The Mind of a Child

I love the little glimpses into the mind of a child. This is one little glimpse into Maxwell's seven year old brain. Keep in mind that Maxwell is totally into spiders and insects lately after having to do a report and diarama at the end of the school year. (He did his on tarantulas.) Capri has had a really runny nose and congestion for quite a while now. I am finally trying to get to the bottom of it and Max has heard me talking about it with Steve. A few nights ago, while I was laying by him in bed, he said, "Mom, I know Capri is really sick and I think it might be because of the deer tick."

Bowling Anyone?

Maxwell wanted to have a bowling party for his 7th Birthday and boy am I glad. No little boy messes at my house - we left it all at Meridian Lanes...sorry! The pre-party activity was sitting around the computer watching tarantula videos, which Maxwell is totally obsessed with lately. Max says quite often, "I have a challenge question for you. Who would win between a scorpion (or centipede, or mouse, and the list keeps going) and a tarantula?" I never know the answer, so I throw out a guess, and he always knows the answer thanks to videos on NationalGeographic.com! He decided to share some of these videos with his friends before heading off to the bowling alley.


Winner for favorite bowling form goes to cousin Spencer, hands down...I mean up!

I love this series of action shots of Maxwell bowling. Not too shabby for a 7 year old. He comes by it naturally - his Mom won the tournament in her bowling class at BYU, and his Dad was a member of the high school bowling club.

I know it was a bowling party but I really wanted to make a basketball cake! And isn't it great? Obviously little boys don't care about party themes! I think the party was a huge success and I have decided that parties held at other destinations are for sure the way to go.

Happy Birthday Maxwell. You are one of my favorite people in the whole wide world, and obviously I'm biased, but seriously, even if I weren't your Mom I would be jealous of whoever was your Mom!

Random Capri Cuteness!

Everyone who is the third child or beyond in the family line-up complains about not having enough pictures taken of them while they are a baby, especially without other siblings poking their heads in. I don't ever want Capri to feel that way, so here is proof that I am a good mother, at least in one category! I even had to crop a few bodies out of the background to get my little buttercup all by herself, with the exception of Daddy, who was holding her, so cropping was out of the question (and we wouldn't want to cut out that handsome man anyways)!

Opposite Day

Okay it really wasn't opposite day, at least not intentionally. Maxwell came home from school one day a few weeks ago and rushed right to the bathroom like he always does. It has become a ritual. I think he holds it all day. He came out of the bathroom laughing and showed me that he had been wearing his pants backwards all day. That's my boy!

Single Ladies Salon

Every year I tell myself that I will do a smaller birthday party for my kids next year, but as their birthday approaches it is so hard to scale back my party planning. I just love it way too much! And I think I've passed the party loving trait onto my children because they too love a party...especially one in honor of them!

This year for Sophie's 4th birthday party I decided on a salon theme. We started it off with an e-mail invitation that linked people to an up close and personal invitation from Sophie. See for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLnA0siXfeg . I think everyone invited was really looking forward to a dance lesson from Sophie!

For the party we created the Single Ladies Salon. Luckily I have such willing family and friends, because I needed a lot of manpower to pull this one off. There were four salon stations. Toenail painting was done by Steve (the lone man in the house, other than Maxwell, who was playing his x-box most of the time) and my sister Hilary.

The little bit of make-up station was manned by my youngest sister, Cassi, who is such a sport. She had graduated the previous evening and was up all night at the school graduation party. She woke up just in time to make it to Sophie's party. What a great sister.

Hairdos were done by my fabulous Mom and two of the sweetest teenagers you'll ever meet, Lauren and Elise. And man can they do hair!

The final station was the flip-flop making table with Grandma Pat. Of course she would be at the kid craft table!


They glued silk flowers and rhinestones onto flip-flops. They turned out really adorable, but the flowers kept coming unglued. I had to e-mail out a recall on them, except that I really didn't want them back! I did inform all the moms that the flowers could be sewn onto the flip-flop, and that a thimble (which I didn't have) would really be helpful.

All the girls looked so stinkin' adorable. And after cake and presents the flip-flops were lost and they headed out back to jump on the trampoline, draw with sidewalk chalk and blow bubbles. Basically they undid everything they had just had done at the salon! I love it!

Puzzle Prodigy

Sophie has a gift...she is a puzzle whiz. Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, but she is really good at them for just a little tyke. About 6 months ago I bought her a couple of 63 piece princess puzzles at the dollar store, and she had them figured out in no time. So for Easter she got a 100 piece puzzle - I think the Easter Bunny wanted her to be challenged! Same result, although it did take her a bit longer because of distractions (church and forced Sunday nap). She asks me to come help her, but then when I put two pieces together she tells me to stop. Such conflicting requests! She just got a new puzzle for her birthday, and as I was sitting on the living room couch this past Sunday, waiting for my ride to a church meeting, it was all that I could do to not start puzzling away. I must admit that I pieced a couple together, but mostly refrained because I knew she would ask who did it!