burke is nine!

Burke turned nine on Friday the 13th! He started the day by going to the store to pick out a box of cold cereal with Rob, and to buy donuts for Burke's school class. Rob also gave him a couple of dollars to buy a smoothie at school for a special treat (they do Smoothie Friday every week, and our kids have never participated).

Per Burke's request we had grilled hamburgers, corn on the cob, baked beans, and fresh fruit salad for dinner. On a personal note I have to mention that I think I ate the best burger of my life last night (with cheese, grilled pineapple, tomato, red onion, BBQ sauce, etc.). Delicious!

After dinner it was finally time to open gifts (oh, the torture to have to wait so long!).

To find his final gift, Burke was given a clue inside of a card, which lead to...

A tether ball set! I've mentioned how much our boys are into tetherball these days. This was a total surprise to them.

Everyone helped put it together:

Let the fun begin!

It was a beautiful evening and everyone found something to do. Liv is getting pretty good at jumping:
Silly Liv climbed into the hoop.

Tosh stayed busy moving rocks and running fast!

Rob showed off his mad dunking skills (on what, 7 1/2 feet?).

We let the kids play until it was dark and then came in for cake and ice cream. I had printed out "Happy 9th Burke" in a Harry Potter font and cut it out to use as a stencil on the cake... it didn't work as planned, so I ended up covering the cake with sprinkles. Burke and I both love sprinkles, so I knew he would love it anyway. It was Burke's very favorite chocolate cake with my homemade chocolate frosting that tastes like chocolate mousse!

Yummmm!

Happy Birthday, Burke! We love you so much and appreciate all that we learn from you.

p.s. Burke and Hewitt were up at 6:30 this morning (Saturday) and already out playing tetherball!

LiVvY iS tWo!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Lady Liv! I wanted today to be a fun one for Liv so we hit the zoo after picking Tosh up from school.

The kids all ready to roll (literally):


We enjoyed a picnic with friends and then hit the splash area.

Liv LOVED it!

Liv eating a yummy watermelon sucker:

Pizza for dinner (one of Liv's favorites):

Presents for ME?

Liv has just recently started to play with her dolls. She was so thrilled with these toys for her babies and took care of them all evening.

For the cake I decided to go with a simple "water/Dora" theme. Two things she seems to like a lot. (When Hewitt saw the cake this afternoon he said, "You can't have three Doras on a cake!"
When Tosh saw the cake he said, "Aw, cute! This cake is so cute," like a grown-up might say.)

This little girl is very loved.

And wasn't she sweet to want to share?

And to wrap it up, a short video clip from the zoo. Happy Birthday, Liv! We sure love you!!!

mom's day and more

It's been a busy week and weekend. I'll share some highlights and photos.

Liv managed to cover herself in mashed potatoes and broccoli one night while Rob was working late (and I was helping Tosh in the bathroom). I laughed that she got food virtually everywhere, except that her clothes were almost perfectly clean (she's a bib ripper-offer).

Tosh was not happy with me before preschool one morning because I styled his hair in a faux-hawk (but it looked so cute!). I love that little pouty face.

Happy Tosh never stays away too long...
I love this darling hand-me-down outfit from Liv's cousin. Liv loves to wear skirts and dresses. She will audibly gasp when I present something new for her to wear. Get your last look at age one, folks. This girl is hours away from being two!

I've obviously been slightly preoccupied mentally and completely forgot about "Mom's and Muffins" and Hewitt's kindergarten program on Friday morning. I had asked Rob to put it on his work calendar (so we wouldn't forget and so he would remember to go in late), and I got a call from Rob at 8:20am reminding me that I was supposed to be at the school in 10 minutes for the program. It was one of those mornings when Tosh, Liv and I were all still in PJs, and I frantically rushed to throw some clothes on and dropped my pajama-clad kids off at a friend's house. I was 15 minutes late to the program (and missed the singing, unfortunately), but got there right before the teacher called up each child to present a gift to his (or her) mother. Amazingly, Hewitt didn't seem to notice my late arrival and we were able to work on a couple of cute projects together. I had been nervous because when I had arrived a few minutes late on "Grandparent's Day" last fall (because I had taken some food to Burke's classroom), Hewitt was scanning the room and looking very concerned and worried. When he saw that I was there, he announced loudly, "OK we can start now, my mom is here..." or something like that.

