Christmas Pageant

Eric's preschool did a Christmas pageant.  Eric was so proud to be a shepherd.  His line was "Let us go find this baby!"

A Visit to Santa

Tonight for family night we went to go visit Santa.  It was supposed to be a fun activity.  The line for this particular Santa is always really short, plus there is a horse drawn carriage ride to look at lights at the same location.  It was supposed to be fun.  It was also 6 degrees.  If you can't tell from the pictures, the boys were cold.  Especially Eric.  He spent the better part of the carriage ride screaming that he was freezing to death. The poor people riding with us.  By the time we got back to the van all three older boys were crying.  We came home and had hot chocolate.

At least we got smiles for the Santa pictures.  Eric hasn't changed much.  Last year he asked Santa for 'a toy' and this year he wants 'a present.' Caden wants two Star Wars Lego sets.  He was very specific about wanting  two and not just one.  Kyle just sat there and giggled.

Play Time

All my boys love Adam, but Eric especially dotes on him.  Today when I set Adam on the couch to watch the other boys in action, Eric decided he needed a toy as well.  He placed the pillow on his lap so he could prop the gear toy high enough to be reached.  As you can see, Adam was pleased with the arrangement.

Adam's 2 Month Stats

Weight: 11 pounds 5 ounces (24%)
Length: 23.5 inches (71%)
Head Circumference: 38.5 (28%)

Ryan's Latest Project

Before we randomly decided to remodel half our house, Ryan was working on building a greenhouse.  During the winter it can double as a shelter for our tent trailer.  He was making good progress on it until he got distracted by the basement, but finally decided his warm days outside were running out so he bit the bullet and took a few days to finish the greenhouse.  It truly is amazing.  He designed and built the entire thing himself.  The pipe is all bent so exactly you'd never know it was bent by hand (or, rather, full body press with the bender).

Happy Halloween

By the time I take care of 4 kids and myself I usually forget the pictures.  So this year there are no 'official' Halloween pictures.  Eric gave up trick or treating after 20 minutes, saying he was cold and would just rather be home.  Caden thought the whole thing was an adventure and kept running ahead.  Kyle was delighted that people kept giving him candy and giggled every time, proudly showing off his new treasure before putting it in his bag.

There are also no pictures of the jack-o-lanterns.  The boys described their pumpkins with the following words: Kyle - Happy; Eric - Spooky; Caden - Creepy.  Due to limited time (read: Ryan spending every spare second working on the basement) there were no super detailed pumpkins or our traditional SCHERBEL pumpkin this year.

I did remember to take pictures of the boys at school.  Here is Eric (Batman) with his preschool class and Caden (Skeleton) in the Elementary school parade.

Green Machines

I finally became a 'soccer mom' this fall when I signed Caden up for a team.  The Green Machines had a fantastic coach (Coach Mac) who focused on teaching them basic skills.  The kids all grew leaps and bounds from their first game to their last.  They didn't win a single game, but it was still a good experience for this team of all first-timers.  Caden was lucky enough to count as his cheering section Grandma and Grandpa Scherbel, Grandma and Grandpa Dodds, and Aunt Kellie.  

All on the Bed

4 little boys on one big bed and the little one said, "Roll over!  Its crowded."  So they all rolled over and one fell off.

Ever since the demolition the TV has been in our bedroom.  Which means the party is in our bedroom.  The boys line up some pillows and get comfy to watch TV or play Wii.

Colors? Check!

Eric is really thriving at preschool this year.  Today he came home with a card certifying he knows all his colors (pretty sure he knew them before, but the class just finished the unit).  You would have thought he'd hung the moon!

Start Your Engines!

This year Caden wanted a race car birthday party.  I wanted to do something low key and easy.  Somehow he won.  We did a relay race with real tires, a bean bag toss, played Red Light Green Light (Caden's favorite game right now), blew hot wheels cars with party blowers, and then each kid made a soap box race car that they raced down a ramp.

After all the friends left we opened family presents.  Eric and Kyle were as thrilled with the gifts as Caden was.

Adam's 2 Week Stats

Weight: 7 pounds 9 ounces (25%)
Length: 20.25 inches (25%)
Head Circumference: 35.1 cm (26%)

Sunday Classics

Adam ready for his church debut - wearing the white collared shirt sewn by Ryan's mom - and being 'tended' by daddy after a long day of meetings.

