Evie thinks she can do everything her big sisters and brothers can. For a while, she absolutely loved to make toast. We have a toaster oven, so she learned how to use it (pretty much) herself! Funny little lady!
How she gets tall enough!
Enlisting Joe's help this timeDavid's Blue and Gold Dinner for Scouts was a bit ago. The boys had an opportunity to decorate a cake to share with the families that came. David had a fun time looking at cake ideas and finding just the right one for him--the foosball cake!
He was thrilled to win the certificate for Most Original. Good Job, David!
David and Joe have always gotten along just fine, but we have noticed that as Joe gets older, the boys have found more and more ways to spend good time together.
One night Joe was even willing to let David read him his story instead of me! It truly is one of my favorite things to watch my boys become better friends.
We are loving the new back yard! I don't think we will miss the pool at all this summer. The kids have so much more room to run and play! The boys can't wait for the basketball hoop to arrive in a couple of weeks.
These pictures are the remainder of the "conversion" process. Pictures of the yard in actual use will come in time!
We keep saying things like "After this project, we will be done doing things for the house for a bit." Then another project comes. And sometimes another.
About a month ago we decided we finally needed to get a new front door. We got new bark and finally decided on the new plants we wanted in the front yard. That was going to be it for the year. But then we decided it would be great to have a new back door as well, since our slider it pretty terrible. It slides shut so hard, I am so afraid someone will lose a finger! So we now have that idea in the works.
The biggest project we decided to do was to get rid of our pool. Crazy? Absolutely not. We have not enjoyed this pool as much as we would have liked to. It never warms up, so it is not as enjoyable (at least for mom) to swim in. It is not a very big pool, but they placed it in such a way in the back yard that we don't get to enjoy much actual yard.
The pool was pretty easy to get out, it took only a day and a half. We are currently stuck in the middle of fixing the landscaping, which is taking longer due to the rain.
We can't wait for it to all be done so we can get out and run and play and enjoy our yard!
I learned a great trick. You can take an old t-shirt and refashion it into a cute toddler skirt. I think that it is such a clever idea! It works great in our house since there are plenty of hand me downs I could refashion for Evie to wear now instead of four or more years down the road! I have only done one so far, and it isn't as cute as it could be...but it was quick and easy and a nice first effort to see how I like them.
Evie thinks it is pretty cool. especially because it has pink in it. She sported it the other day, of course wearing as much pink along with it that she could find. Yes, she is dressing herself still!
The shirt
The new skirt
Ez and I have been talking about taking a trip to Hawaii for years, but it has never been the right time. Now that the kids are a bit older and more independent, we decided this was the year to make it happen.
A HUGE thank you goes out to my parents for coming out and staying with the kids while we were not home, and to Ez's mom who came in and filled in the last day as well.
Hawaii was wonderful. We stayed on Oahu with the intention of doing some of the touristy kind of things, as well as relaxing on the beach. We spent the first couple of days in Honolulu. We hiked Diamond Head, visited Pearl Harbor and the Punchbowl Cemetery, as well as a neat botanical garden. We hiked Makapuu Point, we wandered downtown and visited the Dole Plantation. It was busy and fun to just see so many neat places.
One of our favorite parts of Honolulu was our dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. We've wanted to go there for quite a while, but have never made it. Vacation seemed like the perfect opportunity. The steaks were delicious, just as we have heard, but I think my very favorite part of the meal was their sweet potato casserole. Seriously. I will never be able to eat sweet potatoes again without comparing them to that casserole. Seriously. They were that delicious!
The last couple of days we headed out to the other side of the island for a nice, quiet, relaxing stay at Turtle Bay Resort. We took wonderful, long walks on the beach and swam a bit in the ocean. We also got to visit BYU Hawaii and the Laie Hawaii Temple. Unfortunately, the temple is closed for some reconstruction so we were not able to go inside, but did enjoy the visitor's center.
We spent our last day at the Polynesian Cultural Center, which was such fun! We had a great tour guide and saw and learned a lot. We enjoyed the luau and show in the evening. Directly after the show, we headed to the airport for a red eye home back to reality and 5 children that missed us dearly!
We had such a fantastic time!
Loved these trees!
View from our room at Turtle Bay
On the beach at Turtle Bay
It was a bit windy...
Cool bird in the hotel
We ate at this awesome shrimp truck twice. Yup. Twice.
On the way out...We had a rather busy month for some reason, and not a lot of pictures were taken. Here are a couple more cute ones, however!
Lily sporting a recently missing tooth
Evie sporting a cute headband, allowing mom to pretend she has hair!
Alexis--a little blurry, but still cute!
Evie pretending to play Band Hero
Joe on the drums
Our weather is pretty predictable here, and it doesn't change much! We get sun in the summer, mostly sun and some rain in the winter. You know, it's thrilling weather-wise! BUT, a few weeks ago during the middle of a number of rainy days, we heard a funny noise outside. We opened the door and saw hail! Perhaps that's not exciting to many, but our kids absolutely loved it!
It is obvious to all parents dropping their kids off at school when it is time for Egyptian projects to be due for the sixth graders. There are kids in costumes or holding large projects everywhere!
Alexis being in sixth grade means that this was our year to participate. Prior to Christmas she drew her topic out of the "bag", and ended up with the assignment to do her report and 3D model on the Luxor Temple Complex. Of course, out of all the choices there were to be had, my guess is that one is the largest structure. The Complex is so big! We had to set our creative minds to building a good yet inexpensive model....
Ez helped Alexis finalize her report in the form of a very cool Power Point. Mom helped with the model, which we finally decided would best be built with straws! It was a lot of work, but we had a good time. Alexis was really proud of her creation and was excited that she got to display it in the school library for a while. Projects were due the day the kids came back from vacation at the start of January.
A few weeks later Alexis had Egyptian day, where the kids get dressed up in costume and spend the day learning and doing projects and such about Egpyt. Her costume was made by mom, of course...
The family decided a fun Christmas gift for Grandma Jane would be a girl's night out to see Wicked in San Francisco! We didn't get there until January 22nd, but it was worth the wait. It was a fun night, and we did surprise her with the gift.
We ate dinner at California Pizza Kitchen in Emeryville and made sure to visit the tasty pastry shop close by for delicious cookies.
The show was fantastic, as expected. It was Grandma, Alexis and Lily's second time seeing the show. It was Keri's fourth....and of course we are so glad that there is no close date on the show so that she can find more reasons to go again!
I love when Evie dresses herself! You just never know what she is going to come up with. On this particular day, the only change to her wardrobe from her jammies was the addition of a random hat that is still slightly big. I thought it was really cute!
Evie decided it would be fun to pull out her little drum and play and march around. Of course, the music sounds much better when holding the drumsticks backward!
Oh, to be two and a half and have your mom think *most* of what you do is just too cute!
***Two and a half year old fits excluded!
David got his birthday gift a bit early this year. On the morning of December 26th, we surprised David with tickets for him and Ez to the Emerald Bowl at AT&T Park to watch USC play. They went along with some good friends, so it was a great outing. David was so surprised and thrilled.
The game was great, even through the bit of rain they had. The best part? USC won, of course!
The rest of David's birthday celebration was simple and low key (and on his actual birthday, of course). He requested chocolate cake with chocolate icing, and got a few fun gifts including a cool USC calendar that plays the fight song.
Happy Birthday, David!
Christmas Morning surprise (due to the Band Hero sitting out)
Evie was happy with all things princess in her stocking
Joe
David
Alexis
Lily loved her robe from Grandma Jane
Evie and Keri
Evie
Alexis
David and Ez
David