BYU Gymnastics Meet

My sister, Valerie, and I have tried to make it a tradition to take our girls to a BYU Gymnastics meet at least once a year.  Kate and Brynnley both love their gym classes and love to watch the 'big girls' at meets.  Brynn and Kate both have birthdays in February (nine days apart, born the same year), so February is the perfect month to celebrate these adorable girls with one of their favorite things.

They had so much fun watching the girls flip, dance and balance.  They were both memorized by the routines and when that lost it's luster, popcorn saved the day.

What cuties!  They are so lovable and so much fun!

Mad Science Pack Meeting

Our Cub Scout Blue and Gold Pack Meeting this year was a mad science theme.  It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun too! 
We had marshmallows and toothpicks on the tables for families to built things while waiting for dinner.  Everyone really enjoyed the activity and we had some great structures and ideas from the kids.
We went with our typical dinner of hot dogs, chips and water.  It is easy and cheap when you are feeding so many people.  This year we set up tables (our pack is now small enough to fit everybody in our church's gym).  I think it was nice to eat at a table again for dinner instead on a blanket on the hard gym floor.  We had a chemistry lab set up with different compounds (sauces) to experiment with on your hot dog.  Made the hot dogs go down a little easier for the adults.
After dinner, we were visited by a mad scientist and his assistant.

 

(We got Enoch's wig at Target as part of their St. Patrick's Day display.  It was a bob haircut and when he put it on he said, "It's girl hair!"  It really did look like girl hair!  We took it over to Sister Strong and she cut it for us to make it look more crazy.) 

 They did a few experiments and told some funny science jokes (that most people didn't get!).  It was such a fun thing for Enoch to participate in at his first pack meeting as a Cub Scout.  He was so excited!
It was a fun night!
Now on to the next thing in my super, crazy, busy week.

Nothing Messy About Me!

Guard and a bowl of sweet potatoes...

Guard and the newspaper recycling basket (his favorite pastime)...

Guard and a chocolate dipped strawberry...

Guard and Coal's food and water...

Things I didn't get pictures of:
-emptying diaper pail (hourly)
-unrolling an entire roll of TP in the bathroom (daily)
-pulling all the books off the shelves that he could reach (daily)
-unloading the entire Tupperware lazy susan (daily)
-etc, etc, etc. (constantly)

I bet his mom is tired.  Good things he is so cute!

Kate is Five!

I know I say this about each child for every birthday, but I can't believe my Kate is five!  It seems so old for my little girl.  Kate has been counting down the days for months, so she is excited to add another year, but me, I'm sad...and amazed.  Amazed at what Kate has become in the last five years.
Kate is sweet.  Really, she is a lot of things, but she is sweet.  She can also be shy (extremely shy!), smart, energetic, opinionated, emotional and tough.  She can sometimes be not so sweet when holding her ground against her brothers!
Kate's favorites include:
color - pink, purple and blue
food - Cheerios, spaghetti, pizza
treat - chocolate cream pie, chocolate dipped strawberries
movie - Tangled, Cinderella, Prep and Landing
TV show - Super Why, Dora the Explorer
book - Tangled, Waking Beauty
friends - Enoch, Taylor Y., Bailey T.
place to go - Legoland, Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum, gym class
thing to do - watching plants grow, going swimming, coloring, mini golfing
Kate loves her gymnastics and ballet classes.  She loves to color, draw, paint and do crafts.  She loves to play board games.  She loves to help her mom cook and bake.  She loves to make Guard laugh.  She loves to wear necklaces.  She loves shoes.  She loves blankets.  She loves chocolate.  She loves sidewalk chalk.  She loves stickers.  She loves Primary.  She loves to give hugs.  She loves 'wrestling' with Gavin.  She loves being with her dad.  She loves doing anything with Enoch.  She loves jumping on the trampoline.  She loves swimming.  She loves shoulder rubs.  She loves her family.
She does not love cleaning her room.  Oh, the battles!

First thing on Kate's birthday, she was measured.  Still on the small side, but growing.

 

During the day, Kate got a hold of the camera and snapped a few shots of herself.

 

Poor Kate, I think her birthday was a bit anticlimactic.  She kept saying, "It's just like any other day."  We had her friend birthday a few weeks ago and Grandma and Grandpa Fowler came over and celebrated both Kate's and Enoch's birthday last week, so it was a quiet day.  We still opened a few presents.  From Grandma and Grandpa Fowler she opened (last week) new leotards for gym class.  She put them right on and danced around for us.  Grandma and Grandpa Randall gave her a pink dolphin necklace and a Rush Hour Safari game.  She loved both.  Mom and Dad gave Kate a box of art projects - coloring books, paints, blendy pens, sticker books, mosaics, etc.  She really liked them and has had fun working on them.

 

For dessert, Kate requested her favorite - chocolate dipped strawberries.

 

Happy Birthday, Kate!  We love you more than you can know!

Cold Kate

It seems like Kate is always cold.  She constantly has a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.  One of her favorite things is to sit on the heater vents first thing in the morning (with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders).
She really needs to live in Arizona or Texas or Florida or somewhere besides Utah in the winter.
She must think that because she always needs a blanket, that the rest of us want one as well.  She takes such good care of us!

