Mckay is 5!

As you can see in the post below, we had a pirate party for Mckay's birthday!  Apparently the coolest thing ever if you are a 5 year old boy is Bakugans!  He got a couple for his party and its all he can talk about.  
Here is a birthday boy blowing out his candles.  We made yummy belgian waffles for breakfast and for his birthday cake we had the best chocolate cake ever! Yum, yum, yum!  I thought for sure when I asked Mckay what he wanted for his b-day cake, he would say some kind of Bakugan or pirate cake, but I was pleasantly surprise with "chocolate cake".
I can't believe how big my little guy is getting.  He is so excited to start Kindergarten in the Fall and is already starting to read.  I love watching Mckay, he is always excited about something and is ready to try something new.

Pirate Party

We just celebrated Mckay's 5 th birthday yesterday!  He has been so excited for his birthday and counting down the days.  He has been talking about this birthday party and who he was going to invite for weeks.  We decided to throw a pirate party.  
Captain Mckay invited 10 other little pirates.  We lucked out and had record breaking warm temps. and did the whole party outside. Luckily my Mom and Paul were there for the whole party to help out so it ran very smoothly. 
We did a bunch of games: a treasure hunt that lead to a pinata, sharks and minnows, musical islands, walking the plank, and pinning the flag on the treasure.
The kids had a blast and I was very happy that we didn't give them their swords until the end of the party because within 5 minutes we had three kids crying with sword injuries.
I seriously felt very blessed yesterday because I had so many people that helped me pull this party together.  Of course my Mom and Paul, but I had a friend ask to take Logan to the park while Mckay was at school, then another friend made the cute skulls to put on top of my cupcakes, and then a neighbor ran across the street to help me when she saw me hanging up balloons for the party.  She had my backyard decorated in no time. I'm so grateful for my friends and family.   

Messy Party

I think I was spoiled growing up because I got a friend party every year for my birthday.  I have tried saying that we do parties every other year, this was suppose to be our off year, but then Tanner reminded me that turning 8 is a big deal.  And Mckay says that turning 5 is a big deal too, (and all of his brothers had parties at his age).  So, once again, we had our birthday parties.  I actually don't mind, I really like a good party!  

This party was super fun for a bunch of 8 year old boys (and a couple of girls).  We had three different activities that were really messy. 

Activity #1: Egg toss

Activity #2:  Bobbing for orange slices...then heading straight to the flour pile to bob for colored mini-marshmellows.

Activity #3:  Making slime!  This stuff was very fun for the kids to play with.  We had slime everywhere when we were done.  The boys had fun pretending that the slime was different things, boys can be very creative I've learned.  We had slime running out of every body cavitity.

The kids had a great time and were a mess when they went home.  I seriously had a bunch of other ideas we could have done, but I was all mess out after 3 activities.  

Spring Break in Sunny Southern Utah

After watching it snow all day today, I'm missing being in the warm weather we had last week during Spring Break.  We went and stayed in the St George house with some of our cousins and did a bunch of activities outside while soaking in the sun.  Our first adventure was the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  This was not my idea of fun, to go look over a sheer drop off that went down thousands of feet.  But, Paul went here years ago with Bryson and Garrett and was anxious to take the rest of the family. 

I wish I had a picture that would do this place justice, I seriously couldn't even get close to the edge.  We let the kids crawl out to the ledge to look over, I was freaked out the whole time.

On the way to the Grand Canyon, we stopped at this old school house to have lunch. I seriously can't believe that people actually had lived out here in the middle of nowhere.  

Here we are with the boys (minus Bryson, plus our cousin Ritchie) driving along the bumpy rough roads to the North Rim.  We listened to a lot of Sponge Bob singing alongs, then luckily Paul and I got control of the i-pod.
One night we went over to the Parkers (Paul's sister's house) and had a little swim party in their new pool.  The boys were in heaven, finding all sorts of crazy things to do.  After watching my kids with fear at the Grand Canyon, jumping off this fence didn't even make me nervous.

Logan wanted so badly to get the pool, so I got his swimming suit on and handed him to Bryson, only to hear Logan cry to get out.  Bryson really tried to help him, but he only wanted me, and I wasn't about to get in the water (it wasn't that warm). 
Here we are just playing at the park.  We had a blast just be in the warm weather, Tanner loved climbing trees and Garrett and fun tossing the ball back and forth with his Dad.

Logan had fun playing miniature golf in the backyard with his Daddy.
One day we went to Fiesta Fun (this was the highlight of the trip for the boys).   The boys had a great time playing on the bumper boats and the bumper cars.  Mckay wasn't too sure about getting all wet and shed a few tears, but as soon as he got off, he was begging to get back on.

It was fun to get away for the week and just play.  Now we are trying to get back into the groove again - i.e. homework, bedtimes, piano, and soccer.  I actually am excited for summer, just to have a little break from the routine and have more playtime with boys.  Ahh, summer, it seems like forever away today with all the snow out there.

