It's a big enough umbrella

Charlie bowling

2011-11-26T21:27:00.001-08:00

more halloween

2011-11-11T21:13:00.001-08:00

Alex's costume was easy. All you need for Calvin is a striped red shirt and some messy hair. We even found a stuffed tiger that looked Hobbes-ish. We tried to spray Alex's hair yellow but it turned out green. This was the day of his school carnival.

Ben wanted to be Superman. Also easy. I don't love store bought costumes but this one looked better and was probably just as cost effective as if I had made it.

Charlie wanted to be a pirate. We already had the costume from when Alex was his age. But, he didn't want any facial hair or accessories. Even easier. Here he is at his preschool Halloween party.

For Wesley I pulled out an owl costume I had made for Ben when he was a baby. It wasn't in great shape but I've learned that whatever the little ones wear will be pulled off and/or stained so I think it was our best option.

The whole gang at the church Trunk or Treat.

We also took another trip to the pumpkin patch with the whole family this time.

And here are the boys with their pumpkin designs. I attempted to carve an owl for Wesley's pumpkin. Ryan helped carve the other three and had the seeds in the oven before I was done carving.

incognito

2011-10-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

Friday night Ryan and I went to see the local community college's production of The Drowsy Chaperone. We decided kind of at the last minute to dress in character. What made the decision for me was when I saw that Target had a whole rack of these cloche hats. I even attempted pin curls in my hair. Everyone who came in costume was entered to win prizes. We didn't win (which was fine because I don't know what we would have done with 30 pounds of espresso beans), but I have to say it was a fun era to be in for a night.

Saturday night we went to Ryan's sister's annual Halloween party. Ryan's siblings and their spouses all came as characters from Spaceballs. Here were our characters:

I didn't get a picture of the whole group of us but I hope I can have someone send me one. Because you just don't get the whole effect with just Yogurt and Lord Helmet.

pumpkin patch

2011-10-23T16:44:00.001-07:00

Charlie's preschool class got to go to the pumpkin patch. He loved it, of course, and I got some of the usual photos. (Both Alex and Ben went on the same field trip when they were in preschool). It was on this day that I discovered that the lens cover on our camera doesn't always open completely.

a painting by Charlie

2011-10-23T16:41:00.001-07:00

This depicts a knight (in blue) fighting a dragon (in green). The smoke from the dragon breathing fire is above, and the blood is from when the knight stabbed the dragon's wing so he couldn't fly.

stuff I made

2011-10-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

Since we just surpassed one year of living in our current house, we recently made more of an effort to get some things up on the walls. So I made these profiles of the boys. Maybe profiles are a trend that is fading away, but I liked the look of this plywood version.

I also wanted to try my hand at paper cutting, hence these:

Then I made these cards to donate to a ward auction:

So I guess I can be productive when I really want to be. It doesn't happen very often.

Ryan is doing the news again.

2011-10-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

http://scvnews.com/?p=19828

(Sorry, you'll have to click on the link. I couldn't figure out how to embed it from the site.)

It's a little five minute newscast for a local TV station. He does it Monday through Thursday.

It just started a couple of weeks ago, and it's probably a little premature to post anything about it until they get things running smoothly, but the bat story was just too good.

Wesley is two.

2011-10-06T16:23:00.000-07:00

Wesley turned two on September 24th. He had a pretty low key birthday. We did a Yo Gabba Gabba cake and got together with some family to celebrate his and his cousin's birthdays. He also got a little hockey set, some books, and a little motorcycle. All things that he enjoys.

Some of his favorite phrases lately:

hockey puck

There he is! or, There it is!

Yeah! (it's really the tone of it, hard to convey here.)

Other things he's doing lately:

barking, meowing, hissing like a snake

singing the theme song to Superman.

singing "Allelujah, Allelujah" from All Creatures of our God and King in the style of Mr. Bean

rubbing his belly button

rubbing the top of his ear

the wedding

2011-10-06T15:38:00.001-07:00

The bride and groom. They are very good looking, but you probably can't tell from my blurry pictures.

My sister and one of her boys. That is chocolate milk, by the way.

In this shot: all three brothers, one brother in law, one niece, three nephews, one sister, hugs.

Joel and his pals engrossed in conversation with my nephew.

Joel and his pals laughing at . . .? Josh's backside? One of my kids tripping on the muddy grass? It's a mystery.

My mom.

I don't know what was so amusing about this fountain.

More family standing around.

When I saw a thumbnail of this picture I didn't realize that wasn't Ryan's arm.

The only picture I took at the reception.

As usual I wasn't too stellar at taking pictures, partly because I figured we'd have some of the professional ones with all our family in them. But the photographer's cameras were stolen later that day. Sorry I don't have any of Dad or Shannon or half of Jeremy's family.

Despite the theft (my sister's wallet was also stolen a few days earlier) and the rain (it is Portland, so I think that was kind of expected), it was a lovely wedding.

Now I just need to post the video of my nephew dancing at the reception.

Oregon

2011-10-05T13:32:00.000-07:00

Joel got married in Portland on September 17th, which means that we got to hang out at the Oregon Coast for a couple days beforehand.

Don't know if you can tell but some of the blobs on the rocks in these two pictures were seals.

Wesley with his cousin, digging in the dirt.

The pool where we were staying. Charlie became a swimmer in one day.

first day of school 2011

2011-09-03T10:29:00.001-07:00

School started for the older boys on August 17th. They were both ready and excited to go back. Alex is starting fourth grade and Ben is starting second grade. Alex only got to enjoy his new class and teacher for one day, because by the second day we found out there was an opening at a school closer to us that we have been trying to get the boys into. (It's a long story, it has to do with us moving last year and opening up a huge can of worms.) So I don't have any pictures of his first day at his new school, but he has had a great attitude about it (better than his mom) and it has been a smooth transition. He also gets to ride his bike to and from school which is nice for both of us.

Here they are at school, lining up with their classes. I love how the girl in the pink shirt is ducking out of Alex's way. Ben was excited that two of his good friends from his class last year are in his class this year.

Charlie got to start preschool this year. He has been talking about this for over a year. His first day was a couple of weeks after his brothers', and it was hard for him to wait. He actually ended up missing the first day because he was sick with croup (which has since turned into a double ear infection- poor kid.) He was beyond excited when he finally got to go to preschool. He was ready about two hours ahead of time and kept wanting to get in the car already!

and in other family news . . .

2011-08-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

. . . my brother is getting married in a few weeks.

my sister had a baby in July . . .

2011-08-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

. . . and here he is:

Another all-boy family.

Ben's teeth: a progressive series

2011-08-30T13:28:00.001-07:00

Raingutter Regatta

2011-08-30T13:27:00.001-07:00

end of summer

2011-08-30T12:21:00.001-07:00

It really bugs me how short our summers are. Don't the schools here understand that they should do things the way I did them when I was growing up? Summer break should be from around Memorial Day to Labor Day, right? Two months is just not long enough. And I don't agree with starting school in the middle of August when the heat is most likely to be the triple digit kind. Anyway, here are some of the things we were able to squeeze in that didn't get their own posts:

Alex did Parks and Rec Basketball. This was the first sport he's been involved in that he specifically asked to do. He even made one basket and the coach's wife got video of it.

