four year old Max

This little nugget is now 4!  This was supposed to be the 'off-year' for a friend party, but I caved. Max ended up having quite the birthday week. I fear the bar has been raised too high now for future birthdays. We really need to have dry ice around more often. After the party was over we made dry ice bombs learned about pressurizing gas in a fixed volume. That was one good thing I learned in my lab.

Dinosaur mania.  The cake was strawberry, so the pieces looked suitably 'realistic,' although Max just really likes strawberry cake.  He was not going for 'flesh-like' with his flavor choice.

 Balloon pit on the trampoline - or 'T-Rex' stomp if we're keeping with our theme.

Make a dino out of play-doe.

Pin the horn on the triceratops.  We also had pictures of a T. Rex, pterodactyl, and apatosaurus - or brachiosaurus depending on who you ask. The artistic quality was of course top notch.  It will be harder and harder to have my drawings pass muster as my little people get older and more discerning!

We also had an excavation site set up in a kiddie pool, filled with chicken bedding and dinosaur figures to hunt for.  We chased rocket balloons at the end while we waited for parents to retrieve their kids.  Nobody cried, so this party goes down in the books as a success!

We hit Freddy's for lunch after the party.  Yes, Max did eat all those fries.  Alex wouldn't eat his hamburger because some mean woman cut it in half for him, thus ruining the flavor.

On Max's birthday we went out to dinner at Old Chicago, because the GREAT LLYODINI, or Royal-dini as Max keeps calling him, was there doing magic.  The 'red light trick' is still everyone's favorite.  After dinner we went to the pet store to pick out Max's present - a gerbil.  We are now officially full of pets over here. Well, the fish situation actually keeps us just under 'totally full' on a regular basis.  Here's hoping the gerbils fare better!

This little muffin just keeps getting more fun the older he gets;. We're sure lucky to have him in our family.  My favorite thing about Max right now is that he likes to wear two different colors of socks.  He takes the pairs apart so he can get the right color combination for the day.  What a fun little dude!

summer trip

Somehow I got nominated to plan the Randy Reese family reunion.  Here's the book I made of the reunion and the trip we took to get there.  Someday there might be more text describing our adventures.  For now, just the book.

Click here to view this photo book larger

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youth conference 2012

Alternate title:  'The assignment that almost killed us', or 'Why I should listen to Roger more often.'

As it turns out, I am no as relaxed as I pretend to be.  This is not news to Roger, but did/does cause him some grief at times.  Once I finally chilled out - about the week before the event - things finally went a little better.

We camped in cabins up at Hermit Park near Estes.  Perfect location.  ROGER WAS RIGHT.
The theme was 'get smart' -  the vernacular of 'oh be wise.' That won out over my original idea of 'don't be stupid.'  Positive seemed a better way to go.

Before we drove up to the mountains, we did a service project at the Community Food Bank. Best service project ever.  It's near our community, the kids got a little education about who uses the resource, how many people they serve, and how much money that takes. Visible results quickly with a very human face.  ROGER

 IS A GENIUS!

(This is Roger and Bishop Merrill next to Sue, the volunteer coordinator.  She is one powerful, tiny woman!)

Thursday night we had some speakers talk about how their life plans differed from what THEY planned, and how they learned to use the Spirit in figuring out what they really needed to do with their lives/education/etc.  GREAT.  Kat gets the genius award for that one. And my friend for suggesting two of the speakers at the last minute.  It's always nice when you get to see why things don't work out they way YOU want them to because Heavenly Father has a better plan in mind. Sometimes even the organizers get to learn a little something too.

Friday morning we did the ropes course up at YMCA of the Rockies. This was probably my favorite activity of the whole adventure. The program director lead our group, and he was great.  The kids failed one of the activities because they didn't follow directions and help each other like they were supposed to, and he called them on it.  Not in a bad way at all, but talked to them about how they could have done better, and really emphasized that it's only truly a failure if you don't learn and change and improve from your experience. 

