Campfire Party

We occasionally get a little tent out for the boys. This time when we pulled it out I felt like we had an "If you Give A Mouse a Cookie" book moment. The boys got soo excited and so our campfire night was born.

This was the invitation Kason wrote that we emailed to Isaac

We had tin foil dinners around our candle "campfire" and turned on a campfire from youtube on the laptop.

Then we had to roast marshmallows over the stove.

Those eyes...

Emry was very patient through it all

And then we had to cuddle up with blankets in the tent and watch a family video.

It was a fun way to make a weeknight a little different!

March Smorgasbord

This post is about random things that have happened this month that I want to remember!

A Sunday Morning

I can't help but post this picture. Asher is potty trained, he really is! Sometimes, though, it is too hard to pull the underwear up so he walks around with his underwear at his knees and taking quick little steps.

Emry's new favorite way of sitting. I think it's because she can survey everything that is going on around her and she feels like everyone is looking at her.

Squeeze!!!

Naps, unfortunately, are gone. But, we just worked out a system that has been helping. The boys go into a room of their choosing and read books or lay down for awhile until they hear the timer beep. It's still new enough that they are excited about it.

Another picture I could just squeeze.

Rainy days bring out craziness, creativity, and messes. Here is the boys' campfire that they are roasting marshmallows over. Look what the marshmallow is - Emry's wet, rolled up diaper. Kind of gross, but I have to give it to Kason for creativity.

Funny sayings:

-Kason's prayer: "Please bless the people in my bracket to win"..."Please give Emry the power to lift her head"

-Kason earned $3 by doing a taste test survey at the mall. He was very excited to pay his tithing at church, but we forgot it on the counter. He was devastated for the first 15 minutes of church. He made sure to remember it the next week.

-Asher sings the Mamma Mia song like this: "Mamma Mia, Here I go again.

My mom, How can I resist you."

-Asher was belting out Nephi's courage in the laundry room. I don't think the other man in there knew what in the world he was singing about.

5

Kason turned 5!!

He was pretty excited. After feeding Emry I went in to check on the boys at 5 am. Kason woke up and wanted to get up then because he said he was so excited.

Isaac had to get to school, but they started Kason's day off with an early, quick trip to Albertson's for Kason to pick out whatever kind of cereal he wanted for breakfast. He picked out Captain Crunch mixed berries - quite the treat.

One of the boys favorite songs is "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan. They've never seen the movie though, we just watched the song on Youtube. So, we rented Mulan from the library and they were so excited to watch it.

This picture makes me laugh. Kason is sitting very crossed legged, Asher can't even sit that way. Asher has one sock on, one off...a normal thing. And we are trying potty training again with Asher, so far it's going great.

This year we had a friend party. Kason wrote some of the invitations and was very serious about handing them out. When his friends answered the door he would hand the invitation to them and say seriously, "You are invited to my birthday party". The theme was fighter jets. We played yarn spider webs (not so fighter jet-ish) and pin the fighter jet on the refueler plane. Then we had cake and ice cream. I felt like the cake was...struggling, but Kason loved it.

Then all 14 kids just ran around and got some energy out.

Asher and his buddy Myer.

A typical Asher face

It was a busy (everything takes 10 times longer to do when you have an infant) but fun day.

Some things about Kason:

-Words I would use to describe him: mature, sensitive, sweet, sometimes shy, emotional, competitive, detail oriented, and responsible.

-He really likes to draw

-He makes noises all. day. long. Like gun/fighting/plane/spitting/loud noises while he is holding an alligator, or tiger, or gun or whatever. Sometimes I feel like the noise is just reverberating around in my head and I have to really get his attention to snap him out of whatever intense game is going on in his head.

-He is such a good helper and such a good big brother. One time I was putting Asher down for nap (which really isn't nap anymore, just pile lots of toys on his bed time) and Emry was crying. I usually tell Asher a story and sing him a song before nap/bed. Kason patted my back and said, "I got this mom, you go take care of Whippy". (Yes, he still calls her that). It was very sweet.

-This birthday Isaac had quite the joke going with Kason that all his presents were going to be cleaning things. He even went as far as to wrap a roll of paper towels up and give it to him as his first present. Kason was pretty good natured about it. The other day, though, Kason got his paper towels out and started cleaning all the doorknobs! That's my boy!

-We love our Kason!

Stats and Snow

All dressed up for church - I think purple is her color

Emry had a 2 month check up, though she was 11 weeks at the time.

Her stats:

Height: 24 " (80%)

Weight: 13 lbs 4 oz (80%)

Head: 15.25" (40%)

She is doing well and is usually a pretty happy and content baby. She spits up waaaay less than the boys and that difference is wonderful! She doesn't like to be cradled, she likes to either be held looking over my shoulder or looking out. She smiles and I've gotten a little laugh out of her once.

I love these next two pictures!

We have had snow a couple times this year!! It lasts on the ground all of 10 minutes at most, but it is so much better to see snow coming down out the window than rain. I think I was more excited than the boys when we saw the snow on this morning.

Here, There, and Everywhere

Some more pictures from the blessing weekend:

I love this picture

With Grandma Swensen

The boys really love their aunts, I think it goes both ways. And I don't know why, but Kason is really into doing this pose for pictures...

With Grandma Higgins

Isaac had a birthday. It was a big one, entering a new decade and all. :) We opened presents and had oreo cheesecake. The next day we left the kids with some good friends and went for a quick shopping trip.

This was Emry's Valentine's Day outfit. I had different plans, but Asher picked this out by himself and there was no compromising on his part.

One Sunday

My boys have loved, loved, loved vacuums, since they were babies - not a bad thing to love. They do think it will vacuum up their toys, though, so when I turn it on they usually rush to clean up their toys so the vacuum doesn't "eat it". I'm not about to tell them otherwise.

I won this prize at a game night. It's a sweeper and I think it might be the best prize ever. The boys vacuum with it all day long. They fight over who gets to vacuum with it. It's a good thing because every single crumb shows up on this awful "carpet".