Bridger Story Telling Festival

So Bridger really wanted to participate in the Storytelling Festival.  I was a little overwhelmed with selling our house so I didn't push Bridger to participate.  Bridger came home from school one day and said that he found the perfect book during library to use for the festival.  He chose the book "How to Train a Train."  Little by little Bridger memorized the whole book!!!  It's a darling story.  He had to perform in front of his class during their library time.  Tanner and I came to watch him.  Mrs. Macalister chose Bridger to advance to the judges.  Grandma, Grandpa and Mares came down to watch Bridger.  He took this very seriously because he wanted to wear his black suit.  He did such a great job!!!  There were two little girls sitting on the front row that were brats because they kept talking during his story.  But Bridger just focused on his story and ignored them and did a great job!!!  I wanted to pop them on their heads.

Unfortunately Bridger wasn't selected to advance to the district level.  But I still thought he was amazing for making it this far and for memorizing a whole book!!!!  He his an incredible memory.  I love how determined Bridger is!  Great job Bridger!!!

Chase's Battle of the Bands

In one of Chase's rotation classes, they were learning about musical instruments. At the end of the unit, the teacher held a "Battle of the Bands" competition.  It was a lip-sync competition but the kids had to use (pretend) instruments that they learned about.  Chase brought our little piano that he's had since he was two and then a Wii Rock Band guitar and drum set.  Chase's group consisted of Joe T (guitar), Carson C., Brenden B (drums) and Chase (piano).  Carson really wanted to be the lead "singer" which was fine because the other boys don't like being in the spot light.  They performed the song "Centuries" by Fall Out Boy.  They took this assignment very seriously because they practiced several times during the week to prepare for their big performance.  They wanted to wear matching black suits with white ties.  I had to work the day of the performance but the moms sent me the video. They rocked it!!!  I was busting up as I watched the video.  They won "Best Crowd Participation."  

What a fun bunch of boys!!!!!

Wacky Wednesday

For Red Ribbon Week, one of the days was "Wacky Wednesday."  Bridger has been so excited for this day because he knew exactly what he wanted to dress up as.....a nerd.  He's been practicing doing his hair in a fohawk after the shower and that's how he wanted to wear it to school.  The head band and glasses were his finishing touches.  He talks in this silly voice when he's a nerd.  He cracks me up!!  You'll notice that there are no pictures of Chase for Wacky Wednesday because he didn't want to do anything wacky.

Chase's Basketball Season

Chase has had a fabulous basketball season.  He's on the same team that he was on last year with a couple of different players.  Coach C. and Coach T coached them again.  We've loved seeing the improvement in Chase.  He plays point guard for the team and does a great job with that position!!!  I think they lost only two games during the season.  They made it to the finals in the playoffs but played Evan and Erin's team and had a devastating lost.  Chase played so hard but they couldn't shut down the other team's defense.  Afterwards, Carrie L (the coach) came specifically up to Chase and told him he was the best player on the team.  She said that he was the only player that was able to shut down their team.  That was a huge compliment to Chase.  He is such a fighter and works so hard.  Right now he eats, drinks and sleeps basketball.  During the half time break, Bridger would rush down to the basket and practice his three point shots.  There was one time that he kept trying and finally made it and the whole crowd cheered for him.  Then he made the next three point shot.  It was an awesome moment for him!

Left:  Sam B, Easton, Joe, Carson, Mitchel, Brendon, Chase and Jamison

Coach T, Mitchel, Sam B, Easton, Joe, Carson, Jamison, Chase, Brendon, and Coach C.

Chase practices twice a week and a game once a week.  They've worked really hard this season.

Bridger has been obsessed with three point shots.  I captured one of the moments when he made a three point shot and his arms threw up in celebration.

Here are a few pictures of Chase playing basketball.

Tanner was a little challenging during the games.  He's getting so busy.  He didn't like sitting in a seat watching the game.  But he would stay pretty happy if we would let him play with a ball or crawl all over the floor. Bridger was a big help entertaining Tanner.

Cousin Time

Mylissa and Rob finally went on a vacation together.  They went on a Caribbean cruise with some friends.  We were supposed to take their kids the first weekend but their kids got really sick (RSV).  So sweet Marilyn kept the kids and took care of them.  (Mom and Dad were still on their trip.)  When Mom and Dad came home they got really sick too so Marilyn saved the week and took care of them.  Luckily by the second weekend, the kids were better so they came down and stayed the weekend with us.  Saturday I took the kids to the movie. Shan and Rob stayed home to work on their basement. Matt stayed home with Tanner because he would have been a disaster during the movie.  We went to see the movie "Padington."  It was a really cute movie.   Towards the end of the movie, it had a scary scene.  Caleb was sitting next to me and I looked over and he was crying.  He was worried Padington was going to die.  I quickly reassured him and had him sit on my lap.  Luckily the scary scene didn't last long and the movie ended happy.  Everyone laughed a lot and had a good time.

The kids were playing in the basement when Bridger came up and told me he was a Jedi.  Then he said "Mom, take a picture of me!"  I love the robe and the two light sabers.  The kids have been looking forward to this sleepover.  So we put all the kids in the front room, even Caleb.  It was a late night but eventually everyone went to sleep.  Bridger and Caleb have developed a very sweet friendship.  Caleb wants to do everything Bridger does.  Bridger likes having a buddy to play super heroes with.

Sunday morning, the kids played a bunch of games together.  Twister was their favorite game to play.

Aliyah even slept over.  But Shan came and got her before their church at 10:00.  Shan was very impressed that I curled her hair and made her look very cute for church.  I was very impressed that we made it to church.  All the partying caught up to Caleb and he crashed during sacrament meeting and feel asleep for most of it.  We skipped out after sacrament meeting and headed home.  Mylissa came down for dinner and picked up her kids.  They've had such a fun time playing together. 

Tanner Loves His Baths

Tanner is 9.5 months old.  I just can't get enough pictures of Tanner in the bathtub.  I captured this picture of Tanner sticking his tongue out.  I love his expression!!!  He has a little smirk on his face.  Whenever Tanner is in the bath, Sophie has to come and check on him.  Tanner loves to play with his bath toys.  He lays on his belly and moves all over the tub.  He loves to splash around!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

For Valentine's day the boys got new super heroes for Disney Infinity.  Chase got Nick Fury and Bridger got the Green Arrow.  Chase made his Valentine's box at school but Bridger had to make one at home.  After looking online, I came up with a few ideas for Bridger.  I showed him the ideas and he chose the monster truck one.  Luckily that was a very easy one.  Bridger did all the painting and then we made the hills.  It was a little tricky sticking the trucks on but we made it work with some hot glue.  His box turned out awesome.  Bridger told me that he wants to keep his box forever!!!

I found this Valentine's card and had to give it to Matt.  The girl is "artsy" and the guy is "fartsy".  On the inside it said "we go together perfectly"  He laughed pretty hard.  The boys thought it was so funny!!!!

Tanner is 9 Months Old!

Tanner is 9 months old.  He is a very busy baby.  He rolls and does the army crawl to get to his destination.  His army crawl is pretty funny.  He keeps his left arm bent and pulls his body with that arm while his right arm reaches forward.  He'll get up on his hands and knees but goes back to his belly when he tries to move. 

 He loves eating Cheerios, and baby puffs.  He's getting better at picking them up and putting them in his mouth.  He doesn't love his vegetables but he still eats them, most of the time.  He loves all fruit!!!  We're still eating mostly baby food.  The doctor said to add more "table food" to his diet so we can eventually wean him off baby food.

He doesn't cry anymore when the bottle is all gone.  He's really good to go down for a nap.  If he's really tired, he'll fall asleep in my arms.  But if he doesn't do that, then I put him in his crib after his bottle and a story and then he plays in his crib for a few minutes and then eventually falls asleep.  When he wakes up, he plays with his stuffed animals in the crib.  He has Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Goofey, yellow duck and the fisher price puppy that sings.  He's figured out how to turn on the music. 

  He is so happy when he wakes up in the morning or from a nap.  When I get him out of the crib, I'll say "where's Sophie?"  When he sees Sophie, he starts to laugh, or if Matt is home and is in bed, he starts to laugh when he sees him.  It's so cute.  He loves his blanket.  When I take him out of his crib, he tries to hold onto the blanket and take it with him.  He still likes to put the blanket over his head when he's sleeping!!!  It makes us so nervous!  We try to pull it down, but when we go back in it's over his head.

By the end of our short photo session, Tanner was melting down.  Luckily the boys came home from school and tried to make Tanner happy.  It's so sweet to see how much Chase and Bridger love Tanner.  They love to spend time with him.  They still fight over who gets to hold him, and kiss him.  They're great big brothers!!!

Tanner goes all over in his zoomer (walker).  He's quite fast in it.  His little legs remind me of the Flinestones.  We've been spending a lot of time outside because the weather has been so nice.  Tanner gets excited when he sees Lizzy, our cat.  I love the picture of Tanner on the grass.  He doesn't like the feel of grass. 

Tanner's a Picky Eater

I was feeding Tanner some peas and he made the funniest face.  He scrunched up his noise and closed his eyes.  There was no opening his mouth!  I was laughing so hard!  He did not want to eat peas!!

Tanner can be such a picky eater but then other times he just loves food.  He loves to eat his puffs and cheerios.  We're still doing mostly baby food.  He's really good to eat his fruit but he's really picky with his vegetables.  Sometimes it takes a lot of encouragement and he has to be really hungry!