Happy Birthday James!!

Here is my awesome James. Can't believe he is 11. Ahhh.

His birthday was super fun this year.  He found his cool robot he wanted called a MIP. Also he has been begging for a guitar so we got him a black electric guitar and found a great teacher for him so he has been really enjoying learning. He wanted Might Fine for his birthday lunch and a carrot cake from Sweetish Hill. After lunch we ran to Mayfield Park preserve since it was such a beautiful, warm day. 

James is such a big help at home. He is doing some babysitting for us which is wonderful! He helps out with Hyrum and Grace often as he loves playing with them. He works hard on his school projects and recently has been doing some crazy power point presentation for school. He loves writing, history and art. He is definitely a humanities kind of guy. Still not a lover of math but maybe we will convince him someday! He loves to draw and write. 

And this kid loves music. He knows so many songs and bands from many of the past decades. He really knows his rock and roll but loves all kinds of music. His favorites right now are Asia, Rush, and Try Hard Ninjas. He is always finding new songs for Alexa to play. We can't wait until he can jam out on his guitar for us!

James is one of our noisiest kids. He is always humming or singing or just making general noise at all times. He is rarely quiet. And he loves to talk and analyze everything. He always reads the Time magazine each week and keeps up to date watching CNN student news. He loves playing Nerf guns with his friends at the park. And of course playing anything in the computer. Although lately he has spent so much time in school research and guitar practice he rarely has time for computer or playing during the week. 

We love having our James and getting to know him. He is such a fun and amazing guy!!  Happy Birthday Jamers!

Hyrum Talk

Hyrum has a cold and is a little stuffy. This morning when he woke up he said, 
"My nose was not working last night." 

Also whenever he has a sore throat he always tells me, "My throat is not going down, Mom."

Hyrum: Mom did I already have my birthday?
Me: You had your birthday already when you turned 3. But you have another one. You have a birthday every year. 

Hyrum: Yes!

Hyrum has a best friend named Beddy. Meaning his bed. When he first started talking about him I heard "Betty" and was really confused by his statements of "Betty gave me this" or "Me and Betty did this" until one day I realized he was saying "Beddy" It's often Beddy's birthday and the two of them are always on some adventure. Today Hyrum told me "Beddy and me went down the water slide with our clothes on. We are tricky. We got soaking wet. Then all our clothes were wet. And a crocodile tried to eat our pants." 

I tried to bribe him to potty train by offering him this awesome little kid guitar toy with lights and music and real strings. It is black and super cool. To which he responded, "No mom. I want a regular guitar."

Grace Arwen 6 months!

Can't believe how big this girl is getting! Just had her half birthday. She is sitting pretty well, loves her hair chair so she can eat with the rest of us. She does well with solids and started on puffs and trying juice in a sippy. 

She just started sitting in the swing and she loves to swing. She is doing great with tummy time and can rotate in a full circle so we have to be careful what we leave near her! She prefers hard toys over soft and of course anything noisy is a winner. 

Grace just did her first sign on January 11. I asked if she wanted some milk and she lifted her hand and clearly made the milk sign. So excited for her to start communicating! She loves to add her noise and shouts to the big kids' clamor. She always has something to say. 

Grace is doing well with her helmet but hates physical therapy. Last time she cried the entire time until the last 15 minutes and then she just fell asleep sitting up. Silly girl. 

She thinks her brothers and Hannah are just hilarious and always love to interact with them. They always make her laugh. Hyrum loves to help her and be by her. Hannah loves having a sister!

So happy to have our baby Grace in our family. She brings us joy and everyone adores her.  

New Years Eve

On New Year's Eve Hannah and I went and got our nails done. Then we picked up a puzzle and that night we worked on it had a cheese tray and watched movies and had a lot of fun. Hannah and Hyrum stayed up till 9:30 and the boys stayed up til midnight with us!

Lego Jubilee

We had our first annual Lego jubilee where we pulled apart every Lego piece so they could be used anew for any creation. It took about two hours to break everything down. We had lots of yummy chocolate and fun music. Great family fun! And the kids have been hard at work building again.