Citizen of the Month

Tyler came home from school today very excited to show me something in his backpack.  He had two pencils in his hand and I pulled out a big white folder from his backpack.  Inside the folder there were four different gift certificates for free kids meals from different restaurants and a Citizen of the Month certificate...for October 2013.
I asked why he was just getting it now and he said that his teacher couldn't find it until now.  So I guess he got it in October, but she lost the folder or forgot about it.  I wasn't sure if he would get it again this year (he got it in Kindergarten) because Tyler's teacher always says Tyler is a chatter box.  Maybe he didn't talk so much in October.
We love our Tyler and think he is just the best ever.  We are so proud of the progress he has made this year with his reading and so much more.  He is so helpful all the time.  He is generally happy to help me and doesn't hardly complain about having to do more then Josh or Megan.  He still loves to play soccer and practices all the time.  He has two loose teeth right now and I think that he will loose his other front tooth within the next two weeks.  He is just amazing and we love him very much!

Birthday Luau

My parents decided to have a super awesome Luau for their combined birthday party this year.  My dad's birthday as on May 1st and my mom's is on the 6th.

It was perfect weather for a party in the back yard and we all had such a good time.  My parents got lots of fun party things for everyone.  Everyone got a lei, a straw hat, and the girls got flower clips for our hair.  The kids got all those things plus they got squirt guns that they got to play with, dolphin necklaces, sunglasses, and yo-yo's.  They were totally spoiled and loved every minute of it.

My parents also got a couple beach balls.  One was super big and the other was more medium size.  The kids love kicking the balls around the yard, especially the big one.  They played for a long time with that ball and came up with lots of different games to go with it.  Oh and they had hula hoops.  Megan loved playing with them and she did surprisingly well twisting it around her tummy.

Most of the family was able to come.  Julie was in Atlanta for DECA, Betsy's kids were with their dad, and Wendy was in California, oh and Teagan was in Japan.  I guess we will forgive them for not attending.  But the rest of us were all there parting hard.

The kids all loved the trampoline, as usual.  They all did really good taking turns.  Even Megan and Kimball jumped for a long time.  Josh probably jumped the most.  He loved doing "bums" and having us all watch him do his trick.  He tried a "tummy" but kept landing on his knees.  It was pretty cute.

Megan was a super jumper today too.  Normally she likes it for a little while and then is done.  But today she wanted to jump for a long time and kept wanting to get back on and jump some more.  She also seems to like to jump right close to the edge and freak her mommy out.  She hasn't fallen off yet, but she has giving me a lot of scares.

After we ate the kids found the squirt guns.  I had them all filled and ready to go.  They were so excited to have a water fight.  Even Megan got right in there and squirted the older kids.  She is preparing to be a Hells Angel.  After a couple minutes Megan pretty much just drank the water out of the gun.  So turns out she didn't have much fight in her.  But she looked super cute.

Megan's action shot.  She's all ready for those brothers and cousins to get her.

Megan drinking the water from her squirt gun.  It tastes better this way.

Averee, Tyler, Hayden, and Josh having their water fight in the back yard.  They loved it!

Josh sporting his cool hat before he gets back onto the trampoline.

After Megan got tired of the squirt guns she dropped hers on the ground and played in the sand box.  Yeah for getting dirty.

Megan, Josh, Tyler, and Averee waiting for Hayden and Kimball so they can sing to Grandma.

Megan, Josh, Kimball, Tyler, Averee, and Hayden all ready to sing Happy Birthday to Grandma.  They sure did like all the fun things grandma and grandpa gave them.

Spring Time Fun

Tony was working on the sprinklers so the boys thought they needed to get on their swim suits to play in the water, it really wasn't even that warm out. 

Megan decided that she would play in the gutter water and the boys quickly joined her in the fun.  Ava came and watched the kids being silly.

The kids had more fun playing in the gutter then running through the sprinklers. 

The kids all went over to Ray's house and got a treat.  Megan was super excited to show off her yummy sucker.

Tony looking super happy about getting his picture taken.

Happy Easter

Tony and I have such cute kids.  They were very excited for Easter and all that the day would offer.
The day before Easter I went to get all the eggs out and the kid's Easter baskets and I couldn't find them anywhere.  I know that I didn't throw them away, so I am sure they are around here somewhere.  But since I couldn't find them we had to go and pick out new baskets for the kids and buy some new eggs to fill with candy for the Easter Bunny.  I was very glad that I didn't wait until Sunday to look for those things because I would  have been in big trouble with no eggs or baskets for the kids.
On Sunday morning I got out all of the kids church clothes and as soon as Megan saw her dress she wanted to wear it immediately.  She is tough just like her brothers, but is definitely all girl.  She loves dresses, shoes, and getting her hair done.  It is so fun putting her in cute frilly dresses and doing her hair all cute.  It'll be even more fun when her hair grows in a little more and I can do more things with it.   

