We had fun at the graves again this year.  I got my list from mom and dad, to make sure we got all of the graves before we went.  The kids and I went with Grandma Tracie to all of the Ogden cemeteries the Saturday before Memorial Day before I went to work.  We left around 7am.  The kids love carrying the watercans  and pulling off the plastic from the plants.  We also lined up pinecones around the Roush graves.  Grandma Zelma and Grandma Maxine both died recently, so I think it meant a little more to the kids this year.

The only day that all the Morgans could get together was on Sunday after church.  Man, was it cold and rainy.  Here are the kids in front of the Morgan headstone.  I love Adam's face... pretending he was not happy to be there.  The headstones had already been cleaned off, so all we got to do was place flowers.  It was good to go though.  Hopefully we are instilling in the kids an importance of the word 'remember'.  Happy Memorial Day!

Random Fun!

Grandma and Grandpa Morgan have been sending lots of packages home from the Philippines, so the kids like to take advantage of the boxes that are sent here :)

Ben LOVES to help me cook.  Here he is after he helped me with the flour!  He likes to help with other things too.  If you look behind him at the hardware on the cabinets, the top one is broken in half.  Ben came and got me (the week after Grandma and Grandpa Morgan left on their mission) and said,'come here quick mom! I want to show you something!"  I went to look, and he had a plastic food storage lid lifter and he was putting it through the handles and 'popping' them.  "See mom, I fix them really easy!"  Isn't he a good helper. When we told Grandma and Grandpa, they just laughed and said what a good helper he was.  (What else could they do/say, being in the Philippines??? )  Just as an update, the hardware is fixed for reals now :)

We went to Krispy Kremes one morning for joy school.  Ben couldn't resist and had to have a doughnut, even though he knew it had eggs in it.  He told me it would be worth itching to eat it :)

Ben and Isabel both had their birthdays, and as soon as Ben turned 4, Isabel told him he need to be able to climb trees.  So, she boosted him a little, and what do you know?  He can climb trees now that he is 4 :)  She cracks me up with the ages that she has in her mind of when things are supposed to happen...

I found an idea on pinterest for a toy jail.  It worked OK, not exceptionally well though, so I decided that I would just put the kids in jail instead :)  jk I made the toy jail, and Ben wanted a big cage for him!

Ben will die when he gets older and realizes I have this picture on here.  He really wanted to ride his bike one day, and the rule is you have to have closed toe shoes on to ride.  Ben was too lazy to go find his shoes, so he just put on Isabel's shoes :)  Being the good mom that I am, I told him he looked like a girl, he looked at me and said, " no I don't!  I look like a boy wearing girl shoes!" So true, so true little man....

At joy school we made cool turkey hats.  These are that hats that I made when Isabel was doing joy school. The same ones that Isabel had to make for Grandpa Morgan for Christmas 2 years ago :)  Ben did the gluing all by himself, hence the 2 beaks!

My friend Michelle had a baby recently (an adorable little girl named Leah), and I decided that since she had decided to have her baby au natural, she needed a survival kit!  I combined a few ideas, and this is what I came up with :)  I think it turned out cute.  Now I just  need to have more friends/sisters-in-law to have more babies, so I can make more :)

Isabel and Ari are still really good friends.  On this occasion, they decided that they needed to put every single hair bow/flower into their hair.  Aren't they beautiful?

We have had  a few issues lately with arguing and tattling, so after researching (looking at tons of peoples blogs...)  I decided on this idea.  The kids each have 6 coins of thier favorite characters.  They loose coins for doing things they aren't supposed to do. Unless the lose all 6, they have the option to earn coins back.  Mom just has to find them doing something good for someone else without asking them to.   If they loose all 6 coins, they get a privelege taken away, if they have all 6 coins still at night, they get a sticker.  After 10 stickers, they get a prize.  So far, it is working well. All I have to do is mention that they may lose a coin, and they fix what they were doing pretty fast.  So far, Ben has earned a frisby (it only took 15 days....) and Isabel earned a princess puzzle.  (12 days).  It helps me too, cause i'm not always punishing myself by taking their bikes away....

Isabel is really into long long dresses that touch the floor.  Here is the one Grandma Tracie got Isabel for her birthday.  She would wear it every day if she could!

