Zachary is 3!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACHY!!

(Katie found this shirt for him. It is PERFECT! He loves to be a hero "to the rescue!" He's flexing for you all by the way...)

The day after Easter, Zach turned 3! I have a 3 year old! Now I can say I have 3, 3 and under. Sounding a little more reasonable, right? Better than 3, 2 and under! AH!!! I think it is crazier now for some reason...ANYWAY. Poor Zachy had a boring birthday. It was Justin's first day off for his week break he had, but I was SO SICK and Zach was still a little sick I think too. He had thrown up in the car the day before. Yuck. Anyway, it was just another day, until finally in the afternoon I started feeling better and had a bit more energy to actually move. We got pizza, 3 balloons (which he thinks are THE BEST) and then his friend Avery came over for an egg hunt and cake. Sorry about your lame birthday buddy! Good thing you don't really know or care! We love you SO MUCH and think you are fun and hilarious!

What 3 year old look like all caught up in balloons.
UNDERWEAR! HALLELUJAH!!!!

Nicole (Avery and Anna's mom) with a lapful of my girls. She is the best.



The egg par-tay. Zach and Avery are a month apart and so are Anna and the girls. Hopefully Troy and Nicole are waiting a while for the next one...we aren't ready yet!


Cute little Avery and Zachy. Best buds.
Kids love egg hunts. I think I'll do them more than once a year! They had a great time finding them and then hiding them again for each other...as long as they each got the same amount afterward. Yikes.

Found one!

Kara enjoying the view

CAKE TIME!!!!

This is how Zach shows us how old he is. Easier? I guess... Zach said he wanted a green circle cake with Marty on top, so that is what he got. BORING, but I was SO glad I had a round cake in the freezer (good thinking mom!) and some pre-made frosting. All I had to do was dye it green. Nice. I felt DISGUSTING that whole day and wanted NOTHING to do with food. Especially sugar. I love to do cakes and make really cute, creative, time consuming ones (like last year's), but I'm learning that he doesn't really care and he was happy with this. More than happy. He was thrilled. Elated. Marty was on his cake! I guess the "grass" makes it fancy. I know, I do what I can! :)

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Zach SO happy with his bubble mower! Thanks Bumma and Papa! Too bad it doesn't really mow the lawn! (I guess there isn't much of one anyway!)

"Pop. pop. pop..."

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The next day...I found Zach with his snack...He broke the lock off our refrigerator door last week and now he thinks anything in free game. Working on that. Man these kids keep me on my toes...

Kate's new trick. I looked over and there she was, perched and ready, sitting on a chair at the table. No, she climbs onto the table, up the couch, and into Kara's high chair. Kara got Zach's looks, Kate got his personality/abilities...

Pretty proud of herself.

Gross windblown picture of sicky me and my cute 3 year-old! I LOVE YOU BUDDY! You are HILARIOUS! I love your little questions, phrases, the way you explain things, and the words and ideas you come up with. You are a smart boy with a lot to say and do. Please, can I have some of your energy? Maybe for my birthday... :)

Happy Easter!!!

What a weekend! General Conference, Justin on call, Easter, AND Zach's birthday/March madness finals ALL IN ONE! Wow.

Happy Easter!! Leslie made this hat and is selling this and lots of other crochet patterns on Etsy. Her "brand" is Skip to my Loop. Isn't it cute? Kara loved it. She wanted us to keep putting it on and taking pictures. It was funny.

I like this one because it captures the bunny teeth.

On Good Friday (In Canada you get Good Friday AND Easter Monday off!!) we had Arnold over to decorate eggs and have lunch with us. Zach LOVED decorating eggs, especially blue ones. Then he turned to orange. It was fun stuff.

Here are the beauties.

On Easter morning I was searching for my Easter basket so the bunny could fill it. I couldn't find my childhood easter basket ANYWHERE...and never did. BUT I did find these from my childhood! I wore this pink dress as a baby. A Pioneer Baby I suppose.

Ribbons and lace...oh, how styles change! Does it bring back memories Mom??
And this little yellow dress was mine too. Boy, was Kate being a booger that morning! Here are the best of the few pictures I got. Wow.

Maybe THIS brings back more memories Mom? No. I was an ANGEL baby I'm sure.

We had the sibs over for Conference Morning Breakfast. YUMMY! It was SO good! Thanks Leslie! This is the only pic I got that morning. Zach giving Talia a ride. I was too busy cooking and eating I guess!

Zach with his basket of fun! I think he ate TONS of Candy before we got it from him...

