Haka at the Luau

We recently put on a luau for the High Priests in our ward.  These crazy dudes performed the haka.  It was awesome!

Silly brothers!

Scratch has recently learned how to take pictures on my phone!  Several times over the past week I have received alerts such as "your phone memory is full" or "unable to receive incoming texts/messages due to insufficient storage".  Confused, I look through my phone only to find hundreds! (literally!) of the floor, walls, photos of peoples feet, legs, etc.  It has been fun seeing things from Scratch's perspective. :)

I just found these from a recent "photo shoot" the boys must have done one day when I was preoccupied.  Never a dull moment with these two!

Outdoor Campus

We recently discovered a local gem called the Outdoor Campus.  They have all sorts of classes and workshops teaching about nature and helping us learn to more fully enjoy the outdoors!  We have attended several classes so far which have been interesting and fun!!

One class we attended recently was about Owls.  We got to see some live owls, and got to dissect actual owl pellets!  The kids had a great time finding all sorts of tiny bones in the pellets and piecing them together.

Dissecting pellets:

"Kayaking"

 
Learning about outdoor cooking: Spaghetti sandwiches, "smacos" ('smore tacos) and more!

Archery!

Silly Scratch

Scratch loves to "help"!  He's my great little helper all day long, helping me with the laundry, dishes, and cleaning.
Here he is helping me with the laundry.

I got him his own little spray water bottle so he can "help" while I'm cleaning...and the other day while I was painting, I looked over to see this....

 and this...

 and this...

It took awhile for everything to dry, but I was VERY grateful he had the bottle with just water, and not the bleach mixture!! :)

He is such a funny boy - he keeps us entertained!!  Some of his funny sayings lately:

~He says "Funny" when he's trying to say "Sorry"

~Calls the van "Shotgun" (since the kids always yell "shotgun!" when we go to the van)

~Calls his toenails his "foot nails"

~Calls the washing machine the "wishy washer"

~Calls the computer the "po-puter"

~Says "scoo-mees" for "excuse me"

~Since getting candy from the Easter bunny has been saying "Where the Easter Bunny go?  I want to give him a BIG HUG!"

~Since visiting his Aunt Abbie who's serving a mission at the Utah Temple, he calls every tall building resembling a temple "Abbie Utah!"

~If I ever get frustrated with him he will say "You happy, Mommy?"  He hates when anyone is upset.

~"Don't believe me" really means "Don't leave me"

~"I mu-no" = I don't know

~"buh-cuz" = because

~"Can you do me a favorite?" (favor)

~He calls nutella "tuna"

~After his bath he said "My toes are sprinkly"

Scratch and friends

Scratch and I started a little playgroup at the church with some friends his age.  This past week a visiting grandpa loaded up all of the kids in a wagon (6 at a time!) and they had the time of their lives!!  Scratch cried when he had to get out! :)  We are so grateful to other grandmas and grandpas who play with our kids since they never get time with their own grandparents!

Scratch dearly loves his teddy bears!

His favorite grocery store (besides Costco for the samples!) is Hy-Vee because he gets to ride the horse at the end if he's been good! ;)

 Last week, the library had an incredible program where they brought in live baby animals!  The kittens were Scratch's favorite...

 And Wiggles' too!

Some of his favorite friends are Wesley and Calvin, the sons of our wonderful piano teacher!

Earth Day in Omaha

We took a trip down to Omaha to visit the temple, and afterwards had fun visiting an "Earth Day" festival where the kids got to climb ropes up to the top of the tree!!!  They were SO high up (Wiggles the highest of all) that most of the pictures didn't turn out since they were just specks at the top of the tree...but Scratch and I sure enjoyed watching them climb, swing around, and then slide back down!!

Here is Grins making his way up!

 Angel is working hard!

 Angel swinging in the trees! :)

 Grins is working hard!

 It's amazing how high they got!!

 Wiggles is the one hanging by one hand in the center of the photo!  This is how she spent most of her time in the tree!  She is fearless!!

 Scratch REALLY wanted to climb but was too young. Not to be outdone, he climbed up the rock wall at the park all by himself!  "Don't help me, Mommy!"

We also visited the Mormon Trail Visitors Center and got to see our former babysitter from Oregon who is now serving as a missionary there!  Scratch and Wiggles had a great time dressing up like pioneers!

A second winter

You know it's a serious snowstorm when the whole city of Sioux Falls shuts down!!  You'd never know it's the middle of April when you wake up to 18 inches of snow coming in sideways!  Most stores shut down Sat, all our community classes and sporting events were canceled - and church was even canceled for Sunday!  We were grateful to have two days home as a family with nowhere to go!  We took advantage of every minute! 

Of course - you'd never know it is winter by the way Grins dresses!!

Saturday: Daddy built shelves in the garage, Mommy painted the living room and the kids built forts inside, out of the box of our new treadmill, and then snow forts outside once the snow had stopped!  Their snow fort had 3 "rooms", each connected via "underground" tunnels.  They also created a throne for "Sire Scratch" as well as an Igloo for the neighbor boys!  They are quite the talented sno-architects! ;)

Angel working on the tunnel!

Wiggles in the Igloo

Wiggles modeling the "throne" :)

Scratch LOVES the forts!

Sunday: We had our own little "church meeting", lots of quiet reading/journal/letter writing time, and then had a Family Bake-off!  Since we were left with no eggs (thanks to the snow storm), we had to get creative!

Daddy and Wiggles made the Harry Potter Chocolate Toffee Trifle - RUNNER UP!

Grins and Angel made their own creative Chocolate PB Truffle / Salted Pretzel Chocolate Cupcakes - WINNER of both Best Presentation and Best Tasting Awards!!

Mommy and Scratch made white chocolate macadamia nut cookies!  Not pretty, but pretty tasty. ;)

While we are ready for Spring, we thoroughly enjoyed the snow days, home together as a family!!

A couple more pics of our fun:

We love seeing Angel and Grins creatively working together in the kitchen!  They are so talented and creative!

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The kids worked out a throne (Wiggles as the seat) for "Sire Scratch".  He sure runs things around here! ;)

The snowfall was crazy - all this overnight!!