Kindergarten Graduation- School's Out!

Today is the last day of school- hooray!

I actually don't know if they should really call it the last day of school because Jacob will only be there from 8:45 am-10:15.

Another funny thing is that we already attended Jacob's Kindergarten graduation on Tuesday. The Kindergarteners did a little program where they recited an activity that they did for every letter of the alphabet. They also sang a few songs. It was really cute!

After the program we got to go to Jacob's classroom, where Mrs. Christensen called their names and gave them all their graduation certificates.

Jacob is a tender little soul and got a bit teary-eyed when he got his certificate (you can kind of tell in the above picture). He told me that he is a little sad to be done with Kindergarten. He will miss his teacher, Mrs. Christensen.

I am glad Jacob had such a great experience in Kindergarten! It is amazing to me how much he has learned. Now I just have to keep him up to speed during the summer and I am sure that first grade will be just as much fun for him as Kindergarten.

Here is Jacob just outside the school with his certificate.

Isn't he just adorable?

I wanted to record a video of the funny song that the Kindergarteners sang, but you couldn't really hear it very well with all the noise in the auditorium (and Amelia on my lap). So I had Jacob sing it for me so I could share it with you! You're welcome!

Memorial Day Weekend

What a mixed-weather weekend! Friday and Saturday it was wet and drizzly. We were supposed to get our family pictures taken on Saturday afternoon, but we got rained out. I was a bit bummed because I already had everyone's clothes picked out AND I just got my hair cut. So I was all ready. Now we have to reschedule. sigh.

Sunday the weather was starting to clear out, which made me happy because we had plans for Memorial Day. No barbecuing for us! We were going cycling! In the past month or so I have been training for my first century (100 mile) ride of the year. It is called Little Red Riding Hood and it is THIS Saturday!

Joe and I left the kids with Stacy, my fabulous college roommate who lives in Spanish Fork. From there we left here house and went on a bike ride around West Mountain. It was a beautiful day for a ride! The weather was not too cold and it was SUNNY. Joe and I were having a great time. I am so lucky to have a husband who shares my interests and is willing to torture himself for 50 miles in my behalf.

I couldn't get over how beautifully green-blue the lake was, especially when contrasted with the pink bushes and the dark green reeds in the water. When I lamented the fact that I did not have my camera, Joe suggested that I stop and take some pictures with my phone. Duh!

I am so glad we took the time to take some pictures! It was gorgeous, and now I have pictures to remind me of the fun time we had out riding together. With three little kiddos, we don't get to go out together very often.

We finished our 50 miles in 3 hours. We were pretty tired after that! Apparently we were not the only ones who had fun and were tired. Ephraim and Amelia both fell asleep on the ride home.

I was happy to hear that Amelia was a good girl at Stacy's house. She did not even cry the whole time! Maybe she is finally starting to understand that I will always come back for her.

On the way home we stopped so I could take a picture of Mount Timpanogos. You can see that the rainy weather left a new layer of snow on top of the mountain. I thought it looked pretty when contrasted with all the green right beneath it.

After we got home and showered, we went out to eat dinner. Then we spent the rest of the evening just doing nothing. It was a good day. It got off to a rainy start, but our weekend turned out well in after all.

The Kiddie Pool

Monday I filled up our small pool since the temperatures are supposed to be in the 80s this week. The boys were so excited to get to play in the pool! They played in the pool Monday evening, even though I warned them that the water would be COLD. Silly boys.

Then last night I let Amelia get in too. She thought it was pretty fun to play in the pool. I was just laughing because the boys were following her around in the pool, cooing at her and trying to play with her. They sure love their sister!

Of course we have to watch Amelia in the pool because it is slippery. As you can see from her wet hair, she fell down more than once and Mommy had to fish her out of the water. I got her up quickly, so she wasn't too freaked out about getting all wet.

Look at Jacob trying to make sure she doesn't fall. What a great brother! You can see that he doesn't have a band-aid on his chin anymore too- hooray!

No More Stitches!

Today was the big day- the day Jacob went in to get his stitches out!

We actually drove to the Lehi office of Alpine Pediatrics, just so Jacob could have Kathy take his stitches out. He felt really comfortable with Kathy, so I felt it was worth it to let him have her take out his stitches.

Thankfully Kathy said we did just perfect at keeping his wound moist. It made it much easier to get the stitches out. It did not take her too long, just a few snips and tugs and she got all the stitches out. Here is what his chin looks like now:

I have to say that after one week it looks much better. Kathy was impressed with how well it is doing after only a week. It will be red for a while, but should gradually start to look better. Right after I took this picture she glued some steri-strips over top of the scar. That should make sure it stays together for the next few days.

I am glad that we no longer have to put band-aids on his scar. I am even more grateful that the scar is really underneath his chin. So as it fades it really won't be noticeable at all.

Jacob has already been back out on his bike, which is a good thing. I just hope that he has learned to be a bit more cautious because even with a helmet on you can still get hurt!

Happy Birthday Jacob! (Happy Mother's Day to Me!)

We had a double header today-- Mother's Day and Jacob's birthday! I thought it was awesome that Jacobhad his sixth birthday on Mother's Day, since he was my first baby.

