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!