Can it really be summer already? Matthew had his last day of first grade today. I can't believe this little man is turning into more of a bigger little man every day. He told me this morning that he was excited and sad that school was done, but mostly excited. We'll see how long that lasts!
Here's Andrew enjoying the game from the bleachers. I LOVE those chubby cheeks.
For New Year's Eve we told the kids we were going somewhere for a surprise. They tried their hardest to guess, but none of them thought we would be going to...the Kangaroo Zoo! They all cheered with excitement when we drove up to the place. For those who have never been there before, it is a big building full of blow-up bounce houses, slides, etc. The perfect activity for these energetic little boys. And might I add the perfect activity for New Year's Eve. These kids played hard for two hours straight and were tuckered out by the end of the day. After some dinner and a movie they were ready for bed. We may do it again next year!
I am trying to be better about writing things down. These are some funny things the boys have said recently.
Ryan, driving home from church one day:
Ryan: I can't wait to go to bed.
Mom: Why? You still have a few more hours until bedtime.
Ryan: Because then I will wake up and it won't be Sunday and I won't have to sing any more boring songs.
Zachary: Mom, you're growed up like a big boy girl!
One night, Zachary came out of bed and said his legs were sore and wanted me to come and rub them. I walked him back to his room and as he crawled back into his bed he told me which leg to rub first. "This one mommy, and then this one. But I only have two legs. Only rub two legs mommy because I'm not an alien."
Matthew was taking a bath and got some soap in one of his eyes. He couldn't get it out (probably because of all of the soap already in the tub), so I told him to turn on the shower to help rinse it out. As he is standing under the water he tells me, "I guess I better find my pirate eye patches. I might need to wear one to school tomorrow."
And of course with all of these boys there is a lot of potty humor. The following stories illustrate what happens in our house almost daily.
One day, Zachary was playing with his nerf ball popper gun, hunting down dinosaurs.
Zach: Pow! I got another T-Rex mom!
Mom: Wow, that's great. Watch out, here comes another one!
Zach, in all of his excitement, passed some gas as he tried to shoot the popper gun.
Mom: What was that?
Zach: It was a Toot-a-saurus Rex!
We were playing hide-and-seek downstairs. It was my turn to count and when I opened the door to go find them I heard cute little boy giggles coming from the bathroom. I kept looking in other places and saying, "I wonder where they are? Where could those boys be hiding?" The boys thought it was fun that mom couldn't find them so they started laughing even louder. I finally got to the bathroom and opened the door. "There you are!" I said. They squealed with delight. I laughed and told them I found them after I heard their giggles. Ryan spoke up and said, "Nuh-uh, mom. It was because you could hear me farting!"
And to show that my boys do have moments of sweetness, Matthew said to me the other day out of the blue, "Mom, you work harder than dad. You are always doing things with your arms - fixing my lunch, picking up things, starting the bath, helping Andrew." I told him that dads and moms both work hard; they just have different kinds of jobs. And we work hard because we love our family. It was nice to know that sometimes he notices the things we do.
And what does Andrew have to say to all of this? Lots of bubble blowing, drool, and the occasional bah-bah, ma ma, or mum mum. Why do they have to grow up so fast?
After a long summer of practice in the basement the fall soccer season has started. Ryan's team is called the Crocodiles and Matthew's team is called the Laser Bolts.
For the first time we have moved Matthew and Ryan to the Northern Utah County Soccer league. Smaller fields for Ryan and no goalies for Matthew and Ryan!!
Ryan started up scoring goals just like last season. I think he scored four times but he keeps correcting me that he scored six times, which is possible...I wasn't counting.
Matthew #8 is playing well too. Just like our Wii soccer game Matthew is a five star player. In his first game he scored three goals.
In Matthews team we are working on passing the ball and playing defense. Both Matthew and Ryan had a lot of fun. Zach let us know that he scored two goals today (in the basement league) and had to dress up in one of Ryan's old soccer uniforms. Too much fun.
Some fun things about Ryan:
-He loves to make people laugh. He is especially good at initiating tickle fights with Matthew and Zachary.
-He loves doughnuts.
