Stitches and Birthdays

We were having a get together at my sister-in-laws the other day and Vance had an incident with the trampoline that led to him needing 6 stitches on his chin.  He was a trooper.  In fact, we didn't realize how badly he was hurt because of how little he cried.  He didn't cry at all during the stitching process and he held real still for them.

 Tanner and his cousin Luke were sitting at Grandma's table cutting and gluing for a long time on Sunday afternoon.

 The boys thought it'd be fun to write their names with pretzels.

 Porter was in a smooching mood one day so I had to take a few pictures.

 It's easy to keep the boys entertained when Stephen is around, he just pulls out his DS or turns on the Wii.

Tanner turned 5!  We let him open a gift on his birthday and made him save the rest for his party on Saturday.  We also took him out for lunch.

Getting ready for Tanner's birthday party.  Here are the party favors.

 Tanner's birthday party was on Saturday.  Thanks to all those who were able to come.

 Vance had his stitches removed Saturday morning before Tanner's party.

 This kid likes hot dog buns, but won't eat the hot dog.  He loves "The Pigeon Find a Hot Dog" book.

 Tanner playing with Skylander stuff for preschool.

Happy Birthday Tanner

It's Tanner's 5th birthday.  I made an annual birthday slideshow for him.  Crazy to think that five years ago I gave birth to this wide- eyed baby boy.  I felt like I lived in spit up the first year of his life because he spit up so bad, but despite having reflux he was a happy baby and he is a happy boy.  We really enjoy having him in our home.  He loves to have me sing to him.  One of his favorite songs is "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables.  He also loves primary songs.  One night I sang "Families Are Forever" and by the end he was teary-eyed. I asked him what was wrong and he told me that the song was "just so sweet".  A few weeks ago we were talking about his birthday coming up and how he'd turn 5 and he looked at me in tears and said, "But Mom when I am five I will have to go to kindergarten and won't get to do preschool ever again!"  I reassured him that he wouldn't go to school for an entire year and we had plenty of time to do preschool.  Tanner is an excellent reader, he is funny, and a good brother.  We are happy he is part of our family. Happy Birthday!

A full week of school

We made it through the first full week of school.  Vance is trying to adjust to being at school all day.  He usually wakes up around 6 in the morning (on his own) and so by the time he gets home from school he is usually tired.  It's going to take some adjusting, but we'll get it all figured out. I have tried to convince him to go back to sleep for another hour and a half when he wakes up at 6.  It hasn't worked yet...

Porter still enjoys wearing hats especially this Mario one made by Grandma Jeppson.  He was just too cute not to take a picture of with the way he was hanging out.

Here are the boys all ready for church in their buttoned down shirts and ties.  

On Monday Vance pulled out his other top front tooth.  It was quite lose and a little threatening from me and he got motivated to pull it himself.  It took one half hearted pull to get it out.  His new ones will be in shortly.  

We had an ocean week with preschool for Tanner.  Here is a cute octopus he made.

 Porter is showing off a whale we made.  It was designed by Tanner.  We trace his arm and used two of his fingers for the tail.

 We also attempted a jelly fish in a jar with a plastic trash bag.  Vance thought it was pretty cool too.

 This afternoon Vance and Tanner wrote ocean related stories.  They turned out really cute.  I should scan them and post them on here to share.  You can find out more about our ocean week at my other blog.

First week of school

Vance started first grade on Tuesday.  He was so excited.  I really could hardly stand him the night before and the morning of.  Bless that child, but the more excited he is the more he feels the need to talk my ear off and ask me a million questions I don't know the answer too.  He is loving school and wishes he could eat dinner there and have school on Saturday too so I guess it has been a success so far.  I wonder if that will change as the school work gets more challenging.  I sure hope not.  I tried to take some pictures with his glasses on, but apparently I need to figure out how to do that without getting a wicked glare off of them.

 Porter and Tanner were so cute the next morning looking over the book order Vance got.  They love books and I love that they love books.

 I was hesitant to do worksheets with Tanner since preschoolers learn through play, but I also know he could use some practice writing and cutting so I decided to try it out and he loves doing it.  I think it makes him feel like a big kid.  He even wants to do them on Saturdays, he told me.  I hope his enthusiasm continues as well.  We are also going to be doing other preschool things together.

 Today we watched Holly's kids for a bit.  I actually took a much cuter picture of my boys and Jillian outside, but it was just a phone picture.  We were just missing Chloe here though.  Elliot decided to take off when I pulled out the camera.

Summer is winding down

My boys are quite obsessed with The Piano Guys.  You can find them on youtube.  Their favorite song is called Cello Wars.  It's a little parody of Star Wars.  Here is a picture of Tanner showing off some of his dance moves.

 

 We did a scavenger hunt on temple square last Wednesday.  The weather was pretty nice.  We really enjoyed being on temple square.  It wasn't crowded.  Stephen and I agreed that it was the least busy we'd ever seen.  The boys had a great time tracking down everything on our hunt.  We also had lunch with Stephen's sister Kim who works at the church office building.

 On Thursday night Stephen and I took Vance to his school for back to school night.  He was able to see his first grade classroom and meet his teacher.  His teacher seems real nice and young.  Here is a picture of him in the reading area.  Looks cozy to me.  School starts tomorrow!

 The boys love playing with legos and do it any chance that we let them.  One of their favorite lego sets is Ninjago.  There is also a Ninjago cartoon show that is out that they love.

 On Saturday we helped our nephew, Elliot celebrate his first birthday.  Isn't he a cutie?!  My sister made really cute cookie monster cupcakes and the boys had a great time playing and eating cake.

 This would be Porter "hiding".  He is in such a funny stage right now.  He is talking in sentences now and he comes up with some pretty hilarious stuff not to mention the cute and funny things he does.

 Not long after we said good night to the boys last night Vance hollered for us to let us know he'd lost a tooth.  It has been a little wiggly for a few weeks so it wasn't a total surprise like his first one was.  It's the first one he has lost on top and the 3rd one over all.  He lost his two bottom teeth shortly after starting kindergarten.  Guess, his teeth new first grade was coming...