stuff that's going on (as Burke calls it)

We had a nice Valentine's Day, although it was pretty much a regular Monday night. We did have strawberry floats for our Family Night treat and decorated homemade heart sugar cookies. (Rob actually went to the Pete Yorn concert that night with a friend. I really didn't care as they left after the younger kids went to bed, and we had gone out for dinner on Saturday night. I figured if two guys wanted to go out on Valentine's Day, then why should I care.)

Burke and Hewitt decorated Valentine boxes for their class parties. Burke's box was cleared of all candy that day, I believe. I laughed that he didn't even open most of the cards, he was just looking for candy. He also left all wrappers and cards in the box instead of throwing anything away:


Hewitt's box looks just as it did when he brought it home almost a week later.

He certainly is missing the sweet tooth that all of his siblings seem to have gotten...

My kitchen faucet was not fixed until Wednesday...I was really grateful to have a working kitchen sink after 8 full days of not having one. It is amazing the little things I take for granted every day.

Tosh and I like to play games together while Livvy is napping. She has been going down for a nap later and I thought we could try to play something with her. She was really excited to play, but mostly just wanted to play with the pieces:

She is better with puzzles and building with blocks. She is also letting me read to her for longer periods of time (she seems to like books with photos of real babies and with Elmo best).

Hewitt had a track meet on Thursday. We got a call from the school that afternoon telling us that Hewitt had been hit in the face with a tetherball and that we would need to bring in a new shirt and shorts as his were covered in blood. By the time I got to the nurse's office, the bleeding had stopped, but I guess that it started bleeding again several times... His face was a little puffy and I was a little nervous about him running a mile and a half and then going to soccer practice, but he did great.

Good running, Hewitt!

The painters refinished our garage doors and front door this week. The front door was a huge process as they sanded the entire thing down so much I thought that they had put brand new wood pieces up! We are really pleased with the results.

Tosh, Liv and I were surprised on Friday morning to discover this in our driveway after dropping the older boys off at school:

Our backyard is all prepped now to pour concrete. It has rained all weekend, so they are planning to pour this coming Tuesday.

Rob is getting really excited about having a basketball court, as I'm sure you can imagine if you know him at all... It will be nice to have a big place where the kids can play, not only basketball, but to ride bikes and to rollerblade.

Rob and I went out last night to Cheesecake Factory with some friends. We had a really great time, and I loved everything we ordered. Yesterday was a pretty indulgent food day for me, actually. I can't believe I am going to admit this, but I had a Bosa donut for breakfast (buttermilk bar- seriously the best donut I've ever eaten in my life); BBQ chicken pizza for lunch, and then chicken madeira for dinner (with some incredible appetizers too). Delicious. I love food. I've had some allergy issues this week and although I feel fine, I have laryngitis and I sound pretty terrible.

The kids were so squirmy in church today and louder than usual (I think they seem even louder when I can only whisper). Tosh was taking forever to pick a sacrament cup today. Here is how it went:
Tosh: Which one has the most? Does this one have the most (pointing)? Does THIS one have the most? Does THIS one have the most?
Rob (whispering): I don't know.

Me (whispering): Just take one.
Tosh: Does this one have the most?
Rob: Probably (getting impatient); yes, that one has the most.
Tosh (drinks the water): Wow. That didn't seem like it had the most.

Later during the meeting during one of the talks, Tosh says (loudly): "Huh? Did she just say Han Solo?" I have no idea what he heard...

Lastly, here is Hewitt singing. He loves this song and loves singing it. I also have to point out the sweater vest he is wearing that is turned inside out and over a t-shirt. Cute Hewitt!

Rob leaves this Saturday for Malaysia. He will be gone for two weeks!!! I've been able to keep the anxiety to a minimum for the most part. I feel like I have lots to do this week so I feel prepared to be a single mom and on top of everything while he's gone.

happy valentine's day!

We love you!

what i'm getting for valentine's day

This week has been a little crazier than usual. I spent the majority of the week feeling slightly claustrophobic due to plastic covering all of the doors and windows. The painters have completed the house and now just have to finish painting the fence and pool area, and then stain our front door and garage doors. Picking colors was a tad stressful (our HOA provided 15 choices), but I really feel good about our choice. The base color is a bit darker (Mesa Tan) than before and our accents (which had faded so much we didn't know we had an accent color) are now a brick red color (Red Hook). I think the colors make it a little more bold/interesting, yet still fit the southwestern design of the home. Here is a shot I took this afternoon. I'll take a another photo after the doors are finished (will be a darker stain).

