O Gnomeo, wherefore art thou Gnomeo?

The month of April has brought us two birthdays! For Emma's 6th Birthday  (no, we can't believe she is 6!) we had a Gnomeo and Juliet party!

 Torrie made Emma a signature cake, with the battle line drawn.

 All of Emma's Sunday School Classmates chose sides, either blue for Gnomeo, or red for Juliet. Of course, Emma and Charlotte were red gnomes.

 Emma improved on her costume with the use of some wrapping paper.

 We planted sunflowers, a favorite pastime of gnomes.

Followed by "Freeze Gnome"

We spotted a real gnome in our yard! We named him Condie, because his white hair reminded us of someone.

We took turns hiding, and finding our gnome.

 We finished by fishing for our party favors, a gnome favorite.

A few nights later when Papa Haupt and Papa Word where here we had our birthday tradition of lighting sky laterns. Charlotte stood in for Kate.

 Papa Haupt helped Charlotte with her lantern.

Papa Haupt handed off the lantern to Charlotte.

 Papa Word co-piloted the latern with Emma.

 We sailed our lanterns at twilight.

We had a wonderful month of April, and are excited to celebrate the birth of two wonderful girls in a month that is fast becoming a family favorite.

Sisters

We keep calling Kate by her sister's names, so we went back and looked at photos of her sisters when they were born and discovered why. Perhaps you can tell them apart, but we can't. Either way, we are glad all of the cuteness was not used up on our first two!

First Day of School!

The first day of school is always memorable. On September 7th Emma had an orientation that she attended with Levi, followed by the first official day on the 8th.

If you can't tell she was excited!

 She has been on a big Curious George kick and was pretty pumped to wear this shirt.

We were blessed to have Grandma and Papa Word here with us. They were able to send Emma off on the bus with us.

 We're not sure if Charlotte and Mommy are ready for their bestie to be gone for half the day, but they are coping well.

Emma was just as excited the first official day as she was the day before.

She was super brave and excited to ride the bus. We tried to give her a ride, but she was adamant that the bus is the only proper way to ride to school.

She is the first stop for the bus in the morning, and gets to ride in the front (where all the really smart kids sit). Near the end of the bus ride the bus stops to pick up some family friends, the Fredericksens. Each day they high five Emma and make her feel like a true big kid. Thanks Carson and Chelsea for being such great friends! 

She couldn't contain her excitement! Its time to learn!

What surely is a Woodward tradition Grandma and Mommy jumped in the car and followed the bus all the way to the school. At the school Mommy tried to be sneaky and caught a peek of Emma lining up ready to enter the school.

Meanwhile at home Charlotte was having a difficult time coping. Thankfully Grandma and Papa were there to distract her. As they waited at the best stop for Emma to return Charlotte said "Oh! My Emma, I love her!", as she grabbed Emma's hand.

 The held hands the whole 1 1/2 blocks home!

 The memory of these two best friends walking together will forever be etched in Mommy's and Grandma's hearts. It is amazing how much joy simple things can bring.

The munchkin turned 5!!!!

O-lo blogging world, I am needing to play a little catch up. I know it rather pathetic to blog about something that happened in April, since this is now August, but since this is more of a journal for my family important things need to be documented.
 
Just after Easter this year, our Emma turned 5, I still can't believe it, even though she reminds everyone on a daily basis. I so clearly remember being pregnant with her, during that Christmas we stopped to visit my Grandma Woodward who was dying of cancer, she would never meet Emma on this earth, however I am sure Grandma Woodward met up with her before she came down.

 During that visit, my mom showered me with box after box of girl clothing of random sizes that she gleaned from the clearance racks at Gymboree ( i would say she was just a LITTLE excited)  one of the last boxes contained a size 5 white duster sweater to be worn over dresses for church. I remember thinking, ' there is no way she'll ever be that big!"  Well she still doesn't quite fit the sweater since she's on the petite side, but we're here, she 5 and headed to school in about a month from now, holy moly.

