Meet Oscar

He's a neighborhood cat.

My kids adore him.

He comes and goes as he pleases.

And I don't have to feed him.

Or take care of him.

And the kids get their fill.

Now we don't need that pet they keep asking for.

*sigh* of relief!

FMN

Problem: No power for Family Movie Night (FMN)


Solution: Use the car battery.

Warm Weekend

We had some amazingly beautiful weather this past weekend. It was so nice to have some warm weather and be able to go outside without a coat--Caleb doesn't realize that you can actually go outside without one! The kids and I had a lot of fun playing together and talking to our neighbor. We got out the balls, bubbles, bikes, scooters, and sidewalk chalk. Kelsie, our artist, couldn't wait to cover the sidewalk with original artwork.

We went on our first family bike ride of the season over to the YMCA to celebrate Healthy Kids Day on Saturday. We had lots of fun running around and answering questions to win prizes. They each got a new water bottle, a couple of balls, frisbees and new balloons. We came home a while later and planted our garden. Wally was kind enough to prepare the soil for us the night before, and Kelsie did all the planting this year. We were able to plant peas, radishes, and lettuce growing in the garden. We're going to plant some carrots and flowers later this week. We're so excited for our crop to come in! Brandon and Caleb had more fun digging in the dirt and throwing it at each other. Boys will be boys I guess!

It truly is amazing the difference it makes to have a couple of nice days thrown into all these not-so-nice-days we've been having. We are excited and ready for summer! We were outside all day on Friday and Saturday throwing balls, playing frisbee, and planting the garden. I can't think of a better way to spend a warm weekend!

Easter

Our Easter weekend was great! On Saturday, we went to our church for the nursery egg hunt. It was so much fun! They had all the little kids (3 and under) look for eggs outside on the lawn, while the older kids each had a bag of goodies with their name on it. Caleb loved looking for the eggs, but wasn't as fast as some of the older kids. He was happy with what he got and finally decided that it was more fun to open and eat the candy than find more eggs. Kelsie and Brandon had fun searching for their bags and couldn't wait to break into them and see what surprises they got. It really was so much fun! Later that night, we dyed our eggs for the Easter Bunny and then sent the kiddos to bed.

Brandon couldn't wait for Easter and all that candy. He woke up really really early. He found his basket, ate some candy, looked for his eggs, then came in and woke me up. When I realized what time it was, I told him to go watch Veggie Tales until 7:00. He came in a couple more times before 7 and even woke up Caleb and brought him into me. Caleb, as it turned out, had a fever and wasn't feeling very good, so he got in bed with me and went back to sleep. By the time Kelsie woke up and Brandon came in to wake us up 3 more times, we were up. Kelsie and Brandon were more than excited to find their eggs and eat their candy. Caleb didn't want anything to do with finding his eggs or his candy. He just wanted to be held and would drift off to sleep until something woke him up again. Poor little guy.

After a quick breakfast and showers, we headed off to Stake Conference where we were able to hear from President Monson and Elder Oaks during a regional broadcast. It really was nice to hear from them on Easter. We then came home, took some naps, watched Finding Faith in Christ, roasted a chicken for dinner and called it a night. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get those pictures of the kids I wanted in their nice new clothes since Caleb wasn't feeling well and Brandon was bouncing off the walls from the sugar rush he had from eating candy all day (and I made them take off their clothes to keep them from getting stained with chocolate). I'll try to get those pictures taken soon though!

Kelsie helping Caleb check out his candy!

So proud of his goody-bag!

Caleb just wanting to be held instead of searching for eggs.

Those eggs have to be around here somewhere!

What a goofy kid!

This is how Caleb spent most of the day.

These are the pillows I made for Easter. They were a big hit!

I also wanted to add that Easter, for us, is so much more than candy and plastic eggs. We are grateful for the atoning sacrifice that was made by our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is through him and his resurrection that we are able to be together forever. This is the real reason why we celebrate Easter. I loved Elder Holland's talk from General Conference about the Savior. If you didn't get a chance to hear it, or don't know what I'm talking about, click here.

Good News!

It's been a happy day out here (despite the cold weather).

Wally's paper was accepted and is going to be published in the near future.

This is very good news for us!

He even got the special plate for dinner.

Way to go!

