Happy Birthday Song Lessons

Hunter got invited to a birthday party last week (when he got the invitation, he was so excited that he started shaking!).  We went to the store and picked out a little gift.  Megan decided that she would help him wrap the gift before the party.  Here's their conversation while they were wrapping the gift:

Megan:  "So Hunter, show me how your going to sing the Happy Birthday song."

Hunter:  "Okay,  Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you . . ."  When he was finished she said (with her thumb up in the air in a jerk back motion), "Well, that was pretty good, but you can't sing it that angry, if you sing it that way, their going to kick you out of there!"

49ers

Ian came up all smug looking to Kevin saying "Dad, I bet you don't know how the 49ers got their name?!"  Kevin replied, "Oh yeah, how?"  "It was from the California Gold Rush of  . . . . of 18. . . .  of 18 . . . ., oh, geez, I can't remember, um 18 . . . . ???!!!"  Kevin:  "1849???"  We cracked up about that one for a while.

Dad is amazing

Kevin and I were golfing at Ponderosa Golf course this summer.  The golf course is right underneath the flight path.  We saw a few planes go by, but then we saw a plane with a trail coming out of it.  I thought nothing of it, but Kevin knew immediately.  The pilot had forgotten to put the cap back on after filling up with gas.  The plane was leaking gas and the pilot was completely unaware!  Kevin quickly called the Unicom station at the airport and then notified the pilot.  Needless to say, the pilot and passengers were VERY grateful to Kevin!

Ian
Cub scouts, flag football, 3rd grader at SELS charter school.  Ms. Welch is his teacher.  Volunteered on the first day of school to recite a Shel Silverstein poem "Signals" (that he had memorized) in front of the entire school.

Megan
Dancing 3 classes a week: Ballet III, Tap/Jazz combo and TYDE (Truckee Youth Dance Ensemble).  She is also performing in the Nutcracker Ballet in December where she will be an Arabian Princess and a Candlelight dancer.  2nd grader with Ms. Seaborg as her teacher.

Hunter
Attending preschool at the Truckee Donner Rec Center.

Hailey
Just potty trained!  Yippee!

Hunter's inquisitive little mind

As mentioned in a previous post, Hunter asks lots of questions.  LOTS.  Here is a sampling just from this morning:

Why is syrup sticky?

Why do we need the sun?

Do bats sleep when its night out or when its day out?

If you put a sticker on your tongue, will you swallow it?

Why do you have to drive careful when there are cars everywhere?

Why do you have to brush your teeth?

Why are there monkeys in the world?

If a car crashes into a house, will it be broken down?

Funny stuff

Ian got in the car after school yesterday and told me flat out that he is a "Love Magnet".

We were on a big family bike ride at Sugar Pine State Park.  Ian had been having a great time, but decided he was tired of biking.  He kept telling me that he has tons of lower body strength and that he needs to work on his upper body strength.  After going over this for a few minutes, he could see that I wasn't convinced.  He finally stated, "MOm, if you took an X-Ray of me right now, you'd see the legs of a Sumo Wrestler and the arms of a nerd!"

I pulled the plug after giving Hailey a bath (while she was still in the tub) and she exclaimed, "Mom!  Don't flush me!"

Hailey has a song that she made up and she likes to sing it all the time.  It goes something like this:  "Hmmmm,  hmmmmmm, mmmmmm, I'm so cute.  Hmmmmm, hummmmm, mmmmmm, I'm so cute.  Hmmmmm, mmmm."

Hunter is our most inquisitive child.  He asks LOTS of questions all the time.  For example:

Why do monkeys like bananas?

Why does water wash things off?

If we went through the "washcar" with the windows down, would we have to wear our swimsuits?