-He likes writing his name and is learning how to read small words.
-He has to be active all the time. Even when he is sitting still you can see the wheels in his head moving around (usually planning some sort of mischief).
-He played soccer for the first time this Spring and was a little hesitant at first but he got over that very quickly and jumped in with all of his might. He scored a lot of goals and stood up to some pretty big kids. He loved playing with some of his friends in the neighborhood.
-Ryan is a good big brother. He especially loves helping Andrew. One day Andrew was fussing and Ryan came running over. "Don't worry Andrew," he said. "You don't have to cry. You don't have any sisters so you won't ever have to play with Barbies."
We went to the park near our house a while ago. It has one of those systems where you can talk to someone from one side of the park to the other. Matthew and Ryan were taking turns ordering and making pizzas with the wood chips on the ground. I was helping Zachary climb onto a slide when I heard the following conversation.
Ryan: I want to order a pizza please.
Matthew: Okay. That will be two thousand dollars.
Ryan: Okay. I have that much. Thanks. Bye!
I thought it was great that not only did Matthew request such a large sum but that Ryan had just the right amount. Cute boys.
*This was from March. We're still trying to do some catch-up since we've been lazy bloggers lately.*
It was such a nice day that Kevin proclaimed, "It's time for us to go dig something!" So out the boys went to go dig in the dirt. They thoroughly enjoyed getting dirty with their dad.
This year both Matthew and Ryan are playing soccer.
They call Ryan a bulldog, because he can hold the ball so well. He is having so much fun playing with all his friends and cousins. Update - Ryan scored two goals tonight. So cute!
Matthew is also having fun. He has played four games and has twelve goals. He really likes playing with his classmates from Freedom. He is learning the game and is passing the ball and playing good team soccer.
Zach tells us that he is playing too, even though he isn't, and always let us know that he won.
We also wanted to add some pictures of Andrew. The little guy is growing up so fast!
A quick story. Last Sunday we asked the boy's to put away their toy Lightsabers as we have a no weapons rule on Sunday. Matthew quickly responded to Ryan; "That's okay. We don't need Lightsabers we can use the FORCE."
Ryan has been so funny lately. He has such a great sense of humor and likes to find ways to make people laugh. His favorite joke that he tells at least five times a day:
Knock knock
Who's there?
Red
Red who?
Knock Knock
Who's there?
Red
Red who?
Knock knock
Who's there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange you glad I wasn't another red?
I was making a grocery list the other day and left it on the table. When I came back Ryan had written his name down and was waiting with a gleam in his eye. "Mom - I thought you might want to get another Ryan at the store!" He was so proud of himself. I assured him that one Ryan is just enough for our family.
One day we were headed to Salt Lake. Kevin likes to take the Alpine onramp to I-15 like he is driving a race car. I guess the g-force was a little higher than normal because Ryan said, "Wow! Did you go on two wheels Dad?" He was really impressed.
And although these two know how to push each other's buttons, they really do love each other.
January is already over? I feel like this whole month has gone by in one big blur. The weeks have been pretty much the same - school, work, errands. And I have to admit that I haven't done my best lately at documenting things. Here's a quick run-down of some recent goings-on before I forget.
Kevin: Keeping busy with work and church responsibilities. We are busy trying to get one of the downstairs rooms painted and the carpet put back in after our water leak at the very beginning of the month. We were thinking of trying a new color down there (instead of pastel purple) and although the boys wanted blue or green we decided to just go with the neutral color already in our house. We may be kind of boring, but at least the name of the color is Tequila. :) That ought to add a little spice to place. Kevin has also enjoyed watching a few football and basketball games. And he even got some time to play Civilization last night. Woohoo!
Amy: Still pregnant and going strong. We are down to single digits on how many weeks left for this little guy to come to our family. I am hitting the big and awkward stage, making it hard for me to bend down for too long. Kevin thinks I should get one of those sticks with the grabbers on the end. Who needs those when you have kids to do it for you? :) We are in the process of getting some new baby gear since ours have started to expire. We are also still working on a name. Both Kevin and I have our lists, but no consensus yet. Hopefully sometime soon!
