Jet's 4 Year Old Birthday Interview

Without any prompting... here is what this silly birthday boy said. 

1. What is your favorite color?  red

2. What is your favorite toy?  ninja turtles

3. What is your favorite fruit?  strawberries

4. What is your favorite tv show? Curious George Halloween. Earth to Echo (movies)

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  fries

6. What is your favorite outfit?  the ones I got today for my birthday (puma sweat suit), basketball shorts

7. What is your favorite game?  Candy Wand (Candy Land)

8. What is your favorite snack?  I don't know what's my favorite snack! Maybe star cookies (he took star shaped sugar cookies as his birthday treat at preschool today)

9. What is your favorite animal?  tiger

10. What is your favorite song?  Splish-Splash

11. What is your favorite book?  mmmmm, the animal one that ike got from grandma and grandpa

12. Who is your best friend?  Tommy (Malan)

13. What is your favorite cereal?  Fwuit woops

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Pway in da sand box

15. What is your favorite drink?  Onchj juice (OJ)

16. What is your favorite holiday?  "valentines"

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  "bear and tiny blanky"

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? "mom i already did this! Fwuit loops"

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  spaghetti and meatbahs

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  "um. Five." 
(ME--what do you want to do for work?) I don't know...clean teeth.

LoVe Is In ThE aIr!!

I don't get to spend as much time in Emri's class as I would like to, but this occasion sure was fun! I made extra sugar cookies and took them for the kids to decorate at their Valentine Party! Pretty much every kindergarteners cookie looked just like this... a mountain of sprinkles! 

Emri has really enjoyed her teacher this year, Mrs. Lehman.

 I was not about to get all fancy with a box for her party, so I bought a gift bag and some washi tape and she designed it herself. It was darling and perfect for holding valentines from her friends. And yep, that's a bowl of sugar in front of her. Dang those fun dips!

 That afternoon we had our traditional cookie decorating party!! Tabitha and Loralye joined us...and from the looks of it, Tabitha is in a sugar coma already! :)

 When Daddy got home from work, he had his little helper deliver some flowers to me. 

"Momma, we give flowers to the girls we love!" Okay, melt my heart little mister! 

 And Daddy delivered flowers to his other best girl! I love that he spoils both of us on this fun day!

 And after our heart shaped pizza dinner, we dipped fruit and treats in chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate! Brett had this idea last year and the kids only liked a couple things... 

 ...this year they were so excited to do it again and were a little more adventurous in trying (and loving) everything! Yep, he even licked his plate clean! 

I have so much love for my little people! 

Ike @ 17 Months

 The only thing missing is his hand over his heart...

 He loves to line up his bath toys and give them kisses, one by one.

At 17 Months, Ike:

• still takes 1 bottle a day (because I can't let him not be a baby anymore)! 
• walks about 75% of the time, but can still crawl faster...
• loves being outside and the nice (strange) weather we've been having has helped us get out on walks often.
• doesn't like to be strapped into anything too long these days-- car seat, shopping cart, stroller, etc. Just wants to be on the move on his own!
• empties EVERYTHING including, but not limited to: drawers, cupboards, diaper bag, purse, wallet, bookshelves. He's good to restock it if I'm there to encourage him to do so! :)
• is starting to like watching Curious George.
• is mostly eating baby food still aside from a few finger foods. I think we missed the window of when he wanted to try our food, but i was nervous to let him because of his lack of teeth (still just has 4 of them).

That One Time When Spring Came in Winter

Once upon a time in the Winter of 2015 it actually mostly felt like Spring!! We had several days of 60 degree weather which didn't leave room for much snow in the valleys. The kids were pretty stoked because they got to test drive their Christmas scooters outside. They had basically made a racetrack from our front door, into the kitchen and around the kitchen table on the colder days. 

 Warmer temps also allowed for "swimming" at Grandpa and Grandma Anderton's! The kids were BEGGING to get in the big pool, but settled for the hot tub! 

 16 kids all at once!! I'm pretty sure there was plenty of pee in there to keep them warm! ha! yuck!

 Ike didn't get to participate in swimming.... but he was content with swinging. 

Late afternoons were spent waiting for Daddy to come home from work....

...so we could enjoy things like BBQ's in February!

Some evenings were spent on the front porch practicing casts for fishing season...

 And not related to the weather...here are a few other happenings from January and early February. Baths. They happen occasionally. 

 Jet had a preschool fieldtrip to the fire station. (he is in the middle, blue coat, hand on hat).

 The firemen turned the truck sirens on at one point and they were so loud! Ike didn't want to get near the truck after that! 

 Ike has a cute ritual of lining up all his bath friends and kissing them one by one. He couldn't be cuter! 

 We said a temporary goodbye to Uncle Kolby while he went to work in AZ for a couple months. Emri cried and told me how bad she missed him on a regular basis. 

 Temple date night with my forever love....

....and the whole Anderton clan! We did sealings and then dinner at The Prairie Schooner in Ogden. This was kind of a "last date" for the whole group for a while, due to a Brett's parents leaving soon...

These two got their mission call.... and the whole family got to be there to watch them open it! They will be serving in Lisbon, Portugal in the Perpetual Education and Self Reliance office, speaking Portuguese!! We are so excited for them and grateful for their never ending example of service! 

 On another note...this girl LOVES pickles and was beyond thrilled at this find in Sam's Club! 

These guys and their selfies. Love em! 

OHIO STATE BUCKEYES: NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!!!

We couldn't have had a better start to our year at this Buckeye house!! On New Year's Day, the Buckeyes beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, sending them to the National Championship against Oregon Ducks. 

 Buckeyes were the underdogs of both games....

 ...especially because we were starting a 3rd string quarterback Cradle Jones (his first career start was the Big 10 Championship game, and 2 Career Start was the Sugar Bowl, 3rd Career Start...The National Championship. And he showed up for each game--ready to win!! 

 We hung our Buckeye flag proudly on game day. I couldn't have posed this picture better if I tried! Ike followed me out to watch me put the flag up... Brett said the only thing this picture is missing is Ike's hand over his heart! 

 My little Buckeye fans at Costco on game-day buying food for the evening! 

 We went to Morgan to watch the game and this is what bBett looked like most of the time! He couldn't sit still! We were so nervous and excited! The game was SO SO good! Back and forth and we came out with a win!!!! It was so exciting! 

We put the kids to bed before the game was over and the first question they asked when they woke up was "Did the Buckeyes Win?!" YES!!!!!!!!!