Potpourri of Fun

We've had a lot of fun things happening around here. I guess with five kiddos, that is a guarantee. :) I don't feel like I've gotten much done as I've held a sick and clingy baby lots this week! Austin has bronchiolitis (most likely from RSV), so his cough is so sad. :( And he wants his Momma and generally won't go to anyone else. So, we've been hanging around at home a bit and hope he gets better soon.

But other things move forward ... For example, Zachary lost another tooth, which left him without his two front teeth for a bit:

Last weekend we had our Blue and Gold Banquet. The theme for the cake contest was Be Prepared. How does one make a cake for that? Anyway, Tyler just used blue and yellow M&Ms to spell out "Be Prepared" on cupcakes and won third prize. There were other cakes there that were really cool, but the contest apparently focuses on the theme:

Paul doesn't get much time on my blog, so here's his moment of "fame." ;) The Sunday before last we had our good friend Scotty visit from Virginia. We LOVE his family and miss them terribly. (We're counting down the days until they return to Utah. When is that, Marilee? ;) Anyway, as two geeks who like geek talk, Scotty and Paul swapped phones and played around to determine what they like and don't like about each style. Geeks!

For school Tyler's still in his Harry Potter section. He's now finished with five of the books (!!!) and still going strong. Yesterday he got to play Seeker for the second time and again caught the Snitch. Sad I missed it, but I can't go every week just in case! :) Anyway, for his book report about the Goblet of Fire he wanted to make a goblet. I asked if he wanted to make one out of foil or if he wanted to paper mache one. (Of course, I had to explain paper mache to him. :) He chose the latter, and we got to work. Turns out this is the boy who loves clean hands, so once we got going he wouldn't even put his hands into the mess. Zachary, on the other hand, was right in there helping me put it together. Hilarious! Anyway, we let it dry for two days, spray painted it silver and he put his book report (in sections) in the goblet. He was pretty happy with the final product:

When Austin isn't as grumpy he's wanting to play with EVERYTHING. He doesn't crawl yet, but he can get pretty much wherever he wants to go, although I don't think he has translated this to places across the room (phew!). His latest love? Legos. He'll fit in well in this home!

And Shayla and I have been making more flower clips for her hair. I found what I consider to be the perfect size, so we made a bunch. Too bad she thinks that means she has to wear more than one at a time. I've perfected the, "Let me fix it before we go into the store" and pocketing one or two until we return to the car. Other days I just don't care and she gets to have a few flowers in her hair. Gotta love that little girls love frills, flowers and PINK!

 We also had the opportunity to go to a tea party at the library for little girls and their Mommies. She dressed up completely like a princess and loved it. They got to learn proper etiquette, decorate fans and have the cutest little refreshments (a mini pink cupcake, a pink wafer and pink lemonade). 

I caught some AWESOME clearance at Kmart and got her another set of matching dresses for her and Ella. I love getting things like this for less than $5!

She was hilarious posing them in so many ways. This reminds me of Lion King:

And I suppose all the neighbors can blame the snow on my cute little Snow Princess. Shayla wore this shirt and headband all around yesterday, even to the boys' school for the writing club program. Here she is posing herself once again, and I think in the second one she's just beautiful. Gotta love little girls: