'I like to do what I like to do...'

'and not what I don't like to do!'

Is what Grant said today as he was jumping from the couch to the ottoman. He said I don't always like what Haden tells me to do!

We have been having problems with that lately, where Haden will whisper what he wants Grant to do. And Grant just does it because he doesn't like to fight. He will occasionally stick up for himself, but not too often because then Haden tells him he isn't playing with him anymore! I don't like watching them act like this with eachother, but I also know that it is part of being brothers! I just wish there was something I could do or say to make them both understand that they don't have to do what the other wants all the time. If they don't want to they don't have to, and that is fine! How do you fix this? How do you make Haden not be so controlling? I am sure there isn't a way really, that it is all their personalities! But I laughed when Grant said that so matter of fact today. It is true, but he hasn't and I am not sure he will change it!

Is this what we have in store??

I had to put this picture above in because she looks so cute and so innocent.

Delaney has taken a liking to clothes, shoes and accessories! She is obsessed with them!
Here she is wearing the cute tutu her cousin Kate and her aunt Jenn picked out for her.
She loves to wear Daddy's hat! The boys' sunglasses, the boys' hats!
Here she is this morning. She insisted she put on Haden's pajamas shirt after she had already been dressed. Then shortly after she brought me Grant's pajamas shorts to put on. Quite the cute outfit!
I wonder if she will keep this up? If she will always be into what she is wearing? After having 3 boys this is all knew to me! She loves to have her hair done, she waits her turn when I am doing the boys' hair. She is the first one to you when you are started to get the kids dressed. It totally cracks me up!!

Today was our Primary program in church and the kids did a great job! Although being a teacher and sitting on the stand with them is a bit hectic it is all worth it when talking to them and hearing how excited they were with how well everything went! Thanks to our Awesome Primary Presidency for all of their hard work, it turned out to be a great program! The kids were so excited because Grammy and Papa Dan (My parents), my Sister, Adri, her husband Trent and their cute kids, Jack and Lily, all came to watch them. Thank you guys so much, it meant a lot to me, and especially to Haden and Grant! Then after church we went over to my Brother, Nate, and his wife, Jenn's house to eat dinner and celebrate Jeff's birthday. We ate very yummy ribs and cake and ice cream. The kids had a ton of fun playing with their cousins and just being together. Thanks to everyone who helped with the dinner and such, we had so much fun!

Last week after church I took a video of them saying their parts so here they are:

Here is Haden with his part 'I will live now to be worthy to do my part to have an eternal family.

Here is Grant saying his part 'He teaches me to read the Book of Mormon'. And how he says it here, the voice and everything, is how he said it in the microphone.

Here is Haden's second part they gave him, he says 'I am a Child of God'.

Cole wanted to say a part to :) so here he is saying 'I am a Child of God'.

On Friday night Haden's school was doing a fundraiser at a place called Jason's Deli, the school gets a percentage of what everyone spent! So we went and supported our school and enjoyed a very yummy dinner! I had never eaten there but it is a place we will definitely be going back to! We took our order to go and ate it at a park, which was a lot of fun! The kids had a blast, and it was just a fun to spend that time together as a family! Then Saturday night we headed out across town, ate dinner over at Jeffs Mom's house and Jeff's sister Tracy and her kids were there. So the kids got to spend time with cousins, which was so fun! After that we headed over to something called Balloonapalooza, it is an event with a fair, and everything but they also show off hot air balloons. Well this year it was still a bit warm and a tad windy so they couldn't do the hot air balloons. But they still had the fair and such, then once it got dark they did a firework show, which the kids really enjoyed! So here are some pictures of our events from this weekend! Oh and I didn't post this before, but on Friday night Delaney fell and hit her head on the corner of the entertainment center. So in the pictures you will see a cut on her forehead. She hardly cried, one tough little girl, and is doing okay.

