Let's get this party started

Our usual week long celebration for Caitlyn's birthday has begun.  It started yesterday in church.  Caitlyn's teacher was so sweet and brought cupcakes to celebrate her birthday.  She even let Caitlyn pick her favorite flavor.  After church we headed to my mom's for her family party.

Caitlyn loves pictures and any type of art project so we bought her this scrapbook kit and I have been printing up pictures for her for a while.  We had fun working on it together today.

I think Jonah was almost as excited for Caitlyn's birthday as she was.  About a week ago Caitlyn told me she wanted a boy barbie for her birthday so that she could have a mom and a dad.  I had already bought all her presents so I told her she would have to save her money for one.  When Jonah and I were shopping Jonah saw one and talked me into getting it for Caitlyn.  He was so excited to give it to her.  All day on Sunday Jonah kept saying, "Caitlyn, it's almost your birthday party, are you excited?"  What a sweet brother.

She got spoiled with gifts.  Amarie loaded her up with presents and drew her this cute card.  They had fun playing together with Caitlyn's toys after the party.

Grandma and Grandpa gave her this dog that she has been dying over for months now.  They also gave her magnet earrings.  She wanted to get her ears pierced for her birthday, but decided it was too scary so she is very happy with the magnet earrings.  Grandma and Grandpa gave her a lot of presents and today she said, "wow grandma gave me all these presents, I'm like wow grandma, do you have some extra cash or what?"

Caitlyn wanted a jello cake.  Caitlyn used to be crazy (she still is a little) about care bears.  We bought these candles for her second birthday and about every other year she wants to use them again. 

We celebrated her birthday with EJ.  Their birthdays are only a few days apart so they always have a combined party.  We have lots of fun things planned for the rest of the week.  Every year I think I will not do so much for the kid's birthdays and every year I do it anyway.  I can't help it.  I love birthdays and mine are boring now that I'm old, so why not go a little crazy for the kid's birthdays.  It's only once a year right?  Although, now it is once a year three times for us!

8 months

Eight months ago today this cute little guy entered our lives and we have loved every minute of it. He has been such a good, easy going baby.  I think that honeymoon period may be coming to an end though.  He is becoming very active and even a little opinionated.  He decides what he wants and he goes for it.  Usually what he wants are cords or controllers and even when I move him across the room he goes right back to them.

Even though he is getting a little more challenging I wouldn't change a thing about him. I love getting to see more of his personality.  He is so happy and he loves to laugh and interact with people. Someone told me that he smiles with his eyes and I totally agree.  I love the way his whole face lights up when he smiles.

He has crawled a couple of times, but he doesn't seem to want to bother with that.  He has figured out he can get around quicker by scooting and rolling.  

And of course the backwards scoot.  Between all of these he can get where ever he wants to be, which is usually somewhere that mommy doesn't want him to be.  

This is what Wyatt does every day in his high chair.  He slouches and just kicks his legs while he waits for me to feed him. I love that little grin he gives me.

What a great eight months these have been.  We have all enjoyed watching Wyatt grow and develop.  It is amazing the changes they go through in the first year. 

My Boys

We all miss Caitlyn when she is at school, but it is nice to have some time with my boys.  Usually I help in Caitlyn's class on Friday, but yesterday they didn't need me so I had the morning free to play with the boys.  Usually Wyatt naps while Caitlyn is at school so Jonah and I have some time alone, but this week he has decided that he only needs a few very short naps throughout the day.  I disagree, but lets face it he holds all the power.

Jonah loves to play with Wyatt.  I won't let him unless I'm in the room because he gets so excited that he forgets that he has to be careful with Wyatt.  Jonah loves to play with kids and he is so sweet with them. He is a great big brother.  Wyatt laughs at whatever Jonah does.  The other night Jonah was jumping over his rug and Wyatt was laughing hysterically.  It was so cute.  Sometimes I will try and copy what Jonah is doing to make Wyatt laugh and Wyatt does not find it amusing. Caitlyn can always get the smiles out of Wyatt, but Jonah can get the laughs.