We got the kids all ready for church and after they were all dressed and got their pictures taken, the Easter Bunny visited out house.
The kids were so excited when they saw that the Easter Bunny came and quickly got their Easter baskets to go find some eggs.

Megan got to go out first to start getting eggs, but Josh and Tyler followed quickly behind her.  I kept telling Tyler to get the higher eggs and let Megan get the easy eggs, but then at the end I saw Josh had double the eggs that Tyler or Megan had.  I should have been telling Josh to let Megan get them and not worried so much about Tyler.  Lucky for everyone I just put all the eggs and treat together in one bowl so everyone gets some of everything.

After all the eggs were found we all got in the car and went to church.  They had a nice Easter program and the kids all talked about the resurrection in their classes.  
We had a good talk about the true meaning of Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Saturday night before the kids went to bed.  It was really neat to hear Tyler talk about what he had learn about Jesus and want happened after he died.

Later that day we went to Tony's parents where we had dinner and another egg hunt.  Tony's mom had it where each kid had a color and that is the egg that they needed to find.  They all had such a good time finding their eggs.  It is so much fun to be with family and our kids LOVE their cousins.  They are so lucky to have so many cousins who live close.  We all had a great Easter and felt very loved by our family.

It's a...Girl

We had our ultrasound on Thursday.  I was overly worried that something would be wrong with the baby.  I am not sure why.  It's almost as if I was like, "well I have three healthy kids, what's my luck of having another one?"  I know totally crazy thinking, but I was worried.
While we waited to be called in, I sat in the waiting room praying to my Heavenly Father that he would bless this baby to be healthy and strong.  I pleaded for this baby to have a strong heart, good lungs, brain, and all the body parts how they should be.  Tony I don't think was worried at all and just sat there playing a game on his phone.  The difference between men and women (especially pregnant women).
Heavenly Father did answer my prayers.  The baby looks great.  She kept moving the whole time, so the tech had to have me move on my side a couple times to see all the things that she needed to see.  She was also being very modest at first and so she first told us that she thought it was a girl, but then was able to confirm that this baby is indeed a girl.
I was convinced this baby was going to be a boy.  I guess I didn't want to get my hopes up for another girl and then feel disappointed.  Really Tony and I just wanted a healthy baby and only one baby.  So we are very happy.  The baby is measuring right on for the due date, just one day ahead of the due date.  So that's good too.
Tyler was so happy when we told him we're having a sister.  He really wanted another sister and he got the biggest smile on his face when he found out.  Josh said he wanted a boy baby, but he seems to be handling the news of a girl just fine.  I don't think Megan really knows what is going on.  She knows there is a baby in my tummy and we talk about sisters and brothers, but I don't think she knows what sister really means.  I just hope that they get along and don't fight too much.  It's funny that I didn't really worry about Tyler and Josh fighting too much, but with two girls it is more of a concern.  I sure do love my little family and we are super excited to add another girl.  Now we just need to pick a name for this baby.

Spring Water Fight

When Tony and I were at K Mart the other day we found some squirt guns for super cheap.  A seven pack was .60 and we got two double shooters for .40 each.  I wish that we would have bought more.  Tony was worried that they would suck being so cheap, but at that price it's not such a big deal if the kids only get one use out of them.

The kids got them out yesterday and played with them a little bit, but today they went wild with them.  Tony got into the action and helped get the kids all wet.  They all had a wonderful time shooting each other and getting all wet.  Even Megan loved it.  She just laughed and ran around around the yard.  She mostly just drank the water from her squirt gun, but she had a good time doing it.

The weather was so nice today.  It isn't super warm, about 75 degrees, but that was plenty warm for us to play around the yard.  We love being outside playing, so we are all so excited for spring.  A lot of our flowers are blooming and the lawn is nice and green.  Also not very many bugs out yet, it is a great time of year.
Also we get to see and chat with our neighbors a lot more when the weather is warmer.  People are out doing yard work and enjoying the weather and we loving getting to spend time with them.

We have the best neighbors ever.  Just yesterday The Baumann's brought over Easter baskets filled with treats for the boys and a cute little purse-like basket with a chick and a duck for Megan.  Really they are amazing people and a great example of Christ-like love.  We are so blessed.

