Easter

Girl cousins: Talia, Raven, and AlyssaBoy cousins: Canton, Parker, and Ammon

We spent a fun couple of days in Menan with family and got to hear Derek's homecoming talk (just got back from a mission in Penn.) It was great to see everyone and get away from home for a while. The kids loved seeing the animals and spending time with cousins and grandma and grandpa. It was great to see baby Alyssa for the first time, too. Check out those cheeks! It looks like we will be heading back for a wedding in June, too. Congrats Derek and Mandy!

My lost week

It doesn't feel like it's been so long since I posted, but that's because I lost a week. Yep, completely gone. I was so sick that I could barely function. My family somehow made it through the week without me. Well, okay, I was coherent enough to keep the baby from falling down the stairs or swimming in the toilet.... but just barely. I'm now trying to play catch-up and get ready to go to Idaho this weekend, get ready for scouts this week, get the car repaired, clean the house, make some diapers, catch up on blogging, etc. etc. I think I better go get something done, or take a nap.

free stuff and then some

So in the past couple of weeks I have been referred to a few websites that are good for saving money and getting free stuff. You can find the links on the sidebar. I have never been a real coupon shopper, but have found that with thegrocerygame is actually worthwhile. That's because someone else has done all the work to figure out store sales and coupons to combine with manufactureres coupons. Also, check out imommies on a 3/9/08 post about the 2008 entertainment book. You sign up at ebates.com and find the 2008 ent. book. You'll get $10 for signing up, $6 for puchasing the book, and the book is on sale right now for $15. Then you also get free or $5 for a $25 restaurant gift certificate at restaurant.com. Plus you get more money back for referring people. Okay, so imommies explains it much better, but essentially you will end up earning money for signing up and buying it.
Anyway, I'm having a pretty good birthday. The kids have been making and bringing me cards all day, and Russ is now feeding the kids an early dinner so that we can have a quiet dinner to ourselves when they are in bed. Sounds like heaven right now-- not having to worry about who's eating (or not eating) what and who's fighting with who and well, you know how it is.

Ammon Ammon Bo-Bammon

Those of you who know us and Ammon know that he has been a great joy and a great frustration to us. He is I think the most stubborn child I have ever known. When he gets an idea in his head about how or when something should happen, he will not let it go. For the past almost 2 years, we have been trying to convince Ammon that he could learn to ride his bike without training wheels. After all, he's been riding a bike with training wheels since he was 2 1/2 years old. He got it in his head that he would do it when he turned 7. Every time we brought it up, he would absolutely refuse to even try it. So imagine my surprise when the other morning as I was working on this masterpiece

for the cub scout blue and gold banquet, Ammon ran inside and announced, "I want to ride my bike without training wheels!" So I helped him get the wheels off, and by the time I picked up BJ and got something on his feet to take him outside, Ammon was already out there riding. I had to help him get balanced to start a couple of times after that, and now he's riding like an old pro. Oh, but now he says he won't go on any bikerides out of our driveway until he's seven. We'll see how long that lasts!

A couple of weeks ago (this blog is way behind my actual life) Ammon lost his second tooth. Somehow, the toothfairy forgot to come and pay him for his tooth. He was oh-so-dissappointed, and I tried to help by telling him that the tooth fairy must have just had a very busy night, and she would get to him the next night. So the next night, guess who almost forgot to show up again! That darn tooth fairy. The tooth fairy only remembered at 5:30 in the morning when the baby woke up. Luckily Ammon is a deep sleeper and the tooth fairy found his window wide open (brrrrrrr.... but he must've thought that the tooth fairy couldn't get in the night before.) Anyway, the tooth fairy searched and searched under the pillow and on the bed, but no tooth could be found. The money was left anyway, and since the tooth was in a ziploc bag, it probably got mixed with some snacks and eaten. Or something. That's our latest tooth fairy adventure. Sometimes I think we should just have told him he'd get .50 for each tooth and not introduced the tooth fairy. Is that boring of me, or what?