Good Helper

Kyle races for his lawn mower every time Ryan pulls the real one out.  He also likes to proclaim, "I a good
helper!"  How could Ryan have done it without him?

Meeting Baby Brother

All three boys were so excited to meet their new baby brother.  After dinner Grandma and Grandpa Dodds brought them by the hospital so each boy could have a turn holding Adam.

Welcome, Adam Ryan!

This little boy seemed like the baby who would never come.  I went into labor Friday night, that continued through Saturday, then stopped abruptly.  I had a few complications and thought I would get induced on Sunday while I was at the hospital for monitoring, but ended up getting sent home with an okay bill of health.  The midwife had scheduled an induction on Wednesday, so we thought that would be the day, but due to the holiday I got bumped to Thursday.  The hospital was so busy Thursday I nearly got bumped to Friday.  It was my shortest labor by far, though, clocking in at just a little over 3 hours from the time the pitocin started to the time baby debuted.  When Ryan sent out the text to announce his arrival to family, he jokingly said we planned to name him Iyve Ben Stahlin Scherbel (I've been stalling).  He surprised us all by showing up with a little bit of reddish-brown peach fuzz hair and a set of lungs that pierced daddy's ear drums.

Adam Ryan Scherbel.  Born Thursday, September 5 at 3:49 pm.  Showed 6 pounds 15 ounces on the scale, but the nurse rounded up to 7 pounds even on all the official paperwork.  Measured 19 inches long.

Peaches!

Our peach trees are huge this year and we've had a bounteous harvest.  Kyle has discovered the peaches, and like all fresh fruits and veggies he is in love.  He'll walk outside, survey the tree, point to a peach, and request "That one!"

Kyle's Babies

Kyle was playing with the Mr. Potato Heads today, then announced they were going to sleep.  He sweetly took his favorite blankets, covered the babies up, and sang them a song.  The nursery leaders say he's been doing that a lot lately with the dolls in nursery as well.  Its cute to see such a nurturing instinct.  I'm excited to see how he interacts with the new baby.

Eric's First Day of Preschool

Eric was so excited to get to go do his own thing today.  He was slightly disappointed that his first day wasn't yesterday, like Caden.  He walked right in and waved goodbye to me with a smile on his face.  They made self portraits out of paper plates that they painted, glued paper hair to, and colored faces on.  Eric was in heaven.  The boy could go through a bottle of glue a day if you'd let him.  He was so proud of his book bag and insisted keeping it on his shoulder all the way home.  He told me he made two new friends - one named Matthew and one named Frosted Flake.  I told him I thought that last one was made up and he said he was just teasing because he couldn't remember the other name.  He has a cute sense of humor.  I think preschool is going to be really good for him.

Caden's First Day of Kindergarten

Where has the time gone?  Today, Caden started Kindergarten.  He wasn't nervous at all.  The thing he was most worried about was figuring out what time recess would be.  He is so opinionated about his looks right now.  Even though he'd insisted on a 'spikey' haircut for school, this morning he was just as insistent that it be combed 'smooth' and tomorrow we'll do 'spikey.'

I told Ryan this morning as we were getting ready that this felt a little anti-climatic.  It didn't feel like the big milestone everyone told me it would be.  Then as I was walking him to the door of the school I started to get teary eyed.  I'm not even sure I can peg the emotion I was feeling, I just wanted to hug him tight and never let him go.  

I'm still really scared about school and Caden's safety there, but the staff has been great to work with so far, which has helped a ton.  My mom sewed Caden a belt that goes under his shirt and carries his Auvi-Q (a new type of Epi-Pen) so he'd be able to self carry his epinephrine.   Having him self carry helps me breathe easier because my biggest worry is that an allergic reaction won't be recognized in time to get him to the office and get meds from there.

'Pets'

We got our first 'pets' today.  A neighbor lady gathered up caterpillar eggs and hatched them, then brought two by our house so we can finish taking care of them, watch them cocoon, and release the butterflies.  The boys are fascinated, and the parents think its pretty cool, too.  I've got to say, this is my kind of pet - contained, easy maintenance, short term commitment.

