Stars and bugs and a Zoo to boot!

Yesterday we took the kids to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. We also took Travis's mom. We got to see lots of super cool fish and some neato animals too. We had a great time. We walked and walked for over 3 hours. Elizabeth was determined to walk the entire time...and she almost made it. She crashed at the Red Fox house at the very end.

After the Zoo we took Mom N. home. Connor found a roly poly pill bug while there and brought it home. It has it's own container of dirt (it's house). Today he rolled the thing around in a Matchbox convertible car, "flew" it in a toy plane and then sat it on his hand so it could 'see' the movie that they watched together. He calls it Mr. Pillbuggy. Connor is such a cute little character. He has so much life!


Lastly...last night when we came home, Spencer looked out at the stars (cause it was late!) and said, "Look at all the stars. The stars are the Sun's little children." He was so serious...My heart grew three sizes at that moment. (o: He's such a sweet and perceptive little boy.

So...I'm gonna download a bunch of pictures and so you can see Mr. Pillbuggy and also a sampling from the zoo.

Here is Mr. Pillbuggy watching Tom and Jerry help Sherlock Holmes solve a mystery.

Look! It's Mr. Pillbuggy!
Travis and his mom at the zoo. She looks so good! Travee's always cute!

Lizbet and the mama tiger had a little chat. I love this picture!!!

Aren't we just the cutest little family? (o;

She was meowing at the monkey. It was pretty cute! He was pointed back at her.

Touching the sea life.

Cutest boys ever!

Just a Recap

Busy, busy, busy. In the last 10 days we celebrated Travis's birthday, have had school every day except weekends, babysat Jake once (cause it was a teacher work day and he had no school), served 2 people their court papers (we do process serves for our friends husband-he's a lawyer...and they pay us), moved Joseph out of the boys bedroom and into Lizbet's room (cause he needs alone time and she doesn't believe in sleep so it's like he has his own room), helped Travis get ready to start school on Monday, gathered the seeds that weren't used at our assigned 5 Home Depots and packaged them up to send back to the Stover company (this is a merchandising job that Travis did over the summer) and went to the Fair! Elizabeth is still more work than all three of her brothers combined, and the boys are going through a teasing phase that makes it very loud in our house.

BUT...we all love each other and are pretty much in good health (lingering colds are almost gone and Elizabeth has 2 teeth ready to break through)...so...we say...we are great! Hope you are all having a great week and have a fabulous weekend!

Joseph's Birthday (and mine)

Friday was my 36th birthday. Zoiks! Travis's parents took us all out for breakfast at Denny's (they give a free Grand Slam to birthday people). Then we came to our home and had icecream cake and Deone took me to the store and bought me a new purse. It was a lovely day.
NOW....on to the really important birthday! (o: Joseph turned 10 yesterday!!!!! 10!!!!

First, may I mention, that Travis had to go have a tooth pulled first thing in the morning. He got happy pills and went through Joseph's birthday in a fog, but pain free. (o:

Here is Joseph on the way to Grandmas house in this picture. I made him hold the cake cause I had to hold the pizzas.

Per his request...Papa Murphy's! Mmmmmmmmm

Condor being cute. Look close...pizza sauce face!

Grandma Teese got him a big Medusa!!! Sweet!

90% of the toys that he got were legos. I love watching him create. Nothing better than watching your child follow instructions and create something cool...or use their imagination and create something even cooler!

He worked an hour on it, but put together his gas tanker truck all by himself. He was so proud!

Lizbet has NOT been sleeping for the past...oh, I guess her entire life...but it's been worse this past week (yes...my brain is mush from lack of sleep). Apparently, it all caught up with her yesterday because she spent almost the entire party time at Grandma's looking just like this! (noice in the picture above this one...she's passed out behind Joseph)

I gave Connor and Spencer little party bags with playdough and stuff in them so they would have something to play with while Joseph assembled his lego things. Worked out nicely. (Peppo needs a haircut!)

Notice his awesome plates and cups!

