July 2012

And July....I wrote about Caleb and Levi's birthdays celebrated with family already. July is a busy and fun month!

 Before church one day, Levi wanted his picture taken with Ellie.

 Caleb and Levi reading. One of their favorite activities (at this time they couldn't actually read, but love to look through books).

 And a second tooth lost for each boy! Anyone know who is who???

 I just like this picture of Ellie. She doesn't want any food anywhere near her mouth, but she will eat hairs, strings, and grass. Silly girl.

 Ian racing at the family reunion. I wasn't daring enough to take Ellie on a 12+ hour drive to a reunion with 50 other people, but John was brave enough to take three boys to it by himself! They had a great time, they love being with cousins and grandparents.

 Caleb watching the stream at the reunion.

 Levi crossing the bridge at the reunion.

 Ellie and I had fun while they were gone, we painted the laundry area and the living room. And looked out the window. And the biggest news, Ellie started walking!! I was in the kitchen and she was in the living room walking between the couches when all of a sudden she was walking into the kitchen with a big grin on her face. That was it, she realized she could do it and walk anywhere she wanted and she hasn't stopped yet. One plus of her walking? She can wear dresses now! She kept getting stuck when she tried to crawl in a dress. Ellie is 21 months old, 18 months past her due date.

 Ellie loves to swing. It's nice we have a park near our house since we don't have any good trees to hang a swing in anymore.

 Ellie likes to sleep with the blanket over her head. I don't really like her sleeping like that, I take it off when she is asleep but she often pulls it right back over her head.

A lady in our ward organized a fun run one day. It was about a mile long on a bike/walking trail near our house. Ian ran the whole way, I think he made it in just under 10 minutes. Caleb and Levi ran and walked and did a great job, they both made it to the finish line! They were all faster than Ellie and I so I didn't have to walk the whole way :).

June 2012

And on to June 2012.....

 A group shot for Father's Day. We celebrated Daddy's birthday, too, which I apparently did not take any pictures of. Whoops! Caleb, Ian, Ellie, Levi.

 Both Levi and Caleb lost their first tooth! Levi lost his first, this was the night Caleb did.

 I just like this picture, they were trying to see where each other's missing tooth was.

 Ellie crawling all over the place, she didn't mind even crawling outside. This was at a park we went to with grandparents who came to visit.

 Caleb all ready to go explore a cave.

 Ellie can stand up, and can take steps between people or couches, she just won't take off walking all over yet.

 Caleb finding a cozy place to read.

 Levi working hard on the floor. It must have been warm and sunny or something. He couldn't have been using the floor because the table was still messy from lunch, I'm sure.

 Grandma taught Ellie how to blow kisses. It's so cute! I was trying to get a good picture of her in the awesome rocking chair her uncle and grandpa made her.

And Ian, who doesn't do as many cute things as he used to and so gets his picture taken less. Poor boy.

May 2012

In an attempt to catch up where I am woefully behind, here are pictures from each month. 

 Levi, finding an odd place to read. He's just about finished with kindergarten, and can read small words.

 Ellie's room got painted. We kicked out her brothers (Caleb and Levi were taking turns sharing a room with her while the other one shared with Ian) all into the other room together, since they kept getting sick and I did not want Ellie sick. So she gets her own room, lucky girl.

 She's a climber!

 Of course, now that Caleb and Levi are sharing a room with Ian, and have a bunk bed to sleep on, where do they choose to sleep? On the floor, probably 95% of the time.

 Caleb has taken an interest in geography and the atlas.

 Happy Ellie. She's 19 months old, 16 months past  her due date.

Finally warm enough to play in the sandbox! The sand is great, too, since it's still wet from the snow thawing out on top of it.

Happy 6th Birthday!

This is a little late, but Caleb and Levi started asking months before their birthday to spend it with Grandma, with whom they share their birthday in July. So, we went to visit Grandma! They got to see Grandma and Grandpa, as well as several aunts, uncles, and cousins on that trip. They had a great time, and of course were excited to be turning 6!

Caleb had an airplane cake.

Here is an interview with Caleb, about being 6:
favorite color:  black
favorite foods:  cheese sandwich, pasta with chicken and sauce
favorite books:  Winnie the Pooh books, Johnny Appleseed
favorite movies:  The Incredibles, Winnie the Pooh movies
favorite job:  setting the table
favorite subject in school:  art activities
favorite things to play:  playing Toy Story games with Ham, Buzz, and Buster
favorite things to do outside:  digging in the sand, play dog games in the sand
what he would do if he were bored:  read
why he's excited about being 6:  because he gets to go to first grade
what he wants to be when he grows up:  helicopter pilot


Levi had a Lightning McQueen cake.

