For Oaklen's Four

Happy Birthday Oaklen! His 3 year old days are over now he's 4 years old!

He likes garbage trucks, orange, construction trucks, trains, team geotrax, mickey & the trailer, Hi-Ho song, Jungle Book, Reading books, adding numbers, riding his tricycle, watching Dad mow the lawn, cooking, baking, eating, singing,

Here are some of the many faces of Oaklen, quite the character. You'll notice that in half of these pictures he's wearing orange, and even the same orange sweatshirt and pants. He wears them all the time, I really do wash them, I promise.

Here are some videos of Oaklen. I had a hard time deciding which ones to post, he's such a hilarious kid and a fun age.

This one is of him playing with moon sand. He is singing as he's doing it. Sorry for the runny/stuffy nose...


This one is the second version of the moon sand. He is known for saying "ah, absolutely right!" and he does it at the end of this video:


This clip is one of his performances on our front porch. He is singing Bob the Builder. He did it once without the camera then I asked him to do it again, the first time was better but this is still cute.

Lessons learned from a coconut

I went to the store the other day and Oaklen convinced me to buy a coconut. I have never had one and thought it would be fun to try something new, especially since Oaklen had an interest in it and could be a learning experience. Well, I didn't realize that it would be a learning experience for all of us...

We decided to open and eat it tonight. We looked on youtube to learn how to open it and felt confident that it was easy as pie (er, coconut pie.) I struggled, to get it open. It cracked fairly easily but pulling it apart was the challenge. Oaklen said a prayer that we could get it open and the boys had quite the laugh watching me grunt with all my strength to pry it open.

Finally we called in the big guns (Darrell) and he opened it with his golden touch. To our dismay the opened coconut was moldy! Salem took a drink of the water/juice and Darrell tried a bite of the non-moldy part. It was gross and fermented! We threw the whole thing in the garbage. Did we waste $1.49? I'm not sure, it may have been worth the lessons learned:

* No impulse buying - don't give in to your kid's requests at the store, stick to the list.
* Do your research before you buy - I didn't know how to pick the right one.
* Prayers are answered - we finally got the darn thing open, though we should have "blessed" it and maybe it wouldn't have been moldy. :)
*Strength and perseverance will get you through - My strength was challenged and Darrell's strength got it open.
* You can find fun family moments at unexpected times - Although the outcome was disappointing, the act of learning how to open and opening the coconut was a fun family experience.
* Youtube is informational - It's amazing how much you can learn from how-to clips.
* Have more than one learning resource - Although the youtube clip that we watched was informational, it would have been  better for us to look at a couple different clips and generate their ideas too.
* Looks are deceiving - That coconut looked good but was rotten!
* How-to videos look easy but may not be - Usually how-to videos teach someone how to do something under the best circumstances. That coconut was probably hard to open since it was too old. Sometimes the expert doesn't realize to mention a few points because he's so used to doing it.

Now, there must be an object lesson in this somewhere that I can use for school or church. Any ideas?

Happiness Is...Volume 3, Part 1

Happiness is...
- Salem's Leviti-kiss (Leviticus)
- Ezril's smiles
- Darrell never complaining
- Oaklen putting his hand on his hip
- Oaklen saying "Team Geotrax!" and raising his fist in the air
- Ezril leaning his head into my lips to get a kiss, and again, and again...
- Being able to use my computer in every room in the house
- My boys playing well together
- Flying kites with Uncle Cabot & Aunt Jen
- Watching Salem learn how to ride a bike
- Watching Darrell teach Salem how to ride a bike, he's so patient!
- Oaklen snuggling with me "like red-band bananas"
- Ezril babbling thinking you can understand him.
- Viewing the bum scoot marks in the sand after Ezril scooted around
- My pink clematis vine in full bloom
- Getting my garden in
- Blueberry waffles for dinner
- Darrell knowing how to fix things in our house
- Having a camera that I use to take pictures plus video
- Having an MP3 player that I can use to record voice
- Getting 100% on some of my homework
- Getting help with the kiddies so I am able to study
- Smith's double coupon day
- Having beautiful white flowers (Star of Bethlehem) randomly come up in my yard. They're unwanted "weeds" to some people but I like them. Here's a picture I took:

Who moved my cheese?

Here is the story that goes along with the last blog... I tried to have you guess the story behind the image but most of you were trying to interpret what the drawing was on the window. Good guesses! :)

Last Friday we, as a family, spent many hours outside enjoying the warmer weather. Oaklen liked being outside but kept going in for various reasons and I'd have to go inside and tell him to come back out. Finally it was getting late enough that when he went in the last time, I didn't go get him. He was inside for a matter of 10-15 minutes. (Hmm...now if I was Oaklen, what would I do with 10 minutes to myself?)

