Nate's new do

 BEFORE:

  

AFTER:

 

I had to add this pile of hair to show how much we had cut off. it was a lot of hair. He has really thick hair.

 So, I think he looks very handsome with his new cut. Looked like a totally different kid. He was rather upset with me cause he thinks I cut it too short. Too him it was shorter than we had agreed upon- it wasn't. He only agreed to cut it because Grandma was willing to pay him. She started out with $10 for the cut. That was a no go. Then she bumped it up to $15 and that was enough to make him consider it. That being said it took him like a week to decide to make the commitment. He got it cut and immediately said he was growing it out again. That's fine with us. But he only has until he turns 12. He knows that when he gets the priesthood he has to have a short cut again. Not really sure why he likes it long but it's his way of controlling something. For now, it's not that big of a battle that we want to fight.

Our Cubscouts

This was taken a few months back. Here are my two cub scouts. This is Josh's first night for his den meeting. He has now earned his bobcat and is working on his wolf requirements. Nate is a Webelo. He has a ton of belt loops, more than any boy in his pack. You can't really see how many but there are a lot. People have commented that they enjoy seeing him in his uniform because he's so decked out. He only has one thins left to do, I think Art requirement and he'll have earned his Arrow of Light. He has worked really hard and we're really proud of him.

 Josh may look bare for now but we'll get him all decked out too. He'll earn just as much as Nate. Seeing them both in their uniforms made me a proud mom. I think they look really awesome! Very proud of both of them!

Side note, I kind of think Josh ends up looking like Leave it to Beaver in his uniform. And I forgot how long Nate's hair was before we cut it!

Josh's baptism

Our Josh was baptized this year. Wahoo! It was on April 19, 2014. It was a really good meeting. He had a lot of friends and family there to support him. Grandma and Grandpa Howell were there. Grandpa Fritz and Mari came out as well to be there. Jason, Tilisa, Sofie, Wiatt and Gracee also traveled all this way to support him. 

He chose to have Grandpa Howell and his mom to give the talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost. I felt like my talk was all over the place. For his songs he chose, The Golden Plates and Book of Mormon Stories. Both songs were very short. He's not a singer. In fact a few Sunday's ago they were having a small group of kids sing, Love is spoken here, in sacrament meeting. Nate surprisingly was one to volunteer. Well, they had plenty of girls but were needing some more boys to sing. I happened to ask Josh if he'd go be apart of the group. He didn't even stop what he was doing when he just simply said, "Mommy, I'm just not a singer!" It cracked me up. His interest is definitely not singing!

After his baptism the family came back to the house and had a luncheon of pulled pork and salads and the yummy pudding dessert. Some of us had naps afterwards then headed to Jesse James Park in Kearney. It was a really nice day. I hope he's able to always remember the special feelings he had on his baptism day!

Josh and Daddy prior to him being baptised. Danny was the one to baptise and confirm him a member of the church. Josh is a spitting image of his father and has so many of his same personality traits. It's rather scary!

Do not like this picture of me at all. But this is one of the few pictures we got of the three of us. We are very proud of Josh's decision to be baptized.

And well, this is after the whole program. This kind of speaks for itself. Audrey wanted her Grandpa Howell to keep holding her. She was being the biggest stinker and kept refusing to get in our family picture. She can be so stubborn!!

This was the cute little table display we had for his programs and treats. There were also a bunch of big pictures of him inside the Relief Society room on display during the program. For dessert we  stuck 2 white powder donuts on a stick for it to create an 8. And printed out a sticker on them saying something like: It's great to be 8. (I kind of forgot what I put on them.)

I am so glad the he is finally baptized. Prior to both, Nate and Josh being baptized their 7th year of life is so miserable on all of us. They are so argumentative, emotional, irrational, angry, mean, etc during this stage of life.Honestly, their not really likable at this age. I totally maintain that Satan is at their heels pressuring them with bad decisions so that they will not be baptized.He knows that being baptized will bring true happiness and means that they are one step closer to their Heavenly Father. He knows their potential to do so much good and he wants to stop them. This is just my personal opinion. But for us after they've been baptized they seem to mellow out and become likable again. They start making better decisions because they now possess the Holy Ghost. So, it was awesome to have him baptized and confirmed. Josh is a great boy! He's got so much good inside of him. One of his great strengths is that he's a protector. He gets worried and tries to protect all his siblings if he senses there is danger. I actually trust Josh above Nate to watch Audrey at public places. When we're at parks, I've had Josh watch Audrey and he is very vigilant and follows her everywhere. He forgets about entertaining himself he puts her needs first. While on the other hand, Nate will end up forgetting that he was even in charge of her. And it's amazing how much Josh has blossomed since his baptism. His prayers have really became heartfelt and his understanding of the scriptures have also become better. We are so proud of our Josh!

