Monday, May 15, 2017

April Highlights - Easter, Pinewood Derby, New Kitty

Okay! Here are the highlights from the month of April!

Gabe's Steve Jobs Report/Presentation
Gabe had the assignment to pick someone who has changed America. When he came home and told me about this, he said, "I want to pick someone that no one else has thought of. I don't' want a President or something like everyone is doing." So I thought about that and suggested Steve Jobs. He basically was the founder of Apple and is the reason we have things like iPhones and iPads. So, I think he's definitely changed America (for good or for bad, you can argue over). So Gabe had to do a big report on him and then make a poster board presentation and dress up like him. Here is his picture as Steve Jobs. (haha)


Avery's Dance Class
Avery has had such a fun year in dance class. She is going to have her recital here at the end of May, but I had these pictures taken of her in one of her dance costumes so remember how cute she is!




Easter Celebrations
So when we first moved back to Idaho from Wisconsin almost seven years ago, we took Gabe and Caleb (then 2 and 4) to a city Easter Egg hunt. It was the worst experience ever. Basically anything that's free in Rexburg has everybody and their dog show up for it. We got there right as the whistle blew and the eggs were literally gone within 30 seconds. Between the two of our boys, they got one egg. Our boys cried and cried. It was so awful. I swore I would NEVER do another city egg hunt.

So then we started doing Easter egg hunts in our own little neighborhood, which at the time, had about 5 - 10 kids all under the age of 8. But now, as the neighborhood as grown and grown, there are easily over 40 kids from ages 0-15. So we still did our neighborhood hunt on Saturday morning, but I decided to leave my boys home for that one and just take Avery, since most of the kids participating were in the 1-6 range. Then in the afternoon, we went with one other family (the McCluskey's, Gabe's best friend is Porter McCluskey) and had an "older kid" egg hunt at the Rexburg Nature Park. This hunt was more challenging and the eggs were actually hidden, not just laying on the grass all over. This was a lot more fun for them. We had a picnic lunch and tried to soak in some sun (but it was probably about 55 degrees.)

Then on Sunday after church, we went to Josh's parents house and had a third egg hunt there for all the grandkids. So my kids definitely got their share of egg hunting, especially Avery who participated in all three! Our friend, Stacey, also came up to spend Easter weekend with us so that was fun. On Easter morning the bunny hid Gabe's basket in the microwave, Caleb's in the oven, and Avery's behind the living room lamp table. They got some candy, boys got water guns, ties, and some other food that wasn't candy. Avery got some bubbles, some little girly toys, etc. Oh and I almost forgot to mention, Caleb was so tired out from all the egg hunts on Saturday and staying up late, he totally slept through Easter Sunday at church. lol
















Pinewood Derby
Yes. I'm still the Cub Master. I know, it's been a while. So another year… another Pinewood Derby… This year Caleb was the first place winner! His car beat out every other cub scout's car as the fastest overall in a number of races. We have this guy come in with his big track and he has a computer that actually can tell the speed of each car. They do about 20 different races and then it averages it all out and ranks them. It's pretty intense. But Caleb's car was the fastest! Gabe did also race his car from last year, and unofficial his car MAY have been a little bit faster. But it puts all the siblings into an unofficial separate results bracket, so he didn't factor into the official results!






New Pet (Josh's Birthday Present)
Josh has been having to go to all of these ridiculous "trainings" the past month. Basically they have a yearly training budget that they always want to use up, so they send the guys to these things in Boise that are really just glorified boys' weeks. They go out to dinner every night, go on ride-alongs with Boise officers, and basically just have fun. There are maybe a few hours of training involved where they mostly just sit around and chat or play with their dogs. (This is how I picture it all.) Meanwhile, I sit home with the kids and try to keep my head above water running my Etsy shop, taking the kids to and from all their activities, cooking, cleaning, and being a slave in general. It's great. (<--- :="" a="" absolutely="" am="" and="" avery="" away="" because="" best="" birthday="" cat="" do="" ever.="" find="" fluffy="" for="" good="" got="" have="" he="" her="" him.="" him="" his="" home.="" i="" in="" josh="" kitty="" know.="" little="" loves="" m="" nice="" no="" orange="" p="" perfect="" princess="" s="" sarcasm="" she="" so="" something="" such="" super="" surprise="" sweet="" taking="" that="" the="" there="" to="" too="" waiting="" wanted="" was="" way="" when="" wife="" with="">





Doll Business
This is the most random thing ever, but I got this crazy idea to make these little stuffed animal/dolls. I have no idea how to sew. I have never owned a sewing machine in my life. But one day I was feel motivated and went out and bought one, taught myself how to use it, and sewed some stuffed animals all in one weekend. I am thinking I may do a little craft fair in Wisconsin when I come to visit just so I can have a reason to write off our trip. That is, if I actually get a few more sewn by then! My goal would be to have some matching accessories that a little girl could also wear to match, like little head bands and things like that. (I have so much free time, I figured "why not?")



And a few more pictures just for fun!







Sunday, May 14, 2017

End of March Highlights

I haven't blogged in so long and now it is Mother's Day and I have told my kids my goal today is to get caught up on this! So here goes!

Basketball Season Ended
The boys both had played Rec Department Basketball from about January until the end of March. Gabe's team was completely undefeated and had a lot of strong players. They all got little trophies on the last day. Caleb's team was very good and I think only lost one game. They both had a lot of fun!




Tiffany's Utah Weekend
I was feeling sad about being home from Hawaii and having to be a mom/slave again so I needed to take a little weekend getaway to visit some friends in Utah. We went shopping and ate at the Cheesecake Factory and saw the new Beauty and the Beast movie. While I was in Utah, Josh tried out his new little raft boat with the kids at his parent's house and went fishing with them.






Gabe's Cub Scout Arrow of Light
When you turn 11 years old in Cub Scouts, the goal is to have achieved everything to earn your Arrow of Light (the highest award in Cub Scouting.) So Gabe earned his Arrow of Light and his best friend, Porter, also earned it on the same day. So we had a fun little ceremony for them and now he is officially in 11 year old Scouts. Now that the LDS church has announced some changes just recently (like just a few days ago) we may not continue with Boy Scouts as he gets a little older. We will see what happens with that! But I hope that Caleb at least finishes with his Cub Scouts in the next couple of years too.



Gabe's 11th Birthday
Gabe wanted to do something he had never done this year (which is hard since there are only so many things to do in Southeast Idaho for a boys's birthday party… and we have done ice skating, iJump trampoline center, Squealer's go karting and mini-golf, and so on…) so we decided to try this thing called Archery Combat. It was at the Zone (where Caleb played his basketball games) and they gave each boy a little mask and some gear and they played these dodge ball type games with bows and arrows. Then we had cake afterwards. It was pretty fun I think! Josh said, "I had a lot of fun!" (That's all that matters… lol)







Gabe's Dare Graduation, etc.
Then Gabe's other highlight (March was the Gabe show apparently!) was graduation from DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education.) That's a program that has been around since I was in six grade! It's goal is to teach kids drugs are bad. Hopefully it works! lol


Fun with Avery
Then here are some other pictures of Avery just hanging out with me, enjoying our days while the boys are at school. We spend our days baking cookies, jumping on the trampoline, having picnics in her room with pet end food, dressing up as princesses, going to open gym at the gymnastics center, taking before and afters of her hair, and so on. It's a very busy life we live. haha







My Attempts at Modeling
I have a friend who owns a little clothing boutique in town and asked me to model some clothes for her website. It pays nothing so obviously I am a very in demand model. I figured since I was still somewhat tan from Hawaii it would be the best time to do that. lol Some of the pictures that were taken…