So this year Emma picked a "Tangled" party, it was fun we had games like "Pin the nose on Flynn Rider, and we sang "a-tootie-ta", we had cake and almost got to release flying lanterns (they were bought, we found out before the party they were against city code. They might lite something on fire, well my response to that is something would have to be DRY first, it was a long wet spring)

So here are a few pics and videos from the partay, it was fun and I am truly grateful that my wonderful hubby got so into it, it made Emma's day.

channeling our inner ruffians,

a costume not just princess party

the other little princess you didn't understand that her birthday wasn't here yet

my Hunky Vladimir, and his pet unicorns

the cake didn't play nice, but it tasted good, I guess you could call me Attila ( you have to listen to the ruffian song to get all these references)

Showing mom her toys while looking at the next package.

Emma angel  I am so glad that I get to be your mommy I know your daddy and sister love you as much as I do. Thanks for being a part of our forever family.
love,
     mommy

Busted.

Or this post could be titled, "From the mouth of babes".. whichever you prefer.

Every year that we've been married Levi and I have picked brackets and "competed" in March Madness. I use the term competed loosely since no money is involved just bragging rights and a few times, surprisingly, they've been mine, yahoo.

HOWEVER, this year as we began our ritual we decided to let Emma pick her own bracket (see video) and she did it..... ALL BY HERSELF.

I helped Charlotte by doing hers, and Levi and I both completed one for ourselves. We were ready when the bracket closed and tip-off began on March 17th for the NCAA Men's basketball tournament. I should have known I was gonna have problems, March 17th isn't my lucky day, I ain't Irish.

My Dad ( Papa) and Grandpa and Levi's brother Isaac all joined in the fun

Here's our group results

BYU Bias


• Group Type: Private

• Group Creator: Im just an engineer

• Group Motto: "Just cuz they are your alma matter doesn't mean they'll win"
• Group Size: 7

RNK ENTRY, OWNER       E8     FF     NCG     CHAMP.      TOTAL    PCT

1 Emma,            Emma             0       0         0            Kansas         570       76.4
2 OnlyInFranklin  Grandpa       0       0         0            SDSU          520        53.4
2 I only know futbol, Isaac       0       0         0            BYU            520        53.4
4 Jimmer Show 2011, Papa     0       0         0            Ohio St         510        48.5
5 Cougar baby, Charlotte        0       0         0             BYU            500        43.7
6 Im just an engineer, Levi       0       0         0             Pittsburgh      470       29.6
7 cupcakes to the winner, Tor   0      0        0             Kansas         420        12.0


I think its HILARIOUS that we're ALL busted before the "elite 8" round. and Its even Funnier that Emma is at the top. The best part is that while she was doing this she said, "Dad, this is boring." Little did she know it was going to pay off. If you don't believe me, check the video.

Party Time!

So, I have a super good reason for NOT posting about the party yet.... do ya wanna hear it? nope ?! well I'm gonna show ya anyways, just so I don't look like a huge flop. These next few pics PERFECTLY describe the way my weekend went after the party.



maybe this would demonstrate how upset they were that the party was over?



This is a good illustration on how they felt with the lack of sleep and the near heat stroke we all got....



wait, this is the combo of all the above "ingredients", a perfect and complete meltdown, all I was trying to do was get pics of them in some new dresses. My kids don't handle parties too well. the party was Friday, and we were obviously still feeling the effects come Sunday, EVERYTHING set them off. It started out as a really fun weekend but I soon realized the end couldn't come fast enough. Alright I'll quit complaining we really did have a lot of fun, I just thought these pics were funny and made my point.

Friday was the hottest day we'd had up to that point in WEEKS, that didn't jive with our plans. We started out in back of the complex office, because it cost an arm and a leg to rent the Common Area. We soon discovered that we needed to stop coloring our dragon-egg baskets and making our mini-dragons because the crayons and the play-doh were melting. So we left for our neighborhood-wide scavenger hunt for "dragon eggs." We had to cut that short because the birthday girl got blisters and couldn't continue. When we arrived home Levi (who was busy behind the scenes rearranging stuff due to the weather) said that we all looked like tomatoes, I'm kinda glad I DON'T have a picture of that.
after a while in the AC and watching "UP" we did presents and cake and ice-cream.



