All Hallow's Eve

We started our Halloween festivities at the Medina's house. We threw together some last minute costumes. 

My dad and Jamey raided Dano's closet. My dad is either having a heart attack or is a thug. 

I raided my mom's closet.

Then we moved on to the Star Wars portion of Halloween. Jamey bought a teddy bear from a thrift store, gutted it, and turned Simon into an Ewok.

Miles chose to be Luke and is constantly telling us how he has Luke Skywalker hair. I'm sure you'd agree that there is a definite similarity.

I tried to repurpose a sheet into Leia's garb and rocked the sock buns. Jamey made me and Eli blasters out of PVC pipe, some scraps of wood, and black electrical tape. They are fantastic.

Jamey and Eli were our masked men representing the dark side (even though Eli is technically a clone trooper instead of a storm trooper).

Meet the Kangaroos.

We realize that we're painstakingly behind on posting our lives. we also are aware that we sent out some Christmas cards with our blog address. One would assume that we actually update our blog regularly. So here's some stuff we never got around to:

We had our first official soccer season. As the coach I figured I would sneak Miles onto the Kindergarten team. Turns out only 3 out of 9 players were in Kindergarten so most of the "coaching" I did was to convince them to stay on the field without crying. Maybe next year.

Eli preferred being on defense, which warmed my little heart. He's pretty good too! Miles kind of just went with the flow.

Look how cute they are though. Go Kangaroos!

we like to party.

Eli turned 6 (in September) and requested a Star Wars birthday party. We channeled our inner jedis by making light sabers, shooting the death star, pinning the light saber on Yoda, and of course attacking Darth Vader. Jamey made a singularly awesome R2D2 cake. We had a lot of fun.

 Jamey threw together some cardboard spaceships the night before.

Miles has requested the very same birthday in March.

first days of school

Simon turned 1 in August:

He was excited about it...

And all the cousins helped him enjoy his new presents...

Also, the boys went to school. We were all pretty excited about that. Eli is sticking with the plan of being a basketball player even though he hasn't ever played.

Miles told me he wanted to be a firefighter, but still Miles. His preschool is in a gymnastics facility so he gets to run around, jump on a trampoline, do gymnastics, and learn stuff all at the same time.

This one is still hanging around with me at home though...

in which flash comes to town

While my mom and Carrie went to LA, my dad came to Pocatello. We lured him here with disc golfing and a 5K "fun run" fundraiser at Eli's school. I am of the opinion that no run is actually "fun" and this race was on the side of a country gravel road with masses of children who had obviously trained about as well as I had so I was not disappointed.

The proof:

And the glory:

Perhaps this picture merits some explanation. Part of the fundraiser was a yard sale (we bought a filing cabinet because we're mature). This crew just rolled in like it was nothing. There is a BULL and a DONKEY in that VAN. No big deal. I'm not sure what kind of yard sale finds they thought would fit in the vehicle with them. Nor do I wish to venture where the animals pooped while they galavanted around town. Idaho.

Disc golf was impressive. Eli picked it up very well. He learned the benefits of facial exertion from Grandpa Flash.

the hair

we really do give the boys haircuts. eli is orderly and likes his locks cut short. i asked miles if he wanted short hair like his brother. his reply was, "no. i just like crazy hair." wish granted. simon doesn't have to worry about it because my kids are always basically bald for a good 18 months.

happy mom

Happy Mothers Day to me...

The day started off with breakfast in bed. Toast and bagel, because I love my carbs and they make for sweet letters. Isn't Jamey talented. Breakfast in bed is always a party around here because the boys join you and eat most of your food.

My one request was to actually be in a picture with my children. Mission accomplished even though I ignored my husband's input that the lighting wasn't great and lo and behold... the lighting isn't great. But nobody is crying and they're looking at the camera so I'm going to chalk it up as a success.

And a family shot right after church. Not incredibly scenic, but you get the picture. We're a cute family.

And lastly a sweet picture of my favorite present. Eli drawing made uber awesome and wearable.

bunnies and bow ties

I got my craft on this Easter and made bow ties for my boys. And in honor of the Earth (and because I didn't make it to buy fabric) I used a shirt that my grandpa had given Jamey. So we had a little piece of him with us even though he's far away. The group shot failed miserably, as was to be expected. Simon wasn't very happy even though his big brothers were giving him all sorts of love and attention.

Seersucker pants (which I think is a tad more acceptable in the South than in Idaho) and bow ties. How adorable are these kids anyway?

"you're only dancing on this earth for a short while"

what's that? you think we have all spontaneously combusted? not true. in fact here's a little slice of life from kearldom straight from google chat along with a relatively recent picture of the boys (before it got cold and snowy): 

me:  you should have seen the boys when i told them the music we were listening to was by CAT stevens.

eli was beside himself that you could have an animal name

miles just wanted to dance and show me his awesome moves

simon is bird screeching at the christmas tree

 Jamey:  and that pretty much sums up their personalities

 me:  i really do like our kids

 Jamey:  they are good little humans

happy 4th

we were in utah for the fourth. we had a very long yet fantastic day. we went hiking in the morning to timpanogos cave and i managed not to have a baby on the way. success.

then we took LONG naps and headed out to watch Cars 2. it was a little disappointing, but the boys had fun anyway. this is the only picture of us in our red, white, and blue.

we finished the day off with some fireworks. they legalized aerial fireworks in utah this year so we watched somewhere around 5,000 shows at once. eli was in rare form. his mouth did NOT stop moving the whole time. i started taking notes because it was so amazing... here are some highlights:

"I don't like when the earth is dark. I don't want the earth to explode or we'll just fall into space."

"They're everywhere, this is crazy." (Referring to the fireworks we could see all over utah county)

"No dad, 'ridiculous' is not what earth is made of."

"Kristie can not stop laughing. Well, don't you want a waterhead? Why is Kristie not laughing?"

"I don't know everything about fireworks. If you don't say funny things it's not silly."

"I just want that little white circle to do something." "That's a star Eli." "I DIDN'T KNOW STARS WERE FIREWORKS!"

then finally, and this one i have no explanation for,

"Thousands of chickens"