My Sweet Kyle!

This weekend we celebrated my sweet Kyle's 4th birthday! I'll let the pictures do most of the talking, but here is a list of the highlights:
*froggie cupcakes for preschool friends on Friday with a few frog toys from his brother (say that five times fast!)
*Kyle telling me after school that they were "delicious"
*a couple of hours spent on a snake cake that made him super excited when he woke up
*Chad saying it was "awesome" in his newly acquired valley dude voice
*a few hours at the zoo with Aunt Karin and cousins Audrey and Dallin
*lunch at McDonald's thanks to Aunt DiDi
*a new desk with all of the supplies
*a lot of time spent coloring with cousins
*having a fun party with cousins Abby, Cannon, Lincoln, Marcus, Tiari, Audrey, Dallin, Grandma Hobson, Aunt Kristina, Aunt Karin, Uncle Clay and Aunt Tricia, and Liz's cousin Marianne
*Alison totally bonded with Grandma Hobson (She may be over the totally freaking out when she sees her phase!)
*fun inside and outside toys from everyone
*swinging and sidewalk chalk
*quick baths
*and very worn out children who slept past 8 o'clock!

Kyle is an amazing little four year old! He is spunky and loves life! He has learned so much this year, and loves bugs, coloring, writing notes, riding bikes, reading, dancing, and eating tons of SNACKS! He makes me smile and laugh all of the time, even when he's in time out! He is trying soooo hard to teach me patience! I just love this boy!

Simple Things

Mother's Day came and went, and I realized this year that it's a funny holiday for me because I always spend the day avoiding being a Mother! My sweet children, with some help from Jeff, took good care of me...breakfast in bed and all! I love being Chad, Kyle, and Alison's Mother! We sure have our share of good times together! As I was just thinking about this week and looked over the pictures that I took, I realized we had a pretty good week just doing a lot of simple things! That doesn't mean we were free from fighting or yelling, but we're trying! Simple thing #1: feeding the ducks, I mean GEESE, with some of our friends. Simple thing #2: playing with a cardboard box. I have to elaborate on this one...this box has entertained the boys and our neighbors for HOURS!!! It's been colored all over, used as a fort, used as a slide on our stairs, used as a hiding place for hide-and-go-seek, rolled in all over our driveway, torn apart and used as surf boards, and finally used for some crazy/wonderful imaginary world involving spaceships and special powers! Oh my! And to think we spend MONEY on TOYS!!! Simple thing #3: playing with cousins we haven't seen for a long time! It was so good to see the Jones' even for just a few hours! And simple thing #4: playing Checkers with cookies on a homemade board! (It's really hard not to jump Chad and Kyle's pieces every turn!!! I want them to learn the rules but also have a little success so they'll keep wanting to play! Tricky!) The weather has been Heavenly, and I've really enjoyed being outside with the kids, riding bikes, swinging on the tree swing, trying to keep Alison from swallowing too many rocks and plants, and just hanging out with our neighbors! Life can be crazy, but it's the simple things that make all the difference!

FIRST and LAST

FIRST Kiss for Alison...

LAST Soccer game for the boys and Coach Jeff...

Not much to blog about...not feeling very inspired tonight! But thought one or two of you would enjoy these photos!

(Well, I stand corrected....I'm a mother and I forget things...this technically isn't Alison's FIRST kiss...the little cutie has had boys after her since she was born! Her first boyfriend was Ben, but HE did all of the kissing! :) Now that she is one, she's moved on to being the aggressive one! Thank you Kerri for helping me keep things straight...there goes my cute title! Oh, and Mom...consider this admittance that I forget things another one of those realizations that Mom's DO THE BEST THEY CAN!!!)