It is great to be Eight!

I can't believe Caitlyn is 8-years-old today.  What a fun eight years it has been.  We were so excited when we found out I was pregnant with Caitlyn and I was a nervous wreck through the whole pregnancy.  It was all worth it when we laid eyes on her.  She was so sweet, beautiful and absolutely perfect.  I couldn't wait to show her off, but I wouldn't let people hold her for very long because I always wanted her back. 

I worried about every little thing when Caitlyn was a baby.  I was so anxious for her to hit every milestone.  I thought the worrying would get better as she got older, boy was a I wrong!

Caitlyn was so shy when she was young.  She wouldn't talk to anyone and she would cry when people talked to her.  She only wanted mom and dad.  Finally by about three or four she started to come out of her shell.  Now we have to get her to be quiet!

Caitlyn has always been a very sensitive child.  She is very concerned about every one's feelings and goes out of her way to be nice to everyone.

Caitlyn's anxiety has been a lot better over the past few weeks.  She is such a smart girl that she can use rational thinking to help herself feel better. 

Caitlyn has always been so smart.  Sometimes she has to work hard at something, but she won't give up until she gets it.

Caitlyn is so funny.  She is constantly saying and doing funny things.  It is always fun to wonder what she will say next.

Caitlyn is a great reader, she loves to ride her bike and scooter, she loves swimming and jump rope.  She loves playing in her room and she loves art.  She loves Up With Kids and can't wait for her play. She loves to play with her friends and cousins.  She loves creating her own games and writing her own books.

We are so grateful for Caitlyn.  She adds so much joy and happiness to our family.  I love this little girl so much and I truly enjoy spending time with her. 

I am proud of Caitlyn for choosing to be baptized.  She can't wait for her baptism in two weeks. Happy Birthday Caitlyn, it has been a wonderful eight years!

Caitlyn's Party

Caitlyn was so excited for her birthday party on Saturday she could hardly stand it.  Last year we did a pajama party in the evening and the wait almost killed her so this year we did it right after lunch.

She was so excited to have all of her friends over.  We started out with a treasure hunt.  I think this was the kids favorite activity. When the girls were talking about what would be in the treasure box Elisha said, "I bet it is a picture of Jesus."  I thought that was so cute.

After a lot of clues they ended up finding the treasure in the dryer. 

All the kids were good sports about all of the pictures I made them take.

Everyone found their treat bag in the treasure box.

Next we played a game where someone had something written on their back and they had to ask the group questions to figure out what it was.

They all thought this was pretty funny, especially when someone had Caitlyn's name on their back. 

Jonah loved joining in all the fun.

Wyatt wanted to play too.  He was so funny.  I helped him ask the questions and he was able to guess what it was.

Some of their guesses were pretty funny.  I loved hearing the other girls laugh when their guesses were way off. 

Caitlyn loved every present she got.  Gifts is one of her love languages.  It doesn't have to be anything special, the most important thing is the thought that goes into it.  I could pick a flower for her and it would mean the world to her because I thought of her.  She thought every present was perfect for her and thought it was so nice that everyone knew what she would like!

We had root beer floats and root beer cookies for a treat.  When we were getting ready to leave Elisha yelled, "wait, we didn't have the cake."  She was fine when I explained that we had different treats instead of cake this time.  It was cute.

We played musical nail polish.  I hope all the moms don't hate me for this one.  We put some music on and they passed around nail polish until the music stopped.  Then they had to paint one nail with whatever nail polish they had in their hand.  Some of the girls let me help them paint, but most of them wanted to do it themselves.  I spent a lot of time cleaning all of their hands off with nail polish remover after the game. 

Jonah and Wyatt were over by our entertainment center controlling the music.  All of the sudden we heard a huge crash.  We think Wyatt was leaning on the glass and pushed it too far and it broke.  I think I went into shock for a minute because I finally heard Keith yelling at me to get Wyatt out of the glass.  He was laying on top of the pile of glass.  By some miracle Wyatt walked away without a scratch on him.  The girls all screamed and then thought it was pretty cool.  Keith started cleaning it up while I finished up the party (we had about 30 minutes left at this point).  There was glass everywhere!  It took us two hours to get it all cleaned up. 

