Lets Start Summer!

 We have begun our summer vacation!  Yeehaw!  I didn't take a picture of every event that wrapped up the school year, but here are a couple of highlihts: 

Brenna graduated her first year of preschool.  Congratulations to her!  (Congratulations to her teachers! They will probably enjoy the break more than the kids!). 

 Here is Brenna before the program started, she was so thrilled to show off her vast knowledge of songs and letter sounds.

 

 

Katelee had a first grade program that was lovely and both she and Grant had some really fun activities the last bit of school. Every year their school holds a carnival and for sure Brenna thinks about it all year.  We went at the end of May and Brenna has already started asking when she gets to go to the 'junior high party' again.  Pretty much this party is the reason we like this school!  Ha! 

 Katelee climbed this rock wall a few times.  She really is like this little spider scampering up with no problem.  She rocks it...ha ha!  Ok, that was a stretch. 

 There was an 'instrument petting zoo,' where all these orchestra and band instruments could be tested.  Brenna and her demure personality seemed to be drawn to the sweet sounds of the violin.  Well, she tried them all, I just like this picture! 

And, there was an epic sibling battle between our big kids.  It was rough in the arena, but I had major flashbacks of watching American Gladiators with my siblings and imagining what I would do to them!  Dave ran the Ogden Half Marathon that day (had his best time! We are so impressed!)  so he met us just in time for the sibling slap down.  It was a busy day of flag football, dance pictures, half marathon, and carnival.  Grant played flag football this year and dubbed the parent volunteer "GC" (grumpy coach).  Lets just say he isn't eager to sign up again anytime soon. 

We have already had some fun summer events, I will post pics all together of those later.  We have also had plenty of privelege revoking going on.  The sounds of summer have not been so sweet yet, but we have hope for the remainder of the weeks...or I may go insane!!

Harrison is so enjoying his first ever taste of summer.  So far, this little 17 lb 6 oz dude (just had his 9 month check...still 10% for weight and head, 25% for heighth) has gone crazy over rootbeer floats...

and popsicles....

 
We can tell he approves of this summertime season thus far!!

They Are Kinda a Big Deal

 

These four of ours have had some major events happen as of late... Number 1 (aka Grant) just got glasses!!

 Earlier in the school year he came home one day completely distraught.  We found out it was the vision testing day and he said everyone thought it was easy, but he thought it was so hard!  He may have shed a few tears because he got some answers wrong and was worried he would need the lenses.  I emailed the teacher and she said the vision testing results from Grant were fine and we would have received a letter if he needed a follow up.  So, we just kept an eye on him and took him to an eye doctor this spring. Poor kid was practically blind, for real.  In his appointment, I had to pull him aside and ask if he was trying to get all the letters wrong (cuz he wasn't reading one correctly!).  He was so exasperated that I would even question him.  He is a bit of an exaggerator, though, so I never know.  Anyway, doesn't he look older and ever so wise?  You are so welcome Grant for inheriting my terrible vision and getting glasses at the exact age I did. 

 These two lovely ladies had their spring dance recital.  Unlike the December one, Brenna let me put makeup on her.  However, by the time we were walking out the door, she had black mascara lines running down her face and smeared across her hands.How do the other littles wear makeup happily and spotlessly?  So, we opted for the au naturale look for her and dolled up Miss Katelee.  My friend took some great pics from the dress rehearsal she forwarded on, here are a few...

 

  Thank heavens for helpers-Michelle did Katelee's hair and Malia was here visiting, so she helped get them ready and out the door on time.  Both girls were fabulous!  Brenna owned it (I even had text after from people saying how her hips sure can shake!).


 And Katelee looked like she loved it so much more than last time.  She has ended her dancing career on a high note!!  She even had three dances to remember at this performance, it was a lot of fun! 


And, of course #4 (aka Harrison) is always a big deal around here, but as of yesterday, he has officially been out of utero as long as he was in there!  Yep, he is 9 months old!

 
We tried to get a photo op in his regular monthly spot, but he didn't think sitting around was very fun, but standing sure is...


He is still a big huge momma's boy with no teeth.  We are hoping baby dentures are not in his future! He is not in a hurry to walk cuz he is a speed crawler.  Harrison is close to clapping on his own and he mimics 'hi' and 'yay' pretty well.   He isn't a fan of eating much, he pops things right out of his mouth, but he has had some good nights this month where he only wakes up around 4 or 5 then back to bed after a feeding.  That is a HUGE deal! 

Yea, there were some nights he was up all hours -I keep thinking he is teething, but he has nothing to show for it...at all.  He is a funny dude, little Harry and a bit on the demanding and dramatic side...takes after one of his sisters, I'm not going to say if it is more like number 2 or number 3!!  He is so happy to have me hold him all day and walk around attempting to one hand all my chores. LOVE our little babe!

Eight Months and Easter

This stud muffin hit eight months and his photo shoot was a little wild!

I couldn't get him to hold still, which is how he is all day!  He is a super crawler and has yet to master the stairs, so we are in extreme potential danger mode.  He thinks it is the funniest thing ever when I make him go backwards down a flight.  My other babies hated it, he is so funny.  Really everything is funny to him- except unfamiliar faces, he hates them all!  We love him SO much.  I feel like I can't possibly have loved my babies as much as I do this boy.  (I'm sure I did!)  Really, we are all enamored by him.  See, here is Katelee having to ride with him in the little car...

Then there is Grant...

Yea, can't even get enough of the boy, he thought it was worth jumping in the tub fully clothed.  Weirdo! Brenna isn't in love with Harry on a consistent basis. Sure, some days she has the high pitch baby love voice, but last week she told me she was tired of him and she doesn't want him anymore.  In fact, she had just the friend (Megan), she wanted to give Harrison to.  I asked her if Megan wants a baby and Brenna said, "I think so.  And, she has a dog.  I want a dog!  We never have a dog!"  She is concocting a straight up trade dog for cutest baby alive...not gonna happen! 

 

Easter came and brought awesome weather along this year!  It was so nice we even did an outside night time egg hunt the Friday evening before. 

 

 

We let the kids decide if they wanted to be a part of the organized chaos the city puts together...the seven second hunt.  I am positive it can not be called an egg hunt because it is more like, as soon as you hear the bell, stuff as much things in your basket before you are trampled.  And of course, they wanted to do it! 

 

I can see Katelee!  This was her age group.  We made it just in time for Dave to wheel the baby and Brenna to her area, I had Grant run to his field next to Katelee and showed him where to meet us and I stayed with this little lady.  It was so funny!  We had all the kids decked out for that Sunday, but I stayed home with the little dude who had a 104 fever!  He recovered quickly, but it freaked me out.  I was totally sick last week too.  I can't even talk about it with out grossing anyone out, but I smelled so bad.  I told Brenna to stay away from me and she was like, "I love stink.  I can smell it and I love it!"  Giving me a hug was worth the stench, what a sweetie!

 

I dressed up Harrison even though he didn't go to church.  We also had visitors this month.  Grandma and Grandpa McArthur were in town for baby Jack's blessing.  It was so good to see them (I forgot to take pics, darn it!).  We also had Brent, Kimber and Max and Karly stay here. The kids were in heaven!!  They don't get cousin time enough. 

 

We are so grateful  for our Savior and the Easter season that reminds us of what life is, why we are here, and the hope of things to come.  We are truly blessed!

 

Photo Shoot

 

 Last month, we took the kids to a studio for Harrison's 6 month pictures, so I could get some good ones of all of them together.  Well, I don't know how successful I would call the experience, but here are some things I realized after the outing:

 1)When you have four kids, there is no way you are gonna get a picture where all the kids look good.  One of them, at least, will be doing something goofy, guaranteed.  It will result in no photo being your favorite.

 2) When you are as unfashionable as I am, you should consult with a fashonista, because they will remind you to think about shoes.  Or, you end up getting there with raggedy tennis shoes and consequently, you will opt for the shoeless look!

 3) Do not talk before hand about how some people smile not showing their teeth.  If you do, you will have someone age 6 or so, do it just to see what it looks like on them...thus pulling a goofy face as mentioned before.  Drats!  This would have been a good one!

