Winter Life

One night Noah asked me if I wanted to play Monopoly with him.  He had set up the camera on a tripod to take pictures of us, since there are so few pictures of us running around.  I'm pretty sure that I won, but it was a hard-fought battle.

The boys had a few snow days this winter.  Unfortunately, there was hardly enough snow to play in.  I was feeling so sick, so they mostly ran around the house and played Wii.  

Calvin trying to dodge getting his picture taken. 

Wyatt's teacher made him this yellow scarf for Christmas, and he loved it and wore it for about 2 weeks.  Then he forgot about it.  

I love this picture of Noah.  It captures his face everyday before he goes to work.  He always looks like he is so sad to be going----like he is waiting for his turn on the gallows.  

These last few pictures are to remind me that sometimes life is very difficult and that is okay.  Being pregnant is hard for me because I feel like I don't take very good care of my family.  But, we survived!  And I don't think that anyone was scarred permanently because of it.  

Catch-Up

Time has been flying by!  We found out that we were pregnant in January, and I have felt terrible.  I spent the first few months barfing and laying in bed while the boys watched a ton of tv and made their own meals.  It was a miserable time!  During Spring Break, I took them to hike the Petroglyphs.  The lady in the back of the picture stopped me and said, "A wish for a daughter is a wish for many sons. " And she was right, as we found out soon after that this baby is going to be a boy!! Four of a kind! Well, we certainly know what to do with boys, and they are a lot of fun.  

 Calvin and Wyatt also played baseball this spring.  They were on the same team (the A's).  Calvin thought he was going to hate until the games started, and he found out he was a pretty good hitter and fielder.  Then he started to really enjoy it.  Wyatt started off loving it, but soon decided it was a little too slow for his tastes.  He did finish out the season, but he is saying right now that he thinks he would like to try basketball.  I enjoyed watching every single game.  It was so fun to watch them bat and get a hit!  

At one point, when Wyatt was playing catcher, he farted.  The batter turned around to look at him because it was kind of loud, and Wyatt said, "it wasn't me." 

 Wyatt also decided for a few days that he wanted to be a professional wrestler.  He trained for an afternoon at the park ----- doing many sit-ups, one-armed push-ups, and runs around the perimeter.  

 Noah and I took a last minute trip to Las Vegas with MB2.  We flew my Mom out to watch the boys while we had a good time.  Of course, we hit quite a few buffets.  We also saw Britney Spears and La Reve.  It was relaxing and fun!  I passed out on the flight home, and it was a little bit embarrassing.  Noah took great care of me.  

 Wyatt and his first-grade teacher, Ms. Kern.  He had a great year.  He made great grades and is moving on to second grade when we move to Tennessee this summer.  

 Calvin and his third grade teacher, Ms. O'Connor.  Calvin has been a consistently great student.  He always listens to his teacher, makes good grades and is well-behaved.  He was lucky enough to have his two best friends, Khayden Preston and Dylan Rudd, in his class.  

 And finally, Cyrus was working on his ninja moves when we visited Dad at his office.  

A few funny comments made recently:

Cyrus asked me to make him a bowl of cereal.  When I served it to him, I ate one of the pieces.  It made him mad, and he started to cry and say unkind things.  I scolded him and told him to stop.  He was quiet for a minute, and then he said, "Mom, I'm sorry, but guess what.  Why'd you do that?!"  It gave Noah and I a good chuckle.

Cyrus stretched a piece of plastic across our bedroom to make a booby trap that someone would trip over.  He was very proud of himself, and he said to me, "Mom, look!  I made the boobiest trap."

New Year's Day

We couldn't decide what to do on New Year's Day.  Everyone was a little tired/grouchy, we didn't want to go to a movie or spend money, and we wanted to have fun.  So, we decided to drive out into the desert and just run around, jump off of the car, and cut up cacti.  It was windy, and everyone got cold/bored in about 20 minutes.  It wasn't our most fun adventure.

 Later that day, I snapped a picture of Calvin jumping off of the half wall.  He does it quite often, and it was fun to finally get a picture of it.

 This last picture tickles me.  Cyrus is being Wyatt's puppy.  Cyrus holds onto the exercise band, while Wyatt runs through the house with him.  

Christmas and New Year's Eve 2014

We got a fancy camera for Christmas in hopes that the quality of our preserved memories will improve.  Thus, why I'm going to try and resuscitate our dying blog, which has been comatose for at least a year (if not more).  So, without further ado, pictures with witty captions from Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Bingo.  It's the annual Christmas Eve tradition that keeps the kids away from the presents under the tree for at least a couple of hours.  Noah has taken over the prize buying, and he always does a wonderful job of getting something for everyone.  Note:  the Ninja Turtle bubble bath was a HUGE hit, and the bottles are still being played with today.  Each year the boys get a little better at putting their markers on their boards, and this year we were able to make it through several rounds at a nice pace.  

We attempted family pictures in front of the tree with the new camera and a tripod.  Almost everyone made into this shot.  There aren't a lot of pictures of the Mr. and I lying around, so I'm a big fan of anything that documents that we were in the same place at the same time.  Given the fact that we are dressed up, still, and smiling, well, you could just take me out to the graveyard and bury me today I'm so happy.  

 Ole' Handsome Brown Eyes.  I never get tired of this guy.

 Although he wasn't super cooperative, he was at least still. Gotta love Wyatt.  He is a charmer.

 Cyrus crawling up my lap in is new Christmas Jammies

 More Modeling of Christmas Jammies

 Christmas Morning After The Unwrapping Went Down

 Many Lego sets were received, and many Lego sets were assembled.  Amen.

 He is so nonchalant about his loot, but he was actually pretty happy.  He got art supplies, stickers, tangegrams, and books.  He promptly put together a very large mural of piles of stickers covered with marker and glitter (mixed media, of course).

 Silly face. Yes, they received Pringles from Santa.  He's a smart man, that one.

 Later that night, I took a few pictures with my camera to just expirament.  

 New Year's Eve was actually quite a bit of fun.  We started the evening off by making a large banner that had drawings from things that we did/were important from 2013 (thank you Cyrus for donating your art supplies for the cause).  Some highlights:  watching Nacho Libre as a family, camping (Dad's favorite), Cyrus' hurt hand, Wyatt's newfound back massage skills, Minecraft, Mom's job at PAWS, and Ninjago.  We hung up our banner and watched it fall down several times throughout the evening.  

 Before the party, Wyatt gave Dad a knee massage with a suave look.

 Cyrus trying to jump on top of me.  You can see the balloons that we hung up for our party.  We popped one every hour or so. Inside was an activity/fun thing to do.  They included: making homemade pizza, playing hide and seek, watching Nacho Libre (again) while eating nachos, making t-shirts, making duct tape wallets, eating candy, and toasting at midnight.  They had a great time, although Cyrus only made it until nine, and the big boys were asleep by 12:09.

 Cute Cal

 Strong Cal in a Yoshi t-shirt

 The Pizza Making 

  The drinking

The end.