Sissy is 6 Months!!!

It seems unbelievable, but Breeze is six months old.  We all love watching her personality develop, but everyone, including the boys, tell Sissy that she is not to grow up without our permission!

Some Sissy facts -
* 25 1/4" (20%) and 15 lbs 15 oz (43%)
*She talks and yells at everyone all the time, especially during Sunday School which is suspiciously convenient for Brandan who has to take her out regularly
*She is starting to sit up on her own, but in Colt's words "she still is a little wobbly"
*She rolls and scoots in every direction and frequently maneuvers herself to the bookshelf where she tears up and eats the magazines
She recently discovered the kitchen garbage while out exploring in her walker
*She has one sharp little tooth
*Her fears include partially deflated balloons, Angry Bird hats, and Sister Neilsen

Sissy is wearing my dress from 30 years ago!

 

Doing the family trick.

 

Breeze, Colt and Sport snuggling under the blanket and reading stories

 

Breeze has been anxiously anticipating solid food for weeks now.  She loves to sit at the table and watch the spoons go by.  But, in keeping with my "thou shalt stay small" rule, I decided not to offer solids until 6 months. 

Everyone wanted to be involved in the first feeding.

 

Sissy didn't love her first taste of cereal.

 

Or her second.

 

Or her third.

I guess that teaches her not to covet more than her Mom can give her.  Sis also hates carrots, applesauce, and bread.  She does, however, love Mac & Cheese.

We love you Baby Sis!

So I'm 30 now.

Well, I'm 30. Or in other words, I recently celebrated my second 29th birthday. Despite the dreaded anticipation, I had a great day, complete with chocolate cake and a small party (aka Dash brought a friend home from school, but first he made his friend make me a card out of the cover of his notebook.)

My birthday cake.  As you can see, I had already started dishing up slices when the boys decided they wanted to blow out candles.  And I do mean they wanted to blow out candles.

So a couple of days before my birthday I got a little gift card in the mail from Mom.  Dash saw it and asked if I would be willing to donate the money to the basketball hoop fund.  I kind of hemmed and hawed around it and naturally he interpretted this as a yes.  Later that day, he announced that with the addition of my birthday money, he only needed $50 more dollars to buy the hoop.  He felt confident he would be able to gather that amount by the weekend.  I asked him what his plan was for getting the rest of the money and he replied, "well, I counting on you getting more birthday money".

Also, I should mention that I had a great Mothers Day this year as well.  Brandan got me a bike! I absolutely love it, and I think it is a subtle hint at what he would like for Fathers Day. Colt and Sport gave me some of the chocolate bar the church gave out as gifts to the mothers and Dash made me a gift at school with a list of things he would do for me.  These included doing the laundry, cleaning the house and giving me a back rub.  He's going to make some lucky girl very happy one day.

 

 

 

 

 

The Spring Play

Recently, Dash and the other K-2nd graders put on the annual Spring play.  Dash was cast as a chipmunk and thus it became my job to create a chipmunk costume.  I scrounged around the house and came up with something sort of recognizable.

The play was adorable and Dash did a great job.  He recites his lines perfectly, but I think Dash might find he is a more natural director.  There was a little microphone confusion during Dash's scene, but just like a boss Dash grabbed the mic and shuffled the other kids around so that everything could proceed.  And then later, I noticed him holding his fingers in the air and turning around in the stands to indicate to the other kids what scene was coming up next.  I don't know what they would all do without him.

While everything went well, Brandan and I quickly noticed that Dash seemed a little nervous throughout the performance.  As things progressed, we realized what was happening.

This is how Dash's costume is suppose to look.

 

Dash saying his part.

 

Notice the anxious look on Dash's face.  This was his expression throughout most of the play.

 

And this is why.  At one point Dash's tail fell off and he spent the entire play worrying about how he would hold hands for the final bow.

 

Big News, Family & Salt Lake City

After what was surely the longest three weeks ever, Brandan was invited to interview for a teaching position in Mountain View, WY.  We have been really excited about possibly making a move to Mountain View because of its proximity to Salt Lake and our families in Idaho.  The school size is also a little larger which provides a few more opportunities for our kids.  The principal at the school encouraged Brand to bring his family so we could all check out the town and some of the teacher housing available, so we decided to make a family trip of it.

We never openly talked about moving with the boys because we didn't want to upset them if it came to nothing, but we underestimated how observant they are.  We got into Mt. View with some time to kill so we drove around the town.  I saw a house for sale and pointed it out to Brandan and Dash piped up from the backseat and said,  "Yeah it's for sale because the people probably want to move to Upton since IT'S THE BEST TOWN ON EARTH!" Okay. He made his position clear.

