No mo' fingers!

This used to be a frequent sight around here... 

(the sucking his finger part was frequently seen... his googlie eyes are still a common sight... but more on that later...)

Dallin has stopped sucking his finger!!  A few months back we realized the very strong correlation between him having his blankie and him sucking his finger... a few nights here and there at bedtime his blankie wasn't on his bed and he didn't ask for it so we didn't find it for him... and then, suddenly, he didn't need it anymore- and he didn't suck his finger either!  It was amazing how it happened so quickly and easily.  And even though it was very un-tramatic, he still knew he got a Chuck E Cheese party!!  We ended up having it when Grandma and Papa were here for Hailee's blessing- it was fun for them to celebrate both occasions with us.

Mmmmm, rocks!

All my boys have eaten their fair share of dirt and rocks... (and I'm sure it's just a matter of time before Hailee joins in!) Apparently Dallin thinks rocks are worthy of a being a delicacy-

Tonight while we were eating some jell-o that had raspberries in it, Dallin remarked, "mmmm, this sure is yummy rock jell-o!"

When I explained that they were raspberry seeds, he wasn't deterred, "and raspberry flavored rocks too!"

Full of jokes

Nathan took Bryson to Home Depot tonight to get some lumber for a project.

As Nathan was contemplating just what he needed, Bryson offered some help, "hey, Dad, why don't you give me your keys and I'll pull your truck up close to the door."

Nathan looked at him rather surprised, and Bryson quickly said, "just kidding!"

Nathan shot back with, "oh, really?? 'cause that sounded like a great idea... I was gonna let you do it!"

Bryson eye's about popped out of his head before Nathan added, "just kidding!"

Happy Birthday Dallin

We have a BIG four year old!! Dallin was very excited about his birthday party this year because it was his first 'friends' party... I have no idea what spurned his adamant requests for a dinosaur party.... he's really not that in to dinosaurs, at ALL, but every time I asked him what kind of party he wanted, the response was ALWAYS a dinosaur party... it actually was pretty easy to plan- and like Brysons party, I did most of the planning before Hailee was born...

But planning is different than the actual 'doing'... Nathan and I found ourselves at 11pm the night before the party, making flour-salt dough for volcanoes and baking the cake....

We started out 'decorating' the volcanoes- just with acrylic paint.... I didn't really think about the non-washable properties of acrylic paint and kids, but we just turned shirts inside out- it worked out... mostly...
Then we erupted Dallins volcano... not quite as dramatic as I was hoping... but the kids thought it was awesome... If only I'd had time to experiment with it a little beforehand!

The party goers- this unfortunately is the best picture of the group....
Yes, my amazing husband DID freehand that dinosaur!! Didn't he do great?? We played 'pin the horn on the triceratops'...
Apparently I'm not a scarf person because this was the only scarf I could find (Nathan's mom got it for me in Jordan- isn't it gorgeous??)....

And then a little game of 'stomp the dinosaur-egg'... We tied balloons to each of the kids legs...
The grass definitely won.... it popped the most balloons by far!!
The dinosaur cake... Funny story about the dinosaur cake pan... So we were out delivering invitations to Bryson's birthday party, and there were some boxes out in front of one of his friends house for a local charity to pick up... well, as I got out of the car, I noticed in the top of one of the boxes a bicycle helmet that looked like it would fit Eli... sooooo, I picked it up, and while the helmet strap was actually broken, I found this dinosaur cake pan underneath it.... no one was home at the friends house, so I couldn't ask.... so I just took it.... ya, I stole from a charity... I'm pretty sure the pan will end up there eventually though- so what if it took a little side trip, right?

Dallin's favorites at age 4:

Favorite Color: blue... and green and red
Favorite Restaurant: Cheeseburgers... from a restaurant... I mean from McDonalds
Favorite Food: Cheeseburgers
Favorite Drink: pop and water and Guaraná
Favorite thing to do: play Thomas trains
Best Friend: Kyla and Ella
Favorite Movie: Toy Story
Favorite TV Show: Penguins of Madagascar
Favorite Toy: a train
Favorite Animal: a doggy and a cat
Favorite Book: No, David!

6 years old

How can I possibly have a 6 year old? I'm only 21 *grin*

So the LONG awaited day finally came for Bryson... he'd been excited about his birthday since Eli's birthday back in February... no, since Christmas... wait, no, he's been excited about his birthday since his last birthday. Seriously. He always brings up what his party theme will be. Not surprisingly, Star Wars was pretty high up on the list, as well as Scooby Doo(??), but finally he decided on a Lego theme... with a little prodding from his mama. *wink*wink*

I was smart enough to do most of the planning for this party including the invites before Hailee was born, but not much could prepare me for the 15+ kids that were here... most of whom were dropped off- but thanks to my moms help, I made it through. Barely.