(click on the slideshow to make it bigger)

Singing in the Rain

This afternoon it started to rain, and I knew the kids would get a kick out of playing in it. So out we went! And we played outside for about 30/45 minutes until it stopped raining. The kids had a BLAST! And I think Delaney has had more fun than any of our kids at this age. It was fun to sit and watch them explore and enjoy themselves! Here are some pictures from today (Double click on the slideshow to see them bigger):

Also I got this link from a friend of pictures for the damage of Hurricane Ike. They are some amazing photos and I wanted to share them with all of you! Click on the link to view them!
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html

Hello...........

My name is Cole and I LOVE to make messes! This is Cole this morning eating breakfast! The boys were eating what they call 'Papa's cereal' because my dad eats Fruity Pebbles and the boys know it. I went upstairs to get every one's clothes and this is what I came down to! He is by far the messiest child we have :) We used to think Delaney contributed to this mess, but she usually only drops a few pieces here and there. It wasn't until Delaney wasn't eating with them one day that we realized Cole made every HUGE mess practically by himself!
This picture doesn't do the floor justice, it is all over the place!
Notice he has managed to cover not only the floor, table and bench, but himself as well!
Gotta love this kid! Despite his messes he is TONS of fun and absolutely hilarious!

Imagination Movers!

Have you watched their show on Playhouse Disney? All 4 kids LOVE this show! We actually have our DVR set to record it, because it is on when Haden is at school. Then when he comes home, after we do homework, he watches it. Delaney, Cole and Grant dance their little hearts out to it (I should video that)! They have always loved their short shows, where they would perform a song, but were SO excited when they started an actual 30 minute show. Yes it is a bit cheesy, but it is actually a fun show and a HUGE hit with the kiddos! I may just have to buy their CD, because the kids like there music so much!

Our Daily Walks!

So we drove by the school and I said to Jeff I would like to see how far it is from the school to our house. And it was just shy of a mile, but Jeff said with the way I walk there it may very well be a mile because the van can't go on the sidewalk exactly how I walk :) So each day we are walking about, if not right at, 2 miles a day! Which with 4 kids there and 3 kids on the way back, is quite a walk but so much fun! Each day they have certain things they do as we walk, they go around power boxes (or whatever they are) and jump over certain things. They even get down and 'race', which Haden gets down in the position the runners do from the Olympics with his hand behind his back and Grant has copied him as well. I need to get a picture of it because it is too cute! I will try and remember to do that on Monday. Today on our way home Cole decided he wanted to walk, so Grant quickly climbed in to take his spot in the stroller! Cole ran practically the whole way home, but he did everything the boys do on the way there. It was hilarious but fun to watch as he remembered each thing they did an where they did it. He has definitely been watching closely to what they do. I think our walk home may have been faster with Cole walking/running and Grant in the stroller. We may have to try that again! Each day Grant complains right as we get around the corner, and have just started our walk, but as we get to the school he is SO proud that we made it. It is fun to see him get excited about our accomplishment!

Grant also has made friends with the crossing guard! He is this older man, just cute with the kids, and the first day he just waved at the kids and Haden started to talk about how he was a stranger and we shouldn't talk to him. So we talked about how it is okay to talk to him and with Mom being there. So the next day as we were walking up to the crossing guard, Grant asked me if he could say Hi to him, and I told him he definitely could. He was so excited and practically shouted it, the crossing guard was so cute and talked to him. I thanked him and we went on our way. As we got across Grant asked me why I said thank you. So I told him that he is there to help us cross so we can be safe, and it is really nice of him so we should say thank you. Grant now has to say Hi and thank you each day that we cross. He has made a friend and he gets so excited when we get to that point of our walk!

I think the walks are so nice and it gets us all of out of the house!

Happy 29th Birthday Jeff!!!

