School Pictures

There was a cute girl with some good business sense that volunteered to take pictures of home school kids at the park for $5.  Every mother thinks, "Hey, what a great deal!" and what appeared to not be worth her time became taking a hundred or so pictures in an hour at $5 a head and you suddenly just made a significant amount of money... smart lady.  Anyway, here's our $20 worth :)

(Jefferson, Pre-Preschool :)

(Seth, Preschool)

(Makelle, Kindergarten)

(Corbin, 2nd Grade)

(Class Photo :)

First Haircut

I decided that Jefferson was in need of a haircut.

(Before)

He basically has no hair, so for the most part you can't even tell that I cut it. But it was getting long enough in the back that it would curl weird when he got hot and sweaty, so we sat him down and spent all of 2 minutes trimming up the top and back.

It was longest 2 minutes of his life:

(During)

There are no official after pictures, he was in full melt down mode at that point and wanted nothing to do with me or my comb or my camera.

Messy Eater

Jefferson is a messy little eater.  And a stubborn little eater.  He refuses to let you feed him anything.  He once went all day only eating two bites of food that I fed to him before I caved in and let him feed himself dinner.  He literally won't eat if you are holding the spoon.

Most of the time we aren't in a hurry and can let him make his mess and then just hose him down in the bathtub and mop up around his chair.  Other days we don't have time for slow, messy eating and I need to be able to control the spoon so that I can control the mess, but he simply refuses!

Other days still I am just plain lazy and don't feel like mopping up the floor.  On one such day Caleb and I were debating who had to clean him up when we jokingly said that we needed a dog to lick the floor clean.  That sparked an idea...

We are pretty smart, innovative thinkers around here :)

4th of July

On the 4th of July this year we got up early and like all true, red-blooded Americans, got all dressed in cute little matching, patriotic color-themed outfits :) Then we head over to Main Street in Kaysville for the Independence Day parade.  We arrived 2 hours before the parade was supposed to start and ended up driving around for 30 minutes cursing all the annoying people that brought out caution tape and roped of huge sections of the road, sidewalk and neighboring lawns long before they were legally allowed to do so (at least according to our rant, they did).  In the end we left Main Street and sat near Corbin's school where the parade route ended to watch.

It was obviously a long, and hot wait at that point, so I had planned ahead and cut up 3 pounds of apple slices for the kids to snack on.  We played games, went over to the playground and sat in the shade to help pass the time.  Jefferson decided he liked the apple slices a little too much and started shoving them in his mouth so fast I thought he might choke.  So like any concerned mother I allowed him to keep the slices he was double-fisting in each hand as well as the ones scattered on the ground around him, but decided it best to move the bag away for a minute.  He did not take that well at all:

Seth was so fun to watch this year, he was heart broken the first time they threw out candy and he didn't get any.  So Caleb went over and helped him find a piece.  Corbin helped him collect a few more pieces of taffy the next time and then after that he was content to just sit there and watch from his little chair while all the other kids ran around him and jumped up and down in the street begging for things to get thrown their way.  At one point this cute teenage girl saw him sitting there pointing to the fox mascot guy in their vehicle and reached into her "special bag" and pulled out a stuffed animal that she tossed over the big kids straight to him.

Makelle was excited to run out into the street along with every other little girl within a one mile vicinity and mob the Disney Princess girls that came along.

After the parade we went home, hot, tired, worn-out, over-loaded with sugar and spent the day relaxing and playing at home together.  Then we went and got Panda Express for dinner, which has become an odd tradition for Caleb and I, before heading out to brave the annoying crowds of people once more to see city fireworks as a family.  Corbin and Seth fell asleep, but Jefferson was adorable and sat there pointing and spontaneously clapping throughout the whole evening, right up until I tried to take a picture of him and then he was no longer interested in the fireworks and only wanted, desperately to grab the camera.  Moment ruined, oh well.

