Broken thumb

Luke hurt his thumb at karate yesterday and as soon as he got home he said "it's broken." Cory had taken him to karate and said he didn't even cry when it got hurt so we were thinking it was probably just jammed or something. It was pretty swollen but we thought we'd wait till the next day to take him into the doctor to get it checked if the swelling didn't up down. So today when he woke up it was still swollen and getting bruised so I thought I better take him. Sure enough, it is broken! The doctor kept saying what a strong and brave boy he was because when the doctor would touch it and ask if it hurt and ask him to bend it Luke never cried or even whined. He is going to have to wear this splint for 3-4 weeks without taking it off! They said if he had a hard time keeping it on we should cast it. We'll see how he does over the next couple days. Poor guy, it's his right hand so he can't write, draw, and it's hard for him to do a lot of things by himself. But he is being a good sport about it. We love our guy! 

Christmas sleepover

Tonight we started a new tradition...sibling sleepover out by the Christmas tree. 

Little Dinosaur wins at the district level!

Tonight we had the district level awards assembly for reflections for Luke and he won! His story "Little Dinosaur" is going onto the regional level! There were eight schools there and he won out of all of those. It was a big stage with a lot of people in the audience and when they called his name he walked all the way up there all by himself very bravely and got his medal. We are very proud of our boy!

Letters to Santa

 Halle asked Santa for:
A toy set
Barbie
Princess horse clip clop palace
Yo Gabba Gabba box

Luke asked for:
A real dog (puppy)
Darth Vader helmet
Jake and the Neverland Pirates hide out toy
Thomas treasure train track
Art kit

Polar Express

Over Thanksgiving weekend we went on a trip to the Polar Express! We drove five hours there and then boarded the train. Then we drank hot chocolate, ate cookies, they read us the Polar Express, and then we got to the North Pole! We drove past the lights and then Santa got on board and passed out bells to all the kids on the train. On the way back we sang Christmas carols. The kids loved it! It was very fun.

Fun at the St. George Children's museum

Planet cake bites

My sister Jamie is such an awesome aunt! She babysat for us yesterday and made "planet" cake bites decorated with colored chocolate (because Luke is really into the solar system lately) with the kids. So fun! And they are delicious too. Luke and Halle loved it. These kiddos are very loved!

Smart boy

Today we had Luke's first kindergarten parent teacher conference. Mrs. Elder had nothing but great things to say about him! She said he is very smart and is very determined and a hard worker. She also said he is a joy to have in her class. He is reading on a B level which is a level ahead for his age. He scored 4's on everything which is the highest score he can get on his report card. 

Way to go Luke! We are so proud of our smart, determined and good boy. Mrs. Elder says you are a joy to have in her class, and you are truly a joy to have in our family. We love you so much are are so grateful for you and the joy you bring to our lives. I love you my special boy! To infinity and beyond :).  

Luke's menu

Tonight I made enchiladas for dinner and neither of the kids would take a single bite. After dinner Luke made me this "menu" of things he would like for dinner. Starting from the top- grapes, blueberries, peaches, cookie dough, spaghetti, lettuce, oatmeal, chocolate chips, and breakfast burritos. My vote is cookie dough for dinner! 

Reflections - Luke won!

Luke really wanted to write a story to enter into the reflections contest. I told him it would be a lot of work but he was determined to do it. He wanted to make up a story about a little dinosaur. He worked so hard making up the story and then typing it up and drawing all the illustrations. His story is called Little Dinosaur and is a really cute story about a little dinosaur who wants to be big and brave.

Today was the assembly and Luke won in the literature category! He and one other girl won out of all the Kindergarten-second grade submissions. They had all the kids come up that had entered in that category and there were a lot of them! Wow! It was a really big accomplishment. Now his book goes onto the District level of the contest.

So proud of my talented, creative and smart boy!

Witches night out

Witches night out at Gardner Village was quite the party! The kids loved walking around and seeing all the witches, and Halle especially loved dancing on the stage they had set up with a DJ and dance party they had going!

Slimey

Luke has a new pet. A super long worm he found in grandma Lori's garden on Wednesday. He named him Slimey. I'm shocked the worm is still alive! Every hour or so Luke says "I need to go check on my pet" and runs out to hold Slimey and gets his hands all yucky :). Boys!

