Birthdays

Way back in May, Seth turned 7!  He is such a fun, creative, smart, silly boy, and we love him so much.  He is a Lego "master builder" for sure and is always busy making "recipes" and trying "experiments."  Seth has Legos everywhere and by that I mean everywhere.  He can still make a mess faster than anyone I know and has world's loudest speaking voice, and he is awesome!  He loves school, reading, swimming, and playing just about anything with his brothers.  Seth's swimming skills are actually pretty sweet.  He is all over in the deep end diving down, off the diving board, you name it.  He's great!  Love you Seth!

Seth had some friends over for a Lego themed party at our house.

 Yes, that may resemble something with 6 nipples, but it's supposed to be a Lego block!

 

In between the boy's birthdays we had a family party for them both at Wellsville Dam.  I did not take a single picture!  Grandparents and cousins were there and we played a sweet game of kickball.  My dad pulled a hammy but everyone had lots of fun.  They also both enjoyed their birthday doughnut breakfast on their big day.

Two weeks after Seth's is Luke's actual birthday.  I really gave him the shaft as far as pictures go!  He invited as many friends as we had seats to the Aquatic Center.  They had a great time and ate a ton of food!  We came back to the house afterwards for a quick pizza dinner and then it was time to rush off for baseball games.  Because of that I didn't really take pictures and we didn't sing to him at the party!  I'm slacking off, but he did have swimming, presents, friends, pizza, and ice cream so I think he was satisfied.

Luke is a smart, sensitive, clever, helpful, funny, sometimes crazy kid that we love so much.  I can actually type helpful now and mean it.  This summer he has really stepped up a lot and has been a big help to me.  He and Seth still have their moments, but it has been much better.  Luke is still the one that's likely to get things all riled up and get a wrestling match or some other kind of wild play going, so I don't know if he'll ever grow out of that.  He is a lot of fun to be around, and it really does kill me how grown up he seems sometimes.  He loves his family, traditions, and is quite the sentimental kid.  He loves to be outside exploring, playing with friends, playing soccer, swimming, and just hanging out with the fam.  He's kind of a homebody like me.  Love him so much even if I've only got one photo of the big day!

On a funny sidenote that night after baseball we let the kids stay up late because it was Luke's birthday.  There was a Diary of the Wimpy Kid movie on TBS that we let the kids watch.  There is a scene in that show where the brothers are watching a scary movie about a foot that is detached from a body.  It totally freaked Ian out.  Since then (although it's starting to get better) Ian has been petrified of "the foot," and hasn't wanted to go to bed or anywhere in the house alone!!  Bedtime was a nightmare for over a month.  Seriously, "the foot"!

Spring Things

I operate at least two or three months behind on the blog these days but am still trying to keep up the fight.  Spring was crazy busy and lots of fun so here's a quick recap somewhat out of order.

Way back in February Seth was Abe Lincoln in his school play and no I wasn't supposed to dress him up anymore than that.  He sang his little heart out and did great.  In fact, he knows every word to Neil Diamond's coming to America, and I downloaded it for him from itunes!

In March I turned 38...holy snikes!  At least I got to celebrate with the ones I love the most.

In March Jer also quit his job of nearly 10 years and made a big change!  He is working for Cardall's managing all their commercial work in Salt Lake.  I don't see it as his end job, but it was a great way for him to make the break from Kartchner.  He now drives everyday...a lot!

In May I ran the Ogden Marathon.  My training began a bit late and was especially hard to do at first while I was still skiing every Saturday, but I managed the bare minimum of training and did it.  I actually ran at a pace I knew I could keep, finished in 4:09 feeling great, and am satisfied.  Now with that said I know I can run a lot faster with more training so I may have to do another.

In May Ian graduated from Teacher Cassie's preschool.  He loved it so much and was truly sad for it to be over.  Cassie seemed to love him and was always laughing at something or other he said.  Shocking.  I'm worried he had so much fun he is going to be totally sad about the discipline of kindergarten!

Happy Mother's day to me!

In April Leah had her last dance class/recital.  She didn't dance a whole lot, but she sure looked cute.  She loved Miss Katie and did so great going to class and having fun this year!

In May, Luke and Seth had the Mountainside Mile in preparation for the Wellsville Mile.  I didn't realize all grades ran in this until a few days before, so I was a bit concerned.  Luckily the younger kids ran a shorter distance and Seth had lots of fun!

The kid next to Luke is warming up in his own special way.

A few of Luke's new friends!

Spring meant lots of soccer for us.  Let's just say it was hard to get a picture of Ian making contact with the ball.  He loved going and being on a team due to his social butterflyness, but he wasn't too into the game!  Leah was a good sport about going to soccer non stop!

In May Luke ran in the Wellsville Mile.  He is not a super fast runner (mostly mental if you ask me), but he had worked to improve his time and he was really nervous.  He didn't run his fastest ever, but he sprinted to the finish, and I was proud of him!

He had so much fun seeing old Providence friends!

Seth became a goalie this year and loved it! He actually got pretty good and made lots of stops.  He was also unfazed by his missed which is great at this age.

Seth's class also composed an original opera, painted the scenery, and performed in May.  It was so cute!  He belted out a few solos into the mike which cracked me up because he did not practice a second at home!  He was a scientist.

I totally shafted Luke with spring soccer pictures this year.  His team is still a work in progress, but he is getting better all the time and I can truly say that he loves playing soccer now.  It's awesome to watch him really try hard at something and give it his all!