Swim Meet!!!!

So swimming in Texas is big. TEXAS BIG. And since it gets so dang hot here we decided that Ashton was old enough to join the club. He has surprisingly not complained much about the practices which are 5 days a week for almost  2 months. Last night he had his first swim meet. Oh my goodness, it was quite the event. There were tons of people, tons of swimmers and he and I were both nervous. He had qualified to swim freestyle for the 6 and unders with a qualifying time of 47 seconds.

Here are a few pics of the big event.

Here's the team doing the pre-game chant.

And here he is with his buddies Thane and Carson. This is Thane's second year and helped ease Ashton's nerves about the whole thing. Ashton followed Thane in the same lane which definitely was calming for Ash). Carson is on the team and though he didn't compete in this race we were glad he came to support his friends!

And here is my boy in ACTION! It was so fun! and he did fantastic, coming down on his time by 6 seconds! We were so proud of our little man!

Too much candy will rot your teeth

Here is my crew after school on Valentines Day eating their goodies.

I never get tired of looking at that face! The kid was loving the chocolates. He took a bite right out of one of the mini chocolate bars with the foil still in its place. I wanted to take a picture of it but he gobbled up the rest of it before I got the chance.

I have to show off Ashtons' shirt because I made it! I let Ashton and Isaac design their shirts. Isaac is a simple guy which was awesome and Ashton likes all the bells and whistles, they turned out great though!

Some say that too much candy will rot your teeth and looks like they might have a case! Ashton went to bed that night one tooth short of when he started the day. It may have something to with the fact that it was loose before the day started and even more to do with the fact that Dad pulled the thing out and not so much about the candy. This is tooth number 4 for that kid! I tell you, they grow up fast!!!

PART-AY!!!!

I am a party person, my kids are party people. We LOVE to have parties and so we did a BOYS valentine party with cousins and some friends.  We played a couple of "don't brake my heart" games they loved!!! Here's game #1. It was supposed to be a relay but they just kept going till all the "hearts" were broken.

 

The boys were too funny. When the last egg hit, they new it! And they all had to scramble it to a gooey mess!

Game #2 was involved making cupid's arrows out of sticks from the yard and felt.  I then stuck a tissue paper heart onto some aluminum foil that was held in a needle point ring thingy and wedged into a tree. This time the boys were to put the heart breaking into skills into action.

This was a hit! Our last game was a scavenger hunt. I used little white cutout hearts and wrote clues with white crayon on them. After finding each clue they would have to paint the heart with water color to reveal the next clue until they found the treasure box of treats. We decorated treat bags, made bracelets for our moms and decorated sugar cookies. Too fun! I love these boys so much and am sooooo glad we got to celebrate.

Homemade Rocks

Ahhhh! There are so many things that I want to blog about, I just wish I could make the time...I've got 30 minutes, let's see how many I get to :)

For school Ashton had to have bring a rock collection which the studied and as a part of the course they made their own rocks with a dinosaur inside.  He brought it home and like the gingerbread house we made at Christmas, he wanted to smash it to pieces with his daddy's hammer. Here are the pics.

To be honest, I wanted to post these pictures partially because Ashton is super cute and partially because of what I noticed in the background of that last picture.  We had done sidewalk chalk earlier and I hadn't seen this little message Ash had written to me until I was looking at these pictures.
I LOVE YOU TOO ASH!!!!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Neglection Rejection

My gosh! I don't get on here often enough! I need to quit checking facebook for the whole 15 minutes that I do and write about these fleeting moments that I have with my sweet kids while the are still little!

As it has been forever I will just give a general post before I get to all the daily's that I hope to remember.

Our life is fairly routine right now.  Ashton is in school and is excelling in everything! He has just caught on to reading is  reading up a storm! As we were getting his backpack ready this morning I found a slip of paper in his folder that said he had a part in that mornings school announcements and that he needed to learn his part.  I almost freaked out because we were all ready tight on time.  Then I remembered that he could read his part!!!! I read it through with him once, that's it, that was all the time we could give.  Then I dropped him off at school and then headed to his schools library so we could watch/support him in this event.  He was there with three classmates all ready to deliver his part in the televised announcement.  and he did great! Here was his part.

Thank you, you may be seated.  Today for lunch you have your choice of a turkey hot dog or a toasted cheese sandwhich.

