Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to my brother on his 21st birthday.
We love our Uncle Sean here. In fact, Ben carries around a picture of his beloved uncle.

Sean is so good with kids. He has a talent with the little people. All my kids have loved hanging out with him. We are lucky to have a brother and uncle in our lives who is so thoughtful of others and very giving.

One of the memories that I have of him growing up is of a time we went to the library. He was so excited when he found a book for me that he thought I might like. It was about baby sitting and I was into the Baby Sitters Club Series at the time. I will never forget the look on his face of how proud he was to find something for me.
Sean had it a little rough with two sisters who pestered him growing up. There were many, many times he ended up in girls clothing and make-up against his will.

He will always be reminded of his sayings that have become classic "Sean Moments." For example, in reference to stretch marks he said, "they are just scratches that won't go away." If you look closely, you can tell the older pictures of Sean with the kids by how much hair he has. He is definitely getting a big 'M' on his head for Magnificent!

We love you Sean and are thinking of you on your special day!

Fours and Sixes

I was recently tagged by my friend Rebecca. This is a picture tag. You are supposed to go to your photos on your computer and find the 4th file then pick the 4th photo. I must first start by saying my pictures aren't that organized. The first picture is of Hyrum during our Valentine's Dinner that we had earlier this year. You can tell he was really excited about the cars. The second picture has to do with another tag my friends Laura and Erin did. Instead of doing the number four, number six is the lucky number. You go to your photos on your computer and find the 6th file and then pick the sixth photo. The picture below is a picture of Hyrum in one of the many forts Brandon has made with him. You might remember this particular picture from The Bargain post. Brandon made a deal with Hyrum that if he would clean up his room, he would make him a fort.
I tag Stephanie M., Lissa C., Emily A., Jen D., Starla E., Libby, Kristen D. and who ever else wants to do it. It is a fun tag.

Fun at the Zoo!

One of the things Hyrum wanted to do with my parents when they came to visit was to take them to the zoo. You might remember my previous post about my dad being afraid of snakes. Hryum wanted to take my dad to the zoo and show him the snakes.

In front of the Zoo they have cement creations of various animals (very cool). They had all the animals dressed up in costumes. My favorite one was a Hippo in workout gear with a treadmill and dumbbells. Hyrum wanted to get his picture taken by the Thomas the Train Rhino.

Hyrum doing a silly pose.

Ben and Emily were in heaven! Like I have mentioned before, they are huge animal fans. They loved the monkeys! Below are pictures of them with Grandma and Papa looking at the monkeys. They also enjoyed looking at the giraffes, sea lions and polar bears. It was so cute to hear their little animal sounds they would make as we went from one animal to another.

In the aquarium area with the sea lions and polar bears Ben loved every minute. He would run from one side to the other just laughing and chasing the animals as they swam back and forth.

Every time we have gone to the zoo recently Hyrum has wanted to sit in a picture booth to get his picture taken. So, Hyrum and Grandma sat in the booth and go their picture taken.
Hyrum told Papa that he would hold his hand while they looked at the snakes so he wouldn't be scared. Here they are standing in front of the entrance to the Herpetarium. Looking at the BIG, SCARY snake!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

A couple of weeks ago, we received invitations in the mail (each kid got one; a big hit) to go to grandma's birthday party. At first I thought that my mom was just sending the invitations for fun. However, after my mom kept asking me if I noticed anything on the invitation, I came to realize that there was more to the invitation then I first thought. After a few hints from her I realized that the invitation meant that either she was coming to our house or we were going to her house. As it ended up, both my parents came to celebrate my mom's birthday, Ben and Emmy's birthday and just to have fun.

For my mom's birthday we went to Chuck-E-Cheese. When we got out of the car, I think Emmy remembered the place. She was jabbering excitedly about something to us. Also, as soon as we got into the place, Ben wanted to be put down and he took off running to the activities.

We all had a great time. The kids, especially Emmy, really loved the duck game again. Emmy and Ben also enjoyed the car rides where the car/tractor/truck moves back and forth when you put the coin in.
Hyrum enjoyed having Papa there to teach him how to play skee ball, ride in the rolller coaster ride with him, play air hockey (and grandma played too) with and many more games. We had such a great time watching the kids run from one activity to the next.
After soccer practice, we came home and sang Happy Birthday to my mom and watched her blow out her candles. Afterwards, each child had to have a turn blowing out the candles. We figured why not, it would be great practice for their birthdays.We got my mom the Mama Mia soundtrack for her birthday. As you can tell by her face, she loved it. When I was in Utah during the summer, my mom, sister and I went to the movie. On one side I had my sister making comments about how cheesy the show was and on the other my mom was singing the songs (after all, the songs are from her era). Although she enjoyed the cd, I think her favorite present was the one my dad gave her and that was the tickets to come to Memphis.

Talking Tibberators

As I was sitting at the computer today, Hyrum came up to me and said, "Are you checking your email like Papa?" So crazy, I didn't think he knew the word email.

When I gave the twins some teddy grahams as a treat after lunch, they started moving the bears from one pile to another counting.Of course two and other numbers that they knew were said over again. Then they wanted me to come and count the grahams with them. So cute! Can you tell we have been counting at our house? They love to count; especially when we play hide and seek. Good times!

Birthday Fun... Well, Sort of

This past Sunday we decided that we should "celebrate" (open presents, cake) Ben and Emmy's birthday shortly after church even though they had a short nap and a long day at church. Are we crazy, yes, but we wanted my parents to be there for the "celebration" before they flew back home. As a result, tired and cranky kids.

Here they are opening their presents from their Great-Grandma B. They loved the cars!Hyrum was so cute. He was so excited to give his presents to Emmy and Ben. Hyrum really enjoyed helping Ben and Emmy open their presents. I felt bad that Ben and Emmy weren't that excited when they opened his presents, but they loved them later.

Hyrum got Ben a Thomas the Train shirt. Ben had to have Papa help him put on the shirt the moment he opened it. The railroad sign even lights up. Ben is in love with his shirt.Hyrum got Emmy some tickle socks and Baby legs. She is totally into socks right now, so I thought she would love the socks. She didn't at first (Hyrum was putting them right in her face after she opened the), but the next day wore the socks and loved them.Grandma and Grandpa T. gave the Ben a Leap Frog Barn. You put the animals in the barn and match the pieces together. Any time we go to anyone's house who has this toy, the kid love it. The toy tells you facts about the animals and their sounds and color. The kids love it! They are big animal fans.Emmy received a grocery cart from Grandma and Grandpa T and has loved it. My parents gave the twins a play kitchen, but when we got it out of the box to put together the main part was broken. What a bummer! We still have to return it. The kids also received capes for their birthdays and lots of books from my parents. Brandon and I are giving them some play food to go along with their kitchen, but we haven't opened the packages yet.

Hyrum told me that he wanted to get Emmy pink cupcakes for her birthday. Being the ambitious mom that I am I went to Wal-mart and found a packet of white and pink cupcakes and called it a party. We put candles in the cupcakes for the kids to blowout.The kids practiced on Grandma's birthday blowing out candles so they knew what to do. They were so cute! Ben did a great job blowing out his candles.
They were so funny eating their cupcakes. So different. Emmy took one lick and then used her palm to shove the whole thing in her mouth at once. Ben on the other hand took dainty little bites. You think that it would be reversed. Oh well, either way they really enjoyed their cupcakes and ate three of them. Happy Birthday sweet Emmy and sweet Ben.