Saturday Chores and BYU Stadium

Our boys are generally pretty helpful (as helpful as a 3 and 2 year old can be). In fact one of my favorite new things Brayden does every morning when he wakes up is to come running into my room and exlaim, "Mom, come look at my bed". I go in and you can tell he tried with all his 3year-old might to make that bed perfect. After beaming with pride he proceeds with, "Now I'm gonna get dressed all by myself." Tavita obviously isn't quite to that point but he takes great care to put his dish in the sink after each meal, and loves to through things in the trash. We've decided they're old enough to have more structured chores. I'm still working on getting a little job chart going so they have a visual of what's expected of them as well as a goal to work towards (i.e. one I really like is a family in our ward takes the kids on a mommy/son or daddy/son date when they get a certain number of stickers, another is they both really want Transformer/Cars sunglasses but we want them to realize they can't go to the store and buy anything they want, if you want an extra, earn it). Anyway, until I get the chart I've started telling them the chores they need to do. They really enjoy it. In fact certain ones, such as dusting fans, becomes a fight over who gets to do it. Today I said we needed to go inside so I can clean up and not only did they come running but Brayden was asking, "What job do we need to do." I'm documenting this for proof later on when help doesn't come quite so eagerly!Here's a few pics of our little helpers.
Vaccuming the stairs (followed by a long game of suck-face!)

Dusting the fans (I think it was more work for Daddy!)

Helping Daddy clean up after the big storm destroyed one of our trees

How many Shum men does it take to mow a lawn?


BYU Stadium
So for preschool this week we were learning the letter Y. What better place to go for a fieldtrip than to the Y! Normally we only have 6 boys in our group but combined with siblings and cousins that wanted in on the action our numbers were up to 15+. We were quite the crowd (we did have 6 adults, but 4 of those adults had babies in carriers or strollers) Luckily our bishop is the head of concessions so we got to go on a fun tour watching them shred cheese and vaccum seal it (had the kids mesmorized!). Than we got to be the very first group to lay eyes on the brand new football field. They just barely finished a huge project of digging up and laying a new field. We even got to see it before the football team! Imagine the minor heartattack our Bishop Black had when one of the boys tried sliding through the rails and onto the field. I think he say his job flash before his eyes! He was great with them though When we were walking from the concessions building to the stands he had them looking all over for sleeping cougurs, ran to the top of the stadium with them (not an easy task for someone 38 weeks pregnant but I did it) then he had them run the spiral ramp down. I don't think he realized the danger of it until he said "Who thinks they can make it to the bottom first." There was a sudden thunder of 2-5 year old feet racing full speed down the ramp with Bishop, me and another mom racing after them just waiting for a fall. We all managed to make it unscathed and the tour was finished of with BYU cups and beanies for all. The kids had an absolute blast and couldn't stop talking about it. We finished the day with a trip to the creamery for ice cream. I managed to grab a few pics but my card filled up so I didn't get many.
THe boys in the group (the girls didn't want in and we didn't bother with attempting with the babies, as you can see just the boys was hard enough!)

Shreddin some cheese

Watching the magic machine seal the cheese

Getting ready to go searching for cougars

Introducing the brand new field!


Our boys being brainwashed into cougar fans!


And to end this monster blog just a few random pics, as you can see warm weather is finally coming! And yes, we convinced Brayden to cut his hair (he got sick of people thinking he was a girl and more importantly hated enduring the task of having his hair combed out every morning so he didn't look like a fuzzball)
Our Little Garden

Haricut at Last!

Bedtime Stories

Boys will be boys (watching the buggies go about their business)

Pausing for a drink!


Well, that sums up our life over the past two weeks. We've been enjoying the weather and trying to get our yard up and going. It has a long way to go but a huge improvement from last year. Baby is due to come in 2 more weeks. We're excited but can't believe the time is already here. She's showing signs she want to come early but we're hoping she holds out til Wednesday morning when Grandma gets here.