Evan is SEVEN!!

I can't believe my little Evan is now seven!! He's been so excited to rhyme now for so many weeks!! It's finally a reality!

For Evan's birthday I decided he could travel to Maine with his Father for a graveside service for his Grandma Cobb. Wasn't that nice of me?? Anyway, it really was! He got spoiled by everyone and really loved getting to see his grandparents again.

Him and Josh left on Thursday the 9th. We got the to the airport at like 5:30am. Another note to self. . . if ever possible, don't wake the kids up just for a drive to the airport, it really makes for cranky kids the rest of the day!!

Evan had fun at Grandma Moxcey's house.

This is in the backyard.

I don't know where this is at, but I thought it was a cute picture. They went to an Alpaca farm and got to see some baby Alpaca's.

This was one of the favorite pictures of Evan's from that trip. He thought it was funny.

They had a party at her house that night. He got lots of fun things to play with! He even got cupcakes.

The next day they went to Grandpa Cobb's house. He also had lots of gifts and things for Evan for his birthday. They went to lunch at Great-Grandpa Cobb's and then he took Evan and Josh to Walmart and Evan got a new bike!!! I should have taken a picture of it, but didn't think of it until this very moment! It's orange, and Evan is excited to take the training wheels, that they bought to put on the bike, off. He doesn't need them anyway. I'm glad he finally got a new bike. The one he got when he was three. . . well, he's outgrown that one.

I told Josh I wanted a picture of Evan on his last night as a six year old. . .

and one the morning of his birthday, as a new 7 year old. I can tell a difference, can't you??

They went to the graveside service that day, and then drove to Albany. They got a room and ate pizza and stayed up watching movies until late. They had to do something extra special on the actual day of his birth!

The next morning they drove the rest of the way home. They got here about 9am. I was just finishing Evan's cake. It was nice to see them.

After church, the first thing we did was open presents!!

He was excited.

The first present he opened were some clothes from his Grandma and Grandpa Dance. He put them on right away!

The second gift was also from his Grandma and Grandpa Dance. Twister!! He said, I know this game! He was pretty excited.

Then he started in on the presents his parents got him. I can't tell you what the first one is, because I don't really know. I just knew he wanted it, so I got it for him. It's some kind of Bakugan thing. . . hexoid dragonoid something or other. He seems to know.

The second one I knew!! It was a star wars lego ship. He has started building it, but it'll take a little time.

These are scanopedia smart animals. He got the starter kit for Christmas, so I wanted to make sure he got more animals. It's pretty cool. It teaches him about the animals and where on the map they live and what not. He likes it. Now with more animals it's even cooler!!

For dinner Evan requested Crepes. We eat them for dinner with chicken, ranch, stir-fry like vegetables, and apples all inside. We wrap them up and eat them like tacos. They really are yummy!! He really likes them, and he likes having left over crepes. For FHE tonight he has treats, and we will use the crepes as the desert with ice cream inside and strawberries and chocolate sauce on the top! He's excited for that too!

Just a better shot. Sorry, no shots of the inside!!

Evan wanted a T-rex cake this year. So that is what he got. If you can't tell by the picture, that is a T-rex. He's just a little nervous to get his picture taken!!

Evan and him became fast friends.

We had friends over to help us eat this cake, so we didn't have to do it all ourselves!! It was a fun ending to the night in which WE actually celebrated his birth!

Though it did continue into this morning. I took these to school for Evan's class.

He had wanted t-rex cake pops, but how I had planned on doing that didn't really work. So because I ran out of time, he got little monster/alien cake pops. Some actually look like people though.

These are the ones I made for the rest of our family.

And what a great carrying container I found!!

Overall, he had a great birthday. It did last for like five days. . . so I hope he did!

Happy Birthday my seven year old Evan!! We love you and hope you have a great year!!!

