pablo, anyone?

We had a fun movie-themed cub scout pack meeting a last week. Burke earned several pins, his Webelos badge, and the Arrow of Light awards. Good work, B.T.!  There were lots of cute decorations, fun foods, and they showed movies the boys had made in their den meetings.  

Tosh must have had too many nachos, cupcakes, and Twizzlers, because he was really sick the next morning with a stomach ache (he felt better after throwing up a couple of times).  So happy it wasn't the flu!  He kept walking around all hunched over carrying a bowl, just in case.

I took Burke and Hewitt to the ortho to have their expanders checked, and the orthodontist said that Burke had a couple of baby teeth that needed to come out soon, or he would end up possibly needing surgery down the road.  Luckily our dentist is in the same office and had a cancellation right then so we were able to go ahead and get it done then instead of coming back in.  Burke was a bit nervous, and was asking if it would hurt. So thankful for local anesthesia--look at the roots on those teeth!

 Burke got two new pairs of glasses this week after his old pair broke.  Apparently my oldest two boys weren't being very nice to each other and Hewitt threw Burke's glasses out on our basketball court :(.  I believe that Rob has collected $40 from Hewitt (he's a saver) to help pay for the glasses.  This reminds me that we established a "Contention-free Week" during our family home evening on Monday.  We each pledged to be 'peacemakers' and named one specific thing we could do, or NOT do to have less contention in our home.  It seems to be helping and the kids have been doing better (Burke especially has been kinder and more patient with the younger kids).

Rob bought a couple of new piano books for Burke and it's been fun to hear some classical music coming from our piano (rare).  Sometimes I forget that Rob knows how to play other people's music :).

Tosh has really become a pro at making his own oatmeal in the microwave (and wants to do everything without any help).  He's been really hungry before bed lately so it's great that he can do this on his own.

Per Tosh's request, I signed up to go on the kindergarten field trip this week.  I volunteer a lot in his class as well as teaching Art Masterpiece, but would you believe I've never been on a school field trip, like ever? I'm not just talking about Tosh, but with any of my boys (Rob has attended several field trips though).  I arranged for a friend to pick Liv up from preschool so I could have a turn at riding on the sweet yellow school bus with a bunch of cute kiddos.  We drove to Tempe to attend a play called, "Recipe for Disaster" and it was fun.  I sat with Tosh and a darling little girl (Keira) and I noticed that they were holding hands at one point on the bus (when they weren't being goofy and having fun taking pictures).

After the play, we ate our sack lunches on the grass outside (exact same place where our Ragnar race ended).  It was pretty windy.  Tosh is such a crack-up.  He's eating raisins here:

Tosh and his friends had fun running around and climbing trees.  It was very entertaining to watch how some of the girls talk to Tosh and see them chase him around.

Good times!

 On the way home:

We had some friends over for dinner last night and Liv and I were able to get our baby fix.  Liv has recently told me that she would like a baby sister AND baby brother. I've offered to watch Baby Jace on Thursdays when his mom takes his sister to swimming lessons.  I think this will be fun for Livvy and me.  She was such a good little mommy and loved helping hold Jace's bottle:

 Rob and I taught a class at our Stake Women's Conference yesterday.  We've been preparing for about a month and I'm so relieved that it went well and is behind us :).  Rob and I have both done a lot of teaching and speaking, but never together.  I think it's been good for us to learn to work together (trek also helped with that), and it's been good for me to be a little more focused spiritually.  I've noticed a difference in how I feel and it's a positive thing.

Tonight is our trek fireside--they are showing a video and we are also breaking into our families for a bit.  I should mention that we had our trek kids over for dinner last Saturday and it was fun to have them in our home.  We fed them dinner and visited and then they ended up playing some music upstairs (two of the boys play guitar, Rob was on drums, and the girls were singing in the microphones).  We also played some games and had fresh strawberry shortcake.  They are good kids and our kids had fun meeting them.

One other totally random thing that I want in the books is that Liv calls cantaloupe 'pablo.'  She told Rob that she wanted some pablo one day and it took him forever to figure out what she was talking about.  The phrase has stuck.  We will be having some 'pablo' for dinner tonight, in fact.  You are welcome to join us.

liv's latest

Livvy's been a bit of a handful lately.  I think she's just really trying to 'live up' being three (she's just a few weeks away from turning four, you know).

Here are some of the things you may find her doing around here...

Throwing a tantrum:

It doesn't happen very often thankfully, but she had a fairly colossal tantrum about week ago.  She was upset about her bunny being in the wash and really got quite upset and was throwing herself around (no clue where she gets that. hmmm).  She finally settled down when I held and rocked her (notice how sweaty her hair got during the tantrum).  She sure loves that bunny.

