My baby girl is 5!!!

I can't believe Megan is 5 and will start kindergarten next year! Where has the time gone? Just the other day she was my sweet little cabbage patch baby with her cute chubby cheeks! She has grown into quite the sweet young lady. This year Megan decided she wanted a "Princess Tea Party" for her birthday. We had all her little girlfriends come over and play princess bingo, make bead necklaces and play kiss the frog (try to land their lipstick kisses on a paper frog while blindfolded). Then we sent them up to put on Megan's princess dress-ups and get ready for the tea party. The treats included Russian tea cakes, chocolate eclairs, brownie bites and Rasperry Lemonade. Later in the day we played at the park and had cake (in the shape of ballet slippers) and ice cream. Fun was had by all.

He did it!!

The Levanger household went up one degree last week (and it's not just because we live in Vegas). After lots and lots of hard work Brian has received his Master's Degree in Jazz Studies from UNLV! GO BRIAN!! We are very proud of him.

On another note...Colton should get a degree in naughtiness...he dumped all my spices and sugar cookie sprinkles all over the counter and floor...gotta love him. My kitchen smells bizarre!

It's finally done!!!

After months of raking rocks, installing a patio, getting the sprinkling system in (thanks Jon and Andy!), picking out and planting trees and wall borders and what seemed like millions of wheelbarrows full of rocks, dirt and sod, our yard is finally done!! These pictures do not do it justice...it is amazing! We have palm trees and hawthorns on the sides and bottle trees and an ash in the back. It will be so nice once the trees mature. If you want to see the full effect...come visit us!!! I included a picture of Colton, who is very cute, but got in the way a lot, and, on this particular day decided to check out his poopy diaper and paint his face, clothes and the walls with it. Toddler boys...what will we become of us!

The list...continued

#11 Colored with permanent marker on my new kitchen cabinet. If you are confused, please see the previous post ie toddler boys and the fun things they do!

EASTER!!

We had a great Easter this year. We decided to try to focus more on the Atonement than the Bunny. Each night the week before Easter Sunday we looked at the pictures from the Gospel Art Picture kit and talked about what had happened in the life of Christ for that day. It seemed like the kids talked less about what they were getting for Easter this year, but maybe it was just my wishful thinking. The cutest was when we were talkinig about the parables and we told the story of the Widow's Mite. Megan went to her piggy bank and got out some pennies to give to Jesus. What a sweetie!

We did watch the Charlie Brown Easter special and colored easter eggs. Colton had fun throwing the eggs into the dye and yelling YAY! Then he would pick them up out of the dye, look at the color and say "Oooooh!" It was really cute.

Church was really nice, although I seriously think they should cancel primary on holidays with candy!!! I accompanied someone who sang in Sacrament meeting and then had to teach sharing time. Brian wrestled with Colton and never did get to leave nursery...what a guy!

On another note...mom's with toddler boys should get an "I survived" patch at the end of each year. Here are just a few of the lovely incidents that Colton has instigated in the past couple of months:

1. Climbing up on EVERYTHING

2. Getting oats off the top shelf of the pantry and dumping them all over the floor of said pantry

3. Taking the oats from #2 and dumping them on the living room carpet while yelling "yay" and throwing them up in the air.

4. Getting into the fridge and breaking a whole carton of eggs on the floor

5. Squirting half a tube of lotion on the floor, his clothes and hair

6. Mauling the hamster and "doing his hair" with gel

7. Locking me out of the house in my pj's at 8:30 in the morning and making me run around the house ringing the doorbell and knocking on doors for 15 min to try to wake up Megan to let me in.

8. Jumping into his sister's bath fully clothed

9. "Hiding" DVD's inside the VCR

10. Throwing everything in sight down the stairs

I could go on...but you get the picture...Despite all this, having a toddler boy has it's moments (like when he climbs on my lap and gives me kisses) and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Homemade Valentines!!

Remember the good old days when Valentines actually had substance? I really dislike the newfangled pieces of paper that they sell in the stores with Hello Kitty or Spiderman on them and attempt to pass them off as Valentines. In an effort to hearken back to the good old days (hopefully I'm not dating myself here) we made homemade Valentines this year. Meagan made sucker flowers and Parker made airplanes out of lifesavers, smarties and a pack of gum. It made for a great family night and the kids in their class loved them. I also loved the gorgeous roses that were delivered to me by my sweetheart! I love you Brian.

Busy, Basketball and the Birds!

Ok, so I'm a massive slacker! But, for those of you who know me, I am lucky to get dressed and get my makeup in the morning let alone update my blog! So here it is...FINALLY!

We have had a good but VERY busy January. Brian is finishing up his master's degree and is either to be found teaching classes, going to classes, driving to classes or playing guitar at his classes....needless to say he is one busy guy but I am proud of him for working so hard to earn his degree.

Parker received Student of the Month for January. He got to make a poster all about himself to share with the school and got to have pizza and soda with the principal for lunch one day. We are very proud of him. He is a good boy and a hard worker. He has also been involved in basketball this winter...please see above dark and grainy but cute pictures. It has been fun watching him learn and have fun playing.

We were also so excited to have a visit from my brother Jon and his family at the end of the month. We went hiking up at red rock and took some cute pictues with all the cousins. Aw--I miss living close to family--you people who do please consider yourself EXTREMELY lucky!

Well that's January in a nutshell...school, work, sports, dance class, music lessons, church callings, trying to keep Colton out of everything and colds that get passed from person to person and won't go away. We'll try to stay updated better but I can't guarantee it....