It was so adorable! He did great, read right through his part in a clear loud voice.  He was so handsome and even such an insignificant announcement made me proud.

While Ashton is at school Isaac and Ezra get to hang out with me.  We spend just a short time doing chores (making beds, unloading the dishwasher and starting some laundry) and then is play time! They love to be outside. We have a basketball hoop that they both shoot on. Ezra is a little exhausting because he has to shoot at the big hoop, nevermind his small toddler standard.  He tries to dribble and all, and when he's ready for a rest he sits his cute little tush on his ball.  Other daily activities are race cars (hotwheel tracks) board games with Isaac (checkers and mousetrap are his favorites) and book reading of course.  Isaac is into doing preschool with me and is learning to read. We hit up the park, the library, and the gym regularly. Some days we get together with friends or with Kirsten and the cousins.  Boy do my boys ever LOVE their cousins!!!!

Isaac and Ashton are currently playing basketball for the YMCA and have improved tremendously!! They are smart little players! and love to hustle especially for the rebounds! Tyler over the last three weeks has taught them to ride their bikes with out the training wheels! Oh my they are growing up too fast!!!

Ezra just wants to be a part of the big boy squad. It's pretty cute. He loves his brothers and loves to wrestle around with them. I can hardly believe he is almost 1 and half!

Tyler keeps busy! He's at work about 11 hours a day and then usually gets in a few hours of studying. He ALWAYS makes time for his boys and for me.  He is definitely the one thing in my life that gives me strength and perspective.  He is the dream man I've always hoped to have.  And on top of that he still serves in his calling in the Elders Qourum, fixes the car, and even does cooking and yard work!

As for myself I feel like there is never enough time for anything except my kids, cooking, cleaning, playing etc.  I long for time to do things like home projects (painting and decorating) and crafts (photography and sewing) but I at least get to spend my time with the loves of my life.  Unfortunately this won't last. I feel like I get too upset when the house is a mess and I've been trying to work on finding the joys in messes.  I usually clean for an hour each night after the kids go to sleep.  Not only is it hard to clean when Ezra is up but also I'd rather use that time to spend with them.  So instead of cringing and grumpifying myself when Ezra uses sidewalk chalk on my freshly mopped tiles shortly after the olders spill a bottle of bubbles on said floor I grab my camera, snap a shot and then have the boys help clean it up...This happens most of the time. Sometimes I snap before the camera does.

And there it is, 15 minutes of well spent time! I will try to upload some pictures later tonight when my stinks don't need me but for now it's off to Ezra's well check and then to the sand park! 

A sincere wish

During Family Home Evening last night Ashton gave the opening prayer. His final sentence was one that makes you open your eyes to find your spouse with an equally big grin on their face. He said "please bless everyone in the world who has been good that they can get a nice toy for Christmas and not a broken one." I love these moments!

Four

Isaac!

FOUR!!!! You are FOUR!!! You have been waiting for this for the last two months...and now that it is here you are just as cute as ever. You woke up telling the family how yesterday you were this tall (marking to about your nose) and now you are this tall...Like you grew a foot overnight :).

You are mister funny man. You love to make us laugh and you like to be on the edge (as in, like to bend the rules or test the limits). And you are a pretty chill kid. and you are a kid who is always willing to try, even if you are scared. You love to play basketball, ride your scooter, you love Batman and love to play with your hotwheels or your planes.  You enjoy reading books, eating popscicles and wrestling with your dad. Hide and seek and getting chased and playing board games are also at the top of your list.  You have a sweet tooth but you also like to eat healthy and always ask what foods are healthy and if what you are eating is healthy...It's a big deal to you. You are a little shy but you have the BIGGEST heart! I don't quite remember the wording but when you were born and your father gave you a Father's Blessing you were blessed to be a strength and a help to your mom and that is EXACTLY what you are. You are THE ONE who can calm me when I loose my cool. Mostly you just tell me sweetly and ever so sincerely that you love me, and often there is a hug involved and that's all I need to calm my storm.  In fact, I remember when you only two you CONSTANTLY would say the words, "I love you"...the crazy thing is when you say it, your eyes testify that you mean it.

For your photo shoot you insisted that we go to the park. First up are your different expressions. Isaac, YOU"RE THE BEST!!!!

And my aren't you handsome!!! Happy 4th Birthday Isaac!!!