And, he saw someone else attempt this shot successfully so he thought he'd give it a try, too:

Alex and Ben took a Grossology class one day where they dissected a squid, a sheep's eye, and a frog.
We visited the KidSpace Museum in Pasadena for the first time. Fun little place, but crazy on free family night.
Cousin sleepovers.
Beach and pool days. Thank you to our friends who were generous enough to invite us to their pools and other fun activities!
Our Netflix was pretty busy. We watched a lot of Mr. Bean, old Pink Panther cartoons, the old Batman movie from the 60's (that has a shot of the Los Angeles temple when they are flying in their helicopter), and the old Spiderman cartoons from the 60's.
Alex and Benjamin started up piano lessons again. We had put them on hiatus when we moved almost a year ago. Now we are hearing a lot of Swans on the Lake and the Wigwam Song.

And here are a couple of pictures that should have been in earlier posts:

Airband 3

2011-08-30T11:38:00.002-07:00

This has become a fun summer tradition. This year we were more casual with it and threw it all together about an hour or two before the "performance". The boys decided to do a pirate song called Stowaway. Charlie even acted as the stowaway who hides on the pirate ship, begs the other pirates to let him stay and eventually works his way to becoming the Captain. I forgot my camera and phone, so I am borrowing a friend's picture again. (Thanks Jennifer!)

Charlie has been a little obsessed with pirates lately. Here are a few of him just playing around at home. He can really wield a butter knife.

2011-08-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

Another edition of Things I Initially Thought Were Fake:

So this has been around for a while, but it's new to me. I actually saw a spoof of it before I saw this and now the spoof makes much more sense.

Why does he remind me of a Wolfgramm?

science day 2.0

2011-07-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

Remember last year's science day? We did it again a couple of weeks ago.

We repeated a few experiments and added a couple of new ones. Just like last year I wasn't able to take pictures, but a friend took this great one:

quick Utah trip

2011-07-18T14:03:00.001-07:00

On July 8th we left for a quick trip to Utah and came back on the 9th. A friend was getting married and Ryan convinced me that it would be fun to take the whole family for the lighting-fast trip. He was actually right.

The boys all traveled well (with a little help from the DS), we got to Provo early enough Friday to play at the hotel pool, got to go to the lovely wedding dinner at La Jolla Groves (we recommend it!) where we saw LaVell Edwards, attended the sealing Saturday morning at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple which was wonderful and the kids were excited that they were able to be inside a temple in the waiting room, fished Saturday afternoon at the Spanish Fork Reservoir where my brother Joel met up with us, and headed home.

Thank you Jim and Michelle for giving us an excuse to make such a crazy trip. And thank you Joel for letting us see your Solvang shirt.

I didn't get any good pictures of the newlyweds, but here is a blurry one. I hope Charlie didn't make his way into any of the professional pictures.

Benjamin might be our most photogenic child.

Ryan and the mother of the groom. I don't know who took this picture. Either Ben or Charlie.

The 4th was with us.

2011-07-18T13:39:00.001-07:00

We had a great time on the 4th this year. We started out watching our local parade. I hadn't been in six or seven years so I'm glad we live close enough now that there's not really an excuse not to see it. We walked around the corner and sat on the first patch of shady grass we found. Ryan did some of the announcing, but we weren't close enough to where he was stationed to hear him. It's also kind of a bummer that the floats and different groups in the parade aren't allowed to throw candy to the parade watchers. But, it was still fun and the kids even stayed interested.

Ben saw this balloon arch and said, "Mom, you better get a picture of that." The theme of the parade was celebrating women's right to vote, so there were a lot of suffragette costumes, and yes, we heard the song "Sister Suffragette" from Mary Poppins.

We also liked this Fife and Drum group:

Later in the evening we went to a friend's to watch fireworks and before it got dark they let us milk their cow. It was kind of fun if you ignored all the flies.

waterski '11

2011-07-14T13:20:00.000-07:00

After a brief hiatus last year the waterski trip returned this summer. Ryan's dad fixed up his boat and we headed back to Lake San Antonio once again. Ryan brought the horses up again, too.

Alex and Ben both got up on real skis this year behind the Sea-doo (much easier than being pulled behind the boat). Charlie could only be convinced to stand in the little ski long enough for Ryan to pull him back and forth along the shore. Wesley loved sitting and splashing in the water.

The boat did have a few hiccups, like when it wouldn't start and Ryan, Sam, and Amy had to push it to the dock. And a couple of the cousins were burned on some coals, but mostly it was the same tubing, splashing, swimming, smore-eating, marshmallow-roasting, soda-guzzling, story-telling, fly-swatting, sun-screening, Andy-Gumping, popsicle-eating trip it always is.

We got home late on Wednesday night, and on Thursday morning I managed to cut my foot, pass out twice, and had to get stitches. I'm glad that happened after this trip. I don't think the lake is the best environment for keeping a wound clean and free of infection.

Here are the three heroes pushing the boat. Ryan injured himself doing this.

horsin around

2011-07-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

The Haslam family has had many occasions to get together and celebrate in the last few weeks.

First we celebrated Christine's (Ryan's sister) 40th birthday. To surprise her, Ryan and his brother in law and dad all went in on a new horse to replace Sox. They presented Christine with the new horse (who she named Ruby) and then all the adults went country dancing.

We've also had get-togethers for a baptism, a temple night, and of course the waterski trip. It's a good thing I like these people.

Father's Day 2011

2011-07-13T13:57:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from Father's Day. This summer has been so busy that this already seems like so long ago. I can't even remember all the cute things the boys made for Ryan. Alex made a pop-up card and Ben made a little book and a huge card and I think Charlie drew about 10 different pictures for Ryan. He also got a new book and a little shop vac.

Ryan requested a Greek omelette for breakfast. I'm not the best at omelettes but this one turned out pretty good.

Later we had the extended family over for dinner and badminton in the backyard.

Fun day.

Great Dad.

last day of school

2011-07-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the last day of school with a little more fanfare than usual this year. In the morning Charlie found this butterfly in the backyard. We think it might have been injured or something. We left it alone after we took the pictures and it disappeared after a while. We hope it recovered and flew away.

After picking the boys up from school we went to see Kung Fu Panda 2. We had decided that was the one movie of the year that was theater worthy for the kids.

Then later that night the boys requested to "camp" in the backyard. Ryan set up the tent and even started a fire in the fireplace so we could roast marshmallows for smores. Somehow I was the lucky parent who got to sleep outside with them. I think they all slept better than I did.

But before we settled down in our sleeping bags, we played around with some dry ice. We added soap bubbles to it and it kept us entertained for quite a while. It is fascinating stuff.

ben's park day

2011-07-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

I got to tag along when Ben's class had their Park Day during the last week of school. They played a lot of classic games (egg in the spoon relay, gunny sack races, sponge relay, water balloon toss) and had a giant hunt in the sand for hidden treasures.

