You will have a happy birthday!

We love the Boxcar Children series and one of our favorite lines is from Benny, the youngest Alden in the book. He says "You will have a happy birthday! and Mike says it in the best grumpy voice. Lucky for us, Kimball did have a happy birthday. With a birthday only 8 days before Christmas I am determined to make it a special day aside from the Christmas that's looming. So what does it take to make a two year old happy?Open presents on mom and dads bed at 7:00 a.m. before dad goes to work.
Play with his new little people farm (imagine "moo" "baa" "woof")
Eat candy, wrappers and all (grandma is going to get it)
Play hide and seek with mom and Andrew
Sneak upstairs and eat more and more candy
Take a nap (this makes mom happy too)
Go for ride on the 4-wheeler
Eat more candy (is it gone yet?)
Eat hot dogs and smokies for dinner
Blow out the candles (we've been practicing and he did it with ease)
Too tired and oversugared to eat his Elmo cupcake or ice cream
Eat Elmo cupcake for breakfast the next day
Take a bath in the sink.
Wow! That red food coloring really stains
It was a great day!
Isn't he cute? He's so fun to have in our family!

And it came to pass. . .

The other night I began our scripture reading with "And it came to pass. . . " and an exasperated Andrew blurted out "We've already read that one!" It gave us all a good laugh.
And it came to pass that there was a mother who thought she could sew. She went to Jo-Ann's and picked out this shiny, sequiny material to make some "chainmail" for her little wanna be knight. So she began to sew and within seconds the thread bunched up underneath and she spent an hour picking it out and then retried only to find the same problem. She got mad and yelled at her machine as her sweet husband whispered in the background "It must be user error." As with most things, she was stubborn and determined to get those costumes made. She fixed the thread bunching up problem only to create and thread breaking problem. Apparently those sequins were attached with glue and the needle kept getting clogged with glue and nearly impossible to thread or sew. She pinned, and threaded, and sewed and unsewed first the chainmail and then the pirate cape (for every pirate must have a cape don't you know). For a week the sewing machine lived at the table occupying seat #7 and taunting her with "Ha, ha you don't really know how to sew." But in the end, although far from perfect, the mother came out victorious!
And it came to pass that a detective, a knight, a pirate, and Elmo went out trick or treating. And all was well at the Tonks home.

I can see you

One of my favorite things is when I am able to watch one of my kids without them knowing. I went upstairs to check on Andrew to see if he was getting dressed and I quietly crawled to his room and was able to watch him for 5 minutes. He had three of his favorite things (stuffed animals, books, and lego minifigures) all intertwined in a story about slaying lions. Using straws, he had built a sort of saddle onto his large black dog for his small hippo to ride on. The story was just spilling from his mouth about flying up high and looking into the tall grass to spot the big lion. I just love his imagination and his big adjectives he uses. I know it comes from his great love of reading. He really likes the Magic Tree House books right now and right in the middle of his story he picked up "Shakespeare on a Summer's Night" and silently "read" from it. I only wish I knew what was going through his head.
This week Andrew will turn 5 years old. He is such an amazing, sweet, imaginiative boy to have in our family. I'm so lucky to be his mom!

P.S. Until Santa delivers me a new camera you will be getting pictures from the past since our camera is not functioning.

You're never to old to love your grandma!

My grandma, mom, and I at my wedding!

When I was younger I got to spend a week at my grandparents all by myself during the summer. I loved every minute of it. I would cry so hard when it was time to go home (we lived 3 hours away). Later when we moved across the highway from my grandparents, I would climb the fence across the highway over to her house. She taught me all about cooking. Her passion has always been that food can fix almost any problem. My grandma has always made me feel so happy, has always believed in me, and has been my listening ear.
My grandparents drove 4 boys and I 14 hours from Idaho to Washington this summer. Then they stayed with us for 10 days, watched the boys while I went to Girl's camp for a few days, mowed down our tall weeds, hauled wood from the forest, and cooked a lot of yummy food. I just loved having them in our home. I know how blessed I am to have such a wonderful relationship with my grandma, and to have grandparents that are still healthy and active (can you believe my grandpa can still waterski at age 82?)
reading a book to Kimball
This is not a very flattering picture, but when we were in Idaho this summer we got my grandma to go camping! This was amazing because she is not a camper, but I'm so happy my grandpa got her to come camping. Saying goodbye!

Caleb's Birthday Week

I think Caleb has had a lot of fun with school getting out, vacation with mooma and papa, and then his birthday, so we will highlight this last week.
He had Gummy Bear Playday at school with different activities such as bowling, baseball, big parachutes, and Roller Racers. Andrew, Kimball, and I got to come join in the fun and after 20 activities they get a bag of gummy bears.



Mooma and Papa came to vacation at Birch Bay about 2 hours from our house and we got to go stay with them for 3 nights. We had fun at the swimming pool, the beach, and this great wooden playground set up like a Dutch Village. One of the best things was Saturday morning when we woke up and went to the beach we found an older guy, Stan, working on a sand creation. We found out there was a sand castle competition that morning and Stan invited us to help him create his. He wanted to make this large star fish surrounded by a castle and moat. In the end we added a drawbridge too and added Tonks in rocks to the front. I really got into it also and we spent 3 hours working on it. It was fun.

The finished sand castle!


Caleb and Nick standing next to the reticulated python.

Tuesday, June 23rd, Caleb turned 8 years old. He wanted to go to the reptile zoo with a friend for his party so we invited his friend Nick and went to visit the snakes. It's kind of scary knowing only a thin piece of glass separates you from these guys, but all of the poisonous ones have been devenomized. I think we were all in awe of this place. It's so fun to see something you rarely get to see.
This Sumatran Cobra was super angry and Gabe enjoyed making him more mad and watching the cobra strike at him and hold his hood up. I think Gabe was a little nervous to turn his back on the cobra.
Kimball has no fear and wanted to touch everything he could. Some of the snakes, like this Albino Cobra, were interested in him also.

This is a two-headed red slider turtle which brought up lots of questions about bodily functions with two heads trying to control that body.
Later that night Caleb got to attend his first Cub Scout Pack Meeting as a scout and not just a brother. There is nothing more fun than a new Cub Scout. They are so excited, so eager to work hard and earn their badges. Caleb is super excited to finally be in scouts after watching Gabe for two years. We know we are super blessed to have our giggly Caleb who just loves life. Happy Birthday Caleb!

Mike's Birthday Present!

After 11 years we are finally buying a house along with lots of space for boys to run, play and reek havoc.

Pictures

Kimball is finally walking all over the place. He is getting speedy too and he thinks he's so cool!
Painting with pudding on the walls! What a wonderful yummy mess!


3-2-1- blast off

We got the rocket to go 300 feet in the air. I didn't get any good pictures of it in the air, so use your imagination!


A teeter totter built for 4!

Rain and Shine

Not much to say! The boys had Spring Break last week and we had a lot of fun in spite of the down pour of rain. Park trips, museum visits, bike rides, tree houses built, rockets launched and a new hobby called letterboxing. People hide these plastic boxes in discreet locations and leave clues for them on the internet. How cool is that to have a treasure hunt that even mom does not know about. We found one by accident at a park and the web site was listed so we visited it to find others in our area. The sun came out finally Saturday and lasted through my birthday yesterday. Now that is the best birthday present ever. Having the boys home made me realize how much fun it is to have them all home. Summer is right around the corner:)

Gabe

Today I told myself I would not cry for what was, but be happy for the 10 year old boy Gabe is. Birthdays of my children tend to be highly emotional days for me because it brings back a flood of memories of their birth, them as a baby, and the years since then. Today Gabe turns 10 and I am so excited to be his mom. Being the oldest in a family puts a lot of responsibility on you (I know from firsthand experience) and he pulls through for me so often. He is a wonderful big brother! Here he is reading the scriptures with Caleb and "likening" them to his life. It was a hectic Sunday morning and I asked them to find something quiet to do in the half hour before we left for church.
On Friday we had a super fun birthday party with about 9 boys all together. They played Frisbee Golf and then had to solve the Mystery by following the clues to find out who stole the pizza. I had a blast (and only a little stress) making the clues, trying to make them tricky enough that they would have to think about them and yet easy enough that they could solve them. In the end, Mike was the thief and he had all the pizza and the Pizza Cake that I had a great time making. Many of my ideas came from here.
My mother-in-law pointed out that over half of Gabe's time with me is passed now. In 10 more years I hope he will be on his mission. Can you believe that?

Here is a great video of one of the upcoming "supermen" in my life! Happy Birthday Gabe!

Who wants to play?

Okay, my friend Becky is extremely talented in many ways so I really want to WIN a gift from her. The catch is that I have to offer the same to all my loyal viewers (all 5 of you). So here's the game!

The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!2- What I create will be just for you.3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)4- You have no clue what it's going to be.It may be a story. It may be poetry, shoes, bags, or a little invention of my own! I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. Believe me... it may blow your mind!The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!Sounds like fun, right? So, let's play

Just fun. . .

I wanted to share some pictures from some fun we've had in our lives lately. We are so busy during the week that when we step away from that for a while and do something different it is like a breath of fresh air. It seems to draw our family closer together and remind us of what's important. I needed to get out of town so since we were all home on Monday we drove north to Bellingham. We went swimming, trying to prepare Caleb for his baptism because he is scared he will drown. He went all the way under two times which was a huge improvement! There is hope he will go through with his baptism in July.
We also went to the marina and saw thousands of boats docked in the water.There was a little hands on aquarium where we touched starfish, sea urchins, anemones, and saw flounder. Kimball had no fear. His little hands just wanted to touch everything.
Gabe and Caleb's basketball season is coming to a close. They have both improved so much and really enjoy their teams and coaches.

The Wrestling Match

Also known as Sacrament Meeting or the two hour long wrestling match of Stake Conference. I was blessed with the opportunity to speak at Stake Conference last Sunday and the speakers' families get front row soft cushy seats. I was even sitting with my family instead of up on the stand but two hours is a long time for anyone to sit. I can't get the image out of my mind when I looked over at Mike (after I had spoke and no longer was shaking with fear) and Andrew was draped upside down over one of dad's knees, Caleb was laying on the bench with his head in dad's lap, and Kimball was jumping up and down on the other leg showing off for the Proffit family (who always has quiet, perfect children of course). Mike was trying to "wrestle" them all into a calmer position and had a look on his face like "Why are we even here?"
Well I will tell you why we were there. I gave a talk in our ward in November and our 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency, Pres. Proffit, who is a member of our ward, happened to be there. I got a call from our Stake Executive Secretary asking me to speak and that it should be no problem since I'd gave a similar talk recently in my ward. Last week Pres. Proffit assured me it was not punishment but more of a compliment for doing a good job. Ha-ha! Since I truly believe our leaders are inspired, I have decided Chelsea really needs to work on some things. Both of my talks focused on preparing our families for gospel ordinances and it has opened my eyes up to the overwhelming job it is to help our children understand. The most important thing I need to do is create a home where everyone feels accepted, loved and the Holy Ghost. Most days this is harder than it seems. Anyway, I could post my talk but I'm sure you have more important things to do than read the words of Chelsea, like go build a farm with Lincoln logs which is what I'm off to do now!