Sunday, September 6, 2015

Steven 6 yrs.

For Steven's birthday this year we chose to make a Darth Vader cake (that I found the mold for at D.I. earlier this year. Score!)
How mom made it

Steven's improvements
 The night before his birthday my parents were in town so we had a little family party for those who could come for cake and ice cream and a pinata.
 One of his gifts was an adult's coloring book for him and me to do together.  He really has a knack for art and details and loves to color, we've enjoyed using them so far.


Birthday Boy!
 The day of his birthday we ate breakfast and let him open a few small gifts but what he really wanted was money! Which was perfect when Grandma and Grandpa Balls sent money. After we did chores we went to a park with some neighbors, then picked dad up for lunch and took him to walmart to use up that money!  He bought a $5 movie, some ice cream, a light up ring, and a Hulk ring pop all for $10 and has yet to spend the rest of his money. No wait, he bought a big ball after William and Ryan got one for their birthday and he paid tithing.  I think he likes to know that he has a lot of money.  That night we ate at In-n-out then bought a movie to watch at home (Jacob and I were exhausted), we put the boys to bed and let Steven stay up with us watching a show while eating treats galore.  He ended up falling asleep on our bed, I hope he had a good day.

Playing with his gift from Grandma and Grandpa Morrise
 Steven is now in first grade!  He is doing well and I'm surprised with how much retention he has from Kindergarten but has made it known that First Grade is BORING. He'd rather go to preschool with Christopher or Kindergarten, because they were more fun.  Sorry kid, you've got a long way of school ahead of you!  He does have to go early in the morning (8 a.m.) and then after he gets home we do homework before he gets to play.


Love that his school rolls out the red carpet for everyone

They blare music and make the kids feel like celebrities
 He told me he wished I homeschooled him so he could have more time to play games on the computer, I informed him he wouldn't get to play any more games than he does now, maybe less, he said he'd stay where's he's at.  He loves lunch time and recess and often comes home telling him how he got to move up on the behavior board for being a good boy and working hard.  He's doing really well, with his homework he wizzes past the math homework and has the spelling words down the first go, and is increasingly amazing me with his reading.  (as long as he's not too tired)

I think it's a hard adjustment going all day long, especially when all your playmates (brothers) are still home playing and doing fun things.  Which he has banned us from doing anything fun while he's gone.  At first I tried not to, but after a while I've learned that the younger boys need to be out doing something or they mess the house up!  So now we'll just have to work with Christopher not bragging to Steven what we do while he's gone.


Steven is such a great big brother and a good example for his little brothers, we really couldn't ask for a better first child!  His super power is telling the truth.  The week after school started Steven randomly told me that when I send him down to bed, he will watch a movie before going to bed.  He'll put the volume all the way down, so we don't hear it.  Once we're in bed, he'll turn it up so he can barely hear it; then once it's over he goes to bed, or sometimes he'll fall asleep before it's over.  REALLY!  That's why you're so tired in the morning!  Silly kid, but I am really glad he told us so we could keep an eye for it.  He is so sweet, honest, smart, and kind hearted.  We love you kid!


Sunday, August 30, 2015

End of Summer Picture Post

Sit back as I cram a lot of pictures into another post.
William insisting he wear Steven's pjs.

cute boys brushing their teeth

There is something about my boys enjoying story time that makes my heart happy

Steven's fashion: pants on backwards, different socks, two different shoes on the wrong feet.
And he doesn't care in the slightest.
For Lehi Roundup they had this bouncy house in the park that my boys LOVED, and begged to go on again and again.


Max at almost 15 months

Spencer at almost 15 months

The older boys and I at the Lehi Roundup Parade
Jacob got a bonus at work and used some of the money to buy my a porch swing I've always wanted


8 cute little toes. They love the swing




I know these pictures are messed up but I can't figure out how to fix them.  Jacob and a 14 year old boy he home teaches decided (or the boy decided to have a few competitions to see who was strongest one Sunday.  With arm wrestles and leg wrestles they were tied and needed another competition, I suggested a race, which Jacob won but the boy needed another one.  So he coaxed Jacob into a full on wrestling match, Jacob tried to decline but to no avail.  Well he ended up cracking a rib which other than being really painful, was okay medically.

