April: Fence and Aviary

Zane showing off his Ninja moves.

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Another fun visit to the Curiosity Museum.

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We have wanted to put in a fence ever since we moved into this home. And so we were very excited to arrive home from vacation in Oregan and have a new fence to keep our backyard private.

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We attended the ALPS field trip to the Tracy Aviary.

Max really wanted a picture with his ALPS teacher Mrs. Davies.

Max presented his project on rockets during ALPS class.
He researched; reading books about space and rockets, drew many pictures of planets, rockets, and space and included the information from his research.

Zane's 4th Birthday

Zane started the morning opening his two Paw Patrol toys from Max. A month ago he picked out two of the toys for Max's birthday and told me which ones he wanted for his birthday and has been waiting very patiently for them. After opening them the boys ran off to play with their toys together.

It was a superhero birthday that started with cupcakes topped with superheros and villains. When Zane saw them his face lit up and he couldn't wait to pull them off of the cupcakes and lick the icing off. It continued with gifts including Punching Spiderman, Superhero Wall Stickers, a gigantic Spiderman wall sticker and a collection of superhero and villain toys.

Grandpa Keith added to the party fun with a Paw Patrol Pad for Zane. It was a great gift and the fun quickly turned into ridiculous silliness when the boys discovered it also spoke French, which they found hilarious.

Grandpa Keith also brought party hats and he and the boys entertained themselves with them.

March: Yoga, Max's 7th Birthday, A Vist from Kimber and more...

I love watching my boys enjoy yoga!







They are so intense.

They know so many poses.

Yoga will always be familiar and fun to them.

I love sharing something I enjoy with them.

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We took the boys to LEGO Americana Roadshow.




Giant replicas of the nation's most recognizable landmarks made from thousands of LEGO bricks.

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Max's 7th Birthday
Zane was so excited to give his big brother two Paw Patrol toys.
(He is also very excited to get two more from Max next month for his birthday.)

Max's new room:
- a reading chair
- a beautiful old steam engine picture
- History of Trains poster
- a bookshelf

As requested; a puppy cake!

Grandpa Keith brought a Spirograph and for our Max who loves to draw it was a big hit!

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A Letter To My Chiropractor...

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Max wrote me this sweet letter telling me he hoped I would feel better soon.

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For St. Patrick's Day I made up a short treasure hunt that led the boys to their green baskets.

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I have been anxiously looking forward to this visit from Kimber!

She came to spend the weekend with me and attend the 10th Annual Healthy Woman Event.

I enjoyed showing off my beautiful home to her and talking in-person rather than over the phone.

Our nights' entertainment consisted of a trip to DI, where we found treasures of books, home decor and furniture; a delicious home-made salad for dinner and the delightful movie, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel."

She brought me my very own Chocolate Survival Kit! (Kimber gave one of these to Sierra for Christmas and I was envious.) To go along with our Healthy Expo it was filled with tasty yet healthy snacks.

The Healthy Woman Expo was inspiring. We listened to Stephanie Nielson's story through which I shed many tears and was uplifted by her faith. We were treated to lunch, given free items from the many booths and attended a scarf-tying class and a doterra class.

Later that day, Kate joined us to watch the equally delightful "Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel."

Afterwards we stood in the theater talking for an hour or so until reluctantly parting ways.

As is always the case I was a little depressed to say goodbye. I love spending time with my strong, amazing, beautiful, inspiring sister. (As well as my equally amazing little sister.)

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During a literature lesson Max and I were talking about the difference between Fact and Fiction. His assignment was to write three facts about someone you know. He wanted to do it himself without me looking and when he showed me what he had written the tears came...
To my little boy it is a FACT that I love him.

February

Once a week Zane and I go to his preschool. Stories, songs, alphabet practice and crafts. He loves the class and the time alone with Mom.

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For this month's ALPS field trip we went to the Leonardo Museum to see the Water Exhibit.

Max was able to do water experiments and build a "steam boat."

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We had a week full of Valentine's fun with little treats and gifts in the mailboxes each morning.
Max loved his newest little puppy dog, which he named "Love."

We attended a UTVA Party where they made silly bags and gave and got V-Day cards.
And of course the finale; following their strings to their gifts.

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We hosted Crafternoon for the first time in our Tooele house.

We made "claydough" cookies which can be shaped and played with just like claydough and are edible. It was a big hit!

Making plastic canvas hearts was a bit nostalgic as I remember being taught by my Aunts and I watched as Aunt Colleen taught Max and Aunt Kathy taught Zane.

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Zane watching shows with Brooklyn and his stuffed friends.

2014 Kids Sayings

Zane and I had had a rough day in which he hit me on the way to a time out. At bedtime that night James must have talked to him because when I went in this is what Zane told me...

"Mom, you can't get away from Karma"...(long pause)..."or germs. But, you get away from germs by washing with soap and water. You get away from Karma by turning your punches into hugs."

Max was having a growth spurt and was complaining that his legs really hurt. One morning when asked to go upstairs and get dressed he said to Zane, "Zane, can you use your little muscles to help my big old achy muscles up the stairs?"

Zane: "My eyes turn white when I am drinking milk."

Zane: "Can you teach me how to sneeze like you?"

October: Max Loses his First Tooth

Max mentioned that his tooth was wiggly. When we looked we found a very loose tooth, but he didn't want James or I to touch it. The next morning it had fallen out and was no where to be found.

He told me that the tooth fairy was just pretend so it was okay but he still drew a picture of a tooth to put under his pillow. I printed a tooth fairy certificate and left him a dollar.

He was excited to see it and we went to the dollar store where he bought bath boats for he and Zane.

Zane didn't want to be left out so I took pictures of his teeth as well.

September

The boys love the waterfall at our new home.

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We got scooters for the boys for their birthdays and they are really enjoying them.

Zane randomly wears his spiderman costume whenever the mood strikes him.

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Cousin Brooklyn stayed with us for five days and the boys had fun having a little sister.

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The boys were even more excited than usual to go to the Discovery Museum because of the Bob The Builder Exhibit.

They worked hard together to send a message across the building to James.

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We took a school field trip to the Natural History Museum.

The boys especially enjoyed the horse exhibit.

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This month's UTVA activity was building a Minecraft city out of boxes and playing kickball. I am so grateful for the UTVA activities which give Max a chance to have fun with other kids and also learn to follow teacher's instructions.

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The boys were able to explore inside a police van and meet a police dog at the Tooele Library Superhero Day.

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Our truck broke down and we had to decide whether to fix it or trade it in. Since moving to Tooele we have been thinking about trading in the truck for something with better gas mileage and this was the push we needed to get it done. James did the research and decided that the Nissan Juke which is compact, gets good gas mileage and  has all-wheel drive was our best bet. We are upside-down on the loan quite a bit and the car is tiny compared to the truck (and it is white) but we are very happy with the gas mileage.

The boys had fun helping Dad to wash the car.

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It was no surprise that Max chose trains as the focus of 1st Grade ALP project.

To research we visited his favorite place in Tooele; the train museum as well as the Golden Spike National Historic Site where the Transcontinental Railroad was completed.

For the project he built a model train out of boxes and used the two Lego trains from Golden Spike to demonstrate the meeting of the trains. One of his favorite things during research was watching the video "Charlie Brown: Building of the Transcontinental Railroad."