"Become as little children"

Bill had another week long business trip last week so I held down the fort while he was gone. I thought it was so cute how the kids all helped with Family Home Evening. We always have an introduction with dad speaking Italian. The kids have heard it so many times that even Britton chimed in with "Buen Venuti tuti a questa serata familia ata" then Bill says a bunch of other Italian words which finally lead up to" but we are going to speak in English and then he points to the kids and they all scream in unison, " so mom can understand"! They did pretty good even though the leader of the pack wasn't here.

Here is Maegan leading the music with her pop-sickle stick.


I was especially impressed with Branson. He has never volunteered to give the lesson until he was thumbing through the "Friend" magazine and found a great lesson.
He had everyone cutting out paper figurines and taping them to pop-sickle sticks-even little
Emma helped.














Then as I read the story of Nephi getting the plates they all performed a little puppet show.

Branson's ingenious way of getting the puppets
to stand up.




























The great thing about letting kids teach is they actually retain the lesson a little better!

A great time was had by all!

Well, we figured it was about time for a visit to Grandpa and Grandma's house and Bill had to take a day off or he would lose it so there was no better time than now. It was just so nice and relaxing! I love getting away from the same routine sometimes. We kind of just sat around and chatted, ate and chatted some more- two of my favorite things! The kids had fun playing with "Sumo" and having Uncle Reuben take them on motorcycle rides.
Saturday night we went to the lake with some of mom & dad's friends, roasted hot dogs and s'mores and let the kids play in the disgusting water. ( We definitely get pickier as we get older.) But it was a lot of fun.







Sunday we went to church and then had a delicious dinner with fresh asparagus, Orange chicken and mom's fabulous baked beans...





And we all just enjoyed each other's company.

Just call us the Griswolds!

Is that Bill...or cousin Eddy?

I'm laughing my head off taking the pictures and now I am laughing my head off looking at these pictures. I mean seriously, if you have seen Lampoon's Christmas vacation there is one scene where "Sparky" is watching cousin Eddy standing out in the yard emptying his r.v.'s waste products into the storm drain because the (clear your throat)... toilet was full. I showed this to Bill and we both had a laugh.
Complete with the cruddy lawn mower inherited from a neighbor..(but hey we're grateful! One less thing we have to buy) and our patch of grass -really we do have a front lawn-but it looks like this is all we own...Bill looks like he is mowing down the vacant lot ...and the kids' little "hut" they made, one could mistake us for the Griswolds!

Did I mention the Sombrero and goggles to boot? Just a classic day of mowing the lawn.
Bill has to keep his mouth shut and goggles on because the grass flies up and he gets a face full of turf.
I just keep telling myself...These are the good ol' days

The Last Hoorah!

Branson celebrated his 7th Birthday Transformer style But the only thing that was transformers was the cake and the invitations. Bill "transformed" the party to "Jumpin' Jacks" a big bouncy toy fun center. Hey, it works for me. I was starting to stress a little about coming up with transformer games for 7 yr olds. So he relieved my stress and I didn't have to do anything! Loved it!




Branson is so smart and really funny! He is turning out to be quite the actor and comedian. It's really fun to see his personality come out and see what he is going to be like as an adult.





He is also really sweet and has a tender heart. He still comes and crawls up on my lap for a hug. He always says as he is walking out the door for school..."and I can't forget the most important thing of the day" and gives me a hug and kiss. Don't get me wrong, Branson is feisty and is extremely independent, spirited and might I add, downright stubborn at times but he is kind and loving too. He and Emma have a really special bond and he is a great big brother.

Maegan's 5th Birthday

So what is worse than having all 4 kids b-days 2 weeks apart? Well, I'll tell you. Having to celebrate them twice. Try as I might I have still ended up doing just that. Bill has been out of town for 3 weeks out of the last 5 and home on the weekends (Thank goodness he was here for our anniversary which is sandwiched in between the birthdays)- BUT WE HAVE TO HAVE DADDY HERE so we celebrate when he is home and then their birthdays have conveniently fallen on a weekday so that's when I throw the friend party.


Princess Maegan's Party

Maegan's birthday was on the 7th of April. We invited a few other princesses over to help celebrate. I thought it would be kind of fun to tell a little about her. Notice her beautiful ensemble she is wearing? Well, I practically begged her to wear some other clothes- at least matching ones- since she is the "belle of the ball" after a few tears and "just let me wear what I want", I decided to pick my battles and grant her birthday wish.


Don't you just love the bright pink skirt and the burnt orange shirt! Not to mention the way she had to wear her crown. She is definitely asserting her independence.
Maegan's favorite color is yellow because her favorite princess is Belle so I made her a beautiful "Belle" cake. She loved it. (Thanks, Sybrina for everything!) Of course, every Princess needs her jewelry so we let the girls bead their own bracelets. That is one of Maegan's favorite things to do. She LOVES to do crafts. Every other day we are making a craft. I used to go to great lengths to find a craft and then do it with her and it took a lot of time and energy and I even found myself thinking . "oh man, another craft I don't really want to do this". but I have realized it is just the mom time that she wants and as long as she has glitter glue she is a happy girl.

JACKS!

We have a new member of the Bundrock household. (No, I am not pregnant!) But, after much contemplation we have decided to get a dog. We found the sweetest little beagle on Sat. He is soooo good with the kids and just LOVES Bill and Branson! When either one of them leaves he will start whining a little bit and look out the window. Luckily, he gets over it and will play with me and the other kids but he definitely has his preferences. "Jacks" is such a smart dog. The other night he came and got Bill up at 2:30 in the morning to go outside. Sure enough, he did his business, came back inside and went right back to sleep. Good doggy!




Against all my upbringing, we actually keep him in the house (GASP!) (I know, I know, my family is saying, What! YOU have a dog in your house? This is from someone who won't allow anyone to step foot in our house with shoes on...Hey I'm here to tell you, we wipe his paws, he doesn't stink and he doesn't shed all over. Although, I have found that he does shed a little. All the more reason to vacuum more frequently=)


But really have you ever seen happier kids!

Britton goes in his little accent, "Mom, I just love my dog, He's ma boy!"

San Francisco