week 12

We brought the kids some crazy masks from New Orleans.  After I bought them I thought I remembered reading something from one of my "save the animals" reads encouraging people to not buy things with feathers, as those feathers came from a bird that is now really cold.  They are cool masks, but I can't help but feel like a bird-killer whenever I see them.

We have had a few nights of beautiful weather, and a clear schedule, so we went to watch Bev's soccer practice.  Jessi is in charge of brushing Freddy.  My head is happy for her to have another client. (I have a sensitive head, and she is constantly styling my hair. Ouch.)

The last picture of these two being eight together...sniff, sniff..my babies are growing up.

Doing homework and reading before bed.

Having Christian off track for his birthday was fun.  We met Dad at the sport store to pick up his lacross gear, then we got lunch at Firehouse Subs.  He now has a new favorite place to eat.

Then he got a birthday cookie from Smart Cookie and when we got home, he immediately tried on his gear.

Christian helping Jessi with homework.

His birthday falls close to St. Patrick's Day, which is fitting because he is all about green.

Still loving Legos and Skylanders.

I got a bunch of balloons to surprise him with when he woke up the morning of his birthday.  Unfortunately, they didn't even last until the next morning.

Spring took a turn and we got snow.

Grant Wood art day in Bev's class.

I love that he still gets dressed up to play.

I had a girl's night out so it was buffet time for Mike and the kids.  This time they went to a Chinese buffet.  Christian enjoyed his crab legs and Jessi got her fill of shrimp.

We are now frequenters of this establishment.

Drew had a Boy Scout campout.  When he got home, I tried to take his picture, and he was so tired that he couldn't keep his eyes open.

Don't mind us Freddy.  He had been playing outside, and came in the house, exhausted, and took his nap in the middle of the walkway.  I am still getting used to him and his habits.  He sleeps a lot, and sometimes I have to check to see if he is still breathing.  We love him.  Have I said that yet?

With all of the swimming ahead, Mike picked up some new beach towels.

My latest order from Amazon.  A new sock for my plantar fasciitis and some books to read with the kids.

Well, Bev made the decision that she wants to move to the spare bedroom/toy room.  We decided to give her her own space, but bunk the girl's beds in Jessi's room so that if Bev wants to sleep with the rest of us, she can.

Mike and Bev took the beds apart and got them ready to restack them.  I cleaned everything.

Jessi hung out in her pile of stuff behind the mattress.

We celebrated Christian's 9th birthday with the Huff's.  Drew and Mason recorded him opening his gifts.

The cake was, of course, Orange Jello Poke Cake.

That night, after everyone was supposed to be in bed, I heard Legos being dumped out.  He just couldn't resist playing with his new gift.

When I asked Christian what he wanted for his menu, he asked for meat...lots of meat.  Specifically ribs and sloppy joes.  I made ribs for the first time.  They were a lot of work, and I learned a few things I would change, but they turned out pretty good.

He got some new snorkel gear, as some of his was lost in Mexico.

He got a lacross stick so that he can have someone play with him.

The cousins.

week 10 and week 11

After we got home from Disneyland, Christian and I went to pick up Freddy from his hotel.  He was so happy to see us.  So happy, in fact, that he peed on the floor.

I then took the two boys to the skate park.  Christian is off track and always likes going to practice his skateboarding.

I just love his style.  He is way into his leather jacket, and wears it everywhere.  I also love that he put on his CTR dog tag.

One day, as I was getting the girls ready for school, I noticed that they were both wearing cat shirts.  I told Bev that I don't know what I will do when they won't let me buy them cat shirts.  Drew overheard and suggested that I just start dressing the cats in cat shirts.

Drew has been wanting to play water polo for a few years now.  Well, we finally signed him up for a league, and he is loving it.  I have no idea how they do it--treading water the whole time.  I have no idea what the rules are, but it is really fun to watch.

It was Jessi's turn for date night with Mom and Dad.  We ate at Cafe Bella Rue in Daybreak.  She loved her gelato for dessert.  We like taking the kids, one at a time, so we can listen to them, and hear what they have to say.  When we asked Jessi how she felt things were going in our family, she replied, "Great...thanks for adopting me."  That always makes me a little teary.

I got a new church bag in Disneyland and Jessi wanted to take a picture of me.  She was trying to direct me to act more like a model.  This was all she got.

We took the kids to Soldier Hollow for tubing.  We have gone the last few years and made it right before the end of the season.

It's great to be up in the mountain air.

Mike is such a pack mule.  He is always carrying or pulling one of the kids around.

Every once in a while, the kids will bring out an old DVD, that they haven't seen in ages, and decide to revisit their younger years.  On the way home from Heber, we got to watch Veggie Tales.  Oh, the good old days...

Mike keeps bringing these home from Costco.  I asked him to make this the last batch--they are just too good.

We finally had a day that felt like spring, and the kids were out in force.

Now that we have Freddy, Tiger is constantly trying to get on the kitchen table to be above him and out of his reach.

Good old Freddy.  Every morning, he sits at the top of the stairs looking down, trying to decide whether it's worth walking his old, arthritic bones downstairs.  Every morning he does.  He likes being with us so much, if one of us goes upstairs just to grab something, we know he will follow.  We feel so bad because we know he will just have to turn around and face those stairs again.  Christian started locking him in the laundry room so he wouldn't follow him up just to have to come right back down again.

Christian rode the electric scooter to Pack Meeting.  Signs of spring are everywhere.

While he's off track, we had some shopping to do.  I told him that we needed to get him some new shoes and new Levi's.  We got the new shoes, but he didn't think he needed new pants.  I told him that they all had holes in the knees, so he needed new ones.  He told me I should just save my money because he will probably just get new holes in the new pants.

Drew had an assignment for CTE class to bring in some of his favorite recipes.  He picked Grandma B's Chicken Noodle Soup and Grandma B's Crackies.  Crackies used to be named pumpkin chocolate chip cookies until Mike renamed them because of their highly addictive qualities.

While we were in New Orleans, Mike's mom stayed with the kids for the first few days, then my parents took them to Spanish Fork.  My mom took these pictures of the kids playing at the park,

and the girls trying on my sister's old dresses that my mom made.

We couldn't go on those trips without our parents.  We are so lucky they are such involved, good grandparents.

Arriving home in Utah.