem to cut hair anywhere in between bald and too long so it all came off. I don't think its that bad eh? I expected more of a fight from Ethan but when I told him it was time to cut his hair and asked him to sit down he said "ok, mommy" and plopped right down. He sat nicely and watched "Curious George" while I cut his hair. At the end he got too impatient and wiped his mouth with the apron he had on.....talk about getting the fuzzy end of the stick! His mouth was full of hair....thats when the freak out happened. Luckily I was able to keep it to a minimum once I told him he could have a lollipop because he was so good while I cut his hair. Then I got Luke from his crib (he was napping and woke up just in time, lucky him) and put him in his high chair to cut his hair. This is his first official hair cut. The part he liked least was wearing the apron. He doesn't like to have anything around his neck. Ethan kept telling Luke "you so cute, Luke" and "good job, Luke." Luke didn't have the hair full of mouth problem and he really appreciated his re-pop (aka lollipop). Here are some pictures.

hit the road jack

We're off to Utah for the rest of the week. My sister's graduating from BYU. There will be more from us when we return. Tchau!

big is the key word

It seems like the theme for Ethan lately is "big." He got moved into a "big" bed after his third birthday that just passed. He also was given a "big" bike by my parents for his birthday. Notice how we didn't get the chance to take off the bubble wrap before he wanted to ride it. He did pretty good for his first time too. He really liked how all he has to do is push backward on the pedals and the bike stops. But he got a little frustrated trying to start again on his own. When he wants some thing, whether its food or another article of interest to him, he tells us he wants the "big one." There is a bad side to all this big-ness. We decided that since he's such a big boy now, sleeping in a big bed and all that it was time to ditch the paci (aka pacifier). He's not liking this part of the big changes. Here are some pictures of all the big happenings around here. I can't believe Ethan is so big already, it kind of makes me sad. Luke is right on his heels too, wanting to do EVERYTHING his big brother is doing. So far the only aspect of that I'm excited about is that maybe I can potty train them both this summer, wouldn't that be awesome? hahaha.....I can always dream.

Count me in!

Its all Anna's fault. She got the idea of blogging in my head and even suggested I start my own. I was an innocent bystander content with reading Anna's blog and now I've joined the blogging ranks. Here is my first post and our first picture. Its a little old but its got all the key elements, Steve, myself, Ethan and Luke....that's us, The So Cal Rasmussens. :)