Broken Camera Pictures

My camera is going through a rough patch and only works about half of the time, so I am going to try to get caught up on a few missed events while waiting for it to start working again!
For example,
A month or so ago, Aunt Katie came up to visit and to watch Kira while her family went on vacation without her. (I put that in so 10 years from now she will know to be offended that they ditched her for Cancun!) Chad was also gone for the weekend, so Katie and I had 5 kids under 5! Being the brave people that we are (or tired of being trapped in a house), we decided it was time to venture out of the house to McDonald's, because who doesn't like McDonald's?!
The kids had a great time. (except Kira, who is once again deprived and doesn't know how to play at McDonald's!)
Or maybe they didn't? Maybe we have found kids who don't like McDonald's!
At this point, with 3 kids crying, we knew it was time to go! Funny though, Aunt Katie suggested ice cream on the way out and suddenly there were no more tears. (Except of course for Addy who I think cried the whole time we were there. Maybe she won't get to go to McDonald's when she gets older either!)

Happy Six Months Addy!

It's hard to believe my little baby is already 6 months. She is such a joy in our lives. She loves to laugh and play. She likes to "talk". She loves it when her brother and sister interact with her. She is truly a blessing!

More Kid-isms

Ok, kids do so many funny things that I could probably make this a weekly post. Maybe I will!

Two weeks ago, Cole stayed after preschool to play with a friend. When he came home, he was telling me all about his friend's penguin on an internet game that Cole also plays on occasion. The next day, he came rushing in from preschool and told me I had to get off the computer because he and his friend were going to do something on the penguin game. So, being the nice Mom that I am (or because I was really curious), I got off the computer. He then had me call his friend so they could get on the same server and could see each other's penguin. Then, they spent the next 30 minutes talking on the phone as they were playing this game together! (They can't type and chat like most people do yet, so they did it over the phone instead.) I am amazed and a little appalled that my not even 5-year-old is sort of playing games on the internet with his friends.

We were watching TV one evening and Emily saw a commercial for these mini My Little Ponies. As she usually does when she sees something she wants (I think she learned this from Cole), she asked if she could get those one day. I gave my usual response of "We'll see." Chad chimed in and told her that he would get them for her when she was potty trained. She looked at me and said, "what's potty train?" (Obviously we have a long way to go still, even though we've been working on it for several months now!) Later that week she was talking to Grandma about what she wanted for her birthday. (I'm not sure how she managed to steer the conversation that way, when her birthday is not for several months.) Emily told her that she wanted these small ponies, which of course, Grandma agreed to. Later still that week, we saw the commercial again, and we went through the same conversation about her wanting them. Chad again told her that she could have them when she didn't wear diapers to which she sassily looked at him and said, "My grandma get them for me for my birthday."

Addy obviously thinks she is ready for big people food. One day we were eating dinner and she was sitting on my lap. I had a Jello Jiggler in my hand and was starting to move it towards my mouth when she grabbed my hand and tried to pull it towards her mouth.
She was also sitting in her Bumbo chair by me, while I was fixing dinner one night. Behind her chair was a bag of Fritos. She kept trying to turn around and grab the bag. She finally succeeded and had a great look of triumph on her face. She was not so happy with me when I promptly took the bag away!

National Girl and Women in Sports Day

How many of you know what day February 14th was? Nope, not Valentine's day (Ok, that too), but National Girl and Women in Sports Day!
So, being the good dad that he is, Chad took Emily and they had a daddy-daughter date at the BYU event.
Emily got to do lots of fun things.
She golfed.
She imitated her Mom and high jumped and ran. (I think the hurdles were probably a safety hazard!)
She was so fast that Chad couldn't even take her picture! She was past him before he got it snapped.
She did the long jump.
And then built sand castles in the sand! (When you are 2, that's what sand is for, right?)
And she got to walk on the balance beam, at least 20 times according to her dad!
Then, the rest of us met them and we went to the BYU Women's basketball game.
Cole caught a t-shirt. It was a little big!
And Addy slept. I don't know how kids manage to sleep through basketball games with all of the yelling, whistles, and horns going off, but every one of my kids has figured it out!
Now you are informed and you too can celebrate this great day next year!

Let It Snow and Snow and Snow and Snow ...

Since Christmastime I think we have seen our grass for less than a week, total. Every time the snow melts and gives me hope, it snows again and again and again! At one point, Cole was getting to play on snow piles that were over 5 feet high. (Yes, that made me a little nervous, but then I decided I had probably done that same sort of thing when I was a kid and survived. So then I tried to relax and let him enjoy it. The key being tried!)
We watched the groundhog carefully, hoping that winter was over. (That and Cole talked about it at preschool, so he was really excited to see what the groundhog was going to do. My life was much less complicated before preschool!) But alas, we are still left to build snowmen for 6 more weeks! (I think Addy looks like a snowman in these pictures. So I included them here, along with the proud boys who dressed her up.)
Anyway, the kids loved the snow for the first few weeks (and thus so did I because they played outside a lot), but it has now gotten old to them and the cold doesn't help matters. So, instead, they like to play inside. And my living room constantly looks like this!
And then the tent wasn't enough of a fort, so they had to build a different one. Which made the living room even worse!!
The completed wall was effective enough to keep their sisters out. Until the girls found an unprotected hole in the back, which they took advantage of. This launched a whole new round of wall reinforcements!
Oh well! Spring will be here one day, I hope!

See Spot Run

Phrases like See Spot Run are being repeated a lot around our house right now because Cole is learning to read! Yeah for Cole! He is picking it up quite rapidly. I especially love the big grin he puts on when he gets done with a book. He is so proud of himself! We are very proud of him! (Even if reading books now is a little more slow and painful!)
Here is a video of him reading "Hog and Dog". Just a warning, it's pretty lengthy! But, maybe you can sit your kids in front of the computer screen and Cole can read to them also.



Now, Emily likes to try to "read" a book. She points to the pictures and names what they are or she tells me what is happening on that particular page. It's pretty cute!
And if we are creating prodigies in our first 2 children, then why not push the 3rd as well, right?!

Name that Tune

Emily has been singing this song a lot lately. When I actually stopped to listen to what she was singing, I started cracking up. I guess this is the church version (at least I know she has picked up something either in nursery or at home!)