Oh Wow, my wand is beautiful

I love listening to the things Hallee says because everything she says is so cute.  I took the kids to story time this week and they loved the magic wands that they made.

They had fun doing magic tricks and reading books about magic.

Allison came down and met us for breakfast and then went to story time with us.  It makes it more fun for me!  Hallee likes to play with Jack, she calls him her boyfriend.

After story time my mom came and picked up Wyatt for a grandma date.  Wyatt was so excited.  She took him to nickel cade and to get a donut.  They had a great time and Wyatt couldn't stop talking about his donut!  When my mom brought him back I asked Wyatt if he told grandma thank you and he said, "I already told her she is the best grandma ever in the car."

We had a fun family home evening this week.  It went better than most of ours do, which isn't saying a lot!  We talked about being positive and looking for the good.

We made peanut butter smiley face cookies for dessert.  The kids loved making the cookies.

Wednesday was free day at the zoo.  Allison and I decided to brave the crowds and take the kids up there.  The seals and sea otters were definitely the favorite. Jack loved it and got so excited about every animal. My kids screamed and cried and fought over who got the blue seat in the wagon.

Wyatt cheered up pretty quickly and had fun, but Hallee was a mess the whole time.  She did have fun looking at animals in-between throwing fits!

We had to wait for a while to ride the train, but all of the kids loved it.  It was fun, but I was pretty disappointed with how the kids behaved.  Hallee fell asleep for her nap as soon as I laid her down, she must have had a bad night sleep or something.

Hallee and Wyatt love to play school and pretend to do their homework.

Caitlyn wanted me to take a picture of them all lined up.  I sure love these kids.

You the best mommy ever!

Hallee always tells me that I'm the best mommy ever, it is so cute.  She says things like that to all of us, I love it! 

Hallee and Wyatt love to go up to the top of the street and play in the rocks by the water tower.  They like to look at all of the little rocks and climb on the big ones.

Wyatt prefers his big wheel, but he rode his bike for a little while the other day.

I have got to know Gaven's mom, Brittany, pretty well.  I really like her, she is really easy to talk to.  She was taking her boys to the zoo and invited Jonah and I to come along.  She invited all of us, but they could only get two people in for free and I was too cheap to pay for the rest of the family. 

It was great for Jonah, he had a great time showing off!  He loved playing with Gaven and his brothers.  They ran all over and burned a lot of energy!

Jonah was being a goofball for all of the pictures.  We keep thinking about getting a zoo pass.  We haven't for the last few years because I don't know how much we would actually use it.  We might need to think about it again, I really want to take Wyatt and Hallee up there again.  They love it.

The boys were always ahead of us.  They ran down to see the gorilla and then all of the sudden they all came running up to us screaming.  I guess they were teasing the gorilla and he started pounding his chest and then hit the glass.  The boys were scared, but not enough to leave the poor gorilla alone.  It was really funny to watch.  After the gorilla pounded on the glass he would go in the corner and sit like this and then he would come back over and pound on it again.  At one point a little girl was standing at the glass and the gorilla just sat there, but as soon as she left he started pounding his chest and hitting the glass near the boys again. 

 We had a lot of fun and it was really good for Jonah.

Hallee and Wyatt like to play Uno.  They do pretty well with it.  Hallee gets so excited when she has the right color.  She will get a huge smile on her face and start dancing around.  It is really cute.

Here she is turning around because she is so excited!  I love Hallee's hair.  It is so long and pretty.  I love the color of it.  It is a beautiful brownish red. 

The kids love to pretend to be dogs.  They made a dog house under the kitchen table.  Hallee really gets into it, sometimes she licks me!

They also love to play horse and give piggy back rides.

Yesterday was a little chilly outside so we found things to do inside.  Painting in the bath was a big hit.

We also went to Sam's Club.  Wyatt and Hallee were thrilled that I let them get their own drink.  We met Mel there for lunch.  It was nice to get out and visit and the kids were really good.

At one point I looked over and Wyatt was kissing Hallee, it was adorable. 

Jonah had his blue and gold banquet this week.   We have been passing sickness around the family, so I stayed home with the other kids and just Keith and Jonah went.  They had a lot of fun!

My dad called me this week and asked if it would help if he talked to Caitlyn.  My parents have been worried about her and how much she is struggling lately.  Caitlyn was so excited.  He came and picked her up and took her out for ice cream.  Talking to grandpa really seemed to help Caitlyn.  I think just the extra love and attention was great, but he was able to say things that really helped her with the struggles she has been having over Jen's death.  Poor Caitlyn is very mature and worries about things that most kids wouldn't even think of.  She has been struggling lately because she thinks she could have helped Jen if she had known that she was struggling before she died.  She seems to be at peace with that now.  It meant so much to me that my dad did that.  I can't describe how much it means to me when people love my children.

Valentines Day

Last week for Family Home Evening we decorated our door with things that we love about each other.  I got the idea off a blog I follow.  The kids all loved it.

