New York Trip

Here we are fresh off the bus! We got dropped off in Chinatown and it was like being in another world.

Here is Maya admireing the beautiful signes of spring.

Maya and Nana showing off their moves (and Maya showing off here T-shirt Nana bought her)

Even Porter couldn't resist checking out the flowers

Some people just can't hack all the hustle and bustle of the City that never sleeps!

Here are the two Big Elmers standing in front of a little e. (Casey likes to make fun of my "sexy" pose in this picture)

Here we are outside of the theater waiting to go see WICKED. It was really great!

Whose excited to go spend 'one short day in the Emerald City'?

Maceys was having their anual flower show and it was WONDERFUL! All of the window displays were maniquins in flower dresses. So amazing. And inside the store there were even more flowers EVERYWHERE!!!

Here is Casey and Bennett inside the store next to one of the beautiful flowering trees. I can't even describe how great the floral displayes were.

If you look again at this picture you can see some of the floral displayes above all the cosmetic counters. I know it's kind of hard to see it cause you can't stop looking at Brad's funny face.

Easter

Here are a few shots of the kids in their Easter duds. Of course they never look at the camera at the same time so I had to put all 4 pics. on because each was cute in a certain way.

Hit the road RAT and don't ya come back, no more, no more, no more, no more!

After spending countless $$ on mouse traps, both snap and humane I finally found a trap that works! And I was amazed by the simplicity of the whole thing (why didn't I think of that?). The picture says it all. The only alterations we made was using a paper towel tube instead of a toilet paper tube. It was great because shortly after setting the trap we all left for some fun activities and when we got back he was sitting in the bottom of the trash can (a little scared but really unharmed). Casey simply took him out to the dumpster and disposed of him. Casey also assured me that he was as happy as could be in the dumpster (just like Templeton). I loved that it was a humane trap and I didn't have to deal with the guilt of killing the little guy (although my friend Elaine was stunned that I didn't "crush his head" after catching him).

This is the actual picture of "our" mouse. See why I would feel guilty about killing him? (note-that stuff under him is not blood, it's just stuff that was dried in the bottom of our trash can)

Camden Aquarium

Our friends the Hamiltons bought a pass to the Aquarium and with their pass they are able to get extra people in, and lucky for us they invited us to go with them. I was so so so so so excited because I've been wanting to go the whoe time we've lived here but couldn't bring myself to pay the big bucks. We had such a great time looking at all the amazing animals and they even let you pet some of them. The kids got to pet baby sharks, lobsters, jellyfish, stingrays, starfish (which are now called sea stars I guess), and sea anemeni. It was very cool. Some of the fun things we got to see were Hippo's, penguines,We had a really great time (if you don't count the times I was panicking because I had lost track of one of the kids. 6 kid for 2 adults is quite a big undertaking.)

On a lighter note...

Basically I'm sick of looking at that mouse picture. I'm tempted to go in and erase it. There is something morbidly fascinating about it, but it's really starting to creep me out! We have the maintenance men coming today to bring in "sticky" traps. Hopefully they'll work better. The awful thing about that is that the mouse will probably still be alive when we find it. Yikes. So I decided I'd much rather see pictures of the kids when I sign on so here is one I love of Casey and Bennett.


And I couldn't resist putting this one of Maya enjoying her computer time on. I've finally found a game she loves and is willing to earn stickers (work) for. I had never heard of the website www.starfall.com but my friend Sierra told me about it last week and I though "well it's worth a try" and it's been wonderful. I like www.pbskids.com but it's a little difficult to navigate and they have a wide variety of ability levels where starfall is much more simple. Maya is really loving it (and she is getting better at her letters by doing it)!

MOUSE WARS

I'd love to be able to tell you all that I placed 4 mouse traps and caught (at least) 4 mice, but unfortunately that is not the case. I did place 4 mouse traps delicately laced with a heaping glob of peanut butter, and I strategically placed them throughout the house in places where I had seen poop. You would think I would have caught something but not only did I not catch anything the little stink licked the peanut butter clean and got away scott free! Is it OK to try to kill a sneaky little mighty mouse?

I DID IT

Just to ease the worry of everyone out there I'd like to announce that I purchased mouse traps today (4 of them to be exact), and I have already placed one. Yesterday I notice had a bunch (a whole bunch) of mouse poop behind my cook books (my current theory is that they like to go back there and nibble the delicious tidbits that get on the cook book pages as I'm cooking. So I got it all cleaned out and sanitized (oh crap that reminds me that I forgot to buy bleach when I was at the store), then I put everything back and this morning there was a bunch (not near as much as yesterday but still a bunch) more poop. So I moved everything to new spots so the counter was completley clean, then my smarty Casey suggested keeping everything where it was so I would know where to catch the little bugger (at least now I know where he likes to hang out), so I did. I'm expecting to hear a loud SNAP at any second. Keep your fingers crossed!