29 Reasons Why We Love Jeff (in no particular order).....
1. He has a great smile!
2. He is lots of fun to be around.
3. When we got together to eat ice cream (Haden)
4. When he lets me taste yummy stuff when he is cooking (Grant)
5. He always has such a positive attitude, and helps me to look on the bright side of things.
6. Delaney absolutely adores him and is becoming such a Daddy's girl.
7. He makes sure he takes care of the kids and I, and does what he has to to provide for us!
8. Daddy Home (Coleman)
9. He has a great sense of humor!
10.Coleman thinks he is so much fun!
11. When I snuggle with him (Grant)
12. When we wrestle (Haden)
13. He honors his priesthood.
14. He is a hard worker.
15. He enjoys our kids and is so cute with them!
16. When he takes me to school (Haden)
17. He is a great example to our kids.
18. Reading books with him (Grant)
19. I play Daddy (Coleman)
20. He still after 6 (almost 7 years) of marriage surprises me with things he has done or does for me.
21. He has a strong testimony of the gospel.
22. He has so many wonderful talents and we get to benefit from them!
23. He has a hilarious sense of humor and a great laugh!
24. He is one handsome guy!
25. He respects others.
26. Cause I Love him (Grant)
27. Because he loves me lots (Haden)
28. Daddy Funny (Coleman)
29. Because he is the best Daddy and Husband ever!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF!! WE HOPE YOU HAVE A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Too Funny!

So Delaney today was playing and she was getyong kind of cranky and climbed up next to me on the couch with her sippy cup. I was doing some designing on the computer (check out my scrapping blog) and when I looked over this is what I saw:

I tried to take her sippy cup away and lay her down, but she wasn't having it. So I video taped her instead :) At the end, she started to get upset and I finally got her to lay down on my shoulder and sleep for a bit before we had to go get Haden from Kindergarten.

I have been walking Haden to school, and it is so much fun! Grant was a trooper the first day, and did awesome today! It is great for me, because it is the only form of exercise I seem to be able to get these days! When it cools down we will walk to pick him up as well, but while it is still quite warm out we will just drive :) Also I am happy to report that Haden is doing much better with keeping his hands to himself and listening. I just remind him/go over the rules each day before school, and it seems to be helping!

Open House!

Tonight was Haden's open house at school, and it was fun for Jeff, Grant and Cole to see his classroom. It was fun for Haden to show them where he goes to school, he loved that! I was able to talk to his teacher which was nice. Yesterday Haden came home with a yellow card from school, he didn't want to talk about it but I wanted to know why. So I told him unless he told me, he would need to sit and think about it. So he told me that another kid started to poke him while they were all sitting on the rug doing the calendar and things, and so Haden started poking him back. Mrs. Dudder asked them to stop but they didn't listen. After one warning and if they still don't listen they get a yellow card. So he and this boy had to go change their green card to yellow. I asked Haden how that made him feel, and he said he didn't care. But soon after started to cry and said he was sorry. He made it up today and got a green again. I talked to his teacher tonight and she said that seeing he has 2 brothers she can see why he is physical, lol! He wrestles with boys at recess and they all just play. He has always been someone who pokes and messes with others, it is something he has just done. But we are working on not doing that, and making sure he is aware of the rules at school. He has made friends quickly, which is good and bad because he talks :) She is going to try a couple different seats with him, because right now he talks to the kids at his table even when Mrs. Dudder is talking. So she wants to see if moving him will help, but we both said that he makes friends so easily that it might not work. We will have to see! But she asked me to just talk to him about keeping our hands to ourselves and not to talk when Mrs. Dudder is talking, and to just remind him of that every so often. So we will see! Other than that she said he catches on quickly to what she is teaching and she enjoys him in her class :) Of course she says that, most teachers do. But it was good to be able to talk to her and get a feel for where he is at. Plus he is in the second week of school, and is feeling a lot more comfortable there!

Some recent pictures :)

There isn't much going on lately! We had a fun Labor Day, but I forgot to take pictures (shocking I know). We went over to my parents house and had a BBQ and went swimming. It was a fun day, and the kids had a blast swimming! Other than that, we just are doing the school thing every day, which is becoming routine. Haden is loving it and making friends daily, which he is loving even more than school :) . Other than that we have just been hanging out, so with that here are some random pictures for you to enjoy :) (double click on the slide show if you want to see the pictures bigger)