Almost through February!!

We had a nice week.
Biggest news: we have officially lived in Moses Lake for ONE WHOLE YEAR!!!  I can't really believe it.  I am not 'used' to it, nor do I like it yet...but now people are telling me it takes 2 years, so we'll see.  We still love our home, and we love the people here, and Josh LOVES his job...and we've paid off 2 small student loans already...so we're surviving.  But we miss family and friends, always will.

I filled my week with service which brightened my mood and my whole outlook on life.  If I can keep it up, this week promises to be bright too!  Josh and I spent the latter half of the week helping a family move. It was great to get out of the winter blues and think about someone else for a while. 


On Monday, the 21st, it was finally 'warm' enough for the kids to go outside.  They stayed out for more than 15 minutes...and came in excited and cold.

Spencer LOVES going out.  He stands by the back door and makes noise...since he can't talk yet.  He did that A LOT this week after he got to play Monday.

Parker DOESN'T love outside. But he went willingly...that was nice.

Kaden wanted water for the squirt gun. I said it was too cold.

Tyson would live with any kind of sport ball in his hands, and stay outside all the time, if he could.  He and Spence will be great friends (notice Spence in the background).

Even though it was cold, I decided to try out a new recipe I heard for homemade 'raw food' ice cream.  It took a while, but it was a hit!  Strawberries, Almonds, Cabbage and water...and they all ate it happily.  Then they complained they were cold.

Look at those handsome boys!! Yikes...the ladies are gunna love 'em!

Spencer looked like he was in time out and I thought it was adorable.  Thing is, he can climb up that chair on his own...and turn off lights, and reach into EVERY drawer, and climb on ALL the counters, and find every thing in the world he shouldn't touch...and he does it on a daily basis.  Yes. I. am. busy.

 

Tyson got to go to a party on Saturday!  It was just a fun thing one of his friend's family does in the winter for something to look forward to.  He was thrilled. He got to make a pizza at Dominos and then watch a movie and play games. 

I did our bi-monthly trip to Tri-Cities for shopping...but I took a friend and enjoyed it SOO much more.  It really is drudgery to me to have to shop, so it was nice to go with someone who loves it and made it fun.  I might just 'get used' to this town if I keep mixing things up!

Valentine's and the week.

I decided to make Valentine's Day fun for the boys this year...hopefully it worked.  But I forgot to take pictures of it all, which is SAD!

I DID remember pictures of breakfast:
Waffles made by Dad, with fresh strawberries & bananas and whipped cream (in a can...so fun).

Look at that perfect waffle!  We should have a restaurant...some days it feels like we do!!

Kaden looks tired...or Chinese.

Spencer LOVED breakfast.

He also learned how to do this CHEESE face this week. He does it after he completes a naughty task, like making a mess or hitting or kicking.  It's so adorable (said with thick sarcasm).

Parker loves waffles and fresh fruit...he was definitely in heaven.

•  For their lunches, I used a cookie cutter to make a heart in their sandwiches.  I might have added some chocolate too...but maybe not because I knew they were going to have sugar-filled parties.

• For dinner, I made heart-shaped 'hamburgers' (I mixed a little ground beef with ground turkey...but it was yummy--for a meat dinner).  The kids thought that was fun.

• After school we decorated heart-shaped cookies we had made Sunday afternoon.  It was a day full of pink!

• I also made them heart valentines and put some candy in them.  The week before they had filled out Valentine's for each other and put them in a little white mailbox we have.  They had fun passing those out to each other as well.  

It was a fun family day!
(Josh didn't so much participate in the festivities...he hopes to redeem himself next year...I hope he does too.)


In other BIG news.....TYSON LOST IS FIRST TOOTH!!!!!!  It has been wiggly and loose for weeks, but he wouldn't let us do anything.  Friday night Parker hit his face somehow (it happens so often, in so many ways, it all blurs together in my memory), and it started bleeding and hurting a lot...so he let Josh pull it out There was much noise from him for a few minutes after, then he was excited about his tooth being out.  The tooth fairy actually remembered to come on the first night...and brought a selection of coins that equaled one dollar.

He looks more worried than excited, but he was excited...just had a hard time showing his bottom teeth for the camera.

As for the rest of the week.......well, we're just surviving the rest of February and hoping it ends the cold of this winter.

Week of February 7th

There isn't as much to report this week...maybe a weekly update will prove useless.