Jen and Chris had their baby!  He is so cute!  His name is Zachary Rowan Morgan and he weighed 9lbs and was 20.5" long (if I remember right... he is 3 months old now)  He has tons of red hair.  He is such a happy boy.  He has started smiling and cooing lately, and seems to be a very happy baby!  We are happy to have another boy in the family!  He reminds me tons of Ben..... with how fast and big he is growing :)  He's got to get bigger is he is going to live up to the nickname Thor! :)

Just to make you laugh

Ben says he looks like Grandpa Steve.....

 I love this picture of Isabel..... just makes me smile :)

Last Week of School

We had a very good school year this year! Isabel loved her teacher Ms. Clark.  I tried to volunteer every Friday in Isabel's class.  Ben would go hang out with Tamina, Sarah and Sam, and sometimes Uncle Jon.  (Ben won't just call him Jon... it is always Uncle Jon!)  He got to go get vegetables with them and just play.  Ben and Sarah are best buddies, especially when it's just them, with no older kid influences .  They love to bake with me (pictured below), eat breakfast together and play house.

The last weeks of school were filled with lots of field trips for Isabel.  I went to the Tree house with them.  We even got to ride on the bus :)  At least all of the kids have matching tie-dyed shirts which make it easier to keep track of.  (The last day of school all of the kids got to sign the tie-dyed shirts for each other... I thought this was a very cute idea) We had Great-grandma Maxine's funeral, so we missed the zoo field trip, but Isabel still made it to the duck pond, the park, the Hawaii party, and dinosaur park. She was in no way deprived of  field trips.   At the duck pond, one of the kids in her class threw rocks at a baby duck until he hit it and killed it.  I think Isabel was traumatized that someone could just be mean.  I was in shock that the kid did it!  On another note, there was also field day.  This was the only field trip where siblings could go, so since I was volunteering, Ben and Zoey got to come with me :)  I was in charge of the basketball game. Ben and Zoey played at the playground right next to the courts.  They were so good, but definitely ready to come home after 3 hours :)

Among the field trips, Isabel managed to lose another tooth!  This one is number 3!  It's amazing all the things you can fit through that hole in the front :) 

Isabel had an interesting note in her backpack the day before school was out for the summer.  I asked what it was, and Isabel said I would have to just read it, but it was very cool.  I was trying to figure out what the teacher needed help with (that's what notes usually were about), so I was very surprised to find out that while the kids were helping Ms Clark clean the toys, Ms Clark fell down and had a seizure and had to be taken in an ambulance to the hospital.  Isabel said kids were screaming and crying and that there was blood.  I asked what she did.  She said that she just sat at her desk, cause that is what Ms Clark told them they were supposed to do.  What an obedient child.... well at least at school :)  Ms Clark wasn't able to come back for the last day of school,but I found out that she ended up getting 6 stitches in her head and was able to go home to be observed.  I'm glad that she is ok.  Still trying to figure out why my child thought that her teacher having a seizure was cool......  :)

Ben and I decided to make Isabel a special treat for the last day of school.  We made her popcorn with sprinkles!  She loved it!  We signed Isabel up for dual-immersion next year (spanish), so here's to a fun summer before we start learning spanish and 1st grade stuff all at once :)

Don-Mikel's Reception

Grant and I decided that we needed to go to Idaho for Don-Mikel's wedding reception.  I didn't get any pictures of the bride or groom, but we did get some of  the kids and us with Grandma Detta.

Grandma Detta, Noah, Ben & Isabel.  Isabel is wearing her new Easter outfit.  She is really into skirts that go all the way to the floor.  I think she looks adorable in them, but then again I am her mother :) 

Isabel took this picture with my phone.  She did good.  It's a little blurry, but not bad.

I have no idea what faces the kids are making in this picture!

This is the new background for my phone.  Ben looks like he is flaring his nostrils, but I still think its a cute picture!  (Once again, I am their mother)

This is the best one I got of all 3 of them.  Ben is smiling, just not looking up :)  Can you see Isabel lost another tooth?  Yep, it got bumped by one of Ben's friends and made it so Isabel could just pull it out!  The tooth fairy was pretty busy that night, but she managed to leave Isabel a note and 2 quarters before Isabel went to school!