Memorial Day 2011

So, Josh was gone for memorial day this year. We however had some fun! We went to our ward Chicken BBQ. It was actually one of the warmer days this year, so the kids were all hot and worn out from playing. So after the BBQ we went to McDonalds and got ice cream cones. Note to self: next time order two kiddy cones and two extra extra extra small kiddy cones. I made the mistake of ordering two regular cones for the older boys and two regular kiddy cones for the babies. If you know what they all look like then you know it's a VERY GOOD THING that I didn't order myself anything. I was quite the champion licker.

They were cute eating the cones, and it helped cool them off.

So, since they were complaining so much about being too hot, we got out the pool and filled it with hose water. Lucky for them our well water is nice and cool!!

Addison wasn't so sure about wanting to get in. She never did, but loved running around touching it with her hands!

She sure is a cutie!!!

Andrew did get a little wet, but I believe that came from splashing or playing with the hose. He never got in either. He really LOVES to drink out of Brayden's water bottle. I think it makes him feel older.

He's so cute!

So, that was our day. Mostly just running around playing and enjoying the one day of sun that we actually got here in Ithaca!!

Evan's 1st grade choir concert (and some misc. picts.)

So, when I was getting ready to update the blog I ran across a few cute photos that I forgot to share!! Imagine my disappointment!!

Here is Andrew. . .

Oh how they love to dump all the powder out! His hair was slightly lighter the rest of the day.

Addison really likes to "trap" herself in the chairs. She's so funny.

Andrew just decided it was easier to play with the toys if he was to become one with the toys.

Now for the real part of this post. . . Evan's 1st grade concert.

He did really good waiting his turn. This year they decided to hold the concert in the middle of the day which turned out ok since Josh was gone anyway, but had he not been gone. . . well, it would have just been a really bad idea. Oh well.

This year they got to play instruments during one of the songs.

This is Evan on the guitar. He is second in line. They switch half way through the song, and as you can see, the hand off needed a little work, but he did good and it was fun watching him.

Can't wait until next years concert!! :)

While Josh is away. . .

So, Josh has now been gone for two weeks. He has one week left, and we all can not wait!! We miss him very much.

In the mean time, I've been trying to keep busy and occupied so the time will fly by. I didn't think it would, but I think I've sufficiently filled my schedule. The first day (only about 6 hours after he left) I hurt my back. . . not fun. That led to Evan helping with the twins A LOT for the next day or two. Focusing on little every day tasks with a hurt back really helped the time fly. . . funny though, that it actually helped in the long run. So, the first week nothing too exciting happened. Well, except a few cute cheesy moments!!

Addison has the same cheese that Brayden had. So cute.

By Saturday I was feeling better, so we went ahead with our weekend plans. The Circus! I took Evan and Brayden to the Circus for a fun surprise on that saturday. Evan got this cool dragon face painting. I wouldn't let him have a full face painting since we were headed to stake conference right after. It turned out good.

Brayden was next in line to get his face done, but intermission was over and the lady had to get back to the show. So as a compromise, Brayden got two balloon animals. He thought that was ok. He's riding his horse in case you can't tell.

My Dad came out to visit us and help the time pass (and ease my burden a little). You would think that i would have taken pictures of that. Well, I mostly worked him really hard on house projects, so there wasn't time. I need to remember next time though. Brayden decided that picking me flowers was a good idea and that they needed to be put in the elephant cup with water. I thought it looked cute. . . almost like the dandelions are the elephants hair, so I took a picture.

Addison LOVES Evan's toy laptop. She sits and looks very studious and serious while she pushes buttons. It's really cute.

Andrew just runs around and plays. Sometimes even quietly by himself. Not many of my kids will do that, especially when they were his age. He's such a good boy!

So, when Josh is away I like to renovate things. Or so it seems. We decided to split the kids' bedroom into two rooms. This way this house becomes a three bedroom one bath house. Worth more money and seems to add space. I really like the progress. Since I'm surprising Josh with it (he knows about it) when he gets home, this is the only picture I'll show. It is turning out so well!! Wish I would have thought about doing it a year or more ago. It's nice giving the babies their own room.

