Here comes the sun...

The sun finally came out this week! It has been gray and overcast for about 12 straight days and more than the weather has been gloomy around here. The sun is so refreshing after all that darkness! We took the kids to the park to soak up as much vitamin D as possible.


I think the kids were happy to be outside too - what do you think? Those happy faces say it all. WELCOME SUN!

Do you tint?

Years ago someone introduced us to these Crayola bathtub tints. They are so cool! Our kids are not into the bubble baths so much because they get bubbles in their eyes, then there's screaming, and the crying - bubbles are just not worth it for us. So these Color Dotz are a good replacement for bubbles. The kids love to take a bath in colored water. I also love that they can learn about colors: red + blue = purple!

Here's Logan in his aqua blue bath (2 blue and one yellow tablet). Doesn't that water look so refreshing?

Lizzie loves the red color - it's actually more hot pink than red.

The only uncool thing about these babies is the yellow tablet. It looks a little strange taking a "yellow bath". Hmmmm.... someone should have thought that one through a little better.

Do not worry, they will not stain your tub or floor. The water goes right down the drain and the tub doesn't even need to be rinsed out! You can find these Crayola Color Dotz near the bubble bath and bath salts at Walmart or Target type stores.

Does anyone else use these things?

January Book Club

The book for this month was entitled Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. It was written in 1970 so be prepared for some serious meaphors to seagull life. Tommiann did a great job leading the discussion - I think she may have parts of this book memorized from reading it so often! We learned in our discussion that this book can be relevant to a person at different phases in life and the characters may even switch places to fit your life each time you read it.

We dined on picnic food to go with our seagull/beachy theme. Thanks to Kari for delicious bbq chicken paninis and Deena for croissant sandwiches. Patti and Kristie/Erin brought chips and dip. Heather a yummy spinach pasta salad and Debbie's potato salad. We had tasty lemonade to drink and ice cream cones for dessert. What a feast!

Here are all the ladies at the dinner table. They just love it when I bust out the camera while they're eating!

As always the food and company were great. We are so lucky to have such a fun solid group of ladies in our ward that enjoy reading and getting together to discuss good books.

Is anyone else involved in a book club? And please feel free to share any titles that sparked good discussion from your group. We're always on the hunt for good ones.

The eyes of a child

It is amazing to me how our children do NOT have brown eyes. I was so sure that my dominant brown eyes would carry through to them, but they didn't! They are all so unique and beautiful - I love looking at them whenever I can get them to hold still for 2 seconds. I especially love to look at the kids' eyes when we are out in the sunlight - they just look so clear and perfect!

Trevor's are hazel, but varying in color. You can see the outside edge is almost green and the iris has a rusty brown ring around it. They are also freckled a bit. There is a rainbow of colors in there!

Logan's are also hazel. His are the lightest of the bunch - and the most consistent in color. Not so much variation as Trevor's. His are the closest to Jeremy's golden hazel color. (Did I almost just say, "Liquid topaz"??!)


Lizzie and Trevor have a similar trend. She also has the greenish around the edges with the darker rusty brown surrounding the iris. Hers are darker than his though. I just love the multi-colored eye.

And now for Jackson. Mr. Wild Card himself. Where the BLUE eyes came from we do not know. Jeremy swears that recessive=recessive no matter if your recessive gene is green, blue or hazel. So somehow, my mom's green eyed recessive gene and Jeremy's Ward family recessive gene carried on through to give Jackson boy these gunmetal gray blues. They are definitely blue too.

So to tally things up for you - our family has:
4 - hazel
1 - brown
1 - blue

I love our family's rainbow of eye colors. They are as unique as the children themselves.

Jackson's Monkey Business

Every morning he wakes up (still in his crib) and calls in his loudest yelling voice, “MAH-mmy!” No matter if it’s 6AM or 9AM - the whole house can hear him. And if I don’t answer right away it turns into a stern, “Mo-m!” (And why has he not learned how to climb out of that thing yet?)

Yesterday he pulled out the bottom drawer of the dishwasher and pushed it around the kitchen/family room for a good half hour. The other kids would walk through and say, “What is Jackson playing with?” They recognized it of course, but could not place it. When it finally clicked that it was part of the dishwasher they tried to correct the problem, but 2 minutes later he had it pulled out again rolling on the brick floor.

He sneezed a big productive sneeze right into his hand. And what else is there to do with a big booger mess than to lick it off your hand? He had himself cleaned up in no time.

It was one evening just before bed. I go downstairs to collect Jackson and what is he doing? Filling cups of water and shamelessly pouring them onto the ground. Not into any container – straight onto the ground! All for the sake of watching water flow from his cup.

Lizzie the Gymnast

Lizzie took dance lessons at a place that also offers gymnastics. She would ogle the gymnasts every time we went for a dance lesson. So after one semester of dance she decided she was done and wanted to try gymnastics. (I have to say that I'm glad she chose gymnastics because after her first day I realized there are still so many things this girl needs to learn - somersaults for one and cartwheels the other. What girl does not know how to do a somersault?! I guess Lizzie.)


Here she is on the balance beam.

The picture is not so great because she was running, but she's just about to vault.


Enjoy 2 short videos of her fabulous gymnastics.

Floor Exercises:



The Bars:


She's had 2 lesson so far and is loving it! She has so much energy and is very enthusiastic the entire time we're there. While she waits for her turn with the teacher at each station she literally jumps the whole time. She stays in one spot just bouncing away because she's so excited to be there. She has also taken a serious nap after both lessons. Lizzie is WIPED OUT by the time her hour is up.

I just have to say one more time that I am LOVING having a girly girl around this house. She is too much fun!

Check out the new baby

I started a new blog to keep up with the Young Women happenings in our ward. There aren't too many pictures on there yet, but I have some good ones I'll post later today. I love that it's girly and pretty - different than our family blog. Stop by and check us out! fresno7thwardyoungwomen.blogspot.com

Hanford - here we come!

We all know that Jackson LOVES trains right now. Every morning the first thing he asks for is, "Choo-Choo Thomas?" It really is too cute.

So Jeremy and I had this great idea to take him for a real train ride during Christmas Break. We thought it would be the perfect family outing. The Minnicks and the Other Wards came along for the ride. We braved the cold 40 something degree weather and ventured out on this overcast day.

Jackson was in hog heaven! Just look at his over-excited grin. He could hardly contain himself.

We did this same "trip" several years ago when Trevor was about 4 years old, Logan 2 and Lizzie was just a baby. We drive downtown, hop on the Amtrak train, ride 30 minutes to Hanford, walk about 1/4 mile to the nearby park, eat a picnic, stop at the creamery across the street for the best ice cream around, and then head back to the train for the ride home.

Here's a short video for your viewing pleasure. Jackson is my favorite. He's so camera shy, but it's too cute.



Logan watching the fields pass by. Fresno sure is green in the winter - I love it!

Here is the brood waiting to get on the train. We've been called "a school field trip" several times when we're all out in public together. Today was no exception!

The weather shaped up when we got there. The sun came out just in time for our picnic and the kids' game of football. It was still chilly out there, but not too bad. And Aimee always says that the best time to get ice cream is when it's cold outside. I still don't know why that is, but she was right on this day! It was mm-mmm good!

Here we are about to board the train to go home. This picture was the best of everyone, but who is that lady? Didn't she realize we were taking a family picture?! Maybe we can get Robb to photoshop her out...


Waiting for the train....

The whole adventure was worth it when we watched Jackson in this moment. He stayed just like this at the window for about 5 mintues. And if you know Jackson - you know that 5 mintues is an eternity for this kid.
It was a great day. Good memories and a full heart from seeing a happy child.

Christmas craft idea for next year

We had some fun decorating "Christmas Trees" for Joy School at our Christmas Party.


Here's what you need:
1. sugar ice cream cones
2. green frosting
3. sprinkles
4. anything else you can think of to trim your trees!


The kids thought it was great. And so did I! There was nothing to cook ahead of time. I debated making sugar cookies or buying the ones from the bakery. I saw this idea and was immediately sold! It was quick and easy and the kids got to eat them when they were finished. These trees would also look cool next to a gingerbread house.

Tuck this idea away for next year. It's a keeper!

Wrestling season has begun

Trevor chose to wrestle this year - thanks to a little peer pressure from Jacob and Jacob. He's finally old enough to participate in the sports offered (FREE) at the school. He's having fun, but is scared out of his mind (thank you to his high school age coaches) that he will break some part of his body before the season is out.


So far he's wrestled 2 matches. He has filled in on Varsity both times because there weren't enough players to fill the spots. He tried his best both times, but has yet to win. (Notice Trevor is under this guy, most likely a 6th grader, had him pinned in about 12 seconds, but not before he picked Trevor up completely off the ground and threw him down on his back. Trevor was stunned and couldn't move for a full 3 seconds.)


He got some great advice from all of my brothers. None of them broke anything when they wrestled and that was a great comfort to our gentle boy.

He does like to tell people that he wrestles Varsity. He thinks he's pretty hot stuff. So make sure you ask him about it.