Ethan Honors

Ethan came home from school with a big surprise

today. He is in kindergarten and is reading on a second

grade level. He has been reading books for AR just like

the 2nd and 3rd graders. When they read and get 100

points, they get an Honors hat and get recognized

at school assembly. Apparently, for kindergarten

noone really has ever read very much, but he has,

so they let him have the reward as well. Wow. I was

shocked when he came home with his own Honors hat!!

His smug little smile, what cutie!! Way to go, Ethan!

Apparently I have a couple of kids that like

to have their pictures taken!! I couldn't

take a picture of Jeff without taking a picture

of Halee and Dallin. Dallin used to run away

from the camera, so at least we can get some

recent photos of him! They are growing

up so fast!!!!!!

New found freedom

My 3 year old Dallin has mastered

the computer mouse! I find him

on the computer almost all the

time now. That is truly amazing

to me. He still wants his binky, that shows

he's still a little guy, but has stepped over

to the big boy side and can maneuver

a computer with the best of them!

3rd day

It's the 3rd day after Jeff's tonsillectomy.

He is saying a few words, but still a little

nervous to swallow much.

His classmates all made him cards

and letters, 22 of them! He was

very happy about that, and has them

by his bed.

The picture shows that he is still in pain.

Tonsils

Jeffrey had his tonsils out bright and early this morning.

They were infected and gross, it's amazing that Jeff wasn't really sick.

His adnoids were infected and swollen as well, so they got taken out too.

He had just woken up in this picture. He's doing ok, sleeping and tries to

talk but nothing comes out. He was a trooper, but it's hard to see him so

mellow. Hopefully in a week or so, he will feel so much better all the time!

Joining the ranks!

Ethan was so excited today because he finally lost a tooth!

He has been waiting, and waiting for this day!

He has 3 other wiggly teeth,

but he was so proud when I met him

at school and he showed me his hole.

He feels like he is finally getting big

like his big brother and sister. He comes

running up to me and says "Mommy, mommy

the tooth fairy IS real!!"

How cute you are, Ethan.

Easter

The kids enjoyed an indoor Easter

egg hunt this year over at the hospital.

It's still snowy and so muddy that hunting

outside is not always an option.

Draper, utah temple

I was excited in conference when Pres. Monson mentioned the dedication

of the Draper, Ut temple and Halee remembered it.

She and I got to go to the sacred dedication.

Well, we weren't at the actual temple, but we

watched it via satellite at our stake center! It was so fun to

have her beside me. Eric stayed home with the kids, but since

she is baptized,she got a recommend and got to go with me!

Although we had to sit and wait for an hour before

it even started, I got to explain to her what each of the

beautiful rooms were as they flashed on the screen. She got to

see all the presidency all dressed in white, and she saw how

white and special it was on the inside. She leaned over at one

point and said, "Mommy, do you feel like this when you go in there?"

Which told me she was feeling that special feeling too!! It was a cool

experience, and for spring break we went to utah and got to drive past

that beautiful temple as well. I hope that she will always

remember that day..

random thought

This is my pantry storage system that I am proud of.

I haven't yet found all my food storage, but this is a

great thing to have in my pantry. It holds

those #10 cans. It has plenty of room, I havent' yet filled it up.

The last picture is my meager attempt at controlling

video time in my house. I came up with a rotating chart

for the kids. Each Saturday we switch their names, and that

row of jobs is theirs for the week. For each job they complete, they

put a token worth 10 minutes of free time to that job. That way

when they say,"Mom, can I play the Wii?" I can then say,

"do you have any minutes?" When they spend their time, we

take off the token and then they repeat the jobs if they want

more time. They usually spend their minutes as soon as they

earn them, but at least it limits the time in front of a screen,

and my work is cut in half (of course I have to bite my tongue

and look the other way at their cleaning jobs!!). At least I feel better

at making an effort to curb the amount of video games my kids are

engaging in. I love the imagination they use after their minutes are spent. =)

More furry friends

We also inherited two furry kitties. We don't know much about them, they were left behind at a neighbor's house. They are fun, loveable cats though. We call them Milo and Otis. =) Right now they have a perch on top of sheetrock in our garage, a safe haven away from Maggie (Sage doesn't bother and scare them). It's kind of a crazy animal house, but the kids help take care of them, and when spring really does come, and the snow goes away, they can all go and be outside.

