It's a MYSTERY!!

THE CRIME:

It was a dark and stormy night (it REALLY was!). I walked into the kitchen to get the dessert I had labored over the phone to prepare when I felt my stomach sink......or maybe it just grumbled in ruined anticipation. Somebody had eaten all the chocolate sauce that came with the Chocolate Dunkers from Pizza Hut!! I could not let anybody get away with such a dastardly deed in my house!






THE SUSPECTS:
CONNER
Age:10
Aliases: Conner Bonner, Little Man
Motive: He's the oldest and tired of having to share everything with younger siblings. If he acted quickly, he wouldn't have to share the precious chocolate!!






JUDE
Age: 7
Aliases: Jubby, Bubby, Jub-Jub, Jubbers, The Dude
Motive: He has been in a slightly grumpy mood all day. Would there be a more perfectly wicked way to spread the grumpiness than depriving the family of chocolaty happiness?






ASHER
Age: 5
Aliases: Asher Basher, Asher-Bob Pajama Pants
Motive: Everybody else gets to enjoy all sorts of yummy desserts. Sadly, there are so many that he cannot. But....he can and will enjoy chocolate sauce!! Let the masses leave his beloved chocolate alone and go eat all of their fancy ice creams and puddings!





AVERY
Age: 2
Aliases: Mavis, Averykins, Baby
Motive: Chocolaty goodness is "Mummy, mummy!!!" (in Avery-speak that means (Yummy, yummy")







THE CLUES:
BARBARA MANATEE
Significance: This is Avery's favorite toy at the moment. Barbara does everything that Avery does - she sleeps when Avery sleeps, eats what Avery eats, gets hugs and kisses when Avery does, gets her diaper changed laying down beside Avery, etc. I found a soaking wet Barbara smeared with chocolate thrown haphazardly into the washing machine. Did Avery try to clean her beloved Barbara, or did one of her brothers plant this evidence to try to pin their crime on the cute little sister that won't get in as much trouble anyway?


CHOCOLATE HAND PRINT
Significance: This was found in the bathtub. Based on it's size, it clearly belongs to either Avery or Asher, through which was hard to tell because it was a little smeared. Did it come from Avery trying to wash Barbara, or from Asher trying to clean off his hands and plant Barbara before he got caught?






THE SMOKING GUN:

SURVEILLANCE VIDEO
Mystery solved!! Little Miss Avery was caught in the act on film. Notice the chocolate covered hand and Barbara Manatee in the lower right corner. To add salt to our wounds.....I see NO remorse whatsoever on that cherubic face!! I guess the time has come for me to sit down with Avery and have the talk about desire, cravings, and the need for chocolate. *sigh* They grow up so fast!





THE SENTENCE:
A THOROUGH BATH
Perhaps that was what she was after all along - we will never truly know her motivations, but at least I can sleep easy tonight.

That's my girl!

Phew! A disaster of incomprehensible proportions was narrowly avoided this afternoon. After a long, frantic search, Asher and I finally found Avery's Hello Kitty plush toy so she could finally lay down for her nap, sniffling from the recent trauma of not knowing where her beloved toy was, but with a content smile. So, where was elusive hiding spot? Well, perhaps I should explain.....

Avery seems to be ALL girl all the way through. So why did I bother searching under the couch, in the toy car bin, in the garbage cans? All I really needed to do was sit and think about it for a minute. What could possibly tear Avery's attention from Hello Kitty? There is only one possible answer: shoes!!!! Sure enough, there it was, laid aside on the floor beside the shoe rack. This little girl loves shoes - she claps when we walk into a shoe store, brings me shoes at any time of the day to put on her, and of course loves to try all my shoes on, too. While perhaps I should be slightly disconcerted by how early she has fallen into this stereotype, I can't help but wonder if it wasn't passed down in her genes. Curse you, Chris! :P

Recitals.....Well one recital and one performance of another sort.

Conner and Jude's piano teacher recently moved, but before she did they had one final recital. The boys both worked hard and performed their pieces very well. A BIG thank you goes out to their fabulous teacher, Nikki! We will miss you!! (Yeah, she'll probably kill me for this!)

A couple of days later, Conner wanted to play for me all the songs he had learned in school on his recorder. However, he played them all with a twist. Oh, I love my boys even though I don't always understand them! *hehe* (Note: This was am impromptu perfermance, so I was holding Avery, and she got the camera.)

