Playing Games

The little kids are always interested in what Sarah and Ben do.  They're normally go at playing with and including the little kids.  This day Sarah was playing a game on her phone and Adam wanted to join in.  It was cute enough that I had to grab my camera.

Sarah's Basketball

Here are some more pictures of Sarah's basketball games.  The girls had a lot of fun and got a long really well.  They won many of their first games, but lost most of there later games.  They all played hard and learned a lot, which is what's important.  Enjoy these pictures from the game on February 22nd.

Shooting baskets to warm up.

Sarah getting blocked by a tall girl.  Being as tall as she is, Sarah always had to guard the tall girls.

Kenny helping Ellie who ended up having a pretty bad sprained ankle and was out for a few games.

Shooting the ball.  This was Sarah's first and only point. 

Loving Little Boys

Kenny and I are consistently amazed at how well our kids get along.  Of course they fight, every kid fights with their siblings, but overall I think my kids get along so well.  Much better than my brother and I did growing up.  They really seem to love each other and want to be around each other.  I feel so blessed for this.  I love how my family has turned out.  The kids pair off so well, but still get along with everyone.  Ben and Sarah are great friends and love doing things together.  Gracie and Hannah are great sisters who are always together.  It's been so much fun watching Dan and Adam turn out the same way as the older kids.  They love each other and love playing together.  It's so much fun watching them hug and kiss each other, watching them so excited when the other one wakes up and watching them interact together.  The other day the kids were watching TV in the middle room when I caught a glimpse of the little boys.  Dan was holding Adam on his lap while watching a movie.  I had to grab the camera and take a few pictures.  It was just too cute.

Not only do I think it's so cute, but I love the difference in size between these two.  It's crazy how different two kids from the same parents can be.  You'd never guess they are only 13 months apart.

What a good big brother Daniel is.

Making Rolls

I got an amazing roll recipe from a friend of mine in Virginia and when the cold winter months hit I love to bake bread for dinner.  The kids really enjoy helping and the more we make them the more helpful the kids are getting.  Of course they still have to eat as much dough as I will allow them to eat, but they also love spreading the butter and helping me roll up the rolls.  We've done this for many years and on February 29th I decided to get out the camera a take a few pictures.

Sarah spreading the butter while the other's wait patiently for their turn to help roll the bread.

They're becoming pros at rolling the dough.  I'm so lucky to have so many good helpers.

Who knew making bread could be so much fun.  I hope this is a part of their childhood they always remember.

Adam's Fun In The Tub

February 18th was a busy day for us.  Before Ben's family party we gave the little boys a bath in our big bathtub.  They love to sit in the bathtub and watch the TV that we drag in there.  It's a very rare treat, but every once in awhile they get to.  Apparently Adam wasn't done with his bath when we took him out because moments after getting in pajama's we found him back in the tub.  What a cute little stinker.  :)

Good thing he's so cute.  :)

Notice his black eye.  The poor little boy fell and hit his head on the corner of the TV stand downstairs.  Could have been much worse, but there for awhile he looked pretty beat up.

This adventure kind of reminds me of someone else who had some fun in the tub.  Gracie was about the same age back in April of 2010 when she got back in the bathtub in her pajama's.  I think these two look quite a bit a like.  What do you think?

Ben's Family Party

Later in the evening of February 18th we had Ben's small family party.  Because he had his friend party earlier that day, his family party consisted of just opening presents.  We all gathered in the middle room and watched Ben open all of his presents.  He was very pleased with what he got and very excited to play with all his new toys.

"I wonder if I shake it if I'll be able to tell what it is!"

Adam was our helper of the night.  He enjoyed giving Ben his presents to open.

Ben had 2 themes for his presents this year.  One was Lego's.  Can't go wrong with Lego's for this kid.  This year he got 2 sets of dinosaur Lego's.

The other was Star War's guys.  We decided it was time to upgrade him to the older kids Star Wars guys and he loved them.

More Star War's guys.  This one was a vehicle and he was so excited.

The little girls posing for a picture.

Me and my mamma's boy.

Be playing with his new Star Wars toys.

The kids wanted to throw the wrapping paper in the air and, of course, I had to get a picture.

Then Dan wanted a turn and Sarah joined in.  What fun!

