May Beginnings and Mother's Day

Tucker has gotten so good at reading this year. I love it. I try to bring home lots of books from the library that he feels capable of reading. He spent 40 minutes reading to Hunter and Brylee one afternoon, when I had to take a break from reading to work on the dishes! It is so wonderful to have another reader in the house. It always makes my day :)

Here is a precious picture of Gunnar napping holding onto one of his dogs. He sure does love them.

Mother's Day was blissful! Bryant is always great at getting up early enough to help the kids get their breakfast and to make me something scrumptious! This year he made french toast with french bread and I think he fried it in butter. Totally unhealthy but totally delicious. There were even a couple of pieces left this morning for my breakfast today :) Bryant also got me some new hot pads for the kitchen. When I told him that all I really wanted were some new hot pads so I didn't have to worry about burning my hands anymore he said he couldn't do that because it would be like not buying me a watch because there is a clock on the stove. I'm glad he got them for me anyway! After almost 8 years our previous ones are rather thin and have been burnt on the stove top a couple of times :P 

I was also scheduled to teach Sunday School on Mother's Day. I told Bryant that he could teach for me if he really wanted to do something amazing for me (only slightly sarcastically). I think he dislikes teaching more than me so I wasn't really planning on him teaching and when he did ask sincerely if I wanted him to teach I told him not to worry about. Well Saturday evening, Bryant got a call from the coteacher asking if I would appreciate not teaching on Mother's Day. I was in the same room and told Bryant it was no big deal, that I had practically finished planning the lesson, so I could teach. Bryant, however, told that I would be more than happy to let him teach. So I was off the hook for teaching too! 

After church and a small lunch, I put Gunnar down for a nap and took one myself! I didn't realize how tired I was until Gunnar woke me up almost three hours later!! I came out of my room to find that Tucker, who always has tons of energy was passed out on the couch too!

Finally, we have started potty training Gunnar on Saturday. I really need him well trained by this coming Saturday because we are going to be having a fun filled day! Also if I don't get him trained now it probably won't happen until after the baby comes because I plan to be busy once school gets out and not sitting around the house. And waiting that long just seems silly to me. He is already older than my other kids were when they were potty trained so it was time for me to suck it up. Thankfully his accidents happened in the kitchen in the morning so they were easy to clean up and once we got some pee in the toilet he seemed to have it figured out. I just have to ask him about it occasionally and he needs to be naked but we seem to be having a good experience with it. Here's to hoping that he is "trained" by the end of Friday :)

April Catch Up

We enjoyed listening to conference on our computer this year. It is so much better when you can see the speaker rather than just hear their words through the radio. By Sunday afternoon session Tucker decided it was time to have a nap. Afternoon sessions are always the hardest :)

Tucker had a music night at school one evening this month. I didn't realize that he would be "performing" so I didn't take the camera. Thankfully, there is a camera on my phone, albeit not a great one but one.

Here is part of the story of Goldilocks and the three bears. It is rather hard to understand with all of those voices not in unison. Gunnar thought it looked like fun to be up front and slowly snuck his way up there. You can see him shrugging his shoulders as we walks, which is his indication that he knows he shouldn't be going up there but that he really wants to be there :)

All the kindergarteners then performed, Teddy Bear Teddy Bear. This one is a little easier to understand

April was also spring break for Tucker. We intended to spend lots of time together as family but Bryant ended up being called in to work every morning, because lots of other employees had spring break as vacation time. Thankfully we still got him on Thursday afternoon and so we enjoyed some time at the Lehi Trafalga riding rides :) Thankfully there was no water for the bumper boats so I didn't have to take any kids and get wet

Hunter decided to try climbing the rock wall this time we were there. He was barely heavy enough to repel back down. He was also very quick. His first time climbing he only went about half way before deciding it was scary, then he waited in line again and made it all the way to the top!

This is from his first turn

This is from the second turn, second attempt after reaching the top once :)

Brylee had lots of fun riding this ride over and over again while Hunter and Tucker waited in line to rock climb. The two things are right next to each other so it worked out well.

This was her first time on it when we first arrived, I love their faces

Here she is enjoying it solo for the upteenth time.

She even convinced Bryant to get on once with her :)

The other days of spring break we tried to go to a park each day :)

Our first day was spent at Timpanogos Elementary

Tuesday we went to Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove. Thankfully, our neighbor came with her daughter otherwise it might not have been possible to keep track of all four children at the large park. Brylee played with her friend and our neighbor the whole time and I stayed with Gunnar and kept an eye out on Tucker and Hunter who played together most of the time. We also enjoyed a picnic lunch at this park and came home in time for naps :)

On Wednesday we had a dinner outside with our neighbors and some friends in the ward

On Friday we went to Pioneer Park and Brylee discovered that she could climb up the outside of the tunnel slide. She then perched herself there for the remainder of the time, much to her brothers' dismay.

We went to a clothing exchange on a Saturday morning and they had lots of stuffed animals. Gunnar is obsessed with dogs, as long as they don't come up to him that is. Brylee found this giant dog and told Gunnar that he should pick it. I tried trading him smaller dogs for the big one and would put the big one somewhere else and he would always discard the smaller dog and find the BIG one. Since it was free I relented. When we got home everyone's "new" stuffed animals went in the washer, except Gunnar's because he refused to go to sleep without it! 

We put it in the wash when he woke up and went to the grocery store. He was very frustrated that it was still washing when we got home and that he couldn't have it to play with. He carries it around the house with him everywhere!

Tucker was kind enough to drag him around the kitchen in the wagon with his dog too!

Gunnar has such great siblings that when one of them tires, another picks up. The children love running around in the kitchen. It often involves someone on the plasma car, someone pushing the shopping cart, someone pushing the baby stroller, and someone running, or everyone running. I'm glad there is room enough for them to run around (just as long as I'm not trying to share the space with them because they can be loud :P )

 

Here is cute one of Brylee and Gunnar one morning after Tucker went off to school.

Gunnar got a fever and was super grumpy for a couple of days. This particular day he took two naps! It was much appreciated as I could not get anything done when he was awake because just wanted to snuggle.

Lots of wonderful weather this April so we have spent lots of time outside! Hunter created this car with a built in forest. The back is filled with mud and he gathered all the branches from around the circle. They all blew off during a crazy storm the night before. Thankfully, my kids sleep through everything so while it woke both Bryant and I, all of the children slept right through it.

Our tulips and daffodils sprouted. I never got a picture of all of them in full bloom but they were beautiful and joy to have in our front yard

Easter was a blast this year. We actually did our own egg hunt for family home evening. The kids got to make their baskets from scrapbook paper and then we got to hunt in the back yard. Thankfully the rest of the neighborhood was not out so we didn't have to worry about other kids sneaking off with the eggs. 

Even Gunnar quickly understood the processes of picking up the egg, putting it in his basket, and then going for another one. 

I love that you can hear the excited voices of everyone else in the background :)

The great benefit of these baskets is that they fill quickly! so everyone felt like they had a ton by the time they were done

On the Saturday before Easter we joined Keith and Cindy Ogden for their family Easter celebrations. We love being included in their family festivities and never feel like a "third" wheel. It is nice to have family to share the holidays with when we are so far from our own family

Once Hunter's basket was "full" (less the stated amount, which was fine with him because it was full) he went and helped little children find eggs so they could get as many as him. I love that he was thinking of others and able to enjoy the further hunt while giving the spoils to someone else