Parker and Tyson continue to surprise us with their genius. This week we finally broke down and went to the library.  Seems with how much the boys read, we would be taking them regularly, but nahhh, too much work.
Since going, the boys have done almost nothing but read. The house is quiet. Kinda nice.  I've been wondering if it is bad to set a limit on the amount of reading your children do...like you would TV watching.  Parker probably reads 3 hours a day!

Spencer has had a good week.  I prayed he would start talking or communicating. The next day he signed the word, "help".  It was fantastic.  He has also said, "bye, bye."  And he has done really well trying to form other words too.  It's great.

Kaden has been talking like a regular kid.  Using nice, big words and making full sentences.  He's such a smart guy and since he has these brothers to learn from...it's always fun what comes out of his mouth.  My personal favorite this week:  we have been using gel on his hair because the poor kid's hair is naturally, permanently poofy.  One morning he had me rewet his hair so the gel would keep it down.  Later that morning he was sitting quietly on a chair, then out of nowhere frustratedly said, "my hair is FREAKING out again!!"  It was awesome.  Josh's favorite was when he said, "Parker's bein' a turd."  But that's mostly cute because of HOW he says it.

I made our monthly trip to Tri-Cities yesterday.  The temple was wonderful, but I HATE shopping all day.  And then when I got home (9 hours later) the shoes I bought the boys were the wrong size...oh yay. Not sure what to do now!  They were on clearance so I'm not so sure they will have the size I need whenever we get back down.  The joys of small-town living.
The boys LOVED having a sitter for a couple hours when Josh went to a meeting. Basketball was played and ice cream was eaten after lunch...they love the sitters!

The boys are all over their illness of last week.  Herbs are amazing.  Spencer and Kaden still have stuffy noses, but who doesn't with all this heated air blown around all the time??

And that's the week.  I'll try to do better about taking pictures of the kids and what they do during the week to make this more interesting.

These are pictures of Spencer after I found him crouched behind the counter with a butter knife and jar of nutella.  He loves the stuff. (We all do.)

This also shows how great his hair looks on a daily basis. Ralph, the night hair dresser, is great with him.

 

February Begins

This was a week of getting back into the swing of life.  I came home from my San Diego trip late Monday night.  Spencer was sick, and now the other boys have had their bouts with it.  We have definitely made great headway on the healing process by using our herbs.  No sleepless nights for the older boys; coughing has subsided significantly, and they are getting better before they get worse...I feel so blessed so often that we have learned so much since we've been here!

Parker and Tyson got their report cards this week.  Both are doing amazingly well!  Only one 'B' for each in handwriting...which, who cares, right! They are destined to be doctors!
This school district does computer tests, and Parker, being the YOUNGEST in his class, scored the HIGHEST in Math, and second highest in reading in his class.  Tyson's math score was only a TINY bit behind Parker's. His reading was also really amazing for only being FIVE!!
We don't quite know what to do with these little geniuses...keep them reading and doing math with their dad, for sure.  I also have to wonder what no TV is doing for them!!
Because of their great school reports, we took them out for a celebratory dinner!  (Kinda fun to reward them AND me...not having to make dinner or clean it up!)



I love when Spencer decides to wear something interesting...this week he chose his awesome hunting hat.  It's hard to get a good picture of him because he moves so much, but you get the idea.

Notice the excited drool leaking from mouth to floor.

Plus here he had the swim noodles and was using them as weapons...he won't talk, but he does great sound effects!

The highlight of the week was Josh's birthday!!  Along with that came a can of pressurized whipped cream.  Oh what fun was had in our home this week!!  Pictures alone would not have done it justice:

The Birthday Chicken comes to our house and delivers a box of cereal. ALL the boys thought it was quite a delightful treat because we don't buy cereal anymore.  Josh said it was good, but he likes the homemade granola better these days....ahh, my sweet, healthy man!

Morning delights. Parker and Tyson still ate pancakes too...healthy monkeys!

 

 

 

Thanks for the birthday card, Mom, Dad and Sisters.

The loot.  He got clothes because he lost so much weight that he is drowning in everything he owns! (Not Kaden, Josh.  Kaden just wanted to be front and center for opening festivities.)

NICE BOOTY!!  Pants that look good on him...that ones for me.

And here's a picture we printed for a few relatives to HAVE.  If you want one, let me know!