Dirty Laundry

So the boys have been leaving their dirty clothes all over the floor. I tried only washing the clothes that were in the hamper, but they'd just clean up the clothes about once a week and still have clothes to wear. It didn't get them to put their clothes in the hamper.

Attempt # 2 - I started taking away all the clothes I found on the floor each night. Today Jacob ran out of shorts and it's supposed to be getting into the 90s over the next few days. I've told them I was doing this and that they won't get their clothes back until the next washing day after they start putting their dirty clothes away.

This is the amount of clothing that I've collected over the past week. Needless to say, not many of their clothes has actually made it to the hamper!

So which do you think will happen first: (1) the boys will completely run out of clothes or (2) they will finally start putting the few remaining articles of clothing into the hamper. I guess only time will tell.

The big man!

Last Sat. Travis taught Bryson how to ride his bike without training wheels. He's been asking for us to teach him for a while, but we just haven't had the time. He learned really quick and is soooooo proud of himself. Now he can keep up better with Jacob.

Way to go buddy!

Literacy Night

Thursday was pretty busy. Not only did we go to the zoo, but the kids had a special literacy night at school. The school had a book fair and the kids got to show off some of the things they have been working on.

Here are the kids with the characters walking around. This is Geronimo Stilton. Travis was surprised I actually knew who it was, but my kids really like that series.

Everyone knows Clifford, including Ally, but she didn't want to get too close. ;)
Sweet Franklin was there too.

Jacob did a report on Anacondas. Here is showing off the model he made and his report.

Jacob's picture was chosen to be hung up in the "gallery".

Maddy's class did a reader's theater. She was one of 2 narrators in a Ben Franklin play and was Mary Lincoln, Abe's wife, in the 2nd play.

Both of Maddy's projects were chosen to be hung up in the gallery too. This is her Eskimo bird mask.

Here is Maddy's Matisse art. It's called Egypt's pyramids. She just finished a huge project - making an A - Z book on Ancient Egypt, so she was pretty into the whole Egypt thing.

The kids did so good and had a great time. They were sooooo excited to show us what they have been up to. They are both doing so well!

It's a zoo out there!

Bryson's preschool class took a field trip to the zoo last Thurs. We had a good time! Here are some of the things we saw.

Ally kept sticking out her tongue when I told her to say cheese, so this is what we got.
My turtle Bryson!

They had a couple of lizards and snakes and a Guinea pig to pet. Bryson liked feeling all of them.

Ally was brave enough to touch (not pet) the snakes for about 1/2 a second. I was too slow to get the first snake she touched. I had to be really ready to catch the 2nd. She had NO interest in touching the lizards. ( I can't say that I blame her.)

We took this picture Ally was not too happy I had Bryson sit on the peacock with her. She is one who definitely likes her space.

We had a fun time and despite Ally's face in the last picture, she did too. The zoo is always a fun place!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Everyone!

This was the first year we actually had to wear jackets in stead of shorts to our town's Easter Egg Hunt. It was pretty cold and rainy, but at least it wasn't quite as crowed. I REALLY did NOT want to be in any pictures as I had only gotten 2 hrs. of sleep the night before at our ward's youth retreat and hadn't even had time to shower yet - in fact I left early just to make the hunt, but Ally wouldn't get close to the Easter bunny unless I was holding her. I tried to pass her off to Maddy, but to no avail. Oh well.

All the Easter Egg Hunts were broken down by age. Here is Ally waiting for her turn. She was crying because Travis wouldn't just let her go and get all the eggs before the hunt started. What a mean dad! ;D
She was very pleased after the hunt and she was able to actually get those eggs that were tempting her before.
We didn't get any pictures of the boys hunts because they were going on at the same time. I wish I could have seen Jacob's though. He came out w/ his bucket barely containing all his eggs. Bryson was a little disappointed that he didn't get very many eggs, so I asked Jacob if he could share some of his. He proceeded to start emptying his pockets into Bryson's bucket. Apparently, when he ran out of room in his bucket, he filled up his pockets w/ 6-8 more! He only stopped because he couldn't figure out any way to carry more eggs, not because there weren't any more left. I think he counted 52 eggs, and that is not counting the ones he gave Bryson. Crazy kid!

Here is Maddy lined up for her hunt. Her age bracket is the most ruthless. Last year her bucket spilled and she ended up w/ very few eggs. This year it spilled again, but early on, so she was able to recover pretty well.

I didn't think to take any pictures of the kids coloring eggs. Like I said, I was pretty tired on Sat. (In fact, I still am!)

Here are the kids examining their baskets before they went to look for the eggs the Easter Bunny hid. We have finally figured out to leave plastic eggs the color of each child's basket for the Easter Bunny to fill and hide. That way he can hide the big kid's eggs in more difficult spots and Ally can still find eggs. Ally's eggs were the easiest and would have all been found before she knew what was going on if the older kids didn't know to leave the pink eggs alone.

Here are my attempts at a picture of all the kids before church. Ally was NOT being cooperative and when she was finally looking, someone else wasn't.

Jacob is very sensitive and I think I had just yelled for everyone to just look at the camera so we could make it to church. I don't think he appreciated that very much. Sorry Jacob!

Here is Maddy's hair for school on Monday. It was pretty much like on Sunday, but w/ brighter eggs. I wasn't sure how appropriate Easter egg hair was for church, but I had forgotten to put curlers in her hair on Sat., so I went ahead and did it, but w/ lighter eggs. Here is where I got the idea. So cute, don't you think?! I am definitely not this creative on my own!