Luck of the Irish to you all

I was in charge of Joyschool this week, and decided I'd do a lesson on Exercise today (Wednesday is our Easter party so I just took it easy today). We had a pretty good time together (other than the fact that each child cried at least once) playing movement games and coloring pictures of people exercising. Well about two hours after Joyschool ended I talked to Sarah on the phone and she mentioned that she was trying to think of something for dinner that she could turn green, then it dawned on me...It's St. Patty's day and I missed it! I didn't even mention it to the kids today, and I totally should have pinched at least my two but I didn't. I guess I could still do it, but I feel like such a slug for forgetting (if I was more like my wonderful mother-in-law I would have woken up early, turned all the furniture over (claiming that a Leprechaun did it) and made green eggs and ham). And even with Sarah reminding me I still made a boring ol' (non green) dinner.

On a lighter note I won my first giveaway. Molly (Casey's cousins wife) had two weeks of giveaways and I won one of them (a cute little baby shirt with a bird on it). I guess the luck of the Irish really is with me!

Big Boy Clothes

So here are some shots of Bennett in his "big boy" clothes Aunt Sarah sent him (thanks a-million Sarah). I couldn't believe my eyes when I discovered my giant among babies was wearing 6-9 month clothing. Even if he is enormous he's still pretty darn tootin' cute, just ask his bubby and sissy!

Hair cut

Porter came up to me yesterday and said "Mom can I get a haircut so I can get a toy?" Who does he think I am? Nana? Anyway I gave them both haircuts and here they are, I'm not sure if you can really tell the pic is kind of dark. And Porter got three matchbox cars and Maya got a little "castle pony" (like a knights horse)

Pictures

Lots of times I wish my eyes were cameras and if I blinked hard enough it would snap a picture of whatever I was looking at, so I could have the image forever. I know it's kind of lame but I get so discouraged when I get the actual camera and the memory card is full, or the batteries are dead, or something else is wrong, and I miss the shot I wanted to take. Even though the technology has yet to transform my eyes into fail proof cameras I still like looking at the pictures we do get, and now I get to force them upon the public in the form of this blog. Enjoy!

mine, Mine, MINE!!!

You know how when you were young and you got up from your seat only to return to find someone sitting in it? And when you said 'Hey that's my seat' they would always say (in that annoying voice) 'I didn't see your name on it.' Well I guess Porter was afraid someone was going to do that with his piano because I noticed he has taken great care to carve his name into the side of the piano. This reminds me of when I was growing up and my parents bought a piece of furniture (a cabinet) at a scratch and dent store. Sound innocent enough but they got it cheep because some hooligan had carved the mother of all curse words into the wood, but did that deter my parents? NO, they just got out their spare key and with a few quick strokes changed "that word" into "Porter". Pretty clever if you ask me.

Watch your toes while sitting at the computer desk.

So we have an unauthorized resident living in our apartment, and he's living right under our computer desk (you should be proud of me for being brave enough to sit here at all). And if that wasn't bad enough he decided to show himself last night while we were watching LOST and I could hardly concentrate on my favorite show of all time (now THAT is unexcuseable). He's a brave little bugger too, I tried turning the light on to make him run away and he just kept on creeping around (you can't really blame him when there are so many delicious little tidbits all over the dining room floor). After a while I started feeling less nervous and realized he's actually a kind of cute little guy, so now I'm really torn, should I set our a trap or not? If I were the Molens I would have tried to catch him right then and there, but I have a problem with thinking if I ignore things long enough they will just go away (does that ever work?).

Heel, Toe, Stomp!

So here are the 'Ugly Bugs' (Darlynn, I promise we just put them on, took the pictures then put them away so they will be nice for the recital!) I just think the costumes are so cute I can hardly stand it. Hopefully the recital will go well, Casey said they both did well in class today (which is probably the first time all year they both did well at the same time). There are only three weeks until their recital (only one week where they will actually have tap class), and I'm starting to get nervous. I can just imagine it now, Casey will have to stand up there and dance with them in order to get Porter not to feel shy, and Maya will sit down in the middle, throw her feet in the air kicking and screaming that she's "TIRED"! But I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and I'm sure we'll video tape it so if worse comes to worse we can laugh about it when the kids get older.

