Before I forget.

Yesterday Jacob was telling me something about his new Converse shoes and their shoelaces. I don't really even know what he was talking about, but he finished his thought with, "Isn't dat intewesting?" Oooooh, so cute.

Tonight after the boys had gone to bed I was working on a project for Bennett's baptism when suddenly Owen and Jake came running upstairs, almost in tears. Actually, Owen really was crying. "Mom, we're really scared," he said, "Bennett has been telling us all about black holes and he says they're real!"

It was so funny and random, but when I saw how upset they were, I thought to myself, "Self, do you really want to tell him that they are real? Why not lie and say nah, that's just a story?" But instead, I told them that they do exist, but I don't know much about them. After the boys' initial shock and dismay at the horrible thought, we hopped on the computer and spent the next half hour doing research on the internet about black holes. We looked up the meaning of solar system and galaxy, read about distances from earth to various planets, and learned that our little earth is so far away from any possibility of being sucked into a black hole that they could go to sleep peacefully. No worries about being swallowed whole.

Phew!

We also read up on a list of people who have walked on the moon, gravity, the atmosphere, which planets have water on them, whether it snows on Mars (it does, FYI, but the flakes have not been known to reach the ground. Bennett shared this info with us, and NASA confirmed it.), and who "Houston" is. (Bennett thought it must be a person) We read about and looked at photos of the Apollo 13 mission, and even watched the movie clip for the movie based on the story.

Sidenote: Holy cow, Tom Hanks was young when that movie came out!

We read up on a range of other topics as well. It was so fun, and the boys went back down to bed peacefully and happily. It was a fun little research session. They love "doing research." Usually it's about animals, but tonight was deep space.

Owen absolutely loves learning about outer space. His ceiling is covered with planets and stars, a solar system mobile we made, and his alarm clock projects various images from space on the ceiling. He is fascinated by it all.

Also tonight, we were listening to S.O.S. by The Police. I had been telling the kids the names of all the bands while we listened to Pandora. When I told them who sang the song, Jake was sooooo excited. "Dese are da powice-men? Singing dis song?" Ha ha ha! Funny to envision cops rocking out like Sting.

Sidenote: Sting still looks amazing.

Jake is 4!

There are so many things to love about Jacob Mark Lambert. And every day he gets smarter, funnier, and more precious to me. Maybe it's his funny faces:

Or how he doesn't really care about food, unless it's a donut. He truly couldn't pick anything to eat for a birthday dinner because he doesn't have a favorite dinner. So we had birthday breakfast of donuts and Sunny D:

Or maybe it's those beautiful eyes I love:

Or his love of drawing for hours on end (oh, the joy it brings me):

Or how happy he is over simple things in life like sitting in the hot tub at the Sports Academy for his "birthday party."

Jake, I just love you so much. You crack me up, you make me think, and you make me glad to be a Mom! Happy 4th birthday, buddy!

Dear Readers,

I have just made about a gazillion new posts, so be prepared. Hang in there and at least scroll through them all. If you make a comment on every post, I will send you a special prize. Like fruit snacks or a lego guy. Those are the hot items around here.

Love ya.

Snow Hike

If you live in Cache Valley, you know that winter can get loooooong. Especially in February, I think. I have discovered that if I take the kids outside once in awhile, everything goes better. We're all happier. We have had some beautiful sunny skies, so out we went on an adventure yesterday with our friend, Anthony.

Owen's 6th Birthday: Snowboarding, Spy Games and Texas Roadhouse!

I can't believe Owen is 6. He is growing out of all his clothes and shoes. He reads like a champ, climbs the rope in gymnastics almost to the top, is linking turns snowboarding, and using all kinds of huge words. Owen is so sweet with his brothers. He would do anything for them. He is thoughtful and kind, and I love this boy. So, so much.

For Owen's birthday, I got to go into his class and read them a book. Of course we read "Owen" by Kevin Henkes. Then he passed out Phinneas and Ferb fruit snacks to his class. He was so excited. I am so proud of my big boy.

Owen's actual birthday fell on a Sunday, so we decided to party all day long on Saturday instead. First we went up to Beaver Mountain for some snowboarding and sunshine. It was nice to leave the inversion behind for a few hours!

