Pinewood Derby

This year was Isaiah's first pinewood derby. He made his car with the assistance of his den leaders, but he really did most of the work by himself. I can't believe how into these things dads can get. There were some really tripped-out cars at the event. Isaiah came in 2nd in his den out of 3 boys. His car placed 2nd to last in the whole cub scouts. It sounds like the den leaders may need to get some manuals or something on how to make cars that go fast! Just kidding. They did a way better job than Nate or I could do. This is our second picture attempt of the night. Isaiah swears that he doesn't know how to smile. He hates getting his picture taken these days. I think he smiled pretty good here! By the way, I told him that I would not be taking any pictures of him unless he smiles.

Here is the creation. He described it to me as being a triangle-shaped car that was colored in many colors. His favorite number is 52, hence the number of the car.

TOAST TO MILES!

This is our sweet boy Miles. We are reminded quite frequently just how amazingly nice he innately is. One such story occurred the other night. The kids wanted to take their report cards to Krispy Kreme to get 6 free donuts each. We all got complimentary donuts because the HOT sign was on and then Isaiah, Grace, and Miles each got six free donuts. Miles went around and shared a donut with everyone. He gave one to mom, dad, and Moses. Then he asked Isaiah and Grace if they wanted one. Isaiah said "sure," and Grace said that she didn't need one because she had her own. When we left Krispy Kreme Miles had no donuts left. Grace left with 4 and Isaiah came home with is full half dozen. We are amazed by his generosity every day. Another one of my favorite stories about Miles happened one day on the way to church. He had collected his tithing, filled out his tithing slip, and put it into an envelope. When we got to church I looked down and noticed that he had drawn a heart on the back of his envelope. I asked him why he did that. He said that he drew the heart so that when the Bishop gave his tithing to Heavenly Father that He would know that he loved him. That was the sweetest thing ever!

Classic Isaiah

I had to take a picture of this today because it cracks me up. Isaiah has been asked to shovel off the trampoline before he can play with his friends. I look outside and this is what I see: He has the canny ability to have people do his work for him. I called him into the house and told him to stop making his friends do his job. He said that they wanted to shovel the trampoline while he played. I told him that he is a great delegator. He wanted to know what that meant. I told him it was a nice way of say that he is a dictator!

Ella at Her Best

I had to post this picture of Ella. This is her first thing in the morning while eating her breakfast. Notice her hair! She looks like a mad scientist. It gets all frizzy while she sleeps. But the twinkle in her eye and the sweet smile make up for her spazzy hair!

Little Angels

Moses, Ella, and mommy met grandma Pack at the Church History Museum for a little outing. They have a little play area for the kids that they enjoyed. Moses loves seeing pictures of the prophet Baby Moses. He thinks that the picture is of himself. That was his favorite part of the museum. He also liked jumping from letter to letter on the rug that has the alphabet on it. Ella must crawled around and charmed everyone with her smile! Here they are dressed up as angels by the nativity scene they have there. Don't let them deceive you!

Ella-Bella's First Birthday!

Has it been one whole year already? It seriously just flew by. The first year of Ella's life is a bit hazy. We just live our crazy lives and sometimes big things happen as we go through the motions. So sad! Ella is such a joy. She has the best cheesy, fake smiles that make everyone laugh. I have to sit in front of the Relief Society for opening exercises every week. Ella keeps the sisters smiling and laughing as she smiles at them while she is sitting on my lap. Her happiness is contagious. She is very mischievous and loves to get into anything that she is NOT supposed to. The best thing about this is she will look at you with this sly smile as she pulls books off of the shelf or has figured out how to get through any obstacle that we try to put in front of the TV so she won't push the buttons. She is quite the problem solver! Her favorite thing at her birthday party were her balloons. She enjoyed pinching them and making a horrible noise!

Ella had no interest in the candle (like her brother Moses did!). She went straight for the good stuff. I think she ate all of the frosting off of her birthday cake, but not the cake!

Here is Ella's face after her attack on her birthday cake. Not too bad! Actually half of the mess ended up on her daddy's lap!

Yep. Here is the cake minus the frosting. She has an attraction to the sugar like all the rest of my children. Here is the pony that mom and dad got for her. It makes horse noises and sings a song. She was scared of it at first because the mouth moves when it talks. It also made a neighing sound that scared her. But she loves this pony now. She rocks on it all by herself and has figured out how to pinch the ears to make her talk.

Ella got 3 push toys for her birthday. Apparently everyone wants her to learn how to walk. She is so close. She is still a little scared. We had a great day at Grandma & Grandpa Clawson's house celebrating her birthday!