{February}

February might be short, but it is always packed full of activities.  Here is the wrap up of all our random bits of life.

The boys started the month looking pretty handsome in their blue and green ties on Super Bowl Sunday.

Lucy thought she was pretty clever when she found some "friends" at the Literacy Center.

Just what the birthday boy wanted...a home improvement project.  (not really) But after he accidentally put a hole through the shower wall..that is what he got.

Down came the old wall and up went the new one...

 And a few weeks later we finished up the new dry wall and new bathroom!  We put a curved curtain rod in and the shower feels so much bigger now!  I think it looks really nice.

Don't judge my bathtub full of toys.

Wade and Avery had birthdays this month.  Lucy took care of being in charge of any candle blowing.

Jr. Jazz really took over our life this month.  I think I complained a lot about it, but I was really glad the boys did it.  It was the first season for both of them.  

I forgot my phone on the day of Noah's last game, but he had a good time.  His practices/games were 20 minutes of practice and then a 40 minute game.  Each kid wore a color wristband while out playing and they had to guard the kid on the other team who matched their same color band.  Noah was a little bit of a goof ball, but he was pretty good and was really good at making shots during practice.  

Gage really improved this year.  It was his first year ever playing ball.  (So I was a little nervous about how this would go) A lot of the kids on his team had been playing for a couple years.  He had an hour practice every Monday night and then an hour game every Saturday.  He got a couple points during the season and got a lot better at defense and not being afraid to get in there, he's not the most aggressive kid.  Gage finished the season and said he really wanted to play again next year.  He did a great job.

One Friday morning we avoided housework and went to Scheels to check out their running stuff and look at the fish.

Wade had a conference in Park City one week so he was gone most hours that the kids were awake..so on Saturday when he was gone we went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

Lucy has really loved this "winter" weather that we've been having.  Grandpa even tilled the garden up and got it all ready for spring.  Not sure where winter really went, but we aren't complaining.

One of the activities that Noah can do for his spelling homework is to spell his words doing jumping jacks.  It is such a funny activity, but he picks it almost any chance he can get.

And Valentine's Day!  What do tween boys hand out to their class?  Gage thought this sounded like the best idea! I heard they were the hit.

Not sure what to even say about this picture.  Darth Princess Lucy.

Avery really wanted a teddy bear picnic for her birthday.  So we reserved the church gym and we planned a picnic.  I set up picnic blankets with bears and had different stations throughout the gym.

We had a "build a bear" station, where the kids could pick their bear, name it and tie a ribbon with it's name on it.

We had uncrustables, apples chips, drinks and cherry cupcakes (that Avery made herself).

Each kid brought a bear from home and we went around the room introducing our special friends, we also read some stories about bears too.

We had some bear coloring pages and a foam-bear craft.

But the hit of the party (which I couldn't believe) was the game "hibernate"  This game cracked me up, but the kids kept requesting to play it.  We turned on music and the kids could dance with their bears, but then when the music stopped they had to "hibernate" and fall asleep until the music came back on.

On Valentine's Day we took a flower and some balloons up to Grandma.  I think the wind blew them away by the next day :(

Our cousin Josh came home! I know I've already posted about this, but I love this little picture of Lucy.

Lucy tried to be 2 going on 16....

I'm still working away on my goals in the Biggest Loser Competition at school. Less than one week left!  One week I won the drawing and won a flavor infuser cup.  I think Wade uses it more than me, but I do like it! 

And last, but not least, today is Grandma's birthday.  Betty was an amazing mom and grandma.  I never had a mother-in-law...when I married Wade, I was blessed with another mom.  She always had the best advice, was a good listener and easy to talk to.  She never met a stranger.  I am so thankful to have known her.  The saddest thing for me is that my little kids will never know how awesome their Grandma was, Gage told me this afternoon that he can tell the little kids stories about Grandma.  They were always birthday-buddies. We miss her but know families are forever.  We took some balloons to the cemetery with Wade's brother and his kids and let them go.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Pinewood Derby

Last night was the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby!

It was the first one for Noah and the last one for Gage. (we just barely got that in, because he turns 11 on Sunday)

It was a super busy, crazy day.  I was running from one thing to the next all day long, and forgot to take their scout shirts, but at least Wade remembered to bring his!

Don't be fooled by Noah's sad face. He had a good time.  After the race while we were cleaning up, Gage and him were crashing cars and some of the weights fell off his car.  But since the whole race was over, it really didn't matter.  They've already made plans to cut more holes and crash their cars and do all kinds of extra stuff to them now.

The boys had a good time designing their cars and then going to Uncle Ted's to use some of the wood tools.  (Sometimes I think the pinewood derby is kinda a crazy unfair event....I mean what about all the single moms, or parents that have no wood experience or no tools?  How is that fair to the kids that have awesome people in their life that help them with all kinds of tricks?)

anyway....

Wade showed them how to use the sander, but then let the boys do their own work.  They had some pretty simple designs.  Gage did some wood burning on his, and Noah painted his gold and green.  They were pretty nice looking cars.

Wade got called to be the new Cub Master for our ward a couple weeks ago.  Kinda thrown into the fire with a big huge event to hold first, but I think he did alright.  He had a fun time putting together what he wanted for the night.  He searched on pinterest and came up with some good ideas.  One of the den leaders helped with some of the decorations, and another helped with the program and the primary counselor helped get all the cars signed up.  We don't have a lot of scout leaders in our ward (yet...crossing our fingers) but the night came together and I think everyone had fun.

The day of the race Wade ended up needing some labels for the food, but like I said, the day of the race was SO super busy for me...last Jr jazz game for Noah, 4 RS visits, running kids to and from school, homework, life...you get the idea... so I just wrote some simple labels and called it good.  I realized after we got home from the crazy day that THIS is what I fed my kids for dinner.  I get a ribbon for mother of the year award for sure.

Motor Oil and Anti-Freeze for drinks. (root bear and pink lemonade)

Spare Tires, Traffic Cones and Axle Rods for treats.  (mini donuts, bugle chips and pretzels.)  and YES, I realize I spelled Axle wrong.  proof what kind of day it had been. geez. My mind must have been thinking about rock stars and not car parts.  oiy.  I'm thankful no one noticed...or at least pointed it out to me.

Wade made up these trophies for first, second and third place.  Every boy got a ribbon too.

And the racing!

I love this shot of Gage.  I love even more is that his car is actually 2nd place and he is that happy.  We've had a hard time with competitiveness in the past.  First is always awesome and every boy works so hard.  Glad my boys could be happy with any place they got last night.

Noah:

Both boys placed someplace in the middle, I'm not sure the exact numbers, but they just tried to remember that not everyone could win.

It was a fun night.  I hope all the boys had a good time playing and racing their cars.  We have some fun cub scouts in our ward.  I know my boys had a fun night and can't wait for the next one.

Sunday Photo: 8

This week was pretty exciting.  Wednesday night Wade's nephew, Josh came home from serving a two year mission for our church.  He served for two years in the Houston, Texas East Mission.

We were quite the group at the airport, a 9pm flight arrive time couldn't stop us with these little kids.  We packed up some pillow pets and went with our signs in our pajamas.

We are so proud of Josh.

Today he had his homecoming program at church. He did a great job speaking and Gage really paid attention to all his stories. 

I'm afraid to to admit it, but time goes so fast, Gage will be off on his mission before I can blink my eyes.

Today, before church we snapped a Sunday Photo.

Two years ago at Josh's farewell.

I think it's safe to say that Lucy is not a tiny baby any more and that Eli has come out of his shell in the past two years.

We are pretty proud of Elder Gardner and his service and example.  In a few months our nephew Josh (from my side) will complete his mission in Brazil.  

I am so thankful for awesome nephews and nieces who my kids can look up too.

Families are pretty awesome.

Sunday Photo: 7

This little girl loves her daddy.  

After church, and lunch for the kids and picking up the I-had-a-6:30-meeting-so-wade-played-super-dad-and-had-to-get-everyone-ready-for-9am-church-mess, and baking 3 desserts the family birthday dinner tonight (because one was a total flop and I really wanted two), and then cleaning the kitchen, setting up some appointments and answering some texts, I finally had enough time to catch my breath and go downstairs to take off my shoes. 

(  I know.  longest sentence ever.)

I found these two laughing and playing and pretending to take a nap.  

Silly girl.  She really loves her dad.

I am so glad it's a long weekend.  Maybe I can sleep until 6am tomorrow.  Probably not.  Life is just so busy lately. It will be nice to have a day off tomorrow.  

Highlights of the week  (in no certain order) include: parent teacher conferences that went well, Avery's birthday (and party) and the best....Friday afternoon I got rear ended in the car.  That was fun.  Not really, I didn't have time for that.  No one does.  But no one got hurt and that is good.

If you are friends with me on Facebook you might have already seen this.  If not, it's pretty fun.  Another thing to keep me busy (as if I didn't already have enough)

I started a new reading blog.  I've had my little reading spot on blogspot since 2007.  It's had good years and bad, but I've really neglected it and felt it was time for a face-lift and a new site.  I'm adding in some running too.  I hope to blog on there more frequently...Monday-Thursday kind of plan, but we'll see how it goes.  It's been fun either way.  I miss blogging about books.  We'll see where this goes.  Click below for the link.

