Mario Party Extravaganza!

Dallin is 7!!! We planned a Mario Party birthday party this year and had so much fun! It was a beautiful day which was great because we had the whole party outside and through our neighborhood. Each year I regret that I didn't have enough pictures of his birthday because I'm running around like a crazy woman, but thanks to Brooke the Mangificant (*see picture below), I had tons and then some!!

These are some of the things we did:
- Roll the gigantic dice to decide which mini game we would play
-Yoshi's Egg Hunt
-Get the Goomba balloon pop
-Save Princess Peach treasure hunt
-Koopa Troopa Bank ball toss
-Mario Madness bubble gum chew/bubble race
-Chain Chomp piniata
-Super Mushroom Cupcakes
-Collect coins from each game where they could trade in for a Bonus Star necklace

After the festivities were over the kids were playing with the dice and ball toss.  One of the boys said, "Man, this is the best party I've ever been to...and I've been to a lot!"  That was the best compliment of all time!
We did have a fun time but the very best is to see the smile on Dallin's face. I love you buddy!

* Brooke the Magnificant

Credits:

Brooke - Someone that understand my insane need to plan a party and awesome photographer!
Darlene - for all the awesome help the day before the party and hooking us up with some awesome $10 bubble gum!
Riley (Luigi) - For making the games run so smoothly!
Haley (Princess Peach) - for being the cutest Princess Peach in a Cinderella costume ever!!
Joe, Jeff, and Brandon - for being patient as we go overboard!

Dallin the First Grader!

Dallin is enjoying his new school where he loves his teachers Ms. Taylor and Ms. Wilson.  Yep, two teachers!  Ms. Taylor is his homeroom teacher and English teacher, and Sra. Wilson is his Spanish teacher. His spanish teacher said that for a kid that has been thrown into knowing a new language, he is doing great!  He gets a 'Smarty Pants' (a kudos card) at least once a week. He and another boy are the only ones in the class that didn't have a year of Spanish in Kindergarten.  So, though a little frustrated, he is doing well for starting from ground zero.

He loves to play basketball with his friends Trevan and Elijah and says that 'sometimes' he get's to shoot the ball but that he is really good at passing.  He He!  Elijah is about a head taller than him and Trevan is halfway there. He practices his dribbling every chance he gets to go outside.  We are enrolling him into a Basketball camp at the local Recreation Center and he is excited to sharpen his skills!

His favorite subject is Science and his least favorite is P.E.  We have a calendar of what he will be doing for the week and everytime it is P.E. day, he grumbles all the way to school.

I am so proud of Dallin and his positive outlook on life.  He doesn't let things get him down for long and he has a dedication like no other to accomplish things when he sets his mind to it.  (Like no other is a figure of speech because his father is exactly like that too.)  :-)  I know that he will be a awesome learner this year and many years to come!  I love you, Dallin!


Elijah is the kid that is taller than any of the other kids in the classroom.



Retro back...Valentines Box for this year

Two years ago we did a dog valentines box, go check it out in last years posts.
Well, this year we got even more creative and did a Captain Underpants Valentine Box (Dallin, and Joe, love these books). We had a fun time! Dallin helped me put the glue and paper around the balloon, and then he and Kiera painted it the flesh color. I made the under pants out of two pairs of Fruit of the Loom underwear as his waist was a lot bigger than his rump. We were all very proud of it!!! And he won first place for his grade!! Yeah, Dallin!!!

Lose a tooth - Find a tooth!

Last week Dallin lost his first tooth (front bottom right).  He was so brave and determined to get that thing out!  I told him the roots had to be broken and to now start pushing back on the tooth instead of just forward.  He pushed the tooth back about 5 times and he looked at me and said, "Mom, it kindof tastes, like I'm bleeding."  I started cheering (mainly to stop him from crying because who likes to bleed, right?)!  He ran to the mirror and it was just hanging there.  This spurred him onward.  We got some thread, tied it around the root and he pulled that darn thing right out!  You can tell by his expression how proud he was of himself!

Not more than an hour after this exciting episode, Dallin says, "Mom, I see something white in Lauren's mouth."  What?  Could it be.  I ran over and sure enough the front bottom right tooth was coming up in her shiny red gums.  Now, I know why she has been drooling and chewing on everything she can find.  I was blindsided as both Dallin and Kiera were at least 9 months old when they got their first tooth.  I shuddered at my next thought of feeding a baby with a tooth.  Eeek!  Let's hope for the best!

Dallin's Baseball 2010

I think T-Ball has got to be the funniest sport out there. We laughed at times until our sides hurt. The best memory (we wish we had this on camera) was when the opposing team hit the ball and 8 boys ran to the ball and tackled each other to get it just because they wanted to be the one to throw it back. It made us all wonder what team they thought they were on.

Towards the end, they became quite proficient at their positions and skills thanks to their great Coach Brian Patterson. It wasn't nearly as funny except for the time Dallin was talking to the kid on first and the ball was thrown, he wasn't watching and it pegged him right on the crown. All-in-all it was a great first year of Baseball for all of us!

This was Dallin's first or second game. This was his idea on how to play second base. Did you see something wrong with how he "plays" second base? I'm afraid he takes after his mother. BTW, This was from Joe.  Hey, who gave him my password??

Dallin's a Graduate...of Kindergarten!

