Birdhouse painting and "The Eagle"

So, yesterday, my older brother Kent came up to spend the day. He got up here around 8:30 in the morning, and fed his 3 month old daughter while I got my boys off to school. After that, we loaded up the remaining kids (his two daughters, and my Gavin) and we trekked off to that wonderful, glorious craft store with the not-so-wide aisles, full of very breakable stuff - Hobby Lobby!

We wandered around for a bit looking for a project for the two kids to do, and they finally settled on painting a birdhouse of their own. So, we eventually got home, where Kent ordered pizza for us, and I got the kids started painting. And, just for the record, Kent & I did not do ANY painting - the kids did it all themselves!

It was a lot of fun to watch the different painting techniques of these two little rugrats. MaKena is one year younger than Gavin, but she is such a perfectionist - and her birdhouse shows it! While Gavin's is a typical 3 year olds "muddiness" of all the colors mixed together, Kena worked very hard to make hers "pwetty." And it is.


MaKena concentrating on painting her birdhouse


Gavin concentrating on painting his birdhouse


Look how cute they are!!


MaKena's finished product


Gavin's finished product

After we had lunch, finished painting, movie/naptime, then it was time to make cookies. Gavin and MaKena helped me make some really yummy, delicious cookies - at the request of Scott & B. Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter cookies. They are SO good! Anyway, they helped me make the cookies, and then, of course, they had to eat some. Kent got pictures of that, so I'll have to post some when he emails them to me.

After that, it was time for them to head off to other grand adventures, but before we sent them out the door, we had to get just a couple more pictures:

Hmm - I think I'll smack him . . .


. . . SMACK!!!!

I just realized as I was posting these pictures, that I didn't get a single picture of my other niece - Adilynn. She's the cutest, chubbiest little girl, with the curliest head of hair I've ever seen! She's adorable!

Then, it was time for our next adventure: a Court of Honor. One of Brandon's former 11-year old Scouts had earned his Eagle Award, and asked Brandon to come speak at his Court of Honor. We haven't seen this boy in several years, so it was a surprise for Brandon to be asked, but quite an honor!

So, off we went. We got the kids home from school, ran them through the bathroom, then back out to the van for our trip. I sat in the middle section of the van so I could help them do their homework. We got all of B's done, and most of Scott's, but my hip and back can only take so much time twisted around like that! :)

At the Court of Honor, we saw lots of old ward members from Taylorsville and had a good time visiting and catching up. Several people asked me, "Renee, where's your baby?" and when I would point to Gavin, their mouths would drop open! It's so hard to believe that he'll be 4 soon! Yikes.

Anyway, the treat of the evening for me and the boys was "The Eagle." Steve Chindgren (who does the bird show at Hogle Zoo each summer) was asked to come speak as well, and he brought one of his Eagles! This one was Liberty, and she's 22 years old! She's beautiful, and it was so fun to watch her stretch her wings out from tip to tip, and then flap up in the air.

Steve telling us a bit about Liberty

Steve & Jake holding Liberty

After the Court of Honor, we visited some more, had some cake and Sprite, then herded the kids into the bathroom once more, this time to change into jammies, then we headed back home. We didn't get home until 10:30 last night, and I was SUPER tired, but all in all, it was a really good day!