And an interview with Levi:
favorite color:  red
favorite foods:  spaghetti, raviolis, rice and chicken, beans and rice with melted cheese and sour cream
favorite books:  Winnie the Pooh books, Mega Rescuers
favorite movies:  Winnie the Pooh movies
favorite job:  setting the table
favorite subject in school:  math
favorite things to play:  playing Toy Story games with Ham and Buzz with the blocks
favorite things to do outside:  digging in the sand, raking leaves
what he would do if he were bored:  read one of his favorite books
why he's excited about being 6:  because he gets to go to school all day
what he wants to be when he grows up:  he said this was a hard question because he didn't know yet, he thinks a builder, play the violin in an orchestra, firefighter, or drive a truck with a platform that folds up and lifts up the stuff.




The morning of their birthday we went to the zoo with their cousins, grandparents, and some friends. They got to walk inside the wallaby cage. Thankfully, they let them out on the other end :).

Happy (late) birthday, Caleb and Levi!!

The boys - Jan - Apr 2012

In the interest of getting caught up, I guess we'll have a girls post and a boys post!

In January, Ian participated in his first ever spelling bee! I guess this was the first year they let third graders participate. I think they just took the top spellers from each class, the letters kept saying he'd passed the first round of the bee but he hadn't had a grade or classroom bee. Anyway, it was third through sixth graders. It's the luck of the word on a spelling bee, for sure! Ian was fine about it until he got sat down in the front of the gym - then he got really nervous but I didn't go talk to him, the school counselor talked to him and tried to get him to calm down. By the time it was his turn for his first word, he'd calmed down and did it! And got it right! He made it to the fourth round before he got out! I was so proud of him.

One day I had to take Ellie to an all day doctor's visit out of town, and they built this tall tower with Daddy they were really proud of. Levi and Caleb are apparently calling people to tell them about it :). (January)

Caleb's crane - he's lifting the airplane. (January)

And Levi's crane. Pretty ingenuous, really. (January)

One of their homework assignments was to use blocks to measure everyone in their family's shoe to see whose was longest and shortest. Afterward Levi made a shoe train! (January)

And another block creation - I think they used every block, and made it symmetrical. (February)

Over the past few months Caleb and Levi have asked me several times to take their picture together. They sure are best friends. But there are times they want to be separate, too, they just have a little too much togetherness sometimes. They say they need some alone time. For the most part, though, they get along really well. (February)

March was really busy. All three boys had some school projects to do along with their science fair projects. Ian made an electromagnet, Caleb found out which objects light would and wouldn't shine through, and Levi tested what things a magnet will stick to. Science projects are fun, making the presentation is the hard part!

We also spent part of spring break out of town. My brother was visiting my parents so we went there. He moved away soon after I did, and I hadn't seen him for over 2 years. Two other brothers live nearby so we saw them, too. It was a fun trip, it's always good to see family. I keep thinking that some day it will be more fun to travel when all four children eat like regular people. Someday.......

Ian's first pinewood derby car! Yes, he's nine, but last year they had the derby the month before he turned eight and this year it was the month after he turned nine. We don't know what place he got, he didn't win, but he was pretty pleased with it. (March)

Happy April Fool's Day! The night before we planted some "doughnut seeds". In the morning, they had grown! By morning some of them had slipped down on the stick and Levi and Caleb thought they just hadn't grown as big as the others yet :). They did wonder how tape grew, but seemed to believe it otherwise!

Happy Easter! (April)

One day they were eating lunch and said there was a bird on the porch railing. That's not too unusual, we have lots of trees and lots of birds. But Caleb was saying it was behind the grill - I knew that from where he sits he couldn't see a robin on the railing behind the grill. So I went and looked, and it was this pheasant! I'm sure glad to see him sitting on our railing rather than flying into our front window (we've had three do that). (April)

Just a fun picture! (April)

Ian's invention to carry his laundry easier. (April)

In April all the boys combined into one bedroom. It was Ian and Caleb together, with Levi having his own room (Ellie was still in my room). Then we switched Levi and Caleb so Caleb could have his own room for a while. But I let Levi sleep on the bottom bunk bed and so Caleb wanted to come back. The original plan was to have the two of them share the bottom bunk (it's full sized) with Ian on top anyway, we were just going to wait until summer! It is working fine, although I'm not sure why we bothered with the bunk beds at all - I think Levi and Caleb have only slept on the bed a couple of nights - they each usually make up their little bundle of blankets on the floor! Who needs beds anyway?