Good-bye school, Justin and I celebrate, and home projects

Erica's last day of preschool was May 15. She had a take it or leave it attitude about preschool all year long. Most days she would rather not go but she never put a fuss (true Erica style). 

Last Day

First Day

The last day was not a graduation like Henry's (good thing) but a parent and me day and she got to show me around the room and do activities together.

We made paper popsicles and laced cards, measured ourselves with blocks, made stacks of blocks, played flower shop and searched for toys in a tote of quinoa.

 We made it most of the way out when she realized she hadn't said goodbye to her teachers so she ran back in the room and hugged each one. That night she cried when I put her to bed because she missed preschool already. She's already asking how many more days until kindergarten.

 From there I dropped the littles off at my mom's because I volunteered to plant flowers at the temple.

Not my work

 I never knew such an army of volunteers over a few days pulled out and planted thousands of flowers. I've never seen the process nor noticed it happening. It was a lovely hour spent outside chatting with lovely sisters planting all sorts of flowers. All the flowers are placed in the beds right where they need to go (someone with mad skills designs each bed meticulously) and we just made little holes and put them in. Trying not to step on anything in the middle of the bed is like playing twister.

That Saturday  (18th) was the fireman's breakfast in Mapleton so we bundled up and braved the rain. The weather held while we were there. We were waiting for Justin to finish up at the temple so we toured the fire engines first. James was in heaven.

 These firefighters answered our questions and didn't get mad when Henry climbed up on the top of the truck. (But I did.)

 We watched this helicopter land from the windows of the station and after pancakes, ham, and eggs, we got a closer look.

 Oh yeah, and got free hats. "Let's hope you never have to ride in one of these" I told my kids as I helped them back out." "Always wear your helmet when you ride your bike," the pilot said. I'm glad my kids didn't out me by replying they don't even have helmets.

 With all the rain the final week of school, Erica got a little confused as to what time of year it really was.

Last day of school! I try to be excited for my kids because I always loved the last day as a kid but inside I'm wondering where the school year went and what are we going to do all summer.

Last Day

First Day

 Henry was a bad sport and wouldn't wear the same anything. Those shoes lasted until January.

Last Day

First Day

Sarah wanted to wear pants because it was 45 degrees that morning but she did wear the same shirt.

Ugh that was a bad idea. They grew a lot and now I'm sad.

After school Justin took the kids to the nursery to buy plants for the garden and they all helped plant. They played with friends and then we surprised them by taking them out to Brick Oven to use their reward certificates from school. Henry also had a birthday meal so we only had to pay for mine and Jusitn's dinners. 

 In the shadow of BYU and he wears his USU shirt. Sniff. So proud. He threw a fit when we made him wear pants instead of basketball shorts.

Saturday morning I cleaned out Sarah's room (one large bag of trash, one large box for DI) and Justin and I cleaned out the garage (two truckloads for DI, one full garbage can)

Sarah found her fishing vest when we cleaned out her room and she kindly gave it to Erica.

That afternoon we went to Sarah's friend Violet's baptism. Violet moved a year ago so it was great to see her and her brother and mom.

 That evening we drove up Hobble Creek canyon where Justin's parents were camping. They had a dutch oven dinner ready for us and all the smore fixings. A storm rolled in and right when we sat down to eat, it started to pour. I liked it. Some went inside the trailer to eat but us troopers toughed it out.

Not a trooper. She ate inside.

 The rain stopped right when we were done eating, of course, so we were able to make smores.

 I'm looking forward to a lot more of this this summer.

Sunday the 26th was our anniversary!! Yay! 13 years! We celebrated by going to church and I took Sarah to the cemetery with my mom while Justin took a nap.

 Then Justin made a yummy roast beef dinner and we had lemon cream pie for dessert.

Memorial Day morning we drove to Highland because I think we may move there and I wanted to get a better idea what it is like. The kids whined the whole time as we slowly drove past houses for sale. Then we stopped for a picnic at a park.

I don't care who you are, those are some cute boys.

James was a little intimidated by the ducks but I would be too if they were that big to me.