It was a kind of a long trip for the kids.  Luckily they took stickers and decorated themselves and uncle Grant's back.  Ben did this (above) and wanted to know if I could see him. :)  Funny kid!  We stopped at Caspers Ice Cream store and got some Fat Boy's.  It filled up the bottom tray of the freezer!  Good thing Noah prayed that they wouldn't melt on the way home!  It was good to see RaNae and family!  Congrats to Don-Mike and his new bride!

Preschool at the Farm

Melissa Lythgoe in our ward called to let us know that they were having schools come to her parents farm and told us we could come too!  The kids were super excited to go to a farm to see animals!  As soon as we opened the car door, Ben made sure to tell me cows smell disgusting!

It was muddy cause it rained most of the morning.  It was fun anyways!  They had cows, baby cows, pigs (that were so cold they were shivering) goats, a pregnant horse, rabbits, a turkey,  and hamsters.  (the neighbor raises them for petsmart and brings them over so the kids can hold them.  Ben loved petting the bunnies.

He also loved the hamsters!  He was really good to hold them.  Some of the older kids kept taking them from him, but he would go right back and get himself another one.

Zoey on the other hand loved holding them too.  Well, she loved squishing their heads.  Can you see the poor hamsters head?

Then she liked to play peek-a-boo with it!

Here is Zoey petting the rabbits!

And here they are feeding the cows. 

It was a fun field trip.  Thanks for the invite Melissa!

Happy Spring!

I've love having the kids make things for the grandma's for each new season. I saw this idea awhile ago, to make a wreath out of egg cartons.  I was actually surprised that I didn't end up with more brown/gray flowers cause the kids like to use lots of paints.... and mix them.... Grandma Tracie has it hanging on the front door now!  The kids are very proud of their masterpiece!

I had extra candy melts, and decided to try and make chicks for an easy Easter treat.  I just filled in pretzels with yellow candy melts and made the faces out of brown and orange candy melts!  The kids loved them.  Almost too cute to eat! 

Ok, I am lacking patience to figure out how to turn these pictures the right way.... so we'll just have to look at them sideways.....  Here is great grandma's door for Easter.  The 3 chicks represent Ben (sunglasses) Isabel with the red bow and Zoey inside the basket.  At first Great grandma kept trying to figure out why the rabbit was bleeding (pink stomach), now she has resorted to thinking he is Peter Rabbit.  I'm glad she loves the doors and glad it gives her something to think about.

Ben's party was on Saturday, and since Easter was on Sunday, we decided that after the birthday party we would have a cousin easter egg hunt.  Here are Parker, Ben, Isabel and Adrienne all waiting patiently for the egg hunt to start...... 

Here is Isabel climbing the tree while she was waiting!

                                     

I didn't have to go to the ER this year, so we all got to decorate eggs as a family!  

My camera is broken :(  So, the next pictures were taken on different settings to see if we could still get it to work..... not too much luck.  I have some silly kiddos for sure!

Isabel's smile cracks me up in these ones!

Yep, still haven't cleaned up from the party the day before.  Coloring eggs was more important. :)

Brady colored one that almost turned black,  It was pretty cool looking.

They love coloring eggs, just like their dad!

The bunny holders worked really well.  We only had a few casualties.

Happy Easter and Spring everyone!

Bens 4th birthday!

Can you believe that this little guy is 4 now??? I can't.  Kids just grow up way too fast.  One of Ben's favorite things is Kung Fu Panda II, so I wasn't too surprised when he asked for a ninja birthday party.

We had all the cousins come over, Grandma and Grandpa Yamashita, Addison (Ben's friend that we do joy school with) and luckily we had Jenny (my cousin) and her family come!  It was a houseful, but tons of fun!

The kids posing as ninjas!  Notice Noah in the back left, anytime I would ask him something, he would bow to me.... made me laugh!

When I asked Ben what exactly ninjas did, he told me fight stuff, so I decided to get balloons and draw ninja faces on them so they could fight their own ninja!  ( Got the idea off of pinterest!)

These are the bean bags Tamina and Michelle helped me make.  They held down the balloons.  There were pink with bows and bling for the girls, and red for the boys.  FYI;  fleece and hot glue don't work well, we should have just sewed them :)

The next few pictures are of Ben being a ninja!

HI-YA!

