Marching Band

The boys decided to have a marching band of their own. After I used a belt of mine to strap on Westley's drum, I tied Caleb's keyboard on with two bathrobe ties. They marched around the house for half an hour, "playing" their music. I got it on video too, and it's so cute! The best was how they really were marching. I'm not even sure where they came up with the idea for a marching band, though!

Valentine's Day Fun

On Valentine's Day, we hosted a Valentine's Day party for some of Westley's friends, mostly from church. We had a lot of fun making valentines, counting conversation hearts (and eating them), decorating sugar cookies and playing Giant Candyland.This is the Giant Candyland game that we had put together for the party. I just used construction paper and made the squares for them to stand on. I used the original Candyland game and copied the pictures for the "candy squares"--an ice cream cone, a gingerbread man, a lollipop, etc. They had fun playing the game.
Here we are eating the heart-shaped pizzas we made for lunch. The heart shape was a hit, it's what made lunch exciting.
Here we are decorating sugar cookies. Corey and I made a bunch of heart-shaped cookies and some pink and white frosting. I also had a jar of a variety of sprinkles that I bought last year and never used, so that came in handy. Most of the kids ate as they went, but a few saved their cookies for later.

We had a lot of fun, and I'm thinking of making it a tradition.

Children's Prayers

We've been working with our kids, Westley especially (since he is older and talking better), at prayers. You know, teaching them how to open, what to say and how to close and letting them practice. At first, Westley would only pray for the food at mealtimes and for good sleep at bedtime. Lately, though, he has been praying for some interesting things.

Somewhere along the way he has learned that we wear clothes so we won't be naked. One of the things he is thankful for is that he is not naked. Another cute one is from a video we watch often on Sunday mornings. If you are LDS, you will know what this is about...the Book of Mormon animated story of the Tree of Life. Westley now prays that Heavenly Father will bless him to stay away from the Great and Spacious Building.

Other various things have included that bathtime will be fun, that his ducky will sleep good, and that Travis will keep smiling. Isn't it cute what kids sometimes say in their prayers?

Bonding Brothers

One afternoon, the boys decided to play dress up with the box of dress up clothes I have, courtesy of their grandparents. Both costumes were former Halloween costumes of my brothers, and I think both were also costumes of one of my brothers for some plays he was in in elementary school. When they were all dressed up, Westley said, "I'm a cowboy and Caleb is my owl." I didn't know that cowboys had owls!

The boys and I had fun building a house for the lego dinosaurs (seen above) out of the big block legos. I showed them how to start by putting together the bases of the walls and then building up from that. They built the roof and just kept adding blocks. It was a lot of fun. The shot below is a close-up of the house we built. They were very proud, since they did most of it, I only started it for them.
Westley and Caleb were watching a video--probably the "Chipmunk Adventure" video they got for Christmas from Aunt Leslie and Uncle Zach. It is their favorite movie. Westley asked if he could hold Travis, so this is a picture of all three of them. Westley loves to cuddle with Travis, give him kisses and play with him. The other night, Travis was laying on the floor, and Westley was laying next to him and he started sort of wrestling with Travis, pulling at his hands (making him giggle) and rolling him from his stomach to his back. Travis was enjoying it immensely, laughing the whole time.

Cousins Visit

The John Fowles family was able to visit Arizona before moving out of the country to London, England a week later. We were so happy that they were able to visit. They stayed in Mesa with Grandpa & Grandma, but we were able to spend time with them on Sunday and Monday, January 7th and 8th. On Monday, the 8th, we went to Makutu's Island in Chandler, a huge indoor play area with all sorts of forts and slides to climb on and slide down. Westley and Caleb both enjoyed that, and Travis dozed peacefully through most of it.

Later on Monday evening, they came over to eat dinner and have FHE with us. I was only able to get one snapshot of Marianne playing with our Leapfrog Fridge Phonics with the boys. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the camera to Makutu's Island.

Eating Yucky Food

Tonight at dinner, Westley said, "This is really good food." We were eating my homemade macaroni and cheese, in which I put canned diced tomatoes to flavor it up. Westley HATES tomatoes. He likes the mac and cheese, but he hates tomatoes. I responded, "I'm glad you like it." At that exact moment, he had a tomato on his fork. He said, "No, this is yucky. But I have to eat it because I want to grow big and strong like Daddy." He then proceeded to clean his plate, eating everything INCLUDING the tomatoes. When he was finished, I said, "Good job eating all your food, Westley," and he said, "I had to eat the yucky food, Mom. Now I can be big and strong like Daddy."

The New Year

So far, this new year has been pretty busy. Both Corey and I had dental appointments last week. Westley is still involved in his gymnastics, which is once a week on Tuesdays. The weekend was crazy--attending a baby blessing for a friend's baby and then spending a lot of time in Mesa with my parents and my brother and his family before they (my brother and family, not my parents) move to England next week. We've hardly been home to have a regular routine day with naps.

Today, though, Caleb finally fell asleep after playing in his room for two hours. Now he's been asleep for about 2 hours, and we're wondering when he's going to wake up. Since his nap was so late, he'll probably be doubly grouchy when he wakes up. Then will come the problem of bedtime. Usually, we get the kids to bed by 6:30, but that will be too early for tonight, since he will have only woken up a few hours before.

Yesterday we went to a place called Makutu's Island in Chandler. It had all sorts of climbing equipment and slides for the kids to play on. We were there for several hours. Normally, in a place like this, Westley could be timid and afraid of trying new things. But he was courageous and even climbed through the netted tube from one tree house to the other. This tube was high in the air, suspended over the play area. At first he was a little scared and he told me, "It's too dangerous, Mom." But then he plunged on. I think his gymnastics has helped him be more willing to try new things.

All in all, it's been busy, but it's been fun. Hopefully, next time we do something fun, I will remember the digital camera and to take pictures.