Basketball

Brock is almost done with his first basketball season.  He had so much fun!  He has this really big smile on his face the whole time he in on the court.  He loves how fast paced it is.  Sadly he is almost always one of the shortest players - so most of his shots get blocked - but he actually doesn't seem to mind. 

 

I couldn't get any good shots during the game - so I had him stay after and practice a little for some good pictures.

He is a great dribbler. He is one of the only kids on the league that can dribble the ball all the way down the court - right up against the sideline - while running.  It is pretty impressive.

 

He was so excited to have Grandma Hanna at one of his games.  We have found that Brock plays both soccer and basketball better with an audience.

 

The girls felt left out with all the picture taking:

Chuck E Cheese with Grandma

My mom came into town to spend some time with us.  It was so fun and such a nice break to have a visitor come.  My kids still ask about "when are we moving back to Salt Lake" and they miss their friends and family a lot.  So having my mom come in the middle of February was the perfect thing.  When she first got here on Friday Jason and I left for a date to the temple and then out to dinner.  It was great - we have only been out to dinner one other time in the last 5 months! 

 

On Monday we took the kids to their favorite place - Chuck E Cheese!  To be honest I know my mom loves it too.  She has a very competitive spirit.  She got herself some of her own tokens and played several games.  I have memories of my mom playing ski-ball over and over again trying to get the most tickets.

With my moms help (and willingness to buy us extra tokens - Grandma's are always so nice) we got 200 tickets!!  I know that is not a lot to most people - but a TON for us.  The kids were thrilled.

 

Thanks mom!

 

While I was making dinner...

I downloaded all the pictures from my camera and found about 20 that I hadn't taken.  Turns out that Brock had taken the camera while I was making dinner one evening.  I almost just deleted them all because most of them are blurry and identical.  But as I looked closer I was equally embarrassed at what I found and filled with joy at the memories he captured and what our "real life" looks like. 

 
The "story starts I guess with Brock in our living room, Noah finishing up homework, Me at the sink doing something for dinner, Megan up on the counter trying to find some sort of art supply, and Madison moving her chair across the kitchen floor. 

 

She next shot captures Madison in action a little better. And yes, Megan IS straddling the counter and the top of that chair.  Surly about to fall.  I am also quite sure I was oblivious to the whole thing.

Next the girls and Brock moved into the would be dining room turned toy area.  The girls are really into dolls.  Mostly Madison - she has a doll in her hands most days and is always doing something with them.  Megan often gets intrigued and joins in the play.

The constant taking off and putting back on of the jammies.

I put all the doll stuff next to the kitchen and play table to try to facilitate more imaginative play into the "baby play".  It has them making all sorts of meals for their babies and feeding it to them.

At this point I think they have made quite a mess and have pulled down the blinds. (and it seems as though they have caught Brock.)

  He moves his angle back into the kitchen.

A shot from the front room as the girls pick up all their doll stuff and move into...

The living room.  (I guess I am still making dinner and Noah is still doing his homework)

I don't know who has the camera at this point - that is Brock's foot - so it must be Noah but this is the only picture that Brock didn't take (I am pretty sure) 

I couldn't figure out what Madison had - until right now.  I have been making Lemon Poppy Chicken (but we do plain rice instead of couscous and peas) and Madison is sucking all the juice out of half a lemon.

And the night rounds out when the princess crown gets brought out.

I love these pictures because it captures almost every school night perfectly - messy house and all.

Jason's Birthday

Jason's birthday fell on Super Bowl Sunday this year.  It even made it all the more cool that the Denver Bronco's made it to the Super Bowl (that is if Jason had been cheering for the Bronco's).  The boys are now die-hard Bronco fans but Jason is not - but it would break the boys' hearts if they knew their dad wasn't cheering for "our team" - so he fakes it for them really well.

 

His birthday also fell on Fast Sunday - so he didn't get his usual fancy breakfast (waffles stacked with ice cream, strawberries, syrup and whipped cream).  But we did make him a nice dinner.  For his cake he requested his mom's strawberry trifle.  I have found that moving away from home makes me have to fill in on his parents culinary expertise more often (he has been hinting that he REALLY wants egg rolls).  Anyways.... my vanilla pudding ended up being more like tapioca pudding - but he said it was great (he always does).

One thing he does demand - that he get's to eat straight from the bowl.

 

The girls wanted pictures with their cake too.

 

Happy Birthday Jason.  I am one lucky lady!

Eating Out

We try to take our kids out to eat at a real restaurant about once a year.  Jason's work gave him a Red Robin's gift certificate for being so awesome.  They did great and we had a really fun time.  This was the first time we let them look off the menu and pick what ever they wanted (except for Madison - we only ordered three and then put a plate together for her off of all of our plates).  Our dining experience was all thanks to Daniel Tigers Neighborhood (a new show on PBS kids).  They have an episode where they go to a restaurant and the kids all order for themselves.  Our kids did a great job telling the waiter what they want and saying please and thank you to him.  It was so cute.  And we played the "what's missing game" that Daniel and Katerina play at the restaurant.

Chuck E Cheese

You should all know this by now - but Chuck E Cheese is my kid's favorite place in the whole world.  They would pick here over anything.  I have a few rules about it though - we only go when it is empty, we don't get any food, and I don't spend any money (they each get 10 tokens that we get for free from their reward calendars on the website). 

 

This system has served us well for the last 5 years - but the last 3 times we have gone Brock blows through his 10 tokens in about 10 minutes.  He hasn't complained about it yet though - he happily watches everyone else play.  But I am holding my breath because I am sure the day is not far off when they will want more than I can give them.  But look how happy he is.  He is not even playing this game - he was out of tokens by now and was just pretending to play while the preview game was playing.

It is mostly for the girls anyways.  They love it!

 

 Noah is so funny.  He hardly spends his tokens because he spends the whole time watching other people play.  He doesn't play for tickets either.  He plays the arcade games that don't give him any or he forgets to grab them when they come out.  He is always sad when it is prize picking time that he doesn't have the 500 tickets to get the Spiderman toy that he has been wanting since he was two.  It is a fight every. single. time.  Brock inevitably gives him 20 of his tickets (even though I tell Brock that he shouldn't because Noah needs to earn his own - but truthfully I love that Brock is so thoughtful) and Noah picks another spider toy (he actually loves them).