Aaaarg! Its a Pirate Party!

Eric turned 4 today!  He has been really in to pirates the last few months and likes to host pretend pirate parties in various rooms of our house, most frequently our walk in closet.  So of course, a pirate party was the only choice for his first friend party.

Caden helped draw and color the monster that the pirates defeated on their treasure hunt.  The treasure hunt, complete with digging for coins in the sandbox at the end, was the hit of the party.  Notice only one child is still wearing the pirate hats they made.  Eric loved all the attention and I think overall it was a great day for him.

NBS Summer Party at Hogle Zoo

Ryan's work done an annual summer party geared toward families.  There have been some great parties in recent years, but I think this one was my favorite.  We had a full day at the zoo with face painting and an animal show at lunch.  Caden asked for a dragon face and Eric wanted a boat.  Kyle did attend the party, I just didn't think he'd sit still long enough to get his face painted.

Caden designated himself as the wildlife photographer for our group and took over 75 pictures before the battery on the camera died.  Most of them were of the polar bear because that bear was just so entertaining to watch!  I was impressed at some of the great shots Caden got.  Here are a few of them.

A New 'Do

Caden has been asking all summer if we could spike his hair up, just in the front.  We've tried a few times, but it just didn't work with the haircut I'd given him.  So we took him to get his first professional haircut so he could have spikey hair for kindergarten.

Bunk Bed Ladder

August is going to be a month of some pretty big changes for our family.  First on the list is moving Caden from sharing a room with Kyle to sharing a room with Eric, which also means moving to the bunk bed.  In order to accommodate this, Ryan has to build a ladder for said bunk bed.  We got it used for a really good deal and didn't realize until we set it up that the missing ladder may have been part of why no one else wanted it.  Caden was so excited to help his dad build the ladder.  The finished product is fantastic and looks like it was factory built.  If Ryan is going  to do something, its going to be done the best way possible.

Super Eric

"Look mom - I'm strong!"

The boys had been helping Ryan disassemble and attempt to fix a toy four wheeler.  Eric was pretty pleased with his super self.

Well Checks

I took Eric and Kyle in for well checks today.  In an attempt to simplify my life I split the difference between their birthdays and took Kyle in late and Eric in early so we could do it all in one trip.  Both are doing great developmentally, and Eric hit a new high on his growth curve.  We love Dr. Spencer.  He is great with the kids and they actually look forward to going to see him.

Eric's (almost) 4 year old stats:
weight: 31.2 pounds (12%)
height: 39.5 inches (36%)

Kyles 2 (plus a little bit) year old stats:
weight: 28.2 pounds (45%)
height: 36 inches (82%)
head: 48.1 cm (28%)

How does your garden grow?

Ours is really tall this year!  You're looking at 7 foot tall tomatoes.  Now if we could just keep Kyle from pulling off all the green 'balls' to play with we'd be in business.

Swim Lessons, Take II

We decided to enroll Caden in another round of swim lessons so he wouldn't backslide on all the great progress he made the first session.  This time he got to be in the same class as his neighbor friend, so that was fun.  He can swim from the side of the pool to the blue rope you see in the picture.  He is most excited that that means he can go off the diving board now (which he loves to do).

Here is what his teacher wrote:
"Caden is a great swimmer and he was a great addition to our class!  Caden is always the first one to volunteer to perform a stroke.  He is enthusiastic about swimming and confident in the water.  Caden keeps his toes pointed and legs straight while doing his flutter kick.  He focuses on pushing his belly up towards the sky on his back float, and gives 100% on every drill."

Fixing Lawn Mowers

Ryan has a heart of gold and the skills to act on his desires to help others.  Most Saturday mornings find him helping tune up the small engines belonging to neighbors.  The boys love taking turns helping him, whether it be helping screw parts on and off, fetching tools or supplies, or just watching.  Lately Eric and Kyle have taken to working on their own projects next to Daddy.  I'm grateful my boys have such a wonderful example of hard work and service in their lives.

Graduation

For the last year Caden has been participating in an online preschool called Rusty and Rosy: Learn with Me, created by the Waterford Institute and offered through the state of Utah.  Its been a mixed bag as some days he hasn't really wanted to sit down and do his 20 minutes of Rusty and Rosy time, but he did learn a lot and we've enrolled Eric for next year.  Today was 'graduation' day where Caden took his final test and we turned in the equipment we had.  He was pretty excited about the experience.