YOU SO BIG!!!

So guess who is four whopping months old? You got it...Bennett. Who would have thought I'd let the time get away from me so quickly. He's now rolling over (back to belly) and loving life (as long as he's getting attention). He had his four month check up today and weighed in at 15 lbs. 12 oz. (50th percentile) and was in the 90th percentile for height (string bean)! He got 4 shots and didn't even cry (he's amazing). Now if I could only get him sleeping more than two hours at a time I'd be one happy momma!
Here's Maya playing with her tattoos (stickers) and decorating her brothers bandages with flowers and hearts, what a sweetie. She is quite the helper when she wants to be and loves playing. I have a hard time getting her to do much else. Casey found a huge 'thing' (It's like a child gate to keep kids out of the kitchen (X 8) but it makes a huge square like playpen (it was probably used for a pet). That doesn't explain it well, I'll have to take a pic next time we set it up) that Maya love to set up and pretend it's a pony corral, or a pet shop and she picks out parts for each of us. I'm usually "the girl who wants to get a puppy and take it home", Casey is usually "the bad man who catches the puppies when they get out" and Porter is usually another animal friend. Gotta give her points for imagination.
And here's the biggest boy of all. He got his shots for school today, and did very well (although unlike Bennett, he did cry-just a bit-). He's showing off his bandage that Maya fancied up for him. He is loving playing video games, and I'm loving it too because I make them earn 5 stickers, and if they do they get to play for 30 minutes before dad gets home. It's great. My house has been pretty clean all week, and I have quiet time while I make dinner. Casey always comments on it when he gets home from work and I have to say "Porter and Maya did it".

We have had the BEST weather the past two days. Minus the mud It's been absolutly beautiful. Yesterday we spend a good part of our day trying to track down a package and driving to timbucktoo only to discover the place was closed Mondays (aaaggghhhh)! Anyway the kids were pretty disapointed, the package is Porters birthday present from his cousin Landon. I called about the package, they told me where it was located, and it was about 35 minutes away (according to mapquest, which doesn't figure in traffic). So after about 45 minutes we pull onto the street where Fedex was located and Porter says "This is too far away. I'm getting tired, I should have brought my neck pillow Brigg got me for my birthday". Then we walk up to the door and Maya says "Are we going to the doggy place" (Fedex logo is a dog with a box in his mouth) I told her we were and she said "does this place have doggys or boxes?" I think she was pretty bummed when I said boxes. So hopefully we'll make better use of todays warm weather. I think i'm even going to skip the treadmill and walk outside today! Should be wonderful.

Memories relating to the stake dance playlist

Ok so I'm highlighting the ones that specifically relate to stake dances in red, the rest are just fun memories...
1) When dad requested "Wild Thing" for Rebekah Grossbeck and she cried
2) When I found out mom can't do the YMCA properly (she does her C backwards because of her gimpy arm)
3) When Casey and I won a dance contest for the best "Cotton Eyed Joe" at Ricks (I can't believe you don't like that song Nicole!)
3) When Sarah, April, and I made up a dance to the Boyz II Men song Motownphilly, and requested it at every stake dance so we could "show off"
4) When Hannah was a baby and we would play the proclaimers song (we always called it "The Happy Song" becuase it made us all so happy)
5) When we went on a family vacation in Germany and they had kids night in the basement every night. There was a big huge wrestling ring and they would play "Jump Jump" and we'd all dance the night away.
6) When we would listen to "I Would Do Anything For Love" every day on the way to seminary

Porter's 5th Birthday!

Maya was pretty excited for Porter's Party

First we had lunch, dogs and drinks...

The Boys...

The Girls...(nice Maya!)

Amanda's sweet Lego cake and table decorations...

We played pin the flag on the castle...

We spun the kids around...

and they did pretty good...

at least they thought so...

Then we played "Lego, Lego, Castle" or DDG...

and the kids loved chasing each other...


and begging to be picked...

and ...

pouting when they got picked last...

but leave it to the birthday boy to make sure everyone was happy and felt included.

Then we opened presents...

and made a major haul...

of all his favorite things...

from all his favorite friends...

and buddy's...

and amigos...

and pals...

and chumps.

Bennett hoped for a hot dog, but settled for his big toe instead.

Porter even invited his primary president and husband and got these cool bubbles...

Maya loved this one because it looked like a duck.

Then we sang "Happy Birthday"...

ate cake and icecream...

and played a balloon popping game but none of the kids weighed enough to pop a balloon on their own, so we had to push and bounce them till they popped.




Only 3 more months till we get to do it again!