Chats with Children 5

BEN

Ben's appetite for books surpassed our ability to stock them this week when he read and started to re-read the entire "wimpy kid" series. In fact, I believe he's upstairs right now pretending to be asleep while reading the third book for the second time. He's been really into actually playing basketball lately as opposed to just watching it like we've been doing. He asked me this week if I wanted to play a game of 'erickson'. When I started laughing, he explained, "well, you don't have to spell 'horse', you can spell anything you want!" He's absolutely right. He was telling me how his teacher brought treats into primary today. "They're the healthiest cupcakes you've ever seen - they're MUFFINS! And you could see the chunks of apples and carrots in them!" He also explained that they were made out of flour. Yes, very healthy I'm sure.

KALLIE

Kallie has been starting to show a little bit of a mean streak lately despite her normally sweet nature. I don't know where she picked it up from but somehow she learned that a really good way to make someone feel bad was to call them a 'loser'. She was even confident enough to call the neighbor girl a 'loser' for using training wheels only 2 days after Kallie herself learned how to ride without them. We've come down on her pretty hard about it, so hopefully this doesn't turn into an issue. Tonight we were driving back home from a family dinner and Katie was going to call Auntie Megan to see how she is doing with her newborn. Kallie asked, "Why does Auntie Megan have to live in the coldest place in the Universe?" I try really hard not be a complete nerd around my children and was able to keep myself from explaining exactly how cold the universe really is...
Tonight she also said the family prayer and added, "And bless that when my light turns off the monster won't appear on my wall and scare me to death like when I was 4..." I don't think there has been another time when Katie both looked at each other during the prayer with such confusion. After it was over Katie looked at her and asked, "Are you okay?" "Yep!" and she bounced happily off to bed. Huh??? I can't decide if she thought she was being funny or not. Her joke tonight was "How do you tell Ronald McDonald on a French beach? - His FRENCH FRY buns!!!" She's crazy.

ANDREW

Andrew says a million crazy things a day and yet for some reason they are all escaping my mind right now. I might have to addend this post later when I remember what it was I wanted to say about him.

KATIE

Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer... in fact she almost didn't go to a family dinner at her favorite place to eat because Jimmer was playing... (sigh)

Chats with Children 4

BEN

He's a funny kid, but also a VERY smart one. He's very excited about getting baptized this year and is always asking about the details. Aside from testing out 2nd grade (he's still in 1st), his new interest is a voracious appetite for reading which includes but is not limited to books of records. He is constantly coming up to show me some amazing record that he just found. His favorites seem to involve extremely fast cars and Taylor Swift. Sounds like he's a perfectly normal boy to me. I got a bit of a surprise when I found that his enthusiasm was rubbing off on friends. I popped open the garage door yesterday and found, to my surprise, him and his buddy crammed into the play Jeep reading a pair of "wimpy kid" novels. I thought they were playing basketball. Then again, basketball has been less popular since Ben is the only kid who can remember how to spell "horse"...

KALLIE

This little girl is as sweet as can be but sure knows how to step up the drama. Whether it's bugs or bumps it's a federal disaster sized emergency. Tonight at Grandma's she suddenly started screaming bloody murder. Literally, sort of. Nobody died luckily, but when Katie went to examine she found a dot of blood about the size of a pin head on Kallie's heel. "This?" she asked. Kallie stopped the tears long enough to look down. "Oh, that's it?" She was suddenly fine. I was making her some breakfast one morning when apparently she spotted a little fly in the kitchen. Out of nowhere she suddenly started screaming, "FLY, DAD, FLY!" Quizically, I looked at her and responded. "But Kallie, I don't have wings!" I'm not sure whether she thought I was stupid or crazy but after staring me down she explained what was really going on.

ANDREW

Abba's nickname for this kid "Andrew-DAMN" is becoming more and more apt. This week he learned he has super-tot strength as he pulled the front door open despite the childlock and bent Dan and Emily's baby gate in the act of pulling it out of the stairs. We're working on a superhero costume for him that might have the added benefit of limiting his range of motion. He's been picking up some pretty funny phrases too. Such as "that's not going to be good" and "you got jimmered!" Tonight he accompanied me to take Uncle Angel home and the car traveled over some rumble strips. "What's that noise?" he asked. "Is the car broken?" I told him what was going on. "Oh," he said, "The car's broken. We'll have to get a new one." Whether or not I think he's understood what I've said he always comes up with his own conclusion which he states very matter-of-factly.