Here is Emma, her presents and a gaggle of friends looking eagerly on.



Here are the party guests and their very brave and gracious moms, thanks again girls, for your help and patience!



The boy almost on top of Emma is my buddy Ethan, he cracks me up, he was the perfect party guest, always interested in what present was being opened and thought it was really cool when Emma got more than just princess stuff.



Here is the cake, a dragon on a stone wall. the dragon is made out of Rice Krispy treat and then covered in butter cream. the cake went over well, there was only a piece left!



My wonderful friends helping with the "devouring" of the cake while I was inside slicing more up.

It was a fun party and I would have appreciated if the weather had cooperated a bit more, but we still had a good time. Thanks again to my friends, my girls and their friends for all being such good sports. As well a huge thank you to my sweet, hard-working hubby for all he did, I couldn't have done it without ya!

We love you Emma, hope you had a good day, Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Our Dragon Quest

Our Princess is turning 4! We always thought we would be starting the never-ending cycle of Princess related parties by now, but instead, our fair maiden is obsessed with DRAGONS! So we have been scheming for weeks now and are pretty proud of ourselves. We thought we would give you a taste of what our guests can expect in a few weeks.

These our the invitations. Since we had some trouble with the dragons torching them, we thought we would get some training. If you think you need some training too watch the movie below.

To find out more of how our Dragon Quest went you will have to tune in after April 30th. If you don't hear from us soon its because keeping a dragon as a pet is not as easy as it looks on the big screen!

My Girls

Coming from a family of (mostly) boys I never thought I would be so comfortable raising two precious girls. I thought I would post some pics and video of some memories I know I will cherish of the rest of my life. I love you Lolo and Memers.

Love,

Daddy

This is Charlotte at Amazement Square working on an architectural drawing. She knows she has be wrapped around her finger, kept batting her eyes at me.

This is our rock band. We had fun playing on the wii.

Charlotte is one serious drummer.

Emma just had to be the lead singer and the lead guitarist. I had thought I had improved my singing, but I guess I still need some work.

Every day as soon as I walk in the door Charlotte comes running from the back of the house to give me the most welcoming hug ever! Thanks Charlotte these make my day.

The other day I came home to give Charlotte a blessing. After we knew all was well Emma kept asking if she could dance with her prince. I will cherish this video forever. I don't know if Emma or I had more fun. Either way, thanks for making me so special Emma!

Our lives have come full circle

Tonight Torrie and I were watching our favorite show ~ The Big Bang Theory. For everyone but Hannah its about 4 socially inept scientists trying to live normal lives, Torrie really relates to this show. We were laughing pretty hard and Emma walked into our room. We tried to get this on video a soon as we could, the first time she said it, it was hillarious, but you may find this funny too. Our lives must have come full circle now that our 3 year old is lecturing us on bed time.

Grandparent alert: Go to the website to watch the above video

The 4th of .... WHAT?!

I'll start off by saying that I love the 4th of July. I consider myself to be a patriotic person, I'm very grateful for this country I live in and the inspiration behind it. So needless to say, I was very excited to spend this holiday in our quaint upstate NY town of Saratoga Springs. Its what you think of when you think of quaint small town complete with a main street:) I was overjoyed to hear that there would be a parade among other festivities. So we got the girls ready and headed for downtown. Yes, I know TECHNICALLY I live five miles south but there REALLY isn't a whole lot here so we spend a lot of time up in Saratoga, anyways, back to the story. We parked and walk to Broadway to see the parade. It started with police cruisers clearing the way......
I WAS WAY DISAPPOINTED. This parade consisted of some old cars for the car show later that day, a fire truck or two that was throwing sticks of gum "LAME" (handfuls of candy are customary!) , one group of student athletes, and a huge group of random residents and their dogs! I felt ripped off! The coolest thing was a group that dressed up like Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers. Where was the floats, the groups of veterans, The police doing tricks on their motorcycles, the high school band? I don't think Miss Saratoga Springs even had a court... and it lasted like 20 min!

I will say that at that moment I missed the blowout parade in Provo, sigh, oh well.

There were some high lights, afterwards several of the local restaurants participated in a BBQ and dessert tasting. so we walked around and got samples. We also hit up the carousel, and played near the pond in the park. All in all it was more fun AFTER the parade and I was grateful that we made the effort to go LAST YEAR, when we were still in Provo.

Here are some cute pics anyways and we hope your 4th was good, better...

The girls trying to keep their hats as we waited for the parade. Charlotte is already a poser :)

Yes this was the parade still, like I said a random group of people and their dogs!

This is when Charlotte realized it was not "her father" who was holding her.....

Writer's Block

We have been having trouble finding something entertaining, but then we watched our videos, hope you enjoy!

A tribute to our friends the Tanners
Once upon a time in the land of the bubble lived a newlywed couple oblivious to the reality of the little ones. Weekends were spent sleeping in and watching football in between Xbox games. This naive couple even enjoyed their little neighbor "King James". King James ruled the roost on the other side of the wall. He had an endearing way of controlling his subjects. As he learned the correct command he employed it earlier and earlier. Soon it was used before the sun crept up over the Y. "Dad.." he whispered... "Daddy?" he chanted, "Daddy?" "Daddy?" "Daddy?"....... "FATHER!" Neither of his subjects would hear his demands. One simply drunk with exhaustion from working in acadamia, the other pregnant. But little did he know the kingdom was expanding. The end of an era had arrived for the newlywed couple. King James was welcoming these innocent souls to the land of parenthood through the wall of reality. It may have been adorable then, but now with 2 of their own, 5 am is just too early to be awoken in bed by the Queens of this kingdom demanding their servants jump to their beckoned call.....

"Daddy listen!"

What a simple time it was when we could visit the Tanners and THEIR children, retreating to our little oasis in the bubble. We love and miss you Tanners!

Ode to Papa Word
Once upon a time in a sunny beachside land lived a little girl. This little girl was sweet and funny and loved to dance. She would entertain her father by dancing the "moon-walk" This moonwalk wasn't as technically marvelous as when performed by some 80's dance stars, but it was clever for a four-year-old and probably would have passed for a sobriety test. This little girl grew up and passed on her love of dancing to her offspring, who have done their mother proud by truly enjoying this treasured passtime.

"Dancin' "

Vote for your favorite video
Emma Power

Circles

Daddy Listen

Dancin'

Spring has Sprung!

Spring has finally arrived in Saratoga Springs! Its been a while since we have posted and we are blaming it on the weather. The weather has been wonderful, the flowers and trees are in bloom and we have been out and about alot.

Torrie took this picture from our balcony. The evenings are beautiful. As the sun goes down we open up our windows and get a nice breeze blowing through. It makes it a perfect temperature in our apartment, it almost makes the miserable winter weather worth it ;)

Torrie made another delicous cake to celebrate

Emma's 3rd birthday. It was so yummy it was

almost gone before we could get a picture.

For Family Night we went to Congress Park with the Petersons to taste the spring water, but it smelled like sulfur so we chased the ducks instead.

There were lots of different colors of tulips,

and of course Emma wanted to smell them all.

Before we went left we went across the street to Coldstone for ice cream. Emma and I shared our uber chocolate ice cream in a sprinkle cone. Who would have thought Emma would have more energy... we should have stopped by here first.

The most exciting news from our family has to be that Charlotte has begun to crawl! For a few weeks now she has been really frustrated when laying on her tummy. Now she is able to scoot herself along and everyone is much happier!

And last, but not least I had to post a picture (actually 2 pics) of what Torrie has dubbed "my mistress"... While she and girls were back west she kept me company. For this bike season I have dressed her in new threads (a much needed drivetrain upgrade). Torrie's only request (so far) has been that I keep her in the garage rather than in the bedroom (where she stayed while I rode the trainer for a few weeks). I have happily complied since spring has sprung!