Valentine's Day

I know February is old news, but I had to post about Valentine's Day because we had a FUN day. Better late than never! I want my children to know that we DID do fun things with them.

I was in charge of Jack's classroom party. We did three activities:
1. Made home-made valentines

2. Decorated sugar cookies with LOTS of candy and frosting

3. Passed out valentines to class-mates

Jack lives for holidays. He was thrilled to have me be in charge of his party. It makes me feel so loved to know that he likes it when I'm there! I hope that lasts.

After school we loaded up the kids and drove downtown. First we went to Sonic for dinner, because we were in a hurry to make a show, Playhouse Disney Live! It was basically like watching the Disney Channel- except Handy Manny was a real person instead of a cartoon character. But the kids LOVED it. Here we are waiting for our corndogs at Sonic:

And here we are at the arena watching Playhouse Disney Live!!!

Owen's T.L.C.

I had a wisdom tooth removed over a week ago. From the day of the surgery, Owen has been concerned. He's offered to rub my feet, scratch my back, and so forth.

We were recently picking up sweet, little Eden for school. We were doing our routine car-pool pickups. As Eden walked to our car, Owen rolled down the window and yelled,
"Edeeeee- hurry up! My Mom had a tooth yanked out of her head and it hurts really, really bad!"

I was laughing so hard I think I did more nerve damage to my already damaged nerves. I was NOT expecting him to do that. He's been saying the 'funny things' in our house lately.

Owenisms

* We were swimming at the YMCA recently, when Owen said, "Your face is connected to your head, right Mama?" He then said, "Your eyes, nose, and this" touching his face,"Is your face." "THIS-" he says, rubbing his hands on the back of his hair and chin, "and this, is your head."

* While we were at the YMCA, Lucy accidently slipped on the ground from running. Owen said, "Lucy- you have to be careful or else the garf-liars will get mad at you." It took me a several seconds before I realized that "garf-liars" means "life-guards."

* Owen's fascination with the human head continued into the weekend. During sacrament meeting at church Owen whispered to me, "Mama, where do your nostrils end?"

* Adam recently praised Owen for a project he worked on during preschool. Owen responded by saying, "It's because I followed the injections." (Translation: instructions)

Lucy's First Official Haircut

Lucy has beautiful, silky blonde hair. However, I've been in denial about cutting it for a long time. She had a trim when she was about six months old, but that's sort of a touchy topic. (Adam cut her hair without asking me & she looked like Scout from the movie, "To Kill a Mockingbird.") Ever since Adam cut her hair without my permission, I have not taken so much as a hair from her head. Well, it was definitely too straggly. Here are some BEFORE pics. This first one was taken at the salon: I don't have any actual pictures of the "cutting" because she sat on my lap the entire time, crying as if it was the worst torture in the world. It was close to lunch time so I came prepared. I had chicken nuggets, french fries, and soda with me. Every once in a while she'd take a bite of a french fry, or a sip of soda- and then she'd resume her sad cry. We were probably an interesting sight: Lucy sitting on my lap, with her hair all over us, and me shoving fast food in her mouth in between sobs. I'm a great mother, huh?

A lady named Julie cut her hair and she was lovely. She was patient, kind, gentle, and fast. Here they are after the cut. Lucy graciously gave her a hug:

I am very pleased! Her hair looks much fuller and thicker now. It's a new Lu.

Fun in a Box

It's amazing how much entertainment a cardboard box can provide:So . . . why do we spend money on toys?!?

Owen turns FOUR!

On December 30th, 2008, our precious Owen turned four. Owen has brought so much joy and love into our home. All you have to do is look at those dimples and know that he is a special guy:It was 100% Owen's idea to have a "bug" cake:Although this cake isn't a work of art, A LOT of time went into it's preparation. Adam literally drove all over town looking for fake, plastic, bugs on terrible, icy roads. How hard can it be, right? Well, our #1 go-to store was closed due to excess snow on the roof- the 50% Off Card Shop. So he tried the Dollar Store which was also closed because it's excess snow had literally collapsed the entire front of the store. Adam tried Wal-Mart, Michaels, Target, Wal-greens. All he could find were flourescent green, stretchy spiders. Sorry Owen! We tried. You're worth every ounce of driving to look for fake, plastic, bugs! Lucy insisted on opening a few presents herself. Owen was an angel and said, "Here Lucy- do it like this!" He would then try to show her how to tear the paper while it was in her grasp. She wasn't too keen on his help. Thanks for being such a gem Owen.