I came inside and after a while we went upstairs for our bedtime routine. I walked into the upstairs TV room and there staring at me was this drawing on the window:

Me: (looking at Oaklen) "Did you do that?"
Oaklen: (after looking sheepish and trying to deny it) "Yes."
Me: (stepping closer for a better look, and noticing that it had yellow residue) "Is this chapstick?" (We had just opened a new chapstick container that made your lips yellow.)
Oaklen: "No"
Then it dawned on me...this is Oaklen we're talking about...
Me: "Oaklen, is this cheese?"
Oaklen: (giggling) "Yes"
Me: Ei yei yei! :)

So then I asked him if he ate the whole entire cheese brick and he said yes. Later I asked him again to make sure.
Me: "Oaklen, are you sure you ate the whole thing, or did you hide it somewhere? It either needs to be in your belly or in the fridge because if it's hiding somewhere it's going to get moldy and gross and bugs could come."
Oaklen: "Oh, uh, there's some in the closet."

So, we ventured to the closet by Ezril's room. Oaklen poked around to find it but couldn't. Then I dug around to find a small piece of cheese leftover, unwrapped. He probably ate about 7 oz of sharp cheese!

I'm glad I found the missing cheese, and now I know that cheese is a good window crayon. :)

I love ya Oaklen, even if you're cheesy.

PS - I've never read "Who moved my cheese?" but maybe I should. I just reserved it at the library.

Guess what this could be

I'll give you ten guesses to figure out what this picture is about:

Leave a comment and give me your guesses. I'll post another blog with the answer once I get enough responses. Enjoy! :)

Tribute to Ezril aka Scooter

Scooter - Ezril is a unique kid. He scoots instead of crawls. He's on his own time schedule. Both Salem & Oaklen were walking by 10 months and Ezril is now 14 months and is completely content to just scoot around. I think it's a defense tactic so that his older brothers won't knock him down. :) I've never noticed kids who scoot but now that I have a "scooter", I've had many parents come up to me and say that their kid did that same thing.

Ezril loves to play with anything that has to do with real life such as:
Spoons and other utensils - You'll often find him with a big stirring spoon or spatula scooting around the floor. I now have a spatula in my "church bag" for him so he can play with that while we're at church. It's actually nice since it's a quiet toy.

Milk Jugs - The other day I put an empty milk jug in the recycle can, but he took it out and played with it for a whole day. Each time I tried to put it back in the recycle can, he'd start screaming and then go scoot to get it out again. When I brought home a full milk jug from the store, he wanted to play with it but soon learned that it was a little too heavy for him lug around.

Vacuum - Every Monday he helps me vacuum. He follows me everywhere. He stiffens up his arms and legs when he gets excited and that happens a lot when the vacuum is around. Last week I ran upstairs for a moment to go get something, leaving him downstairs with the vacuum turned off. He used that alone time to climb on top of the vacuum and when I came back downstairs he was happy as can be using it as a ride-on toy.

Here is a video of scooting with the vacuum:


Here is another video of him excited to see the vacuum:


Broom - Ezril loves brooms too. We've been working on our laundry/mud room and have had to use the broom in there more often than the kitchen. He screamed when I took the broom out of the kitchen. I found a small broom for him at the store and bought it. He wouldn't even let go of it for me to put him the car after we bought it and had to hold it all the way home.

Mop - Mopping is fun with Ezril. I usually try to have him stay in his pajamas (terrycloth jammies work best) when we mop since he scoots around next to me and buffs the floor. I have to hide it on the days that I don't mop so that he won't take it out and get it dirty.
Here is a video of him moping:


Dishwasher - Whenever he's unhappy and I need to be in the kitchen to make food or clean up, I just open the dishwasher. (I make sure there are no sharp objects or knives in there.) He'll cruise along the open door and play for quite a while.

Breakfast math

This morning Salem was sitting at the table eating his breakfast and he said, "Mom, when you add two odd numbers together you get an even number."

I thought about it for a minute and realized that he was right! How cool! Then we  discussed further and figured out that when you add the same number together that it's always even too. (7+7, or 8+8, etc.)

Anyway, I just thought I should share that little tidbit of information about what we talked about during breakfast. :)

Here's more info that I googled if you want more fun math facts.

There is sunshine in my soul today

Today marks a new chapter in my life. It's amazing how the Lord works and his timing is impeccable. I was released today from my calling as Primary President. I didn't know that it was coming until this morning, 15 minutes before church started, but I feel that it's the right thing. My new calling is Ward Music Director. I'll be the one to choose the songs in sacrament meeting and arrange any possible musical numbers. This seems very doable! :)

A lady in my ward is a breast cancer survivor and she has a great attitude. As she was enduring this trial a year or two ago, she said "Well, either way I win." Today she walked into the church building, coming out of the cloudy & rainy day, carrying a yellow umbrella and wearing a smile. She always carries a little bit of sunshine around. Even though the day was dreary, she had the sunshine.

Today I left singing "There is sunshine in my soul today." I'm not sure if this is rejoicing from being released from the calling, viewing my friend's yellow umbrella & smile, or a testament that my new calling is meant to be. There will be a song in my heart for quite a while.

The next chapter begins...