Lake Powell

Grandpa Dave and Grandma Dixie bought a houseboat so we got to go on a final Lake Powell trip over the weekend for a last hurrah for the summer. The kids were very brave and jumped in the water even though it was pretty cold! It was lots of fun being down there and we're excited that they now have a houseboat because we'll get to do lots of fun trips in the future!

Musician in the house

Today Luke and Halle decided they would start a band and have been playing the ukuleles grandma Lori and grandpa Sheldon brought them back from Hawaii all day. Luke made this sign that a musician lives in out house and had to hang it up outside on the front porch so people would come see their band.

Go BYU

Daddy and Luke had a boys night and went to a BYU football game tonight. While they were there they also saw uncle Jake. Go BYU!

Kindergarten school picture & smart boy

Luke's kindergarten school picture. 

This picture is cracking me up. How did I know this boy would pull some kind of face? 

He is loving Kindergarten. Tonight as I was putting him to bed he was explaining to me what an asteroid belt is and what the rings on Saturn are made of. I had no idea! When I told him that he rolled his eyes at me and said, "I'll teach you more tomorrow mom." 

Thank goodness I can relearn everything through my kids!

Cute deer

While camping at Lake Owyhee last week Luke worked on his artist skills a bit. Every night groups of deer would pass by our camp and the kids loved watching them and trying to chase them down. One night Luke decided he wanted to draw one of them, so he got a paper and some markers and sat there quietly drawing while watching the deer standing just about twenty feet away. Look how cute it turned out. I live his little drawings.

Soccer pictures

Green eggs (minus the ham)

Luke's preschool has been reading lots of Dr. Seuss lately and Luke loves the book Green Eggs and Ham, so he asked me to make that for breakfast this morning. We didn't have any ham, but I was able to pull off the green eggs! When he gets an idea in his mind (like green eggs for breakfast) he won't stop till it happens! Determination, persistence, whatever you want to call it, he has it! Sometimes they are little things we can manage, like green eggs. Other times they are big full on art projects and things that are a little trickier. But they are usually doable things, so I try to run with his imagination as much as we can. Love this sweet boy!

Lemonade for sale

The kids are REALLY into lemonade stands this year already, and it's only April! AND we haven't had that many warm days so far. We did a lemonade stand last month when it was warmer and they've wanted to do one ever since. Last week they wanted to do one but it was a rainy day, so I looked at the weather and found that the next dry day was supposed to be Wednesday, so I told them we could do it then. It was days off, so most kids would forget by then, right? Not these kids! They were counting down the days, and even set up the table and everything in my room the day before for a practice run! Wednesday (today) came, and it was pretty chilly out there. But I couldn't tell them we'd have to postpone again after all that, plus we are going to St. George tomorrow so we couldn't do it over the weekend. So they had their lemonade stand and had two customers (the Daws from next door).

Luke has been really into earning money lately, so of course Halle follows suit. Luke has been doing all sorts of little jobs around the house and so has Halle. They say they are saving up for souvenirs in Disneyland.

Nemo and Rudolph live on

We finally got a bigger tank for our goldfish Nemo and Rudolph. It's one my sister Jamie had and wasn't using anymore. We got these fish back when Luke was potty training and was finally able to go #2 in the toilet, so I know it was over two years ago. We actually did go through about five Rudolphs before we found one that survived, but we've had the same Nemo all along. Once we got a Rudolph that was a survivor he's been here for forever too.

So basically, these fish have gotten huge. We have no idea how they got so big. I don't even dare change their water anymore because I'm afraid they will jump out of the net when I'm moving them out of the tank! The old tank was much smaller and the fish looked so cramped in their, so it's good we got this new one.

The kids had fun seeing Nemo and Rudolph swim around their new territory. Luke and Halle keep asking for a dog, but I have to remind them we already have TWO pets - Nemo and Rudolph. Luke and Halle aren't so sure they count, but I am, at least for now!

Love my sweet boy

Tonight I was tired and trying to get the kids in bed and they were giving me an unusually hard time about it. Finally I got Halle down, but Luke was still full of energy. It was already an hour past his normal bedtime and I knew he wasn't going to be settling down anytime soon, so I finally told him he could stay up and play in his room as long as he didn't come out and would get into bed when he got tired. He agreed, but about ten minutes later I heard his door creak open and he came sneaking out. I was losing patience and, probably a little grumpily, asked him what he was doing out of his room.

"I just need to get some paper and markers, mom."

Okay, that I could handle. So I got him his paper and markers an walked him back into his room to color until he got sleepy. He asked me to write the names of his friends next door on one paper, so I did, and then left him in there to color.

I didn't hear anything else from him. About a half hour later I went to check on him, and outside his door I found this:




How cute is that? He had been drawing pictures for his best friends, mom and dad, and Halle. It melted my heart just a bit. What a sweet boy, always thinking of others and always wanting to make something to give to someone. I love all his sweet little drawings and cherish them all. After seeing these pictures I thought, and why was I so frustrated trying to get him to stay in bed? I peeked in on him laying in his bed, fast asleep, and was overcome with love for my little guy. He is so special to me and I love him so much.

Leprechaun Booby Traps

Today Luke has been hearing about a leprechaun that visits kids houses and leaves them treats. Somehow he missed ours (I didn't know this was even a thing!) SO we figured he must have accidentally missed our house and decided he will be by tonight. Luke is determined he is going to catch the leprechaun and take his pot of gold, so all our doors are now equipped with booby traps. This is the front door...bells, a tambourine and a broom propped up against it. Cross your fingers for us that we'll catch him!! :)

Lemonade Stand!

Luke has been talking about doing a lemonade stand for a long time. After all the talk he got Halle excited about it too. They wanted to do it last summer but we never did. All throughout the winter the kids would mention it here and there, and I would tell them when it got warm enough we would do it. Finally, today was the day!

Right when they woke up Luke and Halle started making plans for their lemonade stand. I had to hold them off until the afternoon because I knew otherwise all the kids in the neighborhood would be at school and they wouldn't have any customers. The kids made the sign together - Luke wrote it and they both drew lemons all around it.

Luke told me he thought they would sell it for ten dollars. I told him I thought 10 cents would probably be better. Once we got the table and everything all set up I did yard work while the kids stayed at their table. They took it pretty seriously. They both kept calling out, "Lemonade for sale for ten cents!" They were very diligent sellers!

As for the selling, they ended up getting quite a few customers! A few neighbors stopped by and Grandma Lori and Grandpa Sheldon drove out to buy some.

I'd say Luke and Halle's first attempt at a lemonade stand was a success! 

Lightsaber Hunt

It's the night before Valentines Day, and I went to three different stores searching for this Darth Maul lightsaber Luke has been wanting for months so that I could give it to him for Valentines Day tomorrow. He has been doing chores for quarters to earn money for it, but it is $20 and it's going to take him a month at this rate! I finally tracked it down at the Target in West Jordan tonight at about 9pm. The things we do for our children! Of course it's because I love my little boy so!!

Valentines Day

This year I got a little more into Valentines Day then usual. The kids are at a really fun age right now where they get into all the holidays and are old enough to understand what is going on an have fun with it. Leading up to Valentines I did the valentines hearts on their doors, which was fun, and then Valentines Day morning Cory and I had little "love gifts" for each of them. Luke got the Darth Maul lightsaber he has been dying to have, and Halle got a princess camera she has also been dying to have and a little princes magnet book.

Luke loves Star Wars right now and thinks it's the coolest thing ever. He loves to play with his lightsabers and do "cool moves" with them, twisting them around in the air and swooping them down and through his legs. Halle is really getting into princesses lately. It's just been lately, too, that she seems to really understand the whole princess thing and she tries to act like them and do princess type mannerisms. The other day she said, "I am a sensitive princess."

So anyway, the presents were a hit and started the morning off fun. Then we had red dyed pancakes that were heart shaped for breakfast. In the afternoon we made our usual Valentines Day heart sugar cookies and for dinner I decided to cook dinner and do a candlelight dinner with the kids. The really liked this and thought it was so neat that they got to drink out of goblets and eat a fancy dinner. It was a fun night and I think we'll keep up that tradition. After dinner we took around valentines to friends and delivered valentines cookies to the kids primary teachers.

We had a lot of fun with Valentines Day this year. It's a fun holiday and I tried explaining to the kids that it's an important one because it's a special time we can show and tell each other how much we love each other. They seemed to get that, and were really cute on valentines day about telling each other they loved each other and also us. Kids are so fun. Without them, Valentines Day would just be a boring holiday! Kids make everything more fun! I love my little family so much!