Ben practices these kicks on the love sac down-stairs.  

Whenever he is concentrating, his tongue comes out!  Wonder where he gets that from???

We had a few casualties.  Unfortunately I didn't think to check how tight the mylar balloons were tied onto their strings, so a few balloons flew away.  Luckily I had a few back-ups.

My ninja after a hard ninja fight :)  

I thought it would be fun to have a ninja training course.  So although the fighting balloons was pictured first, that really happened last.  First off were 3 stations.  Picking up marshmallows with chopsticks and running them to a ninja bowl.  (above:  Erik and Noah)

The little kids had a hard time with this one, so they just stabbed and ate marshmallows :)

(From left to right, then front;  Addison, Parker, Ben, (Tamina in back) Nara, and Sarah in front)

 

Then I had a laser light course set up.  I had initially planned for the kids to be inside, but the weather cooperated, so I used lawn chairs to hook this one up.  They had to go under, around over, etc without touching the red lasers.  Cause ninjas have to be stealthy... (Parker)

Then there were tricky ninjas hiding in the trees.  I made cardboard ninja stars for them and they had to try and throw their stars to get the ninjas!

Ben and Isabel painted and glittered the stars for the game!  They loved helping make stuff!

After we had completed the training course, we played ninja duck duck goose.  The kids had to put their star behind their back, and the person who was 'it' had to try and steal the star.  The kids had so much fun!

The game was a hit until Nara and Parker ran into each other!  Crying at birthday parties is never fun :(

Then we went inside to do the Wii Just dance for kids, Kung Fu Fighting.  There were some awesome dancers there!  (this is one of Bens favorite things to do at Taminas house)

Then it was cake and ice cream time!  The Japanese writing says, "Ninja Ben, Happy birthday, 4"  I made the cake out of a bundt pan.  The wings and spikes and eyes and teeth are made from candy melts.  The ninja heads on the cupcakes are replicas of the invitations we sent out.  (Thanks grandma Tracie for helping me with the cake and for doing my dishes while I was decorating it!)

Looks like he had some helpers blowing out the candles!

My 2 cute kiddos!

Ben insisted that we had ninja water.  It actually worked out well, cause we could write the kids names on the bottles and I didn't have to do dishes :)  If you look close you can see little colored ninjas in front of the water bottles.  After the training camp, they each earned one of those to take home with them!

I couldn't have a party without rice crispy treat something or other, so I made Kid sushi.  The wasabi and ginger are just colored frosting.    Outsides were fruit leather and insides were rice crispies.  Sweedish fish and cut blue peeps on top!  I think they look pretty real!

Then it was present time! Ben was SO excited for his own leap pad from grandma and grandpa!

Chris got him a 70lb punching bag!  We now have it hooked up outside on the swing set.  The kids love to swing on top of it, and hand from the monkey bars and kick it!

Hooray!  An angry bird pillow!

Parker was a very good helper! 

So was Addison!  He got stuff for his bike!  The only thing still on it is the mirror, everything else takes turns, cause they are all connected to the bike with screws, so he can take them on and off by himself :)

Jenny to the rescue, helping him open the tape so he can see his new clothes!  He was SPOILED!  Thanks everyone for the presents! 

I thought I should put pictures on there of  the decorations I made.  Here is the dragon door with japanese lanterns....  The words say, "happy birthday"

And with extra paper, I had to make ninja head and "ninja Ben" words for the fireplace.  There were ninja head balloons everywhere too.  Ben was in heaven! 

And the rest are just random fun pictures from the day!  Ben was walking on cloud 9 all day!  He still likes to wear his headband around everywhere! 

Jen and new baby ninja Zach!

Jon and Chris entertaining themselves on the Wii while the kids are eating cake!

Nara smiling with cake in her mouth!

Sarah LOVED the balloons! 

Chris, Jon holding Sam, Sarah (in front) and Kelli Ann watching the kids Kung Fu dance!

Ari striking a ninja pose!  Isabel sporting a feminie flower on her headband :)

Cute ninja Sam!  He is walking everywhere now!  Hooray!

And Adrienne showing us her balloon and ninja doll!  Thanks everyone for coming to help celebrate my little guys birthday!  And thanks Ben for having a birthday I could have fun planning!  I love you little guy!