May 2017

Foster Turns 4

My baby is 4.  I don't know how that happened so quickly.  I can remember having him like it was four years ago.  He is full of life from the top of his head to the end of his toes.  He is a busy boy that loves making crafts, helping mom in the kitchen, catching bugs, and making noise.  I say making noise because he is either talking, singing or yelling all day long.  He loves to sing and greets daddy with a big hug everyday.  He is a social boy that loves going to Grandma's house to help with chores, and loves preschool most of all.  He is a charmer that frequently tells ladies how beautiful they are, mom most of all, which she loves.  He has a big heart along with a big personality and we sure do love him.

Foster loves to make people laugh and he has a pretty fantastic sense of humor.  He is always making us laugh with the things he comes up with all on his own.  Even his preschool teacher, Mrs. Arnold, comments on how much he makes her laugh.  He is always dancing and making funny faces.  He is a total ham, and we love it!

Foster loves Critters

Foster has a strong interest in animals of all kinds.  He is not afraid to pick them up and in some cases, let them crawl all over him.  Mom has to remind him to be gentle and he usually tries his best.  The only animal he has not won over is Bella.  Those two battle it out daily.  

During a heavy rainstorm, Foster went out with daddy to look for frogs.  Foster came home with this frog who he found lost in the middle of the street.  After holding him for awhile, Foster and daddy put him back near the creek so he could be with his family.

We planted a new garden and decided ladybugs would be a great way to protect the plants from aphids.  Foster took complete control of introducing the ladybugs to their new home; the garden.  They were crawling all over him which he didn't mind.  If I ever need to occupy him for a few hours, the answer is picking up a carton of ladybugs and letting him do his thing.

On this occasion, Foster spotted a mouse in the ocean and ran over to me shouting "mommy, mommy, I found a mouse in the water."  I then had to explain that the mouse had drowned and was no longer alive.  He kept petting it over and over saying, "oh, but he's so cute."  We then had to bury the mouse in the sand and talk about how it's spirit was now with Heavenly Father.  Then we washed our hands!

We were at the park with friends when Dane Thompson saw a lizard and got really excited.  Foster walked over and picked the lizard up and held onto him for about 20 minutes.  The hardest part is getting him to put his critters back where he got them.  He would keep them all as pets if he could.

Some of his favorites:

Favorite Food: Strawberries, Turkey Sandwiches and bacon.
Favorite Friends:Charlotte Warren, Anna and Leah Thompson, and most of all, his brother James.
Favorite thing to do:Go to school, ride bikes, play Candyland with his family.
Favorite place to go: Disneyland, The Zoo, The garden store, Grandma's house.
Favorite Movie: Curious George Spooky Halloween, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Grinch
Favorite TV Show: Curious George, Masha and Bear, Power Rangers
Favorite Treat: CANDY!  Sweedish Fish, Sour Patch Kids, Jelly Beans, Candy Corn, Lollipops
Favorite Toy:Stuffed animals, costumes of any kind, swords, guns, keyboard, playdoh

We celebrated Foster's birthday at Disneyland, one of his favorite places.  His favorite rides are the Haunted House, Star Tours and Thunder Mountain.  He had so much fun with Haley and Stanton Jr. who were special guests on our Disney birthday trip.  And of course he picked Cotton Candy and popcorn for his treats.
We also celebrated with the family on his actual birthday with a homemade donut party.  The donut bar included: chocolate glaze, caramel glaze, vanilla glaze, peanuts, coconut, sprinkles and chocolate chips.  We ate until we were all sick and then brought the rest of the donuts to Foster's Sunday school class and preschool class for more celebrations!

I was able to visit Foster's class for Mother's Day Tea and he filled out a really cute questionnaire about me.  He said  his favorite food that I make for him is toast and that he loves me because I'm beautiful.  He was so excited to give this craft he made to me.  In the days leading up to the Tea Party he kept saying "I made something really special for you but I can't tell you what it is."  Foster loves with his whole heart and is such a special part of our family.  

Mother's Day

I also got to celebrate Mother's Day this month.  I love these two characters that make me a mother.  They make my life exciting and getting to know them is the greatest adventure of my life.

April 2017

Spring Break

Scott was out of town for most of Spring Break so it was just mom and the boys having fun around San Diego.  We spent a lot of time with friends, playing at the park and having dinners together.  We made a trip down to Balboa Park and mom and James even had a special date to the Natural History Museum's Extreme Dinosaurs Exhibit.  It was a great week off of school and dad was back in time to enjoy Easter with the family.

We snapped some fun photos of the kids while we were at Balboa Park.  This one is my favorite.  We asked them to make "scary monster" faces and this is what they came up with.  Obviously James was way too cool for this game.  And without a doubt Charlotte wins the award for "most committed". 

Smell the flowers.  I made the boys go in the botanical garden museum.  It is so dreamy and looks enough like a dinosaur habitat to keep the boys interested.

These two.

One evening we brought dinner to the park and spent a couple of hours playing with the McEwans.  The kids ran free and Dawn and I got to chat which meant it was the perfect evening.  Poway Lake is definitely one of my "happy places". 

Someone went home with wet shoes.

My beautiful boys from a distance.

Easter

As the boys get older, they are starting to understand the meaning of Easter.  We talked about Christ's atonement and what it means for us and they seem to understand its importance.  I got to go to a really sweet Easter program at Foster's preschool where the pastor talked to the children about the real reason we celebrate Easter and then the kids sang Easter songs.  The song I hear most around the house is "Jesus died and rose again" sung to the tune of London Bridges Falling Down.  You gotta love Christian preschool!  We also did some fun Easter traditions like dying eggs and attending the Ewell's annual Easter egg hunt.  On Easter Sunday we went to grandma and grandpa's for dinner and an Easter egg hunt.  We had a great Easter and a very fun Easter break.