Zak is 5!

On Saturday, Zak turned 5.
He is such a big kid.
And now, he is officially old enough to start Kindergarten!

Zak has been asking for a big kid scooter, and he is amazingly good at doing puzzles.
So he got one of each.

We love you Zak.
Happy Birthday

5 Things I love about Zak
1-Zak knows what he wants and is willing to fight for it
2-If something is not important to him, anything will do
3-If something is important to him, you can't change his mind
4-He loves Primary and knows the scripture stories and songs well
5-He never misses anything around him, and can rehearse anything back to you

Zak's Birthday Party

On Friday, we had Zak's 5 year old birthday party.

The boys played Barrel of Monkeys

Built blocks

And ate birthday cake. He had green cupcakes.

They liked the balloons the best.

We had lots of fun. We keep birthdays pretty simple around here. I usually just let the kids enjoy having friends over. Zak loved the attention, and deciding the activities.

A New School Year

Well, the kids are now one week into the school year. They both love their teachers and so do I.

Amber is in the 5th grade this year. She is starting to turn into a girl. It is important that her hair and clothes be just right. She is a good student and does a good job at being on top of her schoolwork most of the time. She sure is growing up quickly.

Les is in 2nd grade this year, and I am looking forward to a great year for him. He needs a month to brush up on his reading, and then he will start piano lessons. He is a quick learner. Sometimes, I have to remind him to finish his homework before TV time, but he works hard.

I can't believe my kids are so big. They grow so fast. But I am very proud of them.

I know we'll have a good year. I am looking forward to helping with their class activities.

Kitchen Archway

We have been so consumed with our home makeover, that I haven't had time to post anything for a while (and this has upset at least one friend who is going through blog withdrawl so badly that she finally had to subscribe to a newspaper!). While I am still not all put together and ready for pictures of the final product, We are, for the most part, done. So, I thought I'd post a little teaser of one of my favorite things that we did.

The entry to my Dining room/kitchen didn't have a real doorway. The walls just went straight up to the ceiling. For some reason, this has always bugged me.

Before

When Brian started talking about making a doorway, I suggested maybe an arched doorway.

During

For a couple of amateurs using the Internet as our only resource, I think that we did a pretty good job.

After

Of course, this is not the finished product. Hopefully, I'll have that posted soon.

Waterfight!

Last winter, my kids started a snowball fight with the neighbor across the street. Since then, he teases them, takes their toys, and always tells them "I'm watching you." My kids tease him right back, and they all have fun.

Last week while the kids were out playing in the water, the neighbor came home from work. Les was bugging him, and he came over and both Les and Zak threw buckets of water on him.

Well, 2 days later, they were out playing in the water again when he got home from work, but he walked up to the front of his truck and got a bucket of his own. I don't think that my kids really thought that he would dump it on them, and I wasn't even sure it really had water in it until....

He started running, and got Les,

And then Zak

I'm glad they can all play in good fun. Fortunately, the neighbor is mature enough to know when to stop and where to stop. Obviously, my kids are not. But they love the play.

Trip to SLC

Last Friday, Brian took his young men camping, and I wasn't in the mood to have the kids fighting all day. So I surprised them with a very unplanned trip to Salt Lake. Before we left, I was able to pack their swimsuits and towels, and pack a lunch without them knowing. I told them we had to go somewhere, and to get in the car. They didn't really ask any questions until we went past the Layton exits on I-15. Since I don't usually go further than that without them knowing, they started to ask questions.

I thought that we would just spend the day hanging out, doing what we want when we want. No schedules.
We wandered around Temple Square.
We saw the Christus statue,

Looked out the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building,

Went to the top of the Church Office Building to view the City,

And enjoyed the beautiful flowers on the church grounds.

We played in the fountains at the gateway,

And played and smiled the whole time.

Then we went to the Church History Museum where the kids enjoyed the special activities for the children.
Les really enjoyed helping to tie a quilt for the Church's Humanitarian projects,

And Zak had fun doing the CTR rubbings.

We always like to see the Temple, and this day had lots of beautiful brides and grooms.

We also took a few minutes to walk over to the Brigham Young Memorial park
and City Creek Park and the Beehive House.

We spent about 8 hours in downtown Salt Lake and just had fun being together. I need to remember that if the kids have fun things to do, they fight a lot less, and really have fun being together, and I love to be with them. It is definitely a trip I'm glad we took.

Sun in Smoke

This is a picture Amber took of the sun through all the smoke on Thursday night.

MUD!

The other day while Brian and I were working on the kitchen, the boys asked if they could dig in the garden with a little water. We agreed that would be OK.

About an hour later we went out to find two little boys that were in heaven, and a mess bigger than any I have ever let them make.

The bottom stair was completely lost in a mud slide.

The shed and the window were splattered.

And the boys had smiles from ear to ear.