Climbing

Elizabeth's new favorite plaything is the kitchen stools.

I was upstairs the other morning when I heard a crash downstairs. I had thought Elizabeth was playing with her toys. But I came down to see her on top of the island in the kitchen. My new vase (I bought it less than a month ago) was shattered.



So much for thinking that because my baby is a girl, she will be calmer and quieter than her 3 brothers!

Now she has discovered that she can push the stool around the kitchen and reach many fun things. She's found the phone and has fun pushing the buttons for the answering machine (which we don't use, so it's not as big of a deal). She's found the produce on the counter. Luckily, she hasn't discovered putting things in the toaster!



And she LOVES pushing the stool over to the fridge. She tries to get ice out so she can suck on it.


So it looks like the stools will have a new home behind the laundry room door until we out-grow this phase!

Girls' Weekend

Ryan's mom, Cheryl, had a birthday earlier this month. To celebrate, she wanted to have a Girls' Weekend. So this Friday night all of the Arizona girls came up to Utah: Cheryl and Scott (alright, not a girl, but he came to have fun with his sons) and three sisters-in-law Amy, Cassi, and Kaley.

At Christmas time, I had made a zippered clutch (tutorial found here) for Amy as part of my gift to her. (We were about to make these for our church Sewing Group, so it worked out nicely for me to practice on Amy!) When all the other girls saw it, they were excited to have one, too. I realized that this Girls' Weekend would be the perfect time to give them to everyone, so I squeezed it into my schedule to make a few clutches this week. Unfortunately, I got over-excited and bought lots of fabrics, and so I ended up making a few too many! I ran out of time to finish the blue/brown ones that I knew Kaley and Stephanie would want. I'll have to get those to them soon!

Elizabeth was not old enough to participate in the official Girls' Weekend, but she did help me test out my clutches the night before!

On Saturday morning we met up at Stephanie's house in Cedar Hills for some haircuts. Then we enjoyed a delicious lunch at one of my favorite places: Zupa's.

Cheryl, Cassi
Kaley, Amy, Stephanie

We spent the afternoon with an activity we all enjoy: shopping! We introduced Cassi and Amy to the wonderful world of Tai Pan (home decor store), and we also made sure that everyone ended up with some new clothes.

For dinner we met up with Scott and Ryan and Brett and the kids at the Brick Oven, which is Cheryl's favorite restaurant.

I thoroughly enjoyed being able to spend some good quality time (read: no kids to wrestle = good conversation) with these lovely women! I married into such a wonderful family and am grateful for them. Thanks, Cheryl for a great weekend! I felt that your birthday trip was a gift to ME!

B-man's B-day

Benjamin turned 7 this week!

We celebrated with a small friend party - he invited 2 friends from school. (He would've invited more but we limit the number of friends if we are not staying home for the party!) They came over for cake and ice cream. This year Benjamin asked for his cake to look like a person. I came up with the idea to make it a Lego man, which he agreed to. I was very pleased with how it turned out!

It's hard to tell in the picture, but his feet are 3D just like a real Lego man

Friends Kaylee and Ammon

Yum!

silly Nathan

Elizabeth loved the cake and was sad she couldn't have seconds!

I love Kaylee's and Benjamin's expressions!

gift from Ammon

Then we drove up to Lindon to Jump On It. It is basically a warehouse full of trampolines (and a few bounce houses). They wore themselves out with jumping for an hour!


After the party and dinner, Benjamin opened family presents.

Lego creature

V-Smile Spiderman game from G&G Partridge

Kid Wood: basically foam and plastic nails and the kids can cut and hammer with the plastic tools

The day after his birthday he got to give his "family presentation" at school. It is basically a Star of the Week idea where he shows off a poster of individual and family pictures and tells about himself. One student asked what his favorite toy is, and he responded that it is the new Kid Wood set he just got for his birthday. He hadn't even had the chance to open the package yet, but I'm glad he's excited!

Heart Holiday

For Valentine's this year, we made our own heart-shaped pizzas. It is a tradition that began when Ryan and I were just starting to get to know each other 12 years ago. And now the kids love making their own pizzas, too!

This salad is my latest obsession: a re-make of Zupa's Summer Chicken Salad, made with strawberries and a homemade strawberry vinaigrette -- yum!

Elizabeth can say "pizza" very well -- it is one of her favorite foods!

Ryan and I heart-attacked the kids' doors the night before, so that they saw the hearts when they woke up. The boys thought it was cool, and Elizabeth loves pointing at them as we walk into her room. Each kid's set of hearts has their name on one, "We love you!" on another, and then a conversation heart-type saying on a third heart.

Benjamin: You're Wonderful; Joshua: 2 Cool

Elizabeth: Sweetie pie

Nathan: You Rock!

Our Week in Pictures

Here are the random pictures of what we've been up to this week:

I love it when Elizabeth lays on her belly to read or play!



She loves to help me clean and do laundry. (I'm hoping this continues for the next 18 years!) The other day she climbed onto the sorted laundry pile and said, "nigh, nigh" (night, night) -- so cute!



Joshua enjoyed spiking his own hair one morning.


Elizabeth climbed on the piano bench and got Benjamin's book. She carried it into the kitchen and read the book. Some of the time she was singing while reading!




Nathan has been working on a report at school for an animal of his choice: Siberian Husky. This week he had to create a habitat box at home to show what he's learned and to display in the library. I had been thinking of using a shoe box, but he was dreaming much bigger! He wanted to be able to use his stuffed animal husky as part of the display, so we used a shipping box! I gave him a suggestion or two, but he did ALL of the work. I was proud of him and the work that he did!

Robot Inventors

Nathan has been obsessed with inventing lately. He likes to save old tissue boxes and milk jugs to create things with. This week Benjamin came home with a little robot he made at school. It got the wheels turning in Nathan's head and the two of them spent all afternoon turning themselves into robots!






They were quite good (especially Nathan) at staying in character and talking like a robot. Don't let this face fool you -- he's having a blast, but he's just trying to talk in a monotone voice!