Sea Urchins

We've been loving the library summer programs this year - art class for Caden, story time for Kyle and Eric, and wildlife hour for all three.  Each outing includes a craft.  Today at wildlife hour (sponsored by the BYU Bean Museum) the kids learned about underwater life.  They got to touch a live turtle - the highlight for Eric. Then they learned about sea urchins and got to make one with clay, googley eyes, and toothpicks.  I was impressed at how into it Kyle was and what a good job he did.  The boys really enjoy crafting and creating, so its been nice to have someone else come up with the craft 3 days a week.  I appreciate the great services offered by the community where we live; its the perfect place for us.

Blackfoot Reservoir

The boys enjoyed a morning of boating with cousins on Blackfoot Reservoir.  Caden loved the tube, Eric was in heaven helping drive, and Kyle was content to watch from the bow.  We did put Eric and Kyle out on the tube, but they weren't overly thrilled by the experience.

We had a great time at the lake this year.  The kids swam, splashed in the lake, kayaked, rode the go cart, rode their bikes, did sparklers and snaps, and generally played with cousins and aunts and uncles.  The three days we were there (July 5-7) felt way too short this time.

Stadium of Fire

Kyle and Eric enjoying the show on Daddy's lap.  The glow sticks were the hit of the night.  Kyle wasn't so sure about the loud noises that came with the fireworks.

Independence Day!

Pre-Camping

Eric and Kyle are so excited to go camping later this week, that they drug the play tent outside for an adventure.  Note the pirate ship (Eric's favorite toy) and fire truck (Kyle's current toy of choice) were both included.

Discovery

Ryan was moving the lawn and Kyle was following him around with his little lawn mower.  Then he noticed the red dots in the raspberry bushes.  Fifteen minutes later there were no more red dots.  Kyle made his way down the entire row, carefully peering between the leaves.  He has discovered this year's crop of raspberries.

Mommy Horsey

This is what happens when Mommy tries to wipe up a spill on the kitchen floor.  These boys will seize any opportunity they can to use me as a jungle gym.

Caden the Kayaker

Trying to escape the heat we took an afternoon family outing to Highland Glen Park.  Highland Glen is this amazing little treasure in the middle of the city.  Its a man made pond with pavilions, hiking trails, and a park. We did a little swimming, but the highlight of the trip by far was Ryan's kayak that he made as a scout.  We were a little surprised at how adept Caden is as maneuvering it.  He took a solo trip, then gave each of his brothers a ride.  Tonight at dinner as we were sharing our happy things from the day, all three boys mentioned the outing to the pond.  Its so great to spend time together as a family.

Swimming Lessons

Today was the last day of Caden's swimming lessons.  He's the one in the picture floating on his back like a star.  He loved it and passed his class with flying colors.  In fact, the teacher recommends him skipping the next level.  Her comments read: "Caden was a good swimmer!  He was good at his glides and he loved volunteering to show everyone.  Practice with his flutter kicking by keeping his legs straight.  Good job!"  I laughed a little at her comments on his volunteering, because he loves to be the center of attention.  He made great strides this session and can now float and accomplish forward motion all on his own (for short distances).  He begs to go swimming constantly.  I wish I could take him more, but Eric dreads the water (he refused to do swim lessons this year) and Kyle is too young to be safe without some pretty one on one supervision.

Hand

Kyle has a thing right now where he likes to hold people's hands.  He uses it as a way to make sure you are following him and to make sure he doesn't get left behind.  Once a week we try to meet friends at the park for a little play date.  Kyle has developed a cute friendship with the little boy his age.  Today as we were at the park he took his friend's hand and took him for a walk to show him all the interesting things he was seeing.

Back at Trafalga

Summer is definitely here, and Trafalga is open again.  Kyle is finally tall enough to ride a few of the rides.  The airplane ride is a true favorite.  I love Eric in this picture.  This is the same trip where Caden finally made it to the top of the rock climbing wall.  Until now he'd get about halfway up and come down, but with Ryan cheering him on he found the courage to keep going.

