The Birthday Crush

Once again, it is that time of the year. Four birthdays with associated parties (sleepovers this year) and one anniversary (13 years!) all within 3 weeks. Add in dentist appointments and four doctor check-ups for the kids, plus an extra one for Emma to get her shots for kindergarten. I am also in charge of a ward primary activity this month, and it is my turn to call and make visiting teaching appointments. We are planning a baptism for Rebekah, scheduling interviews for Mary to advance to young women's, and I am also in charge of primary sharing times for the entire month. I honestly don't know how it is all going to get done... is it April yet?

On the bright side, our family birthday parties for the boys went really well. Isaiah said his was the best birthday ever. That is high praise from him. Ben loved his birthday as well, and we just learned today that he has made it onto the growth chart at the doctors after being below it for a couple of years. Emma can hardly wait to go the school next week and register for kindergarten. I am loving the spring weather and hope it will last till late June.

Emma

In my last entry I talked about Photo Booth. Here is one of Emma's many videos. What a character child! This video was made the same morning she helped Ben with his, and she kept the same color effect for her video.

Benjamin

Our new computer has an application called Photo Booth. It allows the user to make videos or take pictures on the computer (a screen shows the user what is recording). The kids all LOVE this. They have taken many pictures and made lots of videos. Photo Booth is so easy to use that Emma sets it up and uses it all by herself. She also sets it up for Ben. It has many different features and in the video below, Emma changed the colors. Despite the crazy colors, I love this video!

The basement!

We have finished most of our basement. Only the downstairs bathroom still needs construction. We still have to hang some doors and put up the molding, but it has been so nice to enjoy the rest of it, we have been waiting so long. So here at last, I am posting a few pictures of the new carpet, walls, and paint. The first picture is a view of the toy room from the perspective of the closet under the stairs.

This next picture is the toy room from the other side.

We are going to put up a chalk board for the kids on the wall by the stairs. We have the chalkboard paint and the board, we just need to put the two together and hang it up. I think it will be lots of fun for them, as well as easy clean up for me. The next picture is of our family or TV room. We are still deciding what to do in this room for seating.

The next room is the computer/game room. I don't have pictures of Mary's room yet, she wants her curtains up for the finished look. Hopefully, I will get those sewn up this weekend and will post about it next week.

Although the different lighting makes the carpet look like it might be different colors in different rooms, it is only due to the different lights, I think. The carpet is throughout the entire basement as well as the stairs. It truly feels like a different basement than the one we initially had.

Having a nap

Emma is always falling asleep in the oddest places... here are a few more examples, though they are not a complete showing.

And one last silly picture of the whole bunch...

All I want for Christmas....

Finally! A few posts back, I mentioned Emma being very impatient to loose a tooth. She had one on the top that was almost loose... I never thought to check the teeth on the bottom. On the first of November, she lost her first tooth, and then yesterday her second. She is absolutely thrilled and asked me last night for the phone number of the tooth fairy.

Socks

This is a picture of my great-grandmother Agatha Hilda Fullmer. It hangs on a wall in my bedroom. Benjamin loves this picture. The first time he talked about it to me, it took me a minute to understand that he was talking about the picture, because he said "missing a sock." Now we have regular conversations about the horse that is missing a sock. He finds it very funny.