Here's Ben with his friend Will:
]

Ben and Charlie were pretty good at the balloon toss.

The Garden Show

2011-06-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

Alex's class put on a little play called The Garden Show. Alex had two parts: a bee and a tabloid reporter looking for aliens.

My favorite part was the singing compost pile.

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-13T22:53:00.000-07:00

My parents came to visit a few days before Memorial Day. It wasn't the most exciting visit for them, since I was mainly driving the boys to and from school and doctors appointments. But we did manage to be a little patriotic by going to the Reagan Library. When we went a few months ago most of the museum was closed for renovations so we got to see a lot more this time. There was even a NASCAR exhibit so the boys got their pictures taken with the car of their choice.

And yes, here is the cheesy souvenir picture. I'm glad we have it though, because it's the only one I have with all of us together (besides Ryan- he had to work).

2011-06-13T22:45:00.000-07:00

Alex earned an award in school for math.

I think we were both a little surprised at the subject.

Vegas

2011-06-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Ryan and I went to Vegas for a few days. He had a work conference and invited me. (This is the same conference that we went to three years ago in Puerto Rico. Not so exotic this time.)

While we were there we experienced record low temperatures, but we still enjoyed ourselves. A highlight was going to see Ka. It was our first Cirque du Soleil experience, and it was pretty amazing.

Here we are taking a self photo trying to show off the view from our hotel room (that's the Luxor behind our heads).

We had to kind of scramble to find places for the boys to stay, and some wonderful friends helped us out. Hope we can repay them someday.

mutti's tag

2011-05-17T11:26:00.001-07:00

Old-fashioned picture from Ben:

Mother's Day map from Charlie:

Awesome acrostic poem from Alex:

planes, trains, and automobiles

2011-05-17T10:52:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago we took a whirlwind trip up to Sacramento. We saw Uncle Josh, who checked all of our eyes. The boys were all disappointed that they didn't need glasses.

Then we went into downtown Sacramento and visited the train museum. We even rode on a real train, which the boys were excited about. I think they thought it would go a little faster, though.

Then we headed up to Beale Air Force Base to catch the end of the air show. We got there just in time for the Thunderbirds. We brought earplugs, but after a few minutes we decided we didn't really need them. Of course that's when they did a few surprise fly-bys and scared Charlie and Wesley pretty good. They were pretty impressive to watch, though. We missed the B-2 and a few other planes but the Thunderbirds made it worth the drive.

Charlie conked out within five minutes of leaving home.

Wesley keeping himself occupied.

The famous golden spike.

The only picture I got with Josh in it.

Sitting on a C-17.

Meeting with some of the crew for the Thunderbirds.

SEVEN!!!!

2011-05-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

Ben turned seven on May 1st. He requested a strawberry flavored rocket ship cake. I kind of ran out of room and had to squeeze in the "7". Doesn't get much easier than decorating with m&m's.

His birthday was on a Sunday, but we filled the entire weekend with activites. Friday and Saturday we were in Sacramento (more to come about that adventure), Sunday we had cake and presents, but what Ben really wanted was to go bowling. So we did that Monday.

cub stuff

2011-05-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we participated in our second pinewood derby. Alex continued with the Star Wars theme. His car was inspired by this:

It didn't end up looking much like it after adjustments were made for weights, but he did a good job doing most of the work on the car himself.

He was also awarded his Bear rank that night. This is him pinning the bear pin on me. Wesley had followed me up to the front and accidentally got stepped on by someone who didn't see him there. Our den leader is trying to calm him down.

peeps battle

2011-05-11T12:24:00.000-07:00

Alex read about this in a book and wanted to try it. We stuck toothpicks in two peeps to look like swords, and put them in the microwave. I'm not sure which one was supposed to win. The one that puffed up the biggest? The one that melted first? Well, they ended up gooey and sticky, but I'd rather do this with Peeps than eat them.

Merlin's beard!

2011-04-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

Ryan had a beard for a couple of weeks. It's gone now, but I thought I should document it.

Spring Break '11

2011-04-15T22:02:00.000-07:00

Last week Ryan took Ben and Alex camping on Monday and Tuesday with the Young Men. They got home Tuesday night. We unpacked, repacked, and left Wednesday morning for our annual camping trip to San Onofre with a bunch of friends from Saugus. It was lots of fun, as usual, and so fun to see everyone. The weather wasn't the greatest for the beach. Thursday it was cold, cloudy, and windy, but Friday we had more sun. Enough for Ryan, Ben, and Alex to all get in the water and surf. Alex got a pretty gnarly scrape on his leg. I asked him if he gets tired of always being the one to get injured on our family trips.

Despite a week full of camping, Alex never got sick of smores. One night he had a triple decker. We tried some with peanut butter cups instead of chocolate. They were good, but I prefer the classic version.

Ryan got to tell lots of stories around the fire, and Ben even got to tell a ghost story. I didn't get to hear it but everyone who did was impressed. He had been practicing.

Charlie was thrilled to see some of his friends who we hadn't seen since we moved.

I have video of the boys surfing that I'll try to put up later.

Ben's shark tooth

2011-04-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

Ben has a new tooth coming in before the old one has come out.

The picture also shows one of his two new fillings. So much dental excitement!

March 25th . . .

2011-04-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

. . . was Charlie's fourth birthday. To celebrate, we went camping at Pt. Mugu.

I think this was Wesley's first time camping since he has been walking. It was a little cold, and as soon as Ryan got a fire going Wesley instinctively knew to hold out his hands to warm them.

We brought our bikes and went for a ride.

We parked the bikes by a stream to throw rocks in the water, and so I could try to push Wesley in.

In the morning Charlie found a little friend in our campsite. (Scroll down for video).

A couple of days later we had some family over for homemade pizza and the pirate cake Charlie had requested. I had done the same cake before on Ben's fourth birthday. The headband is something he made that day in Primary.

I think Charlie is glad to be getting older. He is anxious to go to a real school like his brothers. He is still what I refer to as our feisty child. But he can be very thoughtful, too. Helpful, grumpy, singing, yelling, giggly, intense, charming. He's a mixed bag. But fun to have around.

A few nights ago we were learning D&C 1:38 when I mistakenly said "prophet" instead of "servant". Charlie laughed and said, "Loser!". I wasn't sure I heard him right and asked him to repeat himself. He said, "Mom's a loser cuz she said 'prophet'!" Turns out he learned that word from the movie The Spy Next Door. I should have know not to let my kids watch a movie that has the acting talents of both George Lopez and Billy Ray Cyrus.

My latest addiction. Watch all four.