Hewitt with a cute letter he had written for me:

A closer look:

Burke and Hewitt are obsessed with tether ball and have hung a soft knit ball from our loft so they can play in our entry way.

Great action shot of Hewitt:

Burke got two new pairs of glasses. His favorite's look like Harry Potter, but these are my favorite. I think he looks so grown up.

He is really starting to enjoy playing the piano and figuring out scales, Star Wars, and how to play things in different keys.

I had a very nice Mother's Day. The boys had all made me a present and I loved the Cub Scout/Boy Scout lanyard that Burke made me for my mother's pins (would you believe it made me get teary? It's that Dunning blood).

Tosh gave me the cutest card and bath salts. After I opened it he said, "Isn't that such a nice gift, Mom?" What a sweetie.

Liv looked super darling yesterday. I'm not sure where this hand-me-down originated. I'm guessing it might be something Rob's sisters wore? Of course this is post-church after she had taken off one sock/shoe:

Rob treated me very well yesterday and really surprised me with a few different gifts. I snuggled with the kids on the couch and took a nap while Rob made dinner and dessert. It was a very nice day in all. I was sad not to be with my mother on Mother's Day, but she is sounding better and better on the phone. I am hoping that she will be out of the hospital before we visit in a couple of weeks. We are really looking forward to seeing our families!!!

I will most likely be posting a couple more times about our birthday kids this week so stay tuned...

for my mom

may days

I got Tosh's preschool photo back this week. This is a photo of a photo (never awesome), but I think he looks so cute:
Liv is obsessed with water. Her current thing is to climb up on the counters and turn on the kitchen faucet. As always, I feel like much of my day is keeping her off of the counters! At least she has gotten really good at climbing down from things.

The first skinny-dipping of the season on Thursday night:

The weather was amazing this weekend; 80 degrees with a nice breeze. Liv and I went swimming (stood in the shallow area) on Saturday morning at it felt really great. Not quite warm enough for me to jump right in, but felt perfect on our feet and legs. Liv was in heaven.

Rob took about four loads to the dump drop-off on Saturday. All of the cement curbing he pulled out of the backyard and the shattered backboard, etc. Now we just have lots of weeding to do and we'll be ready to fill in the yard with granite gravel.

I've curled Liv's hair a couple of times this week. It has sort of an 80's feathered look because it is so fine.

As I was downloading photos last night, I found a bunch from a couple of weeks ago that I missed and thought were cute. Liv's eyes look so big in this one:

Tosh being silly (and pretending to be a little shy):

No photos of my older boys this week. They aren't around as much, I guess. I can't think of much to report except that they enjoyed "field day" at school. Burke just finished the Harry Potter series for the third time and is already on book two again. I meant to have something new waiting for him that I planned to insist that he start before he got going again, but he was too sneaky and quick about it :).

I can't believe it is already May, and what I refer to as "Birthday Month." Liv is almost two, Burke is almost 9, and Tosh is almost 4. Crazy.

Well, I had some very rough moments this week, if I'm being honest. I want to share some of the high points though:

Rob stopped working sort of abruptly to accompany me to the temple while my mom was in surgery on Thursday morning. We were able to do sealings which was a great reminder to me that I have been sealed for time and all eternity not only to him, but to my wonderful parents. The sealer took a few minutes to talk about the promises of the resurrection and I really felt he was inspired to talk about that just for my benefit. Rob has been very supportive all week and even grabbed dinner out a few different times so I wouldn't have to worry about it.

My mom's surgery went very well. They were able to remove the tumor from her pancreas and she is recuperating and doing a little better each day.

We had Hewitt tested for same gifted program that Burke is in and he did very well and got in. It was also announced that they will be opening a gifted academy in Chandler this coming school year. I'm crossing my fingers that both boys will be able to go there (I think our chances are pretty good, so we'll see).

I mentioned last week that I am now working with the primary kids at church. Our first Sunday in charge was a bit crazy, but went really well overall. It was fun having both Tosh and Hewitt in the younger group, and Burke in the older group. I love that I will be able to teach and watch all of my children in sharing/singing time. I know I am biased, but they are all so cute and sing their little hearts out. It was one of those moments yesterday that makes me feel proud of my good kids, and so happy that I am blessed to be their mom.