Ella's repertoire

I have lots of "stuff" to get on here but in the meantime....

Enjoy!

Music Appreciation

Joshua is thinking about taking up the trumpet, so we thought we would break out Brent's trumpet and let him give it a whirl.

Ellasen, not being one to ever be left out had to get in on the action

*Please disregard the lack of clothing, less clothing = easier potty training

This started a whole round of "ME TOO's"

What do you think? A new generation of Trumpeteers?

I had to laugh thatJoshua started all of this fun and he is the only one I didn't get on video.

Homemade donuts

Brent and I were out running errands the other day, getting all the stuff the kids needed for their various camp outs, when he decided we needed to peruse our local DI. Well, according to him he scored BIG TIME!

If you can't tell from my lame, blurry photo he found "The Donut Gourmet"at a bargain price of $0.75. He has been so antsy to break it out and give it a try and this afternoon he got the chance.

We assumed we would try it out and then propmtly be sending it back to the DI, but to our surprise it worked really well. The donuts were delicious and the perfect dessert for a Sunday night. I was too busy enjoying them to snap a picture of us all gobbling them up.

We sent Aybra packing ...

... just for three days, that is. Our local school district runs a camp up in the Uintah Mountains. She has been so excited for this all year (she had to register in January I think). The day finally came. We had to have her at the school at 7:30 am. and there she joined a noisy excited group (poor bus driver) of kids from her class.

Aybra has a great group of girlfriends that she rarely sees outside of school* so there were a lot of squeals and hugs and giggling. It was strange to send my little girl off on a bus to hang in the mountains (isn't she way too young for this kind of thing). But her smile says differently.

Ellasen is sure she has been on the bus this whole time and is missing her sister quite a bit. I am sure there will be lots of pictures and stories to share when she gets home. I can't wait for her to do a guest post.

*Aybra's is part of the school district's magnet program so her class is made up of students from across the valley, it makes it hard to get together to play outside of school with out some advanced planning.

An unexpected vacation

Apparently I took a summer vacation from blogging... I hope to catch you up on allt he fun we have been having but for now I am just going to jump right in with what is going on now.

Video made at Animoto! Very sweet.

Kindergarten! Maybe not....

Corben had Kindergarten Orientation last Friday. We had talked about it all week and he was EXCITED! We got there a few minutes early, got all his packets and papers and sat down up front. Corben shared all the fun things he thought kindergarten would be full of. The principal began the meeting - welcomed everyone and introduced the Kindergarten teachers - then she excused all the kids to go down and check out their new room. I forgotten this part of the orientation. He looked at me with unsure eyes and very hesitantly walked out of the gym with the other kids.

After the redundant informative meeting for all the parents we headed down the hall to collect our kids. There was Corben sitting in a chair looking like he was about to cry. I thought as soon as he saw me he would perk up. No such luck. I kneeled down and asked him "What's wrong, buddy?" His reply "I am just so scared (sniff, sniff)". My heart sank. I didn't expect this. He goes to preschool in that school. The rooms are right next to each other. I didn't take the time think about how even though the surroundings were familiar the situation was so incredibly different. So how did I assuage my guilt and his fears?

ICE CREAM

We chatted about what in particular he was afraid of - mostly that he wouldn't know anybody. I reminded him didn't know anybody when he started preschool and asked how long before you knew everyone? "Maybe 2 or 3 days" he said.  Then he shared another concern. The elephant art project they got to do while were in the parents meeting had him very frustrated. It had already been cut out and glued together for them all they got to was color it. He was worried that was how art would be in Kindergarten and "that is not creating!" (his words). By then end of the ice cream therapy session things were looking up

Just don't mess with his art projects and after a few new friends are made I think Kindergarten will work out after all.

What's wrong with being a copy cat?

Joshua brought home this art project from school and left it laying on the counter

Corben thought is was "cool"and quickly went to work to re-create it.

My favorite part? 

He couldn't find glue so he stapled all the pieces 

onto the paper. Resourceful isn't he.

Quips and Quotes

Zach - "I don't want to go home.  I want to go somewhere better that you don't  have to work and there is lots of Little Einstein's and no Dora"

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M.I.T. (Mommy in Training)

Ella loves playing mommy to her baby dolls.