Jonah made me a bracelet at school for Valentines day.  Love that cute boy!

Caitlyn gave me a Valentine too.

Keith had Friday off because he had to work on Saturday.  We gave the kids their valentines that morning so he could be here.  We got them all a beanie boo.  The kids all love these.  It is really cute to hear Hallee talk about them, she knows all of their names.

We hid them and took turns letting the kids find theirs.  Hallee was pretty excited.

Wyatt is such a sweet kid.

Keith and I went to dinner Friday night.  It was nice to get out and have fun together.  I sure love this guy!

On Saturday we all went to see "Annie" when Keith got home from work.  We have all been waiting to see this show, so we were really excited that it was at the dollar movie.  I really liked it.  Hallee was disappointed because she thought she was seeing a movie with Annie, Leo and June (the Little Einstein's).   Hallee got a little bored, but she did pretty good.  It was a great way to spend Valentines day. 

Crazy Kids

The kids made a tree house.  Keith checked it out and thought it was safe.  It still makes me nervous, but I trust Keith's judgment so I just try not to worry about it.  They have sure had fun with it. 

Don't mess with this kid!

Last week was Jonah's last game for Jr. Jazz.  He will miss it, but it will be nice to have our Saturday nights back.  Jonah did great this season.  He really is a talented athlete.  He did a great job of passing and trying to help other people get a basket. 

Jonah loves when people come to watch him play.  I'm not sure why he is making that face!

After Jonah's last game we stopped at the gas station and spent way too much money buying the kids ice cream.  Sometimes it is fun to do something out of the norm, the kids sure thought it was great.

Jonah and I went to Gaven's baptism. 

Hallee loves to play with her stuffed animals.  She is so cute.  I love to just sit back and watch her play with them, I love the things she has them say.  The other day she was playing hide-and-seek with them.  Minnie Mouse was hiding! 

The weather was so warm again last week.  We took advantage of it and went to the park a few times.

They had fun playing on the play ground and in the trees.

I wish Wyatt had some friends close by.  He loves to play with other kids.  He loves when he can find someone to play with at the park.  Wyatt has had mollescum on his neck.  Poor kid, it was really bad and painful for him.  I took him to the doctor for another treatment this week and Dr. Lei thought that would be his last treatment.  I really hope so because those co-pays add up fast!

I love my beautiful girls!

I went to SEP conferences with the kids this week.  All of their teachers said they were doing great.  I'm proud of Caitlyn and Jonah for working so hard in school and for respecting their teachers. While we were gone Keith cleaned out the pantry, it was awful, but I just close the door and pretend the mess isn't there.  Wyatt was waiting in there to scare me when I looked at it.  They both thought that was pretty funny!

Parties

Last Sunday we celebrated my mom's birthday.  I put together a collage with pictures from November when we were all together. I had to reprint it three times because of little things, but the final one looks great!  We also took mom to lunch on Tuesday. 

I am so grateful for my mom.  She is one of those women that was born to be a mother. She loves her kids and grand kids and would do anything for them.  She is a great example of unconditional love, obedience, self control and honesty.  Family is so important to her and she goes out of her way to be interested and involved in everything we are all doing.   Happy Birthday Mom!

Caitlyn adores my mom.  I am so grateful for their close relationship.  Everyone needs to feel loved and important, but Caitlyn seems to need extra love and reassurance.  I'm so grateful that she feels this from her grandma. 

Caitlyn has had another rough week.   She has been worrying and obsessing over things a lot.  Most of her worries and concerns seem to go back to Jen and her death.  That was and continues to be a very traumatic event for Caitlyn.  When she shares her worries and concerns with us we are usually able to help her through them.  I think sometimes it takes her a while to figure out what is bothering her.

We also celebrated Rockwell and Ataiya's birthday on Sunday.  I can't believe that Rockwell is five-years-old.  Wyatt made the cutest card for Rockwell.  I told him how to spell what he wanted to write.  I was really impressed with his handwriting.

Wyatt loves to hang with the big boys!

Rockwell had a party with his friends on Friday.  Wyatt was so excited about the party he could hardly stand it.   He was not disappointed, he had a blast!  I love these boys.  It is so fun to watch them interact and see how much they love each other.

I am so glad I stayed for the party.  I can't get over how cute these boys were.  First, Rockwell introduced every one, he did this all on his own.  After that they all played together and took turns on everything.  They took turns telling stories while the rest of them listened and they took turns saying funny things while the rest of them laughed.  It was seriously so cute! 

All of the boys loved the treasure hunt.  I had to put this picture in because while they were running for a clue Rockwell yelled, "Mateys stop, look at our flowers, okay everyone smell them."  All of the boys got down and smelled the flowers and then they ran off for the next clue.  It was so funny and a great lesson about stopping to smell the roses!

The boys were all so excited to find their treasure.  I was so glad I was able to leave the other kids home and let Wyatt have this fun afternoon.  It was so good for him.