Haircuts, Grandpa's birthday, Kindergarten program

The kids love pulling out the bubble machine when we are outside.

 Vance has been bringing home a lot of projects and papers from school the last couple of weeks.  I like to take pictures of his work and/or scan things so I don't have to save every single thing he does.

 The boys (Stephen included) needed haircuts in a bad way so I finally got that taken care of on Friday.  After I did Porter's hair Tanner said, "Porter, you look like Elliot."  Elliot is their 9 month old cousin that only has a bit of fuzz on his head.

 Don't you love it when your kids wake up happy from a nap?

 We are going to take some pictures when we are in Washington with my family since it'll be the first time we are altogether since Glen left on his mission so we have been working on getting coordinating clothes for that. Apparently, it was an exciting day since that's what I took a picture of...

 On Monday we went to Preston to celebrate my Grandpa Porter's 90th birthday.  Rosemary actually took this picture.  It was nice to see my grandparents.  I haven't seen them since I think Tanner was a baby.

 On Tuesday we headed out to go grocery shopping only to have a dead battery in the car.  Stephen cleaned the battery, got it started, and took it to Les Schwab.  The battery tested good still, it was actually a bad connection to the battery from corrosion build up.  I am glad Stephen knows a thing or two about cars.

 Vance had a kindergarten program today.  The had an under the ocean theme.  He had a little part he did with a couple of other kids and sang a couple of songs.  I can't believe he is almost done with kindergarten.  Time flies so quickly.  He has done well and learned a lot.  It was fun to watch him in a program.

Glen's home!

The first picture I have is bad.  I wanted to take a picture of my Mother's Day gift that came in the mail.  I knew it wasn't a good picture, but I didn't realize how bad it was until I pulled it up on the computer.  Oops.  Anyway, I got these rings each one is the birthstone for each of my kids.  Love it!

 Porter absolutely loves this Kermit the Frog shirt.  He wants to wear it everyday even when it is dirty.  He looks pretty cute in it, doesn't he?

 Grandma and Grandpa Jeppson are moving around the block to a different house and when we were up there Friday evening Grandma told Vance she'd give him a penny for each stick he picked up out of the backyard.  He picked up a whole bunch and then he and Grandma counted them.  He made $2.  Tanner got the same offer, but he wasn't tempted in the slightest.

 We spent a good chunk of last week cleaning out and decluttering our garage.  I did get this shoe holder for our closet that is just inside our living room.  We like to keep some shoes in there so we can grab them and go easily, but I they just end up a mess on the floor.  It's been working out well.  I've trained all three boys to put their shoes in the pocket when they take them off.  The only downside is that Stephen's big shoes don't fit too well.

 On Sunday we had regional conference at the Conference Center.  Vance was so pumped to go.  We got to listen to President Uchtdorf and Elder Holland.  It was real good.  My children were not Saints, but they did a good job at being reverent.

 The most exciting thing is that my brother Glen got off his mission on Monday.  Woo-hoo!  He had a 3 hour layover just 30 minutes from Holly and I so of course we went to the airport and hung out with him for a bit. It was great to see him.  Looking forward to seeing him some more when we visit my parents next month.  See how he towers over me?  How did this happen?  I was 8 when he was born.  Oh... I am getting old... He is still the same Glen that we all know and love.  :)

 Porter was enjoying this shape sorter today.  My mom bought this for one of my older boys and I think it will last forever....  I have had a cold and after two days of excitement this is as exciting as life got today....

Getting close to summer break

Porter just loves wearing his sunglasses.  

 The weather has been pretty nice for playing outside so we have tried to take advantage of it.  Sure missing the yard we had before we moved.  It wasn't anything special, but it was a place to run around and play.

 Vance had the craziest hair when he got up this particular morning.  I made him gel it so it looked like we had gone for the messy look on purpose.

 We went to a "Baby Animals" day and enjoyed looking at all the different animals.  They got to touch and pet lots of different farm animals.  Vance even plucked up the courage to hold a chick for a few seconds.  Here they are petting a rabbit.

 Saturdays are long since Stephen works a ten hour shift during the day and my kids are awake throughout that time so I try to break it up by walking to the park and library.  Vance is holding our bag of books to return to the library.

 Sunday was Mother's Day.  Vance made me a little card at school and wished me a happy mother's day.  I got to talk to my entire family for a bit when Glen called home.  He'll be home from his mission in less than a week now!  I wanted a nice picture of the boys and I, but it wasn't really working out however, I thought this one of them about to kiss me was sweet.  I love my own Mom, too by the way.

 We went to Grandma Jeppson's house to help her pack and move.  The boys chilled for a bit.  I don't think I helped much, just tried to make sure the boys stayed out of the way.

 Vance and his teacher.  We have loved his teacher and hope he gets a good teacher again in first grade!

Spring Cleaning

We have lived in our place seven months now and it has been feeling like declutter time so that's what I have been working on lately.  I want to declutter and organized as much as I can this month so that when Vance is out of school we can enjoy it.  (That's the hope.)  Anyway, thought I'd update with some pictures.

Three men in the tub.

 Porter was playing with Skylanders while I was trying to clean the closet he was  playing in.

 Saturday afternoon the boys and I walked to the park and library.  They had a great time at both places.

 Tanner and Vance playing with Transformers before church.

 Tanner and Vance love their Legend of Zelda shirts so I made them show them off today.  Porter and I are the only ones missing Zelda shirts...

29 and counting

Stephen's done a lot of cool versions of this stuff.  I think it's called Snapology.  I am probably going to be in trouble for not remembering for sure...  He has made enough of them I should remember what they are called.

 Vance got to eat school lunch last Thursday in preparation for next year when he will do that everyday.  They invited parents and siblings to come to so we all went, although Stephen and I opted out of eating the school lunch.

 On Friday I turned 29.  Yikes!  Anyway, Stephen surprised me with this beautiful Jim Shore Snow White piece.  Love it.  I wasn't expecting anything and was pleasantly surprised to receive that and some other wonderful gifts so thanks to everyone who gave me a gift and/or wished me well.  I appreciate it.

 Tanner and Vance pulled out the ABC activities that I have that we haven't touched for a while since they both know the alphabet real well.  Tanner was having fun with this lacing card for the lower case letter "A".

 Porter was so tired before church.  Can you tell?  Thankfully he fell asleep while they were passing the Sacrament and he stayed asleep until nearly the third hour.  Good thing we weren't in nursery that week and that all our meetings ended up being in the chapel.

 Vance is taking on many of the same interests as his dad.  Video games, transformers, and as you will see in the next two pictures he has started to enjoy origami and legos as well.  He convinced his dad how to teach him this frog.  It's pretty complex for a six year old.  I think Stephen will stick to easier things in the near future, but he did a good job.

 Vance is getting pretty good about following directions for building legos though.  This is a cute robot.

 It's Aunt Kimberly's birthday today (Stephen's sister).  We decided we needed to have lunch with her to help celebrate so we met up with her on her lunch break and enjoyed good food and good company.  Porter is showing off what Stephen made for Kimberly.