Graduation Day(s)

We had two big graduations this year *wink* - Jude graduated from kindergarten and Asher graduated from preschool (or at least one year of it).

Jude got his very own cap and tassel to keep. His class worked very hard on the program. It was full of songs, with actions and dancing, as well as poems. The whole thing was SO cute!! Afterwards we took him out for lunch.

Asher's graduation was also adorable! The classroom was decorated with balloons and streamers and each child made their own cap, got a HUGE custom decorated cookie, and special graduation necklace. They also had a slide show presentation of pictures they had taken all throughout preschool. It was incredibly cute!!
Congratulations, graduates!!

The Birthday Boys

Conner and Jude's birthdays are only a day apart, and this year we celebrated them mostly together. We pretty much let them call the shots as to what we did for a whole Saturday. So, here is what a 6-year-old's and 9-year-old's collaborative day of fun looked like:

1. Get up early and go to McDonald's for breakfast. Kind of a funny request, but one that has a bit of a back story. About two months ago Jude had a dental appointment at 7:00 in the morning. Chris was out of town, so I packed up all the kids and took them along, but wasn't able to get breakfast in them before it was time to go. So, in the few minutes between the dentist and school, we went through the drive-through at McDonald's for a quick breakfast (of champions). Jude wasn't allowed to chew anything, so he had to settle for orange juice and yogurt, but the other kids had the little McGriddle pancake and sausage sandwiches. Ever since then Jude's been REALLY wanting one of those sandwiches, so that was a birthday request.

2. Go bowling. Our kids love bowling - it's kind of weird because neither Chris nor I bowl. We took them once for fun and ever since they seem to crave it fort-monthly. The first half was cool because they had the cosmic bowling going with lots of black lights - another thing our kids are fascinated by - but for no apparent reason they turned those off midway. Oh, well. They all still had fun! And just because this is me, I HAVE to say how stinking cute Asher looked in his bowling shoes!! They should really sell them in regular retail stores!!

3. Had pizza for lunch. Enough said.

4. Chris took the three boys to the movie "Up" while Avery stayed home and napped. Of course popcorn and candy were involved. After all, it was their birthdays!

5. Had more pizza for dinner. They got to call the shots, remember?

6. Had cake and ice cream. Jude has been obsessed with Pokemon lately and knew immediately when I asked him what cake he wanted that it needed to be a chocolate pokeball. Speaking from a decorating standpoint, I was very pleased. Although, nothing could beat the ease of Conner's cake - he wanted to make his own "chocolate, chocolate cake." He made the cake, frosted it, and even decorated it by writing "Happy Birthday Conner" on it. I only had to give a little supervision and help. It was a beautiful thing!

7. The boys opened their presents from us - matching Super Soakers! It was a fantastic day, so we took them out for a trial run. Here's a picture of the birthday gift:

And here is a picture of a little boy whose two older brothers got Super Soakers for their birthdays (he was loving it, don't worry.)

And finally here is an adorable picture of Avery enjoying watching the merry chaos. She giggled so much every time the boys would let out one of the special super blasts of water.
8. Bed time. OK - so they didn't get to call ALL the shots, we still made them go to bed, but they all slept very well that night. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNER AND JUDE!!

The Best Fortune Ever

We had Chinese take out tonight and everybody topped off their meal with a fortune cookie (well, Avery topped off her meal by throwing a fortune cookie). Jude got what is very possibly the BEST fortune ever:

Dessert CAN make you happy.

Park Pride Day, 2009

Last weekend we went with our ward to a couple of local parks to help clean-up and beautify as part of the annual "Park Pride Day" extravaganza. The park district provided all the materials, but the man power was all from local citizens. It's a great way to get invested in the community and build unity in neighborhoods. Here is a run down of the kids' activities:

Conner and his friends Matthew tried a little of everything: planting flowers, weeding, mulching, picking up trash, and the never to be under-rated "air raking."

Jude stayed busy with the mulch, either spreading it or climbing the huge piles put out at each park. However, the most notable way he spent his time was by shamelessly flirting with the teenage girls there helping. They ate him up and he said "I made lots of new big girl friends." Good for you, little Romeo!

Asher spent his time throwing away trash, climbing the mulch, and (the most time consuming activity of all) trying to avoid getting his picture taken. Haha, though. My friend got one! Avery did what Avery does best: charm everyone with her smiles and waves while taking off her shoes and socks.