We played a lego building relay race game and did a pinata. A lego shaped pinata of course (thanks Nathan!!)
It was pouring down rain, which meant we had to do everything indoors. I'd have MUCH rather let the kids do the pinata outside (and just be noisy outside) but we had to improvise... so the pinata was in the garage.

Unfortunately, when the candy hit the garage floor, lots of it broke... which meant that as it was opened in my house, the little pieces fell all over my floor. Nice. And the chocolate gold coins mostly just broke open right there on the garage floor... the big kids were smart enough to leave it alone and not eat it... but Eli kept sneaking out there and eating it off the floor. Ewwww.

See the kid in the middle of the picture all crouched up on the floor wearing the royal blue shirt? I didn't even notice him lying like that on the floor until pretty much all the other kids had gone inside with their treat bags full... at which point he sat up to reveal the PILE of candy he'd been saving! A kid after my own heart. Really the only kids left out in the garage at that point were one or two who really hadn't gotten much (and the hoarder *grin*) They were kinda kicking around empty wrappers looking for any leftover candy- and I was so pleasantly surprised that I barely even started to suggest that he maybe share a little, when he very enthusiastically offered up about 1/2 of his stash.

Bryson thought the lego cake was cool, and that's what matters, right? I just ran out of time to make it how I was envisioning. I made it dairy and egg free because one of our neighbors (and good friends) has a milk and dairy allergy and always has to have something different (and boring)- and that's just got to be hard for an almost-four-year-old! I was very happy that she liked the cake so much... and that everyone else did too!! We also had ice cream sundae's, and I must say, that after the pinata, and cake and then watching them load up dishes of ice cream with more candy and sugar, I was kinda sick- can you say SUGAR HIGH?? The party was over at 4:30 and needless to say, I'm sure I ruined every kids dinner that attended that night! (I did give the the choice of doing cake and ice cream FIRST so as to maybe not ruin their appetites so close to dinner, but surprisingly, the opted for games first!!)

Bryson got some pretty cool toys, most of which were lego's- He has been in lego heaven. And despite the tiny pieces and his creations that get spewed all over my house, I love it too- he is so creative and I love seeing the things he comes up with. I'm just not sure how it's gonna work when Hailee starts getting mobile and putting things in her mouth!

A few days before his birthday, I found the lego city fire station on a really good sale... it's normally almost $100 and he'd been wanting it so badly, so I splurged... (and didn't give him the other lego stuff I'd gotten him) We didn't give it to him until after the party and his friends had left... he seriously was almost speechless. Almost *grin*

Bryson thus far has pretty much built all the lego sets he's gotten with minimal help from me or Nathan. I love that. (that he CAN build it himself by following the directions, NOT that we're not doing it with him!!) So this fire station comes with 663 pieces. Most of which are ridiculously small. But so as to make assembly easier, the lego people separate those 663 pieces into 8 bags, each bag building a particular portion of the fire station. Genius. What is not genius, is my 6 year old getting way over excited and opening all 6 bags and dumping them out together on the family room floor. Guess what Nathan and I did that night?? It was actually very fun.

The party go-ers... Bryson only invited 3 kids from his class... the rest are all from our little neighborhood- kinda hard to not invite all of them if you're gonna invite one...

Guess what Eli's favorite part of the party was??

CANDY!!
(life is good when mom is distracted by 14 other kids!)

MORE CANDY!!

MMMMMM CANDY!!
(note the lollipop stick lying on the floor next to him... he was one sticky mess when all was said and done! My mom sat idly by and just took pictures as he gorged himself)

And lastly, Brysons favorites at age 6:

I'm so sad I forgot to do this last year....

Favorite Color: green.... and blue
Favorite Restaurant: McDonalds Playland
Favorite Food: Macaroni and Cheese
Favorite Drink: milk
Favorite thing to do: play computer games
Best Friend: Deen
Favorite Movie: Kung Fu Panda
Favorite TV Show: Penguins of Madagascar
Favorite Toy: Lego's
Favorite Animal: a dog
Favorite Book: the ones he makes... he makes lots of books. But when pressed for another book he hasn't made, his favorite is 'Finding Nemo' (??)