Its great to be 8!

I can't believe my little Tanner boy is 8!  I guess he isn't little anymore.  I haven't seen anyone so excited to be 8, Tanner is thrilled to be baptized soon and to be a cub scout.   We had a great day.  I checked Tanner out of school to take him to lunch at Dairy Keen, then we went and got doughnuts to take to his class.  Later that night, we made homemade pizzas with Grandma and Grandpa Edwards and Ryan and Karen. Yum, I haven't had homemade pizza for a long time.
Here are the boys singing to Tanner, they take singing the birthday song very seriously (not). Oh, and this is my very fist attempt to make cheesecake, at Tanner's request, it was pretty good. 
Tanner could hardly wait to open presents until after dinner.  He was excited when he saw he got his own cub scout shirt, Tanner was working on his bobcat the very next day, and is ready to get it now.
Logan didn't realize that all the presents weren't just for him, he was right there to help open the presents.

Scott and Natalie called to sing to Tanner for his b-day, here is Logan, once again, beaming while listening to the Edwards' sing.  Easton, Maddie, Parker, you guys have incredible voices.

Garrett in the UTAH Program

After listening to Garrett sing for months about Utah, we were finally able to watch the whole program (and Mckay and I sang along quietly).  Here is Garrett with his teacher, Karen Edwards.  Wow!  We know three Karen Edwards and they are all skinny and cute.
Garrett doing his square dance.
Okay, if Garrett marries Summer, I have so many pictures for their wedding video.  Summer's Mom and I are good friends and we have fun getting pics together of them, just in case...
Garrett and his class getting ready to perform.  Go Garrett!  Cory and Kristen, let me share of little bit of the song just for you (if you want to call me I'll sing it for you, but here are the words...)  

Utah, people working together

Utah, what a great place to be!

Blessed from heaven above, its the land that I love, THIS IS THE PLACE!

(just a little hint)

A CrAzY dAy fOr LoGaN aNd Me!

I decided it would be nice if once in awhile we just wrote about how crazy life can really get, so here it goes...

6:45 Slept in too late because I had a crazy night and was up and down all night with my leg that was hurting (I just had surgery on some painful veins I've been dealing with).

7:15 Got Bryson out the door for school.

Started getting ready, got all the other boys up and ready - Logan poops in the bath and starts crying.

8:30 Send Garrett and Tanner out the door for the bus, only to realize they were late, but luckily the bus driver stopped and picked them up.

8:45 My friend drops off her daughter that I was watching today.

9:00 Visiting teachers come to visit (with a yummy treat!)

10:00 Take 3 kids to preschool - Mckay is so excited about turning the ipod on in the car, that he slams the Suburban door right on Logan's hand.  I have to try not to faint and open the door and pull out his poor little hand.  

10:05 Take Logan over to my Mom's house to see if she thinks I need to take him to the doctor. I leave him with her for awhile so I can go help in Tanner's class at school.

11:00 Pick up Logan, decide to not take him to doctor, but realize not only is his hand all swollen, but he is pulling on his left ear again and his nose is running (Logan has another ear infection I'm sure)

11:05 Go to the store with Logan (and buy the most expensive SpongeBob fruit snacks- that he is screaming for- to let Logan eat while I shop) 

12:00 Pick up kids from preschool and have my two, plus three other little friends over.  Feed them lunch, eat some Mac & Cheese while I am putting all my groceries away.  

Let the kids pull out Halloween costumes from downstairs to play dress up with.  Logan starts crying, I run downstairs to find a huge goose bump on his head, only no one knows what has happened.

2:00 Logan takes a nap.

2:30 Two kids leave.

Try to start registering kids for Spring soccer, karate, and BYU sports camps on line.

4:00 Pick up Bryson from piano.

4:10 Send Tanner to rock climbing wall class.

4:15 Start dinner - Logan wakes up from nap very unhappy and wants to be held.

4:40 Pick up Garrett from piano.

Finish dinner, help kids with homework, try to get Logan to settle down, pay some bills, make some calls.

6:30 Paul comes home -we eat very quickly.

6:50 Paul and Bryson leave for scouts.

7:00 - 8:15 Do the dishes and try to pick up the kitchen and family room area with help from the boys.

8:15 - 9:00 Get boys ready for bed, clean tub finally that Logan messed in.

9:00 Paul walks in and helps tuck boys in bed.

I am exhausted, I can't wait to put my legs up with an ice pack on them and just relax while watching American Idol!

Tonight I think Mckay could see I was tired and he said, "Mommy, I know your shots in your legs will feel better soon because my Kindergarten shots hurt really bad, but now they don't hurt anymore!"  

I love my boys and Paul and that is why I will get up and do it all over again tomorrow.