Aunt Coco, Uncle Tyler, Grandma, and Grandpa came with lots of love, hugs, and gifts:We saved the best gift for last. We had it hidden behind the couch with a blanket draped over it. We played the hot/cold game until he discovered it. He exclaimed "Awesome!" about a dozen times tonight, after each present was opened. (Owen used to have a bike, but Adam ran over it one day. Owen loves telling Grandma each time she comes over, "My Dad ran over my bike." Now he can't say that anymore!)
Let them eat cake! Poor Owen, being a middle child doesn't allow much room for independence. As you can see, he had plenty of help with unwrapping gifts- and blowing out the candles:We love you Owen. Here is a brief synopsis of how you spent your third year: You spent much of it coloring. You would color and draw for hours and hours. Many times you'd get frustrated because you couldn't draw what you imagined. You'd often throw your pencil or crayon across the room and let out an angry yelp. At preschool you were the first to point out if your friends weren't staying in the lines. You love to dig! There's plenty of dirt in the front yard. You love to just sit and dig away! You and Jack also loved making dirt soup with "spices" as you called them. You're always willing to cuddle and for that reason we call you our cuddle bug. You're a terribly picky eater and before each meal you ask, "How many bites do I have to eat?" You are literally addicted to milk and sippy cups. However, this birthday saw you weaned of sippy cups! Hooray! You spend hours with your legos. Dad and I are always amazed at your long-term concentration, whether it's coloring, legos, or lincoln logs. You are amazing at entertaining yourself. You love Jack and miss him when he's at kindergarten. You'll often ask, "When's Jack going to be home?" You're incredible gentle to Lucy and you love babies. Whenever I baby-sit other children, you are so nurturing and helpful.

You're goodness at such a young age must be a sign of a remarkable human being. We can't wait to see all that you'll accomplish in your life time. You have endless gifts. We hope you use them as your Father in heaven would want you to. Happy Birthday Bogles

Christmas '08!

We spent Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa Nebs. We even stayed the night! The kids adore their grandparents and were ecstatic to have a sleep-over at their most favorite place on earth.

Grandma always makes holidays & birthdays so special. It truly is a gift of hers. Christmas Eve we had a lovely program. Everyone dressed up like kings (and I'm ashamed I didn't take any pictures! What was I thinking?!? Obviously, I wasn't!) Grandma had fancy fabric for robes, and crowns for each person. We read from the scriptures and sang Christmas songs. Most importantly, we discussed what "gift" we could each give to Jesus. Owen didn't quite grasp the idea, since his answer was a sippy cup of milk. However, a sippy cup of milk is heaven in his mind.

Here are the kids on Christmas morning. Grandma had passed out matching pajamas on Christmas Eve, it's tradition:

The boys were thrilled to receive new lego sets. Adam is so great about actually playing with the kids. Here he is helping them set up their legos:
Lucy had a blast with her princess tea set, from Grandma. Every few minutes she would come running up to you shouting, "It's ready!" Translation: "The table is set and you're invited to a very special tea party."

If she wasn't having a tea party then she was

A) blowing drying her baby's hair. The blow dryer actually blows air:

B) Getting way too much love & attention . . . if that's possible:or C) Attacking or hitting her brothers. Here she is, caught in the act, about to whack Jack for no apparent reason. She's a girl, does she really need a reason to be angry? Apparently, a lot of toys and love is too much to handle.Fortunatly for us, the diva crashed unexpectedly at 10am, on a pillow in front of the television. Not only did she have a busy morning, but she was up twice during the night. Adam & I were sound asleep in the basement and didn't hear her upstairs. So poor Grandma & Aunt Coco each got a night-time shift with Lucy. I think her restless night partially explained her erratic behavior:The boys were so gracious and patient. They opened up each gift, one at a time, taking turns. They were so sweet and appreciative. I am so blessed to have such special spirits in my home:

Owen was thrilled to finally have his own light saber. Jack received one a month earlier for his birthday. Owen has been waiting in anticipation ever since:Here's Jack with "Transformers" the DVD. He's already watched it a half dozen times:

Despite the terrible snow storms and icy roads, we had a warm, cozy, beautiful Christmas Break. We ate at IHOP one morning, it's tradition. We saw a few movies, ate out way too much, snacked on Hickory Farms late at night, went sledding, gorged on Sea's Candies, read lots of books, and nobody got sick the entire break! I felt so richly blessed to be healthy and with the ones I love.