Family Tree

Part of Landon's homework assignment a few weeks ago was for him to fill in a preprinted form of his family tree. As with most "normal" families....there was a spot for him, his parents and both sets of grandparents. Poor kid was so lost on how to fill it out. He wanted to know which people he should CHOOSE to put in the preprinted lines on the tree. :0( I had to explain to him that not every family fits into the "normal" category and that we would just have to add some lines of our own to make his tree nice and full. He was so proud and excited when we were done filling it in with all of the names. He couldn't wait to take it to school to show his teacher how many people he had in his "UNIQUE" family tree. :0)
What I didn't know was that the homework was the outline for their art project at school. I saw this in his backpack yesterday and had so much fun looking at it. Apparently each child had to draw faces on the circles and put them on their "real" family tree made of construction paper.

See...there's Landon in the middle. To the left is the Robinson/Burnham side of the family and to the right is the Holtman/Zeyer side of the family. I think he did a fabulous job. What was funny for me to look at, however, was the faces that he drew for each person.....
Here is Landon. He drew his hair poking up in the back. It must have been a bad hair day for him. Here is Jaysen and me. At first I thought he drew Jaysen with an angry face, but Landon assured me that it was a sad face, not an angry face. When I asked him why he drew Jaysen as sad he just laughed. I guess he just thought it would be funny. I am loving how sweet and nice he drew my picture. Don't I look angelic? :0)Here are Jeff and Shirlaine along with Grandma Zeyer. Apparently Grandpa Zeyer didn't make it through the bus ride home. His head is missing from the tree and all that is left is his label. :0) I was rather humored that Landon would make sure to get Jeff's "soul patch" in on his head.

Here are Grandma and Grandpa Holtman. When I asked him what was up with the angry eyes on Ronald he told me that sometimes he just gets mad. :0) {I think we all do} But, it's great that Landon drew a fluff of hair for him.

Here's Nana and Papa. Landon was so tickled with his drawing of Papa. It was the first face he pointed out to me and he was laughing so hard. "Did you see how I drew Papa's hair?"

Grandma and Grandpa Burnham fared the best overall. Perry grew a head full of hair overnight apparently....and look how happy he is about it. :0)

Here is Mackenzee. Doesn't she look so sad? Why is she sad? Because she is always naughty and has to go to time out. That's what Landon said. If you've been around here lately you would have noticed that she has tended to have a perma-pout on her face. Such a drama queen!

And here is baby brother Brayden. I think he looks kind of scared, don't you?

Anyway, I was glad to see that Landon understood that his family tree just had a few more branches than some of the others in his classroom and that it didn't mean that he had to choose which ones to add to his tree. Sometimes we just have to get a bigger tree. :0)

Thanks Landon

Landon brought me these flowers when he came home on Sunday night. They are my Mother's Day present from him. He even made me a homemade card with a butterfly drawing on the front and a poem on the inside.
"Roses are red, Violets are Blue,
Sugar is sweet, and so are you.
Roses are red, Violets are Blue,
You are my mom and I love you."
Such a sweet little boy I have! Thanks so much Landon!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fuh-un

I finished getting my outfit for 80s girls night together this last weekend. I must say I am super excited to take it out on the road.....to the bowling alley. :0) I have been planning this outfit for over a month now and I think I have done a fabulous job of getting in touch with my inner Cyndi Lauper. I'll post more pictures after girls night next week.....this picture is minus the hair and makeup that will be necessary to "complete" my look. :0)

taking it when we can get it

The weather changes have been driving me crazy. It's 70 degrees outside one day, and then all of a sudden we're back to wearing coats. I need the sun to stay. There's something about a sunny day that just makes me FEEL better. You know? So, when the clouds broke on Saturday afternoon, we decided to take advantage of the glimpse of blue sky and get outside. We, meaning Mackenzee and I anyway.....Jaysen may have had to be dragged out to the car and forced into going along for the ride. :0) Amazingly enough, he did end up enjoying himself once we were out amongst "nature".
We drove down the canyon towards Centennial Park and stopped off at this waterfall. After watching from the sidelines for a bit, we decided to jump the cement barricade and climb down to the area behind the waterfall.