Colton is 6

 Our little buddy just turned six!  He just finished up kindergarten. He learned so much and came a really long way. He really did make great progress, we are really proud of him. He is doing summer school to help supplement his reading. He is reading basic beginner books and I"m so proud of him. He loves the Dick and Jane books right now. He's gained a lot of confidence reading those. His talking has progressed and improved over the year. We all can understand most of everything he says.  He is really good at math-it comes really easy to him. I'm so proud of all the hard work he did this year. He's also growing taller and that has lead to him thinning out. He has thinned out significantly because I am constantly having to tighten up his jeans. It's kind of funny cause he's constantly pulling pants up.

He's excited to get his very own letherman.

He just can't help himself in cleaning his own wrapping paper. Our rule is that everyone else but the bday kid picks up the trash but Colton doesn't like chaos.

Checking out his new set of neo tracks. He enjoyed playing with those.

Him and his cake. He's always making silly faces-all the time. Not my best cake but it tasted really good.

Yes, the candle is a #3 but I also added another 3 individual candles to make it add up to 6. At the time I couldn't locate my new package of candles but of course I found them a week later.

We had a birthday party with friends a week before his birthday. He had never had a party and I at promised him one. I had initially wanted to do a bunch of water type of games but our weather did not cooperate.It was mid May and the weather was rainy and cool not very typical.  We had pizza and bread sticks when everyone arrived. And afterwards we had a few activities.

 

They made tinfoil swords. They used lots of tinfoil but had a blast with their swords. It was a fun and inexpensive activity. 

 Then I sent them outside with their swords to rescue some army solders that were buried in the sand. However, it wasn't that easy to find them. I had sprinkled them on the sand and had Audrey and Colton cover them with sand but.....that's not what they did. They buried them rather good and deep. It was kind of funny next time I suppose I should stay and observe what they do.

 Our last activity was doing some building with marshmallows and toothpicks. They were able to create and make whatever they wanted to. It was an ok activity but maybe not the best for this age group. They ate more marshmallows than build with them.

And of course we opened presents and had some ice cream cones. They all had a pretty good time. Colton had a really fun time. I was so relieved it was over, cause it's not my favorite thing to host parties. I'd rather not to birthday parties but I do them for my children's sake.

Colton is such a good little boy. He does what he's asked to without complaining, well, about 95% of the time. He is such a big help around the house. He does enjoy order and cleanliness. He likes to play jokes and be silly with everyone. He is my momma's boy. He loves to sit on me and hold my hand and rub my thumb nail. We can't imagine not having this little guy. We love him so much. Not really sure what we did to get such an obedient little guy but we'll keep him.

2014 Spring Break: Staycation

This is a month late but it's been busy around here. The way I figure it, one month behind is not actually that bad. I debated whether or not to put these on here or not. It was a lot of pictures to go thru that's why I didn't want to do it. But in the end I decided that I did want it documented.

 

This year for their spring break I had asked Danny to take it off as well. We didn't have money to go anywhere so we decided to stay home and do things here. There are just so many things to go see and visit out here and we never tend to do it. So, thus we ended up with our "staycation." And let me tell you that it was just as tiring as going on a real vacation somewhere. I had come up with a list of things that I thought the kids would like to do and go see. They were things that were free or reasonable. Then we discussed it as a family and made our list and scheduled our week. Here are a few select pictures from our week of activities.

 

GLADSTONE BOWLING ALLEY

Our first day of spring break was spent bowling.

The kids had a blast! Every time we pass the bowling alley, which is infrequent because of it's location to us, Audrey will point it out. She makes sure to remind me that we went there one time. They all would love to do it again.