That evening we celebrated our anniversary for realsies. Justin chose the restaurant this year and since it was Memorial Day, there weren't many open. We went to Teppanyaki in Orem because he was craving sushi like nobody's business and we had never been to a teppanyaki kind of restaurant before.  The food was delicious, our chef was funny, and it was fun to try something new.

For dessert he took me to Chom burgers where we also had never been.

Justin got me this necklace, I have him a new pillow.

I got the caramel Biscoff shake and he got Oreo. Can you see how fat the straws are? We kept our straws because they'll be really handy for smoothies at home.

I love this guy. I kind of forget we're not the newly married couple we once were because I still feel all nerd love for him just like back then. But when I think all we've done and seen and accomplished, and that I can't imagine life without him, it seems like we've been married forever.

 "Take my picture, Mom." The other morning while I was changing his diaper, Justin came into say hi and James said, "Heeeere comes Mr. Daddy!"

 So this is our back patio. It didn't look this bad until we thought we could fix it ourselves and made it worse. After getting bids from several companies, lifting or replacing, we decided to just tear it all out and pour new concrete.

This is the work of a professional with a sledgehammer. After 2 hours of listening to the jackhammer, they hauled the pieces away and began pouring. It was pretty much the most entertaining thing to happen at our house since the flock of birds landed on our roof.

 Ta-da! This is what professionals with the right tools can do in 5 hours.

Now we just have to figure out how to rebuild the steps and put the sprinkler line back in and we'll be done.

Henry turns 8

Henry's birthday shopping list and his requests for cake and dinner were so simple that this was the easiest birthday ever.

He's so cute. When I told him dad couldn't stay for his birthday breakfast, he wanted to save half his presents to open later when dad was home.

So I saved the better presents for later and I told him so. The only presents he opened were food.

And he couldn't have been more thrilled. He asked for Apple Jacks and Jolley Ranchers.

Siblings make birthdays so fun. (Erica is wearing my old dress.)

In true Henry style, we listened to this song while making his birthday breakfast.

He asked for buttermilk pancakes which we have all the time anyway.

James likes pancakes too but usually no syrup.

This is the cake design Henry drew for me.

And this is what I came up with.

I traced the logo by putting a piece of paper right on the screen then cut it out and put tape on it for handles. I put it on the frosted cake and then Henry spread the sprinkles. I swept the sprinkles off the stencil and used the tape handles to lift it up and wa-la! UNC cake! It took 10 minutes.

And he couldn't have been more happy. And Justin couldn't have been more proud.

It has to be one of my favorite cakes I've ever made because I got to help make his vision come true and that's fun to be a part of.

His second birthday request was a Biggie Bag from Wendy's.

 And he wanted Wayne to come to the park with us too.

 Erica pouted during dinner because I failed to get ketchup for her fries. I didn't know you had to ask for ketchup nowadays.

 He had lots of family there to share his big day. He felt so loved and had so much fun.

 Then Justin rolled out his 3rd birthday request, a new bike. We told him if he wanted a bike, it would be pretty much all he got from us (thus only getting snacks in the morning) but he said that was okay.

 Aaaand we didn't see him much after that.

 He did come back for a few minutes so we could sing to him.

He had so much fun with his cousins and friend. On the way home he asked if there was any cake left because he didn't have any. Funny kid.

Here are my 8 favorite things about Henry.

1. He writes very thoughtful notes. He has a way with words.

2. He gets a bee in his bonnet and super motivated to do stuff like clean the whole family room or have an exercise afternoon. He gets so focused and has great follow-through. It doesn't happen very often but I love when it does.

 3. He lives to have fun and doesn't want to do anything that isn't fun but he's a deep thinker. He really ponders the things we talk about from the scriptures and will tell us how he feels about stuff at other times so I know he's listening even though it doesn't seem like it at the time.
4. He's a great student and super smart. He comes home nearly every day with math facts he's passed off.

5. He takes good care of James. Those two....
6. He sees himself as the cool one and the funny one of the family.

7. He sleeps with his baby blanket and his stuffed Dumbo and he asked for a squishmallow.
8. He loves the things the loves but he doesn't seem to love Pokémon as much as he used to. Halleluiah.

I loved partying Henry style. We all have more fun if I just let them do their birthday their way. And it's surprising way less stressful!