Badder

Ian: "that was a badder catch than the last one!!"
Mom: "Worse catch, not "badder" catch."
Ian:  "They REALLY need to make "badder" a word."

kiddo updates

Just a few things we don't want to forget about our children:

Ian
Has a "major medical emergency" at about 9 pm each night (a feeble attempt to stay up late.)
Just finished his basketball season, Kevin was his coach.  His last game of the season, Ian made a last second shot from about 15 feet.  His teammates were jumping up and down, giving him chest bumps.  He felt like a superhero for days afterwards.
Loves Cub Scouts,  has just completed his Wolf.  Last week we went bird watching with a "birder" in our ward and now Ian cannot get enough of it.
Eats fruits and veggies like a maniac and has become a gourmet "grilled cheese" chef.

Hailey (2 years)
Loves to talk, A LOT. Our favorite phrases include "I no like it" when tasting corned beef on St. Patricks Day and "Thank You Doctor!!!" whenever we talk about her heart.
Sings loud in sacrament meeting
Loves baby dolls and the Kidszone Museum
Got a swimsuit from Grandma Marjie and Grandpa Jim for her birthday and immediately started taking off her clothes to put it on.  She stayed in it the rest of the night and sang (as loudly as she could) "Happy Bir-Day to Hai-LEY!!!"
Has mastered the art of "pretend crying".

Megan
Glowing reports from her teacher about her "character". 
Working really hard to memorize Articles of Faith (knows 1, 11, 12 and 13)
Even though she is 7, our activity days leader has invited her to participate, which thrills Meg to no end!
Loves to dance
I know this is shameless, (but this is my blog for my kids to read in years to come, so I can be "shameless") but the best word to describe her is "Vibrant".  Everything about her is vibrant, her smile, her attitude, her mind, even her willingness to make others feel included and happy.  Look out world!
Loves to organize and pretend.  We have lots of "classes" where she is the art teacher, or the music teacher, or the librarian.
She and Ian had a little "altercation" where she was just sobbing that Ian threw a shoe that hit her in the head.  Ian responded by saying "Meg!  You threw a shoe at me, too!"  Meg said through big tears, "Yeah,  but I missed!!!!"

Hunter
That's "ridicLious, Mom!"
When I read him books at night, he always puts both hands behind head relaxing comfortably.
Each night he repeats after me "Hunter's smart, Hunter's handsome, Hunter's brilliant, Hunter's hilarious, Hunter's a great kid!"
Getting ready to start baseball and cannot be more ecstatic.
We always talk about what he is going to be when he grows up.  He always says "A pilot!  Or a pancake, or maybe a pilot.  Or . . . . . maybe a pancake!"
Likes to sing primary sounds really, really loud all day.
Always asks if he can go out to lunch with just him and dad (Kevin often obliges)
Looks exactly like Grandpa Jim when he was a kid.

Summer Fun

 We had a great summer!  Dax and Barrett came and visited us for a whole week.  It was so fun to spend time with them.

 Grandpa and Grandma even came so they could see all their grandchildren at the same time!

The babies went through no less than a hundred squeezable food pouches!

 We spent a lot of time at the lake.  Sand Harbor is our favorite beach

Ian with his 1st grade teacher (who was also his Kindergarten teacher), Mrs. Krengel.

Megan with her Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Holguin.

Our favorite picture of the year!  Hailey giving us the "loser" sign. 

Riding the Carousel at Lagoon in Utah

Kevin and Amanda biked around Donner Lake.  It was a perfect date!

Megan went to dance camp.  She loved every second of it.

We went to Lagoon with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Marjie

We hung out with our favorite buddies, The Clarks, while we were in Utah.

Camping at Sardine Lake and Gold Lakes

 This summer we went  camping at Sardine Lake, just north of Lake Tahoe.  We had such a fun time.  Lots of hiking, swimming and eating.  Sardine Lake is part of the Gold Lakes area that has multiple beautiful lakes.

 By far the dirtiest kid at camp!

 Ian was the main "fire attendant" and loved every minute of it.

 Striking a pose, as usual.

 The main chef with the cheesy grin.

Beautiful baby girl, loved to splash in the water