Jonah is always talking about how strong he is.  The other day he was carrying a box of caprisuns in the store and a little girl pointed out how strong he was and that made Jonah's day. He is always trying to show of his strength by carrying heavy things around. 

We love these cute boys.  Most people tell me that Wyatt looks just like Jonah.  I see more of Caitlyn in him, but he definitely has some Jonah in him.

We all had fun playing with Legos yesterday.  Jonah got all these legos with his new blocks a few weeks ago.  Wyatt loves to play (grab them and put them in his mouth) with them and Jonah and I had fun building this huge tower. 

Yesterday I went shopping with my mom and Jonah begged to come. It was nice to have some one-on-one time with him.  He was a pretty good sport and only got bored near the end.  When me and my mom tried things on he would say, "wow, you look beautiful."  Love that boy!

Super Spies

These kids crack me up.  It is so funny to watch them play together.  They are always playing make believe.  Yesterday they were super spies.  They were running around the house trying to be sneaky and telling me they had to check in with their boss to find out what their mission was.

Last night they were giving me and Keith a class on how to be a super spy.  I love the days that they just have fun playing together without getting bored or fighting. 

They did take a break from their spy work to help me make cookies. 

Jonah has been having a great time playing with his new blocks.  He also loves to do puzzles.  He is getting really good at them.  He does a 60 piece one by himself.  He is working on earning a 100 piece one.

We sure love these guys.  I'm so grateful to be a mother.  It is by far the hardest thing I have ever done, but also the most rewarding. 

The Fitness Center

Last week didn't go quite as planned.  Instead of having a fun week together the whole family ended up getting sick.  We had colds, sore throats, throwing up and pink eye going around the family.  The kids were disappointed that we didn't get to play with Cody and Elena as much as they were hoping, but we did get to go to the fitness center with them on Wednesday.

We love this place.  We have spent so much time here over the past few years.  They have such a fun play place for the kids.  They love the grocery store and dark slide. I love to take Jonah places like this where he can run around, be as loud as he wants and touch everything.  It is great for burning off energy in the winter.

Wyatt got a short nap and then he was content to just be held and watch all the kids run around.  I just love how easy going he is. I'm glad the kids got some time with their cousins before we all got sick.  Hopefully we will have better luck this summer!

Do you want to play in my room or Caitlyns?

This is the question Jonah keeps asking Cody. Caitlyn and Cody used to pair off and Jonah and Elena would play together.  Now that they are getting older Cody and Jonah are playing together more because they like to play rough and and pretty much just be little boys.  Caitlyn and Elena are a good match because they are both so girly.  Either way everyone seems to be happy and usually they all end up playing together.

The kids have sure missed Cody and Elena since they moved.  They want to spend every possible second with them this week.  So far we are doing pretty well.  After swimming on Saturday we all headed to my mom's for dinner and visiting.  We had a lot of fun and Keith even took the kids home for bed so I could stay and visit.  He is always supportive of me getting some time away from home.

On Sunday we went to church with my parents so the kids could go with their cousins.  My mom was great and took all four kids to her primary class, as if her own group of 4 and 5 year olds aren't enough.  They were all excited to have grandma for a teacher.

Matt and Lori were great and took Wyatt during sacrament meeting.  They taught Wyatt how to feed himself puffs.  As you can see Wyatt was very excited about that!  I'm very excited about that too.

Today we went and saw Tangled again.  Hopefully people in the theatre had already seen it because Jonah yelled out what was going to happen next.  You never know what that boy is going to say next.  The other day Caitlyn asked me why 100 plus 100 equals 200 and Jonah said, "because it has two vowels in it Caitlyn." I asked him if he wanted to go to pre-school with a little girl from his primary class and he said, "sure, I would like that." He is a funny kid.