 

Happy Valentine's Day

As predicted, our Valentine's Day was a bit rushed and overlooked.  I don't go all out for Valentine's because it is sandwiched between birthdays.  I don't give gifts to the kids, but we do try to spend some fun time together.
This year for Valentine's I gave Greg shopping.  Yep, I went pants shopping for him.  I bought every pair of gray docker-like pants I could find that could possibly fit him so he didn't have to do it.  He did still had to try them on, but I returned the rejects.  Love you, Greg!
I got a much better present (I'm pretty sure that isn't correct English).  I got a new phone - a Nexus 4.  My old phone was broken when my sweet baby chucked it across Costco, so I was in the market for something new.  I really do love my new phone.  Gavin thinks it's wasted on me because I don't really know how to use it yet, but I'm learning.
Our holiday started with breakfast - french toast with fresh strawberries and cream cheese syrup.  Yum!

We sent the kids out the door with their Valentine's box and cards for a fun day at school.  Okay, really just Enoch.  Kate didn't have preschool today (her party was yesterday) and poor Gavin doesn't have any parties today.

It was a busy day and Guard was moving and grooving all day long.  I knew it would only take him a few days to really get going.

After school, Enoch attended his first Cub Scout den meeting.  He was so excited!  They made some fun treats for their families and Enoch was having a hard time waiting until after dinner to share his Valentine's treats.

 At the dinner table, I made little Valentine's for everyone and put them on their plates.  They were very simple and small, but the kids liked reading what I said.  Gavin's note said, "Dear Gavin, You are very observant and helpful.  Thank you for being in our family.  Love, Mom."  Maybe my handwriting is bad or he read it fast, but he said, "What?  I'm very absorbent?  What does that mean?"  Yes, Gavin, you can hold a lot of water - or a lot of something!?
After dinner we ate sugar cookies (leftovers I made for Enoch's class party).  It was a fun ending to a good day.

Out of My Way!

Guard has finally decided to crawl.  He has been army scooting for months and rolling like crazy for months before that.  He was sick for about a month and a half or I think he would have been crawling by now.  Cute little crawl, still a little choppy, but he will be cruising in a few days.  Time to baby proof again!

It's Great to be Eight!

Eight years old!
Such a big year for our Enoch.  He has been looking forward to turning eight for quite a while.
Enoch is...
full of curiosity,

full of adventure,

full of excitement,

full of love,

full of smiles,

full of life.

Enoch is an amazing boy.  He has taught me so much.  He has a strong connection to heaven and his prayers are incredible.  To hear Enoch pray is to truly listen to a conversation between a boy and his Heavenly Father.   It is a blessing in my life.
Enoch is a smart, little cookie.  He loves science and is quite good at math.  His brain is always working and he is full of good ideas.
Enoch's personality has changed quite a bit this last year.  It hasn't been an easy transition for any of us, but he is working on living with his type A, in charge, don't tell me what to do, so so so stubborn, perfectionistic personality.  We are all working on it!
My sweet Enoch.  Oh, how I love you.

He was measured first thing on his birthday morning.  Still a steady grower.

He had a fun surprise in his lunch.  (Yes, I know it's Christmas paper - trying to get rid of it and Enoch doesn't care.)

That night, we celebrated Enoch's birthday with cookies and ice cream.  Grandma and Grandpa Fowler stopped by to open presents.

Enoch got a science kit from Grandma and Grandpa Randall,  his Cub Scout uniform (he was so excited) from Grandma and Grandpa Fowler and Snap Circuits from Mom and Dad.  He absolutely loves his Snap Circuits.  He immediately opened them and built a transistor radio.  And, it worked!  It was playing the song, Elvira.  My sisters will know that song because we listened to it all the time while we were growing up and camping.

 Happy Birthday Enoch!  We love you!

Guard at 8-9 months

Guard is growing so fast!  I love this age - you can see your babies grow overnight - and Guard is no exception.  I can see his mind maturing and growing so much.  He is so much fun!

He still loves his books.  When I pull out his toy basket, his books are the first thing he goes for - always.  I hope he always loves books.

Guard hates his car seat.  You know, karate-chop-your-kid-in-half hates his car seat.  And, unfortunately for Guard, he is in his car seat a lot (oh, the downside of being the youngest).   We moved Kate's seat over right next to him and he giggles all the time in the car.  I hope that continues, too.

Guard is a binky boy.  Consequently, he has horrible binky rash.  We haven't been able to clear it up yet, but we are trying Eucerin, Aveeno, hydrocortisone and whatever else we can think of to put on him.  He loves to play the binky game with Mom and Dad.  He will pretend to put his binky in our mouths, then our ears, then his ear, then his mouth and he giggles and giggles.  He loves it.  If we are missing all of his binkies, we check under his crib.  They are in a nice, neat pile.  Guard drops his binkies down the same two slots in his crib every single time.

He is so cute - he wipes my face with the burp cloth after he eats.  He squirms away when I try to wipe his mouth after his bottle, but he makes sure my mouth is wiped.

 

He is expanding his diet.  His pediatrician, Dr. Johnson, encouraged us to go ahead and feed him table food since he is being so picky about his bottle.  Guard loves grilled cheese sandwiches and french fried.  Is it awful that we know that about our nine month old?  He has done so well with table food and really does enjoy it more than baby food.  He is particular about it though.  The other day, I gave him some pieces of pancake and he screamed until I gave him the entire pancake.

Guard is so, so, so close to crawling.  He was almost crawling at Chrismtas time and then he got sick for 45 days.  Really, 45 days.  He is finally himself again and he is army crawling everywhere.  And he is quick.  The other night, he scooted under our bed and we couldn't find him.  He finally started crying and we pulled him out.  Silly kid!

 He babbles a bit.  He loves to say mama, dada, baba.  He isn't a super talkative baby, but he does let us know he is around.

 

He is so cute and so much fun!

Nine month stats:

weight: 18 lbs 4 ozs (14%)
length: 28.5 (75%)
head 44.7 cm (32%)