While we play

Rob has been doing a lot of time at work with a project that is due.  So, while he is at work these kids have come up with some fun ways to play.

 On Presidents Day the boys played Harry Potter all day long.  They started off with potions class where they gathered stuff from outside, inside, rice or fruit loops and made potion after potion.

 Later on they got their "brooms" and went out for a quidditch match.  Caleb and Haley were throwing bludgers and Peter (aka Harry) and William (aka Wood) were dodging them and scoring points and looking for the snitch.  Fabulous use of their time on a holiday.

 We got to play in the snow today while the boys were at school and William built the most adorable snowman you have ever seen.

 Here he is proudly showing it off.  He did it all on his own while I was making my own snowball.  Did I mention that it was the cutest thing ever?  So awesome!

Peter came home today sporting this snazzy hat.  It is his George Washington birthday hat and he looks pretty awesome in it.  He loves these school projects.  Peter has also been learning the "50 Nifty United States" song in school.  Just a few minutes ago he got mad at me and said, "I wish you lived in Alabama!"  Way to remember your states bud.  The rest of our weekend will be spent with probably more Harry Potter, some crafty/sewing projects and cursive, cursive, cursive for Caleb.  He has a lot of cursive to do before school on Monday.  What a bunch of party animals we are.

The best of birthdays, so far

Saying goodbye to 6!

 In this picture Peter is saying, "Feliz Cumpleanos a yo!" Happy Birthday to me!

 Peter's birthday consisted of going to school, eating licorice with his classmates and being the captain of the class for the day.  I had packed some of his favorite things for lunch and wrapped each of them up to look like a present.  Pretty fun.  The jersey you see him wearing was his birthday present, along with a nerf gun and some snow globes.  For a family activity we headed to the aquarium to see the fish.

 While we were there we tried to communicate with the penguins.

 Fell in love with the baby sea-horses.

 Discovered some enormous river fish from the Amazon or somewhere.  They were huge!

Found the river otters and watched them zip around.

Spent a lot of time at the touching pool where we were able to touch a small gray shark, a bat ray and here Caleb is getting what he called a "hug from a sea urchin."  At least that is what they said it was.

It was super fun.  Peter has a love for all things Harry Potter and examining plants and flowers.  He loves to play with his brothers, but can often be found alone and happily enjoying his own game either consisting of Harry Potter, football or feeding some toy animal a plant he is tearing up.  He loves learning Spanish and Math at school and enjoys coming home and trying to teach his new found knowledge to William or Haley.  He is an awesome kid, sometimes difficult to figure out, but very sweet in his heart and intentions.  Happy 7!

Random fun for February

So, lets get caught up on life.  February has been fun and eventful.

 This is Peter giving me the thumbs up.  Why?  Because he tried and liked some yummy peanut butter balls I made for a treat.  Why is this important?  Because this is the first home baked treat that I have made and Peter actually liked it.  Caleb and William will eat my home made items but Peter usually turns his nose in the air and walks away.  But on this momentous day, he tried it and liked it.

 Here are my three pomegranate buddies.  Caleb in this instance turns his nose in the air and refuses to eat the delicious pomegranate.  But that is ok by us because we love it!  Pictured here is the last of the last pomegranates of the year.  I told them to savor every bite because there would be no more until next Christmas time.  So sad.

We made a trip to the aviary so Caleb could do some scout stuff and we could see some cool looking birds.  It was slightly cold, snowy, but we were 5 of 10 other people there and it was a free day so all was great.

January will not be forgotten

Well, we missed posting about Christmas.  It was fun, the kids got loads of fun things to play with and we have no place to put it all.  We saw a buck deer, well I should say Diedre saw a buck run past the Gray's front window on Christmas morning - so freakin' cool!  The Gray's Christmas Eve singing/talent night was awesome as always!

 We took a ride on one of the Temple Square horse carriages this year and all loved it!  It was very cool

We also took a trip to Scofield to show the boys what it was like in the winter time.  Boy was it FRIGID!!!!! Icy cold, BRRRRRR, gloves were freezing it was so cold.  7 degrees below zero cold.  Needless to say the kids did not last long and we made a quick trip of it.  However, Peter and Caleb did manage to make it almost to the other side of the lake before turning around.  See those tiny black dots out there, those are my boys.  They only turned around because they said I was not coming with them. :)  We also found out there are hundreds of people who brave the cold and ice fish out there.  BRRR!

Now to January.  Boy was it a long month of waiting for February to come.  But we tried to make the most of it.  Our most exciting adventure was the zoo.

 We were able to see the river otters for the first time and they are fun to watch.  Here is Peter watching one swim, they are long and fast.

 We were able to see the cute baby giraffe, and four other giraffes in one tiny space.  I bet they cannot wait for spring to come.

We got to see the awesome sea lion swim and then the seals zip past for a good while.

One of the boys' favorite parts of the zoo trip was launching snow balls at anything they could find.  They honestly tried to avoid innocent people, except for the one kid that threw them back and for hitting each other.  They launched snow into the river, in the seals water, at any building they saw, at trees and yes at Haley and I.  They were in Heaven, and did not feel cold at all  It was a great way to say goodbye to January.  Yea for February!