Happy 5th Birthday Josh

For Josh's Birthday we invited a few of his friends over for a party.

We started the party off playing with pay dough while we waited for everyone to arrive.


Once the party got going we started into the action games. If there is one thing I know about little boys it is they like to be loud and wild, so that is what we did. They popped balloons to find prizes inside.

I was a little worried that Josh and his friends would have a hard time popping the balloons,

but they had no trouble at all.

Valerie was very upset they were popping the balls.

Then what would a party be without a silly string fight.

Valerie didn't like this much either, but the boys loved it.

After cakes and presents there was a little time left before the moms cam to pick everyone up, so I gave the boys each a punching balloon and let them go crazy.



Their favorite game was to try to get the balloon to go all the way down to the basement. They found this to be a challenge.

If you're thinking this party was similar to the one Josh had last year. It was almost exactly the same. Josh really likes all of these activities and when I asked him what he wanted to do for his party he didn't hesitate at all and listed off everything the same. I guess you shouldn't mess with a good thing.

After resting for a couple of hours we headed to Firehouse subs to have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. Josh was excited to get a new fireman hat, and he wore his fireman galoshes. He loved the restaurant,

but was a little worried when he had to go potty. The bathroom doors were marked. "firemen" and "firewomen" Josh felt he fit neither one of those descriptions and did not know what to do. He was happy to find out he was allowed in the Fireman bathroom.



Because Josh is the younger of our two boys he is always trying to be as big as Joe. He tries to like what Joe likes and sometimes misses out on things he likes, because he does not think Joe likes them. So this year for his birthday Ryan and I took Josh alone to the toy store to let him pick out his gift.



Josh has always loved trains, but Joe says he does not and calls them baby toys. So Josh has been trying to let his love of Geotrax die, but deep down he really loves them. When ever I get them out Josh plays with them all day and loves every minute of it. (Joe plays too, but he won't admit it.)



One of the first isles we went to at the toy store was the Geotrax Isle. Josh was in heaven. We walked around the rest of the store with him and a few times his eyes lit up over something, but when I asked him if he wanted it he would tell me he wanted the train set more. So for his birthday Josh chose to expand his train set. Tonight when we set it all up, Josh was very excited. I have not doubt Josh will spend the entire day tomorrow with his trains. I also know that Joe will be right there with him when he gets home form school.

Josh is such a great little boy, and I feel blessed to have him in our family. One of Josh's gifts is his memory. He remembers people the first time he meets them. I am so bad at remembering names, so it always amazes me when Josh calls adults by name.

Something about Josh that always makes me smile is his need to fully understand what he is getting himself into. When we are going somewhere he likes to know all of the details of where we are going, how we plan to get there and what we are going to do while we are there.

Whenever I ask him to do a chore he always wants to know exactly what it is I want him to do. What his reward will be if he does it and what the consequence will be if he doesn't. And sometimes if he does not feel like the consequence is enough he will add his own.

For example.

Josh: Mom can I play the Wii?

Me: Is your room clean.

Josh: OOHHH. If I clean my room can I play the Wii?

Me: Yes.

Josh: And if I don't clean it I can't play the Wii and I have to sit on my bed.

I love that Josh is a planner and likes to know every detail of what we are planning to do. Even though Josh whines about doing his chores he is a great helper and usually gets his jobs done. I am grateful for Josh and I hope that this year he will continue to find friends and talents of his own and that he will have fun exploring and learning new things.

I Love you Josh. Happy Birthday!

Bringing In The New Year

New Years Eve We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's


We had yummy food. Played the Wii and Other games, and then We watched Despicable Me.


After the movie we continued to play, but the kids were having a hard time staying awake. The boys gave up, got their blankets and curled up on Grandma's couches.

Valerie was tired, and she didn't want to miss the party, but Grandpa used his magic touch and got her to sleep.

After being teased all day about not making to it to midnight last year, Emily was determined to do it this year, and she did.

At midnight we toasted the new year with a glass of sparkling cider


Then we each took turns opening our Poppers that Tracy and Gavin had sent over from Europe.

Grandpa got a car, Emily and I got rings, Ryan got a puzzle and Grandma got a balloon. Each popper included a Joke.

"Have you ever heard the Joke about butter.

I'm not going to tell it to you because you will spread it around."

Hahaha!

After that tings got a little wild,

At least that is what we want you to think, what really happened is we packed the kids up and headed home to bed.