I think Jacob had a pretty good birthday. He got to go to church and have everyone sing to him and wish him a happy birthday. Then he got to come home and open presents after we ate lunch. He got a Lego Star Wars shirt like Ephraim's and the thing he REALLY wanted:

Can you tell that he is excited?! (Ephraim's face cracks me up!) More than anything, Jacob wanted a Lego Star Wars X-wing fighter. Joe and I discussed it and decided to get it for him, even though technically it is above his age level. I also had to make sure Joe was OK with it because guess who got to put it together?

Yep! Daddy!

It took a couple of hours to assemble, but Joe was good about letting Jacob help out.

Ephraim sat at the table nearly the whole time as well. It was kind of fun for me to watch them all building Legos together. But they got it done!

I have to say, it is a pretty cool machine! The wings open and close, and you should have heard all the space-y sound effects going on at my house this afternoon.

So what did I do for Mother's day?

I decorated a cake! I had to put the frosting on Jacob's monster cake, and of course he wanted a monster that was "spikey". What was everyone else doing while I frosted and then made dinner?

Snoozing! What a bunch of sleepy heads.

We had a yummy dinner of salmon and corn on the cob. Then we let Jacob open the rest of his presents. He got a nice shirt from Grandma and Grandpa Devereaux, and a  cool Lego racer.

Of course Daddy got to put that one together that night too! At least it didn't have as many pieces as the X-wing!

While they built more Legos, I got to hang out with Amelia.

I also went outside and spent some quality time with Jacob's cake before we sliced him up. I think he turned out pretty well, don't you?

We got to have a fun video chat with Grandma and Grandpa Devereaux, and then we lit up the cake!

The cake tasted pretty good- chocolate, per Jacob's request!

What a fun birthday weekend for Jacob! He gets to do his birthday three days in a row because tomorrow at school they are celebrating his birthday too! What a lucky boy!

Jacob is awesome! He is a good big brother and he loves his siblings. He is pretty obedient and trustworthy for a six year old, which I really appreciate. I can usually count on him to help me when I need something, and he is good at following the rules. He is a smartie pants too! He already likes to do math in school and he is reading really well. We love Jacob so much and can't imagine our family without him! Happy Birthday Jacob!

Monster Party!

This year for Jacob's birthday we decided to have a MONSTER party!

I had so much fun planning for the party, and I love how it turned out. First, I made the invitations:

Then I made some really cool envelopes to put them in. I made them out of felt and googly eyes and they were so easy and fun!

We even had monster bags for his friends to take home from the party, and monster mouths to use in our "photo booth".

We had a very busy day on Saturday! First thing in the morning we went to the nursery to get my plants for Mother's Day. Then we came home and got ready to go to the soccer game. I ended up going late to Jacob's soccer game so I could finish frosting the cupcakes! Then we came home and got the back porch set up for the party. Joe even moved the grill into the shed so I could set up my "stick the eye on the monster" game. As you can see, I had two little monsters to help me!

They also helped me test out the monster smiles.

We were ready in time for the party to start, which was a good thing because some of the guests were actually a bit early! That never happens, right?

I have finally gotten the knack for kid's parties. You just hang loose and play the games whenever the kids are ready for something new to do. One of the first games we played was "I have a little monster and he won't bite you".

This one kept them entertained for a while. Then they went and played in the sandbox. After a while they were ready for another game, so we played Monster stomp! The object was to keep your balloon safe while trying to pop all the other balloons. It was a pretty fun game.

And of course we played "stick the eye on the monster". We ended up with a pretty funny looking monster by the end!

We also had some fun Monster races. Grandma Heiner bought us two sets of these cool monster feet, which are like stilts. So each kid got to use then to race each other. Jacob was pretty good at it!

I tried to tell the kids that it was easier to use the feet with shoes on, but they had all taken their shoes off to play in the sand. Oh well! It was still fun!

After all the fun and games, it was time for presents!

Jacob got some really fun gifts from his friends, including Legos, action figures, bubble blowers, and a lawn rocket. So fun! After the presents I actually got the kids to sit down for some fun monster photos!

Micah, Alyssa, Kyle, Shaelynn, Jacob, Stephen (Ephraim and Nathan are off the R edge)

I even got some fun pictures of Jacob's friends with their monster smiles on. They were all willing as long as I let them see the picture after I took it! Here are my favorites:

Kyle (above) and his sister Shaelynn (below)

Stephen (above) and Alyssa (below)

Jacob invited four boys and two girls to his party, but his friend Katelynn could not come. So Kyle's sister ended up staying so Alyssa wouldn't be "boy-trapped". Since Shaelynn is Ephraim's friend, it worked out pretty well.

Next we had yummy monster cupcakes!

I love the way they turned out, with the cool sucker-and-gummy-ring eyes. The kids loved them too!

Jacob had a great birthday party! I can't believe that my little boy is six already! Wow!

After the party we went to the ward BBQ. The food was great and it was a lot of fun.Then we went home and had baths and put the kids to bed. By the time we were done with everything, my mom and I ended up going to Walmart at 10 pm to get some supplies she needed! Phew! What a fun and busy day!