And last but not least. This little guy provided quite the entertainment today.

All the kids followed it around the yard for a good amount of time.

They got some close up looks at it. And even got to feel it when I picked it up and put it back in the middle of the yard so the entertainment would last longer!!

Andrew was a really good spotter. Someone had to watch were it went while Evan wrote down his observations.

Here are Evan's observations. He immediately ran into the house for a sheet of paper so he could make a discovery sheet about the frog. He was very thorough. I have to say, I wouldn't have thought about doing it so though I would like to take the credit (as would his father whose science genes we know Evan has), I think the credit really goes to the magic tree house books he reads. He's a good kid.

So now you all know what the brown toad looked like that they all followed around the yard today.

In the last week that Josh is gone my plans are these: paint the bunk beds, set up the bunk beds, tear out carpet, get the installers here for the new carpet, hope the workers working on the wall finish soon, paint the new wall and redecorate the rooms, finish painting the deck, paint the trim, touch up the house paint, and if I have time, make and paint shutters and possibly get them put up. It would be so WONDERFUL to have that done by the time Josh came home. I like to go all out with my surprises (though, really he knows the plan).

Hopefully it all goes well. Wish me luck!!!

Easter 2011

So, with the weather not the warmest and the clouds hovering and dumping rain, Easter was very much an indoor holiday this year.

I took the kids to the Easter egg hunt for the kids at the church. Too bad we were only using one room. . . it made it WAY too easy for the kids to find eggs. You think these eggs are hidden for the little kids so they need to be easy, well, it was the same for the bigger kids. I did my best to make some of them hard to find, but oh well. The kids were happy because the eggs had candy or other misc. things in them, so they had fun.

Addison wasn't as confident about picking up eggs, but she got the hang of it. She still brings me eggs and wants me to fill it with something yummy. I have tried to get rid of most of the ones that are still in the house.

Brayden was done as I was walking into the room. I was walking in right behind everyone else, he just picked up his allotted amount quickly.

Evan was done before I got in the room. . . no more comment.

Here we are decorating the eggs. This year I was smarter and I colored the eggs the day before we were going to decorate. The kids had lots of fun.

They were concentrating pretty hard.

They made dinosaurs,

and monsters. Overall, they turned out REALLY cute. I should have put more pictures of the eggs in since they were so cute, but since they were just eggs, I decided not too.

Easter morning the kids had to wait until we woke up to find their baskets. That worked well, except Evan found his (must of been hidden to easy) before we got up, so I re-hid it. It took him awhile after that. SO MUCH MORE FUN!!!

Brayden's was in the ottoman.

Addison's was behind the toy bucket.

Andrew's was just between the wall and the couch. He got a big ball, so it was fairly obvious.

Evan finally found his in the drawer of the oven. We had to give him hints, but he did well.

Here is Andrew with his ball.

Addison got a travel aqua doodle. The girl LOVES to draw and doodle.

Here is Addison in her cute Easter dress.

Here is what we ate (not that anyone cares, but it helps me remember).

Here is the desert. It's a chocolate cheesecake. I like regular cheesecake, wondered if I would like this even more. The recipe called for the chocolate to be 60 - 70% cocoa. . . pretty dark in my regular opinion. Turned out, that was still my opinion when I tasted it when it was all done. No one really liked it in the family, too rich and too much dark chocolate, however, the babies ate it like it was the best thing they had eaten. So funny. It's still in our fridge. I don't have the heart to throw it out, yet.

Overall, it was a good holiday. We are grateful for the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, and for his sacrifice. It was wonderful to talk about it so much with the kids. Evan was able to even help his teacher out by answering her questions during primary. She said he did a good job. He told us about it at dinner time and did a great job!

Happy Easter 2011!!