In The Sun He Melted

Between egg hunts on lovely spring days, a storm or two decided to stir things up.  When the snow accumulated to a sufficient amount to build a snowman, Garrett was persistant to have my assistance for the task.  I realized this might likely be the last snowman of the season so I reluctantly obliged. 

The snow was wet and dense and perfect for moulding into form.  Throw on some buttons, a hat, a carrot nose, and some other accessories, and our snowman turned out to be a pretty dapper fellow.

No sooner had we built the icy figure, when the sun came out and melted him in a matter of hours.  And just like that, he was gone.  All we had were the photographs to stand as any proof that it had even snowed that morning.  Oh--and we had the memeories, too.

When I looked over the crumbled mound of snow that had been a smiling figure moments before, a twinge of sadness washed over me as I thought of how many (or how few) snowmen I might have left to build with Garrett before he begins to outgrow the notion of building snowmen all together.   At the rate life is going, I might soon find myself thinking And just like that, he was grown.  All I will have are the photographs to stand as any proof that he had once been a young, spunky three-and-a-half year old who obsessed over building snowmen.  Oh--and I'll have the memories, too.

I am so grateful for that little snowstorm!

This post authored by Amber

'Cause All We Need Is More Candy At Our House!

We enjoyed what moments of sporadic, pleasant weather during the first week in April to hunt Easter eggs on two occasions. 

The first opportunity came courtesy of Nuskin, who provides an egg hunt for the young children of all their employees every year.  Jason was at Augusta National Golf course at the time (maybe I'll convince him to blog about it), so I was on my own trying to maneuver three children between three separate, designated areas, all the while trying to capture images on video and camera.  I have discovered I am not an effective multi-tasker, so I missed most of the action shot opportunities, but I did get the children all together at the end to at least pose for a few decent pictures.

 When Jason returned from his trip, he suggested we take advantage of the community egg hunt sponsored by the city's recreation department.  Even with the extra adult support and supervision, I still missed most of the action shot opportunities.  Oh well.  My children are quite used to being gathered at the end of an event to have their pictures taken.

Now what am I to do with the bag fulls of salt water taffy we've recently acquired?

This post authored by Amber

A Bit of Tomfoolery

Garret & Ella "helped" me with April Fool's dinner preparations. 

Yeah, so April Fool's day sort of snuck up on me and I hadn't made any plans for it whatsoever. Then I overheard my oldest boys talking to each other the night before, giddy with excitement and anticipating having dessert for dinner and dinner for desert as we had done in years past. Umm....

Well, it's a good thing that I almost had everything on hand necessary to make TV dinner cupcakes (except the corn flakes for the chicken, but Honey Bunches of Oats were an okay substitute.  And, yes.  We often have large assortments of candies like fruit flavored Tootsie Rolls at our house). 

I only had one small package of Jell-O, so I could only make trick drinks for the three boys.  Then I tried to use food color in water to create the same color for Jason and I.  It was a little lame. 

I misplaced the meatloaf recipe my sister had given me for the year before, so I resorted to trying the one on the box of the Lipton onion soup mix because it seem like it would be dry enough to form into a cake to be "frosted" with mashed potatoes. I was right. It was dry. It didn't taste very good to me, so dinner was a bit of a flop. But, hey! The kids were satisfied that the tradition continued, even if nobody ate very much. I think we resorted to satisfying our hunger with bowls of cold cereal later on that evening.

At least this year I set the bar pretty low.  I can certainly outdo myself come next April....that is, if I don't completely forget again!

This post authored by Amber

Spring Has Brought Me Such a Nice Surprise

My magnolia bush has blossomed.  Isn't that fabulous!  The little buds emerge as a teaser and let me know that Spring is a bit closer, and at the first sign of balmy weather, they seem to explode with excitement to announce the season's arrival. 

Utah weather can be temperamental in Spring, so I've learned to take pictures while I can.  For all I know, a snow storm will come and dump on my pretty little blossoms (or wind will scatter the petals across my lawn).

And if you've driven by and paused to admire our lovely landscaping, you should know that Jason is primarily responsible for our home's curb appeal.  He did have some extra help this year when it came to pulling weeds and adding fresh compost to the flower beds, though.  Garrett got quite engrossed in the project.  He had to keep reminding me, "Mom, I'm too busy for taking pictures."

I took them anyway.

 This post authored by Amber

Moms, Muffins, and Math

On Friday, I was invited to attend school with Brevin to eat a muffin and watch him as he worked to complete a math worksheet.  (I'm glad that he didn't need my help.  Math has never been my forte.)

