"Crazy Hair Day"

Clint's creation for "Crazy Hair Day" at school.  He loved how pokey his hair was.  Lookin' good!

"Crazy Day"

Today was crazy day at school and so Kade went all out.  The best thing about this was he came up with it all on his own.  I go to work early each morning and so the boys usually get dressed and head to school after I'm gone--it makes for some uncensored outfits but eh, does it really matter if they match.  ANYWAY, when Kade got home from school and gave me a full rundown of his masterpiece.  He wore a shirt that was too large for him, pajama bottoms, rolled one sleeve up, rolled up the opposite pant leg, wore one black and one white sock, tucked in the front of his shirt but not the back, and (this was Kade's favorite part) he wore his watch on his leg!  NICE!

Our Proclaimed Sibling Day

We had Greg, Heather, Alex, Kelby, Sammy, Eli, Jackie, and Gary here today.  They all just came for a "sibling day."  It was so fun.  We really should hang out like that more often.  It was speared by Jackie who e-mail everyone and said, "Let's get together this weekend.  Jenn and Darryl's place is the most central.  Does that work?"  Those who could come came and we had such a great time.  Gary brought all manner of flying toys; Helicopters, Airplanes, and tiny little flying thing.  It was a pretty low key day.  Those that wanted to flew planes in the field behind our house.  Gary buddy boxed with the beginners.  Unfortunately it wasn't enough to save Darryl's plane.  With all the white snow covering the ground and the sky was a white overcast the plane and Darryl couldn't tell which way was which.  That evening everyone headed back home except for Jackie.  She stayed the night with us and went home Sunday after church.

At one point Kade and Clint started telling jokes.  We found out that Cole is brighter than we give him credit when we heard his response to Greg's joke.

Greg: "What do you call a guy in the ocean with no arms and no legs?"
Clint: "I don't know."
Greg gives the answer-- "Bob."  At the same time Cole laughs a big belly laugh and says, "He would sink to the bottom!"  Ha ha ha, he continues to laugh.
Meanwhile everyone else is laughing at "Bob."

Thanks for a super fun Saturday everyone!  We're looking forward to the next Sibling Day.

A Broken Heart on Valentines

When I was a kid my mom made sugar cookies for Valentine's Day.  She also always kicked(meaning put it on the porch, rang the doorbell, and ran) us a Valentine.  She has continued the cookie tradition and ships a box of her cookies to all of her kids each year.  I love the traditions she did with us so I always kick my boys a Valentine and also kick my mom's cookies to them from her.  The boys are always so fascinated with how she was able to do that.  The occasionally would be a little frustrated that she wouldn't stay for a while and say Hi  : )           Well this year I did like every year and made sure they were distracted while I sneaked outside to kick the Valentines to them and then slipped in through the back and resumed my chores.  When they ran in to show me the treasures that were left for them on the proch the demanded, "Tell us how she got them here? We're too old for this."  Talk about a knife straight to my heart.  I dreaded the day when they wouldn't find magic in simple things.  We've arrived.  I'm so sad.  It was good to hear though because it made me realize that they are not 4 any more so I shouldn't expect them to be.   Love these "getting big" boys.

Crafty Valentines

The boys were bit by a crafty bug this Valentine's.  They both had big plans for what they wanted to give their class mates.  It was a little surprising to me because usually they want the store bought Valentine's that have the most popular character on them or the one that comes with their favorite candy.  Kade's teacher this year, Mr. Johansen, spends a lot of time doing origami with the kids and so Kade is really loving origami.  When he made a heart at school told me that he wanted to make hearts for everyone in his class.  He also came up with the idea to stuff a little candy in the slot in the back of them.  Clever and cute idea!  Clint has been loving the Spirograph Santa brought him and so he wanted to make a picture for each of his classmates and attach a treat to the back.  Again clever and cute!  Thought it was much more time consuming it was fun to help the boys with these because they were so excited about making them for everyone. 

Happy Birthday Kade!!!

Kade is one year older and wiser too!  

First things first: As always Kade wanted to open his presents right when he woke up.  Since Darryl would be leaving this morning for a business trip we let him open them this time.  He was excited to get an electronic snap circuit kit and Hatchet the book.  

This year for his birthday he wanted a gymnastics cake with him on the 1st place podium.  This is what I came up with.  I made the little Kade figurine out of oven craft clay.  After it was finished I was pretty happy with it.  When he requested it I tried to talk him into a few other options because I wasn't sure how to make such a cake but inspiration hit somewhere.  When he got home from school and saw the cake he was so excited.  Glad you loved it buddy!  

Kade opted to do something special with the family over a friend party.  He chose to go snowboarding with Darryl.  So one evening Darryl took him to Sundance and signed him up for a lesson before they played on the slopes together since Kade had never been to a ski resort before.  We no one else signed up for a lesson so his group lesson became a private lesson!  Wahoo!  The instructor was really impressed with how quickly he picked up some of the techniques especially getting off the lift.  She said she's never had a student not fall off the lift at least once but Kade was the first to never fall!  Way to go Kade!  

Oh Cole

As I have mentioned before Cole is doing great with potty training and often goes and takes care of everything perfectly without even letting me know.  I suspected he was doing just that today as I went looking for him because I hadn't heard him for a while.  I thought he might need a wipe or something.  As I suspected I found him in the bathroom sitting on the toilet.  When he saw me he quickly said, "Don't see me! Shut the door I'm talking to Jesus."   I shut the door and shook my head.  What will he come up with next?!.  The bizarre/crazy/weird/strange addition to this story is that every time he goes to the bathroom now he does this.  He yells for me to come shut the door so he can talk to Jesus.  I would have expected him to have forgotten that he said that after the first time.  Really, I wonder what he'll say next.