2011-03-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

Charlie's drawrings

2011-03-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

He said that this one kind of looks like Papa:

This one is anatomically correct:

Towsley Canyon hike 3/19/11

2011-03-19T15:10:00.000-07:00

Big Bear II

2011-03-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

At the end of February we had our second annual weekend at Big Bear. Lots of snow, lots of sledding, lots of food, lots of cousins, lots of wii Dance Dance Revolution. Alex had a pretty gnarly accident on the sled and had some good scrapes on his face for a week or so. He got back on that sled, though, by golly! Wesley was done with the snow after about five minutes. Charlie loved it and stayed outside for hours. Benjamin learned how to use his sled like a professional luger.

Can't wait till next year!

Ben's magic show.

a common sight

2011-03-19T14:19:00.000-07:00

Wesley and keys

quick camping trip

2011-03-19T13:54:00.001-07:00

Ryan took the boys camping a while ago. I think it was early February. They went to Leo Carillo while Wesley and I stayed home. Wesley isn't quite ready for tent camping, plus it was a chance for me to get some uninterrupted studying time.

Ben caught a live moth in mid-flight.

smores

Parent Trap photo-op

I guess Charlie spent a lot of time biting his sleeping pad.

Ryan taught the boys how to use a compass

They found some military friends on their hike

Charlie

2011-02-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

Charlie recently finished a little tumbling class. I've signed each one of the boys up for this so far when they are three. It's kind of their first experience being in a class and following directions, and it's always interesting to see how they do. Charlie did pretty well listening to the teacher, but he had to warm up to some of his classmates. (One day he told me he didn't like one of them because she had dark skin. Great.) He seemed to be particularly good at bouncing and hopping, and he finally mastered his somersault. When he got his medal on the final day, he gave me the biggest smile I've ever seen from him.

Being a tiger.

Some things he's said/done in the last couple months:

Charlie recently graduated from Nursery into Primary. He had to say goodbye to Sister "Owl" and Sister "Frisbee" (in our last ward it was Sister "Ellie" and Sister "Aber"), and again I was curious to see how he'd do. So far so good. He has had a couple of Sundays when he didn't want to go to his class, but he can usually be persuaded. I don't think he pays much attention to the songs or lessons, but he hasn't been disruptive. The first week in January he was visiting a different ward and came home with a big sign around his neck that said, "Welcome to Primary, Boston!" Boston must have been absent that day.

He went through a phase when his favorite thing to say was, "Mom, it's not a big deal."

He makes up little songs all the time, sometimes with nonsense words and sometimes with real words like "What the heck is going on" or this one to the tune of Old McDonald- "Limpett is a cabaret, He is forty-five".

Once I heard him exclaim from the bathroom, "This is so serious!"

choo-choo-choose me

2011-02-18T10:59:00.000-08:00

We had our traditional Valentine's dinner of homemade lasagna. Actually I'm pretty sure I haven't always made it from scratch. Sometimes we do the frozen kind. But this year I served it in courses and we made the whole thing kind of a learning experience about what it's like to dine in a fancy restaurant. The hardest thing for the boys was waiting in between courses. And we definitely need to work on suppressing burps and other bodily noises at the table. (Even Wesley will fake burp and laugh at himself.) They did a good job of chewing with their mouths closed, though, and of keeping their voices down a bit more than usual. It turned out to be a nice evening. Alex even remembered why we have lasagna every year.

this guy

2011-02-18T10:20:00.001-08:00

I haven't said anything about Mr. Wesley for a while, so I guess it's about time.

Within a day or two after returning home from Christmas in Idaho, he finally mastered going down the stairs on his own (intentionally).

His vocabulary is growing, too. He has been our latest talker, and was stuck on four or five words for months. (Uh-oh, dada, nana (banana), mo! (more), whoa).

Some of his newer words are juice, shoes, cheese, car, bubble, diaper, and noodle. He makes a "ssssss" sound for a snake and for all other animals he makes his horse snort noise. He can also sense when we're getting ready to go somewhere and will head toward the garage door saying, "Deh-do!" (meaning, "let's go!"). He can understand a lot more than he can say; he can point to his belly when asked, for example, and if anyone mentions the word "bath" he'll head upstairs to the bathroom.

He is a pro at going down the slide at the park by himself, and loves playing outside in general. He loves trying on shoes and will go through our closets putting on different pairs and marching around the house. He likes to hum to himself and the two songs we hear him humming the most sound remarkably like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Old McDonald Had a Farm. He's been doing this for months, so we weren't sure at first if his songs were intentional. Maybe he just plagiarized them.

He has his favorite books now- one being Blue Hat Green Hat. He can "read" that one ("Duh-duh, duh-duh, duh-duh, Ooooo!").

He can be quite charming when he's in a good mood, but still wakes up once a night most of the time. He's very attached to a pacifier now (he didn't take one until he was close to 1), but we try to only let him have it for naps and bed. He's teething- getting some back molars on the bottom, so we've been letting him have it more often. We'll crack down soon. It does come in handy for keeping him quiet at church, too.

Other than that he's the typical toddler- getting into anything and everything. He still likes toilets, and yesterday he pulled my purse down from the table and managed to eat half a pack of gum before I caught him. He kept cocking his head to the side and saying, "Mmmmmmm!".

EAFB

2011-02-18T10:20:00.000-08:00

Alex and Ryan got to go on a special field trip to Edwards Air Force Base. I don't know a lot of details since I didn't go, but they both enjoyed it and Alex even brought back some surprises from the gift shop for his brothers.

He didn't get to see one in person, but he learned about the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber and was pretty impressed.

progress

2011-02-18T10:16:00.000-08:00

The wallpaper has been gone for a while now but last month we (meaning Ryan) painted the entryway. It's a neutral yellow, and we like it.

Nine times

2011-02-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

Alex turned 9 last month. We just celebrated as a family, but he planned the whole thing. He wanted a Harry Potter cake (he recently finished book 5), and he made up a bunch of Harry Potter games to play. He even mapped out a Quidditch game for the backyard, brooms and all. I think we'd need about 20 people to actually make it work, but we faked it. He also wanted to go to Five Guys for lunch. We happily obliged. Later we took advantage of the nice weather and my new bike and went for a family bike ride. We've done this a couple of times now, and each time I'm impressed at the boys' endurance, and at Wesley's ability to fall asleep in an uncomfortable seat while wearing a big helmet.

As for the spoils, Alex got a microscope, a crystal growing kit, a plush version of an amoeba, and a Harry Potter game for his DS.

a milestone

2011-02-18T09:59:00.000-08:00

Benjamin lost his first tooth in January. Fittingly, it came out while he was eating an apple (his favorite food). And the tooth fairy even remembered to come.

Another note about Ben- recently he had an epiphany while we were driving somewhere. He said,
"Scooby Doo is a lot like the Wizard of Oz."

I hadn't thought of that before, but he's right.

cali weather

2011-02-18T09:54:00.000-08:00

Within a few weeks of having our historic snowfall, this was blooming in our front yard:

snow in Cali

2011-02-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

A couple of days after we got back from Idaho it snowed here in Santa Clarita. It was Sunday January 2nd, and I was home with a sick Wesley while the other boys were in Moorpark at William's baby blessing. It started in late afternoon, and by the time the boys got home it was getting dark. That didn't stop them from getting their snow clothes on, doing a little sledding on the driveway and throwing a snowball or two.

