A Star-Spangled Tradition

One of our favorite family traditions is the 4th of July. The Smiths let us join them one year and we were hooked. They save a spot at the Freedom Festival parade in Provo. That includes sleeping on the parade route overnight. (Carol, you're my hero.) This year Joseph joined them to offer his protection. The kids and I got to the parade by about 8 am. We had a great time visiting and eating breakfast. And, of course, we all wore our matching flag shirts from Old Navy. Emily, Chris, and Grandma and Grandpa Anson joined us, too.

Since we were in North Carolina last year, this was Brook's first 4th of July parade and she loved it. She spent most of the time on Aunt Emily's lap or on Grandma's lap. She was happy the whole time. She especially loved the baby contest winners. She kept saying, "baby, baby" and pointing at the cute babies. We even think she said, "Baby bye-bye." That would be her first two word sentence.
Sariah always loves the parade. She is old enough to remember years past and anticipate all the fun we are going to have. This year she said her favorite part of the parade was the princesses. After the parade we went to Brick Oven for lunch. The kids sat at the cousins table and felt so grown up. While we waited for our food, Ally dumped pepper on her garlic bread and drew all over her face with blue crayon. Zac cut his crayon in half with his knife and as far as we know, Sariah was well-behaved. After lunch we went to Grandma and Grandpa Anson's house for naps! Then we had a cookout and headed to the fireworks.
This year we had glow sticks for the kids to play with and they were a hit. Zac had a blast running around with the big boys, Skyler and Easton. I think he has a bad case of Skyler worship. They played pickle until it got too dark to see the ball. When the fireworks started Ally and Zac said, "They're blowing up the universe!" and then they wanted to know if there were bad guys shooting bullets at us. Sariah kept waiting for the yellow ones. Once Brook was snuggled with her dad she liked the fireworks, too. She just laid on his chest and watched them. By the time we were packed up and back to the van, she was asleep.
It was another perfect 4th of July. We feel so grateful to live in a free country where we can be together and make great family memories.

The Marc and Liz Game

For quite awhile, the kids have played the Marc and Liz game. Zac was Marc, Sariah was Liz and Ally was Rachel. They had a great time pretending to take trips and do all kinds of things. Lately the game has changed slightly and Ally is Marc, Sariah is Liz, a stuffed animal is Rachel and Zac is Chipper Jones. ( I am not exactly sure how Chipper Jones found his way into our family, but this is Zac we are talking about.) Well, the morning we told the kids that Benjamin had been born, the game changed again. This would be Marc (Ally) and Liz (Sariah) on their way to the hospital to have their babies. (Note the stuffed animals under the jammies.)

Here they are in the hospital (Ally's bed).

Here are the new babies, Rachel and Benjamin. Oh, the innocence of youth. We really are excited for our new cousin, Benjamin and can't wait to see him -- we are pretty sure he does not have blue fur and long ears, right?

Brook's "Bling"

So I finally caught Brook with her "bling" on. She does this almost everyday, I just don't always have my camera ready. She loves to get the cookie cutters out of the drawer in the kitchen and wear them as bracelets. She just toddles around with her arm out, loaded down with bracelets. Lately she also likes to wear her hat and her shoes. Some mornings she brings her shoes to us as soon as she wakes up and wants us to put them on. When she hears us say "outside," she runs for her shoes.
Brook also reminds us of her cousin, Rachel. The two look alike and are almost the same size. Last night we had chicken alfredo for dinner. She inhaled it and then put the sauce in her hair. We knew it had to go on the blog to match a very similar post on Marc and Liz's blog. What cute girls!

Brook n' Ally: Partners in Crime

Brook is growing up way too fast! She is walking all over the place now. She loves to be with the big kids. When they all start laughing, she does too. She even had her first hairdo this week. I'm glad I took a picture because we will not be trying it again anytime soon. She screamed the whole time. After she got over the trauma, she looked very cute. And it is a good thing I have pictures to remind me how cute Brook is when she does something like this:
This is the price I paid for bathtime one night when Joseph was not around. Brook emptied the drawers and then moved onto the bookshelf. In the realm of messes, this is a pretty easy one to take care of as it does not require any wiping up or use of the vacuum. Ally was supposed to help put the clothes back in the drawer, but I think she enjoyed helping Brook empty it instead. I think I may be in trouble when the two of them are old enough to gang up on me and cause serious trouble.