I think the girls liked the nail polish game.  We were going to jump rope in the great room after that, but since it was covered in glass we headed outside instead.  We only had a few minutes left before parents came.  It was pretty cold, but once the girls started jumping most of them said they were hot!  I think the party was a success.  I love Caitlyn's friends because they are all so easy to please.  They were all excited about everything we did.  Caitlyn said she loved her party and we were the best parents ever, so I count that as a success!

Story Time

We have been going to story time at the library a lot over the last few months and the boys love it. 

Wyatt was so shy at first and now he jumps right in and does everything and has a hard time not commenting on every story they read.

Wyatt loves to sing songs.  He has learned so many songs in nursery and he loves to sing them all the time.  Here he is singing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'.

Jonah likes the different activities they do.  Especially when they do something with balls or the big parachute.

Yesterday they learned about wind.  They loved blowing feathers in the air.

The lady who does the story time is so great.  She always has a lot of activities for them and moves quickly to keep their interest.

Wyatt seems so old.  He really wants to be a big kid lately.

Hallee is always a good sport.  She was so wiggly yesterday, but she did let me put her in the stroller so I could help the boys with their craft.

We are lucky she is such a good sport about being dragged all over the place.

Jonah

Jonah had his last basketball game on Saturday.  He loved playing two seasons this winter.  He has really improved this year.

His ball handling skills are really improving and he had a few games where he couldn't miss a shot.

He liked playing with his friend Max.

These two are so cute.  They have so much fun together. 

I don't know what I am going to do with Jonah.  I have never seen a six-year-old boy that likes girls so much.  We were over at Kiara's house the other day and her friend was over and while they were watching a movie he told them they could snuggle up to him if they got scared.  I guess he also told them they could kiss him on the cheek.  At least he learned his lesson about kissing on the lips.  I don't know what I am going to do with this boy!

On Saturday we had Stake Conference so we had EJ come babysit so we could go to the adult session.  Jonah gets so excited whenever EJ comes to babysit.  I can see why!

So Cute

Hallee is just so cute!  She loves water.  She had a blast in the bath the other day.

I love her big smiles.

She still doesn't have any teeth, but I can finally see her bottom two teeth trying to cut through.  She was pretty grouchy for a few days, but seems to be doing better now.  She is also so close to crawling.  She can do an army crawl, so she can still get to whatever she wants.  It is so hard to keep the house baby proof with three older kids.

Hallee loves these maracas.  She was laughing and shaking them for a long time the other night.

She is such a fun girl!

Poor Wyatt had a rough day yesterday. He is getting a cold and didn't feel good and then he fell on the cement and landed right on his forehead.  Poor kid.  I felt so bad for him.  I hate seeing my kids hurt.  Luckily it looks better instead of worse this morning.

Hollywood Connection

We went to Hollywood Connection on Monday because it was free with our pass of all passes.  Everyone in Utah had the same idea.  It was packed! Wyatt was disappointed when we got there.  I think he thought we were going to Planet Play.  He didn't want to go on anything.

Hallee thought the merry-go-round was fun.

Caitlyn and Jonah were excited to be there with their friends.  Jonah and Elisha paired off and ran from ride to ride.

Baylee and Caitlyn paired off and had fun together.

They got to go on a few rides before the lines were so long it wasn't really worth it anymore.

They love the bumper cars.

It is so hard to get a decent picture of them on these.

Finally Wyatt agreed to go on the merry-go-round with me.  He wasn't exactly thrilled about it, but he went.  He just sat in the stroller eating a snack after that.

Jonah really wanted to go on the roller coaster, but the line was too long.

We finally decided to bag it and go out for ice cream instead.  As soon as we got outside the kids started running around and playing.  They were just as happy outside.  Keith is always the fun one and chased them around.

Wyatt was happy to leave.  The night didn't work out as planned, but we still had a good time!