Easter 2013

Happy Easter!

~We loved coloring eggs, and painting sugar cookies

~The kids all made cute Easter baskets/bags/crafts in their classes at school

~We had a fun Easter trip the weekend before in Vegas

~The Easter Bunny left his Jelly Bean trail and was very creative in where he hid the baskets this year!

~Kason took one look at the jelly bean trail, yelled "FRUIT SNACKS!" and was like a little vacuumn picking them up and shoving them in!

~Lots of fun and so much sugar!

~We are so thankful for the Savior and the Atonement, and the Gospel plan in our lives!!

TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME.....

It's that time of year again...where 4 nights of the week we are at the baseball fields.  I'm certainly not complaining - I'm just as excited as the boys are! I have missed it.  Braxton decided to step it down a notch in the competiveness department and opted not to try out for the Whiptails, the team he's played tournament ball with the past 2 years, and is playing little league with the Dodgers.  We all agree it will be better for him. His team won their first game 9-1, and he played great!
This is Tanner's first year playing and he couldn't be happier...he's on the Angels team with a lot of friends so he's loving it! Since the first game, he isn't without his hat! He slept with it that night, and the next night he slept with it ON.  It goes to school but can't come out of his backpack until he is out the door, and if we touch it....WATCH OUT! Turns out he's a great little hustler, he's like a magnet once the ball is hit, he's all over it -  and he has had some good little hits as well. Troy has helped coach the last few games, and he's had a blast!
 Camrie talks nonstop about playing Softball.  Last night at the game we talked about when she's 5 and in Kindergarten she can play coach pitch too.  She's all good with that except she told me that means she will have to have Kindergarten shots in order to play....Never thought her being there when Tanner got his K shots would have traumatized her this much, and a year later she hasn't forgotten! Oh the drama!



Just in case you couldn't tell...he's super excited for his first game!!




Tanner on first base



He is so excited to be on the Angels and wanted to wear his MLB Angels shirt to his first game.  Honestly, I'm surprised he's wearing his Seattle Mariners shirt and not his Angels shirt!




Troy and Tanner....totally in their element!

 


Braxton playing catch his first game



Late nights ahead for this little guy!



Just a little hike...

The Temple Quarry trail is one of our kid's favorite short nearby hikes.  It starts out by the old airport, wraps around the black hill and goes right above our house. The kids love to look for the drill marks in the rocks which were used for the temple foundation.  Last Sunday was a great day for a little family hike and when we got to the quarry marker and the trail gets a little narrow and rough for the stroller, Troy, Kason, and Tanner walked back to the car, while me, Braxton, and Camrie hiked down the hill to our house.  It's such a pretty view and we had fun pointing out all the landmarks on our side of the hill.  Camrie kept her eye on our backyard fence the whole way and did a great job of getting us home!

LITERACY NIGHTS

Both Sunset and the DRMC Child Development Center held their literacy nights last week during Dr. Suess week.  The kids had a fun time both nights -  here's a little of what they did:


Braxton's 3rd grade class presented a 12 minute opera about making good food choices.  Braxton wore the viking hat, and was suppose to convince the others to change their eating habits and give them fruits and veggies to eat.  He was terribly nervous, but sang his little heart out and I could hear him clear on the back row!



Braxton's class also made a hanging art collection of hand colored and what looks to be like slightly melted, misshapen plastic plates? His is the smaller plate in the the middle with the blue rim. 



In Kason's firefly class their featured story was "Sitting in my box" which is Kason's favorite story at school! He was so excited to sit in the box and participate in the story telling.  He can roar like a lion,  like nobody's business!



"Sneetches and Beaches" was the theme in Camrie's Dragon fly class.  They had to dig in the sand for sea shells and creatures and the also got to go fish.  Her teachers handed out cute little bags full of fun beach items!

 

 We were a little late for the story and activity from the Caterpillar and Rolypoly class but still got some goldfish treats and played in the ballroom for a minute!

 Tanner's Kindergarten class didn't display anything we could find, at least not that Tanner knew of, so I will include his latest drawings.  The top one he insists is George Washington, not Abraham Lincoln....the next are 3 mice that are NOT blind.  His drawings have matured so much this year, he adds a lot of detail and is a much better artist at his age than I will ever be!

Today was 'Wacky Wednesday'.  Braxton had his outfit planned for a week, and Tanner eased into the wackiness totally living on the edge, by wearing  white socks that didn't match...notice they can't even be seen! He wasn't sure about the blue hair but finally gave in! 



