March Madness

I've decided that updating once a month may be the right speed for me. So, here's a hodge-podge for March. A belated Happy St. Patrick's day! We like to get into the holidays around here, and St. Patty's day was no exception. The boys were even good sports about me taking their pics (thanks for the shirt - AnnaLee!). Aidan's pic was a little trickier to get - he will usually only smile long enough for the camera to focus, and then he's done before I've even taken the picture. I lucked out with this one.
With a little bit of the nice weather, we've gone outside to enjoy the fresh air. I thought it was cute that Aidan wanted to swing with a little friend.

Aidan's nickname is Monkey - and he's become quite the climber lately - starting the microwave on his own, pushing the stools so that he can turn the lights on and off, turning on the water dispenser on the fridge, and he loves to fit in the little space between the microwave and the sink and play with the water. He's got a little bit of a "you caught me" look on his face, but it doesn't stop him.

Now here is a serious case of bed-head!

I got to take Aidan and go with Alex's class to see the sheep down the street. It was so fun!

Alex got to hang with his friends and feed the sheep some bread bits.

Aren't the lambs so cute?

Aidan LOVES animals and he was so excited to see the sheep, as well as a few other animals that also live there - like a dog, some ducks, a donkey, and a rabbit. Poor little Aidan may have gotten petted by the first graders as much as the sheep. It was a fun outing, though!

Another Milestone

Today turned out to be a big day for Alex - he lost his first tooth! Coincidentally, it was also his first night of soccer practice - you do the math. That's right, a little bonk with one of his cousin's, and his loose tooth popped out! Alex was a little nervous at first because there was a little bit of blood.In this picture, you can see the permanent tooth behind the hole - wedging its way in (along with a nice Gatorade mustache). Alex ended out being happy he lost his tooth the way he did because it was relatively pain-free and quick!
Here's Alex in some of his favorite jammies - Cowboy Woody - with his lost tooth. He's all ready to put it under his pillow and wait for a visit from the tooth fairy. He thinks the tooth fairy brings a dollar a tooth - I guess that's the going rate these days. I told him when I was little, I only got like 50 cents. Then he asked me if they had TV when I was a kid - I'm not that old! Well - thank heaven for little boys!

Alex's first day of school

Today was a pretty exciting day - Alex started first grade today! Even though he told us this morning that he didn't want to go and we couldn't make him, I know he was really excited to "be a big boy". I could tell he was excited because he readily (and quickly!) got dressed, brushed his teeth, and did his hair.

Where's Alex? He's pretty well camouflaged in our roses. Dad took this cute shot on our way to school.

This is Alex's teacher, Mrs. Wood. She sent Alex a post card last week to tell him she was excited to meet him. That meant a lot to Alex. I couldn't get too many specifics out of Alex about today, but they did make fruit loop necklaces when the got to school, and he was very excited that he gets 2 recesses!

I didn't cry when I took Alex to school, but I was a little sad to not have my little friend around. I'm so proud of my little 1st grader!

Alex's first time fishing

Well, one of the good things about Jon being a Webelos leader is that Alex has become an honorary webelo. Jon almost always takes Alex with him to Webelos, which he really enjoys. A few weeks back the Webelos went fishing at a trout farm. It was a little rainy out, but not enough to dampen their spirits. Alex was really excited to try fishing for the first time, but he got a little scared when he actually caught fish - almost dropping the poll and losing them.

Here he is - so poud - with one of the 3 fish he caught. We fried them up for lunch a couple days later. They were pretty good and it was fun for Alex to eat his catch.

Guess who's 6?

Our little tiger turned 6! I can't believe it. The morning of his birthday, I let him pick his breakfast, and he wanted a pancake with candles in it. Jon was home so we all sang to him over his pancake. He also got a light saber for his birthday (hence, it's in the pic).

Alex decided he wanted to have a Buzz Lightyear party, so a few weeks back, we sent out the invitations. I've been pretty lucky to get away without having a "friend" party until now!

The first thing everyone did when they got here was make their very own Pizza Planet pizza. While they cooked, the boys made space rockets.
Then the kids ate their creations - or at least played with their food. :)

Then it was time for a rousing game of "pin the eye on the LGM (Little Green Man)". The kids really enjoyed this, although there was quite a bit of cheating going on with feeling where the eye should go (since they couldn't see).

Then they grabbed their goody bags and headed outside for the pinata.
Look at these cute little guys! They had a great time wacking our poor little space ranger pinata.

Once the pinata was decapitated, there was a rush for the candy!

We finished off with some Buzz Lightyear cake.

Alex had a great time!

Nature - by a 5 year old

In Alex's kindergarten class, they made little butterflies and used toilet paper rolls as their cocoons.

I asked Alex to tell me about it, and he said, "Before a butterfly can live, it has to wriggle it's way out of it's racoon."***

When Alex was saying his nighttime prayers the other night, he said, "We thank Thee for the Book of Mormon and the (pause) Bubble (Bible)".

Easter Fun

Alex had the week before Easter off for Spring Break. We had lots of special Easter fun everyday (and we are still tired from it!). Monday we had cousin Hayden over and the boys got to cut out sugar cookies and decorate them. They had a great time!

They did really well taking turns.
They also helped me color the frosting.

At last, the awaited for moment where they actually got to eat the cookies came.

On Wednesday, we had our cousins Collin and Jackson over for some lightsaber fighting and egg decorating.

We also had some shrink wrap egg decorations that were really cool. They just looked like plastic that you put around the egg, then you dip the egg in boiling water and they tightened around the egg. They were my favorite.

After we cleaned the egg stuff up, the kids also got to frost some sugar cookies.

As always - the sprinkles are an important part of cookie decorating.

Alex had a great time with his cousins and let me know he was a "lucky boy". :)

A Tiger on the Mountain

Today Jon took Alex skiing for his first time. Jon went skiing two weeks ago, and Alex tried to stowaway, so he was very excited to be officially invited this time.Alex looked great in all of his ski attire, and picked up the basics in a flash.Brighton's kinder ski group helped Alex learn the ropes. After his first lesson, he was well on his way to becoming a Little Ripper.

He enjoyed riding the lift on a sunny, warm day.
And he did a great job skiing! He can't wait to go again to practice his pizza and french fry moves.

Thanks to ski school, Jon was able to rise above the bunny hills to catch this great view of Mt. Timpanogos and the surrounding scenery.

I have to admit that I may have enjoyed their ski day as much as they did: I was able to nap with Aidan catch up on my Twilight reading. Aidan and I went for a walk around the neighborhood and had a relaxing day enjoying the warm weather. I'm glad the boys were able to take advantage of Jon's passes before the snow melts away.

Snow Fun

Alex has been LOVING the snow this winter - every time it snows he can't wait to go out and play in it. He stays outside for hours until it's dark and we force him to come in. He has enjoyed snowball fights, and sledding down the neighbor's driveway (it's not that steep - but it provides plenty of fun for a 5 year-old).My friend gave me the idea of putting food coloring in spray bottles - so we put some green, blue and pink color in bottles and let Alex go at it. He loved it! This started out as a snowman - but Alex enjoyed coloring it too much - and turned it into a volcano.We got another good snow a week and a half ago or so, so Alex and I worked on a snowman while Aidan napped. He turned out really tall - although the shape is off as I grew up in California and never learned how to properly build a snowman. Alex figured it out later, but I didn't get a picture of it before it got demolished by the neighborhood kids. I hope Alex enjoys playing outside this summer as much as he has this winter!