Happy, happy birthday, Canon dear!

Our family tradition is to go out and eat wherever the birthday boy/girl wants. That was a little difficult with Canon because he just repeated whatever anyone else said. So we narrowed it down to pizza or tacos and got him both. He started out on the taco and ended on pizza, so either way, we know he's happy. :) Canon had a lot more fun opening presents this year because he knows there's something inside to play with. He got some trucks and books that all make noises from the birthday fairy (thanks Aunt Tena) and a light up spinning toy from his sisters.

When Canon was done looking at this truck, Dad had a fun time figuring out that it made 3 different noises, and rolled forward on it's own if you pull it back. It's Canon's toy, Dad!

Guess who's 2 today????

The birthday fairy also gave him some oreos, which he began shoving in his mouth. :)

Dear Heavenly Father....

Dear Heavenly Father...Please bless that my mom won't still be mad about the mud incident. JK This kid refuses to sleep in the afternoon when I want him to, but can't quite make it to bedtime without a nap. He usually ends up falling asleep in the car when I'm picking up the kids from school, or in the middle of dinner without finishing his food.

Too cute to not take a picture. Maybe he's just faking it so he won't have to eat his broccoli!!

No training wheels!

We noticed last spring that Raegan had learned to balance enough that, even though her training wheels were still on, she wasn't using them to ride, just start and stop. So this morning, Scott decided we would take them off since the temperature is bearable in the morning and the kids are out of school for October break.

She started riding on her own the first time he pushed her off, and within 5 minutes, she was starting herself. There were a few spills when she tried to turn around to come back down the street and she still doesn't quite know how to use the brakes. But she will be distracted for a few hours. Maybe we can get something done. :)

Such a Boy!

So what do you do when you walk outside and find this? You grab the camera, duh! It was all fun and games until we told him we would have to hose him down. Not so fun to play in the mud anymore huh?

We're in transition from summer to winter garden, so there's nothing in these plots but the water still runs. Canon thinks it's a great mud bog and we caught him playing in it.

Don't look at me...I'm hideous!

What do YOU do during Conference?

We like to pull out the legos and make trucks!! Well, at least Scott and Canon do. :) Scott took a trip to the lego store for his birthday last month, and showed amazing restraint as he waited to play with his new toys until it was time for General Conference. This has become a tradition for our family to play with legos while we listen to the words of the prophet. I think it started when we were trying to figure out a way to keep Scott awake. :)

C'mon Dad! I want to play too!!
We enjoyed listening to General Conference on the internet, as the cable station that used to carry Conference wanted too much money to broadcast it this year, and the Church said no. I'm so grateful for modern technology that allows us to listen to the prophet in the comfort of our own home. The internet CAN be used for positive things.

When they were younger, Scott used to make little trucks for all the girls to play with. Now they are old enough to copy his design and make their own. Canon likes to take the trucks Dad makes and crash them. I don't think Scott likes that game very much. :P See how he protects his semi so Canon can touch but not destroy?

Saguaro Lake

We got to go as a family to Saguaro Lake on Fri with another family from our ward that had access to a boat. Previously, taking small children out on a big, deep lake has filled me with anxiety. But there were a lot of precautions taken to ensure everyone's safety. And the kids are a little older, so it seems my apprehension is directly related to their age. :) The older they get, the less apprehensive I am. Here is Rylee trying her luck at wake surfing. It's where you surf the curl of the wake. Done correctly, you don't even have to be hanging on to any ropes from the boat. You just use the ropes to get into the curl, and then the force of the wake propels you behind the boat, just like surfing a big wave. It is slower than water skiing or wake boarding, but looks really cool. :)

Aubree actually got up on water skis! It was pretty rough...it's her first time. But it helped that Dad was in the water with her giving direction and encouragement. She was only up for about 20 seconds, but it was a great experience. Now that she knows she can do it, next time won't be so difficult.

Scott got really close to being successful at wake surfing. He almost got up on two feet, but it takes so much out of your arms, you tire easily. I just thought this was a really cool action shot. Look, Mom, only one hand!

Canon was absolutely giddy in the water. It was infectious. He learned how to say boat and water on this trip. He was able to communicate water before, but it sounded like "waller". Now he can annunciate both words. His favorite thing to do was stand on the back deck of the boat, which was about 2 1/2 ft wide and kick water at the girls who were swimming. What a stinker!

Kiersten was the only one that had a little fear of getting in the water. Some areas were cold and she didn't like the idea of not being able to see the bottom. But we got her in eventually and she had a blast! We talked this family into taking us again this Thurs for Scott's birthday. :)

First Lion's Pride day of 2010-2011 school year!!

Lion's Pride days occur at the end of every quarter grading period. At the beginning of the grading period, each student is given 10 Pride points, and in order to participate in Lion's Pride days, they have to hang on to atleast one point. It's a system of rewarding good behavior. I am in charge of planning and carrying out Lion's Pride days and I decided that since we're still setting heat records in the Valley of the Sun, we would have a water day!
So the fire dept came and hosed down our students as well as our camping tarps that acted as a big slip and slide for our first activity. It took a few minutes for the kids to get crazy, but after just a little while, even the teachers were taking over the hoses and sliding down the tarps.
We had the water on for about 30 minutes, and the field was wet and muddy. But the kids are obviously having fun.

We also played water kickball, where the bases are kiddie pools and you literally have to slide into home plate because it's a slip and slide. Some of the other stations were drip, drip, splash played like duck, duck goose, only with BIG wet sponges, water volleyball with water balloons, and water dodgeball. We filled up about 2,000 water balloons Thurs afternoon, thinking that would be plenty. By the time we were on our second of 5 rotations, they were asking for more. It was a frenzy trying to keep up with the demand for water balloons.

It was a successful activity with only minor sun burns and a few bruised egos. I would really like to keep the energy going with a killer Lion's Pride day in Oct. Any ideas for a theme??