Dad's Day!

Happy Father's Day Dads!

I love you all SO much and could never adequately express how much I appreciate all that you do/have done for us.  So I'll let my older kids do all the talking.  

I asked them what they wanted to say to Daddy and their Grandpas for Father's Day -

Carter:  "Happy Father's Day!  Thanks for helping me get born!"

Lydia:  "Thanks for helping Mommy with everything, and caring about us, and helping us with things.  And doing different things to cheer us up when we're sad.  I'm glad you're our Dads!  I love you!

Meleah:  "Uh, you help us whenever we need you.  I hope you like Father's Day!  I hope you like your presents!"

Cameron:  "Um, that I wuv them so much!  And that's all.  I mean..that's not all.  Actuey (Actually) that's all."

Sleeping Babies

I LOVE sleeping babies!

 This one's kinda funny -

It's hard to see, but there are hundreds of little "hair pretties" scattered all over the ground.  Being this naughty must be EXHAUSTING!

I even catch my biggest baby sleeping every now and then -

 Isn't he just SO adorable? 

Lost

Well it happened.  I knew someday it would, and it did.  I lost a child at Costco.  Not just lose a child and 13 seconds later find them like I've done countless times.  I'm talking go through the checkstand, realize he's gone, casually walk around the area where you saw him last, proceed to RUN around the ENTIRE STORE, then go to the customer service desk and wait for an ENDLESS 10 minutes until he was finally found - lost.  Yeah.  Not my favorite experience.  Can you guess who it was? 

Of course it was Cameron.  My sweet little, innocent, trusting, hug anyone and everyone that you see (including salesmen at our front door, and grocery baggers at Smiths), totally wouldn't have any qualms about walking out of Costco with some stranger - Cameron.  And of course during that horrendous 10 minutes that I was standing at Customer Service with my other kids waiting for someone to find him, THAT was all I could think about.  AND about how I was REALLY going to tell him a thing or two about listening to Mommy once he was found.  Haven't I told him A MILLION TIMES to stay by me?!  But of course when he finally sauntered around the corner with a store employee all I did was give him a hug and say "Where were you?" in my high-pitched baby talk voice while trying to keep the tears in my eyes from falling down my face.  If I retain my sanity throughout this whole child-rearing phase of life it will be a MIRACLE! 

Halo At My House

 

After about 30 minutes of wandering around the level -

Carter:  I feel like killing someone.

Lydia:  What?!

Meleah:  NO!  Carter, bring my favorite purple car to my house on top of  the mountain!

Lydia:  Carter, will you show me how to get to my house?  I want to play in the waterfalls.

Carter:  You guys, killing people is part of the game.

Lydia:  I knoooow, but it's not my favorite part.

a few minutes later

Meleah:  (crying, like tears running down her face crying) CAAAAAARTER!   Mooooom!  Carter wrecked my FAVORITE purple car! 

Carter:  I didn't mean to, Meleah!

Meleah:  Carter, just come and pick me up.  I don't want to get exploded! 

Carter:  Stop bossing me around Meleah!  Did I just run over you Lydia?  I didn't even know you were there!  Isn't that funny!   Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Lydia:  Ha! Ha!  That's weird that you didn't see me.  (sneakily) I know, next time I can just KILL YOU FIRST....  (dying again)  CARTER!  You just killed me AGAIN! 

Carter:  Oops, I was just picking up an energy sword and accidentally killed you!  Isn't that so funny Lydia?!

Cameron:  Carter!  Quit killing Lydia! 

Lydia:  It's okay Cameron.  I'm not sad, or Mom will make us turn off the X Box.  (dies again) HEY!  This game ISN'T FUN cause you have to KILL people! 

Meleah:  Ha! Ha!  I just killed you Lydia! 

Lydia:  YOU did it?!  You killed your own SISTER?!

Meleah:  Carter!  STOP killing me!

Lydia:  You killed ME, Meleah! 

Meleah:  But I don't WANT to be killed!  You can't kill people that don't want to be killed!

Lydia:  I didn't want to be killed!  I'm just going to hide so no one can find me.

Carter:  Here Lydia, Lydia.... Come out, come out, wherever you are! 

Lydia:  Do you know where I am?!  Are we killing people?  I DON'T WANT TO BE KILLED! 

Carter:  Killing people is the FUN PART OF THE GAME!!! 

and so it continues...

Disclaimer:  Yes, I allow my kids to play Halo occassionally, but ONLY after they've tired of watching TV, chatting with strangers online, and playing with matches.  ;)

School Stuff

The end of school was crazier than ever this year (perhaps because I have more kids in school...).  Here are some pics of all the fun -

CARTER

I joined Carter on his field trip to the Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake.  You could spend a week in there and not have enough time to read about EVERYTHING, but we loved it. 

 Carter was being a bit of a ham -

 The ever popular water and sand exhibit to teach about erosion

This was his favorite thing we saw that day.  A cute little old man explained to us that all the humongous dinosaur displays are "replicas" (He didn't like the terms copies or fakes) because fossils are too heavy to set up like that.  The kids were a little disappointed until he pointed out this REAL Tyrannosaurus Rex skull -

 He also performed a Reader's Theater called "Rafunzel"

They made all their own props -

He also went on a field trip to Utah Lake that I didn't volunteer for (no pictures), but he said it was really fun and he learned a lot.

 

MELEAH

 Kindergarten Graduation!

Seriously, is there anything cuter than the Kindergarten Graduation?  All the fun little songs they sing, their little graduation caps...adorable!  And I must say I did better than ever taking pictures and video taping, all while wrestling a baby and 2 toddlers.  I can actually see Meleah in every picture I took!