These two....Ryan and William
We loved trying to discover new parks this summer, this one had the sprinklers on so rather than playing at the playground they just ran through the sprinklers.
I told them to show me they had fun. and Steven didnt' want to.

So the other boys took it upon themselves to MAKE him show me his smile.

Love these handsome boys of mine


Max loves the recycling.  He will often take it out and walk around the house with them.
Not just in our house though, any house.
Fun playing in the creek at our park




I love that the boys love going to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens with me to walk around and be in nature.  They also love to have me take their picture in different poses as well.  It cracks me up, but warms my heart just the same.
Rolling down the hill

Steven posed first

Then Christopher needed a picture too

Then William

And Ryan

And Steven again

William again

Ryan following suit

Don't forget Christopher!

Cute kiddos
Every year our neighbors have a fun fireworks show with treats and visiting, the boys and I look forward to it!
We didn't let them do sparklers like the big kid, so snap its would have to do.

William in Elmo and Ryan in the aligator pjs.


It's also a bonus it's practically in our front yard, so we can put babies to bed and not have to worry about them.



One morning there was a beautiful rainstorm, so I brought the boys to the swing and we read books while watching the rain.  It was really magical.



This year we decided to not really grow a garden, we'd have to buy and build the grow boxes and then take care of it all and really we knew we wouldn't have that much energy this summer, so we decided to plant our favorite things in the front and see what we get.  We planted zuchini, pumpkins, and peas, along with the raspberries and strawberries that usually grow in the front.  We didn't get many zuchini's, a few pumpkins, a few peas, and a few strawberries, but the other day we got enough raspberries to put in a gallon size ziploc bag and put in the freezer which was fun.
Christopher with our first zuchini
Story time to thank the service men and women.

Ryan and William like to put their fingers in their ears and say, "na, na na, na, na na." to each other or their brothers.  It's really cute.
Ryan

It means more when you're face to face
William and Ryan broke a shelf in the fridge and a big bag of apples came tumbling down.  This is when they left the scene of the crime and Spencer and Max came speeding towards it to get these said apples.  I had learned a few days earlier that they know how to eat apples whole, after they'd find a brother's discarded one on the floor.  They were right at home here.



Some more adorable Garden pictures. Once again, I love taking the boys here!
These two have smiles that are beyond cute

All my loves!

Steven and William
Christopher

William

Christopher

Someone taking photos on my camera, but must know how much
I love when little boys cross their legs like this!

Selfie!
One Saturday was rough, I don't remember exactly what happened, but just remember saying to Jacob maybe if we get out of the house it would go better.  So we took the kids to Dickey's, where you get free ice cream with any purchase.  It's a favorite of ours for obvious reasons.
Spencer loves the ice cream cones.

A toast to the ice cream is a tradition

Ryan with my big root beer float.
Then we went to the D.I., because that's what we do for fun.
I love moments like these!
And then to top it off we went to Walmart to do a bit of shopping.  Jacob gave the boys a thrill by turning the cart around and around.  I have a cute family.



William got a scar on his head from running into the side of the garage.  It was deep, but not deep enough for stiches. So now if the hair cut is short enough, we can always tell who's who quick..
A few of my neighborhood friends were meeting at a local splash pad, so I ventured out for the first time alone with the kids, and we all survived! And had fun along the way.
Spencer liked it sometimes.

Max liked it as long as people didn't squirt him in the face.

My little blonde




William and Christopher

Spencer and I

Max really got into it at the end




After hearing one of our nephews has a unicycle, Jacob decided to use some of his birthday money he'd never spent and buy one too!  It's not as easy as it seems and is still a work in progress, but he's getting better!


Sometimes on stressful days, the park is exactly what my soul needs

And these boys are getting more adventurous!


They boys picked a strawberry for me. and Max decided to eat it but soon realized it wasn't as sweet as he thought it would be.







Spencer with this tire in his mouth was just too cute!


Another fun story time!

Ryan and William


My parents brought us a whole slew of raspberries from their garden (we only get a handle full from ours thanks so little boys nibbling on them.  Which I'm not complaining about that either). I enjoyed saving a bag for things like: waffles with fresh raspberries and cool whip.