Cousins

A few weeks ago, my sister and her family came out to visit us for a few days. After a 20+ hour drive, they rolled into town just in time for pizza night (I think they were coming more for the pizza than us!). We were all so excited for them to come since we don't get to see them very often, let alone spend any lengthy amount of time together. The kids were especially excited to have some live-in playmates for a few days!

Being the ultimate tour guide that I am, we drove down to Chicago one day and walked around the city. It wasn't a particularly warm day, so we ended up in the LEGO store for a while and then had some lunch before walking back to the car. We also spent some time at a children's museum not far from here, played with some dry ice and liquid nitrogen with Wally up on campus, and just hung out together. We introduced them to a Philly Cheese Steak--at least the best one that we have been able to find outside of Philadephia. We even watched Bolt the night before they left.

We had such a fun time and my kids were spoiled by all the fruit snacks they got from their super nice aunt! We were sad to see them go, but all good things must come to an end. We loved having them here and can't wait to see them again!

Anyone in need of a jedi and a knight/police/swordsman?

Such pretty girls!

Just hangin'

Can you tell we're related?

Playing at the lego store

Pumping up the tires on the stroller.

Aren't they cute little monkeys?

Riding in style

Banana, anyone?

She loved the scooter!

Liquid nitrogen is so cool!

Say cheese!

Feeling Crafty

I have finally let myself explore out into the blogosphere beyond my family and friends. Did you know there are some incredibly talented and crafty people out there? These people come up with these great ideas on a daily basis, something that would take me a lifetime to do. When I found these tutorials for a twirly skirt and little boy's tie, I knew what direction to head in for Easter. I had a lot of fun making these for my kids and I love how they turned out. I wouldn't call myself an expert seamstress by any stretch of the imagination (I won't tell you how many times I still have to call my mom with questions), but the end result was a whole lot better than I thought it was going to be! I can't wait to take pictures of my kids all dressed up tomorrow! I can't wait to show the other project I've been working on too--but you'll have to wait until tomorrow, after our visit from the Easter Bunny! Happy Easter!

Spring Break '09: Day 5

Today turned out to be our low key day. We finally got around to cleaning up the house and I am finished the never-ending laundry pile. We made it over to the mall to pick up a shirt for Caleb for Easter. That was the extent of our traveling for the day. It's nice to have quiet days like this. Wally surprised us and came home for lunch too. That is always fun to see him, since we don't get to see him very much unless he takes a day off work. I even found a little bit of time to give Caleb a very much needed haircut. This was one of those days that I was able to check off most of the things on my to do list. Hooray!

Anyway, for today, I thought it would be fun to see what the kids top 10 list of different things would be. So, here they are, in no particular order (you can guess who picked what):

Movies
1. Pokemon
2. High School Musical (all 3)
3. Ella Enchanted
4. Star Wars
5. Matilda
6. Prince Caspian
7. Swiss Family Robinson
8. Harriett the Spy
9. Cars
10. The Wiggles

Books
1. Junie B. Jones
2. Harry Potter
3. Nancy Drew
4. Pokemon: Diamon and Pearl
5. Choose Your Own Adventure
6. Star Wars
7. If You Give a Pig a Pancake
8. How to Be a Pirate
9. How to Train a Dragon
10. Magic Tree House Series

Games
1. Imaginiff
2. Sorry
3. Life
4. Clue Jr.
5. Ticket to Ride
6. Uno
7. Freeze Tag
8. War
9. HSM DVD Game
10. Smash Brothers Video Game

Things To Do on Spring Break
1. Go the Museums
2. Cook Dinner
3. Make forts
4. Play Tag
5. Wrestle
6. Go to the library
7. Watch Movies
8. Sleep In
9. No Homework!
10. Plant our Garden

Spring Break '09: Day 4

Is it really the fourth day already? Sure is and it was a beautiful day! I knew it was a promising day when Brandon, our early riser, didn't even wake up until "the sky was blue outside!". That almost never happens. Today we spent the majority of the day outside! It has been a long time since we have been able to do that! We walked to the post office and then the library this morning. I walked to my dentist appointment while Wally entertained the children and then we walked home and ate lunch. Then, we were outside again blowing bubbles, riding scooters, playing basketball, and even having a water fight--sort of! Kelsie went to a friends house in the afternoon and the boys and I walked over to the park for a while. Kelsie even made dinner tonight! It was a great day. One of those kinds of days where the house was definitely low on the priority list! I have decided that when you live in these kinds of climates, you really don't take the weather for granted. Especially since it is supposed to be colder tomorrow. Oh well. Happy Spring!

Spring Break '09: Day 3

We've been looking forward to this day since we planned the 2009 budget: Museum of Science and Industry Day. And nobody's more excited than me. I managed to schedule a little time off work (a very rare event for sure). It was 9:15 am, and we were just finishing up packing the daypack.

Just one problem.

"Dad? My ear hurts..."

Oooo. This was coming from the kid who gets ear infections, and gets 'em real bad. And fast and furious too. He's been known to mention that his ear "kinda hurts" at bedtime, and by 12:30am he's screaming in pain until it ruptures a few painstaking hours later (poor kid!). So we had to take this threat to MSI day seriously.

Lucky us, we got a late-breaking appointment with the doctor (a REAL doctor; not one of these PhD hacks), and by 10:15 am, Brandon was diagnosed with what is technically referred to as "an eardrum filled with pus that is actually bulging a little bit." Ouch. Good call taking him to the doctor, then, eh? After picking up a bottle of orange-flavored amoxicillin, and a little bit of Tylenol, we decided to push forward with our original - and now 2-hour-delayed - plans. The upshot is that Brandon was already feeling a little better.

The museum was interesting, educational, and fun, just like real museums should be. They have a scale model of Chicago with electric trains running through the mountains to a scale model of Seattle. The waterworks at the hands-on "Idea Factory / Imagination Station" was a lot of fun. And in the "Whispering Gallery", Kelsie and I told secrets to each other even though we were standing 100 feet apart. We watched an old movie, the kind they made before "talkies". Some robots drew pictures for us too. We also learned lots of fun facts too: Did you know that cows eat 30 pounds of food and drink 20 gallons of water every day, which makes them produce 13 gallons of manure everyday?! Gross, I know. But sometimes, those are the facts that stick in yer head.

We had a great time, and best of all we wore everyone out. I don't think anyone is going to be waking up tonight.

At least we hope not.

Spring Break '09: Day 2

Our second day of Spring Break wasn't anything too exciting. The weather was still cold, but not completely unbearable. I gave the kids a warning during breakfast that we were, in fact, going to the grocery store sometime during the morning, in which I received some very unpleasant looks right back at me (they hate the grocery store almost as much as cleaning their rooms). So, to keep everyone happy, we turned our car into the Milennium Falcon and drove to the store in hyper-speed with Anakin (Brandon) firing at the tie fighters the whole way. Leia (Kelsie) controlled the computer module while Chewy (Caleb) moaned and groaned. It made a surprisingly effortless grocery store adventure with all three kids!

Kelsie and Brandon turned our basement into a toy store called The Toy Box when we got home and then turned it into a giant fort after that. They were very proud of themselves for thinking of putting the little tv inside the fort, you know, 'cause every fort needs a tv! Caleb also surprised us all by going in the potty 4 times throughout the day, which he has never done before. We might be a lot closer to potty training than we thought! Yay me!

After naptime, the kids rode their bikes around the neighborhood while Caleb rode his scooter to see the fish in our neighbor's yard. We had fun together. We're all so glad that spring is coming!

The best part of the day though? Check out what Brandon wrote on our Love One Another poster we made for FHE (bottom right corner):

What are these kids coming up with?! I mean, I know everyone loves the iphone, but seriously! He actually was trying to write his friends name, phonetically. Pretty funny, huh?

Spring Break '09: Day 1

We woke up this morning, our first official day of spring break, with a light dusting of snow covering the ground. Bummer. Isn't Spring Break supposed to be warm and cheerful, instead of gray and dreary? Anyway, as it turns out, we're not that far off from the way it was last year, so I shouldn't have expected anything more. We're trying to have a Creative week over here since a certain kindergartener lost any kind of entertainment that requires being plugged into the wall. For. The. Week.

I decided that this week needed to be on the dangerous and daring side. It will be interesting to see what we come up with. I don't have any major plans, but nothing beats creativity in action!

The first thing we did? Well, the above mentioned kindergartener learned how to tie his shoes. He practiced close to an hour and had it mastered. Now he wants to go buy new tennis shoes. Kelsie had a play date with a friend and Caleb just had fun with everyone home. I'd say it was a pretty good start for the week.