Sunday, February 27, 2011

My Cute Love Bugs

We had such a great Valentine's Day. In this post, are pictures of the kids that I took on Valentine's Day. They received their special Valentine's shirts from Grandma B. The kids have loved wearing them. The kids love celebrating the holidays. The boys' shirts say "The Ladies Love Me." Emmy's shirt says "Happy Valentine's Day." By the way, Emmy of course has a good amount of cute Valentines bows, but no of them made it into her hair for the picture.I am so lucky to have these sweet adorable LOVE BUGS in my life.

Hyrum's First Library Card

In the month of January, I took Hyrum to the library to get his very first library card. He was so excited to write his name, in his cute Kindergartner scrawl, on his very own card.You could tell he was quite proud as he was picking out books that he could read to me to check out on his card. Hyrum thought he was pretty cool when he let Ben and Emmy check out books using his card.

It was such a fun day and it makes me smile every time I think of it. Hyrum was so cute and so grown-up. I wanted to help him increase his desire and excitement for reading and I proud to say that having his own card and picking out his own books did exactly that. I love my Handsome Hyrum.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

100th Day of School

Earlier in the month of January, Hyrum celebrated his 100th day of school. We were asked to bring in a bag of chocolate chips to share with the class. From looking at the list of food to be brought in and from what Hyrum told me, it sounded like they had quite a feast for snack time that day. I love the hat and 100th day pin that he made. He was so excited to tell me all about his big 100th day at school. I can't believe his Kindergarten year is half-way over.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Hyrum Lost His First Tooth

Hyrum had a loose tooth for awhile. On February 1st, Hyrum bit something and the tooth became very loose. I convinced him that he should twist the tooth and pull and out the tooth came. Everyone was so excited for him! It was so much fun for me to see the joy and happiness Ben and Emmy had for Hyrum as he pulled his first tooth out. For me, it was also exciting, but makes me a little sad because it means that he is one step closer to growing up.
It was so funny to hear Hyrum talk to me about losing his tooth. He told me that it hurt a little bit and that he wanted to cry, but he decided that he would be brave and didn't cry. He thought he was pretty cool when he was calling people to talk about his tooth. My dad tried to tell him that the Tooth Fairy would bring $20.00 for a tooth. I quickly stopped that idea forming in his head.

Hyrum was a little worried about what his friends at school would think of his tooth being gone, but I told him that everything would be fine.

That night, he put his tooth in a bag and put it under his pillow. Lo, and behold, the Tooth Fairy came and left a whole dollar bill or in other words 100 cents. Hyrum felt like he hit the jackpot! Hyrum said that the Tooth Fairy was really sneaky so he didn't see her. Ben told me that the Tooth Fairy went poof and was gone.

Hyrum losing his first tooth was a big and exciting event at our house.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Rocket Robot

Hyrum's school had an Outer Space Week during the last part of January. During the week, the school had various competitions and activities.

Hyrum also learned about Outer Space from his teacher. Hyrum told me that he and his classmates decided that there are aliens in Outer Space. I asked him if his teacher supported this theory, he said "No, but we don't believe her." The look on his face when he told me this was priceless. He was so animated I couldn't help but chuckle to myself.

On one of the days during the week, the kids were supposed to bring a robot made of recyclable materials. Being the amazing mom that I am, I was confused on my dates and didn't realize exactly what day the robot was due. Hence, we woke the morning of at 6:30 to bust out the robot. Brandon helped Hyrum with the frame work before he rushed off to work and I helped Hyrum with the details. Hyrum cut out and decorated all the shapes for his robot body as well as the flames on the bottom. I know we could have not made the robot, but Hyrum was so excited to make the robot. Hyrum loved pretending to fly his robot. He seemed pretty proud of his creation. I thought it turned out pretty cute. Tomorrow night we are going to his school for Science Night to see all the robots on display as well as other science items.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Boards Round Two

I don't know if I have mentioned before, but in his last year of schooling, Brandon needs to take three HUGE board exams to test his knowledge on optometry.

He took part two of three the week after Thanksgiving. He walked away from the test feeling very confident with part one and not so confident about part two.

I noticed on Facebook that one of my friends posted how her husband passed the big test. After seeing her post, I called Brandon and asked him if he wanted me to check. He reluctantly said yes (he was nervous to find out the results). I pulled an awful trick and told him that he didn't pass. I didn't hold out very long and told him the truth. He was very relived when he found out that he actually did pass.

The kids and I decided that we would make a special treat for Brandon to have when he came home from school. We went all out as you can tell. I even broke out the frosting and so elegantly wrote congrats...actually, Brandon did.A huge burden was lifted with finding out the results. We only have one more big test in April. Congrats to Brandon on a job well done.

She Looks Fancy!

Emmy (and Ben) were invited to a birthday party in January. Emmy decided she wanted to be fancy for the party. I tried to salvage the curls from Sunday (not successfully) and dressed her up in her adorable tutu outfit she received from Grandma N. for Christmas. She is in love with headbands recently so the one she received from Grandma N. was right up her ally. She loved that fact that we put some lip stick on. As I said before, she felt fancy.

As soon as I whipped out my camera, Ben hopped into position to have his picture taken. Doesn't he look handsome? I love his big brown eyes. Emmy came up with her own pose on this one.My mom sent her shiny flip flops. She has wanted to wear them every day, even though it is freezing outside, she still insists on wearing them. She isn't a big fan of socks and would prefer not to wear them at all, so I think that is one of the reasons she LOVES the flip flops.I love her. Her cheeks still have the baby chub that I think is adorable.Below is her silly picture she wanted me to take. We love our silly, girly, sweet, and precious Emmy girl.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Botanical Gardens

Who would of guessed that the Saturday after our snow day, January 15th would be such a beautiful day?

The governor of Tennessee was being sworn in that Saturday and as a result many things in Tennessee were free!

We decided to head to the Botanical Gardens in Memphis. We had never been there before and since it was free, we thought why not?When we got there, Brandon was worried that there wouldn't be much to see in the winter time, however we were not disappointed.The gardens there, even in the winter, were beautiful. I am sure in the spring with all the blossoms and flowers the gardens are magnificent, but even in the dreary winter the gardens still had a sense of beauty to it.
Brandon loved the organization of it all. How things were symmetrical and organized. We made a point to take picture of one of the few things of life that we saw there.The kids thought it was awesome to find pine cones. The kids also found huge leaves!

Another part of the garden that was neat was the Chinese exhibit. The kids loved the bridges there. We could see the large orange fish swimming below the floating chunks of ice.The kids thought the dinosaur part of the garden was pretty cool.Brandon and the kids thought it was pretty awesome to take the road less traveled. They felt like they were walking in the woods. We had a wonderful day, taking our time, walking around enjoying our children and the stages that they are in. I feel as if time is slipping through my fingers lately and I have been trying to soak up all these moments that I have with my children.The kids absolutely in heaven when we entered the kids area of the garden. They loved the large swings. The crazy different houses for the kids to play in were also a big hit. The garden had a house that had all natural, simple objects for the kids to make music. They also had a "stick house" as Emmy called it that was her favorite. She wanted everyone to come in and play family. She was in heaven. The kids also enjoyed climbing on the large earth worms. The kids thought the large bird tree house and slide were amazing. They enjoyed practicing their balancing skills on logs and home made balance beams. They thought it was silly to pretend to be a spider on a large web. The kids also loved playing telephone. The garden had a few different pipes that a person could talk into and hear another person. As well as many other fun things for the kids to do.

We finished the day off with hula hoops. I was surprised how well I was able to hula. Hyrum tried his luck too and actually did pretty well himself. Brandon would chuck the hoops and the kids would chase after them.The gardens were amazing and we plan on going back in the spring!

The kids got along so well together. It was a day that was pure heaven! Brandon said it was one of the most memorable days he has had in a long time. It was one of those days that makes you so content and happy with your life and the feeling that you are doing the right thing at the right time. It was a great day!