Church-going!

Four faces.

Another to add to the clan.  They all look the same, but different.

Sitting with Santa!

Santa and Mrs. Claus

came to our Ward Christmas Party!  In years past, we've always had at least one kid who was too afraid of the white-bearded man, but this year was better!

Green Light could hardly contain his excitement while sitting on his lap!  He was kicking his legs and grinning from ear to ear!

 

 

Curvy Road was happy to sit on his lap though I don't think he said anything.

 

And after standing in the long line to have her turn, Miss Roundabout suddenly got a stomachache right when it was her turn....and she never went back.  Not quite sure what happened there.

Christmas Nativity.

For some reason and at the request of a couple old-time ward members, I decided to suggest that we bring back the Christmas Nativity program put on by the Primary children at the Ward Christmas party this year.  It was a lot of work, but it turned out to be so great!  The kids were all so cute!

Here's our two little sheep and and angel girl.

Even Superheroes have to sleep...

Green Light fast asleep with Brown Sugar and Tricky Ricky

Hallo-ween!

Well...
where to start?  Minus the first two years of her life when Straight Arrow and I chose her costume for her, Roundabout has never deviated from her favorite costume.  Princess.  We're 5 years running now.  At least she's beautiful and knows how to play the part, oh so well!

Green Light is into Super Heroes.  He knows nothing about them other than some of their names.  He doesn't know what they do, how they act, or really what their super powers consist of...but still, he loves super heroes.  This year, I bought him a Superman costume, but with his birthday money he bought himself a Spiderman costume.  And as a birthday present, he received a Batman costume.  He's been mulling it over for a couple of weeks and finally decided to be Batman.  He was a very serious Batman.

Curvy Road didn't know the first thing about what Halloween was all about, but he did know that his brother and sister were constantly talking about their costumes.  At first, he wanted to be whichever whim his big brother was on for the day.  But then, a change happened.  One of his  favorite songs is from the Wiggles and it's about pirates.  And from then on, he's been wanting to be a pirate.  He's told everyone he meets about it.

Straight Arrow put together a few select costume pieces to be a 70's-ish Orthodontic patient.  He made himself some fake braces, wide rimmed glasses, and gave himself some hair back.  He was quite the sight.

As for me, I'm just going along with baby in belly.  I made this "skeleton" shirt and I love it!  7 weeks until baby Linlee!  For being 7 months pregnant, I feel like I'm still pretty small.  Don't comment on that if your opinion differs!  :)

Brothers. Best Buddies.

They've started to do most everything together.  Curvy Road is Green Light's shadow.  And I'd have to say they are the best of friends!  I love these two boys SO much!

Brothers.

They love each other so much!
Every morning, they wander downstairs while Straight Arrow is getting ready for the day and wrap themselves in Dad's Blankie aka "Big Cold Green".  Sometimes they grab a bowl of dry cereal to munch on.  Other times, they just sit and cuddle.  Most mornings, they bring with them their stretchy Halloween mice that we have to stock up on every year to make them last until the next Halloween.  Weird, I know...but they love them!

Did I mention we went to the beach?

We got to go to Holden Beach with my brother, Owen, and his family.  We had a blast!  Since it was the weekend before school started, the beach was empty and we had it all to ourselves.  The water was awesome and the kids loved jumping in the waves, playing with cousins they didn't know, and digging in the sand for seashells.  Bedtimes were tricky and sleeping arrangements uncomfortable, but we had fun staying up with Owen, Haylee, and my dad playing card games.  It was the first time we've been able to play games with adults in a very long time! 

You've Had a Birthday!

Dear Green Light,
I can't believe you're already 5 years old!  My little, cute, happy-go-lucky baby boy is growing up.  You're such a wonderful boy and I am the luckiest mom in the world to have you.  You are a light to our family and everyone you meet.  You're a born cheerleader, always encouraging everyone and cheering everyone on to do their very best.  With a bright smile and bright eyes, you always brighten my day.  You love your brother and sister, your best friends in the world.  You love to play with both of them.

You are so talented.  You're a great sportsman and love to play anything having to do with a ball.  You love your Daddy time and beg him to play outside with you.  You are a great reader and love doing school with me.  You love math and always beg for more math.

I love you so much and I'm so glad you're mine!  We celebrated your birthday and then celebrated with a party a month later.  You really, really wanted to have your birthday party with friends when Grandpa was here.  And so we did.

For your birthday, all you wanted were books and a marble run.  Your favorite books right now are the Mr. Men series and you've set out to get the whole collection.  You also LOVE mazes.  

Homeschool for the boys!

Green Light has been beyond excited since May when his preschool ended because as he announced to anyone willing to listen, "I'm not going back to preschool.  I am doing homeschool!....forever!!!!"

He made certain that we would begin his schooling on Roundabout's first day of school.  And as he watched Straight Arrow pull out of the driveway with his big sister this morning, he turned to me and said, "First, we'll make a train.  Then, we'll count the cars.  And then, let's practice reading.  And then, we'll do math.  How's that sound?"

He added one thing to the plan and I added a bunch of read-aloud books.  But for the most part, we followed the plan.  He insisted on coloring a chipmunk "because they're just so cute".  He loved every minute of his homeschooled day!!

Green Light's rainbow chipmunk

Curvy Road's chipmunk

Giving me a heart attack.

