We Blew It Up and Then...We Ate It!

Okay, so I remember the last time I blogged on our family blog, that I promised to do a blog post devoted entirely to Glen.  I have to forego that for now, but will do it next time.  He's been up to some amazing things.  Stay tuned...

Now, onto our firstborn son, who just turned 6 and is loving it...

We had a blast celebrating his birthday as a family and then a few weeks later with his friends.  We had a science-themed birthday party and our birthday activities were centered around doing short, easy science experiments.

To kick things off, I cut out bow ties (with scrapbooking paper) in advance and had the kids decorate their own "mad scientist" bow ties.  After each child (and parent, haha) was done, I glued a clip onto each one with my trusty glue gun.  The drying time was quick and each of wore bow ties for the rest of the party.  Then, we had 5 science experiments, present opening, cake and ice cream and the finale science experiment.

We decorated our dining room and front room with green and orange colors and hung pictures of various famous scientists on our wall.

We also had an erupting volcano cake.  I got the instructions for that at http://beyondwonderful.com/recipes/desserts/cakes/volacano_erupting.html .  I modified it a bit to my liking.  ;)

I don't normally buy dry ice (which the recipe calls for) and found it at the grocery store for about $1 per pound.  The smallest size I bought was 5 pounds.  Never, ever touch it with your bare hands!  It's extremely cold stuff.  We kept it up and out of the way of curious and inquiring children.

Enjoy the pictures and video of Joseph and his party!

A view of the Rocket Balloons Experiment...

More Rocket-Ballooning!

The egg went from here...

To here.

  And now, the volcano cake eruption!









Happy Birthday Joseph! We love you! xoxo

Lost Teeth

So, do you remember that Joseph had loose teeth on his half-birthday? One of them came out. Yep, right in the middle of his school day when he least expected it, there it went!

At Joseph's preschool, the kids all brush their teeth after their lunch. Joseph brushed his teeth, spit, and out came his tooth. He told us that it almost fell into the ketchup on his plate (the kids brush their teeth RIGHT after their meals). :) His teacher put it in a plastic baggy for him to take home.

Do you remember when you lost your first tooth?

Here are some pictures of his "less-one-tooth" smile and of the tooth, itself. The tooth fairy almost forgot about his tooth, but she remembered right before bed and that's what counts! :)

This is what Joseph plans to buy with the money he received from the tooth fairy. He is crazy about Legos!

And now...listen to Joseph as he tells about what the tooth fairy brought ($1). :)

Halfy-Birthday to our son, Joseph!

This week has been busy!  (But we love it).

Joseph celebrated his half-birthday on April 27, 2010.  We had a fun dinner from Taco Bell and had fun eating a strawberry cake Joseph picked out at the store.  He's 5 and a half now and growing wiser by the minute.

He is also very excited about two loose teeth he's got...

Here he is with a special plate we got from Aunt Judy.  The moment he saw it, it became his.  ;)  It has a heart shape outline in the middle of it.

Next, he and his candles are shining for this camera shot.

And here is the video we took:



It was an awesome day with Joseph and we had such a fun time. Mine is the next half-birthday celebration. We'll see what kind of cake I come up with. :)

Joseph Interviews Glen in Las Vegas...Watch and Learn the Secrets.

We went to Las Vegas for the first time. I had a Leadership Conference at The Venetian and Glen bravely and boldly took Joseph and Esther around to see some of the family-friendly exhibits on the Strip. This one-of-a-kind interview takes place in front of the Bellagio, where we had just seen their famous fountain show. Our jaws dropped in amazement and Esther danced to the music like it was nobody's business.

We're back at home now, enjoying the beginning of Summer. The temperature is in the high 80's now, and hitting 90. Time to get into the pool!



We went over the Hoover Dam too! What a thrill! They are building a bypass bridge that will help traffic to zoom right over all the slower-going sight-seeing-traffic around the dam. They've done a lot of great work here!

Here is a cute picture of our family that a German couple took. We bribed Joseph NOT to smile in this photo...just for fun! heehee

Happy Easter! :)

Happy Easter!

We kicked off the weekend with face paintings for Joseph and Esther on Friday. Joseph was a tiger and Esther was a bunny. Cute, so cute! Later, we went to Aunt Judy's house for an evening of delicious food (Aunt Judy makes killer enchiladas) and fun!

So, Easter was a lot of fun also! We had a great day with watching General Conference and loved all the great, awesome talks!

Here is a bit of what we did:



We hope you had the most wonderful Easter ever!

Go On...Touch A Truck

The area we live in is very family-friendly and has many activities that are held for the community to attend.  One of our favorite events so far is Touch A Truck.  Lots of and lots of trucks are parked in a huge parking lot at a nearby community college.  The types of trucks are varied-fire trucks, cranes, tow trucks, trash trucks, semi trucks, buses...you name it, it was there.  The great thing about this event is that the community has an opportunity to see how the trucks work.  Climbing on them is encouraged!  :)  Following is a video I did with some of the highlights we took footage of.  We'll be back next year!  :)

Could It Be? Look At What Came Around the Bend...

Joseph recently latched onto the fun tradition of building gingerbread houses and then slowly taking them apart and nibbling on them over the holiday season.  He then had the awesome idea for us all to make a gingerbread train together.  I cook, but I don't often bake, so I shortened the gingerbread construction process and used graham crackers instead of actual gingerbread.  This hastened us on to what I think the best part of gingerbread is - the decorating part!

The night before, we made the royal icing…

Put the trains together…

And the kids helped me clean up…

The next day, Joseph was so excited to decorate the train (especially the engine), he got up a little after 5am! Finally, after hours of breakfast and getting dressed and preparations, we were ready to go!

Joseph worked hard on his engine…

Esther helped out with the caboose work…

And then Glen made the nicest engine tender...

Here is our completed project!  What fun!

Now...it's time to eat!  We hope that you are enjoying your Christmas seasons!

Halloween Superstars vs The Candy Fairy

Halloween is always a favorite in our house and it’s not because of the candy. Huh? That’s right, our kids are not focused on eating candy during the Halloween season. That’s not the everyday, run-of-the-mill idea…and here’s where it gets even better. The kids focus on giving away their Halloween candy. They certainly try to get as much as they can and their eyes shine with great anticipation and light whenever someone opens the door, just as anyone else.

“Trick or treat!” they exclaim. (Actually, Esther says something like, “Tweowtweeee!” But she sure learned quickly to emulate her older brother-mentor and hold her bag open for the gift that is put inside).

The idea for our Halloween tradition started with an idea that a friend gave me. We begin with canvassing the neighborhood for treats. Then, the children get home and pick out a few candy pieces that are especially attached to so they can eat them. The rest of the loot goes to the ‘Candy Fairy’. She visits our house every year on Halloween night. She takes the candy that the kids have offered her, gives all the chocolate pieces to me and my husband to enjoy, and then leaves a gift for each of the kids.

This year, Joseph got up and led Esther into the house to find their gifts. And they walked, hand in hand until they reached their destination. Glen and I heard exclamations and kids came running into our bedroom, talking breathlessly. Glen did a good job of getting Esther’s new doll out of its package and Joseph went right to work on his newest Lego project.

We love to welcome the Candy Fairy into our home.