MyReadingSpot.com

Happy Sunday.

{Six!}

Miss Avery Ann is SIX today!

Avery is such a fun little girl to have in our family.  She is a smart girl and loves to read and color.  She loves school.  She is constantly amazing me with her reading skills.  She loves going to readig class at the literacy center.  She is testing so well on reading at school.  She adores her kindergarten teacher and is always so sad when it's the weekend or a school break and she can't see her. 

Avery loves bears.  At Christmas time when everyone was asking for big ticket items (like electronics or big lego sets) all Avery wanted was a teddy bear.  She has so many teddy bears we joke there is no room for her in her bed.  She loves them all.

Avery is really creative.  She loves to color and cut and paste and make fun cards for anyone and everyone.  She loves to draw.  She loves to dance and sing.  She goes to dance class once a week and she really loves to learn and dance with her friends.

She has to use two hands now to show her age!

Avery is always a great helper in the kitchen.  She loves to make her own lunch. (Ham and cheese with a little mayo on wheat). She can do it all herself.  She loves to help me make dinner and set the table.  Avery is such a good kid when it comes to food!  She loves it all!  She is not picky at all and will eat or try anything.

I asked Avery her favorites today.  

Here are her answers:

Favorite color: pink and purple

Favorite songs: Shake It Off and Let It Go

Favorite books: Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots and Pinkalicisous 

Favorite movie: Barbie movies (all of them)

Favorite food: everything 

Favorite toy: hello kitty legos, littest pet shop

Best friends: Emma, Katie, Lily, Eli

Favorite thing to do: go to the dinosaur museum and the museum of natural curiosity 

Favorite part of school: recess and PE

If you had a million dollars what would you do with it: buy a kitten, an Elsa castle and toys

Favorite animal: Bears and pigs

When you grow up what do you want to be: A kindergarten teacher and mom

We all love Avery Ann.  We are so glad to have her in our family.  She is a great big sister to Lucy and Eli. She loves to take care of everyone and be a mommy.

I am so thankful for Miss Avery.  She is so fun to have in our family.  It doesn't seem like six years ago she joined our family.  Time is flying by.

We love Avery Ann!

Sunday Photo: 6

Great morning at church. 

Followed by easy lunch and then a quick trip up the canyon.

It's a beautiful day for February. 

It's birthday time around here. 

In a six week period we have 4 birthdays to celebrate.

This past week we celebrated Wade's birthday with Cafe Rio and Costco Strawberry Cheesecake.

This week we celebrate Avery's 6th birthday. She's only been waiting to turn 6, since the day she turned 5. She's requested a teddy bear picnic party with lots of bears and pink.

We tried out the self timer on my phone.

This is our real life.

Happy Sunday.

                                  

{January}

I really ended up liking how last year I would do a monthly re-cap post of the month and random pictures, so I think I'll (try to) keep it up :)  January was a long busy month.  So many activities!  We have lucked out and had an AWESOME winter, meaning it was really like a Washington winter, not a typical Utah winter.

On the Christmas break we did manage to take the kids sledding at the point of the mountain.  They had a great time.  I even went down a couple times.  Eli always surprises me at how brave he is.

Lucy loves babies and her animals.  She set up a picnic for them one afternoon.

My sister gave our family a pass to Thanksgiving Point for Christmas.  WOW!  I think she is trying to win favorite sibling award or something.  Our family had a pass a year ago and then we didn't renew it, but now the kids love it again...and the new museum too!

One afternoon I found Eli giving Lucy a back run.  He is such a good brother.

My sister and I found this in Wade's car on the way to Saint George!  We were laughing so hard, we can't figure out why he even owns this.  It was not the best music to pump us up for big run either.

On the day that I ran my race in Saint George, Wade had a booth at the Lehi Legacy Center Health Fair.  They had a huge crowd and he felt it went well.  We owe Susan BIG time for helping so much that day.  She really is the most amazing employee we could EVER find.

Hanging out and reading scrapbooks one Sunday afternoon.

Avery helped me make the smashed potatoes one Sunday afternoon. She worked so hard at peeling the potatoes carefully.  (I didn't make her peel all of them) but she loved the work!  I love that she loves to help me in the kitchen.

I started the Bigggest Loser at school.  I'm trying my best to get points every day.  Love how I crossed off the no caffeine point?  I traded that for a "create your own" point.  I'm trying to add coconut oil to my diet every day.  and let's be honest, I am not sure I could go without a diet coke.

We got the racing pictures in.  Here I am at the finish line.  

The other one that they took at the finish line I look like I am in pain and going to die.