I like to take advantage of the new year and reflect on things that I would like to try to do better this next year. Ryan's mom has us record a goal on video. then the following year we watch it and see if we met our goals. Last year I set two goals and accomplished one.

This year I am setting kind of a funny goal, but it is something that I hate and I am trying to learn to be better at it so I can learn to like it. My New years resolution this year is all about Laundry.

My goal is simply to fold the laundry as soon as I take it out of the dryer, and not do it every day of the week. I know most of you probably already do this, but too many times this year I found myself stashing the clean laundry on the table in the laundry room or in a basket until I had time to fold it, and then dreading going back to the pile.

I have been doing well with my goal so far and I have also come to realize that with a family of six Laundry is pretty hard to get all done in one day if you only do it once a week, so I have dedicated two days to laundry, Monday and Friday. So far it has made the chore a lot less daunting, and I get the extras done like changing the sheets and washing the rugs without staying up late to finish.

So for the new year I am going to master the laundry room. As for the rest of the house......One thing at a time.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Fun

Every Christmas Eve the Mysterious Stranger rings the doorbell and leaves a gift on the doorstep.

On our way to Grandma's, Joe told me that he knows who the Mysterious stranger is. I was sure he had figured out the secret. So I had to smile when he told me that last Christmas as we were driving home from Grandma's he saw the Stranger leaving presents on someones door, and it is a girl.

The stranger did not disappoint. The kids all loved their pajamas.

I was not quick enough getting Valerie's on her, so she tried to put them on herself.


Christmas Eve is always great at Grandma and Grandpa's house. After a nice dinner and program we headed home to wait for Santa.




Christmas morning the kids were excited to see what Santa had brought. Usually Santa leaves their gift next to their stocking, so they were a little confused to come out and see all of the stockings lined up together. Then they noticed the note and Webkinz on the tree.

Santa had brought them a new computer, and because he wanted it all ready for them to use Christmas morning, he left a note on the tree telling them where to look for their surprise.




They were very excited and couldn't wait to adopt their new Webkinz and start playing with them on the new computer.

But first we had to open the rest of the gifts.

Valerie loved all of her new gifts and has been very busy with them since she opened them. Ryan's mom and I had to laugh though, because the two things she carries around with her are the $3 baby doll she got in her stocking and the $2 toy cell phone Grandma gave her in her purse. It is so nice when they are easy to please.

Ryan really wants to thank my parents for the rocking horse. If you push the ear it plays a song that gets stuck in your head. So all day we kept finding ourselves singing "such a pretty pony clippity clop, clippity clop." Valerie loves it.

The boys were happy to find Lego's and Zuzu's under the tree.
Emily got a few new petshop toys, clothes and a computer game she has been talking about for months.


The kids are now busy enjoying all of their new gifts.

It was a great Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Activities

December is always full of so many Christmas activities. I love participating in them and enjoying the fun at Christmas time.

Joe's first, and probably last, time at The Nutcracker.

Every year Ryan's dad likes to go to The Nutcracker. for the last few years Emily has gotten to go with him and every year Joe has asked when he will get to go. This year Grandpa invited Joe.

Grandma told Joe that it was very exciting because there are soldiers who fight with mice and let's not forget about the "Butcracker Sweet" in the second act. Grandma told Joe that when that song started he had her permission to sing out as loud as he wanted. "Please just say no to crack, when you see butt crack attack." (Grandma wasn't going)

Grandpa told Joe if he sang he wouldn't be invited back.

Joe seemed to like the first half. It was exciting with the annoying brothers and the fight between the soldiers and the mice, but the second half was a different story. Joe began to get bored and by the time the Nutcracker sweet started he was done. He didn't even realize it was the song until I pointed it out towards the end, but he was too bored to even sing. The third time the Sugar Plum Fairy came out to dance Joe looked at me and said "Oh come on!"

when the show was over Joe informed us that he never wants to see The Nutcracker again. Sorry Grandpa.

Even though Joe said he didn't like it he behaved really well, and I think he did really like the first half. As for Grandpa Emily and I, we really enjoyed ourselves and it was the perfect way to kick off the Christmas Season.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir

The next thing I was lucky enough to attend was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. Ryan's brother and his wife had two extra tickets and I was lucky to get one of them. David Archuleta was the guest performer. I had not really followed him since his American Idol year, but I love his tenor voice and the concert was great. Thanks for the invite Kevin and Alisa.

My Little Soldier

While the other two shows were amazing and I enjoyed them very much I have to say my very favorite Christmas program I attended this year was Josh's Preschool program.

