Zach turns 4

Zach,
  You are still my baby even if you think you're BIG!!  I love the confidence you have and have always had.  You are not one of those kids that sits out of anything feeling left out, you always manage to create a place for yourself.  On your birthday we told you it was your birthday and you said "Now I'm as old as Ethan"  (Ethan had just had his birthday)  You are so fun and fun loving.  You have been quite the precocious child this year, but it's been very entertaining to hear your thoughts even if it's been a little embarrassing at times. You are almost always cheeful and rarely show any type of temper.   The only time we see you grumpy is when we're trying to keep you awake and not allowing you to take a late afternoon nap.  (If you take any kind of nap you are up until all hours of the night)  The other day you were swimming in our front yard and then went and played in the neighbors dirt.  I was not happy, but when I called you out on it and told you that you had probably ruined your new swimsuit you informed me quite innocently that "accidents happen"  lol!  It's hard if not impossible to stay mad at you for long because you are just too cute.  I hate that you are growing up, but it has been an amazing and wonderful thing to be a part of it.  You are simply "delightful" and we love you!!

Love, Mom and Dad

Ethan turns 9

Ethan,
I cannot believe  you turned 9 this year.  It seems like just yesterday we were struggling as new parents trying to figure everything out.  You have turned into such an amazing boy!!  You are so kind and caring towards everyone.  If I had to describe you with one word it would be "intuitive".  You just seem to know what other people need and what they are feeling.  This last winter you told me that at school they had the kindergartners (Mason) play on the big toy because theirs had iced over and that you were so worried that Mason would be run over by all the
big kids you didn't leave his side.  That is the kind of special kid you are.  You still love getting snuggled and tickled and love giving and getting hugs.  You are really into pretend play right now: Star Wars and Light Sabers, mostly because you've been playing the Lego starwars game on the wii.  You, Mason and Zach are actually pretty great at play fighting with your light sabers. :)  You are extremely excited for your new baby brother and have been having a fun time feeling him move.  I wish I could freeze you at this age forever!!  You are amazing and I can't wait to see the person you become.
Love, Mom

the Primary's fathers day questionairre:

Zach:
My Dad is 10 years old. His favorite food is Tacos.  My Dad is so strong that he could lift a "Big Pizza." When my Dad wants to relax he likes to watch T.V. My Dad is the BEST at making waffles. I love my Dad because I like to hug him.

Mason:
My Dad is 40 years old. His favorite food is Steak.  My Dad is so strong that he could lift all 3 kids. When my Dad wants to relax he likes to (He kind of likes reading). My Dad is the BEST at being a scientist of computers. I love my Dad because he loves me.

Ethan:
My Dad is 38 years old. His favorite food is brosle sprouts.  My Dad is so strong that he could lift 78 lbs. When my Dad wants to relax he likes to sleep. My Dad is the BEST at making computers. I love my Dad because he is rilly nice and good at computers.  (spelled how Ethan wrote it)

Zach was so funny, immediately after filling his gift out, he had to find Spencer to give it to him, but Spencer was in the bishops office renewing his temple recommend.  So after someone caught him wandering the halls and brought him to me I walked him down to the bishops office and we waited for Spencer.  Our kids are awesome!!

Idaho Falls

My 3 little Bears

 Bear World up in Idaho Falls was a really great surprise.  There was just enough stuff that you felt like you got a full experience, but not enough to make it overwhelming.  The first thing we did was drive through the bear part of the exhibit.  It was fun seeing such large animals up close and personal, I only wish we would have had a safari car with cages for windows so we could have been even closer.  Then we walked through their gift shop where my mom and I bough fudge:)  Outside there were small amusement rides (perfect for Mason and Zach who are afraid of everything lately.)  My favorite part of the whole experience was the petting zoo area ... which ironically I don't have any pictures for:)  We were able to pet and feed a lot of different animals.  My kids favorite though was the baby deer.  They would pick grass and let the deer lick it out of their hands.  Mason was the bravest at first, but the other two caught on quick.  We stayed at an older Hotel across from the falls, but despite being old it was really nice and we had the really large pool all to ourselves, which was awesome!!   I had never been to Idaho Falls, but have decided that it would be a place I could live.  I loved it!!

Oh the things kids say ... sigh

  My happy happy child Zach has become very grumpy in his 3rd year of life.  I am just waiting and hoping I will see my happy go lucky child emerge again soon.  Until then ... I will continue to tell him not to tell other kids his age that they are not his friends and that he doesn't like them.  and will continue to tell him not to "hate" everything.  We were at Spencer's sisters house the other day and I could not get Zach to stop telling her that he hated it there.  (If only I had a sock ... I would have shoved it completely in his mouth)  Then at church yesterday he was not happy that his normal teacher was not there and that he had a new teacher.  It took a lot of work for us to get him to sit with his class. We finally told him that he needed to guard the suckers so the other kids wouldn't steal them.  Then when I took him to class he kept insisting that he didn't like his new teacher and so I told him that he was a nice guy just like his other one ... to that he replied "But Mommy, I don't like his voice or his face"  My own face went about 20 shades of red at that point and I just started laughing.  His teacher was very gracious and told me not to worry ... he get's that a lot.  lol!

The Green Bellamy

If you don't have boys than you won't be familiar with the Lego Ninjago series that my boys love so much.  Well, in that series it is rumored that there will be a ninja (the green ninja) that will come to the earth that will be so powerful he will be able to save them from the bad guy.  (can't remember his name right now)
So ... Zach's favorite color has always been green. (Ethan's red and Mason's blue) so he naturally was designated to be the green ninja, while my other boys are the ninja trainers that are meant to train him.  So they have very serious training sessions where they play ninja and train Zach to be the "green Bellamy"  It's all pretty cute until someone gets hurt!!! and someone always gets hurt!!

back to the regular programing and the latest "Deep thoughts by Mason"

So we were driving home this past week and mine and Mason's conversation went something like this:
Mason: "Mommy how big is the earth?"
Me: "Pretty big"  (you know those pat answers you give to your kids when they ask you questions like this)
Mason: "So ... people are to the earth what ants are to our house"
Me: "I would bet that people are a little smaller than ants when compared to the earth"
 -- the conversation pauses as he processes this new information--
Mason: "So people compared to the earth would be more like parasites to our house"
Me:  probably something like that -- (I'm not sure, I can honestly say I've never asked myself this question)  lol!!

and he's 6 .... I'm just wondering what I should study up on for when he turns 7 next year.