{What the Wii can teach you}

So today E comes in and says...."I can do this".....and starts to hula hoop.

Notice the arms...I think this is important to his ability to hula hoop...it goes from two hands straight up in the air to more of a muscle man stance to a bull rider look (one arm up one down).

Having two little girls in the house allows us to have toys we have never had before...like hula hoops. And so he continued for over 5 minutes standing there hula hooping. I wondered where he could have learned it from and realized....Wii. We have the Wii Fit and one of the "games" is hula hooping.

We think the Wii hasn't helped with bowling, baseball, and tennis as our children think in bowling you should bounce the ball off the edges even when you bowl in real life, when they are up to bat in baseball there is a lot of jumping as they hit the ball, and tennis well there is more jumping and spinning than actual hitting of the tennis ball. So I was amazed that he actually learned how to hula hoop from the game.

After he showed us his new talent all the kids had to have a chance.

L first and she can't really do it yet.

A just stood in the middle of the hoop while it was on the ground

And K couldn't be out done so he attempted to spin it on his neck (not to meantion that he can't hula hoop anyways...even on the Wii)

But then L held up the hoop and said "Jump doggie" to E and thus the circus act began. Luckily even Auntie was willing to get in on the fun holding the hoop higher and higher!

A good 30 minutes of running, jumping and laughing!

{the food runneth over}

With 8 of us here a lot of food is being consumed. It is fun having us all here but it feels like one of us is always picking up something at the store b/c we keep eating everything!

The pantry is really full!

and so is the fridge!

and it certainly isn't helping that Vannessa and I like to feed the kids fresh fruits and veggies...so Sams is becoming a great place to buy those items in bulk as all the kiddos love all those things too!

{Last day of 3rd Grade}

K's last day was fun and something he was really looking forward too!

For their awards ceremony the class stood and recited the whole Gettysburg Address. K got to stand in the front with two other classmates b/c he had learned the whole thing. Apparently not all the students passed it off. We were surprised thought b.c at home he couldn't do the whole thing. But he was always performed better at school than at home so we should have figured that out.

K has had a great year. He was happy to have his best friends return to school after starting school without him. He has become an avid reader, is still a math wiz, and we have learned that he can really memorize anything if we let him do it his own way.

{Last day of 1st Grade}

Here is E and his teacher on the last day right before awards....

He has had a great year. It was his first year in school all day 4 days a week. The beginning was a little rough but once he got used to it and got in the groove the year went a lot better.

This year he has learned to read, spell, and is great at math. He made some great friends that will be in 2nd grade with him next year and is really happy to have summer break!

He is definitely my homebody and loves to just be the 4 of us at home. So summer is just what he needs.

{pinewood derby 2009}

This was K's 1st Pinewood Derby....and it seemed like he had fun.....he came in 4th place after he decided to race his car backwards down the track.....

The Car.....

(last soccer practice of the season}

So for the last practice of the season, Chad had a water fight for the last 30 minutes of practice. One of E's old coaches did this and the team loved it so much we thought it would be fun again.

So a cooler full of water , 11 water guns, and a few extra gallons of water makes for a lot of fun!

{Guess what today is??}

Any guesses?

Thursday....the last full day of school for 2008-2009!!

All week we have been announcing the lasts....and this habit of mine really drives Chad crazy....

Tuesday was the last Tuesday of 1st grade for E and 3rd Grade for K.

Wednesday was the last working day of 1st grade for E and 3rd Grade for K. And the last time they had to take lunch to school for this year. And the last time to wear their polo uniforms to school.

Thursday is the last Thursday of 1st grade for E and 3rd for K. And the last field trip! (Both "read around America" so they earned a fun day out with those from their classes that did the same thing).

Tomorrow a half day!! with a class party and awards and we are done!! And the last time to wear their dress uniform for this year!

Bring on Summer!!

{Special helper}

So we still have our special girls here with us and A is always asking for Chad...I mean always...she wants NOTHING to do with me.

I gave her a lollipop and she ran off. I went looking for her a little bit later and this is where she was.

Happily watching Chad design. She sat there until she ate the whole lollipop.

{2 Birthdays in 1}

This year we celebrated both boys birthdays on one day. We decided on a May party since K's real day is in April and E's real day is in June. And this way all thier school friends can attend too.

We had a great afternoon at Bounce U (a building full of bounce houses, slides etc)

{fine arts week}

So this week at school is fine arts week. Students get to perform on their instruments, give

recitations, sing, dance, act...all kinds of fun!

E's class did a recitation "the Swing" by Robert Lewis Stevenson. Very fun!

Then today K's class did line dancing....yes you read that right! they did the macarana. When K told me about it he was disgusted and so embarrassed but after "practice" he seemed to be into it a little bit. It was fun and after the rest of the school started cheering and dancing with them he seemed to have more fun!!

And he'll probably be mad if he figures out I posted this picture....sorry it's so blurry but I think Chad was laughing and taking pictures while I videotaped!

{soccer and lei day}

Saturday was a fun day....another soccer game and may day lei day celebration in downtown Vegas.

Here is what K does during the games....

what would life be like without a cell phone to entertain you?

Here is Chad coaching the team!