Even in her sleep, Ally is up to something. We found her asleep with a stuffed animal up her shirt. Exactly what game she was playing as she fell asleep will remain a mystery. She has such an imagination. Most days I can't keep up with the games she recruits me to play with her. Lately I get to be Alicia and she is Diego. We rescue animals all over the house. Sometimes I am Wonder Woman and she is Flash. And occasionally I am Elastagirl and she is Dash. The game is subject to change at any moment and Ally will not respond if I do not call her the right name. She is too much fun.

Treehouse Museum

This weekend we went to Ogden to visit Marc, Liz, and Rachel. The kids had a great time. Zac kept telling me, "This is a fun house!" They loved spending the night and playing with Rachel. Liz fed us very well and made us all very comfortable. Joseph and Marc worked hard on their fence in the backyard. For first time fencers, I think they did amazingly well. On Saturday morning while the boys worked, Liz and Rachel took us to one of their favorite places, the Treehouse Museum. It is one of our new favorite places, too.

Sariah and Zac had fun dressing up like doctors. In this part of the museum they also had a microscope that fascinated Zac. Sariah had fun playing school in the schoolhouse.

Ally loved the play kitchen and this little mouse puppet. Thanks, Marc, Liz and Rachel for the great weekend. (And thanks, Liz for the blog tutorial. Now I can put captions under my pictures. Who knows what I'll do next?)

Sariah, the Graduate

On Thursday, May 22nd our girl graduated from Kindergarten. The program was very cute. Sariah was SOOOO excited. She reported each day on how the practice had gone. One day she told us (through her giggles) that they practiced standing up together and the teacher said, "Oh that was terrible," and had them do it again. She was singing the songs all around the house. She actually sang in the program, too. It was fun to watch her feel proud of herself.
They sang several songs about the alphabet and the rules of the classroom and ended with You're a Grand Old Flag. Sariah told me that they were going to wave flags. I think she was especially excited about that part.

At the end of the program they read each child's name and presented them with a diploma. By this time, Sariah had lost her "cap." After they got their diploma, they were supposed to walk down the center aisle. Sariah instead went right to Zac and Ally who were sitting on the floor in the front. It took me, the principal, and her teacher to get her pointed in the right direction. That's Sariah for you:)

We are all so proud of Sariah and had a great time celebrating her special night. Zac soaked it all in, knowing it is his turn next. Ally really wanted to go up on the stage, too. Brook recognized Sariah during the program and waved at her. Mom got a little choked up, but managed not to cry. And Dad topped off the night by taking us out for a treat at "Old McDonald's" (a new favorite activity since the kids discovered the Play Place). We love you, Sariah!

Zac, the Brave

The first week in May Joseph went to a conference in Atlanta. We teased him that he really went to see the Braves play and that there just happened to also be a conference. He stayed with Kevin and Toni and they made sure that he got to a game, or two. Kevin and Joseph went to a game together and sat in the "all you can eat seats." You don't even want to know how much they ate. They also stayed after until the players left and Joseph got a ball signed by his hero, John Smoltz. It was a great day. He brought us all back souvenirs, too. Zac REALLY wanted a Chipper Jones shirt. Dad delivered.


Joseph brought shirts for the girls, too, and a visor for me. I forgot to wear my visor for the picture, much to Zac's dismay. He could hardly wait to get a picture of all of us in our Braves stuff and for me to put it on the blog. He wants to wear his shirt everyday as long as he can wear his baseball pants with it. If I have the shirt clean and in his drawer, he sings my praises and tells me I am the best mom. We truly have a fan on our hands. Today he told Joseph, "I'm glad your're my dad because I wouldn't like a Dad who was a Yankees fan."