Getting Old

I found my first grey hair today, so I am documenting the moment.  I haven't even turned 38 yet!  Boo!!

Fire Station

Parker's preschool class went to visit the fire station yesterday.  It was soooo exciting!  

He's not even as tall as the tires!  

Parker is second from the left.  

Then we went to the donut shop and watched them make the donuts.  Hooray for free samples!

In other news, I am trying to exercise and lose some weight.  I love my kids, but they have wreaked havoc on my body!  So part of my routine includes running up and down the stairs.  The boys all think it's fun to exercise with me, so they run up and down too.  It gets pretty crowded, and then the dog joins the fun, which makes it impossible.  Nothing is ever simple here!

Silliness

Parker just came upstairs with these funny glasses on and quietly stood next to 

Spencer.  I don't think he intended to freak out his big brother, but he was very effective!

Emily tried on her new owl jammies last night.  The matching beanie hat was a bit tight and she didn't enjoy modeling it.  She is the proud owner of two cute little teeth on the bottom.

Starting Over

Since it's been over a year since my last post, what do you say we just cut our losses and try again??  

Here's a cute little video of Emily with the hiccups:

http://youtu.be/hTcx212iZzo

Spencer is enjoying cooking lately.  It all started with a school project last spring.  He did a report on Louisiana and we made beignets for his class.  Now he is helping me cook all sorts of things, like French toast!  

Out of School!

We actually had a somewhat normal summer this year.  The kids were out the first week of June, like just about everyone else.  So we've tried to do some fun things close to home.

Parker is getting an early start on yard care.  He always wants to push the shopping cart too, but as you can guess, he's not a great driver.

Our first excursion was to the dinosaur park.  Yes, we went to Dinosaurland recently, but this is a little different.  This is Carson's favorite, the Utahraptor.

Spencer likes Allosaurus.  It's amazing to me how much these boys already know about different types of dinosaurs.  Carson gets library books about dinosaurs and pores over them for hours.  In fact, he prefers nonfiction.  He likes to read about all kinds of wildlife, especially sharks, bugs, and other unusual creatures.  I've learned a lot by reading to him!

Parker has a dinosaur named for him, Euparkeria!  Its prints are even the same size as his little hands.  His brothers thought that was amazing!

 

 He wasn't in the mood for having his picture taken with his namesake.

Another day we went to the nature park to watch the ducks.  Carson enjoyed seeing bat houses scattered throughout the park.

We counted 21 baby ducks.  They were adorable!  Parker still can't get enough of baby ducks.  I taught the boys how to skip rocks that day.  Parker tried too, but he chose really big, clunky rocks that made loud splashes in the water and scared all the birds.

No summer is complete without some time on the back porch with a popsicle.  I've been making my own with Jello and Koolaid.  They're pretty tasty! Parker loves them.  It's one way to keep him quiet and out of trouble for at least 30 minutes!

Birthdays and Other Fun

 Parker is crazy about slides!  His fine baby hair gets super static-y by the end!

Carson's birthday--we ate pizza and watched the only Star Wars movie he hadn't yet seen.  His favorite character is Darth Vader.  Everyone has a dark side, right?

Bedtime snacks are everybody's favorite!

I asked Andy to pull out this rose bush, so being the manly man that he is, he used his truck.  Rrrrarrr!

Parker's birthday party was at the park, since he loves to swing and slide.  Then we had "chicken nu-nuts" for lunch (his favorite food).

The lady who works in the church nursery with me offered to make this cake for Parker.  She's awesome!

Presents!  He got a little pirate toy and all the characters that go with it.  He also got a CD of The Piano Guys since he can't get enough of them!

Superhero jammies!  Parker was a bit silly for picture taking.

This was a long time ago, but Andy and I went to dinner with just Parker.  (I don't know where the others were--maybe with Grandma.)  He was being his loud self, so we told him to "SH!"

Olympic skiers

Not a bad picture of the two of us.

Activities

 Here's a brief overview of some sporting activities and such.  Both Spencer and Carson played soccer this spring and took swimming lessons while they were out of school.  (I have more pictures of Carson playing soccer, but I can't yet figure out how to put them on here.)

 Action shot!

 Even some of the parents told us that they enjoyed watching Andy coach as much as watching their kids play!  No one could have been more enthusiastic and invested in the team!  The one time Spencer scored a goal, Andy was hoarse for three days from all the cheering!

Here is a cute little fan.  He was quite patient most of the time, sitting through lots of soccer games and practices!

 Spencer loves the big slide!  He does the breaststroke very well, just needs to work on his butterfly more.  At least he can save himself if necessary.  That's my main requirement!

 Here comes Carson!  He finally started enjoying the slide too.  He is also improving his swimming skills nicely.

 We took everybody on a trip to Dinosaurland, Utah.  We had fun just being away from home.  Our hotel room was an adventure in itself.  This quarry was actually an ancient riverbed, FULL of various dinosaur bones.  Pretty cool!  They built a building all around it, so it's very convenient for visitors.

We went to a dinosaur museum.

 This is what happens to the poor soul who sleeps with Parker!  See Spencer teetering on the edge?

We visited a cabin in the middle of nowhere.  A lady lived here until she was in her 90's!  Alone!  She raised cattle and took care of herself, with no neighbors or electricity.  She had a dirt floor and carried her water from a nearby stream.  I forget when she died, but it was fairly recently.  I wonder if she even knew about television!