Ideas on Play Fighting

On our recent vacation my older boys both picked a bow and arrow set as their souvenir.  This year we have also introduced the concept of superheroes, foam swords, and plastic knives into our toy chest.  With all this interest in fighting I decided it was time to lay down some ground rules by doing an FHE on fighting and play fighting.  When I got done with planning it I thought a few others might benefit from the outline as well, so I decided to post it here (also, so I can find it when we need to review this concept in the future).  I should also give credit to a great blogpost on boys and weapons that was the inspiration for my lesson. 

FHE Lesson on Fighting

Opening song: Army of Helaman

The scriptures teach us that there is righteous fighting and unrighteous fighting.

Unrighteous Fighting

·         One of the Ten Commandments is “Thou shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13).  When Jesus came to Earth, he gave a deeper meaning to this commandment.  He said it is as bad to be angry with someone as it is to kill them.  (3 Nephi 12:21-22 and Matthew 5:21-22)

 Righteous Fighting

·         The Nephites and the Lamanites spent a lot of time at war with each other.  Even though they were fighting the same war, the Lord was unhappy with the Lamanites but blessed the Nephites.  This is because the Nephites were fighting for a righteous cause – defending their homes, liberties, families, and their right to go to church.  (Alma 43:45-47)

Captain Moroni is a wonderful example of someone who fought righteously.

“If Latter-day Saints are called upon to go into battle, they can look to the example of Captain Moroni, the great military leader in the Book of Mormon. Although he was a mighty warrior, he “did not delight in bloodshed” (Alma 48:11). He was “firm in the faith of Christ,” and his only reason for fighting was to “defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion” (Alma 48:13). If Latter-day Saints must go to war, they should go in a spirit of truth and righteousness, with a desire to do good. They should go with love in their hearts for all God’s children, including those on the opposing side. Then, if they are required to shed another’s blood, their action will not be counted as a sin.” ( True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference) (Picture 312 from GAPK)

Jesus taught that even if it would be righteous fighting, there are still times when choosing not to fight is better.

When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Peter tried to defend him and used his sword to cut off the ear of one of the soldiers.  Jesus told him to put his sword away and he healed the ear of the man who had been hurt. (Matt 26:51-52; John 18:10-11; Luke 22:51)

Sometimes, the way to repent of unrighteous fighting is to not fight at all. 

The Anti-Nephi-Lehites were Lamanites who fought unrighteously for many years.  Then they became converted to the Gospel.  They felt so bad about the unrighteous fighting they had been doing they buried their weapons of war so they wouldn’t be tempted to use them again.  Years later, when the Lamanites attacked them it would have been righteous fighting for them to defend their homes and families, but they still chose not to fight because they felt so bad about all the fighting they had done before.  (Alma 23-24, specifically Alma 24:17-18) (Picture 311 from GAPK)

Our Family Rules for Play Fighting:

1. ·         Play fighting where we are pretending to be bad, angry, or mean is not okay.  Play fighting where we are pretending to keep someone safe is okay.  No one should ever pretend to be the bad guy. 
2. ·         Soldiers train by practicing fighting each other.  Its okay to ‘spar’ with each other if we are pretending we are training.
3. ·         All life is precious.  We never pretend to kill someone or say we want to kill someone.
4. ·         If we don’t use our weapons appropriately, we will have to put them away for a little while.

Closing Song: I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus

Hiking

On our last day in Cloudcroft we decided to go hiking.  There were some relatively easy trails that led to old fallen down railroad trellises.  The kids thought the giant beams were pretty cool.  I love this cousin picture.  The kids naturally lined up from oldest to youngest; Eric is trying to help William stay in line; and the size of Caden's walking stick is very apparent.

Toy Train Museum

After spending the morning in the heat of the sand dunes we went to a Toy Train Museum in town to cool off.  We all enjoyed the tour of the museum and the amazing model train displays.  The volunteers were fantastic and had some funny lines and stunts for the kids.

The highlight was the train ride at the end.  The kids all got to give the conductor their tickets to be punched, then we took off on a 2 mile train ride through a city park.

The final showpiece of the museum was an old caboose the kids climbed up on.  Eric is just sure he's driving with his hands on that wheel.