KATIE

She's still babbling on and on about Jimmer Fredette. It's rubbing off on the kids too.

Chats with Katie

I think I have some pretty funny kids but it only takes a minute with their mother to realize where their comic genius comes from. Last month we were infected by all sorts of unknown viruses. This month there is just one virus and it doesn't look as though it's going to go away anytime soon. Yes, it can no longer be hidden and I must publicly confess that Katie has been infected with... JIMMER MANIA!!!

Not that she cares anymore about basketball or BYU sports or really anything else. Just Jimmer Fredette. Today was the quarterfinal round of the MWC basketball tournament. Katie's day was ruined when she couldn't watch the BYU vs. TCU game. Not that she didn't try. She had made plans with the kids to go on a bike ride previous to finding out the schedule of the tournament. She was finally guilted into keeping her appointment with the kids when Ben answered his friends at the door by saying "we can't go. My mom's watching Jimmer."

Earlier on when she had gotten really excited about something Katie had pumped her fist in the air and exclaimed, "YEAH!!!! MOFO!" Do I even really know this woman anymore...?

We are now minus two

Wheels that is.  This cute little thing….

has been trying so hard to ride her bike without training wheels.  Today while I was standing in the driveway talking to my neighbor Julie, she suggested I just lower Kallie’s bike seat and take off the training wheels.  That just sounded so scary to my mom ears!  But, I figured Julie has done this three times before she might know a thing or two that I don’t.  I started small and just lowered the seat.  Kallie was a pro.  So I did the scary part and took off the training wheels.  She was so excited.  I ran around behind her (good thing I’ve been jogging again!) holding onto the seat a few times around the church parking lot and I could feel she just had it.  I very slowly started letting go and she just took off.  I held my breath the whole time until she came to a stop.  5 minutes after taking off the training wheels she is riding all on her own.  This girlie is amazing!

We rode around the church parking lot until it was time to go to school.  She really was so excited about knowing how to ride her bike that she wanted to ride it to school.  We ended up walking it most of the way since the driveway up and downs scare her (I mean she has only been riding for like 10 minutes by this point).  After school she was so excited to show Ben her newly acquired skills, we don’t even go home after school….we head right to the church parking lot.  She was so excited to show off her new skills.  A few friends joined us and Ben and Andrew didn’t want to be left out…so they showed off some of their skills…..

     

Riding with his feet up

Andrew loves this bike.  His feet are long enough to reach the peddles…but those just slow him down.  He just walks it along with his feet…well not walks but runs but still seating on his seat..does that make sense?

 

More big news!  Chris had to shave his beard off to prove to BYU he has a skin condition where he really can’t shave everyday.  The appointment is tomorrow…he forgot until today.  A big deal?  Not normally, but for this kind of appointment you have to shave everyday for three days straight.  Thankfully (or not) his face just needs to be shaved once and it is full of sores.  So this is our yearly looks at what Chris really looks like…enjoy!  You most likely will never see another picture like this!

Kallie’s Recital and a little spring weather

I’m ready for Summer. I think I’ve been ready for summer since fall…well, not really. I like winter, don’t get me wrong…. but it just takes to long to finish up. The weather just needs to make up its mind…Winter or Spring. This morning we woke up to a yard full of snow…and a few hours later we were at the park playing with no snow in sight. I just don’t like being teased with this pretty weather! K, off of my rant…now let’s get down to business :)

I’m loving this new camera (thank you thank you thank you Chris and Ligaya!) I’ve already logged over 2,000 pictures and still going strong. Today I tackled the “subject nice and clear while the background is blurry” shot. (If you happen to know what kind of picture that really is don’t worry about letting me know, I won’t be able to remember it anyways!) My favorites are the first 2 pictures here. Aren’t these boys adorable?!?!