Kara and her uvula.
Cutie.

Kate couldn't decide what she liked better, the shoes or the chocolate...

...Um, chocolate hands down. Here she is porking out.

Tender chocolate sharing pictures. I have a feeling that these sisters will be doing this years down the road...sharing chocolate that is. Girls after my own heart.

Caught ya!

April Fools!!

Happy April Fools Day!

I have great memories of April Fools day. Mom would make theme dinners and we'd wear (clean) paper toilet seat covers as bibs, drink through cotton-filled straws, and have to eat our entire dinner with whatever was in our brown bag by our plate. It could have been a toothpick, or a wire whisk. Bon Appetite! Such fun. Anyway, I did NOTHING last year and thought, I really should do something this year, so I did! Justin wasn't home until late, but I thought I'd play the joke on Zach at dinner anyway. HA!
First, we wore our clothes backwards. NOT comfortable. Only did it through dinner just to say I did.

Then we switched things up and ate dessert first!

Zach was pretty excited to eat his cupcake BEFORE dinner. Little did he now that they were actually mini meat loaves with pink mashed potatoes on top! If you can, watch the video...SUCH A FUNNY REACTION!

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It's 5 minutes, but SO WORTH IT! A must watch! HA!

What I learned: Toddlers don't appreciate jokes having to do with fake cupcakes...

Then we had dinner. Chicken strips with sweet and sour sauce, peas, and lemonade. AKA Chocolate cookies (Tim Tams) dipped in white chocolate and graham cracker crumbs with Caramel sauce, peas (pretty original, eh?), and lemon jello with a straw! Justin guessed it was URINE! What a doctor.

Kate liked it!





After I pulled my jokes, Zach had a few of his own...Real funny Zach.

This was "the best" one. Justin heard water dripping, looked in the bathroom downstairs, and then RAN upstairs. Zach had apparently been dumping water out of the tub. It went onto the floor...(hence the mound of towels Justin quickly threw down)...

... through the heating vent...

... down through the ceiling air vent of the downstairs bathroom...

...And ALL over the floor and toilet. We were catching the water with that big recycle container. It was A MESS! Especially since there wasn't any time between Zach's first trick (the toilet paper) to clean it all up. YUCK. Real funny Zach. You got us. April Fools.

Sharing Ice Cream!

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Potty Training Stubborn Boys 101

So I had about a week and a half until Zach turned 3. I have tried to potty train him before. He has gone potty on the toilet and even pooped on the toilet, but he REFUSED to do it consistently. I am a stubborn person. My son is almost MORE stubborn than me. Yah. That's bad. Anyway, one day it came to me that any time he has done something he is wary at first, doesn't want to do it. Sometimes we make him try he LOVES IT! Like 4 wheeling. He was so scared, but then when he finally got on, he didn't want to get off. So I applied that to potty training. I knew he knew how to potty and he was ready, just needed a little help/force getting there. He was "showing signs," so I swooped him up, stripped him down, and put him on the toilet while he yelled and screamed. Not very fun at all. But I thought, if this works, awesome. 1 down, 2 in diapers to go. If not, he'll recover and he'll love me in a few minutes again anyway. So I just REFUSED to put a diaper back on him. He chased me around the house, wanting a diaper so bad. He even got one out, laid down on the change mat and yelled for me over and over. Finally, he just figured out a way to be able to play. He just opened his diaper and sat on it! SO FUNNY!! So later, I got out his little potty chair, put it in front of the TV, gave him a big cup of juice (which he CHUGS like crazy because he never really gets juice) and turned on a show. Now, the waiting game...like magic, the potty came out! He was SO proud! And so was I. I won! :) He has had a few accidents, but is doing SOOO good and stays dry through naps and even through the night most of the time. We still do a diaper then though, just in case. So through shear compulsion, treats, and a chart, we've done it! Or at least we're on our way.

MAGIC!!!!!

YAYAYAYYYAAAAAY Zach!!! Good job buddy boy!

Who Needs a Dog?!

Zach will sometimes put his plate on the floor and eat like a puppy. I let him do it because he loves it and exploring is good for kids, right? Well, the girlies are sure learning by example. Too quickly. Only they don't have a plate! Eew! But funny. And I wonder why my kids get sick so often... After they get the little food item in their mouth they look up and laugh. I think it's funny when they think they're funny.

This was SO cute to me. Zach worked hard for his ice cream cone by eating ALL of his dinner, which he really didn't want. Anyway, the little beggar came by and he didn't turn her away. In fact, he gave her several licks. It was so sweet! Sharing!