What's "Trending" at Our House

Megan has a small hoarding tendency.  She doesn't like to share so she keeps tons of little things in her backpack and it's super heavy.  She has claimed the LaZBoy as her own chair and loads it up with her things.  They are HERS, and wo unto anyone who tries to go by the stuff.  (She threw a right royal fit at Tyler's birthday because one of Tyler's friends was sitting in her chair and playing with her stuff.)

She had so many things piled on the chair there wasn't any room to sit.  (Sometimes she just sits on top of the whole pile.)



Enjoying the backyard.  It is so nice that we are FINALLY to the point where the kids can go out in the backyard and play pretty well by themselves.  It is nice that I can send them out to play while I get dinner going.  (They can't swing on their own yet, but we've ordered one more "big kid" swing, so that should end the fighting over the other two swings.)













Sunday evening walks to the nearby school and parks.







Tyler trying on one of the girls' jackets.



Playing with Tinker Toys





Even though Tyler doesn't take naps anymore, I have him play in his room for a little while during the girls' nap time (cuz I need some quiet time).  One day I went into his room to find that he had taken all of the stickers that were supposed to go on his birthday card and put them on his legs.



Enjoying Sno Cones



I took this picture before church one Sunday.  I love the girls' pony tails, and Tyler looked so handsome in his white shirt and tie.



This is Tyler's first year of soccer.  The first Saturday we met his coach and they got team pictures.  Tyler is the tallest one on his team.  (It's a team for 3 and 4 year olds, which is how old Tyler was when the season started.)





The second Saturday Darrell had to take his truck to get fixed, but the girls and I went to watch.  Tyler doesn't really get soccer, but he ran after the ball (when I called out to him).





We had a "practice" this week in our backyard.  Tyler knows how to kick the ball and run after it, but it doesn't all click when there are 9 other kids all chasing after the ball too.



Here are some pictures from last Saturday's game.



This is a classic photo of Tyler just kinda hanging out, happy to watch what is happening.



The kids were warming up and I looked over to see Tyler holding hands with his friend "T".  So cute!



Here we are "spectating."

"



It's fun to have Tyler involved in soccer.  He doesn't really "get it," but he still enjoys it.  (At least he's willing to get out there and participate.  I feel bad for the kids who are so shy that their parents have to "drag" them out to the field and run along with them holding their hands--which most likely would have been Tyler last year.)

Happy Birthday Tyler!

This cute boy turned 5 last week.  The day before he was spotlighted at preschool.  I didn't get any pictures, but I took this picture when we got home.  He loved his Happy Birthday badge.



Tyler woke up to balloons, streamers and presents.



He had been waiting for his birthday for SO long.  It finally arrived!



He opened his presents and then ate breakfast surrounded by his presents.  (His breakfast of choice is almost always frosted shredded wheat and it wasn't any different on that day, even though he was given other options.)





Tyler had 7 friends over for a birthday part.  He chose a Thomas the Train theme.



The boys playing with trains and cars.



Pizza and blue Kool Aid (with red ice cubes--Thomas colors)



That's one loaded trampoline!



Bubbles!



I made train brownies (made a pan of brownies and used a train cookie cutter) and piped blue frosting around it.



Birthday boy!  (He wore his birthday badge to bed, wore it on his birthday and then wore it to bed that night too.)



Tyler chose a train cake from our cake book, and he wanted every train car to be orange.  We decorated the cake while the girls were taking their naps.  He did the decorating all by himself, consulting "the map" (the cake book) for ideas.  It is times like this when I realize how big he's getting.





We went to "Old McDonalds" (that's what the kids call it) for dinner.  They loved the hamburgers and chicken nuggets and playing on the playground.



The orange train cake.



We sure do love Tyler.  He is a sweet, smiley kid.  I love his innocence--it's so refreshing--and I love all the things he is learning.  He loves practicing his handwriting and he does math all the time without "realizing" he's doing it.  He can be a big tease to his sisters, but he also has a soft, sweet side.  I love that he still wants to sit on my lap at church and that he'll hold my hand when we go for walks.

Visitors!

Darrell's mom Carol and her good friend Shirley came to visit us in April.  We had such a wonderful time.

We had a welcome/birthday party the first night we were together.  A Costco cake--I tell you, you can't go wrong with that.



The kids each got a piece of cake and a candle.  Then we sang "Happy Birthday" to all of them.



After dinner the kids got to open up their early birthday presents.  They were in heaven.



Tyler scored in the Transformers department.



Emily with all of the bags.



The kids got some money for their birthday so we headed to the $1 section of Target.  They had so much fun spending their money--it was hard to decide what to get.

Tyler got 4 dinosaurs.



The girls each got a crown and sunglasses.  Emily bought some pens and Megan got a dinosaur.



Grandma and Megan



Shirley was so good to play Transformers and dinosaurs with Tyler.



Carol, Shirley, Darrell and the kids all went to Scheel's while I taught piano lessons.  Shirley, Tyler and Emily had fun riding on the ferris wheel.  Then they had to come home and re-enact it with the couch pillows.



We spent one day on Temple Square.  It was rainy off and on throughout the day, but we still had a great day.  The kids were SO good about walking everywhere and seeing everything.

In the Conference Center









I love this picture of the kids and the temple.

"I love to see the temple.  I'm going there someday."



We went in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  This is where we had our wedding pictures and our wedding reception 8 years ago.

Then:



Now:



The Temple from the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building



We went to City Creek for lunch.  The McDonald's Happy Meals were a fun treat.



The kids enjoyed playing on the dinosaurs.







Emily hanging out with Grandma and Shirley.

 

The fountains at City Creek



The sun came out in the afternoon and we were able to go on the roof of the Conference Center.



We ate at Cracker Barrell.  Tyler was so tired that he fell asleep in the middle of eating his hamburger.





We came home and were FINALLY able to spend some time out in the yard.  It was so cool while Carol and Shirley were visiting that we stayed inside most of the time.



We loved having Carol and Shirley visit us and can't wait for them to come again.