Saturday morning on the way back home we went to Estes Park and swam for a couple hours.  Which was nice since we didn't have showers up there.  Roger and Travis had a nice diving board competition going - unfortunately the photographer needs to work on her speed shooting skills.  She did OK when everyone was  standing still though.

Overall two thumbs up.The kids had fun, the leaders had fun, the Bishop was booked with interviews the next week.  Good stuff all around.  And naturally our own kids didn't want their sleepover at Oma's to end. 

first day of school

This girl is in 1st grade. Craziness.

Katie was a little nervous in the beginning - change does not come easily for this apple who landed right at the bottom of the tree - but then she spotted a buddy from her Kindergarten class, and things improved.  At least for her.  I was a mess.  I think Kindergarten is easier for ME because it's only half day.  Sending Katie of for a whole day just has turned me into jelly.  Somehow between back-to-school night and the first day of school the headphones are already lost, so we're off to a great start!  :)

This handsome fellow started school the following day.  When did he turn into a BOY?  He is definitely not a little guy any more.

Mr. Friendly had no trouble starting school.  He popped instantly into line waiting to go in - he has the same teacher and room Katie had, and he's always the first kid to go up and introduce himself to the others at the park, so he was right in his element.  I'm room mom again for Kindergarten, which should be a little easier now that I have some clue as to how things go.

Green Hawaii starts school this week.  (These outfits from Oma were our official uniforms for summer.  I tried to enforce a 'twice a week only' rule, but by the end of the summer that was out the window.  It did make doing laundry pretty easy.) Every day he asks if he gets to go to school yet.  Naturally the nerd in me delights that all my kids love school so much, but I do miss having everybody home during the day.  Although I naturally have a list of projects to try and distract me and keep me busy . . .

last hurrah

Tuesday before school started we decided we needed one more adventure while we could still go with everyone.  By 'we' I probably mean the 'royal we' - a way for MOM to put off thinking about everyone heading off for school and growing up too fast!

Mag was up for the adventure so off to the zoo we went.

Winner of best outfit of the day.

Train riders.

Train lover.

I was really hoping that the Icee was going to splat him in the kisser, but it was too frozen.

Proof that I was actually there - and can you stand how cute Violet is in sunglasses?!

  Ice cream lovers.

Everyone pooped out by the end of the +90 degree day.

Katie is 6!

This crazy kid is 6 already!  Well, now she's been 6 for a whole month and a half.  This was going to be the year of just having a family party, but somehow we ended up having a 'princess tea party' with just a 'few' friends. It only takes a few 6 year olds to turn any small gathering into banana land.

We had cookies and snacks and made bracelets.  A good time was had by all, and I survived.

After the kid party we had a big kid party with Aunt Mag and Opa. Katie loves the latest addition to her princess dress collection courtesy of Oma.  It's amazing how a fancy dress can turn any outing into something special.

Katie's current favorite cereal is 'Fruity Pebbles.'  I don't know how that happened!
Her favorite vegetable is still broccoli. She will at least try almost everything placed in front of her - I'm hoping she rubs off on her younger housemates.
Her favorite season is summer, because 'we don't have to freeze our heads off.'
Katie's favorite time of the day is the evening, 'because then I get to hang out with my family.'
She is still enamored of princesses, and loves to sing all the time - she's singing with a children's choir this year - mainly because someone else does all the driving - and LOVES it.
She loves doing craft projects, and asks daily about the progress on 'her craft room.'
Her current heroes are her parents - here's hoping we continue to live up to that expectation!
Her favorite books are 'Put Me in the Zoo' - thank you Aunt Pam - and her green book of Beginner's Books, favorite being 'Would you Rather Be a Bullfrog? - thanks Aunt Julie.
She loves to make up stories with all her little figurines - her brothers provide moving van services when they need to move houses.
Her career goal currently is 'kindergarten teacher at Twin Peaks.'
Katie is so loving and so very loved.  Alex has a hard time being separated from her, and for half a year talked Katie into sleeping on the floor in the boys' room so she would be near him. When she slept over one night at Oma's house for her 'make up birthday' (Oma had the nerve to go visit her children back East in February), Alex couldn't believe she was going to be gone for SO LONG. We have since negotiated that down to one night a week (Tuesdays if you're wondering).
Katie is such a happy, genuinely nice girl.  We love her to pieces!

