A month of pictures in non-chronological order

The title says it all. Maybe this month things will settle down and I can go into more detail on things again :0

Taking a break from packing: We went on a "hike" up Placerita Canyon along the heritage trail with my mom, dad, and brother Timothy


This is the morning of our move at our new house. What you see is the aftermath of the Primary's pancake breakfast/easter egg hunt. It was great to not have to worry about breakfast that day, or a personal easter egg hunt either since they got enough candy to last through to Halloween!

Last Pack Meeting in the Mint Canyon ward:
Max getting his Bobcat, with the required upside down pinning
And Scott getting a belt loop (bless Cub Scout leaders... my poor kids wouldn't get anything if they had to rely on just me :)


Seth's Birthday: Strawberry Lime Danish... who says you have to have cake?

These are the boys helping out at an Eagle Scout Project, making blankets for Project Linus.


At the end of Spring Break (April 9) we made a trip down to the L.A. temple and visitor's center in Santa Monica. We also stopped by Seth's office since none of us had seen it yet.





This last one is the view from the elevator Seth takes every day!

And that, is our month. Birthdays, moving, fun side trips, and scouting :)

A Week of Simon :)

Simon recieved an award at school on Friday April 1 for "being able to read everything". He is such a good reader. He was reading before he went to Kindergarten. I wish I could take credit, but he did it all by himself. He reads scriptures with us every night, and very rarely needs help pronouncing a word. He is a kind, gentle, sensitive, funny, boy, and we love him!

Sunday April 3: Birthday
This is Simon's cake, made to his specifications: cake split into part red, part blue, part white, and part "black", with ninja "Sensei Wu" on a golden circle in the middle. For those of you unaware of the latest Lego craze, welcome to the world of "Ninjago", full of ninja's, dragons, golden weapons, and bad guys.

Sunday:Conference
Simon was blessed to be born on Conference Weekend, so more often than not, a portion of his day is spent listening to/watching Conference. This year my heart was bursting to be surrounded by my children who were quietly listening to the speakers. Especially the time I looked around and saw all four of my able children "taking notes" at the same time. Each year they get a special notebook. We make a list of words and they make tally marks each time the hear a word. At the end of each talk, if any word has 10 marks, they get a couple of jelly beans. If they can tell me what the talk was about, then they get a bigger piece of candy. Scott and Max, and even Simon on occasion, received the bigger pieces of candy. I love the Spirit that Conference can bring into my home, and that this year I was actually able to feel it, and sense my children feeling it to!

Pizza Party at the Park for Simon's Birthday

On Saturday April 2, we had a birthday party for Simon in between conference sessions. We had a fun relay race, with pizza and cupcakes for 7 of Simon's friends.



Weston is his best friend at school. Apparently they talk about the game Angry Birds, cause this was one of the gifts Weston gave Simon: an Angry Birds chain, complete with birds, pigs, and slingshot :)

excusues

So I know I said I would try to post once a week. I guess try is the key word there. In my defense, we put in an offer on a house, completely expecting not to get it because the market is so competitive. Well, we got it, the catch being we have to close within 30 days. So, I have been busy printing, filling out, signing, scanning and emailing paperwork. For the last two weeks it has felt like I had at least one document (usually closer to 20) to fill out, or an appointment having to do with the house, every day. Sometimes both of those things. I'm kind of feeling like I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off... Really not a pretty sight, so there wont be any pictures :) Long story short: house, along with doctors appointments (they never end in this family), plus giving a talk in church on Sunday, on top of normal day to day responsibilities, = no blog last week, and boring blog this week :)
I will share a few pictures of the house though.





And since this is supposed to be our family's blog, I'll close with a few Zachy-isms.

Zach: "Why"
me: "because if you don't stop whying I'm going to go crazy"
Zach: (insert whining tone) "I want to come with you"

"Not you, just me"
"Tank you"
"Mom, I did it!"
"Oh dear, I made a mess"
"Night mom, sweep tight, sweet dweams"
"Um, I have a qwestion for you"

Birthday Time!

Micah's birthday was Saturday. We spent the day doing Micah's favorite things with him. We read books, sang songs, went outside, watched Wiggles (yep, still his favorite), and then after dinner had cake and opened presents.


Micah actually helped rip open his presents, (first time ever), when he wasn't eating the paper that is :) We got him a couple of toys, but the majority of his gifts were clothes because he has a habit of chewing holes in his shirts.

And of course the day wouldn't be complete without remembering our sweet Spencer. Happy Birthday boys!

More Things Micah

We had his annual meeting with all of his teachers and therapists, they had nothing but good things to say, and were very pleased with the progress he is making. Two particularly exciting things is that he is starting to hold his sippy cup all by himself which means he is starting to self feed!

The second thing is that Micah is now in a Gate Trainer for 5 min. a day. This is wonderful news- a gate trainer is like a walker (think old person walker, not baby walker), with him secured around the torso, but he is supporting his own weight completely by himself! The point? Micah is one more step along the path to walking!

A friend asked me today what are some things that make me happy. The very first thing that came to mind is Micah's giggle. The following is a picturally awkward recording of Micah laughing, but it's so fun I had to share. (He is laying on my lap, I am saying and drop, which for some reason he found hilarious).