Christmas 2010

2011-02-05T13:52:00.001-08:00

It's been a while, so we'll see how much I can accurately remember here. This year we took Christmas to Idaho to visit the Baer side of the family. We left during the rain (it had been raining for a week straight here in California) and our wipers never stopped during the 14 hour drive. I was worried that we wouldn't have room for all our stuff. To put my mind at ease Ryan went through quite an ordeal to get one of those car-top storage containers. Well it turns out we didn't even need it. (He returned it later with no problems.)

It's always good to see my family and enjoy the slower paced feel of Idaho. We can always count on lots of food (I'm never hungry during our stays there), unique Thai gifts from Shannon, being introduced to fun games by Jeremy's family, music and conversation from the Bachelors, some kind of unplanned complication or surprise from Heather (car dying, pregnancy announcement), and running into lots of people who know Dad around town. Our kids were sick off and on so we didn't venture out too much and we didn't get to sledding. There wasn't even much snow until the day we left. We got to see Amy (Ryan's sister) and her husband even took us on a tour of the U.S. Marshals facilities in Pocatello.

When it was time to go we packed everything up, saran-wrapped my Christmas present (a cute beach cruiser bike from Ryan), put it on the bike rack, and headed out into the blizzard. On the drive home we encountered snow, rain, wind, and sand. The sand beat up our car a bit, and we now have a cracked windshield. But the bike survived!

We in St. George and even met up with a friend of mine from my preschool days who I hadn't seen for probably 25 years. We had just found each other on facebook. It was a lot of fun to see Chanda and meet her family. Ryan approved too, and said it was too bad we lived so far away since they seem like they'd be fun to hang out with. I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture, but it was definitely a highlight of the trip.

11 years down

2011-02-05T13:39:00.000-08:00

Ryan and I usually try to do something out of the ordinary on our anniversary (which was way back in December). This year we went to see Brian Regan since he is the most beloved comedian of Mormons everywhere. It is hard to find the clean ones, you know. In fact, while we were there we were people watching in the audience trying to point out all the Mormons. Anyway, he didn't disappoint. We highly recommend going to see him, whether you happen to be Mormon or not.

soccer

2011-02-05T13:20:00.000-08:00

The boys ended another season of soccer in December. Alex moved up an age division which meant this was his first time on a "competitive" team with goalies. He got to play goalie quite a few times and enjoyed it. Ryan was his team's (The Panthers) coach. They had kind of a rough season, but they muscled through it.

Ben also moved up to an older division and it was fun to see him become a lot more aggressive on the field. He did really well and ended up earning the Sportsmanship Award for his team (the Blue Lightning Bolts).

dead dead deadsky

2011-01-11T19:35:00.000-08:00

So, about a month ago our computer's power supply exploded and the part we ordered from Dell finally arrived today (after three canceled orders and much confusion and lies from Dell's personnel). That means it will be another week or so until I can post pictures. But here are some things I've been thinking of mentioning here:

The end of another soccer season

Christmas in Pocatello

Snow in Santa Clarita

general updates on the boys

In the meantime, here's a link to a game the boys like. It's called Fancy Pants.

2010-12-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

2010-12-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

I came across these old pictures of Kennewick. Kind of fun. Any guesses as to specific locations? Ever heard of Emigh's Fruit Farm?

decking

2010-11-30T21:46:00.001-08:00

Maybe we should ask Santa for a new camera this year.

week of Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T20:32:00.000-08:00

The kids had the whole week of Thanksgiving off from school, so we tried to keep busy.

On Monday we drove out to the Grove to see the "snow" (bubble machine) and the giant Rockefeller Center-esque tree. Kind of fun but probably not worth the drive. Also, I was reminded how out of place I feel at upscale malls. The farmer's market nearby was more my style.

On Tuesday we visited the Reagan Library for the first time. I don't know what took us so long. We all really liked it.

Wednesday we went to a park. I don't have any pictures, but it was a nice park.

Thursday was Thanksgiving, complete with the annual cousins hockey game. Other highlights: baton twirling and sugarless pumpkin pie.

We spent Friday tearing down wallpaper, and that night Ryan and I went to see Weezer. Couldn't miss them performing the Blue Album. Wish I could have gone Saturday night too for Pinkerton.

Saturday the boys (minus Wesley) went ice skating at L.A Live. It was Charlie's first time unaided. Uncle Sam told him to just hold out his arms if he didn't want to fall, and from then on he didn't feel the need to hang onto anyone.

It was a good week.

Goodbye Sox

2010-11-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

We said goodbye to Sox last week. His teeth were getting pretty bad and he was losing weight because he couldn't really eat anymore. I guess that's what happens to a lot of horses when they get old. We went to see him one last time with the kids before the vet came to put him down. Here's what Ryan wrote on facebook:

Had to say goodbye to Sox this week. Born 29 years ago, almost to the day in my Grandpa's barn in Tujunga. Helped build dozens of trails in Tujunga and southern Utah. Tough as nails, Grandpa Haslam always claimed he was half billy goat on those trails. He could handle just about anything you could put in front of him. Sweet enough to let my 2-year old ride him. He'll be tough to replace. No doubt, Grandpa already has put him to work, building trails in paradise!

Halloween 2010

2010-10-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

Ever since last Halloween Alex and Ben knew they wanted to be "zombie brothers" this year.

Charlie wanted to be Yoda again- no complaints there from me since we just had to use last year's costume. We even painted his face green before one Halloween party but he didn't like it when he looked in the mirror so we took it off. He did NOT want me to take his picture, either. I put Wesley in a Frankenstein shirt and drew some stitches and a unibrow on his face. He looked pretty good for the first Halloween party (and of course I didn't get any pictures), but we tried again the next week for another party and it just didn't work, as you can see here. Oh well.

Ryan and I went as Bob Ross and a painting. I don't think any wig will ever be as good as that real fro of his, but it was fun to try. Not the most practical costume for me- I couldn't hear anything since my ears were behind the canvas, and I couldn't eat with it on or move through a crowded room very well. I guess that's the price I have to pay.

Another Halloween favorite

2010-10-27T21:28:00.000-07:00

This is the first spooky movie I remember watching

2010-10-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween.

our house

2010-10-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our new house! Come on in.

First we have the entryway. Notice the abundance of flowery wallpaper, floor to ceiling.

(The black blob on the stairs is what is left of my Martha Stewart inspired Halloween mice decorations.)

Go through the french doors and to the left is our family room.

To the right is the kitchen.

Pass through the kitchen to the dining room and living room.

Again, more floor to ceiling wallpaper and lovely pink carpet! The fort made from moving boxes is an architectural highlight.

Here are the patio and backyard, and view of the house from the back. We have lots of trees that needed to be trimmed, and now we have lots of branches lying around that need to be disposed of.

