Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

March is a fun month.  There are so many holidays!  Dr. Seuss's Birthday, Pi Day, and St. Patrick's Day!  My kids think it's awesome, and so do I.  Here are some pictures of our birthday party for Dr. Seuss.

First, we had to decorate.  We added Truffula Trees, Polka Dots, and a "Happy Birthday" Banner to our kitchen.  It was way too cool.

 Then we had to get the food right.  Green Eggs and Ham, and Pink Ink Drink (and then a few extras to make it balanced.

And, of course, we needed party hats!

 

And what would a party be without games?

Then, in honor of the great author, we read some of his books.

Dramatically! ha ha!

And then ate some Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!  Thank you for all the wonderful children's books you shared with the world!

Fall Break in Review

Fall Break started on a Wednesday.  In fact, the very Wednesday that we received our package in the mail.  (Great way to start the fun).  We decided we needed to do some fun things for the break.  It's not easy to think of fun things to do when: 

1.) You aren't familiar with the area 

and 2.) You don't yet have any friends.  

So, we had to improvise.  Here is a lot of pictures of the things we accomplished during the 6 day break:

We did some art.  We used recycle goods to make bats!

 Once the bats were made, instead of hanging them up from the trees outside as planned... we played indoor soccer with them.  I'm thinking that was even more fun.

We explored the canyon.  Look at those colors!  I love seeing the autumn leaves!

 We walked to the only store in town and bought ice cream!

 We played at the park... a lot!  

 On Saturday, we went up "north" to do our supplies shopping.  We decided to make it a fun day, so we left early and stopped at Thanksgiving Point to check out a museum that my awesome cousin, Liz, told me about.  "The Museum of Natural Curiosity".  Thanks to our passes to the Science Center (which we won't be visiting any time soon) we were able to get into the Museum for free.  It was really neat.  Here are a few pictures.

 Brandon was brave and took 3 young kids into a pitch black tunnel.  They didn't like it too much... but they did it.  And I watched from outside.

 In case you were wondering... this is how much the ENTIRE Smithson family weighs.  We all got on together.

Sunday was our first opportunity to visit church.  Until then, it had been conferences and more conferences.  It was nice to sit in regular meetings.  The children still haven't had a regular Sunday, as they have been practicing for the primary program, but at least they got to meet some more kids!

It was a fun Fall Break!

The first 2 hours...

When Melanie was born, we joked that she was mischievous.  And, for all we knew, she was pretty sneaky.  Then we had Noelle! Now, Noelle made Melanie look innocent.  Noelle was the mischievous one.  Surely!

Enter Oliver!

This is the adventure that I have been on in just the 1st two hours of today.

5:15 am. his eyes fly open, and it's the beginning of the day.  Ready or not, he is up!  In case you are wondering, I didn't make up that time.  It was 5:15... and it is always 5:15.  I'm not sure how that works, but it is ALWAYS 5:15.  He hits the ground running.  The sound of his feet scurrying across the floor sounds eerily like a small villain in a horror film.  One that I haven't seen, but know that they make.   And where is he off to you ask?  I know the answer.  I ALWAYS know the answer.  It's always the same.  The Kitchen!  Specifically, the counter.  And some how, no matter how fast I am, he is always already on the counter before I get there.  The question isn't what will he be doing, but what will he find and what is he looking for.  Unfortunately, last night I feel asleep really early and didn't finish cleaning up the kitchen.  So, on the counter, there were some knives and glass dishes.  Luckily, he is still safe.  

I inform Oliver that it is too early.  He has to go lay down.  I give him options: a) My bed, b) the couch, c) his bed.  He chooses the couch.  I choose my bed.  Silly Mommy!  

5 minutes later, I hear a noise in the kids' bathroom.  Up and out I go.  There he is, in the sink, trying to paint his nails with the polish he found on the top shelf in the vanity.

Once again, I get him down and inform him that he has to go lay down.  This time we both choose the couch.  We drew pictures together.  Noelle joined us.  And at some point, I dozed off.  Silly Mommy.  

At 6:20 am, I heard a noise.  This one wasn't as easy to pin point.  I realized I had dozed off and jumped up.  I passed the kitchen, noted that he wasn't on the counter, and headed to the bathroom.  He wasn't in there.  I heard the noise again.  It came from the kitchen.  I walked into the kitchen and didn't see anything.  I said "Oliver?" and heard a faint giggle.  That is when I realized that the refrigerator door was cracked open just the tiniest bit (maybe an inch).  I opened it, and there I found Oliver... trying to sneak one of Brandon's mini candy bars.  Wow!  If he had been any skinnier, he would have been able to close that door!  I didn't see that one coming

So, I decided that I'm up for the day.  I am usually up by then anyhow, but I was tired after a bad night of sleep.  I got Oliver dressed for the day.  Then, Melanie got up.  The day has officially started (like it hadn't before?) I went to get Preston (who was also up), and came back down the hall to put him in the living room.  Passing the girls' room I caught a glimpse of the full moon.  A small version of the full moon.  Oliver.  Naked.  Jumping on his sisters' bed.  Nice!  I put Preston down and went back to get Oliver redressed.   Oliver wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of getting dressed, and ran away from me, screaming like a girl.  Eventually, I convinced him that putting clothes on was the best idea.

I got breakfast ready, fed the kiddos. Then went to feed Preston.  Of course, mom nursing is some sort of cosmic sign that more chaos needs to happen.  While I was feeding Preston, Oliver decided to wash his hands... but got distracted when he pushed the plug into the drain.  Next think I know, I hear the water STILL running and splashing.  I got Melanie to turn off the water for me, but there was nothing I could do about the splashing until I was done feeding Oliver.  It's a true test of patience to know that someone little is getting into trouble and you can't stop it.  I called his name, but he was momentarily deaf.

Once I was done nursing, he was out of there and smiling ear to ear thinking of his next adventure.

All that happened by 7:15.  2 hours!  I'm pretty sure today is going to be an adventurous day!

Noelle's Stuffed Animal Party

Noelle has been planning a stuffed animal party since January.  At first, I thought it was a fleeting plan.  Something that she would do just playing around in the toy room, or something she would talk about but then give up on.  February came and went, and still that stuffed animal party was high on Noelle's list of things to talk about.  Then March and April slipped by.  Not a day went by without Noelle telling me something else that we would do at the party.  So...  When May seemed to be coming to an end and she was *still* planning this party, I decided to give in.  

We had a stuffed animal party.  It wasn't as grandiose as Noelle had planned (she wanted a lot of things that I didn't have the time or energy to do), but I think it was still a success.  Here are some pictures from the gathering.

We made party hats!

We played games.  (Don't laugh or judge them, I spent a bunch of time making them!)

Pin the carrot on the bunny!

This is random, but cute... Oliver pulling Charlotte on his trike.

Bean bag toss!

Ring toss!

Then they decided to make MORE hats. After that, we had a party treat of rice crispies.

The finale of the party was indoors.  We did the freeze dance with our stuffed animals.

In the end, everyone had a great time and went home exhausted, though probably not as exhausted as I was!  I'm so grateful for a daughter that is creative and thinks up things like a "stuffed animal party".  I'm also grateful that I was able to put it together for her.