Aunt Tiffany really wanted to hike up to Timpanogos cave, but since we had some little ones along we decided to picnic along Bridal Veil falls instead.  Such a beautiful place in a beautiful canyon!  Bridal Veil falls was one of the places where the doctor and I had engagement pictures taken.  It's so gorgeous and being there made me nostalgic for Utah again.

We picnicked and then strolled along with the kids to the bottom of the falls.  The kids took off their shoes and were wading in the water when Grandpa came over and offered to take one child up the falls.  Of course, you can't just take one when there's five who really want to go!  Before I knew it, there I was watching two of my children climb up a mountain through these slippery rocks in freezing, flowing water.  It was exciting at first because I knew how excited they were to go up with Grandpa.  Straight Arrow joined them in his flip flops to help herd the children up the way.

Within a few minutes, the trail and bridge below the falls were lined with strangers watching intently at these crazy people climbing straight up the middle of the falls.  The tension mounted more and more as they climbed and slipped and climbed and slipped. 

After what seemed like forever of watching my two little ones in peril, I called Straight Arrow up on the mountain and begged for them to come back down!  The kids took a vote and every kid wanted to come down except Green Light.  Luckily, Aunt Tiffany ran up the mountain and helped bring the kids down one by one. 

Reunion with old friends.

Back in Baity Hill, we had some of the best friends of a lifetime.  We had so much fun with the Manwarings, we traded babysitting every week, and we set up arranged marriages for our two eldest children.  :)  They moved to Utah before we were finished with school, but we've managed to keep in touch.  And whenever we visit Utah, we have to spend a little time together.  So thankful for great friendships!

Thanksgiving Point!

I love that place!  I remember going for the first time nearly 10 years ago and walking through the gardens as a newlywed and I was very excited to take my kids back there this year this time.  It was as beautiful as I remembered.  The favorite for the kids were the fish and frogs. 

Silly statue boy!

looking at the fish

It's so beautiful!

see the frog in the center?

Graduate.

In 2005, the Kindergarten cutoff date was October 15 in North Carolina.  And so, as my little boy was born in September and I thought about the years ahead, I knew that we'd have a 2nd grade girl and a Kindergarten boy.  I've planned on that for 4 years!  As of this year, the cutoff date changed to August 31...putting children within a 45-day range ineligible to enter school this fall.  What a bummer!  Believing that he'd enter school this coming fall, I enrolled him in a 3 morning/week preschool & gymnastics program this year.  It was quite the transition for him, he hated going in the beginning, but loved it by pick-up time.  And throughout the year, he's had fun, though I'm not convinced he actually learned THAT much.  His handwriting is better, but I taught him myself how to read.  So, we were faced with the dilemma of having our once eligible child tested to enter Kindergarten a year "early" or to wait until he falls within the new limit.

After so many months of contemplating and talking with different people and hearing of different experiences, we decided to wait.  Granted, he'll be 3 months away from turning 19 when he graduates from high school, but hopefully being that year older throughout school will play to his advantage.

Anyway, today was preschool graduation day.  A day that would be bittersweet if he were indeed starting Kindergarten in the fall, but instead was actually really exciting!  He "graduated" and is very, very excited to stay home to homeschool this fall.  I have to admit; I am pretty excited myself to get to have my little boy all to myself for one more year.  He's an awesome kid in so many ways.  So happy and cheerful.  Always willing to give a helping hand and the biggest cheerleader and encourager I've ever met.  He's obedient and tries to choose the right.  Says the most thoughtful prayers every day that just blow my socks off.  Gives the tightest hugs and has the greatest imagination.  Sensitive and just so loving.  I love him!

To celebrate, he got to choose a restaurant for us to go out to tonight.  His choice: McDonalds, of course!  Blech!

his teachers, Ms. Sarah and Ms. Susan; he'll miss them!

Share a Bowl.

The boys are always first to wake up and bound down the stairs and usually into my bed to cuddle for a few minutes before we hit the road running.  One boy on each side of me, competing for pillow space.  It's seriously one of my favorite times of the day.  I kiss their cheeks while they squirm in to get comfortable.  I gotta get all I can before Curvy Road says, "Eat, eat eat!" because that always sets off a series of events.
1.  Curvy Road says "EAT!"
2.  Green Light bolts out of my bed and runs full-speed ahead to the kitchen pantry.
3.  Plastic bowls and cups are kept at kid level around here.  (Also included in that list is bread, peanut butter, honey, and cereal.)
4.  He gets a bowl, grabs a box of cereal (hoping to find something sugary every once in a while), pours it to the brim, and races back. 
5.  Curvy Road joins him on the floor for their first breakfast.  Second breakfast follows a few short minutes later.
6.  My cuddles are over nearly as fast as they came.

Flippin' Fun!

This past year, Roundabout took a beginner's gymnastics class while Green Light attended the gym's preschool.  Both programs were fantastic and let the kids showcase their tricks at the Flippin' Fun Meet!  I've never seen Green Light so in his element, completely thrilled with what he was doing.  He just glowed!

Roundabout was excited too and did just as well.  She has more of a timdness and shyness to her that makes her a little more self-conscious than Green Light.  But all in all, they both had so much fun.  (Note that we were sitting SO far away...and so the pictures leave much to be desired.)