The bedrooms aren't really exciting enough to post pictures, although the master bedroom also has pink carpet.

We love having space. The deep storage closets are perfect for hiding in and playing if you are a three-year-old.

The house is about the same age as the house I grew up in, so some of the original fixtures are familiar to me. That linoleum in the closet and these doorknobs, for example.

We are trying to decide what our first project will be. Replace windows? Remove wallpaper? Paint over wallpaper? Flooring? There are so many options. We are open to any decorating suggestions so if you have any ideas please send them our way. Also, come visit! We finally have somewhere for you to sleep other than on the couch!

Wesley's birthday

2010-10-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

A couple days after we moved we had a little family get together for Wesley's birthday. We never do a big celebration for a first birthday, and this one was even more scaled down than usual, but we still wanted to at least acknowledge the occasion.

The boy:

The cousins playing:

The cake:

The boy who was entirely uninterested in presents:

(He never got to play with that ball- the other kids took it outside and found a way to put a hole in it in a matter of minutes.)

The boy who was a little more interested in cake:

2010-10-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

Charlie learned how to do this the day before we moved. Unfortunately, we couldn't bring the swing set with us. It wouldn't have survived the move. Fortunately, we live close to a park where he can practice his new skill.

I'm one.

2010-09-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

I'm one.

Some of my favorite things are: Eating bananas, saying "nana" for banana and any other type of food, "Whoa!", "Dada", "uh-oh", "moo", walking (just in the last week or two), taking baths and dunking my face in the water, lifting up toilet seats and trying to play in the water, clapping, energetically waving goodbye, biting mom on the shoulder, playing outside, dancing, playing the piano, and crawling around naked.

I'm not too fond of sleeping more than 3 hours at a time, lying down to have my diaper changed, babysitters, bottles, pacifiers, or wearing shoes. I'm pretty tolerant of the attention I get from my brothers, especially Charlie who has an obsession with touching my head.

I like to coordinate when I have my picture taken. For example, I can make my eye colors match my outfit:

Sometimes, I just want my teeth to match the ones on my shirt:

Pretty talented, eh?

boogie

2010-09-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

So I'm a little bit of a So You Think You Can Dance nerd. The season ended a while ago, but this was my favorite dance. It's still on the DVR because I keep going back to watch it.

2010-09-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to cram in a bunch of posts since we might be without internet for a while and since I was already pretty behind.

Here are a couple of other tidbits:

Alex earned his Wolf and was awarded a bunch of other belt loops and pins from Twilight Camp.

Charlie went spelunking in the bathroom. (I just found these pictures on the camera and couldn't remember why I took them.)

moving

2010-09-19T16:46:00.001-07:00

We are moving. And it's still one of my least favorite things to do. However, Ryan knows this so he started a month ago and has packed about 99% of all the boxes. He even got the boys to help.

We're just moving across town but will be changing wards, stakes, and eventually schools. I don't like that much change. Especially when we love our current ward and school. I know it will be fine and we'll learn to love our new neighborhood. But I can't help but dread everything that goes along with it: changing phone numbers, learning the layout of a new grocery store, finding the good gas stations and restaurants, worrying about the kids making friends.

I am excited to have a bigger house.

And another perk is that my talented friends make me going away gifts like this necklace with the name of our ward.

bobbing along on the bottom of the beautiful briny sea

2010-09-19T16:21:00.000-07:00

My sister Shannon made this blanket for Wesley. She hand-embroidered everything. I don't think I want to know how many hours this took. It's pretty darn cute, though.

Wesley approves.

utah

2010-09-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

Right after the boys were done with their first day of school we whisked them off on our long awaited vacation. We stopped in Vegas overnight. (Yay for free neat stuff like the Bellagio fountain and Mirage volcano. Boo for bad service at Excalibur and all the, uh, inappropriate billboards. The boys kept saying "Close your eyes!" from the backseat.)

In the morning we continued on to Utah and made it to Vernal that evening. We had a wonderful time with family there for a few days. I have an embarrassingly few amount of pictures, but I highly recommend visiting. Heather and Tyler made sure we had a good time and planned train rides, tubing on the lake, and awesome meals. I'm glad the boys got to spend some time with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who they don't get to see very often.

For the second half of the week we headed out to Heber for Ryan's family reunion. We had fun camping there (at the new and huge Heber Valley Camp), playing games, doing obstacle courses, playing more games, dancing, canoeing, eating, playing games, having plasma car races, and playing more games. I married into a pretty good family.

Fun week. Definitely worth missing school for.

newspaper

2010-09-18T21:05:00.001-07:00

Someone just told us that Alex had his picture in the local paper. Look! My arm is there too.

http://www.the-signal.com/section/37/article/33482/

2010-08-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Since summer is so rudely coming to an end, I wanted to mention some things we did that didn't get posted, or that we didn't get pictures of.

-Early in the summer Ryan's mom had the boys spend the night and took them to catch some tadpoles. They brought a few home, and we actually kept them alive long enough for at least one of them to turn into a (tiny) frog.

-Alex and Ben took swimming lessons. Charlie was annoyed that he didn't get to take swimming lessons.

-Alex took a little geology class where he learned about different types of rocks, started a rock collection, and made a volcano.

-Benjamin learned to tie his shoes! With both Alex and Benjamin I have intended to teach them, but Ryan ends up sitting with them and teaching them. Benjamin is very persistent and doesn't want me helping at all with his shoes anymore. He's getting pretty good at it.

-I made several batches of strawberry freezer jam. For one batch I even tried a recipe with less sugar. It still has plenty of sugar so it's still good.

-After living near Los Angeles for eight years we finally went to the Griffith Observatory. We attempted to go a couple months ago but made the mistake of going in the evening on a weekend (that night we ended up going to Universal Citywalk instead- which was another fun night for the kids). This time we tried to get there right at opening and were barely able to get into one of the shows in the Planetarium. I don't know if the kids really learned anything but it was neat and it was relaxing enough to put Ryan to sleep.

first day of school

2010-08-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

Alex and Ben started school on August 12th. Yes, that's way too early. But, judging by the pictures they were excited. We had to start at a new school since ours was closed due to budget cuts. Alex is in 3rd grade and is in a 2-3 split classroom, and Benjamin is in 1st grade in a K-1 split. We'll see how that whole split thing goes. So far they're doing just fine.

another fire

2010-08-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

So, three days after that palm tree burned (which turned out to be caused by a six year old with a lighter) we had another fire a few blocks away. After church I heard helicopters but didn't think much of it until Ryan came home from a meeting and told me to look outside. This one was caused by some teenagers smoking marijuana in a field. We had a great view from our backyard of the helicopters making the drops and were amazed at how accurate they were. A few families in the ward had to evacuate but there was no damage other than some singed backyards.

