I'm cool with B's.

My school is suffering a bit. Mr. Eaton was in Provo today so I had to choose:

 math class

or

swimminglessonshaileybookreportsicktyleremmasorethroatscouts

Oh well.

This was a day last week. The simplicity....

:)

Tiger Eaton

Mason finished Itty Bitty Ball off with....golfing! It was his favorite sport by far. He payed attention the WHOLE time. (A first)

We need to work on his form a bit....

Meeting Dizzy the Dinosaur! I told him to smile and this is what he gave me. (His right eye barely squinting.)

Ladies Night

Sometimes kids just need a one-on-one date with a mama. Emma had her turn this week. I took her to a clothes store and said she can pink out ANY necklace she wanted and we would buy two so we could be  match-to-match twinners.

(dang...I wish I said we could pick it out together.)

Other than the fact that they are 4 inch wide dragonflies and probably the last necklace I would've chosen for a little girl, I wear it with pride. They are named "Julie" and "June".

 We got an ice cream and than headed over to the "Snow White Ballet".  It was actually very good.

The Beehive House

Today (Sunday) our family was asked to go to a living-assistance home called The Beehive House and do the sacrament for some elderly ladies. Our topic was family. We arrived at 9:30 and was early enough that we were able to sit in the living room and talk with a few of the women. Ty spoke, I played the violin  accomp. Hailey and Emma (Families Can be Together Forever) and Nate spoke last. Wow what a beautiful spirit. That congregation of 25 created such an amazing feeling even with half of the women staying in their beds and just listening (they were not able to get out). Even Nathan had a hard time keeping it together, and that man doesn't cry easily! It was a fantastic Sabbath. We had a yummy roast, nap, Aliens in the Attic movie, and candy bars to finish the day. :) Lovely lovely lovely...

Other happenings this week:

Tyler and Hailey participated in Federation, which is an opportunity to play two memorized piano pieces in front of 4 judges on the awesome Steinway at the Middle School. SCARY!! They received scores of Superior and Excellent. We are all so very glad that is over. The stress...

Tyler and Nathan have been working on a rocket for scouts Pow-Wow. Fun activity for those two. BUT, this picture shows Tyler's desire to create the "Justin Beiber" hair. (grrr). We told him he has to have short clean-cut missionary hair to pass the sacrament in Sept., so he begged us to let him grow it out until then. Everyday he looks in the mirror and tried to flip it to the side. How come children have to have their own opinions about their hairstyles!?!

 I'm still trying to secretly record him swishing it over and over in the mirror. heehee..

Here is the 3 year-old...

The balloon-animal-making clown...

The "train ride", but really just Tyler walking around (not too happy to have this job)...

And the princess, who saw the clown and just wanted to dress up.

Have the husband pick up the cake and let the three older kids take a game and basically I just sat on the couch and watched my baby turn THREE!?!?! :(

This makes me frown:

When I go downstairs and find a live water snake asleep on the carpet. (We had a pipe burst and the corner of the basement was flooded. Maybe it was washed in?) What makes it a million times worse is when I tell Nate, "I am so disgusted with that snake". And he says, "Oh yea, I saw that this morning."

WHAT!?!?!?

He went on to say, "It was hibernating not bothering anyone. Just asleep".


grrrr....

This makes me smile:

1) A note on my pillow from Hailey that says, "Dear Mom, You are freakin wicked. I love you so much. You do everything to keep us safe, warm, healthy, loved. Thank you. Your HayHay."

2) Overhearing Emma say, "I love home". (YEA!)   This was followed by, "I love the reindeer antlers on our home". *Sidenote: The previous owners left a 3 foot wide set of antlers over the garage. Gross.

3) The oddness of Emma. She wore THIS to kindergarden today:

(Yes that would be a fake ponytail wig. I almost said no, but than I remembered that MY mom let me wear one to school in kindergarden, and it was worse: made out of YARN. But I felt so very beautiful nonetheless.)

Little People.

My little ones are are so much fun. Well, most of the time. :) Mr. Mason had a hard time understanding what Itty Bitty Ball was. He refused to dribble the ball and learn anything about basketball the first class. (Ok  the first three classes.) Slowly he started to roll the ball to me and is enjoying the class a little more.

Every 10 minutes he would go take his shoes off and "take a break". Chillin' in the corner.

Emma recieved her certificate for passing off her alphabet. 3 cheers! AND she learned how to put her hair into a bun and does it almost every day.

 My girls wanted to learn the violin so we asked a few of their friends to join in and I'm teaching a couple of group lessons. :) Lots of sqeaks! hee hee

Emma was the VIP Student of the Week and we were invited to come in and tell stories about her. Nate was a little overwhelmed with the kids' questions. Ha ha...He should be used to crazy children by now. :)

Not sure how to explain the Beast Child:

Or his new beastly laugh:

Things to note...

1) Out loud I said I want another little baby to hold. Mason said, "Go get a baby at Wal-mart!" hee hee
2) We (or just I) was a little unprepared for FHE activity/dessert on Monday. But we just had a Superbowl feast the day before. *ding ding* IDEA: Let's have a burp contest with root beer. Activity and treat in one. Okay, it was a low point in my FHE planning...
3) Mason likes t.v. now. And he definitely relaxes when he's boob-tubing it..

 4) Abraham Lincoln Dress Rehearsal. :) We have been working on a speech, poster, 10 facts, report, diarhama, costume, etc. etc. etc for this class project. Today is the day, and she is ready! Hailey practised the "funny part" of the report where she explains that Abraham Lincoln used to keep money and letters in his top hat, and than she puts her head forward and out slips the huge penny (in her right hand in the pic below). She is so worried it will fall on the ground. I am sure I will get a play by play this afternoon...

January is lame-o.

I think it's been a month since I have seen this blog last. I keep thinking of all the funny things I am forgeting to write down, but I deciding I don't need to beat myself up about it. Like President Hinkley said, "Just do your best." : D

(YES! I totally have an excuse...)

Besides, January is dumb. Especially Wednesday and Thursdays. Sunday and Monday have a spiritual high from church and FHE, Friday and Saturday = date nights and sleep-ins, but the middle of the week is just as fun as poo.
The one highlight of this month is watching Tyler play basketball. He's on the Junior Jazz team through the city and also a traveling team. As the biggest kid, he is the "ball stealer" under the net. I am needing to learn the game better because I have a feeling that I will be watching many more to come. His last game they scored 20 points. Tyler scored 16 himself. :) What a kid.
But the problem is that when I watch him play my heart bursts from love and pride and all those goody momma feelings. He still runs the way he ran when he was three. He raises his eyebrows to try and stop from crying. His feet are humongous and it makes me want to squeeze him in a tight momma bear hug. But I have been told that I can't say "You are SO adorable and cute" during half-time. We agreed on some code words that I am allowed to say instead, (but not during the game, only before and after). And so I now yell random things that I hear Nate yell, except I don't really know when to say them.

"Defense!"

"Box out!"

"You should've got that!"

Anyhoo...Here he is, #14:

 The Vernal newspaper came and took pictures, (except I didn't know he was a photographer from the newspaper). I thought, "If that guy can go under the net during the game, so can I!". So I did. :) Thank goodness no one yelled at me. hee hee

 Boy has it been a fight trying to teach Mason not to go past the black line. He's pushing the limits...

But the cutest thing is watching these two boys love each other. Last night around midnight I went and checked on them and Tyler was asleep in Mason's bed (bottom bunk) holding him in his arms all cuddled up. He also loves to rock him to sleep. Who cares that there are 9 years between them? They are best buds anyway....