Another Tooth Is Gone

Tyler's front tooth has been loose for a couple of weeks now.  He told us yesterday that we could pull it out today, so this evening before bed time we went for it. 
He wanted me to pull it out, so I got a tissue and wiggled it a little before I yanked it out.  He cried and said it hurt, but once he realized it was out he was fine.  We can already see the adult tooth coming in.  It is so exciting.  He still has another loose tooth on the bottom that really needs to come out because the adult tooth has already come out behind it.  The more the other tooth comes in the harder it gets to wiggle the baby tooth in front.  I hope we can get it out ourselves so we don't have to take him back to the dentist to have them pull it.
Josh really wanted his picture taken too while I was taking Tyler's picture.  It took a couple shots before I could get one that wasn't blurry, Josh moves around way too much.  I tried to get one of Megan, but she wouldn't stand still.  We really need to get a better camera that takes clear pictures even when my wiggly kids move all around.  Maybe before the baby comes in September.

Megan Turned Two

Megan turned two on Wednesday.  Tony got out her new tricycle on Tuesday when the weather was nice and set it up.  Megan loved it.  So on her actually birthday it was pretty low key.  Grandma Margie called and invited us to lunch with cousin Matt and Megan and Josh had a great time.  We went to McDonald's and let the kids play in the play land.  It was super fun and nice of grandma to make Megan feel extra special.

Last night Uncle Max brought over some cake that they had left over from a bunny cake that Dona made, so that was super nice...and yummy.  We are working with her to say that she is two instead of one.  I think it's going to take a little time, but she is a smart cookie so she'll get it.

She had her well-child doctor visit yesterday.  Here are her stats:

Weight: 24 lbs 12 oz (40%)

Height: 33 3/4 inches (40%)

Head: 46 3/4 cm (40%)

Megan is such a fun, crazy, outgoing, adventurous, independent, stubborn, loving, sweet kid.  She drives me nuts and and melts my heart with her sweetness all day long.  She is currently obsessed with Mom and she loves Minnie Mouse.  She has the cutest smile that will make you melt with her adorable dimples.  She is way too smart for her age and thinks that she is big like Tyler and Josh.  She loves her brothers so much.  She loves to sit by Tyler all the time, even though Tyler generally moves to a different spot when she sits by him.  She loves to torment Josh.  She is your typical little sister when it comes to Josh, loves to push his buttons.  But she does love him.  She says she wants a little sister and knows that Mommy has a baby in her tummy.  We all love her so much and so happy to have her in our little family!

New (to us) Van

We got our van the day we got back from our vacation last Sunday.  It is a 2008 Honda Odyssey.  It has leather seats and a navigation system.  It seats eight, but we took out the middle seat so that it was easier for the kids to get in and out of the car...and so we wont have to move the seat when we have the baby.  We are really liking so far.  It is so nice to have so much extra space for each of the kids. 

Josh learned how to buckle up himself while we were on our vacation in Margie's new van and he continues to do it himself in our van.  It is so nice just having to buckle in Megan and letting the boys take care of themselves. This van does have a tv screen so that the back seat riders can watch a movie, so the kids really love that.  We haven't put any movies out in the car yet, but I am sure that will happen soon.

Megan loves to sit in the very back in the boys buster seats.  She thinks that she is so big.  I let her sit back there when we just drove to the church, but now she always wants to sit there - my mistake.  We love our new van and think it will be great for our family of six!

Birthday Party For Tyler and Megan

Yesterday we decided to celebrate the birthdays of Tyler and Megan with the Steenblik side of the family.  We were going to do it with all the family, but then most my family went to St. George for my grandpa's 90th birthday party - a good reason for them to miss out on the party of my two little ones.  So since my family was going to be out of town we partied with the Steenblik's.

We decided to just have it at Tony's parents house and have his siblings come there.  Nate and Amy with their kids came into town the night before from Oregon so that they can bless their baby Cora here with all their family.  Derek ended up being called into work, so we missed him.  Otherwise all the family was together.
Tony's parents took us all out to dinner at IHOP.  Kids eat free there, so that was the perfect choice for a group with eight kids.  After dinner we went back to the Steenblik's for presents, cake, and ice cream.
Tyler and Megan were both very excited to open their presents.  Megan opened the wagon from Tony and I first (it was the biggest) and she loved it.  We then let Tyler open a couple while she played with the wagon. 
Tyler liked his presents and wanted to play with them right away, but I made him wait until today.  Grandma got Megan a Minnie Mouse chair and she fell in love.  She wouldn't let anyone touch her chair or her wagon and kept both of them very close to her for quite a while.  It was pretty entertaining to watch her try to keep both of them at the same time.  All the pictures I took of it were blurry, darn camera.
After cake and ice cream we changed the kids into their pajamas and took them home.  The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins and celebrating birthdays.  It is always fun to spend time with family, especially when you haven't seen them in a while.  We sure do love our family and miss them when they are gone.