Brownies with raspberries and cool whip, this was a after the boys go to bed kind of dessert.
We had the chance to go to our nephew's birthday party.  They recently moved to Utah from Arizona so it was fun to be close enough to join in on the festivities!  They also rented a bounce house, which my boys just adore.
Ryan driving and William on top.



The crew playing water balloon volleyball

Mom and Dad even got in on the action

Happy Birthday handsome boy!

William takes his cake eating seriously!

I was taking pictures and looked over at Spencer to see him do this.  WAY too cute!

Max loved the cake and watermelon and tried to get it where ever he could!

All the kids

We had our cute niece come for a few days with us, the boys loved it.

Once again raspberries and morning rice is a beautiful thing.
A great friend of mine spent a month in Utah when she and her husband were moving from Korea to Washington D.C. and I'm so glad she made time to spend a few hours at a splash pad with me!  It was a new splash pad in Layton that we hadn't ever been to, so the boys had a great time and I had a great time catching up with Luci!  Win Win in my book!




We've been friends for about 9 years!
Good friendships never die.
Speaking of good friendships, while in the area I got head over with the kids and have dinner with another dear friend whom I've been friends with since Jr. High.  Brianna and her family just moved from Arizona and I'm so excited to be able to hang out more!  Extra bonus, our kids get along!

Max LOVED this slide and climbed and went down it all by himself.

Spencer too LOVED the slide and would go on it over and over again!

Brianna and I
While we had our niece with us we made a trip to Neptune Park, where Christopher climbed higher than he ever had! (I didn't get a picture of that, but I'm still proud.)



Love when Max is snuggly!
Saturday's we're trying to get a new schedule down where we clean as a family in the morning for a few hours and then head out to do something fun! And let the house stay clean a little longer.  I love it!  We were heading to Provo for a nephew birthday party, so we decided to stop off at our old park and finally play in the splash pad!  They loved it, of course.

Then off to celebrate with the Birthday Boy!


Boy Dog Pile

Baby Thomas 24 weeks!
Yet another fun park to explore with good friends!





Spencer learned how to climb on the chairs and table.
He thinks he's pretty cool.


Love this kid!
The Young Women in our ward was doing a big better best service competition, so one team came to our house and watched our boys for 30 minutes while we went to the store for my goodies.  While the girls were doing this, the leaders cleaned our house!  It was so so so nice and appreciated.  We really lucked out when it came to our neighborhood.  These people are GOLDEN!


Another fun splash pad where I met up with some great friends, though of course I didn't take any pictures!






Spencer got up to the table to get some left over food from his brothers,
but they snatched the plate away before he could.  He was pretty heart broken.
Dinosaur Museum Fun



They insisted I take this picture.
William has the bat shirt and Ryan the dinosaur


Steven's staking abilities!
Fun in the Front Yard



Spencer and Max just learned to go up and down the stairs and now they think their pretty cool.  Which they are.

Curiosity Museum.  I don't know what I thought taking them by myself.
Never again.
 Spencer loves to walk around with his blanket.  The edges are unraveled (due to my amateur hand binding job), but he loves it and loves to stick that part up his nose or in his ear while sucking his thumb. Much like his older brother Steven.



I'm King of the Table!
 More park adventures



Ryan

William and Spencer


Christopher's tree climbing skills
 Farm Country

Steven

Ryan

William

Christopher

Cute kids getting into mischief




These two love getting things out of the pantry to play with

 I needed to go to Saratoga Springs to pick up something I bought off the internet.  I thought it would be fun to find a new park to explore while we were there.  The older 3 ran off to the playground while I took Ryan to the bathroom with the babies and when I came back they were all up on the highest park of the playground because there was a cat.  And it's dead mouse.  My kids don't do well with animals, so I really had to coax Christopher and Ryan down the slide with popsicles and the promise that the cat was nowhere near them.  Luckily Jacob's co-worker gave us those popsicles or the adventure might not have ended so well.



Raspberry Jam and Zuchini Bread, I love when I have enough energy to do stuff like this.
Note: in order to pull this off, my kids were neglected.