Our kids ROCK!!!

Jake and Carter (along with their friends Emma, Maddie, Jacob, Sammy, and Elder) have been preparing for a competition called Destination Imagination. It's apparently a statewide program but I had never heard of it before. It's very involved but basically the kids have to be creative and use their imaginations and present an impromptu skit type thing using a bunch of required elements. Got that? Yeah, me neither. Anyway, they competed against 11 other elementary teams in their category and won 2nd place! They got those fabulous medals that they're wearing in the picture and they get to go to San Jose and compete at a state level! Who knew? They are all very excited and we are some proud parents! Congrats guys! Oh, and kudos to our good friend Kari who was their coach and spent countless hours trying to herd cats...I mean direct these kids in their competition.

Bella...again.

Bella: (Yelling) Ammon, don't drink that because that's my cup and I'm sick.
Ammon: You're not sick.
Bella: Yes I am, I had a fever.
Ammon: What's a fever?
Bella: You don't know what a fever is? Wow (extremely sarcastically)
Ammon: Why did you go to school then?
Bella: Because my mom is lame.

Ha ha. Seriously they're killing me. The best part is they don't know that I can hear them...

Overheard...

Scene: Three five-year-olds eating cookies that they just made.

Lizzy: Bella, did you know brown is poop?
Bella: What?
Lizzy: Brown is poop.
Bella: No it isn't. Your hair is brown and it isn't poop.
Lizzy: stunned silence.

Ha ha...kids are so funny!

I am a freaking genius!!!

I know, you arleady know that...but guess what I did this morning? I fixed my laptop all by myself! It wouldn't turn on. So, I got online, got some tips, checked the battery, removed the memory protector, reset the memory and voila! It's working now. People, be excited. My entire Sunday lesson is on there!!!!

Although I usually attempt to refrain from spamming you all with photos of my baby, I promised Nana I'd post this video of Elizabeth giggling.

Ok ok, I'll admit that I think it's pretty cute too. Thanks again for taking this video, Kate.

Malia and her "old blankey"

I have no idea why I'm posting this...I just love that smack in the middle of Bella's birthday relay, Malia was wandering around with her blanket on her head sucking her thumb...maybe she was tuning out the chaos...I don't know.

Bella's birthday...

Bella turned six last weekend! You know what that means! No more car seat for Bella!!! Oh, and we did have a fabulous party too! It was a "chef" themed party. I made an apron for each friend she invited in preparation for the event. Then the kids, adorned with their chosen apron separated into three groups to do the baking activities...The first one was the cooking table. I made several batches of plain cookie dough and the kids mixed in their chosen toppings. We had chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, coconut, m & m's, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, sprinkles, etc. They made some seriously disgusting crations...but they had fun doing it...

Nana manned the pizza making table. I made pizza dough and we gave each child a ball of dough to roll out and top with their favorite pizza toppings. This was definitely a hit. I have never seen such small pizzas piled with such huge piles of cheese and toppings. This picture was taken before the first group started. You should've seen it when they were done!

The last one was a placemat table where they decorated "foamie placemats" with stickers, rub ons, and markers. This station took the longest. You should've seen some of their creations!

While the pizzas were cooking, we had a food relay. There was a table across the backyard that the kids had to run to, put a napkin on their lap and then eat one saltine cracker, one big marshmallow, and one blueberry and then run back and tag the next person on the team. It was boys vs. girls.

The girls were winning, so jake, in an attempt to slow the victory, tackled poor Emma. Luckily, she held her own and the girls still won!

Later, we sang Bella happy birthday. Elizabeth made this fabulous cake for Bella...all pink, what more could a girl want? It was TASTY! She absolutely lit up when they sang to her! What's not to love about 24 kids singing happy birthday to you?

Bella had a great party....It was only two hours, so thanks to Nana, Judy, Rick, Tracy, and our fabulous friend Meghan, it went off very smoothly. A good time was had by all!