Matthew: Loves school, at least going and participating. At the beginning of the school year he was very excited to do homework, but has recently changed his mind a little. He loves to read; his new favorites are the Magic Treehouse series. We can't keep them around fast enough before he devours them. I guess he got that from his mother. He loves playing freeze tag at school during recess and apparently sets "freeze traps" on the playground, a fact he is very proud of. He loves watching football and basketball games with his dad and usually chooses a team to root for. He can't wait to start soccer in the spring.
Ryan: Just as funny and crazy as ever. He loves to sing, but doesn't want anyone to pay attention to him while he is doing it. He is very creative and loves to show off his drawings (usually some form of bad guys vs. good guys) as well as his Lego concoctions. He finally learned to write his name with a capital letter at the beginning with lower case letters following. This has not been his favorite thing since he thought everything should be written in uppercase. He takes joy out of the simplest things and has the cutest laugh and sense of humor.
Zachary: Growing and learning more everyday. He loves to be like his brothers, so much so that he will change what he is having for breakfast just so he can be like them. He is learning how to go in the potty and just transitioned to a big boy bed. So far both are going relatively well, although I know as soon as I say that we'll hit a snag somewhere. He is a typical two-year-old - strongly independent and very stubborn. He has a great imagination and loves to play with cars and Imaginext guys. His very favorite thing has been the Nerf ball-popper gun he got for Christmas. He thinks it's great to get the monsters.
That's about it for now. More adventures to come!
I oftentimes find myself being outsmarted by my kids. Sometimes it's because I haven't thought things through, and sometimes it's just simply because they really are smarter than me.
Case #1:
Today, Matthew was playing with his new Star Wars Lego set from Christmas. It's a big star ship with wings that can open and close when you spin a gear on the back. (For those of you interested, it is the ARC-170). For some reason, one of the wings wasn't opening like the other. Matthew brought it to me and as I started looking at it with my advanced knowledge of Lego engineering I deduced that a gear had fallen off from one of the wings. Matthew went and found the piece and I put it back together, thinking (very proudly in fact) I had solved the problem. But when Matthew started to turn the gear in the back, one of the wings opened while the other didn't. When you turned the gear the other way, the wings did just the opposite, the other opening while the other stayed closed. I started looking over the thing again, trying to figure out what I had done wrong (admittedly, my Lego engineering skills are more mediocre than advanced). That's when Matthew whips out this little gem of advice:
Matthew: Mom, I have a hypothesis. (A hypothesis?)
Mom: And what's your hypothesis? (As I'm still fiddling with the thing...)
Matthew: I think when you put the wing back on the other wing was still open, so when you turn it they don't open at the same time.
Mom: (A little surprised at the logic of his answer) You know what, you're probably right. Let's try it and see.
So we took off the wing, closed the other wing, reattached the first, and voila! Matthew the Mastermind figured it out light years ahead of his mediocre mom.
Case #2:
I was munching on some M&M's from my stocking when Zachary caught me with my contraband.
Zachary: What you habing?
Mom: Some M&M's.
Zachary: I need some (with a HUGE smile on his face and those puppy dog eyes). Pleeaase?
Mom: Okay. I'll give you a few, but only because you are so cute.
Matthew: (running in from the other room) I'm cute too. Can I have some?
Mom: Sure.
Ryan: (waiting at the side) Well mom, I'm not cute, so that means I can have A LOT. (I had forgotten that Ryan refuses to be called cute, preferring instead the term handsome. Well-played my boy).
The boys had been clamoring to get out in the snow ever since we got a pretty good snow storm. We had a snow ball fight with friends one day and the next day we spent some time making snow angels and building snow men. It was a lot of fun to play together. Zachary was asleep during this time, but he did get some moments to shovel the snow and dig around in it later.
Amy bought Ryan this "No Girls Allowed" shirt a few months ago because it just fit so well with his personality. Well today we found out that it was true. We are expecting boy #4 in March 2011. We are very excited and can't wait to welcome the new little guy to our family!
If you have name ideas, send us an email. Amy doesn't like any of the names that I have suggested.