She is very thorough when changing diapers. She uses wipes, makes sure to put cream on and does the diaper up good and tight.

She never lets her babies go hungry.

Meet our new pet

Isn't she sweet :)

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Okay, how about we introduce you to the real thing.....

Meet Oakley

*Don't mind the freaky eye, it is just the flash

She is an 8 month old Shorkie. We decided to keep the name her previous family gave her. We have been throwing around the idea of dog for quite sometime and we think we may have found a great match. The kids are totally smitten. We picked her up tonight and she has been a lot of fun. Josh has already set his alarm to get up and take her to the bathroom in the morning and Corben and Zach keep sneaking out of bed to make sure their bedroom is extra clean so Oakley can come in and play. Hopefully she will let me get some better pictures of her when she has sniffed out her surroundings a bit more. She doesn't bark at all (unless a cat crosses her path on a walk) and she is very playful. She still has a lot of puppy left her so she is a bit intimidating for Ellasen. Even so, Ella lays in her bed and cries "My Oakie" because she wants to see her. Let the fun begin.....

Happy Easter

Easter 2009

Keeping with tradition, I forgot until we were in the car driving to church about a picture. This is after church. They are mostly clean, josh had already stripped off the tie. Better than nothing. I loved Aybra and Ellasen's hair. I wish I had better pictures of it. People kept stopping us to ask how we did Aybra's and how in the world I got Ella to sit still.

 

Church was wonderful. With Brent being released from the Bishopric the week before we got to enjoy him sitting with us for sacrament meeting. It was the first time Brent has ever sat with all 5 kids. I think he was a bit overwhelmed but we sure loved it. Brent's mission president and his wife, Dennis and Carolyn Simmons, were the speakers. They ares such wonderful amazing people, so full of the spirit and pure love of Christ. President Simmons is the sealer that married us - my how time has flown by. After church Brent got to come home with us. That has not happened ever since he was put in the bishopric either. It was so nice to have an extra set of hands shuffling kids to car, out of the car and in for lunch. I am really excited for this can you tell?

This year my parents thought it would be fun to do the annual egg hunt out at Wasatch Shadows.

The whole family was there and the weather was beautiful

Paka took the kids on a nature walk

They raced carts

and the egg hunt was on

as usual there was plenty of food

Thanks for a fun time!

Through out the day and the week prior I was grateful for the opportunities to sit and reflect on my savior. I am so very humbled by his sacrifices on my behalf. He truly loves me and he died for me, for my kids for my family - all so we have to the chance to be together forever. I am so grateful for a wonderful family and for my children who are growing up with a love for their savior. And for that I am grateful for this holiday.

*picture by Simon Dewey

Thank you Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny came to our house on Saturday Morning ...

and left super fun easter baskets. Instead of hiding the baskets this year, the bunny hid certain color eggs for each of the kids to find. Joshua took a full 10 minutes to find his first egg. Ella just helped the kids find the hard boiled colored eggs (they were fair game for all). Aybra found looking for pink and purple eggs frustrating challenging and went to bed Saturday night with 2 eggs still hidden. Zachary quickly opened all his blue eggs to check out the goods.

The bunny opted for minimal candy and instead gave some useful gifts

Josh got new soccer/football cleats and everything he needs to make his world famous sugar cookies

Zach got some new tractors and a spoon, fork and pusher shaped like construction vehicles

Corben's basket had a new shiny trowel and a wheelbarrow just his size

Josh and Aybra were excited to assemble it. Zach even broke out his own tools to help.

Ella's love of all things Dora the Explorer was well catered to

she didn't let go of the ball or take off the hat most of the day



Aybra got softball pants and a new swimming suit and cover-up

Nothing like sugared up kids to make the day super fun (See why we do it on Saturday)

A good egg!

The obligatory coloring of the easter eggs went off with out a hitch this year - almost. Only one cup of dye tipped over and 2 cracked eggs, but a lot of fun.

This was Ella's first year and boy did she have fun
 - until she stuck the egg she was coloring into her mouth. She was completely disgusted and the offending egg ended up being hurled across the counter (no picture sadley)


Corben of course can't miss the opportunity for an art project: