school pics

yes, my baby is starting preschool

my big 2nd grader

love this picture because Mason pulls this face all the time!

My little artist

Mason is such a little artist.  He loves to draw and sometimes will do it for hours.  One time I asked him what something was and he had drawn a ship from top perspective as if you were looking down on it. Amazing! love this kid.

camping trip wrap up

We had a blast at this years "Briggs/Staten" campout.  The grandma's planned a bunch of really fun activities for the kids, such as painting rocks (we'll deny it if the forest service comes calling) and then spray painting them so we could find them in the dark with our flash lights for the olympic games.  We also had our annual Easter egg hunt that the kids LOVED and then we played olympic games in the dark as well as the traditional candy bar games where yes, I stole candy from a little girl (in my defense the red hots looked too good to pass up)
Ethan, as always, got to see Mckenzie and had an absolute blast playing in the water with her (I was not as happy about him playing in the water)
We also had an incident with a pot gut.  Easton shot one with his air soft gun, which injured it enough that it couldn't run away and all the kids were crowding around it to see one up close.  So I told Ethan that I didn't want him getting near it because it could bite him.  Well the pot gut got  a second wind and started running away from the other kids (which happened to be in the direction of where Ethan was standing) so Ethan of course got a little scared and started running away from it, but he ran in the same direction the pot gut had decided to run and Ethan ended up stepping on his head and killing it. YUCK!! 
We also had Mark's little boy fall backwards into the fire pit (luckily only his coat was burned)
all in all it was a really great trip.
I even stayed for the whole two nights and 3 days!! that's a record for me :)

Zach took the rock painting pretty seriously

Rain Rain go away

These soccer cones are so versitile

Annual easter egg hunt

Easter Egg hunt

Mark made a tube slide the kids could toss balls down

Kenzie and Ethan, best of friends

night olympic games

boy 24th of july pics

just found these pictures

I just found this photo of Ethan (not the best photo) but look how much he has changed!!  It's not just his looks that have changed.  In the first photo I see my spit fire toddler that threw some of the most massive fits you've ever encountered and in the second my sweet heart of a 7 year old. 

Zach - isms

New words from the zach department.

"Oh Com On" (embarrassed to admit ... that comes from me)
"Choo Choo all aboard" (even if they are big trucks)
"No" (honestly to every question you ask him)
"ABC"  (seems like every conversation will have some ABC's thrown into it)
"Spence, I thirsty cookie" "Monny, I thirsty tizza" "I thirst chocolate milk" (never hungry, just thirsty)
"Cheeze" (any time he sees a camera) then "I want see" (before you've even taken the picture)
"Dang it"
"Monny, time out ... NOW!"  (yes, this one is from me too, any time I raise my voice at all, even in fun, Zach thinks I need to go to time out)

I think Ethan's the only one that has copied spencer's "Oh dear"

a new school year

I woke up at 4:00 a.m. this morning with an anxious feeling in my stomach.  Why can't summer last a little longer and why do I have to send my children to school for 7 hours every day!!  So what have I done since 4:00 a.m.??  I have cleaned my house, looked back through this blog, cried because my kids are getting big and I feel like I'm not properly documenting everything, started documenting some things with a new resolution to be better at keeping a journal and a scrapbook, am now I'm going to go back to bed, it's only 5:30 and I might be able to sleep a little longer ... maybe ... if only my stomach butterflies would go away.

overheard conversation

a little while ago we took Mason's friend Ellie to the Mcdonalds playland with us and on the way there I heard them talking in the back.

Ellie: "Mason, what temple do you want to be married in?"
Mason: "I don't know maybe the Salt Lake one"
Ellie:"alright, but when we get married I'll have to keep my shoes on"

another day ...

Ethan: "Who gets to choose who they marry?  The boy or the girl?"
Mommy: "You both choose each other"
Ethan: "Oh (a little down trodden)"
Mommy: "Why?"
Ethan: "Because I would choose Margaret, but I don't think she'd choose me"
Mommy: "You'll find someone even more special than Margaret that will choose you when you choose her."

the cookie bandit

hopefully this cookie bandit won't quit his day job.

a secret room?? what??

I went to use the restroom tonight and told Mason that I was tired of not having any toilet paper because he kept using it all to make costumes.  (this has been an issue for awhile)  He informed me that he had a lot of toilet paper in his secret room.  Lots and lots of toilet paper and food  ... and toys.  I'm really hoping he isn't talking about his new spot to play, which much to my chagrin in under the stairs.  This needs to be investigated quickly :)

"in all seriousness mommy"

The other day I was playing with Zach and Mason while sitting on the couch.  Mason was on my lap and I was tickling him and pretending to chomp him, while Zach would run towards me, get tickled and run away.  While I was tickling Mason, Zach came over and picked up Mason's foot like it was a hamburger and took a bite and then did a chomping sound.  Laughing I told Zach that he was a little naughty and that we couldn't bite our brothers.  Taking me completely serious, Mason looks at me and says in a very "I told you so" tone ... "Mommy I told you we should not have buy'd this baby from the doctor"  I'm sure one of these days Mason is going to be happy that he has a little brother, but it hasn't quite happened yet. :)  The worst part of it all is that Mason is Zach's absolute favorite person and I can not keep him from mauling Mason with love. (yes, love includes bites)

Zach - isms

   I've never had a child just like Zach.  A child that you don't know if you should discipline him for biting his brothers because he was laughing as he did it. A child that you think is 2 ft. taller than he is because 90% of the time you see him he is standing on something.  Or a child that will look you in the eyes and have a 10 minute conversation with you in gibberish. 
   You, Zachary, are my only child to take your diaper off any time you don't have pants on to cover it.  You gave up your bottle on your own when it was no longer meeting your needs. You love nibbling on any feet or toes that are hanging off the couch. You think everything is a sword and that everyone is waiting to sword fight you if you give them the same thing you're holding (ex. spoons from the silverware drawer).  You put EVERYTHING in the microwave ... one time we couldn't find the peanut butter anywhere until the next day when we opened up the microwave and discovered it's hiding spot. Any time we get in the car you will run back and climb up in Ethan's car seat and pull the seat belt over you hoping we won't move you. You love to be outside and to go on walks with us. You have never needed to find a spot in the family, you have always just known you had one. You are unique my sweet happy (busy and sometimes very naughty) baby boy!
   Zach you are such a talker, some of his current words are:
Airplane, socks, shoes, what (if you say Zachary, he will turn around and very sweetly if not a little sassy say what), Bye Guys, woof woof, moon, mason, ethan, ma ma, da da, open it, apple juice, etc. etc.  I'm sure I'm missing most of his words because he says just about everything. 

Yes mommy, I did just open the hot chocolate mix and  it was Yummy!

My favorite food is always on someone else's plate

I love shoes!!  they don't even have to match :)

Possibly my most favorite thing of all is my brothers!!  if only they felt the same way about me :)

Field Trip to the Nature Preserve in Ogden

I'm so excited my mom got to come on this field trip with me!! right now we're looking at raptors

Ethan and I went to the nature preserve today for a field trip and it was surprisingly fun!!  

The whole class fits in this "actual sized" Bald Eagles nest

Ethan got to get the paper chum out of the container 

Making paper takes serious concentration- I couldn't even look up at my mom because every time I tried I would tilt the paper tray:)

Getting all the water out of the paper with a sponge

Everyone looking at the snake

All of our cute neighbor kids in Ethan's class

Playing games - Ethan's team had to make the rain sound

"Hey everyone, a beaver ate this tree"

could I become a minimalist?

ok, to start off I'll admit that I am a borderline hoarder.
(if I wanted to point fingers it could have been created in childhood - living with a mother who was a compulsive organizer while I was a sentimentalist was not easy.  ex. crying under the computer desk holding a piece of ugly wallpaper from my bedroom that my mother was updating with wallpaper of my choosing, or my favorite shoes being thrown away because I wouldn't stop wearing them even though they were cracked on the bottom)
(back to present day)
I buy a lot of stuff and then buy a lot more because I can't find that stuff ... keeping my house clean is beyond difficult, which is why I am considering (shuddering as I say this) becoming a minimalist.  I see some problems with this idea however such as: 1) Minimalists don't shop  2) I would have to throw away a lot of stuff that I've collected over the years and deem essential.  I mean what if I need that sifter one day or those electric knives (I haven't used either in the 10 years that I've been married, but it could happen) 
as I'm writing this I'm not sure this is even possible ... is there such thing as a wanna be minimalist or a vegetarian vs. vegan minimalist?  can I just put all the items that I'm thinking about throwing away in a storage closet?  I'll have to investigate this a little further before I make any decisions.

funny

My son mason informed me today that he did not want to go feed the ducks because then we wouldn't have enough bread for toast :)

Mason

Mason: "Mommy i don't want to fly a kite, how would I get down?"
Mommy: (didn't really understand what he was saying and used a conversation distractor)
Mason: (not distracted and with a very concerned look) "Mommy, if I fly on a kite I will get lost and not be able to find my way home"
--light bulb--
Mommy:"Mason, you don't fly on the kite! You hold the string and the kite flies in the sky"

Christmas (pictures to come)

Christmas day was absolutely wonderful in the Bellamy home!!  my parents called at 7 a.m. and told us they were on their way up, which really was special that they were able to experience my children's excitement with us.  Ethan and Mason were just on a super santa clause high, exclaiming after every gift that it was the bestest gift ever or in Ethan's case "How did Santa know I wanted this so much":)  Zach could have cared less about any of the presents, but was just so excited to be excited.  He would dance on top of all the presents and then situate himself inside one of the boxes and just sing and dance.  It was really truly magical.