Weekend Update

As most of you know, we "celebrated" Spring Break recently. I decided to show our kids how much I love them by having them earn their keep around here, so on Friday of Spring Break we had a cleaning day.  My idea was met with much more support than you would have imagined.  For example this child said to me-

"What?!!? We have to work? It's not even Saturday!"  Which I'm almost positive means "Mom, I'm so glad you care enough about me to allow me to contribute to our family no matter what day of the week it is."

This child showed her gratitude by using an entire bottle of windex and a whole roll of paper towels to clean 8 small windows.  So much for the environment.

Eli found it in his heart to get rid of some of the junk he had been storing in the back yard.

This boy said "Your idea of clean is super unrealistic. No one really lives like that."  Don't worry, I know what he meant was "Because of your high standards, I am learning the importance of  having a clean orderly home. Thanks mom!"

Nate wondered why we have to bother folding the towels when we are just going to unfold them again when we use them.  I believe my 20 minute lecture entitled "What if you got hit by a bus and strangers came into your home after you were dead and found your towels were just thrown into the cabinet?"  Pretty much ensures he will never ask me any kind of question EVER again.

Later that evening we had a BBQ.  Emma brought her hair.

Annie brought gumballs. Which everyone knows are the finishing touch to any family dinner.

Scott brought his usual bag of tricks.

(Don't worry, Heather signed a waiver stating if Scott got hurt she would not sue Eli or Brandon.)

I really think they took it easy on him, there wasn't even any crying.  Scott is really maturing.

Brandon had enough energy after the smackdown that he hopped on the stairclimber.

While the rest of us sat around eating pie, he took 1040 steps, minus the 20 Heather took for him while he was in the bathroom. (She's the favorite aunt now)

I can't think of a better way to spend the last day of Spring Break, but that could have something to do with the fact that I'm not the one who had to go back to school on Monday, I'm the one who got to spend a quiet week in my freshly cleaned house.  Works for me.

This is Mason.

Today, Mason has decided NOT to take my advice and he is turning 12.  I tried to convince him that staying 11 for a few more years would be really fun, but he said no, so 12 it is.  As you can see from this picture, Mason is really cool, just like the Fonz, he knows which signs to throw up when the camera comes out.

When Mason comes over he's like a celebrity.  Everyone wants to hang out with him, and sit next to him, and fix him a fancy breakfast.

You can't tell from this picture, but Sylvan and Nate are off to the side arm wrestling to see who gets to eat on the other side of Mason.  Nate won, but Sylvan cooked, so hopefully when Mason gets super famous he will remember those waffles and send Sylvan an autographed picture.

After breakfast the boys went out back for our traditional stake confrence weekend "Sunday Smackdown".  Even though Mason is a celebrity, he fights like a real kid.

Look at those moves.

You can see why everyone would want to sit by him.

Happy Birthday Mason! We love you!

Happy Birthday Jaidyn!!!

Everyone keeps getting older, which sucks, it's making it super hard for me to deny that I am getting older too. Gosh. I had all of these goofy things I was going to say about Jaidyn, then I started looking at the pictures and now I'm sitting here feeling all sentimental. Not because I'm old but because I can't believe she's 14. It seems like just yesterday she was a cute chubby little baby.

Now look at her!

I couldn't find any pictures of Jaidyn alone, so I had to use this one of her with her favorite aunt.

Jaidyn I hope you have a GREAT day. We love you.

Happy Birthday!

There are things worse than play-doh.

So, this one time Scott gave my kids a backpack full of play-doh and play-doh "tools", it was a big backpack with LOTS of play-doh, and he thought he was very clever, not to mention funny. 

*

Guess what?  I'm clever too.  The last time Annie and Emma came over to hang out, I decided it was time for them to meet Nick, and those other two whose names I can't remember but you know who I mean......

The Jonas Brothers!

Here's Ivy telling Annie that this is not the cutest one, but he is the one closest to her age and that counts for something.

Here's Annie passing along the important details to Emma.

Annie loved it so much she was dancing her head off.

This is where Emma spent the entire evening learning all the words to all of the songs from Camp Rock.

I think I see some Camp Rock t-shirts and a greatest hits CD in your future.

Eli's Field Trip

Eli and I went to the Arizona Museum of Natural History(formerly known as The Mesa Southwest Museum) last Friday.

Out in the gold panning area is a lovely mural of a mining area, after it has been mined.

Here's Eli trying to get all the gold he can.

We saw dinosaurs.

Living..

and dead.

I don't know if you can read it, but this wall says-1001 uses for poop- Just the sort of dignified exhibit you would expect to see in a museum of natural history.

This is Elvis, the alligator that almost ate Brandon last year.  Really.  Ask him.

This is what Eli would look like if he were imprisoned in an old west jail house.  To be honest, that's probably how he would look in any jail house.

Ivy's Field Trip

A couple of weeks ago Ivy and I got to go on a field trip to the Goldfield Goldmine/Ghost town.

Here we are on the bus.  Can you tell how much I LOVE riding the bus?

As soon as we arrived we had the pleasure of taking a train ride around the place.  This bearded man drove the train and told us several stories of disapearing miners and unsolved murders.  I was so happy my group of GIRLS could hear all those stories BEFORE we went down the creaky elevator for the creepy mine tour.

Really, they were everywhere.

This is our group. 

  

We saw LOTS of interesting things, like rusty cans on fence posts.

This lovely lady taught us how to pan for gold.  I'm not sure if you can tell, but her neckerchief looked to be spun from pure gold thread.  It was very authentic.

Here are the girls striking it rich.

I'm not sure what this is, but Ivy took the picture and she really wanted it included in this post.

There are a slew of picures from the Living Reptile Exhibit, which Ivy will be posting later on her personal blog.  We had a good time and learned soooo much about mining, Ivy even got to bring home a vial of gold, which she will hopefully be able to use to pay for her college education.

Late Birthdays!!!!

OH! MY!! GOSH!!!!!
I completely forgot to post anything humiliating on Misty's birthday, which was Sunday or on Mark's birthday which was Feb. 19th (I know, I'm a huge loser!). I'm so sorry you guys.

Happy Birthday Misty and Mark!!!

Sylvan is having a little trouble

His desk is so full of important things, that this pile has sprouted on the floor next to it. These things are very important....... .... but not as important as the things already using the space.