Meleah also had a field trip to the park that I didn't attend, so I don't have any pictures.  It was almost rained out, but there was a brief moment of sunshine and they were able to go.  Meleah LOVED it! Oh yeah, and there was also a Kindergarten carnival on the last day of school. 

LYDIA

Lydia's grade does a cute little dance performance every year, and her class had the Mexican Hat Dance.  It was adorable, and once again, I'm pretty proud of my vidoetaping/picture taking while distracted skills.

 She also graduated from the RAD kids program (basically a self-defense program for kids).

I love the RAD kids program, but anything that makes me think of someone trying to grab one of my kids TOTALLY gives me heart palpitations!  Don't get me wrong...I enjoy seeing a "bad guy" get beat up by dozens of children just as much as the next guy. However, it seriously freaked me out to see my little Lyddies up next to that BIG guy!  She didn't really enjoy it that much either (since she's so sweet and shy and it just COMPLETELY goes against her nature to knee a stranger "where it counts"), but she got through it. 

 We're going to miss Mrs. Packer SO much.  Lydia seriously LOVES her!

Lydia also had a teddy bear picnic, and a field trip to the park that I didn't attend. 

And no, I didn't help at the school carnival or on field day this year either.  Yes, I'm a slacker Mom, but I have a BABY for goodness sake! (Along with every other woman in Eagle Mountain.)  :) I can't even imagine how crazy it would have been if I had helped as much as I usually do.  I about lost it just attending the things I DID, and making sure that my kids had sunblock, snacks, water bottles, the appropriate colored shirts for spirit days, teddy bears, and any other random item that they needed each day.  As busy as it was, I'm so glad that their school goes above and beyond to make the last month of school great.  They had a blast, and I LOVE seeing my happy kiddos!

Happy Birthday MELEAH!

My little Meleah Susannie is finally SIX!  She's waited so patiently for her Birthday this year, even though hers is the finale of our crazy Birthday season.  (At least if you don't count mine, which I don't.)  We had lots of fun celebrating -

We decorated cookies, 

 partied with the other Birthday peeps (Jana and Dalton),

Don't you just LOVE Randall's photo-bombing face? 
opened presents,

 ate cake,

 (My interpretation of "strawberry cake with chocolate frosting.")

 opened MORE presents,

 and went to Chuckarama and Jungle Jim's Playland.

 

Carter and Meleah buddied up most of the time, which was a bit unusual since they're basically mortal enemies. It was so cute!

Randall LOVES Jungle Jim's Playland.  He can't wait to go back there.  Can't you tell by his genuine smile? Doesn't he just look SO comfy on this ride?  ;)

Favorites

Food: "tomatoes, the center of the lettuce, and popcicles!"
Movie:  "Barbie Princess Charm School"
TV Show:  "Word Girl"
Book:  "Bingo"
Ice Cream Flavor: "Strawberry"
Thing to Do:  "Play games, and dance!"
Color: "Turquiose"

My spunky little Meleah is just so much fun.  She has been known to be bossy, short-tempered, sassy, whiny, and frankly a little bit mean at times, but I couldn't imagine our family without her.  Her positive attributes far outweigh any small character flaws that she may have.  When she was only a day old our midwife, Valerie El Halta,  said that Meleah was going to be EXTREMELY smart.  Randall and I looked at each other and chuckled a little bit, and then Valerie warned us that raising an intelligent child can be difficult.  She pretty much said "good luck with that!"  Apparently she knew from day one that Meleah would be an intelligent, strong-willed, independent little leader, and boy was she was right! 

She can be very shy at times, but when we're at home she knows exactly what she wants to do, how she wants to do it, and how to make everyone else follow along with her plans.  She's an excellent reader (Hallelujah!), and is pretty much the first one I call for when I need help with ANYTHING. She's just so dang capable!  When you consider that my oldest child can't make it from one room to another without forgetting what he's doing (Yes, he got this from me), and my second oldest has some physical limitations... Meleah ends up being the Queen of all favors.  She's become a bit sick of this however, and likes to say "Why do I ALWAYS have to do EVERYTHING?!" But I know that deep down she just LOVES to be my big helper.  ;)

Meleah may act like a tough cookie, but she can be VERY tender-hearted.  She feels the pressure from my guilt trips more than anyone (ESPECIALLY more than Randall and Carter!), and I have to remember to consider her tender feelings even though she seems so self-assured.  She feels remorse immediately after she upsets someone, and I don't think it's just because she's worried that she'll get in trouble.

Everyone always wants to play with her because she's so full of fun new ideas.   She's great about helping Lydia and Savanna get everything all set up and organized when they're playing, and I just love to watch her take care of everyone.  I know that she's going to be a great mom someday, because she's already so responsible.  We LOVE our little Elly Jelly SO much, and are so blessed to have her in our family!

Side Note: Randall also turned 34 this month! Happy Birthday Big Daddy!  WE LOVE YOU!

p.s. Maybe someday when life slows down a little you'll get your own Birthday post, but for now you get a shout-out at the end of Meleah's.  ;)  Love ya! 

Carter's LAST Pinewood Derby EVER!

Carter wanted a Lego Lord of the Rings derby car this year, and this is what we came up with. He didn't place, but he won a couple of heats and got the "coolest driver" award. He was totally okay with that, and didn't seem disappointed at all. He WAS pretty bummed that this was his "LAST PINEWOOD DERBY EVER!" I told him that before he knows it, he'll have his own kids and will actually get to saw instead of just sand, paint, and mod podge. (Does anyone let their boy scouts saw their own derby cars? I'm way too paranoid for that.) Not to mention that I'm sure he'll be helping Cameron with his in just a few years. Until then, please enjoy our final pinewood derby pictures -