Fooled Ya!

 My sister Allie always has fun ideas for April Fool's Day and her kids love it. This year I decided to follow her lead and play a couple of dinner tricks on my kids thanks to her help.

I told the kids that since it was April Fool's Day, we could eat dessert before dinner (yayayayayayayay!). Little did they know, our "Strawberry Chocolate Pie" was really pink mashed potatoes with meatloaf, garnished with a ketchup icing. Ike did show the slightest suspicion when he remarked, "Is this a healthy pie? It looks like a healthy pie."

After eating dessert, we moved onto our fish sticks and green peas dinner (sugar wafer cookies dipped in peanut butter and rolled in crushed cereal along with lime-flavored tootsie rolls). I tricked them again! I love young, gullible minds. 

Recognition setting in for each of them.  It was really fun to see their reactions.

Happy April Fool's Day, and please let spring be here to stay!!

Four

Davis and his trike at the park.

Visiting Dad for lunch one day.

Batman cupcakes per the birthday boy's request. Thank you Duncan Hines.

Davis with Elder and Sister Jones. They are a missionary couple that volunteers to watch over the nursery while I teach institute once a week. Last week was their final day with the kids as they are ending their mission and heading home. They have been such a bright spot during their time here and have really been Davis' CT grandparents. He even calls them Grandpa and Grandma Jones. We will miss them so much. 

At Four Years Old,

• Davis is obsessed with animals these days, thanks to his favorite TV show, Wild Kratts, about two brothers who explore animal life all over the world. He can often be heard spouting off random animal facts, like "Mom, did jew know dat crocodiles can CRUSH a coconut wif der jaws?"
• He loves kisses, hugs, and snuggling. He is definitely my lover boy (when he's not fighting, of course).
• Davis loves to give me ultimatums when trying to get his way. "Mom, you need to let me watch a Wild Kratts now, OR NEVER!" I always nonchalantly reply, "OK, never", which always leads him to renegotiate his aforementioned ultimatum. "Wait, wait. I mean, do you fink we could watch a Wild Kratts a wittle bit later?"
• His laugh is really contagious.
• He loves superheroes, with Super Man being the favorite these days. 
• He got a camera for his birthday (one of those kid-proof digital ones) and now he takes pictures of everything. 
• He is also really into building things, whether using magnatiles or legos. He makes new creations on a daily basis. He loves to build towers with the Magnatiles and then get Nathan to knock them down.
• He loves books and will sit and read them with me over and over. On snowy days like today it's one of my favorite things to do with him. 
• I can't believe this little guy is four! I am really looking forward to this next year. I love four. 

Seven

Isaac is seven years old today. I was talking with a friend who has children a few years older than mine. I mentioned Ike's birthday and remarked, "The oldest one always seems to grow up the fastest." "Just you wait," she replied, pointing to the drooling baby on my hip, "your baby will grow up even faster."

I had the opportunity to go on a field trip to the Yale Art Gallery with Isaac's class last week. It was the first time I had seen him interact with his peers in quite awhile since his teacher doesn't ask for volunteers very often. He was kind and attentive and participated and I had to silently chide myself for getting after him so much at home. As a mother I admit that I focus and worry too much on my children's weaknesses at times and not enough on their strengths. I was so glad I got to see him in his element.

Isaac has always loved music, and lately he has become particularly interested in anything playing on the radio. He loves Imagine Dragons, American Authors, Phillip Phillips, and even Miley Cyrus (shudder), though he doesn't know any of their names yet, just their popular songs. He can listen to a song a couple of times and get the lyrics down. It's not particularly comfortable for me to hear my 7 year-old belt out "Wrecking Ball" but hopefully we can harness that musical interest into some piano lessons or music classes sometime in the next couple of years (and keep him as far away from MC and her music as possible). You should hear him belt out "Let it Go." Boy's got some pipes.

He asked me the other morning why it was such a bad thing to stick your middle finger up and what it meant. I thought to myself, "Do I really have to talk about this with my little boy already?" In a split second decision with my three oldest kids eating breakfast in front of me I decided that I would rather be the one to tell them than have them ask their friends, so I simply said, "It represents a horrible word that hopefully you've never heard and that we don't ever say." "What word!?" they all exclaimed. Sighing, I continued, "I don't even want to say it, but it's known as the 'F' word." Isaac gasped and under his breath whispered, "fart!" Hallelujah. That was the end of that conversation  (for now).

His current favorites include Legos, Hotwheels, Bey Blades, sweet and sour chicken, Caesar Salad, avocados, Tic Tacs, Ninjas, running everywhere, and Star Wars. He hates carrots, handwriting, and taking showers.

Happy Birthday Isaac!

Nater @ 9 Months

• Is crawling! Life as I know it just got a whole lot more difficult.
• Weighs in at 21 lbs, 2 oz, which means he's dropped from the 95th percentile to the 75th percentile in height/weight. Our Big Nate isn't quite so big anymore. 
• Cries sometimes when he sees me leave the room. I've never been endeared much to the whole separation anxiety thing, so hopefully it's short-lived. 
• Has 6 teeth and more on the way. 
• Eats anything (anything!) we put in front of him. I am definitely endeared to this phase of babyhood.
• Is a generally very happy, babbling, squealing, rolly-polly baby that we can't get enough of.

From the Mouth of My Babe

Meet Olaf and Olaf's dad, the kids' creations.

Today I was sitting in sacrament meeting with Davis, explaining to him that a young boy who had just been baptized was about to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Shortly after the priesthood holder began giving the blessing into the microphone, Davis, who must have noticed that there was no one standing at the pulpit yet someone was speaking, whispered (shocking, I know) in my ear, "Mom, is dat God's voice talking to him wight now?"