This Year’s Demolition Derby was a success. We just took Benji and Packer again this year, (but Cali insists that she is ready next year). We met up with Sean and Erika and their 4 kids and Ben’s parents and Emily and her 3 kids. We tried our best to win the competition this year. Packer started off with some good guesses BUT Cooper Thal took home the trophy.
One of our church sponsored activities is a campout just for the boys. Ben took all 3 of the boys this year and they had a great time up near Strawberry Reservoir. I’m never good at blogging about this event because I wasn’t there, (Ben should do this one post per year)… BUT they all said it was fun and the pictures look fun so I am glad that they get to do Father and Son things and that they enjoy spending time together.
LOVE THESE BOYS AND THEIR CUTE SMILING ECXITED FACES
they made paper snakes
campfire
eating Crawdads or Crayfish or whatever they’re called…. yuck
a movie in the tent!
Summer has officially begun at our house because Packer is done with Reading School!! I am excited. A – because he did really well and went up 4 reading levels in one month! and B – I don’t have to set my alarm anymore and wake kids up! … that’s what summer is all about right? sleep in and wake up when your body is ready to wake up.
Packer read 100 books during the month!
Millie is getting so big. She is all over the floor and I can’t keep up with the cleaning. She finds every “little” thing that gets left out and ignores the big things. And we will be adding her to the baby bath wall very soon!
Ben and Cali went to 7 peaks for dad night!!!
We have Zucchini from the garden! and it makes delicious bread!
The kids were riding their bikes quite a bit but now the heat wave is here so it has slowed down. We got Benji a BIG bike – it’s a mountain bike and a little too big but its been fun watching him learn to ride it. And Brewer is having a fun summer – Pluto came to play the other day, and Hersey and Pickles and Moki and the neighborhood dogs have all been over.
We went and wished my Grandpa a happy Birthday last week. We brought a picnic lunch and hung out for an hour or so. It’s nice to live by grandparents. It’s a treat to be able to see them whenever I put forth the effort.
A few facts about Arden Johnson that I copied from my cousin Sasha: Happy 91st Birthday to one of my favorite people. He’s a WWII vet. He served on the USS Missouri, he watched the peace treaty signed with japan from 20 feet away. He is a gentle giant.
AND IN OTHER NEWS: Packer earned a minion cookie for being the super helper in primary:
and we helped pick cherries at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and then Ben and I pitted and froze 15 pounds of them. I don’t even like them but the kids do and Ben loves them so we’ll see if we can make some good pies and smoothies:
The other day Raymond had gone out to the swing set by himself and the next time I looked out his cousins Mia and Luca were just playing with him so nicely. They pushed him on the swing and laughed with him and dug in the sand and it just melted my heart to see them interact with their much younger cousin that way. Cousins Next Door is as awesome as we hoped it would be!
My Aunt Carol called me out of the blue this week and offered to take the kids to the park to play with River! They had a great time at discovery park even though Ray got motion sick on the swings and barfed all over himself. I told my aunt I never push for more than 15 minutes cause I get tired, so I make them be done. She was being super Aunt and spoiling Ray and Rosie at the park. River stayed and played a little after the park – He’s a good kid.
And I love seeing this little nugget crawl across my floors. She is so little and cute. She is getting fast and adventurous. Those little legs are getting strong.
And I’ll end with a story about answered prayers. We had a super fun weekend – wave runners and parade and sleep over and church and world cup and lots of little things in between. On Monday I Washed and Dried 4 loads of Laundry and folded 8 loads. I didn’t get much else done and I was getting frustrated with my messy house and tired kids. Today, Tuesday, we got quite a few chores done, even the basement. But the house was just messy especially the main level and I wasn’t getting it done. Plus I didn’t have all day to clean cause I had a few other things I was working on and trying to get done so… I was frustrated. I finally took a bath, snuck a piece of chocolate and asked Heavenly Father for help. Then when I was going out to clean up the wave runner, (my way of avoiding/putting off the gross floors and kitchen) my brother Brady and his girlfriend showed up. We hung out, played with the dogs, finished the wave runner and next thing I knew they were totally cleaning my house. They swept and mopped everything! That’s a big job in this house. My house is back under control. My prayer was answered. I am excited to start tomorrow in a much better emotional state of mind. Thank you Brady and Monique.
We went to Benji and Packer’s dance festival. They did a great job dancing!! They both knew all of the moves and seemed to enjoy the dancing. Ben brought our ladder and our video camera with a good zoom so we got good footage for the first time.
the younger siblings did not do so great. in fact i brought them home and put all 4 of them in bed at 10:30am! that did work well. Ray is still asleep. Rose and Cali have been playing nicely and Millie is on her 2nd nap. AND MY BLOG IS UP TO DATE 🙂
This guy is 7 years old! He was a fun birthday kid. So excited and happy. We opened presents and went to school late and took donuts for his class. After school we played with all of the new toys, finished the cake and then went to watch the Lego Movie. After the movie Grandma and Grandpa N. came over to give him his gift and we just watched Packer enjoy the birthday glory 🙂
Packer is Mr. Project. He spends most of his free time making things out of paper and glue and tape and sometimes comes up with new supplies. He is also addicted to plants vs zombies again. He plays club penguin and likes to dig in the dirt with the neighbors. He can’t go to bed at night with out his big brother. He hates homework.
On Saturday he had a bunch of cousins over for a party. They hung out for the first bit. We played a fun version of Bingo with snack prizes. He opened presents and we ate cake and ice cream and watched The Nut Job.
We used to be best buddies – but now we’re not!
Is that song stuck in anyone else’s head?
My kids are best buddies and I LOVE IT.
These boys literally cry at night if they don’t go to bed together at the same time in the same bed. They are buddies. They got a drawing book at the last book fair and Packer wouldn’t let me draw with him. Only Benji. Another day Pack got mad when Benji went to a friend’s house because he felt like he was losing his friend. Another time Packet built a ‘museum’ upstairs and Benji had friends over. I heard Benji tell his friends several times not to mess it up cause Packer had spent like three days making it.
Best buds – Rose yells for Cali every morning and won’t get out of bed until Cali comes and helps her. Cali and Rose always give each other big hugs. They play house and nurture each other. The girls watch Tangled and act it out together. In primary Rose gets scared and Cali comforts her. They really are best buddies.
These two are still young but I’m hoping the gender difference won’t matter too much and they can be buddies.
Sometimes they switch up who their buddy is for the day. These two play really well when they aren’t too tired.
And these boys have been practicing puppet dancing and other crazy moves, be sure to request a show next time you are over at our place.
This is the first year that homework has been a struggle. Benji hates his Cursive and hates that I make him do the full 20 minutes of reading. He was reading at night but has decided he doesn’t like that as much.
Packer just doesn’t like homework. He is so burnt out by the time he gets home that he truly cannot focus. Problem is he NEEDS to focus. He NEEDS homework. He needs help on his reading and he needs help on spelling. I’ve tried to let him wait until after dinner but it just doesn’t get done if we do. So we will keep plugging away because really homework isn’t horrible. Packer is learning a lot from it. Both boys do better in school when we do better with homework.
and then there is Cali who like to give herself homework. She just started bringing home word group papers from preschool and she asks me to listen to her read almost every day. She is catching on fast. I think she will be reading very soon.
Doesn’t Cali look so old here! 5 years old is big time 🙂 The boys are in the background checking their chores.
Packer was Star Student this week and he LOVED it. Being Mr. Project he had so much fun making his poster and getting the “special” things ready each day. It was great for me because he did it all himself 🙂
Monday was bring a poster, Tuesday your fav. book, Wednesday was show and tell, Thursday a letter from your parents, Friday wear a crown and be the class helper.
The Letter that I wrote to him:
February 20, 2014
Dear Packer,
You are an AWESOME kid! We are so happy that you are our son. Some of our favorite things about you are:
1. You are kind to everyone.
2. You are good at being silly and making us laugh.
3. You are great at listening and following rules.
4. You are a Super Duper Good Brother to Benji, Cali, Rose, Ray and Millie.
5. You always tell the truth.
We love having you in our family. It is so much fun to play with you even when you keep beating us at Skylander Guess Who. Mom loves watching you play soccer. Dad loves wrestling with you when he gets home from work.
Keep Up the Great work.
Love,
Mom and Dad
P.S. he is doing better on his spelling tests! 8/10 this week with a baskward s and p.
Packer.
He lost his second bottom tooth shortly after the first. He spent the money that week at the book fair. We can safely say that he is NOT a saver and willingly admits it.
The 100th day of school – I thought Packer’s answers were pretty funny:
When I am 100 years old… I will have Gray hair. I won’t walk. I will be wrinkly.
My Favorite thing about the first 100 days of school … the Halloween party (picture of playing twister).
If I had 100$… I will buy a furby. A furby is this thing. I like it. It’s good.
Sunday afternoon’s project was a “Museum”. He asked me how to spell Museum but when I said ‘e’ he heard ‘b’ – oops 🙂
