Everett's 4th Birthday

Everett's birthday turned out to be the first day of school for Claire and Scott so I was a little nervous about making his day special for him with the different schedules we were on. We put up decorations the night before, and I got up extra early to make a nice pancake breakfast for him. After seeing Claire off to school, Scott left for work, and Everett and I played games. I played some video games and some board games with him and I realized how much time we still had before lunch. So we got in the car and drove to a park. He played at the park happily (even though I'm sure he must have missed having Claire to play with). We came home for lunch and I started making his cake. He wanted a minion cake. It didn't quite turn out how I wanted it to, but he was happy with it, so I guess it's good enough. :) He wanted pizza for dinner of course and then we opened presents. I'm pretty sure his favorite gift was his pack of little cars, I could see the huge grin on his face when he opened them. He had his cake and ice cream and played with toys and I'm pretty sure he went to bed happy. :)

10 Things about Everett...

1. Everett is 4 years old. He is 33 pounds and is in the 28th percentile and he's 40 and a half inches tall, putting him in the 56th percentile.

2. Everett is our very fun loving, energetic boy. He can get pretty silly at times, especially when he's had sugar or we have visitors. He likes to run around, do races, jump off the furniture, and be wrestle around with his daddy and sister. :)

3. He loves to play with cars and race them around the basement. When he gets into his little games by himself, he tends to make a lot of explosion noises, which many times actually turns out to be little princess toy figures fighting each other.

4. He's our little comedian. Everett is always trying to make others laugh. He loves to make Claire laugh and more and more he really tries to make Seth laugh as well. His humor is mostly physical like bonking himself on the head, but he'll also try to get a laugh by making funny impressions or voices or whatever he can do that brings a smile.

5. And just for document sake I'd like to add that he still plays with his belly button when he drinks. That's usually the only time I've caught him playing with it, but it's such a funny habit. He also has a habit of chewing on his shirt, blanket, or Bounce (his monkey). He'll get his shirt all wet and always want to change it. 

6. His eyes are doing well. His eyes have been good in the fact that they haven't started crossing again at all since his surgery. I found out at his last appointment that they give him a much stronger prescription than he needs so that it'll help strengthen them so they won't cross. But eventually, the prescription should lessen. 

7. Everett is so smart. He knows all the letters of the alphabet and the sounds that they make. Since Claire started school last year and started learning how to read, he's picked up on it and can sound out many words himself. He's also pretty good at math. It's become a game for us to ask simple math questions and answer them to pass time sometimes. 

8. Everett has a few boys his age in his church class and we've gotten together for play dates occasionally. He plays pretty well with them. Whenever we go to the park he tends to make friends quickly and easily with other kids there. He loves to get involved in games of tag or hide n seek.

9. Everett is really close with Claire and he's definitely missed her company while she's been at school. When she's home, they are always playing together. And although Seth can't quite play with him the same way yet, I can tell they will be good buds eventually. Everett always tries making him laugh with a game of peek a boo or something. Seth loves being around Everett. They give each other hugs and kisses and Everett tries to wrestle with him until I tell him it's too rough. 

10. Favorite things... color: blue, food: pizza, animal: monkey, show: Animal Mechanicals, movie: Minions, dessert: chocolate ice cream, activity: video games, book: First Numbers, drink: root beer, game: Mario Kart, toy: cars

First Day of School

Claire is now in 1st grade! Can't believe it. She's now going to a full day of school, which has it's pros and cons. She's liking it and handling the long hours pretty well. She's in the dual immersion program which means her day is split into two classes with two different teachers, an english teacher and spanish teacher. :) It's been interesting adjusting to waking up early, making a packed lunch for her, and getting her all ready for the day. It's been fun. :)

Claire's 6th Birthday

Claire turned 6 years old! She chose a yummy pancake breakfast and then after getting ready we headed to the discovery park up in Pleasant Grove. Some friends met up with us and the kids had a blast playing hide and seek and having a picnic. We came home for quiet time while I baked Claire's cake so that afterwards they could decorate it. She chose a heart shaped cake with pink frosting and sprinkles. :)

When Scott came home from work we ate dinner - she really wanted crazy bread for her birthday dinner so Scott picked some up on the way home. We made spaghetti and cut up some watermelon to go with it, all of her favorite things. We opened presents after and then sang to her and ate some cake. :) 

The Saturday after her birthday we finished the celebrations with a trip to Build-A-Bear and then down to Spanish Fork for a party. She was so happy to party with her cousins. She had a wonderful weekend.

Claire let me have some fun with her 6 year photo shoot. We planned a styled photo shoot where she could paint while I got some cute shots of her. We both had fun! :)

And now a little bit about our Claire Bear...

1. Claire's 6 years old. She is 43.2 lbs (in the 41st percentile) and 44 inches tall (28th percentile).

2.Claire, like her parents, is very shy and quiet at first meeting, but after she warms up and with those she knows well, she's very friendly and very fun to be around.