 

AUDREY'S BIRTHDAY

The next day we spend celebrating this special girls birthday. She had such a fun day. Lots of fun presents from family and friends. She was a spoiled princess. (I loved her expression in this photo. She l-o-v-e-d her cake, she couldn't stop giggling.)

 

THE MONEY MUSEUM

Colton and Audrey pose for pictures. This place was free  in the downtown area. It's a small little museum. It's somewhere that we suggest going if you need something to just do one day.

Nathan and Josh's faces on money. Although, it was a quick tour, there were a few things for kids to do. And at the end of the tour they give everyone a bag of shredded money. Kind of a cool souvenir. But not so cool when it gets popped open on a child's rug, black rug, nonetheless.

Look at all that money! Who wouldn't love just one single row of some of that. I'm not even saying a section. But rather one small row would make me very happy.

LEGOLAND

Now let me just preface this with by saying this was not free nor cheap. But this was our big ticket item for the week. The kids were ecstatic when we threw this out as a option. This picture of the boys is at the end of the day so we didn't get Audrey in there because she was tired and grouchy.

Colton was very pleased with his airplane that we created. He had a lot of fun. He jumps up and down when he's excited. And he did that a lot this day.

Oh, Joshy! He is absolutely thrilled with his creation. He made this wheeled Lego then he was able to put it to the test and race others down different ramps. They spent a long while there.

They had various Lego pits all over. So the kids would jump in and just enjoy themselves. Nate is making some type of long boat or something. And well, Audrey started collecting those little green trees. She was hording them. Her pile became ginormous. It was funny because kids would find one and started handing them over to her.

Audrey is at the girl Lego's are. I think it was called Lego friends but don't quote me on that. She liked it there but didn't end up staying there for long.

Nate enjoyed burying himself in the Lego's. Danny and I don't know how they handled being in those pits. They were required to remove their shoes so they were barefoot. And if anyone has ever stepped on a Lego barefoot then you know the pain I'm talking about.

We do recommend going to LEGOLAND at least once for everyone. It's not necessarily cheap. We had a coupon that we got three of us in for free but to use it we had to wait in a "standby" line. The other option is to buy them online for a slightly discounted price but then you are assigned a time to arrive. Well, we wanted to use our coupon and got there just prior to opening. The line was actually already a good size. No big deal right? Wrong! It took an 1 1/2 to get in. They took everyone in first that had advanced tickets and would slowly let the standby line in. And let's not forget that it was cold that day too. We didn't bring jackets for us because we figured we'd get right in. So, we all, minus Danny or course, were freezing our woohoo's off. Luckily, Audrey had a small jacket in the truck. But it really was rather frigid that day. It was huge lines due to being spring break but I just didn't expect the wait times to be so crazy. The one bonus to all the long waiting is that I learned that our children are so NOT ready to go to Disneyland and wait in the long lines. They were so whinny and impatient and to think that I was pushing for a Disneyland trip for our family-I think we will now wait for several more years.

JESSE JAME PARK

Audrey and Nate having a marshmallow fight.

Colton and Josh getting ready for their battle.

We bought some cheap kites and had fun flying them at the park. They flew really well with all the wind we had.

Our picnic lunch at the park. Notice the boy in the back? He photo bombed my kids pictures

Daddy and Audrey having some lunch.

 Jesse James park in Kearney is one of our favorite parks. It's a 20 min ride north of us. We don't make it here often but when we do the kids are in heaven. Their slides are amazing! They have a fun spider web net that kids can climb on. The merry-go-round is one of Josh's favorite things to do while we are there. This is where we spend our 4th of July nights, that's how we found this place.

MOON MARBLE COMPANY

Everyone is getting ready for the demonstration on marble making. Not really sure what Colton is doing with his foot, silly boy. And Audrey's smirk is just hilarious!

And proof that I was on this vacation with my family. I loved this shot because everyone of the kids are looking in different places. What a perfect shot of reality.

Nate forced us all to get pictures in front of the sign. Here is Josh and Audrey.

Nate and Colton

Mom and Dad

 We totally recommend this place too. It's free and has lot of cool things to see in it's store. It has a lot of various toys and of course marbles. Lots and lots of marbles. We did let the kids all load up with a jar of marbles. I have to admit that I was also kind of into the different marbles they offered. It was kind of fun to pick them out. Nate chose a marble necklace that you can change out for different big marbles. It was a cool souvenir.