Did you notice that blue sky? The weather has been gorgeous this week. Cool enough for long sleeves/sweatshirt in the shade and then nice and warm in the sun (into the 70s). Love it.

Liv is now 21 months. That is seeming awfully close to two; I guess it's just around the corner, really.

She is funny, often clingy, and yet getting more and more independent at the same time.

She climbed up on the counter and helped herself to this cantaloupe:

I took just the older boys to the Blue and Gold banquet this week. They had all sorts of balloon things and magic tricks and other things that my boys loved. Here is a silly shot of Hewitt with some of the treasures:

Hewitt is the "Star of the Week" this week and he helped me put together and decorate his poster on Friday. I had printed several photos of him and it was interesting to me how particular he was about which pictures he wanted to use and how he wanted everything arranged. He is so laid back sometimes, yet such a perfectionist about other things. He always keeps me guessing.

Burke finished reading the Harry Potter series last weekend and started reading it again and is already in book four again. Book four! He tries to read about every minute he can: in the car, while he is eating (if we let him), etc. I caught this shot of him just after we got home from church today as he was eating some cereal:

A couple of cute ones of Tosh taken today:

Liv actually kept a little clip in her hair for all of church today. I got these cute pink shoes as a baby shower gift from my friend Amy, and I couldn't believe it when she fit into them today:

Of course after church the shoes and flower clip were gone and she was able to run around like a free woman:

She spends most of her time playing with balls, cars and Legos...I love it!

(I think that red accent looks good with the red tile on our back porch...)

Other things from the week: Rob and I chaperoned a youth, girl's choice Valentine dance last night. The turnout wasn't great (100 kids) and the kids were slow to get dancing so we got out there to kick things off. I've mentioned before that you could call Rob a somewhat loud dancer, well, the kids (and other chaperones) got such a kick out of him. It was hilarious to me that a lot of the kids would follow whatever Rob was doing on the dance floor, like pretending to jump rope, the macarena (to a random song-not the macarena song), the moonwalk, and whatever else he was doing at the time. I probably got close to a dozen comments about him. What can I say? He loves to get his groove on.

Our kitchen faucet completely busted on Wednesday. I pulled it out to use it as a hose to fill up my mop bucket that morning, and the next time I tried to use it, it literally sprayed water everywhere like a fountain. I was able to turn it off, but by that evening it was so messed up that we couldn't get the water to stop spraying without turning off the water from down below (it was spraying Tosh and his food at the bar and he was crying and screaming, poor kid). Even our handyman couldn't fix it and we are hoping that a replacement will be in the mail tomorrow. It has been such a pain not being able to use the kitchen sink for the last five days! All I want for Valentine's Day is a working kitchen sink. And new exterior paint, of course.

kid close-ups

BURKE:

HEWITT:

TOSH:

LIV:

where february finds us

I thought we were done with the stomach flu last week, but it turns out we weren't. Burke was home sick two days this past week. He was sicker than he's been in a long, long time. He even fell asleep in his favorite chair one afternoon (has to be the first time he has napped at all in about four or five years). At least Burke had more time to read this week (we are both in Harry Potter book 7 now, and I must admit to shedding some tears at the end of book 6).


Liv's hair is barely long enough for a pony tail now.

Liv is such a monkey! She is constantly climbing up on the stools and onto the bar:

Rob reading with the younger boys:

I had a really interesting conversation with Tosh about what happens when we die. He asked why and when we will die, and also about where we go after we die. When I told him that we will go to heaven to live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus he said, "But earth is really fun!" He also asked me how will we get to heaven and then answered his own question with, "We're probly gonna use a helicopter (said "hel-E-copter").

I love these random shots:

It was the coldest it's been since we've moved here. Down to 27 degrees some mornings. Luckily it warmed up yesterday to allow for some yard work. We are starting some pretty big projects. Rob is getting our backyard ready to put in a concrete pad for a basketball court, and we are having the house painted (exterior) this coming week.

Burke loves working in the yard and helped Rob find and disconnect all of the sprinklers (where concrete is going).

A friend of ours came over yesterday to take some photos of our family for our Valentine card (see former post). Here are a couple of cute candids he caught:

He took a few of just Rob and me together.

Later that night we showed up at our ward activity (a fun game night and dessert bar for the adults) to discover this photo on some of the game tables:

Ha ha! Do you recognize Tosh's hair? No one believes when we tell them that Rob used to have Tosh's locks, only in blonde. Hilarious!