Spinning Time

Back when Kade and Abby were about this age they would sit together like this and spin and laugh and laugh.  It was so fun to see Alex and Cole figure it out today and start doing the same thing.  They would laugh so hard, fall off, get back on, spin around and around, and then repeat it all again.  It never got old for them or me. :)  Love watching kids playing so happily.

FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of those days!
We got home from Kade's gym meet and I started making treats for Darryl to take to Elders Quorum tomorrow.  They have a little thing called "Melchizedek munchies" where each week someone brings a treat.  It keeps them happy so it's a good thing. :)
Darryl wanted to take Sopapillias so I thought it would be perfect if I made a double batch in a cookie sheet pan.  It was a perfect idea.  As I placed the ingredients in the pan I made sure to check and see if it would raise up and overflow.  There was plenty of room above the ingredients so I figured there was nothing to worry about so into the oven they went.  I was feeling so proud that I was on the ball and would have these treats all ready for tomorrow!  Well, we could smell something burning I looked in the oven, it wasn't overflowing.  I shut the door and carried on cleaning up the kitchen.  The burning smell got a little worse so I opened up the oven again to investigate further.  I noticed the butter dripping off the pan.  Then I noticed the bottom of the stove COVERED in butter.  The mild burning smell was from the butter that was dripping hitting the heating coil and burning.  Nothing to worry about but I knew that all that butter on the bottom of the stove was a potential grease fire so I grabbed the hot pads to take out the pan and turned to go back into the oven and the butter ignited!  Darryl happened to be standing there and the fire alarms were now going off.  I grabbed the baking soda and Darryl was frantically searching for the no mess carbon dioxide fire extinguisher.  I kept asking him if I could just use the baking soda, but with the adrenaline rush, the alarms, the panicking kids, Darryl grabbed the only extinguisher he could find-- a traditional fire extinguisher-- and doused the flames.  The fire was gone, but the Sopapillas and most of the kitchen were covered with a thick layer of chemical dust.  Darryl and I cleaned up a little and then got the boys settled down and in bed.  We spent the next 4+ hours taking the oven apart and cleaning every inch of the kitchen.  Darryl made a trip to Walmart and brought home anything you could imagine to clean your kitchen and deodorize your home.  We had bowls of vinegar and bowls of carpet deodorizer on every shelf throughout the house.  The next morning I cleaned everything one more time.  That dust is such a pain to get rid of.  You wipe it all up and then after it dries you find that it didn't all get picked up, so you wipe again and again.
What a memory we made. :/
So what I learned:  Even if what you're making will not over flow from the pan, the buttery topping will easily flow off the top of the "cake" if there is not a rim of some sort for it to keep it in--obvious I know.

Meanwhile back at the farm. . .

While Kade and I were spending some time up north for his gymnastics meet Darryl and the other 2 boys were hanging out together at home.  They had dinner and a movie on Friday night.  Then on Saturday morning they went to the Hub for breakfast.  Dad spoiled them a little. :)

Roy Gym Meet

Kade had an early meet in Roy today and the weather was bad so last night we stayed with Gary and Jasha in North Salt Lake.  It was a fun little "date" for Kade and I.  While we were there Jasha's neighborhood was throwing her a baby shower so I was able to attend that.  It was so fun to hang out with them.  

Mr. Competition had a rough time at this meet.  He received an uncontested 1st place in floor which helped ease the pain a little.  When he was on trampoline he got a little extra bounce after a flip and it shot him backward into the padding around the edge of the trampoline.  He was heartbroken.  I wish we would have talked about what to do in that scenario so he would have realized it was a possibility.  As it was he didn't know what to do but just hop off and cry-- poor kid.  I felt bad too because they have the gymnasts down on the lower floor and the parents up in the rafters.  I couldn't be there to comfort him but his coach hugged him for me.  He was pretty sad about it, which for Kade means he sulked and sulked.  He just wants to win so bad he can't deal with messing up.  It's going to be hard but I'm sure by the end of the season he will be better equipped emotionally to handle disappointment and therefor be more resilient.   After the meet Kade and I stopped in to visit Kelby and Sammy.  Her parents live in Roy and they are staying with them for a while so they can help them with their new little guy, Eli.  We were so excited to see him for the first time. What a cutie!  Kade and I had a busy weekend but it was a lot of fun to spend some one on one time with him.

Here were his results:

Double mini level 5 age 9-10:  score 53.3 placed 6th (1st pass 28.5 2nd pass 24.8)

Trampoline level 5 age 9-10: score 1.6 placed 5th (fell off and quit)

Floor level 4 age 9-10: score 56.9 placed 1st (1st pass 28.7 2nd pass 28.2)

Workout room

Darryl had a dream and I thought it would take much longer to come to fruition.  I thought it would be a dream he would like to complete eventually-- maybe in years to come (and likely really never do).  Well he expressed how he wanted to make the storage room into a workout room and the next day I came home to lumber in the basement and found Darryl framing.  He framed the storage room into a small storage room and a workout room.  A few weeks later and we're almost finished.  I must say I'm excited for the room even though I had other dreams for the storage room.  I wanted to make it into a large bedroom that all the boys could share.  In the end we both love the workout room and we're so happy it's done so we can use it instead of work on it.

Tooth problem :(

Today was a sad day, half of one of my molars fell off. :*(  I think it fractured when I was eating pomegranate kernels the other day.  The dentist made a mold of the missing part and in a couple weeks I'll go in and have it "installed."  Gotta' love teeth problems!