 4) Its a myth that girls only like their pictures taken, check out this stud.  Well, I guess you have to consider his dad!

 5)Pictures can be deceptive and revealing of personalities.  Take what you will with that! 

 6) Harrison was not into pictures AT ALL!  He thought they were fairly torturous, in fact.  Speaking of facts..my babies have not been impressed with the high pitched sneezes photographers fake in order to ellicit a smile.  I'm certain they are confused as to why they are making the outrageous sounds. 

 7)Finally, while it wasn't exactly what I had hoped for, these pictures, and mostly, these kids,  make me smile!! :)

Celebrating 7 years and 7 months!

Wahoo!  Its been party time around these parts!  We get a little crazy on St Patricks Day...

 As you can tell from these wild party people...


While we love the Irish holiday, our focus is more on little Miss Katelee, who turned 7 this year.  We sported festive trendy mustaches, but Harrison couldn't get his right.

Her dinner choice was oven fried chicken, the kind that she explained ALWAYS sets off the fire alarm.  It really does, the smoke alarm goes off every time, without fail when I make that.  So, Katelee had the chair and dish towel ready for me to fan the smoke detector.  She races to the doors and turns on the fans for me, but it must be so worth it.  She loves that chicken.  After that, it was time for presents. 


This girl may have a future as an author or illustrator.  She makes books by the dozens.  We have a collection of Katelee McArthur originals and some she copies.  It is amazing what she does.  So, her wonderful aunt Shannon got her a little kit she could make hard back books.  She obviously, was impressed.  She has new roller blades from Christmas that I have been requesting go along with a helmet, but she informed me (in tears, mind you) why she never wears a helmet 'because all we have are boy helmets and it is SO embarrassing.  So she got a beautiful purple helmet to accessorize those blades with, as well as twister, a new book, sand art, and new pj's.  After a few rip roaring times of Twister, all of which I won, except one where Jason called my readjusting, we had cake and ice cream. 


We made a candy land cake, gluten free of course!  We had to remind Katelee not to wish for the same thing she always does when she  blew out her candles.  When it was Brenna's birthday last month, Katelee told us she really hoped when it was her birthday she didn't wish for the same thing she has been year in and year out.  She, apparently, draws a blank when it's is wish time, or she buckles under the pressure, but she doesn't even want the wish that pops in her head.  When we asked what the wish was, we were all dying...every year, Katelee has been wishing (but really NOT wanting) to 'join the circus!!' We reminded her not to...no underage circus performers under our roof!!


We waited til the following Saturday to have her friend party because she wanted to watch FROZEN with her friends and it came out on DVD just before that.  So, we had a pancake and pajama party with these cute peeps:

 Grant and Collin (who were banished to the basement after their sing-a-long to the songs included words like poop and dumb and everyone was going to die), Brenna, Courtney, Katelee, Breanna, Hailey, Brinley, Emily, Pyper, Rian, Capri and Aspen. 

 There was lots of singing and syrup, cups with personal pictures

yea, I know, I'm not artist.  It was a snowflake, frozen wonderland! 

 A special thanks to grandma, who slept over and joined us in her pajamas because Dave was out of town and I needed some reinforcements.  It was a perfect party!  Katelee loves to be goofy and put on a show.  She may have a career there too, as she can manipulate emotions with the snap of her finger!  She may have turned lucky 7, but we really are the lucky ones having this amazing girl in our family!!!

Also celebrating a lucky 7 milestone, is this little dude! Harrison is obsessed with me.  Really, I am not just saying that.  The feeling is completely mutual, except at night.  We still have severe issues there.  He is very active and has moved on from the worm crawl to the stink-bug bum in the air crawl.  Harry loves to pull himself up and got his very first baby goose egg today.  Because he loves to pull himself up, it was time to lower his crib mattress. I don't know why, but this is one of the two saddest milestones for me in a baby's first year.  I love laying them down so close to my arms and face in their crib.  Now, I feel like I am dropping him to a deep abyss.  Really, I can't reach the bottom on my tippy toes, so I do a small drop for sleeping times. 

 

But, at least I still get to see this adorable grin when I walk in his room.  Love love love this boy!