Dancing:

Singing (with the Muppets):

Dressing herself (love the 'slip' she was wearing as a skirt):

Helping herself (she is very independent and rarely asks for help):

Getting messy (dumped a little too much parmesan cheese on her spaghetti):

Making concoctions (this time it was hair elastics, baby wipes, pain brushes and LOTS of soap):

Learning to skip:

Playing pretend (this cucumber was the "princess" talking to Indiana Jones):

Enjoying a haircut (what girl doesn't?):

Being funny!

She has started to say "Tosh" like she is from New Jersey (Tawsh).

I got a call from Tosh's teacher yesterday reporting that he had been parroting her in class and it was very disruptive.  I was discussing this with Tosh on the way home from the bus stop and said something about how it wasn't OK to be copying like that.  Liv then piped in, "Tawsh, you need to cough into your elbow!  Like this (cough, cough)."  Apparently she thought Tosh was being busted for coughing in class :)

Love our cute, silly girl!

Easters

The kids went back to school one week ago last Tuesday (the 26th).  We tried to make the most of the last day of spring break and met some friends at the park:

We also hit the library and a book on display caught my eye:

 It's a sweet little book (that made me cry).  The Tosh in this story has sweet cornrows and is almost as cute as our Tosh.

While I'm on the subject of Tosh, I just have to share this RAD school photo proof that came home one day (I mean did the photographer even try to get a good photo?  Do they not want my money?).  I had to laugh out loud:

I went home teaching with Rob one night last week (to my third cousin, Denise Hatch).  Liv was in bed asleep and we left the three boys reading books (with Burke in charge) for about 45 minutes.  When we got home we found Tosh at the top of the stairs sound asleep:

The kids had the Friday before Easter off of school.  Hewitt did his first building project for cub scouts and made a birdhouse:

We put some birdseed in it and hope that some birds stop by.

 Rob's soccer season came to an end last weekend.  I finally thought to get a few photos with my phone (I should really try to remember to get out my 'real' camera one of these days).  Rob earned the "Golden Boot" award for most goals in the league this season.  I took these photos without noticing how cute and proud Liv looks holding on to her daddy:

Last Saturday, both Burke and Hewitt had expanders put in by the orthodontist.  Here they are right before:

It has been a bit of a challenge for them!  It was hard to swallow and eat for several days.  I have to tighten the expanders every night and the boys are eating much less which is a bit worrisome, especially since they don't eat much to begin with.   I think they get the actual braces at the end of this month.

It feels like summer weather here (getting into the high 80s already).  I sure love grilling yummy foods:

We dyed Easter eggs last Saturday.  At one point Tosh asked, "Are these eggs fried or scrambled?" 

I didn't get an Easter photo of the kids this year.  It really wasn't the greatest morning, unfortunately (I'm still adjusting to 9:00AM church among other things).  However, we ended up having a lovely dinner and evening.  The Lundells invited us to join them (with Alecia's extended family) for Easter dinner.  I brought frog eye salad and some glazed carrots.  It was nice not to have to do the entire dinner on a holiday and there was tons of yummy food and great company.  The Easter Bunny even showed up and there was a big egg hunt!

Liv rounding the corner to see the bunny:

I couldn't believe it, but she was afraid of the Easter Bunny and wouldn't get too close.

She loved the egg hunt though:

 Big group shot.  I love this one of Tosh and his buddies, Wyatt and Bella:

Liv eventually noticed the bunny from the back said to Rob, "Ha ha ha! He has a person neck!"  She never would get close though...

Tosh and the Easter Bunny:

Burke refused to be in this family photo with the Easter Bunny (beginning of pre-teen attitude, perhaps?):

Hewitt was the Student of the Week and made a poster about himself:

I love the "Self Portrait" he drew at the bottom.  It says, "I have very long hair" and "I don't have a necklace but I drew one any way."  Hilarious kid.

Liv got some bubbles for Easter from her primary teacher and she blew bubbles while we waited for Tosh's bus on Monday.

Tosh loved joining in the fun after the bus arrived:

Jazz hands:

 Love this face:

Liv has been playing with toilet paper quite a bit this week (sigh).  In fact there is a pile on the desk in her room right now.  She was doing her 'thing' the other morning and I asked her what she was doing or if she was making a mess (something like that), and she responded with, "I'm not making a mess, I'm playing Sacrament" and then covered some water and bread with white toilet paper:

Our pool is still mighty cold, but the kids have all braved it this week.  The older boys haven't gotten completely in, but Tosh was fully swimming under the water!  Too cold for me! 

 Hewitt had an assignment to make something out of recycled material and decided to make a robot.  He was so excited about it, and that it ended up being over 6 feet tall!

My mom's birthday was yesterday.  I love this photo of her.
Happy 72nd, Momma!