A Pirate Adventure

Wilson & Holden have been talking about pirates, maps & adventures for awhile. I decided to quickly help them with their fantasy this afternoon. I made a couple of pirate hats, and printed out a pirate map, and sent them on their adventure in the backyard. They were so excited to wear their qurky hats! After about 40 minutes, I heard Wilson at the back door. He was yelling for help, because he "got mud on his shoes". Well, they both got a lot more than just mud their boots. I guess their adventure took them to the garden area, where a couple of days ago it was dry, but not any longer.....

The Saucer

Josef loves playing in his saucer. In fact, Wilson and Holden loved playing in the saucer too! Josef spins round and round playing with all of the different toys on his saucer. It is fun to watch and listen to him play.

Three Boys and a Dollhouse

A couple of weeks ago, I got together with some friends to make freezer meals (they are really yummy). Wilson, Issac & Holden had fun playing with the dollhouse. My friend sent me this picture, I am sure my boys are going to really appreciate this picture when they are about 10 or 11 years old:)

Brothers

Holden trying to check out his brothers
Bad of Wilson & Holden, but I couldn't delete Josef's happy face!

So sweet together

Josef blowing bubbles

I hope that Wilson, Holden & Josef always enjoy each other as much as they do now. Wilson & Holden are the best of friends. Wilson is at the age that he gets invited over to play with friends, and it is hard on Holden. I try and have most friends over here to play, because Holden plays so well with them too! Wilson & Holden still adore Josef, and Josef adores them, and all of their antics. Josef cracks up when Wilson falls over, or hits himself (just for entertainment), and Wilson loves to make his baby brother laugh.

I taught a lesson YW yesterday about having a harmonious family, I used the example of Wilson sharing his birthday presents with Holden, the girls made the comment that it won't always be that way. I understand their point, but I really hope that my boys are always friends, and that they always share and respect each other. That is why I wanted to get a picture of them together today. This is such a special time for our family. I love my boys so much. They are so special to me!

Within Josef's Reach

Anything within Josef's reach can be swatted, kicked, grabbed or what ever he can get his body to do. Josef is gaining more and more control over his body. He can sit up and play with a little balance help from the boppy. This morning I put him in the bumbo, and he swatted the Cheerios onto the floor, and tipped over the Kix. I can't believe how much he is growing up - it goes so fast!

Holden's First Talk in Primary

We have been working on this talk all week. Holden knows the whole talk, but it depends on his mood how or if it is delivered. Ken and I have talked to him numerous times about how I will whisper in his ear, and then he needs to talk loudly so everyone can hear him. We have also explained the demonstrated the difference between yelling and talking to people can hear him. I guess for Holden there are only two volumes, whispering or yelling, and at this point I am not sure which one is better - especially considering the microphone. What can you expect for a silly little three year old????

Just in case you could not understand Holden this is his talk:
Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer.
Jesus is my brother too! (Holden added this part)
Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, so I can be forgiven.
Jesus was resurrected, so I can live again.
I love Jesus.
In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

UPDATE: Holden gave a wonderful talk. I could not have imagined him doing a better job. He was the last one to have his "turn" in his class. Holden thought it was his turn every time someone got up to speak. When it was finally his turn, he walked right up, stood on the stool, moved the microphone down to his mouth, and was ready to go! He repeated every word I whispered in his ear, at first he was a little loud, but then he settled down and spoke normally. I am so pleased with my little Holden!

This is what I have been working on ALL week...and it is FINISHED!!!!

Back of Set
Front of Set

Wilson got 5 LEGO sets for his birthday. LEGOs are definitely "safe" presents for my boys, it doesn't matter what kind of set they get so excited. Two of the sets were large. I completed one of the large sets on Sunday, and then I have been working on this HUGE set all week. Of course not consistently, there has been lots of other diversions throughout the week. I am so relieved to have finished. It took so long, that at the end I had to go back through and redo all of the stuff the boys had changed and taken apart. Now that I got some pictures of what it completed, I don't care what they do with it! Have FUN boys:)

Holden, Holden, Holden

Holden is such a character. He has such a mischievious streak. Most days I appreciate and enjoy his personality, and other days I just wonder how to raise this little boy.

A couple of weeks ago Holden told me "mom, I burped in my bum", I didn't understand what he meant, so I had him repeat it several times. The he said, "mom, I burped in my bum a lot of times, and it was cool!" I did not know how to respond without busting out laughing.

In church on Sunday, Holden was standing by me as I sat in the church pew and held Josef. Josef was standing on my lap, and Holden pulled Josef's pants down, and then laid on the floor and belly laughed. I kept telling him to be reverent, and stop laughing. All Holden wanted to do was try and pull Josef's pants down again. Then I had to take Josef to the back of the chapel and stand with him. Josef is much quieter if we stand while we hold him. While I was standing in the back of the chapel with Josef, Holden came back and stood with me. Holden then turned off the lights, thank goodness it was just the side lights. I just wonder what to do with Holden.

Then on Tuesday, Holden was at my cousins for about an hour. When I picked up he and Wilson, I found that Holden had scribbled on their ottoman with sharpie. I could have died. I helped cleaned it up a tiny bit before I had to leave and go to young women. I had been thinking about how to teach Holden not to do that again when I had an idea. Wilson and Holden's friend had invited them over to play today. I took Wilson, but Holden was not able to play. I talked to Holden about how when we do naughty things at other people's homes, that we can't go play with friends. He was upset at first, and then said that he just wanted to say sorry to Doug and Erin. Thank goodness Doug and Erin love us, and are very forgiving. It is one thing for my boys to destroy our home, but it really stinks when they destroy other people's stuff.

Boys

Last night, Ken put Josef in the highchair while we were trying to get dinner on the table. Josef loved sitting in the highchair. I got the camera, and of course his older brothers had to get in the action too!

Wilson's Birthday Party

The invitations

I have a cake pan that bakes individual cars, so each piece of cake was a car. I need more practice decorating the dang things!


The Track

Building time

The Cars

Wilson was so excited to saw... on your marks, get set, go!

The races were fun. All cars were not created equal. Some were really fast, others tipped over, some fell apart before the finish line and some veered to the right or left. It was fun to watch the boys, some were REALLY competitive, and others just enjoyed watching all the cars fly down the track!

Happy Birthday to you....

Checking out their new Indiana Jones LEGO sets!

The Crew!

I was trying to figure out what to do for Wilson's birthday. What do you do with eight 4 & 5 year old boys, inside the house??? I found this site that offered to throw a LEGO race car party. They would bring the track and all of the LEGOS. Those of you that have been to our house, and have seen my boys play know that there is no need for someone to bring LEGOs. Concerning the track, I called my amazingly talented brother. I told him what I wanted, and sent him a link to the site where I had gotten the idea. He agreed to whip something up for us. He built the most amazing track for the boys! I am sure Keaton & Holden will be have race car parties in the future too! I had grand ideas of how we could paint the track, add stripes, flags and the whole kit and kaboodle. Unfortunately, with the trip to California and Ken being sick all week, all of the did not get done (not the the little boys noticed:). The party was a great success, and what a relief to be finished!

Holden and Josef

This morning Holden wanted to hold Josef. Then he wanted me to take their picture. Aren't they cute little guys?

Wilson

I can't believe that Wilson is 5! He is such a good little boy. I remember when he was a baby, and my dad would ask how he was, and I would tell him, "Wilson is good". That statement is still so true. Wilson is not perfect, but he is a GOOD little boy. He loves his little brothers, and is developing into a great little boy.

Wilson brought home these paper from preshcool stapled together the other day. He loves to write his name, and it seems he never writes it the same way twice. I am not sure where he has learned how to write so differently. He is creative, and loves to draw pictures. I think it is interesting that he wrote his name from left to right four times, and then the last one is from right to left.

I got these pajamas out the other day, as an incentive for Holden to want to get potty trained. Both Wilson and Holden are huge LEGO Batman fans. Wilson saw them and asked if they were for him. I told him that they were for Holden, and that he was too big for them. Later Wilson called me and showed me that they were not too big for him, because he had layed them out, and layed on them to check! He is such a thinker:)

Holden's Longest Time Out

Holden decided he would run on the ractrack, with muddy shoes, that I had just painted for Wilson's birthday party. I was so frustrated, and I sent him straight to time out. He was really upset and cried. All of a sudden he was quiet, I looked over and he was asleep. Holden slepted for about an hour. He woke up a much happier little boy!

Our Carlsbad Trip

For the last three years, we have gone to Carlsbad for Wilson's birthday. Every year we get sick - it is so frustrating. There are so many things we want to do, and people we want to see, and there we sit at my mom and dads sick. I guess February is not the best time to go physical health wise, but mental health wise a long about february I am ready to get out of the snow.... We had a good trip, but didn't do all we wanted!

The Road Trip

All the boys watching a movie!
Emily driving into St. George

We left at 4 AM hoping that the boys would fall back to sleep. Well, that plan did not work out like we planned. Holden did fall asleep at about 6:30 AM for an hour. Wilson did not fall asleep until 4:30 PM. All the boys fell asleep for about an hour. It was along trip, but worth it to see Grandma and Grandpa!

We were so lucky to have cousins with us on the our trip. Emily, Ethan, Benjamin, Whitney and Matthew all came with us. Emily is a trooper and drove all the way with kids. Matthew and Benjamin spent some time with us in the car. They were brave to ride with all my boys.