Lloyd Family Reunion

We attended a family reunion near Boise for my Dad's family over the weekend.  We got to the campsite and quickly claimed a cabin that was near the parking area so we wouldn't have to haul our stuff very far.  We then realized this was the cabin farthest away from the main lodge area and spent most of the weekend hiking back and forth every time we realized we need to get something.  It also happened to be at the highest point on the mountain, which provided a great view and the world's coldest night as we felt like we were in a wind tunnel, serving as a beacon for all the cold air in the entire state.  The kids were crying and freezing, no one slept, at one point I had both of the little boys in my sleeping bag with me, and the older two cuddled together in the baby's playpen where they were less likely to kick off their blankets.  It was down right miserable.  We had convinced Uncle Cameron to come up with us, and I am pretty sure he won't be letting that one go for awhile :)

Now that we are past that terrible night though, we can admit that the rest of the trip was worth it.  The kids swam in cold water, while I sat on the edge like a wuss and watched.  Seth bought a Hulk action figure at the family auction that he hasn't put down since.  The kids befriended their second cousins.  We ate yummy food and got to visit with family.  The whole family participated in a testimony meeting that brought everyone together. Caleb and the kids climbed a steep mountain, then noticed the "NO HIKING" sign on the way down.  Overall it was a great experience, despite the terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad night :)

Mr. Jefferson Turns 1

Jefferson's first birthday was on Monday.  Corbin had tennis lessons that morning which meant he got to eat muffins at the park, then bum scooted over to the sandbox.  That boy loves sticking his toes in the sand, he will spend hours watching the sand sift through his fingers.

After playing at the park for a few hours we went and met Caleb for lunch at Chick-fil-A.  Like any baby, Jefferson loves eating and even more so LOVES drinks of any kind.  He was in heaven slurping down their sugary lemonade, right up until he ran out and then it was tears until Makelle distracted him by carting him off to the play place.

We ended the day with another trip to the aquarium.  He loves to sit and stare at the shark tank.

We were showing him the penguins and he got so excited and stared pointing and yelling, "chicken! chicken!" like he does in our backyard.  Aside from mama and dada, 'chi-ten' has been his first word and he says it so clearly that the people next to us understood him and were just laughing at this cute little baby adamantly calling the penguins chickens.

This was the best group shot of the kids playing on a whale that I could get, turns out the more kids you have the more difficult it is to get them all looking at the camera and smiling simultaneously... who knew? :)

Family Perks

Always fun to have an aunt with a puppy rental business that owns dozens of adorable little puppies.  Makes for a fun family BBQ, the kids were in heaven!

Brothers

This post needed an update :)

Jefferson is like a perfect little combination of his two big brothers.

Learning

I make the kids do a math worksheet along with reading and writing every day before they can play. Corbin and Makelle have gotten pretty self-sufficient lately and usually just sit down and get it done on their own in the mornings and then I come and check it later. This morning I was checking Makelle's workbook and found this:

Gotta love 4-year-old logic!

Bugz the Musical

Corbin's PAL program at school put on a spring musical.  All the kids learned the songs and sang together and then a few kids auditioned and got to have speaking parts as well.  Corbin did a great job trying out and got a pretty good part, considering his class was the youngest ones.

He was the wise old praying mantis and appeared at the end of the play in a scene with all the 3rd graders, as he made sure to take note of :)

So he got to sing all the main songs, said his part and did a special number with all the boys in his class, who were fireflies.  The only video I got was from my phone while holding a wiggly baby, so the quality is horrible, but luckily it is easy to tell which one he is!

James, Corbin, Jayden and Emery.

They even found a sweet lady who sales make-up professionally that donated a bunch of supplies for them to use during their performance.  The boys probably weren't quite as excited as the girls about getting to wear make-up, but it was fun to see them all getting ready together and feel their excitement at doing something that 'real' actors do.  I helped backstage-aka in the classroom-and smeared gray and blue eyeshadow all over the 1st grade firefly boys while Corbin's teacher, Mrs. Qualls created fun green lines all over his face.