Katie's self portrait in beans.

While not birthday related, this picture just had to be included. I cannot stand how cute this guys is!

phases 2 and 3

Thank you Amy for kicking me back into action.  We've been a little extra busy around here, and the lack of perceived progress on the basement made me hesitant to post the next phase.  In my brain it wasn't done.    But actually, phase 2 IS done, and wallboard gets to be it's own phase.  I'm glad I finally downloaded some pictures - forward progress is being made, despite lame renters!  The extra time has actually been good, allowing us to really think about what we want and add things we didn't initially plan on - things that are a lot easier to change now BEFORE wallboard is up and taped!

Roger rented a framing nail gun for most of the framing, but it had to be returned before everything got framed.  This allowed our handy helpers to all be a part of the framing.  Alex puts on his 'Mouse-ka-zoomer' to get those screws in, while Roger provides a little bit of extra muscle.

Dad/Opa helped a TON with the wiring.  Of course, now there are plenty of outlets and plugs to be wired if anyone is interested in a trip to sunny CO!  We wired the area next to the stairs for a future kitchen.  I think Roger is most excited about the 12,000 channel sound system he wired down there
.

The kids are now more of a fan of the Pink Panther than I am!  Luckily my contractor reminded me of the importance of long sleeves, so the itching from all the insulation didn't last too long.  The kids made good runners, and Alex had fun standing on the board I used as a straight edge.  It's amazing what a difference the insulation makes.  Even though it's still open to the garage, the basement is a ton warmer - it's only heated by the boiler room, which is plenty. 

Here's a peek at the back bedrooms.  The top pictures are of Katie's - and my - new craft room.  We moved the doorway so now you enter the room straight off the hall, and flipped the closet over to the wall next to the boiler room.  It's deeper than usual, and there's now a linen closet on the left side that will be accessed from the hall.  The bottom pictures are of the guest room.  I had to get in a picture of one of the few things that didn't get changed.  One wall that doesn't have to be taped! 

Putting up the wallboard got put on hold thanks to some awesome tenants.  We finally got them out Feb 7.  My favorite comment from our SECOND visit to court, when they were asking for more time to move out, and I noted that they knew for at least a month that I wanted to evict them was 'We thought you'd change your mind.'  Oddly enough, continuing to not pay rent did not help me change my mind.

Another favorite:  2 days after they finally were out (just 5 days after they said they would be) the calls about when they would get their deposit back started.  Somehow they were under the impression that although they still owed us some rent and they left more pet damaged carpet than I've even seen, I would be returning their deposit to them.  People are awesome!  When I get totally frustrated by their shenanigans, I go sit in 'mom's blue truck' and calm back down again.  I'm SOO glad I remembered to put that in the stipulations from court visit #1!

So, instead of working on our basement we spent Feb putting Humpty Dumpty back together again. We finished cleaning and rehanging all the doors on Monday.  To celebrate, we started work on phase 3:

I forgot to take a before picture of the kitchen.  Where there once was a wall between the kitchen and the stairwell (on the side of the dishwasher; right where Roger is standing in the picture on the right) and between the garage and the kitchen, there is now a big hole. Fortunately, plastic sheeting is actually not a bad insulator.  Last night we put on part of the subfloor and moved the washing machine into its new home.  The laundry area is now on the outer wall - allowing the dryer to finally vent correctly to the outside.  The area where the washer used to be (where the electrical panel is) will be a little mud room.  HOORAY for more space!!