Furry friends

These are our furry friends. This is Sage. She is a 1 1/2 year old lab. We got her about a month ago, and we just love her! A lady at school was moving and couldn't take her, and I scooped her up and added her to our family. She is perfect for us. She is calm and loveable and LOVES to play fetch! She lets all of us throw the ball for her, even Dallin. She'll pounce on the ball as he throws it just beyond his little feet. She is a big teddy bear, and a scaredy cat all rolled into a big yellow dog. The other scoundrel you see in the picture is Maggie. We got her after Christmas from a co-worker of Eric's at the hospital. She is a 5 month old Blue Heeler, and was such a cute puppy, but she is not the right dog for us. She is getting better, but I realized these dogs need a place with a job. She could be a circus dog with how far and high she can jump! She springs off your legs and almost does a flip in the air. She needs to be herding sheep not my kids! I don't know how much longer she'll be with us, but Sage likes to play tag with her right now. And just so you're not confused, Halee and Dallin are kids, not furry friends!

The pantry

This is my pantry. =) Our "carpenter" had some major reservations as to whether or not he could accomplish this vision I had in my head. We had many late night "discussions" about the logistics about this pantry and why it had to be the way I wanted it. I had this vision in my head, and really, really wanted this pantry. Well, allapeanutbuttersandwiches! It happened, and I love this beautiful pantry!!

This is the kitchen. Nice, bright and happy, right? Yea, I don't know how long this color will stay, but we call it the happy room right now. The cabinets are custom made, knotty oak wood. They match all the cabinets in the bathroom as well as the countertops. The living room is the last pictures, it is seperated from the kitchen by a nice pentagon shaped pantry. =)

The first picture is the frat room. =) Since the downstairs isn't finished (that's where the kids' bedroom will be) they are all sardined into what will be the office. It is a rather long, skinny room, with a small closet, so the kids dressers are in our closests. They are doing ok with it, but sometimes the going to sleep is hard. The next picture is the bathroom. I like this room, it was fun to decorate.

This is the garage entrance, down the hall into the kitchen. Hope you can still see with the sun light through the windows. No drapes yet.

Master bath and bedroom

These are the most recent pictures of the house. Our bedroom is kind of the "catch all" room right now until the downstairs gets done. Some of the kids' toys are on shelves in our room, the computer is in our room, bookshelves are in our room. And the Thomas table is in our room. Not how it will stay obviously. The master bath isn't completely done. We're still working on the tub and the shower. Hopefully it will be done in a week or so, but for now, we shower in the other bathroom, then finish getting ready in our bathroom.

"A room with a view"

This picture turned out rather dark, but can you beat the view behind us?? There are so many things that I miss about Texas, but looking out our windows, all the windows of this new house, these majestic mountains are what we get to see!!

First meal

This was our first family lunch at the new house. It was just fish sticks, but how fun it was to be in our space.

ugh.. Christmas morning documentation is so scary! But, we all got new Nerf guns, so we had a big Nerf gun war, and it was so much fun. Dallin even got in on the action, although he ran from the camera. This was before we moved into our place, but it brought back some fun memories, so I posted it.

Ethan's birthday

Ethan's 6th birthday was Feb. 25th. Again, we had a simple family party, and we had fun. We played the mummy game where you have a race to wrap someone up without tearing the toilet paper. They had a lot of fun with that. Hard to believe he is 6. He is doing so great at school and still loves going. He is reading some 2nd grade books and just soaks everything up like a sponge. He is a joy to be around, and he always says the funniest things. We love you Ethan!

Dallin's birthday

I finally found the camera cord, but I really didn't want to go back and post as much as has happened, so I just picked out a few pics that I like. This was Dallin's 3rd birthday last Feb. 14th. yep, a Valentine baby. We had just moved in to the new house, and we had a little family party. He got a Thomas bike and a simple cake with Thomas on top and life couldn't have been better. He was so happy. He loves the bike and his "Blue" which is his blue binky. How nice to be so easily pleased!!

neglected

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated this blog. We have moved into our house, at least the upper level is livable. I do have pictures, but the camera cable is somewhere still in a box. We still have a million boxes in our unfinished garage. there is still so much to do!! Hopefully there will be a weekend where I can update and post pictures. ugh