Best Fort Award

Uncle Jeff is welcome at our house anytime...especially if he promises he'll build another cool fort!


He came up to Portland for a conference this weekend and we barely saw him at all. But he definitely made history with Justin and Tyler!

The Bunny Hop

A week ago on Saturday, we threw Tyler his first birthday party. He was so excited to have a "Bunny Party" just in time for Easter the next day. We invited his little group of preschool friends and a little neighbor girl who is Tyler's bus-stop buddy. We kept it simple and fun. As the kids arrived, they played upstairs in the playroom.

Our first little project was to decorate bunny ears with stickers.



Then we did "The Bunny Hop" around the house:


Next, we set up two stations where the kids rotated between "Sticker-the-Tail to the Donkey" and Easter coloring pages.



The kids had so much fun decorating their egg hunt buckets with little foam stickers.



As the kids were getting their buckets ready, Travis hid plastic eggs filled with toys and little boxes of raisins around the house. The grass outside was pretty wet and so we just felt free to do the hunt inside. :)




The mom of one of Tyler's preschool friends decorates birthday cakes for a living. She did such a cute job on Tyler's bunny cupcakes.




Before we knew it, Tyler had opened his presents and the kids were on their way out the door.




...and then we headed outside to try out Tyler's new bubble sword!

I did it!

This is my FIRST digital scrapbook page! I have been wanting to learn how to do this for a long time. Here's a big THANK YOU to my friend, Sharleen, for being such a great teacher tonight! :) I came home from craft night and FINISHED it...o.k., I spent TWO more hours on it while I was watching Rachael Ray. :) Now I'm all motivated to get going on our other pictures! This is going to be FUN! Wahoo!

He's A Poet and Now We Know It!

We were invited to attend a "Poetry Party" in Justin's class last Friday morning. The kids have been working on publishing their own poems. Justin wrote a clever poem and it was so much fun to listen to his reading.




Justin has a substitute teacher for the rest of the school year because his regular teacher just had a baby. This new substitute is so creative with the kids and has put together a fun unit on FROGS. It was fun to "meet" the class tadpoles while we were there. Justin keeps begging me to let him keep one after they grow into frogs. He assured me it could just hop around his room and would be just fine. Um...no.


...and here are the handsome audience members! :) Bravo!

Birthday Boy

We had a fun and busy weekend. I'll post more about that later. First, we have a birthday to celebrate TODAY!!!! Here is a picture from his bunny party the other day:


Tyler turned 4 this morning at 2:57 a.m. Unlike the morning he was born, today we were all sleeping soundly when his birthday rolled around. :) He is such a happy and smart boy. Yesterday, he gave the scripture and opening prayer in Primary for the FIRST TIME as a Sunbeam. He just marched right up there with Travis and talked so big in the microphone. After the prayer he looked at all the kids and said "Please stand up." :) The kids who recite the motto each Sunday say that after they are finished and all the kids stand up to say the motto. We got a chuckle out of that. He has been paying attention in church for sure! Here is a birthday spotlight we filled out yesterday for Primary:

My name is: Tyler John Guptill

My Birthday is: April 13, 2005

My favorite color is: yellow

If I could spend all day doing one thing it would be: opening up presents

I really like to: play with trucks

One of my favorite foods is: spaghetti

My least favorite food is: green peppers

I am really talented when it comes to: doing puzzles

If I could be a superhero/cartoon character I'd be: A horse

My favorite pet/animal is: Elephants

My favorite memory with my family is: Christmas

My favorite scripture story is: Any story about Jesus

My favorite Primary song is: "I am a Builder"

After they read the spotlight they sang "Happy Birthday" to all the birthday kids and they picked out a fun mask to wear during the song. Tyler picked the bunny ears! He was so cute we were plotting to take a picture with Travis' iPhone...almost. :)

Who fills YOUR Easter eggs anyway?

I told Tyler we would be having an Easter Egg Hunt this weekend. We will be hopping like bunnies as we try to find some eggs filled with toys and treats.

Ty: Oh! (VERY excited!) Maybe they will be filled with things like tiny corn on the cob or soup or giant bananas?

Me: (Trying not to bust up laughing!) I don't know, we'll have to just wait and see... :)

My poor kids! Who is raising them? Oh, I guess that's me. :)

Today...

...at preschool, Tyler had his first experience with a magnifying glass. He was fascinated! Here's lookin' at you kid!

The Popcorn Plan

We really enjoyed Conference this weekend. The weather was amazing and it was so nice to hear from the leaders of the church. After "attempting" to listen to three General Conference sessions with the help of some conference packets for the boys, Travis was brilliant and came up with a plan for the final session. He got out all the Play-Doh for the boys to quietly play with at the kitchen table while listening to the talks. Then we had our first semi-annual General Conference popcorn party! We put out a blanket on the floor in front of the TV and with a cup of popcorn in hand and a sippy cup of juice, they were hanging on every word for the last hour. Fabulous! We now have a new Conference tradition in our family! Do you think they'll eat popcorn for 8 hours next fall? I will...no problem!

So, did you try something with your kids that worked well this year to keep em' focused on Conference?

Fancy

Today...

Ty: Mom, lift me up so I can see (in the mirror) if I am pretty or fancy.

Me: So, are you pretty or fancy?

Ty: I'm the right size...I'm fancy!

A minute later...

Me: Why are you fancy?

Ty: Fancy means I'm a brother and pretty means you're a Mom.

The other day...

Justin: Mom, of all the Mom's that come to help in my class, you're the nicest.

Me: Thanks. Are all the other Mom's mean?

Justin: Oh, I don't mean that, I mean the way you look. (smiles and hugs me)

Me: Well, that's a sweet thing to tell your Mom! (I didn't tell him this, but he secretly put a little hop in my step that day!)

A couple of weeks ago...

Justin: Sometimes I think you're the worst Mom in the world.

Me: What?

Justin: And then sometimes I think you're the best mom in the world!

Me: (laughing now!)

Justin: It's like you are in 15th place to the best Mom in the world.

Me: What?

Justin: (back pedaling) I mean you're in 2nd place so 1st place is the best Mom and 2nd place is the worst Mom. See? You're not that bad!

Me: I think you had better stop while you're ahead, Mister! :)

Oh, boy. These all cracked me up, but I think "Fancy" was the funniest! What am I going to do when they stop saying the darndest things? I know I'll miss it.

Grandpa Day!

We enjoyed a fun visit from Grandma & Grandpa Davis and Great-Grandpa Jolley last week. One morning, my Dad and Travis took the boys to the elementary school to play while Travis ran on the track. My mom and I went shopping all morning! Grandpa brought sidewalk chalk and Tyler drew a path while riding in the wagon all the way home from the school. At home, Tyler loved to hug Great-Grandpa Jolley and was happy to let Great-Grandpa sleep in his bed while Tyler had a slumber party in Justin's room.