Ben's Birthday

My little boy is now 8.  I can't believe it.  It really is just crazy how fast time goes by.  We decided to allow the kids to have a friend birthday party this year.  They invited friends from their old school classes and a few from church.  We made the mistake of having Ben's birthday over President's weekend again this year and because the kids are not in public school I didn't even think about the possibility of the kids being out of school for a long weekend.  Well they were.  They got Friday and Monday out so most people were not around.  In fact, out of the 8 kids invited to Ben's party, only 2 came.  It was kind of a bummer for him, but he managed to have a lot of fun with Mason and Jacob.  It's a good thing we have enough kids in our family to make up the difference.  Next year I'll plan better.

What are these black mustaches for?

Pinning the smile on the Lego head.

All the beautiful smiles a Lego head could ever ask for.

After "Pin the Smile on the Lego Head" we went outside (where the weather was beautiful 50-55 degrees outside) to have do the obstacle course Daddy prepared.  This is one time I was happy with the warm winter weather we've been having.

The obstacle course consisted of a crawling section, a (very heavy) ball toss, a  bounce on the ball down the lane, . . . 

a soccer goal, a trip down the slide, diapering a baby doll (surprisingly none of the boys had any experience with this.  It was fun to watch.) and . . .

Cheering on your teammate, of course.

After the obstacle course came the Lego cake (are you catching the theme for the party?)

Blowing out the candles.

After the birthday cake we opened presents and had our birthday tradition of balloon pop game.  The boys loved popping the balloons and loved winning prizes.

Ben and Jacob

Ben and Mason

When I had planned this party I expected there to be at least 4 or 5 boys.  The fact that there were only 2 made the party go by much, much faster.  When all the activities were over we were left with 30 minutes of free time.  What do you do with 3 boys and 30 minutes of free time?  Head to the backyard with Nerf toys and run crazy.

Ben shooting his new gun he got from Jacob.

He may only be one, but he knows how to use a battle ax. 

Ben has a great dad who is always willing to join in the fun and fight with his friends.  :)

Ben's Basketball

Ben's basketball was a little different than Sarah's.  First and second graders are only allowed to do an instructional league.  This is where they are taught by someone Jr. Jazz has highers and they play mini games every time they practice.  I thought it would be good for Ben to learn a little more about basketball so we signed him up.  It turned out to be more frustrating and possibly damaging when it comes to learning basketball than anything.  Ben's coach was a young kid, probably 17-20 years old. He didn't seem to care all that much about teaching the kids and therefore just let them do whatever.  Ben often got frustrated because he was working with Kenny in the evening and he couldn't do any of the things they were learning because the other kids on his team were just running around disregarding every basketball rule.  I caught the coach shooting baskets a few times and not paying attention to the kids at all.  Kind of too bad for Ben, but he did enjoy it, in theory and he's glad he did it.  I think we'll think twice about signing Hannah up next year.

Here are some pictures of Ben's last practice.  It happened to be the morning of his 8th birthday which, for him, was a great way to start his birthday.

Dribbling the ball.

He shoots. . . 

He scores.

This is his reaction after scoring the game winning basket.  He's really into it.  :)

Another dribbling shot.  I like this one because if you look close you can see his tongue sticking out.

Roller Skating

We had our first home school activity on February 10th.  The school we get our curriculum through was having a Valentine's Day get together at a roller skating rink in Layton.  The kids wanted to go so we made valentine's for everyone and headed to the rink after our school work.  It was a lot of fun.  I met some nice people there and Sarah made a friend.  The kids had a blast roller skating and I'm really glad we went.

Luckily we were able to bring scooters to the rink.  All the kids tried the skates, but Sarah was the only one who decided to stick with the them.  Ben loved riding his scooter and racing me on my roller blades.

Sarah on roller skates.  She started on roller blade, but changed her mind and went with skates.  I guess I haven't been a very good parent because none of my kids know how to roller skate.

I pushed the boys around in the stroller.  Adam really enjoyed it, Daniel got a little bored.

Gracie riding her scooter.

Dan preferred to run around instead of ride.

Hannah riding Sarah's scooter.  She had a blast on the scooter and was very happy Sarah wanted to roller skate.

Gracie trying to sit down on her scooter.  She quickly learned it doesn't work very well  while sitting.

Sarah and her new friend both on skates.

I found Dan laying down on the rink at the end of the day.  I guess that means it's time to head home.