BBQ in the parking lot, baby!

After the Beav, we came home for the coolest party since, well, since Owen's Harry Potter party last year. :) The boys came up with the idea for a Spy Party, and came up with most of the ideas. Here is Bennett, wearing what he wore to deliver the invitations to Owen's party.

Here are the invitations. I had so much fun making them. I even got to buy an old-school label maker!

One of the highlights for me was listening to the kids tell Bennett and Owen their secret code names through our old mail slot upon arrival. They were sooooo serious about it and CUTE!

Here's Nikolas getting his secret agent badge.

When the kids came in, they were fingerprinted and had their photos taken.

Bennett was way into it.

Looking good in their undercover spy wear.

Secret Agents!

Laser maze and tunnel crawl!

Target practice!

Agent Carson loads his weapon.

Agent Lambert prepares to lead the kids on a secret mission to discover who stole all Owen's birthday presents!

Looking for clues under the bench at the bus station.

Yahoo! They found all the presents along with cake and ice cream at the church! After opening presents and eating treats, the kids ran wild in the gym for awhile. It was such a fun party. I have heard lots of parents saying what a good time the kids had. That makes me so happy! It is so fun for me to come up with creative ideas along with my kids to create fun memories.

To top off the day, we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, where Owen bravely rode in the saddle for a big ol' Texas "YEE-HAW!" He was a good sport. Bennett was mortified, and hid under his coat, under the table.

Happy birthday, Owenator! We love you so much!

Baker boy.

Bennett saw me looking through a cookbook the other day, and told me he wanted to find a simple recipe that he could do all by himself. He found a recipe for Gramma Linda's delicious scones, and decided to give it a go. He actually did it almost all by himself, and they turned out yummmmmmy. An added bonus was that he worked on new math skills at the same time: fractions! It was so cute.

Art Days.

We do lots of art in this house.

It makes us happy!

Yay for big snow and clean air!

In case you didn't know, Cache Valley has a little trouble with bad air. What I mean by that is that occasionally throughout the winter, we have the worst air in the entire country. How depressing is that?????? So when a big storm comes through and clears out the nasty inversion, we are happy. We even like shoveling!

Crazy Hat Day

Each of the boys' classes earned a "NoTardy Party" at school a couple of weeks ago. The reward for the kids was to have crazy hair or hats for part of the day. We forgot about it until that morning, but check out the cool hats we made!

OUCH.

Jason broke his toe helping someone move a couple of weeks ago. He thinks it was his own fault, though, because he was cursing the chainsaw bear he was carrying when the accident occurred.

Jake's thoughts on prayers.

This is what Jake looked like the last time we went to the grocery store. He wore his snow goggles the whole time. This is a funny, funny boy.

Last night at FHE, Jason was talking to the kids about how you can pray anywhere you want, anytime at all. But he told them that sometimes it's good to find someplace quiet where you can really pray and listen for answers. Here's how the rest of the conversation went:

Jake: One time I went to the basement to say a prayer because it was quiet down there.

Me: That's so awesome, Jake. What did you pray about?

Jake: Jesus and the Holy Ghost. --pause-- And a samurai guy. --pause-- And a mouse.

All of us: Laughing hard.

Sledding in Paradise. No, really. In Paradise, Utah.

The Gateway Experience

After dining at the Gateway with the Jules Lambert clan, on a snowy December day, I ditched everyone briefly and made a stop into the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (for an apple pie caramel apple, of course). Everyone else went ahead to the fountain without me. Imagine my surprise when I found all the kids soaking wet, warming themselves by the fire. I was flabbergasted. "YOU LET THEM GET WET?!" I asked, having a little mom freak-out.

Now, this is a difference between me and Jason. (Maybe a difference between all Moms and Dads all over the world.) I would NEVER have let the kids run through the fountain at the Gateway during a snowstorm. But Jason thought it was great! And guess what? Turns out he was totally right. Noone came down with a terrible cold, noone got hypothermia... the only thing that happened was that excellent memories were made, and the kids rode home to Logan in their underwear with foggy windows in the LandCruiser. Thank you, Jason, for being such a great dad. I will try not to question your judgement so often. ;)