(When the neighbors cut down the burned palm tree it fell on our fence so part of it had to be replaced- hence the three "orange" boards.)

just a little fire with breakfast

2010-08-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

We had an adventure this morning. Here's what Ryan wrote about it:

How a Haslam became a hero on 8/5/2010 at oh-eight-hundred-thirty-two hours:

Whilst I was getting ready for a ho-hum day at work, I noticed what sounded like a jet airliner flying awfully low over our house. It also seemed to linger over our backyard so I went back to investigate. To my surprise I found a massive inferno had lit up in my backyard. The 30-ft tall King palm was now a king-size flaming torch. I could feel the heat from 50 yards away (even though my backyard is only 20 yards wide). The sound was a terrible roar that seemed to mock me as I reached for my desperately impotent garden hose. As I tentatively approached the eternally ascending column of fire, I looked back at my loving wife. She was obviously so worried for my safety that she didn't think to grab the camera to get my heroism on camera. I couldn't worry about that now. There were old, dry trees nearby, a neighbor's dead lawn, and my precious cedar fence that were in immediate danger. They called to me for refuge from the scorching flames- and I was the only one to provide the sweet safety of wintry, wet water. Well, me and the 84 year old grandma next-door neighbor, who apparently has a hose with more water pressure than mine. Still I was able to spill some water on the ashes by the time my hose could reach the fire.

Here is a link to the aftermath video (also shows the 84 year old grandma next door in her nightgown)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWDvuuPOrrc

Grandma Haslam

2010-08-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

Ryan's Grandma Maggie Haslam died last week at the age of 94. We are grateful that she went peacefully and we know that she was ready to be reunited with her husband and two of her daughters who had gone before her.

I don't have a lot of memories of Grandma Haslam but there is one that stands out:

The first time I met Ryan's grandparents was when we were at BYU and drove down to St George for a weekend. On Sunday Grandma made a lasagna for dinner. It was in one of those kind of cardboard pans and when she pulled it out of the oven it collapsed and splattered onto the floor. She didn't know what to do but we all told her to just scoop it back in and we'd still eat it. (Grandma had a reputation for keeping her kitchen very clean, and literally had a floor you could eat off of.)

Well, we ate and later that day went for a drive around Cedar City. On the drive Grandma just started laughing hysterically (which was pretty uncharacteristic of her) and finally blurted out, "I can't believe I dropped the lasagna on the floor!" Then she turned around and pointed to all of us in the back (Ryan, Dave, Rebecca, and I), and said, "and YOU ate it!"

science day

2010-08-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

My assignment on the summer activity calendar that my friend organizes every year was to host a science day. I spent some time perusing Steve Spangler's website and we ended up doing these experiments:

density layers

diving ketchup

quicksand

vinegar and baking soda in a bottle- blowing up a balloon

and, of course, the mentos/diet coke geyser.

We had a great turnout, and all the experiments went really well. Alex dressed up as a mad scientist to answer the door and had "Weird Science" blasting through the speakers. I was too busy to get any pictures of the action (which is too bad, especially for the mentos experiment), but here is the aftermath on the patio table.

Messy, but very fun.

Haslam Rodeo

2010-08-05T12:06:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the 24th of July with a Haslam Rodeo. This was an attempt to recreate a similar event that took place 20 years ago with Ryan and all his cousins. This time the events included barrel racing, lassoing, BB gun shooting, watermelon seed spitting, pie eating contests, chicken chasing, three legged races, and a wet sponge war to top it all off.

Airband 2

2010-08-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

Our friends hosted another Airband day this summer (just like last year's).

The boys are always much more animated at home practicing than during the actual "performance". This year they rocked out to "Elevation" by U2.

Here they are in costume before we headed out for the big show.

legal fireworks

2010-07-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

Here's what we do late at night after a day of triple digit heat when Ryan is gone backpacking for the week.

Arrowhead

2010-07-17T16:28:00.001-07:00

Last week some friends were kind enough to invite us up to their family cabin at Lake Arrowhead. We had fun wandering around the village by the lake, eating at the Belgian Waffle Works, nursing migraines, and playing games. There was a school nearby the cabin so we spent a little time there throwing around some baseballs and Frisbees. (Thanks for the pictures, Jim!)

twilight camp

2010-07-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Alex attended his first Cub Scout Camp. They call it Twilight Camp here, and it goes from about 3:00 to 9:00, I guess as an attempt to lessen heat exposure. I don't know if that is possible but the boys had fun. This year they participated in archery, rock climbing, canoeing and kayaking, needlework, and astronomy to name a few.

beach bums

2010-07-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

2010-07-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

So about a month ago I hosted a little book club where the topic was children's books. In preparation I asked my family members what some of their favorite books were and here are their replies:

Joel:

St. George and the Dragon!
Where the Wild Things Are
Blueberries for Sal
Tikki Tikki Tembo
Stone Soup
5 Chinese Brothers

Shannon:

Some of my favorite Author/Illustrators are Kevin Henkes (Lilly and the purple plastic purse, Owen, Chester's Way, Wemberly Worried, Julius baby of the World, Jessica, Chrysanthemum, Sheila Rae the Brave), because each book has a flawed character with a very real childhood issue that kids fall in love with (neighborhood bully, a beloved blanket that you don't want to part with, a younger sibling, a fearless and creative friend, a family name that classmates tease you about, an imaginary friend, a various other childhood fears and issues);  Patricia Pollaco (Chicken Sunday, Just Plain Fancy, Babushka's Doll, Thunder Cake) again for rich illustrations and a wonder cross section of American cultures and subtle but meaninful morals in each book; Sandra Boynton (Dogs, Barnyard Dance, Dinosaurs, Opposites, a multitude of board books) because her books are just plain fun and goofy and memorable for young children; Steven Kellogg (How Much is a Million, Library Lil, Best Friends) because of the attention to detail and humor on each page.


I also love the Frances collection by Russell and Lillian Hoban (Bread and Jam for Frances, Best Friends for Frances, A Birthday for Frances)  They are classics, along with the Mercer Mayor/Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are, There's a Nightmare in my Closet), Robert McCloskey (Blueberries for Sal, Make Way for Ducklings), Eric Carle (The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Busy Spider, Brown Bear Brown Bear, etc), and William Steig (Sylvester and the Magic Pebble), Rosemary Wells (Max books) and Shell Sylverstein (humorous poetry books). 

I could go on and on, but basically I am a children's book addict, with a weakness for beautiful illustrations, humor, and meaningful and simple morals  and messages. 

Josh:
The Five Chinese Brothers and Tikki Tikki Tembo.  These are my favorites because of our family's longstanding love of all things Asian.  

