Stop Blowing Wind

Lyle and Rex, READY to go OUTSIDE as soon as the wind will stop blowing!

Right after this, Lyle leaned over to Rex and grabbed his hair and pulled! I had to "separate" them for the first time the other day because they wouldn't keep their hands and feet to themselves while they were drinking their bottles. Lyle can pull himself to a standing position, and can crawl for real. Rex figured out a sippy tonight.

36 Years

My birthday was made sweet by the little moments my family gave me today.

As soon as I came in from running at 6:30, Hyrum sang me "happy birthday" in his shy, morning voice, then gave me a big hug.

Sariah worked on these cards for me. The one on the left even has real flowers from our early bloomers in the back yard.

Bryant wished me a sincere "Happy Birthday" several times today. He also gave me a coupon for anything I want with no expiration date. That could come in really handy.

Talmage made sure we had pizza for dinner, James picked it up. Talmage also said our evening family prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for the treat it was to spend Mom's birthday with her.

James rented a movie so we could have a little R&R together tonight, but we were too tired to stay up and watch it (must be 36), so we watched a little video of Sister Hinckley so he could get it in the right spot for his seminary lesson. (When I grow up, I want to be like Sister Hinckley.)

Others made me feel special too:

Lizza brought me a way too big candy jar full of peanut M&Ms (a favorite) with a fun metal scoop. She also made an amazing little photo book that is beautiful in and of itself.

Meredith brought me her maple nut cake. Also a favorite since I first tasted it a couple of years ago. (You can see some little fingers went back for seconds too.)

A sweet couple in my ward brought me tulips. I'm hoping I can save the bulbs, but for now I'm just loving their "spring" feel.

And Sariah made sure her Dad took her to the store so she could get me some flowers---hot pink and yellow daisies.

Also I love my birthday because I get to talk to most of my siblings...
...even if I do have to remind them. :).

Taste of Farm Life

Until our own "farm" materializes, we are grateful for our good friends the McBrides who take us to their farmlife. The kids got hands on experience with a baby calf, baby kittens, baby pigs, and 50 baby chicks!

...And a few "deere".

Rex and Lyle enjoyed sightseeing on the trip from their two seater stroller.
This was our favorite shot of the day though.

Today

"Making your way in the world today, sure does take a lot."

This one line from the song keeps going through my mind with each day now.
It just takes a lot of work to make it through a day.

For the first time, I took the entire crew to the library by myself!

Rex figured out how to army crawl the day before yesterday.
Lyle is figuring out the true crawl. And, I think he pulled himself up to the couch today.

The highlight of the day though was my walk with Sariah and Hyrum. Mom was here this morning and since I haven't run all week because of a cold, I decided we'd run our errand on foot. It was about 2 miles of walking so I took the wagon because I thought they'd get tired of walking. Nope. They walked the whole way except for one stretch. That stretch is known as "hospital hill" and I didn't walk it either. I sat in the wagon with Hyrum in front and Sariah behind and we rode down the hill. I kept telling the kids, "put your hands in the air and yell whee." Sariah kept yelling, "stop! stop!" But, I didn't. I was having way too much fun! At the bottom, I probably wore a few millimeters off my running shoes when we finally had to stop, but it was worth it!

Rex and Lyle

This picture doesn't show Rex and Lyle sitting at Sariah's feet. She uses them very often as her audience or class. (And no, this isn't a mirror image photo. As you see it is exactly how Rex and Lyle are learning to write their names.)

Brothers---Lyle and Rex.

Sunday morning (daylight savings nonetheless) Rex woke a little too early for me, so I stuck him in bed with us. He fell asleep! So nice!

Pinewood Derby

A week ago tonight was the pinewood derby---a MUCH anticipated event at our house. This year three cars were made since James didn't want Hyrum to feel left out. Of course we were down to the final minutes with finishing touches (you know, those "embellishments" like wheels!). This year James even bought a newstand magazine on making pinewood derby cars. I don't think he's ever bought a magazine in his life!

Grandpa was so good to travel the 45 minutes to support the boys.

These were my scouts a couple weeks ago when they got to go see

(This is the scout patch they received.)

Talmage's decorated Cub Scout Shirt

Every day is scouting with Talmage. James told him that he earned all the Webelos pins before he turned 11, so that is Talmage's goal too.