After playing with friends at the school’s park we headed inside to watch Kallie’s jazz dance recital. She was so excited. Every morning for a week she has been giving me an update on how many more days till her recital. She also wanted to call her cousin Hailey to make sure she would be there…every day. Thankfully sometimes I can be good at changing the subject so we only had to makes those calls 2 or 3 times.

The whole recital was one dance. That’s it. ONE. They were nice and performed that one dance twice for us…they have been practicing for 8 weeks for a one minute show…well two minutes if you count that they performed it twice…are you following? I’m not, anyways! After the dance they treated us to the most amazing cake. I’m not a cake lover…but I loved this cake! Then we went back outside and played a little while longer.

Kallie’s dance teacher with Miss. Hailey….who wore her dance outfit…she fit right in!

We did endure a little accident that I happened to catch with the camera. Poor Andrew! But he is a brave little man and was most concerned that his new water bottle might get dirty. What a man. Oh, by the way another new big things happened in our house this morning. Andrew was able to power through our child safety lock on our front door. I swear this kid has super power strength!

How adorable is my Kallie?!?!

A big, huge, gigantic thank you to Grandma, Ana, Lisa, and Hailey who drove 45 minutes one way to watch Kal’s one dance. You guys are amazing! It’s so great to be loved ;)

They say it’s your birthday….

This big guy had a birthday this week. I think I was a little more excited about it then he was. Birthday’s when you are older are just not the same…but I set out to prove him wrong! Birthday’s can be just as fun and a big deal when you are turning 29 plus 2!

When Chris got home from work the kids and I had the whole house decorated and his requested meal on the table..well I thought it was his requested meal. He was very sweet and didn’t tell me it wasn’t the meal he asked for until later that night. Opps! It was still delish :)

Kallie enjoying her yummy “noodles with red sauce”.

Ben requested this picture with Chris. Don’t you love his still red mouth after just washing his face and hands? What adorable boys I have :)

After dinner we got to the most exciting part…..presents!!! The kids were super helpful and didn’t want Chris to feel burdened by having to open gifts…so they helped :)

And even though they knew what was inside the boxes they were still so excited to see him open them, hand it to him and tell him what it is! My favorite part was during dinner when Kallie gave Chris her gift (a rock) and told him his other gift was coming in the book, but she couldn’t say anymore because it was a surprise. Love how kids can keep secrets :)

Chris got a special homemade book…thank you thank you thank you everyone :) You know who you are :)

Once all the presents were opened Andrew got back to business….he sneaked over to the sink where the food was waiting to be put away and helped himself. But I really can’t complain..he is eating broccoli! He loves it!

Since we didn’t have time to do donuts in the morning we did them as a pre-dessert dessert. Ben is now a pro and got it after only a few tries…

Kallie was so excited to try to get her donut. She called it when we were hanging them and let everyone know that was “her” donut. Do you see that little hand sneaking it's way up to the prized donut????

And this is what you get when your little brother wants your prized donut….

And more crying and wailing….. I love how he is eating the donut in the background of this picture…poor Kal!

But it all ends well as we find a replacement donut. This is why I don’t buy different flavors anymore. If they are all chocolate everyone gets the same..and they love the Macy’s chocolate cake donuts..so no one complains….

Andrew is on such a sugar high he rocked the rocking chair and it fell all the way back. He thought that was pretty neat and got comfy and couldn’t stop giggling. It was really adorable….until he realized he couldn’t get out of the chair in the position and got really upset…then it was funny :)

Real Dessert time! Chris wanted strata for his dessert and that’s what he got…unlike at dinner :) Too bad he was so full from everything he had eaten that day that he couldn’t enjoy it. The rest of us did though :)

Chris getting all ready to watch the big game. BYU vs. New Mexico. He knew they were going to win because it was his birthday. Of course they knew it was his birthday and would play an amazing game. He even didn’t got back to work that night so he could watch the cougars in all their glory. Unfortunately the Cougars had a little off game. I’ve never seen Chris so riled up about a basketball game! It’s ok though. It got me really into the whole Jimmer bandwagon so today he is coming home to watch the game again. I’m happy since I’ll get to see him on a Saturday :)

So all in all it was a fun day and fun to celebrate this amazing man I married ;) Happy birthday babe! You are so loved ;)