I like to Move the Lawn in the Backyark!

Tate has decided that his favorite thing to do is mow the lawn in the backyard or as he likes to say "move the lawn in the backyark."  He loves to watch his dad and brother mow the lawn and can often be found out back mowing the lawn with his little lawnmower.

And he has to use the trimmer too!

Finally, after much begging, his dad finally let him help out with the big lawnmower.

Back and forth they went across the lawn that day.

Talk about a patient dad, Jeremiah was great letting him do as much as he wanted to.

He really had the form down and was doing much of the guiding on his own.

He was all smiles and I could tell he was having a great time!

While the little one was off mowing the lawn, his sister was busy creating piles of grass.

I'm not exactly sure what the big fascination was, but she sure was into it!

Ah the joys of mowing the lawn.  Never a dull moment at our house it seems!

A Visit to the Dentist

Who could imagine a trip to the dentist would end like this?  Well, it turns out that at our dental office, if you go within a week or two of your birthday, they give you balloons and candy!  That's in addition to the prize and stickers you get for being a good patient. 

Of course, these balloons were instrumental in getting him to take a full mouth x-ray.  He's done really good, but that was the last thing we needed to persuade him to do.  Luckily, the balloons worked like a charm and he did great!  I sure am proud of my little man, he's getting so big!

It's Potty Time!

As Tate's 3rd birthday approached, we realized we were getting close to the dreaded task of potty training.  I originally planned to wait until September, when the kids got back to school and we weren't going everywhere during the summer.  

But one day Tate started saying he had to go potty and rather than have a bad experience like we did when we waited too long to potty train Zach, we decided to change our plans and potty train earlier than planned.

So we ran to the store and he picked out the underwear he wanted.  Boy was he excited and kept bothering me about them every 5 minutes until the day we decided to get started.  Note to self - don't buy new underwear more than a day before the start of potty training unless you want to hear about them a thousand times!

When the day arrived, we draped blankets all over the front room and got on the special "big boy" underwear.  He was very excited and although it was a normal rough first day, we did have success.

This time I put the big boy potty where he could sit and watch TV, something I haven't done with the last two and I have to say brilliant.  He was in no rush to get off and it helped him have a lot of success.

The rest of the time he spent lounging on the blankets watching some TV.  He looked so cute laying there with his hands behind his head!

Whatever the reason, whether the potty location, all of the blankets, or just making sure to do it when he was good and ready, we had tremendous success.  The first day was a little rough and frustrating, but he had it down by midway through the second day.  And even woke up dry for his nap that second day and the morning of the third day.  He hasn't looked back and hasn't had hardly any accidents since.  We sure are proud of our big boy!  The only thing that we regret is that we didn't do it sooner!

Ride 'Em Jammie Cowboy!

Gotta love those spontaneous moments that just make you smile!  Here;'s our little monkey one night after bath time when he decided it was time to wear the cowboy hat and ride the rocking horse.  His Papa made this rocking horse when Zach was little and now Tate has claimed it as his own.  It's just the perfect size for our little cowboy!

This kid is so funny, he just makes me smile!  Gotta love the football jammies!

Pine Wood Derby

Probably one of the most exciting times as a cub scout is the Pinewood Derby.  I know that Zach looks forward to it every year.  As much of a pain as it is for us, it sure is a fun night to watch all of the races.  Things sure have gotten high-tech from when I remember my brothers doing the Pinewood Derby.  Used to be they ran on a simple track and had someone at the end to declare winners.  Now it's all set up on a track where the cars are released with a button simultaneously and there are sensors at the end to determine each place of the race.  Everything is hooked up to a computer and it does all of the calculating and everything.  With 36 cars entered for our ward, they ran 36 races so that everyone had a chance to run 6 different times.  It was a LONG NIGHT, but we had a blast watching.

They had chairs set up around the outside of the track to keep the kids back a little bit, but with every race, they were pushed closer and closer to the track.  Zach was so excited the first time his car was in the race.  He did really great and placed in the first 3 every time.  