Joseph said it was the best day of his life. I'm glad he had a good day. I'm not glad that my baby boy is already 10 years old!!! Where did the time go?

We Will Never Forget!

First day of (home)School

Today we started school. It was fun! I had them dress in their new shirts and comb their hair...this will be about the only time this year that they do this....then we took some pictures.
We talked about paragraphs and did some Saxon math. Then we discussed recycling and the new recycle container that we have at our apartments now. Connor practice writing his letters and we are going to read together tonight. We set some general rules and made a goal to earn 100 rocks by October so that we can go to the Zoo/Aquarium. It was a good day!
Joseph. I guess he's supposed to be in 4th grade. He's doing work all over the place. Some 5th grade, some 4th grade and even some 3rd grade stuff. I really don't like the grade level thing...he is where he is and that's what matters.

Spencer. He's 3rd grade.

Connor is doing Kindergarten work this year!

And Elizabeth had a great time making a HUGE mess while I taught the boys!

Some of the things we discussed that can be recycled.

Meet William...

This week I have been incredibly sick. High fever, complete achy body, and swollen tonsils and glands. Travis was wonderful and took all the kids for a 2 hour drive so that I could sleep. Then he took the boys over to his parents. Then, the next day he came home from work and took the boys straight over to his folks again. He is one super duper husband! I went to the doctor and tested positive for strep, so I am taking drugs and slowly getting better.

One of the nights that they were over to his folks, Travis called me and made a request. He said that Spencer was totally breaking his heart. He couldn't stand watching his son go over to Burt's grave, talk to 'Burt' and then start to cry. So, he asked if we could find a way to buy another guinea pig. Of course I said yes...so he took the kids and they chose William! Here are some pictures of our newest addition. (by the way...William is Spencer's middle name...Joseph thought that would be a good name and Spencer agreed)
All the whorls like Burt had.

He was in focus til I snapped the picture...and he started walking toward the camera and made it all fuzzy. (o: Isn't he cute?

He is so soft and fuzzy.

We will miss you, Burt!

Wednesday, our little guinea pig, Burt, passed away. He was only 2 1/2 years old. Poor little guy. He died in my arms. It was a sad day to lose the little pig, but I do believe that the part that hurt the most was seeing the grief that my boys went through. My heart broke to see how sad they were.
This is Burt the day we got him. He was such a little cutie!

Technically, Burt was Spencer's pet. He is such a tender hearted little boy. It was most difficult for him. He cried pretty much non stop for the entire day.

We made a little 'coffin' for him.

Travis's parents donated a small part of land in their back yard to be a cemetery. Travis dug the grave and I made a headstone. We all gathered together and said good-bye and buried him together.We will miss our little friend. We are grateful that we have Fluffy still. He is now getting a lot of extra love and attention.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 16th Anniversary to my sweet Travee! I love you with all my heart!

Spencer

Mr. Peppo has decided to write in his blog again, but is upset that he has no comments yet...so...we've set the settings for anyone to be able to comment....please let him know that you are out there and have seen what he has done.


www.spencerwnelson.blogspot.com

Just Another Tuesday

Yesterday we went over to Travis's parents house. We went so we could play in their big back yard, and also to help out with some yard work. While we were there, we decided to dissect the yellowjacket nest that Travis got out of their tree the day before. (the darn things stung his mom 6 times...which is how we found the nest in the first place) It was absolutely amazing!
The thing was huge...about the size of a honeydew melon.

I got to do the dissecting. I was as careful as I could be.

All those hexagons were so perfectly placed. It was unbelievable. Nature is unbelievable!

There were all stages of life inside.

Then, I took the boys and Grandma out for a little drive so Travis could work on his lesson that he has to teach in church (Elders Quorum) in 2 weeks. We went to the Temple.

My sweet little turkeys.

It was a gorgeous day out. Only about 70 degrees...not a cloud in the sky.

Me and my little turkeys. I love them so much!

After our little drive, we went back and helped Daddy plant some grass in Grandma's yard and I murdered some weeds that dared enter my garden. Everyone was very tired when we went home...but it was definitely a good tired. (o: