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 :)