Nature Center and zoo

Today we went with Alex's preschool group to the Nature Center. The kids all had a really good time and the tour guide was good at keeping their attention and making them stay with her and not run ahead. Mostly we got to look at a whole bunch of fish, birds, and squirrels. They did also get to see lots of mounted animals, like bears and wolves and deer and elk. It was a great activity for them for little to no cost. If you don't do a guided tour, it's free, although they do willingly take donations. If you do a guided tour, they have a $10 mininum and you have to schedule the time in advance. I may take all the boys back there sometime when Ben can come with us to check it out.

Here are some pictures from the outing:

Everyone is looking over the bridge at the fish below

These are the fish below

Looking at the fish from under the water

The big one is looking at me!

Alex and the grizzly

Alex in the bear cave

Chris in the bear cave


Last Saturday we went to the zoo for Kyle's and Sabrina's birthday party. Since they were doing Earth Week activities, the boys got to see the River Fish and do some fun activities at the zoo. It was a bit chilly, but ended up being a lot of fun.

Here are some pictures from that:

The River Fish and the kids

The River Fish trying to get Chris to come to him

The story lady at the zoo

These were the kids all making "cotton tops"


And just because I thought it was cute, I'm adding this picture. Chris had pulled out our baby bathtub and decided to put his turtle in it and put the blanket over the turtle and then got his pillow and a blanket to go sleep by the turtle.

8 years in the making

About 8 years ago, I started putting together a quilt made out of denim squares cut from old jeans, as well as some strips of flannel sheets. My grandma Borrowman even let me have her sewing machine so that I could do it. I was pretty excited to be making this quilt and took my time gathering the jeans and cutting out the squares from them and sewing the squares together. I would make bigger squares out of 9 small squares and put the flannel strip around that. I had almost all the bigger jean squares put together and had two rows complete with the jean squares and the flannel strips (I'd do 4 big squares per row). Then somewhere amidst all that sewing, I stopped. It may have been because we moved from our apartment or I may have just gotten busy with work and such. I don't really remember the real reason I stopped. I do know that my grandma's sewing machine stopped working quite as well as it had been, so that might have been a pretty large factor in the reason for stopping. So for the last 6 or so years, it's been sitting in a closet waiting to be finished, largely forgotten.

As you may know, Bryce gave me a sewing machine for my birthday. I was pretty excited about it and sewed some baby gifts for a few people, sewed a pillow back together that had been coming apart, and kept thinking of things I could sew. Yesterday I decided to pull out the old quilt and start to work on it. I was surprised at how much I had actually gotten done and wondered why I had stopped in the first place, and why I hadn't pulled it out and worked on it within the last few years. Then I remembered my grandma's sewing machine, that's still sitting up in our guest bedroom, and thought, "Oh, yeah. That's why." So after lunch and after I had put Daniel in bed for his nap, I started sewing squares and strips together. I took a short break to go get Ben from the bus then got back to work on it, stopping again to give the boys baths and then to head over to get pizza and ice cream for dinner. After we got back home and put the boys in bed, I had to run to the store to get some stuff for preschool at our house this morning. While I was there, I bought batting for the quilt and some new scissors and some thread. I got home and worked on it until I had finished putting the top together and put it with the batting and the bottom sheet and pinned the edges together to be ready to sew and finally went to bed at 1:00 in the morning.

This morning I got up and figured I'd have to wait until naptime again. Ben was sick and stayed home from school, but I didn't think that would affect my being able to finish the quilt. So after preschool and lunch, I put Daniel back in bed, got the sewing machine out, and finished sewing the edges of the quilt. I had just finished doing that and was taking a needle and thread to tack down parts in the middle so that the batting wouldn't get too bunchy when we have to wash it and through regular wear and tear, when Bryce called and wanted us to come pick him up because he was sick. So I loaded up the boys, we picked up Bryce, and came home, where I once again got back to working on the quilt. So now after 8 years and a few hours of work, a bent sewing machine needle, and a sense of accomplishment, my quilt is finally finished.

Now I need to find something else to sew.

Anyway, here's a picture of my completed quilt:

Hearing Test

Alex had his hearing and speech test today. Before the doctor actually started the hearing test, he asked a few questions, like if his vocabulary is delayed or if he has balance or motor skills problems, or if we think he may have a hearing problem. I answered no to all of those, and he pointed out Alex's selective listening (we asked him to turn around in his chair and he ignored us for a bit). Then the doctor looked in Alex's ears, which looked good. After he looked in the ears, he started the first test where they test the pressure on the ear drums. Alex's were just fine. Then Chris, Daniel, and I had to go out because it needed to be quieter in the room. Not too much later than that, he came out and got us and told me what each of the tests did and said that Alex's hearing is fine, that he has no problems with that. He also had a good understanding of speech and vocabulary, and he did notice that Alex does have a hard time forming some of his words. He didn't seem too concerned about that and didn't even give us anything to work on with Alex for that, so it is something that may improve over time, especially if we help him work on some of it. At least now we can say that we know for sure that when Alex isn't answering us or seems to hear us, it's just that he's not paying attention.

A couple of birthdays

Congratulations to Jarom and Katie for the birth of their second baby, Dennis Ivan. He was born on Thursday, April 3rd.




Yesterday, April 4th was my 33rd birthday (Cindy's too). I had a pretty good day. A family in my ward offered to take the youngest 3 kids while Ben was in school so I could enjoy a few hours doing whatever I wanted. I decided to have Bryce take me to lunch. Then he went with me while I used my gift certificate to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory from Jarom and Katie. He drove home with me to get the boys from the Hassards, then took the van. When he got back, we went to the store to pick up the cake I had ordered for myself and picked up some sandwiches from Cobby's for dinner. He and the boys got me a new sewing machine (I asked for it) and the dvd's of Anne of Green Gables. I ended up having a pretty good day.

Bryce had us do the candles this way. It's 100001, or 33:



Today is Sarah's 3rd birthday, so happy birthday to her. These kids are growing up fast!

New look

Okay, so I've been thinking about doing this for a long time and finally broke down and did it. So far I like it. My first thought after I did it was that I looked like De. I think it's kind of fun and good for a different look. If you don't like it, you're welcome to your opinion and you won't hurt my feelings.




Also, when Neil and Amy were up visiting on their way to Washington, I took a couple pictures of Miriam and Daniel sitting together. Miriam saw Daniel sitting and crawled over and sat by him. It was pretty cute. Here are a couple of the pictures:




Alex took this one of Sarah. I thought it was cute, so I'm adding it too.