Long time no blog...

A million things happened during the month of May...and I thought about blogging them...and never got around to it. So here is an update:

Brendan just got back from the Father and Son camp out this past weekend. It was the first time that he has gone and spent the night and he was pretty apprehensive about it all. When I got up the next morning I found his blanket sitting on the couch in our family room I was hoping that he survived the night ok. But he had a GREAT time and loved it. He did say that he missed me though and that makes me feel important. They went to Ensign Ranch (that famous one that we were stopped next to on our way to Maple Valley) and rode a horse, went in a canoe, went fishing, got to see a snake...all things boys and I heard that they threw lots of rocks-not at each other, but into the water. :) At family scripture study we have been letting the kids read a lot more. They love to repeat what we read, but lately Brendan has been wanting to read by himself. He tells us about the lions and zebras and everything else. What is funny about that is that we have been in the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi. Maybe he understands it better than us and is interpreting it into our language?

Eliza is such a beautiful princess. While Dad and Brendan were gone we got together with some friends and had a girls night with our girls (and baby boys, of course). We stayed up late talking about Fancy Nancy and eating chocolate cake at 10:00pm and scrapbooking...and just giggling! She is just so cute these days. Her eyes (which hid behind her hair most of the time) are such a deep, beautiful brown. I love looking into them. She has such the sense of humor, too. I can often find her in her room surrounded by books and reading one out loud. And if you interrupt her reading time she gets really upset. (She must be related to me because I am the same way when I get into a good book.) Her favorites are still Fancy Nancy and Curious George.  Sometimes she even falls asleep! I'm glad that she loves learning so much. The other day I was opening up the curtain in the morning and we get the bright morning sun through our windows in the morning. She said, "No, it's too shiny!" The sun was really bright but I don't know if she knows that word, yet. I don't know how she couldn't know that word because she has mastered so many others. It is fun to see her reading the scriptures and the hymnal at church. She will point out letters and gets so excited that she is recognizing them. I am pretty excited, too. Oh and something else is that she is on this kick where she wakes up and asks for Wheat Thins (specifically). I am ok with this as long as she doesn't go back to asking for chocolate pudding...Cwazy gwill! Favorite movie by far, right now, has to be Peter Pan. She loves it when they sing Following the Leader.

Lincoln is on all fours-no crawling yet, but I know that it is just around the corner! And he is eating solid foods now. When I say solid, I mean solid. He is anti spoon and it really is driving me crazy! I have made all of my own baby food with Brendan and Eliza and was all geared up to start with Lincoln (I have frozen mango cubes in the freezer) and he won't have anything to do with pureed stuff. He wants to grab something and put it in his mouth by himself or for me to put it in with my finger. He gags and throws up EVERYTHING else. This has been kind of hard for me...but I am learning-AGAIN-that every child is different and has their opinions about everything very early on. I love his giggle though. I find him laughing with the kids so much. They get a kick out of it, too. My heart has taken a picture a couple of times when I look at them playing together, giggling together, and communicating on their own level with each other. I really can feel a little bit of heaven in my home and that is a good feeling. It makes me feel like I am doing something right.

Neil is almost done with his classroom school year. We made a paper chain a couple of weeks ago and the kids love tearing one link off every day that he gets home. This is his last week of lectures and then next week is finals. YEAH! We are so proud of him. And he still finds time each week to go to his garage sales and get screaming deals! He has actually made some money reselling some things. The kids love to see what he brings home for them from the yard sales. I think that they think it is the coolest store or something. He is amazing and we are excited to honor him on Father's Day in a couple of weeks.

Life is good and we laugh a lot!