Gila Valley Temple and Valentines

The Thursday before Valentines we drove to Central, AZ to go to the Gila Valley Temple.  Michael's grandma grew up in the area so on our drive there we read from her book of that time in her life.  It was neat to learn a little bit more about her life and to see the area where she was.

These were a couple of fun buildings that we found...

Alden and Calvin have been making some fun car tracks lately.  When they are done they will often take pictures of there work with my phone.  I have videos of the cars going down and close ups of each piece of the track.  It is fun to see them make them!

Valentines Day was a great day! These pictures were taken the day after Valentines when we celebrated Valentines with the preschool.  I decided to celebrate the day after just because that is when we were learning about the letter V so it worked out well! The boys had fun seeing and reading all of their Valentines that they got.  I was spoiled on Valentines day by all my wonderful boys but most especially by my amazing husband. I am grateful and very blessed to have all of them.

Calvin biking

Calvin has been using training wheels since we switched bikes in August. Biking has been more of a chore for him since then.  He has needed a lot of help and it generally hasn't been something he has liked to do much.  The other week one of the training wheels fell off and I decided to take them off, I should have done it a long time ago or maybe never put them on in the first place.
He took off riding great as soon as I took them off and then just wanted to ride his bike all over! He will often ask to go out and ride his bike and wants to be the last one riding when we come inside.

These are just a couple of random pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Alden's teeth just keep coming out! He has now lost three and there are a couple more that are ready to come!

Old Tucson

Old Tucson is one place that we hadn't been here in Tucson but on Martin Luther King weekend they had dollar days for kids so we decided to take advantage of it and go. The boys loved having a special day doing something a little bit different. Their favorite part was riding the cars, at first they were all a little scared to go on it.  Alden because I told him that he would be the driver and would have to take Calvin.  He was scared he would crash or not be able to drive it but after lots of explaining that it is impossible to crash he was good to go and loved it! Benson screamed as I put him on it with me but he calmed down once we got going and even drove it some of the way the second time around.

They all loved riding the train! There was a little petting zoo, they all loved seeing the animals, but Alden was the only one that actually wanted to pet them.

Basketball!

Alden and Calvin had planned to do baseball this season but there wasn't enough people signed up so they moved us to basketball! It has worked out really well because both boys have been able to be on different teams this time around but they practice at the same place and same time. I am not big into watching sports...basically I don't watch sports at all but I do love watching them play especially their age group.  In Calvin's group it is not uncommon to see someone drop the ball but everyone just lets them pick it up and continue.  Also I have seen players hand the ball nicely to others on the other team just because they almost caught it.  This is my type of sport, they are all just being kind and helping each other learn to play!
By Alden's age group the kids are starting to get competitive, I almost wish Alden could play with the younger group where they are so giving and kind.

These are just a few random pictures of my sweet little boys! Alden has now lost 3 teeth and has a couple more that will probably fall out any day.  Calvin is growing up so quickly, he is becoming so independent in so many ways, in preschool he can do everything on his own now and never needs help from me.  He can read and blend words all on his own and enjoys doing so!  Benson is also learning and changing a lot as well.  His vocabulary is taking off and his words are becoming clearer and clearer.  He even says Dada or Daddy now!!! (Daddy has always been Nana, we would correct him but he insisted it was nana, it wasn't that he couldn't say dada because he would use that for other things but Daddy was Nana.  Just the other day he said Dada for Daddy and will sometimes say Daddy now.  He will often still say Nana first but then will say how he means Daddy.) Benson loves gorillas and will talk about them all of the time, he also loves to sing songs, read stories, play outside, and be with Mommy.  It is fun to see how much he is learning, He loves to write as he has for a long time and will draw lots of circles and lines and sometimes balloons.  He knows some of his colors and some of his letters and just seems thirsty for knowledge.

It is fun to be part of seeing them learn and grow.

Usually we have an hour break in between Calvin and Alden's basketball games.  We have done different things each week.  First week we visited the DI, the second week we tried out a new library by where they play, these are pictures of them there, and this week we went to market on the move.

End of Uncle Andrew's visit

We all loved having Andrew here! He spoiled the boys by reading however many books they wanted to them.  Almost every morning I would see them all sitting on the couch going through a pile of story books!

While Andrew was here we got this special package in the mail.  Aunt Tara had sent the boys all new pillow cases.  They were all super excited! We were also amazed that Tara had made Alden's the same pattern as a pillow he made a while back, I have wanted to make something else to go with the pillow but just never got around to it, what a huge and fun surprise to find that Tara had just happened to use the same material!

These last couple pictures are some pictures of Benson one night when I was rocking him to sleep.  He is often very silly and happy when it comes time to go to bed, so fun to see his big smiles! (As you can see he has almost completely cleared up of the eczema which has been a huge blessing, still little patches here and there but not all over!!)