we had a bo-bo birthday party for scooby doo (the cups on their heads are party hats).
then we went outside to play. i was on the phone when i looked over and saw that ava had brought her toilet outside because she had to go.
a victory dance!
then we went back inside and played a game. but, first ava had to put down her little towel she insists on carrying everywhere incase she has an accident.
We went to Shamrock Farms with some friends during the kids' spring break a couple weeks ago. It was my first outing with all four kids by myself and I was a little stressed! Especially when, in the middle of the tour, Ava wet her pants, Kate was screaming cuz she was hungry and Cole and Claire were running around not listening to me. AHHHH!!! But I got some cool pictures, which is all I need to make it worth it!
The kids got to feed a baby cow. It was incredibly cute.
The picture is out of focus because it was so fast, but Ava did feed the cow!
Cole, however, would not participate. He just stood by and watched. He's always been nervous around animals, although if you ask him, he'll say he's not nervous one bit and could even beat up a lion if it came near him, no sweat.
Ava was looking closely at my face and, pointing to my freckles, said, "Mom, why do you have polka dots?"
I took Claire and Cole to see the musical, "Oklahoma" because some of our friends were in it. After it was over I asked Cole if he liked it. He replied, "It was ok, but it would've been a lot better if it had dinosaurs in it."
I gave Claire a big hug once and she started to fake cry because she said it hurt. I told her there's no way it could've hurt badly enough to cry to which she responded, "Mom, I'm like a sponge - squeeze me tight and I cry."
Ava and Claire were playing house and I overheard this:
Ava: "I'm going to be the brother!"
Claire: "No Ava, you're the sister. You're a girl."
Ava: (pause) "Oh yeah."
I cannot possibly remember all of the random things Cole yells out each day, but here is one I did happen to document:
"My name is Jacob Jacovian! Don't call me Smith until the third grade!"
Ava was building something with her friends and I overheard her say, "Team work, guys!"
Our family was going to clean our church building one Saturday morning and Claire, moaning, said, "I don't wanna clean the church! It isn't ladylike!"
We were at Stake Conference (a church thing) and the speakers were broadcast from Salt Lake City. Cole had been playing on the floor but when the lights turned off and the movie screen rolled down he jumped right up and asked, "Are they going to show Phineas and Ferb?"
"I want to wrap MY Christmas presents, Mom! I won't look I promise!"
-Ava, after I brought out some of her siblings Christmas presents for her to wrap
We hosted Thanksgiving this year at our house. Apparently this was a conversation on the playground between Cole and the daughter of one of the families that was coming over:
Savannah: "I'm coming to your house for Thanksgiving."
Cole: "No you're not."
Savannah: "Yes I am. Your Mom is cooking dinner and we're coming over."
Cole: "You can't be coming over. My mom doesn't cook."
Ava had a lesson in Sunday School about choosing the right. Her teacher told us that Ava said she didn't think she ever chose the right, but when her teacher helped her to see that obeying your mom and dad, saying your prayers, eating a healthy dinner, etc. was all choosing the right she got really excited about it. Ever since then she reminds everyone to say "And help us choose the right" in any prayer that we give. She also reminds Cole that he's not choosing the right when he's having a temper tantrum. And when Grant told the kids how his pet crab at work bit his finger, she exclaimed, "But Dad! He didn't choose the right!" She also yelled out the car window the other day, "Everybody choose the right!" The lesson obviously had an impact. However, when she was in trouble the other day and Grant was reminding her that she didn't choose the right she said, "But Dad, those are just words!"
We were reading out of the Book of Mormon one night about a war between the Nephites and Lamanites. Cole said, "If I were them I wouldn't fight. I would just problem-solve."
When I'm on the computer in the morning and Ava is watching cartoons, she very often yells out to me, "Get me a corn-dog!" She just needs to add "woman!" to the end of it and wear a wife-beater and we could live in a trailer park.
Claire was in time-out and when I went to talk to her about what she'd done wrong she covered her face with a pillow and said, "Claire is closed for business."
Ava was at a horse track with some family friends. The mom told me that when they asked Ava if she wanted a turn riding the horse that she looked at the horse, looked back at them and exclaimed, "No way, dude!"
Our Little Family
Grant and Cassidy both grew up in Texas, however did not meet until they were at BYU together in the fall of 1999. After Cassidy asked Grant out to a girl's preference dance (there's more to that story) they started dating and got married in Salt Lake in the spring of 2000. Claire Violet was born two years later in Aug of '02 in Utah. When Claire was a few months old, the Lundgrens packed up and moved out to Milwaukee, WI where Grant works at Kohl's Department Store's corporate offices in the buying department. They bought their first home in Milwaukee in Jan of '04 and Cole Theodore was born a few weeks later in Feb of '04. The Lundgrens welcomed their third child, Ava Rose, in Nov '06 which forced them to buy a minivan, ending any hope Grant and Cassidy had that they might still be cool. In the summer of '08 the Lundgrens' moved across the country to Phoenix, much to Cassidy's delight. It's been nice to live closer to family and away from Milwaukee winters! Grant now works for PetSmart at their corporate offices and buys cat litter (yes, that's a real job). In Jan 2010 Kate Iris was born into their family, much to all of the older children's delight. Cassidy stays at home with the kids, loves throwing parties, teaches voice lessons, does as much interior design as possible, is in musicals when she gets a chance, and runs a photography business on the side.