Blue & Gold Banquet...or "The Army Party"

Tonight was the Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet. For church I have helped in primary for the last few years and have been part of the Cub Scout program. The boys LOVE being able to go to the big events like this one and the Pinewood Derby every year. The theme tonight was army and military stuff. They were in heaven. Every year there is a cake contest (ours is a cake auction to do fundraising for the scout program). There was a really cool tank cake, an aircraft carrier, a battle scene, etc. The boys were really bummed that we didn't get a cake, but they sold for between $50 and $120. Maybe next year I'll make a really ugly cake and then buy it for $10. It was a fun time anyway! This picture is for Uncle Jeremy...they got Navy stickers that are now stuck proudly on the wall by their beds. Go Navy!

Thank you for pink jelly beans...

Well Savannah has decided she wants to be pottytrained...HALLELUJAH! On Saturday I asked if she wanted to wear her "big girl underwear". She had accidents all day but would go whenever I asked her. So I put her in a pull-up and she was doing okay. Well yesterday morning we went to Walmart and she saw a bag of all-pink jelly beans (for Easter). She held onto them like they were gold...and they became her "potty treat." Since then as long as we're at home she has been almost completely dry. She was dry when she woke up this morning and has been dry all day!!!!! (On a side note, she's been potty-trained for #2 for almost a year now...she's a little backward.) Hooray for pink jelly beans!!! Now if you've never potty-trained a child please bear with me, but this is a very exciting day in my life. Also if you know Zach and the fact that it took over a year and a half to potty-train him...well let's just say this time around is 100% better. She now refuses to wear "baby diapers" and I'm very happy about that.
Update: Today (Sunday) Savannah woke up dry and has been dry the entire day...100%!!! She's even worn My Little Pony "panties" all afternoon and is pretty excited about that. Yeah!
Thank you so much to whoever invented pink jelly beans.

Austin Nature & Science Center

Today we spent the afternoon at the Austin Nature & Science Center (I think that's what it's called). It's in Zilker Park in downtown Austin. The kids had a blast. First we went on the walking bridge over Town Lake (the Austin skyline is sort of in the background).

Right when you walk in there is a beehive that is behind glass for you to see. Just to the left of Savannah's head is a tube that goes outside. You can watch them go through the tube to the stacked layers of the hive. It was really cool to see. Zach was quite disturbed though...if you know Zach you are really impressed right now that he is this close to it. He is terrified of anything that flies (even trapped in casing).

The definite highlight of the day was the "dino pit."

They have "dinosaur fossils" buried in big sand pits for the kids to dig up. They all loved it...and made me promise to bring them back for longer next time. Zach was more excited than I've seen him in quite a while. He got so into it. One quote was "I ABSOLUTELY need that brush right now so I can see these bones." He now wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up. (On a side note...I asked the others what they want to be. Savannah wants to be Dora when she grows up and Jacob wants to be a race car driver.)

Connor was so good and mellow...just kickin' back watching everything going on around him.

There was also some exhibits of local animals...a coyote, fox, raccoon, skunk, opposum, etc. Indoors they had some frogs, fish, spiders, and such. It was a fun time!!! Zach insisted that we have to bring Grandma and Grandpa there when they come so that they can help him dig for bones. "And Grandma needs to pack her M&M's."

Jacob's medal

Today was Jacob's last basketball game. He was so happy because they actually won (for the second time this season)! He also made his first basket during warm-ups...granny-style. But he was so, so excited. After the game each boy got a league medal and he wore it the whole day when he was at home...even with his pajamas. When he went to bed it got a place of honor in his "special basket," at least until he wakes up tomorrow. He asked if he could take it to school on Monday to show his friends. I'm happy that he's so proud of his accomplishments!

I Not a Monster!

Zach: Ahhhhhhh! (Running away from Savannah because he doesn't want to play with her.

Savannah: (Thinking Zach is scared of her) "I not a monster Zach. It's okay! It's just me, Nana. I promise. I not a monster. Come play with me."

Bye-Bye Bottles & A Trip to the Dentist

Well Connor had his last bottle of formula last night. The formula is gone, and so are the bottles. I've been giving him milk in a cup for a couple of weeks too , and it hasn't even phased him. So the bottles are gone...now I just need to get rid of the pacifier. The funny thing is that he likes to walk around while he drinks it. I thought this was cute. Connor saw Savannah's cup on the table and came over and sort of tossed his cup up there too.

Connor almost always has some sort of rag or blanket hanging out of his mouth. That's his favorite thing to chew on. The thing that's so adorable is that he doesn't hold it with his hands. He likes his hands free to get into stuff...so the blanket just hangs there.

Today I took all 4 kids for dental cleanings and check-ups (I got Jacob out of school and then took him back after). They all did really good considering they were short-staffed and we were there for 2 hours during lunch and nap-time. Connor had his first "cleaning." I think it's hilarious that they do babies, but it's covered by insurance...so why not?

New Cousin!

Dallin's sister Amy had her baby this morning! They named him Talmage Elkins. The kids now have 10 cousins on Dallin's side (and the oldest is only 8)...so there are 14 grandkids all together. It's quite the party when we all get together! Congratulations Amy & Rob!

What a morning...

5:05am - Connor is crying because he heard Jacob eating breakfast. I come out and Jacob is fully dressed and almost done with breakfast. Why is he up 2 hours before light? Because the tooth fairy came of course. We have a new rule that he is not allowed to get out of bed before 6:00am. I'm buying a clock for his room TODAY!!!
5:15am - I send Jacob back to bed and get Connor calmed down in his bed. I go back to bed but can't fall asleep.
5:45am - Connor is up for good so I go get him (he never fell back asleep...neither did Jacob). Jacob and Zach both come running out of their room. Savannah is asleep on the couch. We manage to be quiet and keep her asleep until after 6:00.
6:15am - We're all eating breakfast while Jacob plays computer (to keep quiet).
6:30am - I figure since I'm up I might as well start the laundry.
7:00am - Well hey, why not clean too. I vacuum the kids room and dust the whole house. Poor Dallin who's still "trying" to sleep.
7:10am - Give Jacob a second breakfast so he won't be starving all morning.
7:25am - Take Jacob to school.
7:35am - Finish getting kids ready for day (Too bad we're not leaving the house this morning...I do need to go to Target. Maybe I'll give up cleaning and we'll go there.)
7:45am - Break toothbrush holder while cleaning bathroom and totally slice open my hand.
7:50am - Zach and Savannah decide they can't be in the same room together...oh the joy.
(Funny side story - a couple of days ago Zach sits down to eat breakfast and starts sniffing the air, then the table. He says "Was Savannah sitting here...because I don't want to sit here if she was.")
8:20am - Dallin leaves for work. I decide to take a break and read some blogs. I feel much better.

Holy Fluff!

Okay, that was a cheesy title...this post is about fluffy hair and holes in the mouth. I've always wondered what Savannah would look like with hair that's not so straight. I also bought her a headband but it won't stay in because her hair is so fine and straight...it just slides right out. Well I found my old pink sponge rollers and went to town.

The end result was pretty cute I think. But definitely not something we'll do real often. (She was crying because I made her wear the blue headband and she wanted to wear pink)

Jacob's top tooth has been loose since like October or something. The other one fell out months ago but this one was hanging on for dear life. I finally pulled it this morning. The adult tooth is almost all the way through already! Now he's got a nice, holy mouth.

Valentine's Day!

The kids had a blast yesterday! To start off with, I had told Jacob that I would have a valentine for him when he woke up...and Grandma had sent one too. The boys were so excited it took them an extra 45 min. to go to sleep. Then I hear Jacob at 5:45am! I went out to the kitchen and he was fully dressed, had already read 2 new books, played with some toys, and who knows what else. He was too wired to go back to bed so I turned on Star Wars and I went back to bed. I wish I had a picture but it was way too early to be thinking about that. Jacob got to have a Valentine's party with his class...complete with ice cream sundaes and "kissing" cookies (lips).

Zach's preschool didn't have a party but they did decorate boxes and exchange Valentines. The big highlight of the day though was going on the school bus on a field trip to the nursing home. They had made ladybugs to pass out and sang songs for the "really old grandmas and grandpas." Zach said he gave his ladybug to the "grandma who had lots of bloody noses." I thought that was a neat thing to do for Valentine's. His preschool is a Christian preschool so they really try to emphasize service, morals, etc.

Savannah had a little party with her music class on Tuesday. But yesterday she and Connor and I went to have lunch with Jacob at the school. Savannah loves doing that. Yesterday was especially neat because his class got to eat on the stage (for being extra good in the cafeteria the last few weeks). They closed the curtains and turned on a movie for them. Connor even loved that.

Connor loves boxing with the balloon that Dallin brought home for me...I just have to make sure he doesn't eat it.

Dallin also brought these flowers home (which are beautiful). But the little decorator in Zach said "Let's go pick some yellow ones and put them in. It needs yellow too."

American Idol

I usually don't watch much of American Idol, but I will be this season. Brooke White is one of the 24 finalists this season. She grew up in my ward and lived down the street. Just the sweetest girl you'll ever meet. So if you watch be sure and put your vote in for Brooke!!!

Backyard "battles"

We have had the greatest weather the last week or two. The kids have had a great time having "battles" in the backyard. They wear capes and take out the lightsabers. They make forts, or "planets" out of the slide. Connor was finally well enough to get some sunshine too yesterday. He loved walking around on the dead grass, but didn't like crawling in it when he fell down.