We win!

This week the boys and I went to the Blue and Gold banquet (Seth had late meetings and couldn't make it). Bless the ladies in charge that gave us a table activity to do while we were waiting for our turn to eat. Each table was given
2 cups of cheerios
10 toothpicks
5 bendy straws
1 large marshmallow
3 small plates
1 apple
2 pair scissors

and the directions to use any or all of the above mentioned items to suspend the apple at least 2 inches off the table.

Here's our result:



It was 6 1/2" from the table to the bottom of our apple. We had the highest apple! It was fun to see all of the surprised faces of those around us. Someone even asked who the mathematician was at our table... yep, go Moms!

Just because

I love seeing Seth interact with our boys. It is a rare occasion when they are all sitting still, close enough together I can get a picture of them. They are enjoying an email from their cousins Abigail, Rebekah, and Timothy who helped Max out with a "Flat Stanley" school project. (Uncle Andy helped too :)

Max's Special Day

On Saturday February 12, 2011 Max became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He was baptized and confirmed by his Dad, with help from Grandpa Scott. It was a special time. Our family was asked to do the special musical number. Max chose "Baptism", we sang and my mom played for us. The mom's (two other boys were baptized at the same time) were asked to share some special things about their boys, and share their testimonies as part of the program as well. We are so pleased Max has made this choice to open the gate to the path back to his Heavenly Father. He has made his first steps, and we are grateful to be part of his family, to help him on the path, and have him help us.
Our family has the knack of never all looking good in a picture at the same time, so I have included multiple shots, hoping that each of us look good in at least one of them :)

Max's birthday weekend

The Cake!
Max chose to help make and design his cake. He and Seth baked it the night before, and with help from me and his brother's decorated it. In case you can't tell, this is an alien spaceship that crashed and landed upside down. The blue blob is the alien that flew out, and the sprinkles are all of the lights from the spaceship, and the helicopters flying all around above it.









California Science Museum!
On Saturday with my parents in town (while Seth worked)we made a trip to downtown L.A. to the Science Museum. (my first time driving there, everyone survived and I didn't get lost!) The boys had lots of fun with all of the exhibits, and to be honest, so did Grandpa! Outside there is a truck you can lift with a pulley, if you look closely, there is air under them there tires! They had a really cool thermal image video camera, so this is the picture of the boys and I. We chose to go to the eco-system exhibit, since it won't be there permanently. The very first room has a wall to wall movie. Micah really enjoyed all of the images. After experiencing "the extremes", desert, south pole, island etc. we ended up at the aquarium tunnel, and then it was time for a picnic lunch (gotta love picnics in February), and to head back to get ready for Max's baptism.

A New Start

Once again I am beginning again. My goal is to post once a week, with updates and stories about our boys. If I fall short, little reminders don't hurt :). That is all...

Remembering Spencer

On this day three years ago we held Spencer in our arms for the first and last time. This video is this years attempt to recognize the place he holds in our hearts.

Happy birthday!

This is a video I put together for Micah's birthday. I plan on creating one celebrating Spencer's life this coming week.

some pictures

So I actually downloaded pictures from my phone and my camera today and wanted to post a few. The first is a picture of my cute family at Thanksgiving with my Grandparents. The second are some aprons I made last minute for my nieces for Christmas. As I told my Sister-in-law, Christmas is one of the few times I get to buy/make girly things. I had fun.

long month

The month of October has been a long one. Thankfully it is over. The first week of the month Zach, Micah and I spent in Southern Utah, visiting my grandmother Cleone Wilcken and her husband Dee Wilcken before she passed away on October 11, one day after her 83rd birthday. The following weekend our whole family was down there again for her funeral. I feel blessed that I was able to tell her I loved her, and hear the same from her before she left this mortal life. It was a blessed release for her as her body and mind had decided to turn against her. It is so different to say good-bye to some one who has lived a full and happy life...
The Monday after my Grandmother's funeral Simon and I got sick with H1N1. Tuesday morning Seth left for a business trip. Wednesday evening Max got sick. Friday morning I came down with Mastitis. Luckily my cousin and sister-in-law were available to help because I couldn't do anything. Poor Micah had to wait for Megan to show up to get his afternoon bottle because I couldn't get up off the couch to feed him. Friday night (2 a.m.) Seth got home. Saturday afternoon I felt well enough that I thought to give him a kiss welcoming him home. (usually it's the first thing I do so that let me know how sick I really was). The following Tuesday Micah was sick. We took him in and had H1N1 confirmed. Seth and I didn't do anything except hold him all week until Saturday when he actually let me lay him down while he was watching his favorite Wiggles video. And then Sunday morning he was worse: he was either coughing or sleeping. After another trip to the doctors with another antibiotic prescribed he literally spent all day, coughing, sleeping, or falling asleep while taking his bottle. Today he was somewhat better, I was able to put him down and he didn't sleep all day and at one point he actually smiled. Hopefully he is on the mend now. Anyhow, that is why October was long.
Saturday was actually a fun day with boys working in the yard and trick-or-treating for Halloween. We met up with some other little boys in the ward and the gang had a fun time running from house to house together. the following are pictures of the boys "helping" and to quote Seth "actually being helpful" :)


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