3. Claire is truly our little artist. She loves to color. She'll use crayons, markers, paint, whatever she can. She's always drawing pictures for us and for her friends. I love it. Her drawings are so good, I love seeing her practice and have a hobby and get better and better at something.

4. She has grown up so quickly the last year and is helping me out more and more. She's a big help with her younger brothers and always keeps a protective eye on Seth for me. She's a very obedient and responsible little girl.

5.Claire will be starting 1st grade this school year. At the end of kindergarten she was learning to read and has practiced so much over the summer, mainly during our family scripture reading, but now she's reading so well! She's excited to start school again this year and to try out the dual immersion program and learn spanish as well!

6. She is a pretty picky eater. It's something she probably picked up from me. It's either a texture thing, or she doesn't like trying new things, things she's not used to. So she pretty much eats the same things everyday like PB and honey sandwiches for lunch. :)

7. She is still my very sensitive girl. Another trait she got from me. She can tear up quickly when she doesn't get what she wants or when her feelings are hurt, but with that sensitivity comes a very loving and caring personality.

8. She is very creative and imaginative. She's always cutting papers up and taping or stapling things together in funny ways. She is also a pro at pretending. She loves playing all sorts of imaginative games from regular house, to restaurant, to astronauts in space. 

9. Some of her favorites include - color: blue, food: spaghetti and bread sticks, animal: horse, show: My Little Pony, movie: Frozen, dessert: milkshakes, activity: drawing, book: If you take a Mouse to School, drink: root beer, game: Mario Kart, toy: camera

10. She picked up the term "best friend" recently. I've always worried about that term cuz I think it can be hurtful to those not considered the "best". But so far she has multiple best friends and what I love the most is that she considers Everett one of those. Everett and her are so close at times and they get along so well.

Pioneer Day

Since Pioneer day was on Sunday, there were celebrations on Saturday and Monday. Claire and Everett were invited to join their cousins in the children's parade down in Spanish Fork. They dressed up in cowboy attire and got to ride and wave to everyone in the parade. They really enjoyed it. :) Participating in the parade gave the kids all some free tickets for some fun activities at the fair, so afterwards we headed there next. The kids played, got snacks, made hats, and had a good time. We got snow cones and wore ourselves out completely. :)

Our Gardening Adventure

The idea began with a Relief Society Activity. I was in charge of  teaching a short lesson about gardening in small spaces. I had to do some research for my lesson and it really didn't sound too difficult so we decided to try it. We got a large bin, drilled some holes in the bottom, put some small rocks and dirt inside and let the kids pick out some seeds and we planted our little garden.

Claire chose carrots, Everett chose brocolli, and I chose cantaloupe. It was super exciting when we saw them each sprout.

Around the same time, Claire brought home a sunflower plant she started growing at school. It was actually two sunflower plants that started in a small cup and we had to move them to an icecream container so they had more room to grow. We had no idea how much room they were going to need by the end. Everything started growing though and it was so exciting. When we planted the seeds, the packets told us to plant 4 or 5 seeds in a hole (so at least one would hopefully sprout). Well I think each seed sprouted and we soon realized our small bin was not going to fit all our plants. We ended up thinning them all out and moving the brocolli to another icecream container (we eat a lot of ice cream). 

It was fun to see the progression of our plants, especially the sunflowers and the cantaloupe!

We made some mistakes and hopefully we can say we learned from those mistakes but sadly our brocolli died, we're not sure if it was the transfer or the heat that did it, but it didn't make it. :( Part of the cantaloupe plant also died, but I think we were able to save it in the end. Kids loved coming with me to check on the plants and water them. Our sunflowers fell over a couple times from bad weather, and we had to transfer it again into a slightly larger pot. Only one of the sunflowers blossomed, probably cuz we just didn't have enough room for it to grow in that pot.  

Overall though, it was a fun adventure trying out and we'll have to try again some time with all our wisdom now. ;)

YUM! :)

4th of July

So this was a good day for us. For the first time in a long time, Scott had a day job that let him have the holiday off. We woke up early to go see the balloon festival, but were somewhat disappointed when they never went up into the air. I guess it was too cloudy or windy. :( So since we were all up early and Scott didn't have to work we decided to go out to breakfast. :) After eating (which was quite the wait, but good food), we headed home to get some things done. Claire let me experiment with her hair and I was able to put a cool star in it. :) We did a few jobs and then we headed down to Spanish Fork for swimming and playing with family. That evening we got our own fireworks and sparklers and headed to the church parking lot for our own little show. It was a great day! :)

Amber's Birthday

I'm another year older...33 to be exact. I have to write it down occasionally or I seriously forget how old I am. It was a nice day, Scott made me muffins for breakfast and came home from work to make me lunch. We celebrated that evening with some yummy Sundae pie. :)