Friday night, after the marble store, we decided to end our week with a hot dog roast. We all roasted our own hot dogs and  had the usual kids picnic consisting of mac n cheese, chips, fruit from a can and juice. What a cuisine! Then of course we roasted marshmallows. We spent the rest of the night outside. Danny and I sat by the coals while the kids played, wrestled, played, wrestled and wrestled some more with each other. It was rather hilarious watching Colton and Josh wrestle each other to the ground. We had to coach Colton along several times but Josh could prove himself to be a very good wrestler one day.  Besides it being a little on the cool side, it was  a really fun way to end our staycation!

I loved how Josh is ready to shove his face with a marshmallow and Nate is trying to drop one in the coals to see what it does.

Half the family sitting around the coals.

Having Danny take a picture so that I have some evidence of being around.

Not sure what she's up too besides looking cold.

Oh Mr. Colton is up to something. But who knows what. He has something on his mind too.

Happy Birthday Josh-Josh!!

I uncovered this pictures in my files and it's one of my favorites of little Joshy. Look at those cheeks and his little grin. Seems like forever ago since he was that age.

Now my Josh is a big tough 8 year old. He's ready for his baptism.

The following pictures are of him and his personality from the year.

He is just being silly and goofing off with his crazy little grin.

He enjoyed learning baseball and playing all summer.

And this boy is in a music program right here. But he refused to do any of the dancing nor singing. And the worst part was he was on the front row. He is so stubborn-he just stands up there. And this has happened a few years in a row.

Josh loves the outdoors. He will spend hours outside. He loves to go out and explore and find things. Often he'll spend long periods of time outdoors.

He is a protector. He really watches out for Audrey and takes care of her. He is the one I tend to go to when it comes to helping me take care of Audrey. If at the park, I can put him in charge of her and he'll follow her everywhere and keep her safe. He is very dependable that way.

He enjoys building things and making legos. This was a lego car that he built. He spends a lot of time playing with his legos in his room. Too much time playing because he builds stuff when he is suppose to be reading books for bedtime.

This may not depict it well, but he loves to torment his younger brother. He is giving him bunny ears and being silly. He likes to wrestle Colton to the ground. And I have to say he's pretty good because Colton cannot take him down. His small wiry build comes in handy for wrestling.

Josh is a messy eater.And obviously marshmallows are a messy food. But he sure can do a number with food.

I also found this cute picture of Josh when he was a baby. I almost miss those baby years-almost. He was a relatively happy baby.

This is one of my favorites. I had gone downstairs and locked the baby gate. Well when I came back up this is what I saw. How cute is that! I couldn't resist a picture. And I think I spent a good few minutes playing with him there.

This was more evidence of him being a messy eater. It began from the very beginning. He honestly had to be naked for every meal. I actually came across many other pictures of him in the highchair covered in food. I've finally come to accept it from him. It's one of those things that  makes him unique.

 Well, that's our Joshy in a few pictures and words. He's a pretty good kid. He does like to torment his siblings but what kid doesn't. He can also be rather loud. You'd never know that if you know him at church or school but get him home and watch out. He has one of the loudest voices out there. It must come from his dad. The older he gets that more traits he has of Danny's. It's rather scary.  He's still pretty short. Danny was almost in high school before he had a growth spurt and I think he will be too. I went to lunch with him at school and noticed that a lot of the kids had grown significantly and he hadn't. But oh well, just means I can cuddle him longer. He is typically very easy going. It actually makes shopping for gifts kind of hard. He can be happy with anything which is great but on the other hand, it can make it hard to get him a great gift. His gift lists are usually very short and simple. Although, he's the 2nd kid, he tends to get overlooked. He's in the middle of 3 boys so he's kind of the middle child, maybe that's why he's so loud. He's a fun kid. We're glad that we have him. We are excited that he's chosen to get baptized in a few weeks. Can't believe that it's already coming up.Hopefully they don't fill it too high or he'll drowned! J/K, It's been an adventure with him over the last 8 years. Who knows what the next 8 years have in store for us with this kid. I can only hope that they continue to be as smooth as they have been thus far. We love you Josh!

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY 8 BIRTHDAY JOSH!!!!