Daddy joining in for a Star Wars battle...

When the other kids are outside Connor stays right at the back door and "plays" too. He squeals and bangs and still gets really excited.

Of course it's more fun when Daddy comes to play too...

Birthday Boy!

Connor is 1! I just cannot believe it. He didn't want to take a nap today and was pretty mellow all day (so hardly any smiles for pictures). He got a new ride-on toy that Daddy & Zach picked out. He can even move it a little by himself and get off by himself. His favorite part though is all the noisy buttons. This is the only picture I got without his head down...

Enthralled by the noisy buttons (as were all the kids)...

When it came time to open presents from the grandparents he was perfectly content to let the older kids do the unwrapping. He got some new clothes (Yeah!) and a really noisy hippo from Grandma LeSueur. When you turn it on it shakes and laughs and talks. He just sits and stares at it for long periods of time.

He got his fingers into the frosting on his cake right when I set it down (of course) and Zach was excited to help him blow out the candle.

"What is this blue stuff all over my finger?"

Then he had a great time throwing the frosting all over the floor. He never even tasted it. What a fun day!

Love is in the air...

LOVE OF DECORATING FOR HOLIDAYS
Well Zach LOVES holidays. And his favorite part is seeing all the decorations. Some people in our neighborhood have Valentine's stuff out. Zach was very disgusted that I wasn't putting anything up. He asked if I would draw some hearts for him to cut out...this is the result. I did a few of the tiny hearts from scraps but he did all the rest. And this is only 2 walls...they're everywhere!!! And look at that cherubic face to go with it.

BROTHERLY LOVE
Savannah was being so, so clingy yesterday and I was trying to get a few things done. I asked Jacob to read to her for his school reading time. At first he wasn't too excited but then got really into it. The cute thing is that he's reading her Power Rangers.
LOVE OF...ROLLS?
I had to make 100 rolls for Enrichment last night. I also had to have a batch halfway done and then start another one there as part of a demonstration. I love rolls, but by the end of the day I was pretty sick of looking at them. I don't think I could work in a bakery.

Our not so great garage door...

Tonight I backed out of the garage to take Jacob to basketball practice. As I pushed the remote to shut the garage door it pulled or something on one side and bent the track on the other side. So our lovely garage door is hanging sideways and half-way open.

The bad news is that my van is stuck in the garage.
Update: It's cold outside!!! My little ones still have colds and their poor little noses walking to school...I felt bad for them.

The good news is that Dallin's car was out of the garage so he can go to work tomorrow. I also had no errands to run tomorrow, which is actually quite amazing. We also live just down the street from both the elementary school and preschool...it just better not rain.

And to make things even more exciting...this is not the first time it's happened!!!!! The same thing happened 2 or 3 months ago. The warranty people better get it right this time.

Germs

These are technically "Zach moments" but kind of long so I thought I'd just make a post out of them...

This one is very sweet. Last night Zach was saying our family prayer. At the end he paused for a minute and then said "Bless Prophet Hinckley to move to his new house in Heaven." He's such a sweet boy. He's very excited because today Connor and Jacob are both sick (again!), so it's just going to be Zach and I going to church today. He's so excited to have Mommy to himself for all of church.
Update: We got home from church and Savannah now has a really high fever. It's really going around here. A little girl sitting a couple of rows in front of us threw up all over her Mom during the Sacrament today. Not fun.

Okay, on to the germs. At breakfast I told Zach that Jacob wouldn't be coming to church because he had a fever again. This is the dialog that followed (I wrote it down as he was saying it...he couldn't see that though):

Zach: I only have one germ.

Mom: Oh really, where is it?

Zach: Right by my elbow and then it switches to my shoulder over here.

Mom: What kind of germ is that?

Zach: An itchy germ. Dinosaurs have it too.

Mom: Wow! That's amazing.

Zach: Blood. It's like a machine. You're body is like a machine.

Mom: Where did you learn that?

Zach: At school. Next year when I go to kindergarten I'll learn all about that stuff.

Good luck Uncle Justin!

For those who know my brother Justin, he is back in the U.S. If you didn't know...he was living in Brazil and got married there last January. His wife is named Ana Paula and she is pregnant with their first little boy, due the beginning of March. He found a job as a corrections officer (or something similar...I don't know the actual title) at the prison in Holbrook, AZ. My Uncle Mike lives there with his family, so it will be nice for him to have some family in town. My parents are moving Justin out there today. They are in the process of doing the paperwork for Ana Paula to come to the U.S., but it could be months. Justin will have to go back to Brazil to sign papers for the baby to be able to come also. So it will be a long process, but we're happy to have him closer (relatively speaking)! Good luck Justin & Ana Paula!