Sledding at Rock Canyon Park

January 12, 2013

 Despite temperatures in the LOW TEENS (!), Guy took our five plus Drake and Sunny sledding at Rock Canyon Park. The boys had a good time, but it was a bit of a bust for the girls. Right out of the car, Mitchell and Sunny took off down the hill with what ended up being the fastest sled, with Sunny in the front. They hit a bump at the bottom and Sunny face-planted into the snow, ending up with a bloody lip. That was the end for Sunny's sledding, and Eve's too. After she witnessed Sunny's fall, she was not in the least interested in going down on a sled.

Mitchell was a sledding maniac!

Warming up in the car!

Sunny Time

On Friday, January 11, Sunny and Mitchell got an extra-extended playdate when Owen was diagnosed with Kawasaki's disease. Sunny came to our house after school, stayed overnight and was here until about 6 pm on Saturday when we took her to stay with Reynolds cousins until Trysten could pick her up after rehearsal. Mitchell especially was thrilled to have her here, and Caleb was really sweet and played with them most of the time. Here they were all decked out with swords and shields for an adventure game in the basement.

The good news is that Owen responded well to the treatment and he and Kerali came home from the hospital after about a 48 hour stay.

Hide and Seek

Eve, playing games with her big "scary" brothers, found a spot of refuge in my office. Running away from roaring brothers (and then chasing them in turn) is one of her favorite pastimes.

Student of the Month

Last week, we received the Kindergarten newsletter, which listed Mitchell as the January Student of the Month for Mrs. Robertson's PM class. I had no idea how aware (if at all) Mitchell was of things like this, but when I showed him the newsletter, he jumped up, shouted "Yes!" and went running down the hall, arms waving, crying "woo hoo!" Talk about a great reaction. And, not only did Mitchell know about Student of the Month, he also knew every student that had already been, and which months. What a great surprise for him for back to school.

Eve's Song (overheard)

If you are smart

if you are smart

if you are smart

then I am smartest

I am smartest

I am smartest

in the whole wide world.

Followed by:

You're my favorite book

You're my favorite book

You're my favorite book

in the whole wide world

La la la la la

has a very shiny nose!

Winter in Eve-land

Eve is definitely a winter-baby, and doesn't seem all that phased by the cold weather. She loves wearing her birthday ballet dress, or will take off sweaters/sweatshirts, etc.  and run around in short sleeves and insists she's not cold. Today after church she changed out of her dress, long sleeves and tights into. . .a swimming suit. She did compensate, however by adding this green robe tie as a scarf. (Incidentally, she is "riding" on a stuffed bird so she can fly.) When we asked her why she was wearing the scarf she answered, "Because it's cold in Winter." "So, why are you wearing a swimming suit?" "Because it's swimming time in the puddles!" By the way, it was 15 degrees outside when we took this picture.

Eve the Sunbeam

We had been gearing up for another year of nursery at church for Eve, whe the Primary President contacted us this week. She said that since the handbook says they divide children into classes based on their age on Jan. 1, Eve should be in Sunbeams this week. I was already having a hard time accepting that my baby is no longer a baby, so this was hard for me. But really, Eve is very ready (more than some of the other Sunbeams, according to her nursery leader) for Primary, so we're giving it a go. Today, she was fabulous (I also serve in Jr. Primary, so got to see how she did during singing/sharing time), and seemed to really enjoy it. Starting her now does mean that she'll be in Primary a really long time. . .

Happy New Year! Eve turns 3!

We welcomed 2013 and celebrated Eve's 3rd birthday with New Year donuts and brunch eggs, lots of family, a treasure hunt created by Mitchell, great presents, and a super-happy Eve. I went with a snowflake theme this year since it snowed almost every day between Christmas and New Years.

Trysten was making faces to try and get Eve to give us a good smile. Instead, she decided just to mimic Trysten.

The Reynolds gave eve the stuffed animals, Browns gave the hair bows, and Mom and Dad Hansen gave the ballet outfit and a tablecloth for the little play table. We gave Eve a reusable sticker book, some other books, the Strawberry Shortcake dolls (that were mine many many years ago), the Aqua Doodle, Baby Jaguar, a purple dress-up dress, and I made the red jumper.

Showing off some of her awesome ballet moves.

The cake and blowing out candles was a real highlight for Eve. In fact, I think she might have been satisfied with the cake and the attention, even without any presents. I don't know that I've ever seen a kid bask in the glory of "Happy Birthday" quite like Eve did. When we finished singing, and she'd blown out her candles, she said, "Let's do that again," so we humored her by singing again, and again, and again! This child doesn't mind at all being the center of attention.

After everyone had gone home, Eve snuggled in with Baby Jaguar and a couple of her new friends to watch an episode of "Go, Diego, Go!" She wore the ballet dress the entire day, and played with all of her new presents during the afternoon. The next morning she insisted it was still her birthday and she needed more presents and to be sung to again.

Happy Easter 2010

Easter Morning. (What, you couldn't tell?)
Mitchell wanted us to take his picture with Eve, and she can't decide whether to laugh or cry.
She decided. (But even her Very Sad Faces are still so adorable.)

We got together with family in Springville for dinner. Eve with her cousin, Trysten.

Cousins, Addie, Mitchell and Kasen after the (due-to-crummy-weather) indoor egg hunt.

The Princess and the Frog

April 3, 2010 (3 months old)
Marcus thought it was too funny that the toy Eve got a hold of was a frog, so he took these pictures to document this real-life Fairy Tale. Though there was no prince involved, it did seem to have a happy (or amicable) ending. At least the frog was still smiling after his legs were gummed.

A Midsummer Nights Dream

Sheridan's 6th grade class performed an abbreviated version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in March. They double-cast the play, so in one cast Sheridan played Oberon, the fairy king (pictured with the other fairies above), and in the other, he played Bottom the Weaver (seen with "The Wall" during the play within a play in the bottom picture). He had so much fun (and was really very funny) as Bottom, especially in his "death" scene. He was really very sad when the play ended. I asked Sheridan if he wanted to do more plays, but he thinks he should only be a Shakespearean actor. :-)

Mitchell attended the play with me 3 times. The first time, we were in a back row where he couldn't see and he just played on Guy's iPhone. But the other two times, he loved watching it, and thought it was terribly funny. What I found funniest was overhearing him recite some of the lines from the play--especially the ones from when Bottom was a donkey.

Cousins

Nyah Brown was born on March 12--10 weeks after Eve. Here they are on Marcus's birthday when Nyah was only 4 days old. It will be fun to watch these two grow up together.

Happy Birthday Marcus!

Marcus turned 10 on March 16. He had a rather detailed/complicated adventure treasure hunt for his party (it took almost 2 hours to complete) with some friends from school (Thanks so much, Mom and Dad for all your help). Then that evening, family came over for dinner and chocolate cheesecake (thank you, Liz). He had a great time, and I hope felt sufficiently celebrated. We think our Marcus is a pretty incredible kid.

Miscellaneous Cuteness

Really, what can I say?

March 24--11 weeks old

We still haven't managed to catch her great big smile on film. It's fabulous and can't help but make you happy--no matter how little sleep you've gotten.

March 26--I took these in the van while the boys played on the school playground for a little while this very windy day.

Oh, and Some About the Boys Too. . .

Sheridan had a pretty good run this science fair season, after the school fair (above, in January when he still had his long hair), he went on to district, and then to the Central Utah Science and Engineering Fair at BYU on March 23. This fair had winners from Provo and Alpine districts as well as the charter and homeschools in the county. The fair itself is pretty fun (rock climbing wall, flight simulator), and was made more fun for Sheridan when he came home with a trophy for 1st place in the chemistry division, and a check for $30.

Mitchell--the Cool Knight (2-10-10)

Caleb takes a great deal of pride in being big enough to haul his sister around (after weeks of pleading with me to let him try). She, however is not always as fond of the opportunity. Caleb really is great with Eve. My favorite is when he sits by her and sings her spontaneously created songs. (2-28-10)

Just a cute one of my cute 3-year-old. (3-28-10)

How Sheridan tends the baby :-) (In his defense, he'd finally gotten his hands on the 5th Fablehaven this day. One of his friends at school let him borrow his copy. Sheridan was thrilled since I'm too cheap to buy the hardback version and the waiting lists at the libraries are way too long.) (3-31-10)

Eve's Sunday Fashions

I take surprising delight in getting Eve all dolled up for Sundays. Except for the spitting-up part, it's a lot like playing with baby dolls. I'd forgotten how much fun it could be.

February 14--6 weeks old

February 21--7 weeks

March 14--10 weeks old

March 28--12 weeks old

Mitchell has to get in on the fun too.