Here he is with his car - named "The Heater."

We got started on it a little late this year, so it was a fairly simple design.  And of course we had to add some weight to it so that it would "fly" down the track during the races.

As usual, everyone gets an award, Zach got the "Best Monster Truck" award.  Jeremiah and I got a kick out of this because his "car" wasn't supposed to be a monster truck, but I guess it looked like one anyway.

Tate absolutely loves Pinewood Derby Pack Meeting. He loved watching all of the races!

Hailey spent an awful lot of time talking with Chase Christensen.  They are close to the same age and I couldn't help but wonder if this was just the first of many scenes like this.

Yep, we had a great time.  Zach ended up placing 11th overall, but in a group of 36 cars, that's pretty darn good!  Way to go Zach, we sure are proud of you!

Spring Soccer Season

You might remember my post last fall about soccer and my folly in missing the spring soccer sign-up deadline, thus making it necessary to have both Hailey and Zach in soccer in the fall at the same time, which then overlapped with flag football for a month.  Yes, it was a crazy September, so you can bet there was no way I was missing the spring soccer sign-ups this year!  Honestly, I think I signed up the first day to be sure I didn't forget.  We decided that with flag football in the fall, it made the most sense to sign Zach up for spring soccer and Hailey up for fall soccer.  So both are now signed up and ready to go.

Spring soccer started last month and Zach was so excited!  Luckily Hailey had dance to keep her busy, so there wasn't any frustration about not having something to do.

Here's our 4th grade soccer player getting ready for a game.  Doesn't he look handsome and quite the sports enthusiast?

The first few games he spent quite a bit of time as a forward and scored 3 goals in the first 2 games.  

Not long after, the coach realized that Zach is a natural defender, so he's spent more time in the recent games as a half back or full back.

That means a lot less goals, but he has helped prevent a ton of scores at our goal and they have continued to shut out a lot of the teams.

I am continually amazed at how sports-minded he is.  He definitely gets that from his Dad, since I am not coordinated at all!

Way to go Zach, we are so impressed at how well you are doing, how much you continue to excel, and what a good player you are!  We love coming to see you play!

Hailey's Dance Recital

We have been looking forward to the first part of May for months!  Hailey decided to do dance this spring and we have anxiously been awaiting the arrival of the dance recital.  This year the theme was "Disney Magic" and was centered around the Disney Princesses.  Hailey group did a dance from the show "Brave" and their costumes had them dress up as the princess Merida.  

She looked so cute, I could hardly stand it!

Their teacher even made them a little halo complete with curling ribbon at the back, to make them look like Merida with her long, curly, red hair.

The night of the dress rehearsal was so exciting.  The girls had just received their costumes two day before, so this was the first time we saw them dressed up.  Here she is with two of the girls from her dance class.

I love the dress rehearsal to take pictures because we can get really close and there isn't a lot of commotion or craziness like there is the night of the actual recital.

She was so cute doing all of the moves to her dance.

I can't believe how tall and skinny she is!

She is so great at all of the moves, she really had them down pat.

There were only 5 girls in her class this year, but they all did a great job!

The night of the recital, we got there extra early to get a good seat.  Of course, that meant we had plenty of time to wait before the actual start of the program.  While we waited, we took pictures of her with all of the princess set around as decorations.  Here she is with Tiana and Ariel (her favorite princess).

Here she is with Cinderella.

And Rapunzel.

And last of all Sleeping Beauty.  We almost missed her because she was in a completely differnent part of the gym, but we spotted her and got a picture before it filled up.

Nana and Papa came down to watch the program.  They were troopers because they had already been down for the grandparent program a few days before!

We also got a quick picture of our family with our little dancer.

Hailey and Nana.

Hailey and Papa.

And I had to include this picture - Tate decided the program worked better as a spy glass and ran around saying "arrrr" all night, yes he's into pirates right now.

Way to go Sis, we sure are proud of you!  You were the best dancer up there the night of the recital.  We can't wait until the next recital!  Love you!