I felt a little dorky because I seemed to be the only mom who brought a camera along, but then I handed it off to someone, and she captured one of the few images in which I appear with my child.  I won't mind being conspicuous for a moment if it means I get to have a picture like that to remind me of the marvelous, day-to-day moments I get to have with my children.

Oh, and Brevin totally rocks at math--a skill he clearly did not inherit from me.

This post authored by Amber

The Wearin' O' the Green

St. Patrick's day fell to a Saturday this year.  I think that took a bit of the excitement out of it for the older boys.  They would have probably loved spraying their hair green for school. I didn't tell them that I bought a bunch of green hairspray when it was on clearance after Halloween for that very purpose.  Oh well, I guess there's always next year.  No, wait!  That wouldn't be so great for church, huh?

Instead, we all slept in and had our traditional green shamrock pancakes a little later than usual.

I had to deliver some cupcakes to Riverton by noon, so the family all went together and we stopped by IKEA for lunch.  Nothing like eating Swedish food on an Irish holiday!

When we got home, Garrett and Ella wanted to play with bubbles while Brevin and Spencer wanted to play the Wii with the friends who had come over (I was watching them for my friend who had to take her three year-old son to the instacare to have a bead extracted from his nose).

For dinner, we had our Pot of Gold soup and fruit rainbow.  There were some extra cupcakes, too.  I made sure of that.

Then I made everyone come outside and take some pictures before the daylight was gone so we could remember just how festive and green we all were for this annual celebration.  The kids all wanted to pose on the trampoline.  Whatever.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2012! 

This post authored by Amber

Breaking in Ella's New Swimsuit

The Springville recreation department gave Jason a complimentary family pass to the pool as a "thank you" for volunteering to be a basketball coach for the Junior Jazz league. 

We thought it would be a great opportunity to take Ella to the pool for her first time ever and to try out her new swimsuit. 

It fits.

She looks adorable in it. 

Everyone had a great time. 

The end.

This post authored by Amber

Going to a Hukilau

I have to say that our elementary school is totally top notch.  Just look at the lengths they go to to promote the Book Fair! 

We attended the luau themed family night activity last week.  Once the boys each picked out a book for purchase, we headed to the gym for limbo, hula hoops, a ring toss, and coconut macaroon cookies.  It was fantastic!

I'm so glad I brought my camera and video recorder along.  I laughed until I cried watching Garrett play limbo. I think you might understand why when you look at this picture:

Do you think he'll make it?

This post authored by Amber

The Switch

Garrett has been resistant to the idea of potty training, and so we have not really forced the issue. (If you know how strong-willed Garrett can be, you will understand why some battles are not for the picking!)  We've only made suggestions to his subconscious by placing underwear in his drawer next to his diapers and occasionally asking him if he would like to try using the toilet.  He wasn't interested...until about a month ago.

He would use the toilet on  rare occasions, so I made a chart to track his progress with stickers and prizes, but nothing seemed to be an incentive worthy to motivate him completely.  He just did things the way he wanted when he wanted, and I got real good at reapplying a diaper on a standing child after he had done his business. We began to see some promising signs in the form of dry diapers upon Garrett's waking and even throughout the day, though. Still, he was not fully committed to switching to underwear...until about a week ago. 

That was it.  Garrett just decided he wanted to wear underwear, seemingly out of the blue.  Well, once he decided to go ahead, I knew there was no turning back. 

The first two days necessitated emergency laundry loads due to several accidents.  I guess that's "par for the course" when it comes to potty training.  After only a few poops in the underwear, he has decided that it is better to do that in the toilet, thankfully.  Nights have all been dry so far, so I think he's doing pretty well.  In fact, this whole potty training thing hasn't been quite as horrible as I remember, but then again, we are only a week in.

At any rate, we think he looks pretty cool in his new duds!

This post authored by Amber

Another Sports Season, Another Blog Post

Brevin recently wrapped up his first basketball season with the city recreation league.  His games were held during the months of January and February, and were played at Cherry Creek Elementary school (in the gym that was formerly part of the old Junior High).  His group was comprised of teams of boys in the third and fourth grades, Brevin's team being the Pacers.  Jason was the coach, so that made for some great father/son bonding as well.

While I don't believe he had as much fun as he did playing flag football, it was very clear that Brevin had skills in the sport of basketball that made him very fun to watch.  Yes, his dribbling, passing, and shooting require a bit of refinement, but he demonstrated a quick response to changes in ball possession and really hustled on the court to be the first to set-up for defense or offense.  Because he was always aware of the ball movement, he was frequently open to take a shot.  That improved his chances of making them, and he had his fair share of baskets for the season.  He also got a few baskets off the fast break.

It was a really fantastic season.  Now on to baseball.

This post authored by Amber