His teachers do such a cute job. They send home a little costume for each child. The younger classes wear the elf costumes and the older classes are soldiers and ballerinas. Josh was so excited to be a soldier that he wanted to put on his costume as soon as he woke up.

Valerie and Josh's friend Ben were with me so I found a good seat to get pictures from and also make a fast exit if one of the kids needed to. when the program started Valerie did not want to sit, but she was happy to stand on the side with me. As I was watching the first number I could tell Josh was looking for me, and he couldn't see where I was. I was holding Valerie with one hand and the camera with the other so I could not wave to get his attention. when the song was finished I stood up and as soon as Josh spotted me he called out......."Mom, Did you like that song?"

I think that was my favorite part of the whole show.

This song however was my favorite song because Josh was really into it and it has one of his favorite things to say in it. "I'm hungry" He says that to me at least once a day if not more.

At the end of the program Santa came. Josh was really excited to see him and Valerie was excited to get the Candy cane. When Santa asked Josh what he wants for Christmas Josh told him to give him a surprise.

I hope he likes the surprise Santa brings him.

On our way out the door Josh became very interested in where Santa's sleigh was. He could not see it on the roof of the building and he also did not see a chimney. This seemed to concern him quite a bit. He then started coming up with all kinds of possibilities of how Santa got there. I think he finally decided that Santa has a car too.

I love Christmas time and all of the fun things that go with it, especially watching my kids enjoy it.

Joe's 7th Birthday

Joe's 7th birthday landed on a Sunday, so we started the celebrations by having Ryan's parents over for dinner. Grandma brought the cake!

A few months ago when I asked Joe what he wanted for his birthday there were two things on is list. Lego's and a video camera to make Lego videos. I am very interested to see what kind of videos we get. (I did set a few rules like no underwear and things like that.) He got filming right away.

The following Tuesday, Joe had a friend party. As I said in a previous post we spent a lot of time at Classic this summer, and all summer Joe asked if he could have his party there. The more I looked into it the better it sounded to me too. Having 6 and 7 year old boys running around the house with the Christmas decorations up is very exciting, but not having to worry about it was even better.

The kids had a blast running around with all of their friends.

The groups two favorite things to do were Laser tag,

and Blaster Ball.

Two games where you run around and shoot guns. It was a boys birthday party dream.

One thing that intrigued Joe about birthday parties this summer was when the birthday kid got to go in the money tube. They stick the kid in a tube with crumpled paper money. Then they blow air into it and the birthday child has to try to catch as much as he can.

Joe did really well. He caught 35. So he got 35 bonus tickets to spend at the prize counter.

The party was a great success and everyone had a fun time. It was a perfect way to celebrate Joe turning 7.

Happy Birthday Joe!



And now for what you have all been wondering........

Joe's first video.

Decorating (and undecorating) for Christmas

This year I had lots of help putting up the Christmas tree. I wanted to try putting the lights on as we built the tree to see if that would be easier. I think it would have been if I did not have someone sitting on my lap and trying to do what she wanted to with the lights. We put the tree up Saturday night so that it would be ready for decorating on Sunday evening.

Sunday we brought out the rest of the Christmas decorations. The kids loved seeing their old ornaments and putting them on the tree. I was busy helping and forgot to take pictures so I had them stand in front of the tree when it was done.

Valerie was not happy. But when everyone went off to do their own thing Valerie took the Santa hat and started posing on her own.

So I had the other kids hurry and stand close to her. The picture came out a little blurry, but with a little photo shopping it is usable, and at least they are happy.

Valerie did not grasp the concept of hanging the ornaments on the tree. She liked looking at them, and playing with them.


We gave her a couple she could play with while we put the rest on the tree. When the tree was finished Valerie started looking around at everything and started undercoating the tree. The pine cones looked like balls to her and they were really fun to swing around.

She also really liked the train around the tree, but Josh was in charge of the train and he guarded it from Valerie like his life depended on it. He did not want his favorite Christmas decoration broken. Whenever she would go for it. Josh would run over to stop her.

Eventually Valerie spotted the Little People Nativity set and had a great time playing with it. It distracted her for the rest of the evening.

But the next morning she was back to the tree. I had forgotten about the rule with a Toddler in the house. All ornaments must be above the bottom two branches.

It is a good thing I loaded the bottom two rows with lights.

We are all decorated for Christmas, and can enjoy the festivities of the season.