Watering Cans

You don't need a water table or a pool to have water fun. Evan loves our watering cans even more than the water table or pool. Every time I take him outside he spends the majority of his time getting me to fill up his watering can so he can water everything in sight: my flowers, the grass, the pavement, the puddles, etc.

Cousin Date

Last week we invited the cousins to join us at a playground date. We tried out a new playground on the other side of town. It was pretty nice and had some interesting equipment. There was a climbing wall shaped somewhat like a mobius strip. Viva and Bentley found it quite challenging and could only go partway around it before getting stuck. I don't know if Jake tried it out.

The cousins were quite late to our play date, but eventually they showed up. After eating lunch and hanging out a little longer at this playground we walked to the other side of the parking lot to check out a smaller playground. This playground was nestled in the trees and the children decided to explore the woods rather than use the playground equipment. They really enjoyed their adventures in the woods and were unhappy when we told them it was time to leave.

Coloring Fun

Lincoln loves to draw. And now Evan does, too. Viva has been doing more drawing lately. (The last two photos are Viva's additions to Lincoln's and Evan's drawings.) Jake and Bentley have not been doing much.

Evan has a tendency to draw on things he ought not to like tables and doors. I don't recall the other children doing this, but they were better supervised when coloring. Child number five has more opportunities for mischief than his older siblings had and he takes advantage of those opportunities! 

Everyday Life: June

The Orange Ball

It has been super popular with Lincoln this summer. 

He is always looking for someone to play ball with.

Boy Buddies

Karate Kid Bentley

Karate Kid Jake

Evan makes lots of messes.

Life with Evan would be easier if there weren't so many older kid toys to make messes with.

Boy Buddies fighting over car seat. My turn!

Evan's other Best Buddy

Viva got a loom for her birthday. She set it up with no help from an adult. She did a great job except that she didn't always pull the yarn all the way through at the start of a new row. 

She was a good sport about starting over. That girl is going to go far in life. She has creativity, initiative, follow through, and perseverance!

Tech Addict Update

Our little tech addict is falling deeper into his addiction. Whenever he sees an iPad he wants it and he gets very angry if it isn't handed over to him. He knows where the iPads are stored and he takes one whenever he wants. Lincoln loved the iPad when he was Evan's age, but usually he did not use it without permission. Kara moved the iPads storage location from the kitchen desk to the fourth shelf of the bookcases in the school room. Evan just pulls a chair over to clim up and reach them. To keep the iPads out of his hands Kara has had to move them into the mud room. That room has a child proof lock on it. He still gets his hands on one when the older children forget to put theirs away in the mud room.

All About Daddy

A few weeks back (say... around the time of Father's Day?!!!) I had the kids fill out questionnaires about their Father.  I'm a bit delayed in posting their sheets, but some of the answers were pretty funny so I figure better late than never!

Bentley's - highlights including listing rice with meatballs as a favorite food.  I am a fan of meatballs and Matt is definitely not, so I thought that answer was hilarious.  My favorite answer out of all of the answers is also on this sheet - when asked how "My daddy spoils my mom"... Bentley wrote "giving to much money!!!".   Hmmm.   I guess his future wife should look out, he thinks his Daddy is a bit too loose with the purse strings around Mommy.  :)  I asked him to clarify and he stated that Daddy gives me about 80% of the money to spend.  He might be right!

Jake's answers were fun.  He was in a sweet mood so stated that his favorite thing about his Daddy is "almost everything".... !  Better than the days when he says his Daddy is an old man and old men should DIE!  I love this kid.

Viva's answers reflect that she's not into details.  She's not sure what her Dad does or when his birthday is.  :)  She has a sense of humor, as shown with My daddy makes me laugh when he... "has glasses"!  Funny kid.

In Matt's favor, all of the kids note that they love playing with their father, reading with him, and they notice how much he hangs out with them.  They're lucky to have such a great Dad!

About Lincoln

Lincoln LOVES wheat chex and raisins.   It is in his food rotation on an at least daily basis.

Lincoln loves trains on his clothes.

Expressions include:

"What is IN that?" (about his food)
"We don't do that, do we?!" (when a sibling misbehaves)
"But I say YES!" (when his plans are thwarted

He is a (bit) addicted to Super Why.

He would eat ice-cream and gummy bears daily if allowed.  :)

His favorite color is orange.

He's a ham.  He likes to dance and tell jokes!

He asks lots of questions and has a very cute way of raising his eyebrow.

Lincoln is very good natured, it's hard to upset him!  He normally wakes up with a smile.

He's cuddly and loves to sleep in my bed.

He is very good with his pleases and thank yous.

He likes to draw.  His latest obsession is circles.

He is fun to hang out with!

We love our Lincoln!!

Bentley's Wisdom on Good and Bad

Opa and the kids had a conversation in the truck on the way to church about Solomon and his choices.  Apparently this inspired Bentley as he decided (of his own volition) to write a summary of his take on the story during Sacrament meeting:

More Camping Fun

 I have a handful of pics (10!) from this weekend's camping trip, so in picture to words language I present my 10,000 *words* about summer time fun with Daddy!

The end!  It looks like it was another successful outing with some great weather!

Grandma Vicki is HERE!

In the recent hustle and bustle I've neglected to note some very important blog news - Grandma Vicki has arrived in Anchorage!  And not just for a visit, but to stay!  She drove up with a friend and is now situated in her new house which is just down the road from us.  We couldn't be more thrilled.  The kids were over there on day one with a game to play (thus the lack of a table - furniture is a work in progress!!!!).

We baked cookies, played a game, and (I hope) made Grandma Vicki feel welcome.  We're really looking forward to the chance to spend more time with her!

The New Three Year Old!

Lincoln is three!  Matt took the day off of work and we had a nice family day.  

We started the day off by opening a gift that contained some train shirts.  I knew those would be a hit, as Lincoln has a train sweatshirt that he requests to wear daily regardless of the weather!  So now we have options for warm, cool, and cold weather in the train wear department!

We opened presents throughout the day!

I think this type of present opening allows for more enjoyment of the gifts.  I'm not a big fan of the frantic glazed eyed look a small child can develop when ripping open a big pile of presents without even breathing.  There's no appreciation in that!

A side benefit of opening presents through out the day is there is time to explore them a bit more:

The marble run pieces that work with duplo pieces were a bit hit with Lincoln (and his older brothers... I had to remind them to share with the birthday boy!!!).

There was, of course, a trip to the playground in the afternoon.  Because when you're three nothing is more fun than an afternoon outside!

We had an early dinner/cake session around 5:30.  Grandma Vicki, Grandma Karen, and Tyler all came over to join us.

Lincoln told me he wanted cereal for his birthday day meal, and I figured that was an easy request to oblige:

Cake time!  Because sugar (cake) with our sugar dinner (cereal) is just perfect.... we went with a turtle theme.  Grandma gets most of the credit for the big turtle cake. Lincoln picked the cake from a selection of five choices - I thought that rolling out tootsie rolls and airheads (the hexagons on the turtle) would be easy.  Oops.... :) Viva put frosting on the cupcakes and I decorated them with little turtles. 

Lincoln did a good job blowing the candles out!

We all enjoyed our cake.

And, of course, there were more presents:

Check out this gorgeous afghan (it came with a sailor Pooh Bear) Grandma Vicki made:

(I will post a better picture in a separate post - it is a lovely sailboat afghan!).

To wrap up the day there was a viewing of Finding Nemo and story time.  And lots of "happy birthday to me" singing by Lincoln.  The day was a success.