This scrap page design created with Smilebox

We are so proud of Dallin and his accomplishments. He worked verY hard this year and successfullY completed Kindergarten with flYing colors. His teacher Ms. Cheri Parkins was an inspiration to each of the children and she pushed them, encouraged them to be better, and loved them so verY much. We feel truelY blessed to have had her great influence in Dallin's Young life. If the quote, "All I reallY need to know, I learned in Kindergarten" is true, he sure learned a lot!!
TheY had a Kindergarten graduation program that was reallY cute. Dallin and his friend Kimo had a part in the program and theY were so in sYnc that You actuallY understood what theY said.
The kids in his class grew to be reallY close as a class and still to this daY, theY want to have parties and invite each other. So cute!

Excuse me for theY issue in this post.  I left my computer before I published it and Joe got on the computer and Y'ed it for me.  Do you think he's a cougar fan???

Candy, Candy, Candy.... *sigh*

Well, another Halloween come and gone. Too much candy, not enough sleep, and did I mention too much candy?

This year I made Kiera a tutu. That's it! It was great! I usually spend a week and a half dedicating all my waking hours sewing! And this year, I spent 30 minutes! Why did I make this decision to go from one extreme to the other you ask? Well, one reason is my sewing machine is in the depths of the storage room trying not to get too much dust on it from all the construction. One of these days the basement will be done, I'm sure! The other reason, and to be honest, the real reason, is that this year...I just don't care. There you go!

I think my kids costumes turned out all right for not caring too much. Whew! Because in 6 months I would have been very mad at myself, I'm sure of this.

Kiera was totally into Trick-or-Treating this year. She ran from one house to the next, yelling at the top of her lungs, "Trick-or-Treat" and then, "Dallin, come on faster!" She wore the boy right out!

Mom, Can I Help?

A couple of weeks ago, I lay on the couch wondering if I was actually going to be normal again. Dallin and Kiera being the troopers that they are played very well together with a few comments here and there from Dallin such as "Kiera, we have to play nice together because Mommy isn't feeling well." and "Kiera, let's be friends today so Mommy doesn't have to get mad at us, cuz she's sick." Each time he commented, I would chuckle to myself and be grateful for my kids!

Anyway, every hour or so, Dallin would come to me and ask me if I wanted a pillow or a drink of water, or crackers, etc. I would thank him and tell him I was such a lucky mom to have him looking after me. Kiera decided that she wanted in on some action. She came to me and asked me if I wanted any candy, where I quickly replied with a shutter, that no, I didn't need any candy. She came up to me again and asked me if I wanted medicine to make me feel better. I told her again that I was okay and didn't need anything right now. She looked at me and said, "I want to help too, Mom! I'm a nice lucky girl!" After a slight chuckle inside, I asked her if she would get me another cracker and told her thank you.

The day progressed about the same and before I knew it, it was night. Joe was still at school and wouldn't be home for another 2 hours and my kids had spent the whole day looking after themselves and had done a GREAT job! However, I was feeling like a complete and utter failure as a mother! Guilt struck and thought to myself I better get them to bed. Dallin comes up to me and puts his hand on my cheek and says, "Mom, I think Kiera is tired, do you want me to put her to bed?" Man, why stop there, he had done such a great job all day, I should let him finish the day out, right? Oh, boy, what is happing to me! In desperation, I let him. He was so excited to do it!

This is what I hear from the other room:
"Okay, Kiera, it's time to say your prayers. Ready? [Dallin prompting her] Dear...bless mommy to get better...bless daddy to get home fast...amen. Okay, now let's sing songs. I'll sing you 3 songs. Which one first? Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star... Rock-a-bye Baby, in the Treetops... I Am a Child of God... Alright, it's time to go to sleep, okay? I love you Kiera! I love you, Dallin! Good night! Good night!"

Dallin ran in the room, I was moderately existing in, and told me that he was going to go to sleep, gave me a kiss on the cheek and left. He said his prayers and went right to sleep.

I have no doubt that even though I was feeling depressed and didn't feel like facing the world through this last month that this was God's hand helping me to hold on and see the love and the light that each new day holds. I have been truly blessed.

Singing in the Rain!

Bless his heart. He loves to sing in the shower, I know he will probably kill us one day for doing this to him. But we just could not help it! It's priceless!

The Week With Dr. Monkey

This last week, we hosted Dallin's Preschool Class Pet, Dr. Monkey. We did a scrapbook journal for him to take to school. It was fun!

Dallin's First Valentine's Box

With Dallin in Preschool, it gives us as parents a lot of "firsts". First day of school, first show and tell, first halloween parade, etc. Well, he had to make a Valentine's Box for school and his teacher asked that it be a family activity. So last Family Home Evening, we started working on this Box! Well, Daddy didn't think we should just do some ordinary box and suggested we do a dog somehow. We found a 3 liter Shasta bottle, some fur left over from the sheep costume I made, paint, and a glue gun. It was a little shakey at times but this is what we came up with! It was the hit of the classroom. Dallin said he was going to keep his Valentine Dog for next year and every year after that! He loves it, we did it as a family, and had fun. That's all that matters!

What the...!

The other day, I came downstairs to our unfinished basement to find this! Now many of you look at this picture and say, "Oh, what cute kids". Well, my first reaction was, what were you two thinking! But, I have to say, I'm sure glad I didn't look past their face and miss the joy and pride they had in their eyes! They were so excited to show me their 'fort' they had spent so much time making. My frustration quickly turned into a chuckle and I ran to go get the camera! After I took a few shots of the new addition to our basement. we had a "party" in our new fort with Ritz Crackers and Strawberries. I think about that day now and realize that I wouldn't have that great memory with my kids if I had looked past their faces to the mess that lay beyond! Thank heavens for far-sightedness!