Heather:
I loved anything Mercer Mayer (Little Critter),
Maurice Sendack (There's a Nightmare in my Closet)
Anything by Steven Kellogg (Pinkerton, and illustrator of a number of others like The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash),
James Stevenson (Could be Worse)
James Marshall (George and Martha, the Stupids)
Bill Peet (Cowardly Clyde, How Droofus the Dragon Lost his Head)
Arnold Lobel (Frog and Toad, Owl at Home)
Anything illustrated by Quinten Blake (Captain Najork and most Roald Dahl books)
Poetry by Shel Silverstein or Jack Prelutsky
Then there were the weird ones like Barbapapas, The Rainbow Goblins, The Big Orange Splot, Dorrie Witch series
Dad:
I always liked the Five Chinese Brothers (because of the diverse talents to survive) and Billy Goat's Gruff (because the good guys win).  I guess that these are stories, not books, so maybe they don't count.  I liked Louis L'Amour because he had standards, and the heros always overcame the obstacles without cheating or being dishonest.  
Jeremy:
Recently, we've read all the Pippi Longstocking books, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books, and Winnie the Pooh aloud at dinner.  Our kids also like to read the Magic Treehouse books, Nate the Great, Henry and Mudge, Amelia Bedelia, Miss Rumphius, Richard Scarry (especially Busy Busy World), Officer Buckle and Gloria, The Seven Picky Eaters, The Rainbow Goblins, Harold and the Purple Crayon, The Giving Tree (or anything by Shel Silverstein), Chris Van Allsburg books, The Monster at the End of This Book (old version with Grover), Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, The Blah, Stone Soup, Wizard of Wallaby Wallow, The Awful Aardvarks go to school, The Stupids, Arthur books, Goodnight Gorilla, Where's My Teddy, Blue Hat Green Hat, Five Chinese Brothers, Morris and the Disappearing Bag, What Do You Say Dear, The Incredible Journey of Edward Tulane, Where Oh Where is Kipper's Bear, Owen, and Hooway for Wodney Wat.

In the more cynical column, we have The Happy Hocky Family, Uncle Shelby's ABZ's, The Stinky Cheese Man, and Calvin and Hobbes.
Me:
Everyone covered the ones I had thought of from my childhood. I think you pretty much can't go wrong with Caldecott books.  Joel also found this list: 
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/16/books/children-s-books-50-years-of-children-s-books.html
Now, along with the ones I liked from my childhood my kids and I also like books by Mo Willems (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, There Is a Bird On your Head), David Shannon, Don and Audrey Wood (King Bidgood's in the Bathtub), and there are a couple by Amy Krouse Rosenthal that are very cute (Little Pea, Little Hoot). 
At the book club I ended up talking about the Five Chinese Brothers. I also mentioned a few others (Tikki Tikki Tembo, St George and the Dragon) and someone pointed out that the books I liked were a little gruesome and violent. Interesting.

Happy 4th!

2010-07-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

cherry pickin'

2010-06-19T16:37:00.001-07:00

This morning we drove out to Leona Valley for the opening day of cherry season. I don't think I've picked cherries since I was growing up and my family helped on the church farm. Good old Prosser.

I thought I remembered that we were supposed to leave the stems on the cherries, so that's what I told the boys, but when we went to pay we were told not to do that next time. Maybe every orchard has a different preference.

Anyone have any good cherry recipes?

Wesley at eight months

2010-06-19T16:35:00.000-07:00

2010-06-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

Ben filled this worksheet out at school and it gave me a chuckle. I guess when something isn't magnetic it is quite devastating.

And here's some artwork by Alex. He has come a long way since his preschool days when he had no interest in coloring and I couldn't even get him to hold a crayon. He told me that he had been watching a series in school called "Art with Joy". Joy must know a thing or two.

My Mother's Day

2010-06-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

I haven't bragged about my Mother's Day yet. First of all, the women in my ward always get special treatment on Mother's Day. The men take over all of the callings for the day (organist, chorister, primary and nursery callings), and during the third hour all the Relief Society and Young Women gather together, have a short lesson or talk, and then enjoy fruit and tea cakes from Martino's.

This year the primary children all made little gifts for their moms. They wrote down some things they like about their mom and something they could give their mom. Ben told me he would make breakfast every day for a week (and he was up at 7 am each day setting the table), and Alex offered to make my bed for a week (he only missed a couple of days). Ryan was filling in as primary chorister that Sunday, so he also made a little gift for me. His had a little paper with a picture of someone reading in a lounge chair by a pool. It said, "this is where you'll be in two weeks." Of course I started battering him with questions, but he wouldn't say where it was. I kept saying, "Who is going to watch the kids? Are we going to have to drive very far? Is it somewhere we can even drive to?", but he still wouldn't tell me much. Finally he said, "You don't get it. It's not 'we', it's just you."

He was giving me a night away, by myself. It would be the first full night of sleep for me since Wesley was born.

So, a couple weeks later after finding a good deal on Priceline I checked into a hotel here in town (Ryan pushed for something a little more exotic, but I didn't want to waste any time just driving). It was exactly what I had pictured. I read, I watched TV, I slept, I read some more. So nice. Nice enough to become a yearly tradition maybe?

Prince Alex

2010-06-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

In May Alex was in a play performed by the second grade. He was Prince #2 in "Character Matters", a cute play about fairy tale characters and some of the lessons they learned (Humpty Dumpty learned responsibility, etc.) He did a great job.

pick me up

2010-06-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

So, I've heard this song several times in the last few months but today it came on in the car when I was having a little case of the doldrums. It gave me a little boost so I thought I'd pass it on. The video isn't great or anything, but just crank up the volume and I dare you not to dance around your house.

Conversation with Wesley

2010-05-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

Of course he saves his best babbling for when the camera is off, but I managed to get a little bit.

Charlie-isms

2010-05-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

Most of these are things he has done just in the last hour or so.

C: Mom, can I get a Toyota? (Not sure what made him ask this question).

M: Maybe when you're older.

C: But I am older.

M: You have to be 16 to drive a car.

C: Ooooohhhhh, that's right. (Said like it's a fact he already knew but had forgotten).

"Mom, come here! I don't have diarrhea!"

Before drinking something, he says "Cheers!" and wants to clink glasses.

Sometimes he talks in monotone, like a robot.

A few weeks ago at the DMV we were sitting waiting for our number to be called. A very heavy man was sitting right behind us and Charlie said, "Mom, look at that man. He has big knees."

While waiting in another line at the post office there was a guy with very long hair two people in front of us. Charlie asked, "Mom, is that a guy or a girl?" When I didn't answer (I wasn't sure at first), he just asked again louder and repeated this a few times, each time turning up the volume.

belated Mother's Day wishes

2010-05-10T13:50:00.001-07:00

Nothing says "Happy Mother's Day" like a rap from Mr. T

Ben's birthday

2010-05-03T16:57:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Ben turned six. Here's how we celebrated. It happened to be Free Comic Book Day so I took Alex and Ben to get a free comic book and maybe find some Star Wars characters. We found a storm trooper, but the boys weren't too excited about it. (I'm not being sarcastic- they just weren't excited for some reason.)

I had planned on taking the older boys out to see a movie, but Benjamin told me he wanted Dad to take him, so Ryan, Alex, and Ben saw How To Tame Your Dragon. I stayed home and made the cake.

He had requested Cap'n Crunch for breakfast and sushi for dinner. So that's what he got.

Later that evening Benjamin opened his presents. He did get excited about his astronaut ice cream and new DS game.

On Sunday we had some family over, but not before a quick nap.