I ain't one to brag or nothin', but... (yes, that's a quote from Mater)

My son is a genius! Okay, maybe that's a stretch, but he really did impress me yesterday. Grayson loves puzzles. Whenever my mom takes out her 1,000 piece puzzles, he thinks he needs to "help" us do them. Yesterday, I was cooking dinner, minding my own and Grayson breaks out one of his Cars puzzles (it's really Aiden's but let's be honest, he has no interest). By the time I turn around he's got this thing done:

He did that in no time at all, so I figure maybe he's ready for a bigger puzzle (and by bigger, I mean more pieces...the first one was huge with huge pieces). So I break out his (and yes, this one is his) other puzzle and he started pluggin' away.

He got the characters done all by himself and was stuck.

I placed one piece for him and then he was off again. It took a while, but he finished by himself!And then he was asking for more. By this time, Aiden saw I was taking pictures of Grayson, so he decided to join.

Aiden did the little Cars symbol you see (two pieces) and then got bored and took off. He really doesn't have the attention span...he's a bit like his father.

But Gray kept going to the bitter end.

Now come on...aren't you just a little impressed?

Finally!

We now have a family picture! A picture of my entire family! Did you hear? We have family pictures! Can you tell I'm excited?! We haven't had pictures done since November...2007. I know, I'm a slacker.

On Saturday, my cousin, Shawna, met us down at the Mesa Arts Center to snap a few shots of mi familia. I must say, she did an awesome job (and working with three kids is no picnic)! So, to show off her artistry and my clan, here's a little something for your viewing pleasure:

And I just loved this one of Mabel!

A day worth mentioning

Today would have been my dad's 65th birthday. This was to be the year he originally planned to retire from SRP. I'm so glad he was able to do that a bit earlier and attend his retirement party (even though I missed the entire presentation due to a fussy child, I hear it was great! At least I know the refreshments and gifts were great...he he).

This is a picture I took of him and my mom. We had gone over to the Pulte neighborhood so he could take some family pictures for us. I ended up snapping a few of them. I had them take their glasses off for some, but Mom and Dad just aren't Mom and Dad without their glasses, so I've always preferred pictures with glasses on (sunglass tint or not).

That was the last picture my family has had done since. I need to get crackin' and get a picture with Mabel in it!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Really????!

Aiden doesn't have the best track record when it comes to his behavior at school. The system his teacher uses is rather vague if you ask me, but I guess it works for her. Above you will see a picture of his "citizenship chart". At the top, you have a "Superstar". This is for a really super day! Below that is a "Marvelous Mustang", which is a normal day...no issues. Then it's a "chatty coyote". Pretty self explanatory (Aiden gets this A LOT). Then the "fussy frog", which is whining or talking back to the teach...at least this is what I've gathered from his past infractions. Next you have your "bouncy bunny" for not staying in your seat or running when you're supposed to walk. The last two pictures are "bear hug" or not keeping your appendages to yourself, and "messy crayon" for not having a clean work area or deliberately making a mess. We love these little tags, we often use "fussy frog" at home when the kids are whining. And then you have "other". Yesterday, as you can see, Aiden got an "other". I have a beef with this particular "other". It says he called two kids on the playground dummies. Really? This takes away his "marvelous mustang"? I must say, I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I asked Aiden why he called them dummies and he said they were filling in a hole that his friends were trying to dig. So if you ask me, they were being dummies and Aiden was sticking up for his friends! The other two should have gotten bad marks for the day for being dummies! Bret and I had a good laugh over this last night. We joked about sending a note back and asking if she felt the other kids were in fact dummies. I, of course, told Aiden that it was not nice to call names and then I took him out for ice cream. "Dumb Dinosaur" should be a new category on the teacher's list.

Happy Hunting

Our Easter started with a visit from the Easter Bunny on Saturday. Sundays are just too hectic these days, so we asked the Bunny to please come early...and he did! Imagine that! Here are the chillins enjoying their Easter loot.


My neighbor, Rene, made them each a little stuffed animal. I am not a fan of stuffed animals...wastes of space if you ask me. But these things were so stinkin' cute! I saw the patterns and asked her to make them for me.

That afternoon we went to my cousin, Kevin's, house for the Annual Biggs Easter Potluck (he has an absolutely amazing house by the way...we'll attribute that to his wife, Kelly). I love these things! Talk about good eats! Everyone brings something and with a family our size you can just imagine the plethora of food. I consider it a challenge to sample everything! And then there's an Easter egg hunt for the little ones. Just look at the anticipation!

And then melee ensued:

We got a picture of all of the counsins' children. I can't believe this thing has been going for so many years. I remember doing this egg hunt when I was a kid. Aaaah the memories.
Here's the lady who started it (far left), my cousin Kathy. We did skip it last year, but other than that, this is the first year it wasn't at her house. The family is just getting to dang big!

Sunday evening we had Easter dinner at my casa. Then my mom put on an Easter egg hunt for her children and then the grandchillins. She may have overdone it, but it was a lot of fun!

We didn't think any of the kids would find this egg. At least not without help. But leave it to the youngest! Brielle found it all on her own! Pretty impressive hunting skills at one and a half years old.

And Yowza! What's this? A little Easter Keester for you all! Every time I tried to take a picture of my kids hunting, my sister, Kendra, walked in front of the lens. She did this at Kevin's and at my house. Just thought I'd embarass her a little. What are big sisters for?

We hope you had a Happy Easter!

Silence...sweet silence.

Grayson has lost his voice! Should I be excited about that? Here's what he sounds like:

He's actually a bit better in this video because I waited too long to do it. It's been kind of nice. Although the other day he got out of the tub and slipped and fell. Bret went in there to find him laying on the ground crying...but not really crying. More like miming a cry. That was kind of sad. But ooooh, the quiet around here (when there's not another soul around for him to torment, of course).

I hate downloading videos. After getting Mabel rolling and putting that on my blog, I swore I'd never do this again, but you just had to hear his voice! I got the Noah's ark book out to get him talking without looking at the camera. Plus I like the way he says "lion" and "elephant". Two for one on this video! But it appears we have a bit of work to do on his recognizing animals.

Boys will be boys

And girls will be confused as to why...

Yes, that is the fort in the background and yes, I'm still blogging stuff from Spring Break. I'm a little slow these days. The fort has long since been torn down. A moment of silence if you will.