Because it had rained SO MUCH that day I was worried about the path being too slippery for Mackenzee or even Jaysen holding Mackenzee. So, I went down first to check it out. See that pink dot? That's me. :0) And my muscles. :0)

Here's the up close picture just in case you were wanting to see my magnificence a little better. :0) OK....so being out and climbing around gave me a bit of a natural high. Nothing wrong with that. See the waterfall behind me? I was getting more than just a little bit wet standing there.

Kenzee wanted to get close to the water too, so Jaysen took her over. She didn't want to get down though.....there was mud. :0) She was very proud that she "walked" underneath a waterfall though. She bragged about it to Landon when he got home the next day. I promised him I'd take him back over there so he could do it too.

I'm itching to go out with the kids and Jaysen and do more stuff like this. I used to hike all the time in my "pre-children" era and I really miss it. Now, if the weather would just WORK WITH ME I could really get back in touch with my young and sassy self. :0)

Centennial Park

This is the southwest side of the Snake River Canyon at Centennial Park. The scenery was just gorgeous and the storm broke just long enough for us to enjoy the afternoon. I love the bright green that pops out when spring comes.

Looking up......

Olivia....again

Really?

Isn't there an animal that gives birth to their babies and then after a short time leaves them to fend for themselves? Today I am completely understanding that thought process. SIGH.
Mackenzee knows EVERYTHING. At three years old. I thought it was supposed to be the terrible two's... but she has apparently found the need to carry that on in exaggerated form.

Let me share just A FEW of the wonderful things my Mackenzee has done these last few days.

I gave up on naps a while ago. The one hour wrestling match was just not worth it anymore. Instead, Mackenzee has to have a 45 minute "quiet time" where she has to lay on the couch. She can read or play puzzles, but she has to stay on the couch. A few days ago quiet time was over and so we decided to go for a walk before the rain came. On the way back inside the house I noticed black lines on the back of her skirt. When I looked closer I realized it was a large letter "a". Where did she get a large letter "a" sticker you ask? From the wall in the basement. My vinyl letters that I had special ordered just for Jaysen that spelled, "The Man Cave" were no longer on the wall. They were stuck to the couch, the coffee table, blankets, the carpet.....you get the idea. I was livid. She was in SO much trouble.
Move to later that evening. I'm cleaning up the shreds of paper that Mackenzee cut up with scissors that covered the floor of my computer room. {She's not allowed to play with scissors}
I look on the bottom of my foot and there is a small letter "s" stuck there. The letter is blue. Kind of like the vinyl lettering I have in the bathroom downstairs......
If I was livid before.....you can imagine how I was feeling then. I just wanted to cry from frustration. I went downstairs and found that half of the letters in my cute little "Wash your hands, mom said so" sign were no longer on the wall. She let me know she did that part when she was supposed to be "thinking about it". That's the nice way I phrase TIME OUT around here. So, after she had gotten in trouble for doing it the first time, she decided she needed to continue on with the next room over.
Skip to the next day.....blue chapstick colored on the walls. Sigh. We go to work...she gets into Jaysen small tool kit that is in his office and tries to take a pair of wire cutters to the wallpaper. I caught her before any damage could be done. Jaysen thought she was playing with the putting mat that was in the same corner as his tool kit. Sneaky little girl......
Come home....quiet time again...
As paranoid as I am now, I go down to the basement to check on her. What has she done this time? Completely destroyed Landon's puzzle he was working on. Crumpled and scattered EVERYWHERE. I knew Landon would be so heartbroken about it too. :0(
I could go on and on with this stuff. She is just being so destructive lately and it's driving me crazy! Even Jaysen, who used to swear she could do no wrong, is getting frustrated with her. She is a whirlwind.
Sigh.
Maybe today will be better. {Keep your fingers crossed for me}
Now that I think about it.....I should probably go make sure she has broken something......