Movie Night

 For the last day of school we had a movie night in our backyard! We hung a huge screen from our swing set and projected a movie onto it. We had popcorn and movie candy and yummy lemonade. It was so fun!

Kate and Spencer

These two cousins are seriously the best of friends. It is so fun! They play so well together! Even when Kate was a bit of a loner and didn't really play with other kids much (she's grown out of that these days), she loved playing with Spencer. Kate is in her swimsuit, in case you were wondering where her clothes were. And this swinging position lasted all of 30 seconds hehe.

Miss Marin and I Attend the Ballet

I'll squash any rumors right her and now about the baby bump in this pic. It's just my gut :)

Marin and I went to the Cinderella Ballet with my friend and her daughter. She loved it! Our cute neighbor was in it so that was fun to try and pick her out. Marin loved being in the fancy Ellen Eccles Theatre. I just enjoyed having some alone time with Marin!

Andrew turns TWO!

Andrew and his cousin Spencer almost share a birthday! Andrew was born on Apr 22 and Spence on Apr 21 (just 3 years apart). Apparently all Spencer wanted in the world for his birthday was an ice cream cake. Since we usually combine their birthday parties, Andrew got one too. It was a huge hit, and had lots of RED frosting. I have a feeling these two are going to do great things someday...

Sidewalk Poetry

Everyone in first grade memorized a Shel Silverstein poem (2 kids per poem). They drew pictures of their poems and then the kids recited it them for their parents. It was nice and informal, as you walked past a kid's sidewalk square they recited their poem for you. Marin's poem was "Weird Bird." I have it memorized now too, since we recited it a million times to prepare. So grateful for the experiences my kids get in school.

Marin turns 7!

April is our family's birthday month. Three of our family members have their birthdays during April. This year I Marin wanted to have a Candy Land themed party. It was a lot of fun! I spent quite a bit of time on Pinterest searching for ideas and I was not disappointed. Although sometimes I cannot believe how out of control some moms get with their kids' birthday parties! Some people must spend thousands of dollars (and probably that many hours) on a birthday party. But that is a subject for it's own post. So the best part of the party was the life-sized Candy Land game. We used construction paper as game squares and set up a course in the basement. There were special squares that kids got to pick a small candy if they passed, but if they landed right on it they got a candy bar. It turned out even better than I expected!

The invites.. sorry bad picture. They were cuter in real life...

The cake. I actually made this one myself because it didn't require much skill. Just candy-placing skills. Marin was so thrilled. She said she didn't think a professional could have made a better cake! Ha!

I did have to apologize to their parents about the enormous amounts of candy that I sent home with their children. I had them put it all into cute little boxes so their parents could be in charge of how much they ate (or didn't eat ha ha). We have the cutest girls in our neighborhood and I was amazed at how polite everyone was! What a fun day!

Spring Break in St. George

Avree and I (sans working husbands) decided to pack our 5 kids into my SUV and brave the 6 hour drive to St. George. It was totally worth it to find some warm weather and SUN! We spent lots of time at the splash park downtown. It was just what I needed to survive the longest winter of my life!

Kate the Great Turns 4

Kate insisted on a "Tiana" (Princess And The Frog) birthday party this year. We kept it pretty low-key, but she was THRILLED. That is one of my favorite things about Kate the Great... she gets so excited about little things and is so expressive! The Ethingtons came up and we had a great southern meal to go with the whole New Orleans-y theme. Mitch and Matt served their missions in the South so it was right up their alley. We had jambalaya, baked mac and cheese, and biscuits. Of course Kate wanted cupcakes. She was so cute about her party and presents. I cannot believe she is already 4! Love my little spunky girl!

 

First Things First

I haven't posted for awhile because I got a new phone and I pretty much do anything online on that now. It is inconvenient to text an entire blog post so I have been putting it off. That is my excuse. I have several things to catch up on, including my batch of seriously yummy sugar cookies (hooray!), but I need to start with my own journaling. I need to do a Year In Review type post for my kids. These are the posts I look back on and think, "How did I forget that Marin used to say that?" But I forget so much. Here is what I don't want to forget:

Marin:
* Loving school, loving reading, loving math, loving her darling teacher Ms. Nielson (who also has red hair)
* Tries to use the vocab words she learns in school in everyday conversation. Like the other day when I was loading the dishwasher she snuck up behind me and yelled "Boo!" Then she said, "Mom, that was sure sly, wasn't it?" "Sly" being the new vocab word they learned that day ha ha. 
* Also likes to use big words. The other day she said she couldn't keep doing her homework because "her hands were just desecrated." 
* Started piano lessons and is plugging along, enjoying it so far, LOVES her teacher (so do I)
* Still can't stand lotion or chapstick, or other people's runny noses, or toothpaste, or messiness in general
* Still gets excited over small things
* Had a blast with our Christmas Elf on the Shelf
* Loves to leave notes for family members under our pillows
* After I bore my testimony in church one Sunday she passed me a note that said, "Good job on your tok"
* Loves school lunch. I get a play by play of her meal as part of our after school low-down chat.
* Has lost EIGHT teeth.
* Takes care of Andrew and is so sweet to him all the time
* Is a great little skier 
* Learned to swim without floaties this year and spent lots of time swimming in the lake this summer
* Playing quite well with Kate and Andrew most of the time
* Is growing up to be polite, sweet, kind, considerate, and we love her lots!

Kate:
* When anyone asks what her name is she says, "Kate-a-great"
* Loves to play pretend, especially make "cookies" for everyone with her pretend kitchen
* Loves to make real cookies and brownies with me and LOVES to lick the beaters and bowls
* Her obsession with all things Toy Story is finally starting to die down. But she just got some Jessie red glitter boots and a hat from my parents for Christmas and has worn them non-stop since.
* She still will not wear clothes indoors. When we get home she promptly strips down to her panties.
* She still loves her blankie and to snuggle
* She loves to dance and has some sweet moves that have been well-documented on camera (ha ha, just wait until she's a teenager, I will have some major leverage)
* Her cousin Spencer is her best friend
* She says great prayers, and tells everyone else what to say while they are praying
* We went to the Brigham City Temple open house and for month after that she made everyone say "Thanks for the temple" in our prayers
* She will be a Sunbeam this week in primary
* She is surprisingly well-behaved in her various classes
* Started gymnastics this year and loves it! She compliments her teacher quite often on her "pretty hair, pretty necklace" etc.
* When I put her to sleep at night she says, "Mom, I love you the great most"
* Took swimming lessons this year and is a little fish. It helps to have no fear of anything!
* Spent lots of time at the local pool and the lake swimming. She absolutely LOVES the water!
* Went skiing for the first time with Mitch and loved it. She calls skis "Ski days" and says she loves to go "ski day with daddy" which means "skiing with daddy"
* She announced at dinner the other night, "Santa Claus thinks mom's bum is going to get bigger!"
* She makes up little songs and sings throughout the day to herself
* She often calls me "Your Highness"
* Loves to use the words "actually" and "possibly" 
* She really is growing up quite a bit. She might seem a little wild sometimes, but she is very sensitive and sweet and loves to be hugged. I enjoy my little Kate the Great SO MUCH!

Andrew
* Copies everything Kate does
* Is starting to say lots of words and string words together. His famous sentences are "No, I NOT!" and "I nice!"
* He likes to get rocked to sleep with his blankie and 2 binkies. One for his mouth, and one to rub on his face.
* He is super smiley and sweet natured.
* He is a total daddy's boy.
* He knows how to hold his own thanks to his sister Kate
* He loves food! He's pretty small so you might now know it, but he really appreciates his food.
* He loves Cheetos or "chos" the most
* When he has a messy diaper he comes and tells me "I stinky"
* He gives kisses if you ask--even when we asked him to kiss Uncle Matt
* He likes to go through all of our family and repeat their names
* He loves to dance. For awhile he would just turn in circles over and over with a very serious look on his face
* He folds his arms for prayers and get a very serious, almost pained look on his face. We call it his "prayer face" and it's so funny!
* He is so different from his sisters in the way he plays with his toys. He throws everything and pounds everything 
* Loves his sisters and gets plenty of attention from both of them

I can't believe how fast time is flying and how fast my kids are growing up. The days are long, but the weeks just seem to fly by. How can that be?

So that is my kiddos' 2012 Year in Review. I wonder what 2013 will bring...