And with out days warming up (we are close to 100 now) we had shave ice and watched some hulu and shopped a little bit at the lei day celebration

{look at this}

Never thought we'd have these in our house...

This one is pink....

This has princesses....

They very girly and when those are around so is she (and her big sister too).

That is the best part! (this is a great picture of how A is always trying to get E to share the DS with her or at least let her see what is going on)

We have my brother's family here with us for a while and they bring with them the two most wonderful little girls....so we get to have pink in the house for a little while!

Do you really have 387 Family Rules?!

Okay so after the post about Sunday clothing and my two boys someone emailed and asked if we really have 387 rules.....

No....I hope not....we just randomly have called out numbers like that when something comes up that should probably be a rule.

But we might have that many if we start counting....

there are those basic rules like:

Brush you teeth.

No clean clothes in the dirty clothes pile.

then those that are family specific like:

once you bed is 1/2 covered in books you have to clean it off...

and to go even further there are ones that are child specific....like

for K "no more pizza until your salad is gone" or E "no more salad until you pizza is gone"

So if I start counting we might get up there and who knows I'm sure well be making more as we all grow up and the boys try out new things that we didn't know we needed to make rules for like when I had to explain that rocks do NOT go in noses.

Life with boys!

But on a side note the one thing I have never thought I would say so much in my Mommy life is "watch out for the wall!" I thought we grew out of that when they were 2 than 4 than 6 and now I am hoping it is done at age 9.....only time will tell.

K is NINE!

I don't know how it happens but my boys keep growing and years pass and now my firstborn is 9 years old....stands in height up to my shoulder, with feet almost the same size as mine.

I remember that baby boy who I could cuddle all day, and we would sleep together on the couch in between feedings. I don't know where the time went!

But he is growing up and becoming such a great person. A wonderful friend to all and has such a great personality, with caring in his heart for everyone around him!

Happy Birthday to you!

{camping practice}

So the last two father son camping trips have been.....memorable is the word we will use to be nice.

Last year they ended up home at midnight b/c E had a meltdown, than Chad drove back out with K and then the car broke down on their way back to town.....

Year before the tent literally blew about 200 yards away right after E stepped out of the tent. We are very lucky that he didn't stay in a second longer as the tent had all their supplies (cooler, food, sleeping bags, clothes everything) in it and still blew away. This scared E for life and resulted in last years trip home.

This year Chad really wants them all to go again. So tonight they are all sleeping in the garage in the back of the jeep...for a "practice." E knows he can't come home halfway through the weekend and K is always up for camping so Chad is trying to convince E that sleeping in the jeep will be lots of fun! I bet they will be in before 2 am! What do you think?

Something Fun to Watch

I know no details about this but I love it!! Happy viewing!!

{looking good}

my two boys both showed up at church in ties....our family rule #387 "boys were ties every Sunday beginning at age 8" edited to also read "with any color church shirt....white shirts mandatory at age 12" (this was my addition)

But both boys have white shirts for their school dress uniform and

K prefers the white shirt so they wear them.

But E HATES ties and LOVES sweaters,

but we live in Vegas and it's getting hot

and somehow while I was at meetings this morning

Chad got him in a tie...

So pictures had to be taken.

Forgive the squinting eyes, but the sun is bright here in Vegas.

{first time goalie}

In goal for the first time ever...

won't touch the ball with his hands...

and figured out it is pretty boring when the

ball is on the other side of the field....

but loves to "do goal kicks!"

{first game of the season}

Ehan lives and breathes soccer when we are playing. His love is spreading into basketball, which he has informed us he will play next season...I think that in Vegas you can play in the summer or winter....so we will have a season of soccer followed by basketball then back to soccer again. Welcome to the world of a boy who loves sports!

Anyways....Chad is coaching this time and E. loves it. It is a 5/6 year old league that plays on a half field, with 4 on the field at a time and this year a goalie. This goalie thing is new and confusing for the kiddos. Some now want to pick up the ball the time and others refuse to use their hands while in goal. So it will be fun.

The greatest part is watching the ones who just run the other direction all the time. I have never yelled "turn around" or "go the other way" so many times. I really love this age group soccer better than the older kids. We laugh a lot and everyone wins! I will be sad when he is out of this league and moves up tot he more serious one next season!

Here's our boy in action!

{back to the normal}

So Spring Break is over and today we are doing chores, homework, piano lessons, and speech. E keeps calling it doing the "normal stuff" as opposed to last weeks non-structured days. We didn't travel this year over break but spent a lot of time here doing nothing which is what all of us wanted anyways so it was great.

We started break with bad weather (Vegas bad weather which means wind, a tad bit of rain, and cold...yes i know it could be worse but we were just thinking about pulling out all the shorts when the weather went to cold again) and I was sick for the about first 4 days .

We made library trips, rents some Wii games from the video store, had family sleepover in the front room, went to see Aliens vs. Monsters, had dinner out once and did random things around the house.

When we went to the movie we were the only ones in the theater! I couldn't believe it! Here the boys are in the center of the whole place with no one around.

One of those random things is this brown sugar game I remember doing in young womens at some point. The boys really liked it and I think Chad just thought I was crazy but they played it for a good hour one afternoon.

But now we are back to "normal" and counting the weeks until summer break....8 Weeks to go!