He was so excited and we worked to make him a fun costume and then the morning of his play he got super sick!  So he went in and did his part at the assembly and then we took him home to rest and brought him back for the evening performance.  It was sad because he had worked so hard to learn everything and he practiced saying his part with such enthusiasm and expression and then at one point I looked over at him and he was sitting down on the stage, completely exhausted and crappy feeling.

Heber, Eric, Corbin and Satchel... poor kid didn't look much better than he felt :(

But it was still a fun experience for him to get to be involved in and hopefully next year he'll be feeling better the day of!

Ballet Recital

Makelle had her first ballet recital on Saturday.  She got to get all dolled up and absolutely loved every aspect of it.  At one point she told Caleb she thought she should just wear make-up every day, because she looked so pretty!

They pair each of the younger girls up with one of the older girls to help take care of them while the parents watch the show, so we dropped her off at the front doors of the Browning Center at Weber State University and then met up with my parents to find our seats.  We then had to endure a two hour long ballet production in order to see the 60 seconds that Makelle was on stage.  She made it all worth it though, she was so cute.  They didn't allow cameras and I am too cheap to buy the professional production so I just have a little video I took on my phone during dress rehearsal, and you really can't tell what is going on, but it will have to do.


In the beginning she is the 5th one to run on stage and at the end she is the line leader going off stage.  During the middle part she is right in the center, 3rd from the left.

During their dress rehearsal she kept leading the girls off the stage to the wrong side, but the night of the actual performance she did just perfect... well as perfect as one in a group of five-year-olds can look anyway :)

After her single minute of fame they took her back to take some class pictures and then corralled all the girls into a smaller auditorium to wait for their parents.  When we walked in to get her there were strobe lights flashing all over the ceiling, remnants of a magic show on stage and 200 little girls blaring out "Let it Go" at the top of their lungs.  I think the after party she got to go to was the highlight of her life thus far!

Thanksgiving

We got to host Thanksgiving dinner this year.  We had Grandma Nash, Aunt Jan and Uncle Ken, Grandpa Lloyd, Grandma Lloyd, Matt and Cameron, Aunt Martha, Bryan and Celeste, Tyler, Tori, Rachel, Wesley and Edy over for lunch.

The night before we pulled out some hand-me-down cloth napkins and Caleb rolled his eyes profusely at me while we ironed them all.  Then we polished off Mama Rita's silverware.  Then we brined a turkey.  And by "we" I mean Caleb, because we only own one iron, so naturally there wasn't much I could do and there was just no way I was prepping that bird :)

Thanksgiving morning "we" got up and stuffed the turkey and got it going in the oven then went outside for some family football.

Corbin is getting better at being able to throw and catch a ball.  Whereas Makelle, throws like a girl, but sure does look cute doing it!

Then we came in and pulled everything together as our guests started to arrive with all the sides.  We ended up with an entire spread of yummy dishes!

Kids' table!

After dinner we played our traditional family Bingo game.  This year we decided to break it up into two different games and let the kids play first.

Jefferson was really into it :)

Seth had no idea what it took to get a Bingo, just that every once in while Grandma would yell Bingo for him and tell him he could pick another prize.  Needless to say, he decided he likes Bingo.

It is a sure sign that you went a little overboard with the prize pile when you have more toys in the middle than there were Bingos called.  Supposedly you play until the pile is gone, then you get to steal until someone gets a blackout, but Corbin was sort of bummed when someone got blackout long before the stealing started.  We'll have to not spoil them as much next year!  Although, I think we said the same thing last year too... hmmm.

Once we got the kids distracted with their new treats and toys we pulled out the good stuff and then in the name of family love, fought each other trying to be the last one to steal the best prizes.  Nothing says gratitude like shoving loved ones aside while greedily grabbing for nuts and candy :)