Tonight Grandma and Grandpa brought the kids over for family home evening.  It was a little crazy with all of them running around on a high from all of the sugar they ate, but we actually got them to sit still long enough to make it through a lesson.  It has been great spending time with my family this weekend.

Swimming with the cousins

Saturday Matt and Lori and their kids came into town.  We love when family comes to visit.  We started off their visit with swimming on Saturday.  Caitlyn and Jonah were so excited to go swimming with their cousins.  Jonah loves to play with the older boys. 

Jonah wanted to bring his football and the boys all had fun throwing it around.

Cailtyn and Jonah have been counting down the days until they got to see Cody and Elena.  I love this picture. They look so cute.

Amarie and Caitlyn are such good friends.  Last time we took them swimming we tried to talk both of them into going down the water slide and neither one of them would do it.  This time Amarie went down soon after we got there and she loved it. We all tried to talk Caitlyn into trying the water slide.  I got her up to the top and she started screaming that she wanted to go back down.  Luckily Lori stepped in.  I have always admired her patience and creativity with kids.  She worked with Caitlyn and talked to her for at least 20 minutes at the top of the slide.  Keith went up and finished up the job and she went down.

She was so proud of herself.  She gets so nervous about things, but she is so proud when she tries something she is scared of.

She loved the water slide.  She went on it over and over for two hours.  Needless to say she slept great that night after going up those stairs for two hours.

Wyatt did not love swimming like he did last time.  He was a good sport, but didn't seem to be enjoying it.  I tried to get pictures of him smiling at the beginning and finally gave up.

Later I was playing with him and tickling him and then he was all smiles.  I won't show the pictures where he looks miserable. I will stick with the smiling pictures and then we can pretend he loved it!

Love this nice weather

Today was such a nice day.  It was just right for a day outside.  The kids had a picnic in the backyard while I fed Wyatt and got him ready and then we headed out to the park.  Jonah is excited to be on his big bike that E.J. gave him.  The white training wheels look a little goofy, but they work and hopefully he won't need them too much longer.  And just so you know we do have bike helmets and they do wear them.

Caitlyn and Jonah rode around on their bikes while I rode my roller blades and pushed Wyatt in the stroller.  It was so fun just spending time with the kids without trying to do laundry in between.  When they were done with bikes they played on the playground for a while and that is when I locked my keys in the van.  I couldn't get a hold of Keith so luckily my mom rescued us.  Thanks mom!

I couldn't help snapping a few pictures of the kids.  These ones are my favorite. 

Do we have some cute kids or what?

When we got home Cailtyn and Jonah headed straight for the backyard.  Did I mention that I love this weather?  They were pretending that Jonah was a horse and running around the yard.  I love to just sit by and watch them play and see how they use their imaginations.

I've always been asked if it is hard to have these two so close in age.  The truth is I love it.  Sure it was a little tricky when Jonah was a baby, but it is great.  They always have a playmate and they have so much fun with each other.  Of course there is fighting, but they really are such great friends and they miss each other when they aren't together.  The other day Jonah was talking about when he goes with Dad to see the new Cars movie (even though it doesn't come out until this summer) and he said, "Caitlyn, are you going to miss me while I'm at the movie theatre because I'm going to miss you."  It was so sweet. Every morning when Caitlyn goes to school she has to give Jonah a hug goodbye.  I love watching these two together. 

Minnie Spinnies

We signed Caitlyn up for a three day dance class at a high school near by. Every year the dance team does a fundraiser and the high school girls teach the kids a dance and then they have a recital.  I had to fight Caitlyn to go every night because we had such nice weather this week and she just wanted to play outside.

Caitlyn had a lot of fun once she got there every night, but I think we are all ready for some down time with no classes for the kids.

Her dance was so cute.  We didn't end up doing the recital, so I just videotaped the dress rehearsal.  She did a great job. I was impressed that the girls could learn the dance so quickly.