I need to remember next time to twist my flip belt to the back, so I don't look so bulky in the front...but then again, do I want to look bulky in the back?  Maybe I shouldn't pick up un-opened gu thrown along the way next time. :)

I had enough with the kids room and we decided to get (another) set of bunk beds.  This made their room so much better.  We were able to move their dressers out of our room and into their room, which made our room better too.  I'm not sure there is even room for Avery to sleep up there because of all her animals that "have" to sleep with her.  But she loves it.  The bedding doesn't match and that bugs me, but ultimately...in ten thousand years when we get our own house....Gage will have his own room, Noah and Eli will share the other bunk beds, and this will be a bunk beds for Avery and Lucy.... and then I can get cute matching girl bedding.

Lucy is still in the crib, the longest any of our kids have stayed in the crib, but since we won't need it for any more babies, she can stay there until she is 16.

no joke.

The only bad thing about the set up in the little 3's room now is that Lucy can see Avery and Eli's bed from her crib.  She is constantly talking to them now.  It reminds me of when baby Avery and baby Eli shared a room, were both in cribs and Avery would constantly talk to Eli.  Once Avery even started throwing toys from her crib to his crib.  

Another funny story this month about Lucy in bed:  She is a late sleeper, and I am not complaining.  She usually wakes up around 8, or 8:30 (that is sleeping late for our family) but by then Wade has taken the big boys to school and it's just me and the little three.  Lucy will wake up and yell for us.  The past week when I walk in to get her I ask her if she wants to get out, she tells me no.  She then asks for dad.  When I tell her Dad is already at work, she then pouts for a couple seconds and then asks for Gage.  

yes...Gage.

She is just so heartbroken when she finds out Gage and Dad are both gone and she has to settle for me to get her out of her crib.

Glad to know I am way down on the totem poll with her.

I miss crafting.  I don't have a designated craft spot or room for it, so I just haven't really sewn or crafted much at all this last year-year and half.  But I did make this cute clip board to put all my Biggest Loser information on.  

Grandma and Grandpa Bullard  sent our family Seahawk shirts for the big game.  Lucy looks so cute wearing hers, but she calls it a chicken shirt.  Gage was pretty sad they lost.  We all were.  But at least it wasn't a boring game.

One night at dinner Lucy decided to try and eat her food with giant salad tongs.

Eli moved up! Eli has been attending the free preschool that the Literacy Center offers and he really loves it.  Once they pass a certain level though they are moved from the ABC preschool class to a real "reading class" (that is what he calls it).  The best part of this to him (and to me) is that he gets to go in the afternoon with the big kids!  So now, instead of going there twice a day I only go there once! (yay)  His class is shorter, only 45 minutes instead of 2 hours, but he still loves it and he comes home telling me all kinds of information he is learning.  He loves riding with Aunt Kathy to reading too! (since I carpool with my sister).  Another bonus is that he is home every morning now, which means I have 3 at home all morning, but I was getting really tired of all the running back and forth for preschool and dance activities.  It's been really nice.

At the beginning of January I started giving the kids a small allowance on Fridays after they finish their jobs for the week.  It's been fun to see them save it up and learn about spending and tithing.  Noah really wanted to spend his on a happy meal...so one night he bought his own happy meal, AND ate the dinner I made too.  Gage is saving and saving and saving, he knows exactly how many weeks he needs until he can buy a huge lego set.  He even knows the exact date.  Noah might be sad when he figures out he's spent it all on happy meals.

The boys were starting to have a hard time getting up and getting ready in the morning.  They should be up and at least dressed when I get home from work around 7.  Wade's not the biggest morning person either, but he tries to wake them up and they never budge.  So we came up with a morning challenge.  If they are up and dressed I have to do an exercise (that they pick) if they are asleep, then they have to do it.  The first morning, Gage was ready, Noah wasn't.  So we both had to do a one minute wall-sit

The next morning I got stuck doing 40 push ups.  yes.  My arms felt like they were going to die.

Our blue and gold pack meeting was this month.  These two cute scouts make me happy.  They only overlap in cub scouts for just a few months.  

After about 550 miles on my other shoes, I ordered some new ones.  Same shoe, different color.  I broke them in with an 8 mile run on the treadmill and two episodes of Downton Abbey.

And the boys finished the month by going to a BYU basketball game.  They got some free tickets from Jr. Jazz and then the other tickets were super cheap.  Which is no surprise because it was the very top row. haha.  They  had a good time, and I had a good time putting the little 3 to bed early and spending the night reading.

~~

January was fun, but we love February.  

It's a short month and includes two birthdays and valentines...so much to do!

It should be a fun one.