Weekly Update 6-13-2012

Loading the truck for the storage unit

 On our way to see the Solar Eclipse in Cedar City

 This was the first time we saw the moon covering the son that day. hehe

 Looking through our protective glasses

 The Birthday Boy!

 Nate's Biography Report

 Michael's Birthday party

 Look at all the extra cake!

 Connor, the life of the party!

 The after party party. Before going to dinner at Red Robin

 Pack meeting and Arrow of Light

 Jake found his nose!

 Work, work, work...

 Last day of Miss Wendy's Preschool

Tradition: Eating caramel apples after the last day of school

 Nate couldn't just have a plain old tissue box, so he made it a statement piece!

 Jake took the F in FAMILY!

 Daniel and Company

 Backyard dinner

 I'm a big boy now!

I think I have about a month to catch up on. I hope I do it justice!

Connor – We had a party for Michael’s Birthday in the Russell’s backyard. I had rented a bounce house and planned the party for 2 hours. About 45 minutes in, the kids started to get bored. We did presents and cake and then, I had nothing else planned. I figured a bounce house would be enough! Luckily Connor came and saved the day. He was great with the kids and let them chase him around and climb all over him. He really saved the day! Connor has been going through some “Growing pains”. He has been learning a lot of valuable lessons that have involved more people than we would like. He was not happy at all when he found out that his dad would be his new scout leader. He has been sneaking food from the storage room and eating it in his room, several times. He was even sneaking into his brothers’ room to get on the itouch that he made his brother give him $120 for. He had been pretty pleasant with John and I over all, but the things he was putting in his journal were so negative and then he was sending them to his grandparent on their mission, worrying them! Connor hadn’t realize what he was doing and felt really bad for causing so much trouble. He apologized and told me that I really wasn’t that bad. Haha   The last day of school came and went. Connor got a job mowing lawns to earn money for High Adventure Camp. Last Friday he attended a Youth temple day and helped a friend with his Eagle project on Saturday. Sunday he was asked to be Abednego in a little primary program and bare his testimony about the word of Wisdom. Connor is an amazing kid and this teenager stuff is new for all of us.

Nathan – Nathan did such a wonderful job on his Biography report on Jim Henson. On his own he did his poster, asked the library if he could borrow puppets, and gathered up all the things he needed for the presentation. Nathan even kept to the schedule and only had one late night of dad yelling at him. Haha This month Nathan received his Arrow of Light award and the religious knot. He moved on from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts and was able to be welcomed into the pack by his older brother. It was really cool. Those two have really formed a great relationship and I love to see them enjoy each other’s company. Connor and Nathan had a rough week a few weeks ago. We had put a new password on the ipod so that Connor couldn’t sneak in and use it without asking. We told Nate not to let Connor know what it was, but with Connor’s persuasion and Nathan’s desire to please, that only lasted a day. It ended with John taking the Ipod away indefinitely and Connor returning half the money to Nate and half to us. It was an expensive lesson to learn and I feel bad for both of them.

Matthew – Matt had his final soccer game and had been doing really well since John bribed him with a quarter every time he would kick the ball. Well, Matt was in the right place at the right time and saved the ball from going into the goal. Unfortunately, it was his face that stopped the ball! It hit so hard and I felt really bad, but couldn’t help but laugh too. He was a great sport and got back into the game. Not surprisingly, this will be his first and last year playing soccer. Matthew had his Year in review program at school where they sang songs about all the things they learned in 2^nd grade. It was a cute program and I am glad I was able to see it.

Michael – Michael celebrated his 4^th Birthday and had his first Birthday party May 21st. We spent the morning running errands and Michael wore a shirt that said “Birthday boy”. He loved when someone would notice and would announce to those that didn’t that it was his Birthday. It was pretty funny. Michael’s party was crazy! I sent Karen a text asking her how good of friends we were. She replied, “Pretty good, but now I am nervous!” I asked if I could “borrow” her yard for Michaels’ party and she graciously agreed. We invited several little boys and a few girls from church and preschool. I rented a bounce house and had watermelon and carrots to snack on and did cake and ice cream. Michael got to pick out everything from the “cars” invitation, the monster truck bounce house and dinosaur cake. It was crazy and fun and I will never do that again! I couldn’t have done it without the help of John and Wendy (my friend and Michael’s preschool teacher). The next day I brought treats to Michael’s school and he was spotlighted in front of his friends. One of his friends that he keeps talking about at school is laughing kid. His name is Jaden, but Michael has been calling him laughing kid for the whole year. I guess Jaden tried to take one of his transformers that Michael brought for show and tell and Jaden laughed about it. Jaden came to his party and even after being told over and over that “his name is Jaden”, Michael was calling him laughing kid at school the next day.

Jacob – Well, Jakey found his nose. One day I looked over at him and he was twisting his finger back and forth in his nose. He thought he was SO funny! We have a long running joke in our family and it involves the letters “F A M I L Y” that I have as a decoration in the house. The first time was when Connor knocked over one of the letters and said, “I just knocked over the “F” in FAMILY! This month Jake took one of the letters and wouldn’t you know, Jacob took the “f” in family!  Jacob had his 18 month checkup last week.  Here are his stats; Height: 32in 41%, weight: 26.6lbs. 60%, head circ: 49cm 81% (love those big heads) Jakey is getting so big, he is eating better and trying to communicate his needs. The other day John scolded Jake for spilling his milk, so Jake went over to the oven, got the towel and brought it over to the spill and cleaned it up. He loves family pray and will fold his arms and play musical chairs on every ones lap as the prayer is said. 

Jamie – We had a Yard sale a few Saturdays ago and got rid of quite a few things. We had decided to move Michael back upstairs and finally caved in and got a storage unit. I always said that if we ever had to get a storage unit, then we had too much stuff. Problem is, we just have a few keepsakes that we are not willing to part with but have no room for at in this house.  I am also not willing to buy a new house right now, so, we have a storage unit. I have done a little bit of work for John Chapman this last month to make some money for the fun clothes shopping I’ve done and for Father’s day. I started taking Zumba classes at church and have been working on the quilt for my niece Lindsey’s baby. I had the Bone Marrow Biopsy, and have started to finish my Saturday Sampler quilt that has been so much fun to work on this past year.

John – When John found out that the Solar Eclipse would be in Cedar City, he planned a trip down to see it. He found a great park; we packed food and our baseball mitts and Frisbee and made memories that will last a lifetime. We had the Benich family night at Neptune Park in Saratoga Springs. John was given a new calling as the Varsity Scout leader (age 14) and is excited to work with Connor and the other boys his age. They get to go off to a really fun “campout” next week and I am just grateful they will have this opportunity to spend this time together. For Sunday dinner we did a Backyard campfire and the kids roasted hotdogs and we all made s’mores. It was a lot of fun.

I think that about wraps it up.

BTW, If you read this WHOLE thing and are not a grandparent, you ROCK! xoxo