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to all our children's amazing teachers for making reading such a fun thing and something they all love. It's hard to get after Braxton, Tanner, and Camrie when it's 10 pm and they are hiding out in their beds with flashlights so they can read or look at 'just one more book'! We go through a lot of batteries and can never seem to find a flashlight when we need one, but it's totally worth it!






 





Vegas Baby!

For Christmas Troy got us tickets to see George Strait in Vegas for his farewell tour "The Cowboy Rides Away".  We have needed a little weeken get away so this was perfect! We stayed at our Worldmark Condo, ate at the Claim Jumper - our favorite steakhouse, did a session at the Vegas temple, and met up with Nick, Paige, Gus, and Gina for some Cheesecake factory Thai lettuce wraps.  The concert was awesome! Martina Mcbride opened and George was, as usual, simply AMAZING! Sunday morning we did a little shopping, and rode the New York New York rollercoaster and headed home.  I can also cross off my bucket list of having a Dunkin Donut!

We got home later than expected, and my mom didn't want to drive home in the dark, so I drove my mom home, and Troy and the kids followed behind.  We stopped in Cedar for some KFC, took it to Beaver and watched the second half of the Superbowl with my dad. 



The only pic we got before Troy's phone died.  The Marshall's were just a few sections over from us



HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2013

We had a pretty low key night, we ate at the Pizza Factory, came home to play games, watched the ball drop and went outside to make our own joyful noises.  We made a fun New Year's drink with cotton candy and Sprite, can we say 'sugar rush' for sure!



Toy Story Yatzee is one of our favorite games



Braxton getting all geared up for a little ride on the zip line with Mom, Dad, and our Mcfadden cousins



Camrie posing with her most favorite little lion friend she's named 'Baby Simba'



HAPPY BIRTHDAY KASON!

Happy Happy Birthday Kasonater! This last year has flown by so fast and here you are 2 already! Maybe it's because you are such a little guy, and I still think of you being about 18 months, or maybe its because you are now finally wearing 12 month clothes...anyway, you certainly hold your own and we love you so much.  You add so much to our family and your personality is deffinately your own.  You have become so silly and such a ham, that we are constantly laughing...whether you are bowling, playing with trains, body slamming your siblings, clunking your head on the floor while pouting, helping mom put on her makeup, walking around in mom's boots, playing ball, or shouting "hooray" and performing while we sing 'If your happy'.  I'm so excited to watch you grow as well as your personality.  We love you so much and can't even imagine life without you!

Here's what you are up to these days.....

~4th percentile for weight, 22 lbs

~12 month clothes, as long as the pants are elastic waistband so they will stay up!

~Your vocabulary has exploded the past few months! you are learning your colors and you do get them right a lot of times

~You say "hello Mama/Daddy" when we get you out of your crib in the morning

~Dad swears you are a Brit, you say 'daddy' with a hint of an english accent

~You are a biter, and are the cause of many incident reports in your daycare class.  Mom and dad had never signed an incident report that their children had caused until you discovered your teeth!

~The only foods you will eat: ckn nuggets, hot dogs, cereal bars, gogurt, jello, pesto chicken on a good day, taco meat, all fruit, most crackers, bran muffins,  and every dessert ever tried! If it ain't listed, you ain't touchin it!  When I told Braxton that for your birthday dinner we were having what Kason likes, he dramatically exclaimed we were gonna starve!

~We just switched you back to cow's milk from soy.  We wondered if regular milk was causing some digestive issues and after 10 months of soy it's time to go back and you've done really well! we still mix it with Carnation Instant Breakfast for the extra calories

~You seem to love all sports and already seem very naturally athletic.  I wonder if you might become the youngest member of the PBA! You love our little bowling set and had mom and Braxton laughing to tears the other night with your mad bowling skills and awesome form!

~You love to be rocked before bed, and mom and dad don't mind a bit :)

~You have a very strong personality, I can't wait to see you in about 10 years!

~You prance when you run - we call you 'prancer'

~You love Mickey Mouse and the little Einsteins

~You went on all the rides you could at Disneyland last Sept and loved them all

~You are the best pouter EVER! so dramatic.  You are going to have permanent brain damage from all the head bonking!

~You sing the Winnie the Pooh song with us when we change your diapers.."up, down, touch the ground......"

~You hate your car seat
~You have learned to do front rolls by watching Tanner and Camrie at Gymnastics,  sometimes you get stuck trying to kick your feet over and you always say "almost".  You keep trying until you finally get yourself over

~The second you get in your car seat off go your shoes and socks

~You love getting dumbdumb suckers from Uncle Brent at his Pharmacy

~I could go on and on~ :)

~~~~HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUD!~~~~



Happy Birthday breakfast before school. 





So excited for new balls!