After the interview and our town tour with the principal we thought Dash was probably going to get his wish.  Brandan felt like the interview went well, but as we were all saying goodbye things seemed to get awkward and the principal told us the hiring committee would meet again the next week and decide if they wanted to keep interviewing or possibly hire one of the applicants they had already interviewed.  It felt kind of abrupt and we drove into Nate and Cierra's house in ill-disguised bad moods. 

Visiting with Nate and Cierra and planning out our Saturday helped lift us a little, but nothing could compare to the unexpected phone call that came before we left the house Saturday morning.  The principal called to offer Brandan the job!!  I guess things went better than we thought.

Slumber party in Nate & Cecil's basement.

So with much lighter hearts, we headed into SLC to take the boys to Temple Square and meet Shann and Jared and the girls, who were in town that day, for lunch. 

Nate and Cecil bought everyone candy apples.

 

Sport really liked them.

 

Colt checking out the flowers on the Temple grounds.

 

Sport stopped to smell the flowers...a lot.  Too much.

 

The family by the Temple.

 

Dash had requested that we go see where the Prophet talks.  And, yes, Colt is doing his infamous pose.

 

Sport was really concerned about the statue.  While we were taking this picture, he kept saying "Jesus, wake up!.Wake up Jesus!"

 

I just like this picture of Nate and his man-bag.

 

Sport enjoying a donut on the way back home to Upton.

Thanks to Nate and Cierra for hosting us and Shann and Jared for the visit!  It is only with constant promises that we will see more of all our great family that Dash and Colt are able to bear the thought of leaving all the great pseudo-family we have here in Upton. 

Prom

Dash was asked by the Junior Class to be the crown bearer for the school Prom.  He was really excited to be a part of a high school event, but not as much as the girl crown bearer who told everyone she met that she had been asked to be Prom Queen.

Dash walking to prom.  No limo for the crown bearer.



It was a little muddy so he tucked his pant legs into his socks to keep everything clean.

Dash and Breeley posing in front of the decorations.

 

The theme for the night was "Masquerade Ball" so they did the Grand March in masks to Phantom of the Opera music.  Interestingly enough, Colt and Dash both really liked the songs.

 

The Crown

Oopsie

Dash and Davis, his "helper"

 

Waiting for them to announce the winner.

Brandan and Breeze were in charge of photography.  Another lady at the prom thought this was so cute so sent us this picture.

 

After the winners are announced, the parents are invited to share a dance with their student.  The boys weren't thrilled to dance with me even though I offered to do Ring-Around-the-Rosies.

 

Dash and Breeley dancing.

The King and Queen.  Dash was thrilled that Judd, his favorite 'player', was voted King.

April {Snow} Showers

On Tuesday, April 9th we. got. snow. A lot of snow.  Like 26 inches in 24 hours. School was cancelled and everyone stayed home (except for us, we walked through the snow to play at the school gym...life has to go on). And then we got more snow on the 12th, the 16th, 17th, 18th and the 23rd.  We had some late start school days and scary roads.  But maybe the best way to describe our "spring" is to tell you that the high school track started practice March 4th and had their first track meet April 26th because all the meets had been cancelled due to weather.

The first big snow storm.

 

Colt admiring the piles on the front porch.

 

Taking the day off.

 

My kids are great examples to me.  One day when I was complaining about the snow, Colt told me not to worry because when it all melts the grass would look sooo green! 

So I guess the lesson is when life gives you snow, make a snow fort.

The boys and I built this snow fort the day after the first big storm.  It might not look like much, but it was a lot of work!

 

Incoherent Observations, Anecdotes, and Incidents

I'm very behind on my blog so I plan to make this a catch up post.  There is a lot to say and I really don't want to try and make it cohesive, so the following is everything that pops into my head in the order it does so.
 Yikes, right?

Considering the fact that I recently polished off a pan of brownies on my own, I think it is safe to say that I have a long way to go towards my New Year's Resolution of eating healthier, however, I have made some serious progress and the boys are finally starting to get on board.  Everyone loves the fruit and veggie smoothies, especially Sport.  I don't know how I did it, but the kid also loves salad, broccoli, stir fry veggies, zucchini...and anything on my plate eaten with the fork I have in my hand.

Sport and Colt drinking my green smoothie.

 

Sport and Sis fell asleep on our walk and we really didn't want to wake them up so we carefully carried the stroller up the back steps and into the house.

 

Baby Sis is definitely my daughter.  She can't just sit still in your lap, but instead she rocks herself back and forth and bangs her head against your chest.  Its hard to try and have a conversation holding her because she knocks the wind out of you while you're speaking. 

The boys all have unique techniques to help cheer Sis up when she gets upset.  Dash holds her and sings silly songs, Colt clicks his tongue and claps and Sport covers her with a blanket, like a parakeet. 

Dash and Sis snuggling before school.

 

A couple of weeks ago the PTO sponsored a Medieval Night.  Colt was super excited to dress up like a "knightmare".

Three brave knights and one fair lady.

 

Dash was the voice of the frog at the Medieval Night play.

 

Medieval Bounce House.  Sport was as scared as he looks.

 

Colt and Dash jousting at the Medieval Night.  Hilarious.

 

This was a lot of work for both the boys, but they loved it, as did the audience.

 

They were both declared champions, which forced them to settle the tie at home in a good ol' fashion wresting match.

 

There is something about bath time that turns Colt up to full volume.  Add that to echoing shower walls and you what you get is a headache.

The best part of waking up at 3 am to feed your baby girl is hearing her giggle when she sees you coming.

One day Colt sat on Sis and started making funny faces.  I was yelling at him to get off, but he couldn't hear me over her giggling.

 

Last week I realized something about myself that I have been subconsciously doing for a few years now - sneaking around, I'm a sneak.  I tiptoe around the kids like a ballet dancer.  For instance, if I need to shower, I wait until all the kids are distracted and then slowly back out of the room.  I quietly walk towards my bathroom fighting the urge to break into a run, but I can't help speed walking as I get closer, then I slam the door shut and lean against it, listening quietly.  This technique usually gives me the time I need to get into the shower, but since I don't lock the door (there could be a legitimate emergency) I almost always have at least two boys waiting for me on the bathroom floor to get out and solve their problems, such as the fact that their "booooored!"

I was trying to bake brownies for the missionaries so I put Sis up on the island by me.  I thought it looked like a magazine spread with all the ingredients sitting around her so I took a picture.  However, the truth is that two minutes after the picture, Colt and Sport both climbed onto the counter, most of the ingredients ended up on the floor, Sis started crying and I had to postpone the whole process while I fed her.  Later I snuck into the kitchen to finish up the treats by myself.

 

It's no secret that Dash is competitive, but I never thought it would be such an academic advantage.  His school has an online reading program that lets the students practice reading stories and taking quizzes both at school and at home.  The students are supposed to eventually work their way through levels A-Z.  Dash can't stand to have any other student in his class within two levels of himself so he'll come into our room at 6 am on a Saturday morning and ask to be allowed to read from the computer program.  We can't really say no, so we stumble in there and soon Colt joins us.  Colt is a great listener (to Dash, not so much to his parents) and so he can usually help Dash answer the quiz questions after he has finished reading the story.  Colt feels so involved that he has repeatedly suggested that Dash ask his teacher "Ms. Mogley" (aka Ms. Mobeley) to add Colt's name in the student section of the computer program.

The boys are also excellent mathematicians.  A third grader on the school bus told Dash that he won't learn times tables until 3rd grade so Dash came home and made me teach him the concept behind the "x sign".  Now Dash can figure out most simple multiplication problems in his head and he is teaching Colt how to add three numbers as well.

The boys are saving all their money for an outdoor basketball hoop.  Pennies and dimes take a while to add up so when Dash's front tooth fell out at breakfast the other day he was completely thrilled because it meant a visit from the tooth fairy.  He was particularly excited because "his best friend Rhett" had recently been visited by the tooth fairy and she had left him $10!  Dash felt confident that this was her new norm.  Unfortunately, all Dash got was $.50 and a note from the tooth fairy promising him that she would be visiting again soon.  He wasn't disappointed, however, but he did interpret her note to mean that he would get his $10, but he would have to lose more teeth first.  Several times now I have caught him in front of the mirror trying to manually loosen more teeth.  It's like his part time job!

Dash's missing front tooth.

We are all so happy to announce that Brandan just finished up another Masters class and has 6 weeks off before his summer classes begin.  Hallelujah.  Whenever he can grab a spare minute, Brandan still loves to carve and has made quite a name for himself on Ebay.  His goal is to make enough to pay for Christmas and he is already about halfway to a very nice holiday.