Nine Years Old

This handsome guy is nine-years-old today.  It took me a year and a half to get pregnant with him.  I was so excited to finally get him here.  Caitlyn and Jonah were 5 and almost 4 and they played really well together so I got a lot of time to soak up Wyatt as a baby.  He was the cutest, most easy going baby.  I can't believe how quickly nine years have passed.

Wyatt is a great kid.  He really wants to do the right thing and he worries about how other people feel.  He is very empathetic like Caitlyn.  It is such a great quality, but it is also a very exhausting quality.  It is a heavy burden to constantly be worried about other people.  I think that is why Wyatt likes his alone time and down time, he needs time to recharge and take a break from worrying about other people.

Wyatt does not like attention, he gets embarrassed very easily.  The play therapy has helped him so much.  He went from not being able to talk about emotions at all to pulling me aside to tell me how he is feeling.  I love that he not only figures out what he is feeling, but will also tell me about it.

Wyatt is a mama's boy.  He doesn't like when I leave, especially around bed time. He loves to spend one-on-one time with me. He has started giving lots of hugs and wanting to be tucked in at night again.

Wyatt is very smart.  He loves to read and he loves math.  He loves funny books and will read them over and over.  Wyatt has a very inquisitive mind, he wants to figure out how everything works.  He says he wants to be a Scientist when he grows up.

Wyatt loves to play video games and watch shows.  He likes to watch reality shows, like games shows or magic shows.  He also loves to watch funny videos on you tube.

Wyatt is so funny.  He loves to tell jokes and his laugh is so cute!  He loves to make Jonah laugh. I think he feels really cool if he can make Jonah laugh.

Wyatt is a hard worker and loves to help out, especially if it is with a big job.  He is sensitive to how I'm feeling and if he can tell I'm stressed, he jumps in and offers to help.

Wyatt likes to make funny faces.  He doesn't like when I compliment him or draw attention to him so he will pull a funny face when I do. 

Wyatt is strong and loves to prove it!  He wants to break a world record.  He is currently working on the most jumping jacks in a minute.  He is sure he has beaten the record and wants me to call someone! He likes to exercise and he talks a lot about wanting to take care of his body and eat healthy.  He is constantly challenging people to arm wrestles.

Wyatt is a pretty cautious kid.  He has never wanted to do things that look dangerous.  He is getting more adventurous lately.  I think he is gaining more confidence in his abilities and that is helping him push himself out of his comfort zone.

Wyatt loves basketball and soccer.  He does well in both sports.  He is an awesome goalie in soccer, but I think he prefers to play forward.  He has great ball handling skills, so he does great as forward as well.  Yesterday we played tennis and Wyatt loved it.  Keith took him again last night and Wyatt said Tennis is his new favorite sport!

Wyatt has helped me realize that I need to let things go and most things aren't a big deal.  I wanted him to wear something a little nicer for his picture and he wanted to cooperate, but he was so uncomfortable and wasn't happy about it.  I realized that it wasn't important what he wore, it was more important that he felt comfortable (especially because he hates pictures).  I've had to let go of his haircuts as well.  He hates haircuts, but more importantly he doesn't like short hair, I prefer it, but he doesn't and obviously it's more important that he is happy with how he looks.  We have both improved on communicating and we are usually able to find a compromise on most things.

Wyatt likes to play with friends, but he doesn't ever seek it out.  He is a home body.  If a friend comes over to see if he can play he will usually say yes and have fun, but he never asks to go to a friends house.  I'm so glad we live so close to Tiff because he loves to play with Rockwell.  He loves to go to their house and he loves to have Rockwell over here.  They have a lot of similar interests and have so much fun together.

Wyatt is just an all around great kid.  He has a heart of gold.  I'm so proud of him and how hard he works to be happy and positive, those things don't come easy to him.   I hope this is a great year for him.  We love having Wy Guy in our family!

Family time

Sunday evening we played Scattergories (which was hilarious) and then the kids were all in a good mood and started wrestling.

Keith jumped in and joined them and Jackson was trying to get in on it too.

I loved just watching them have fun together.

Jonah's facial expressions were cracking me up.

Wyatt loves to show us how strong he is!

That night Hallee slept in Caitlyn's room.  They played games before bed and ended up waking up early and playing games again.  I'm so glad they both love card games so much.

Wyatt and Jonah were going to sleep in the family room, but they both ended up back in their beds.  

Beating the summer heat

It has been hot, so if we are outside we are swimming, otherwise we try and find things to do inside.

Last week Mel and Amarie came down and we took the kids bowling.  After that Caitlyn and Amarie watched the kids while me, Mel and Tiff went to lunch.  We saw Donny Osmond at Cafe Rio and instead of talking to him or asking for a picture I awkwardly stared at him (I'm really good at that).

Amarie stayed with us for a few days.  We loved it!  She is so fun to have around they had so much fun together. They went ice skating, swimming and to the mall. 

Hallee was pretty excited that they were all wearing overalls.

We had a parent meeting with Wyatt and Rockwell's soccer team.  Kristy insisted on taking a picture of me and Tiff and our matching cars after practice.  I'm glad she did! 

Wyatt and I went to Taco Bell after soccer.  He needs a lot of my time and attention lately, so it was good to have one-on-one time. 

Tiff was so nice to keep Wyatt during Hallee's birthday party.  Wyatt loved playing with Rockwell.  They had some new games and Wyatt loved them.

Wyatt is particular about the games he likes, so it was fun to see how excited he was about these games. 

They had fun playing soccer.  I think they are both excited to be playing soccer again.

Yesterday we went to Tiff's.  Tiff and I were in the front room talking and the kids came in laughing so hard about the way they were walking in a line.

They are so cute.  Living by cousins is the best!

Today we went over to Mel's for lunch.  We had fun playing games.

The boys wanted to challenge EJ to arm wrestling. He took the boys out for ice cream.  He is such a great guy!

Hallee had fun playing games with the girls.  After that we went and saw Lion King. It was a good movie.  We loved spending the day with the Reives!

Birthday Girl

Hallee loved every minute of her birthday.  She loved that Wyatt woke her up and told her Happy Birthday and then played a game with her while they ate breakfast. 

That afternoon we went over to Tiff's to pick Tessa up for a fun afternoon. Hallee said that she preferred going swimming with Tessa to a friend party, hallelujah!  She loved the presents that they gave her.

Do they know Hallee or what?  This headband is perfect for her. 

We left Wyatt at Tiff's (thanks Tiff) and we went over to McDonald's for lunch.  The girls were so cute.  They were excited to eat at McDonald's, but they were really excited to get to the pool.

It was a hot day so the pool was really crowded, the girls didn't seem to mind.  We stayed in the wave pool for a while.  The girls played games and then had me throw swimming toys in the water so they could get them.

After that they wanted to go inside and swim.  We had fun in the lazy river and then the girls played on the play ground for a while.  It was great to just relax and let Hallee tell me what she wanted to do.

After a few hours we were ready to go.  We stopped at the rock wall on the way out.  After that we dropped Tessa off and picked up Wyatt.

Hallee picked Ramen noodles and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.  She is an easy girl to please!

She was so excited to open presents after dinner.

She didn't ask for much, so she was pretty surprised with most of her gifts.

She was excited about her new back pack set for school.

Her favorite gift was the echo dot.  She loves to listen to music, so she is thrilled to have her very own Alexa.

She also loved her beanie boo with sequins. 

Caitlyn and Amarie made Hallee a birthday cake while we were swimming. 

Wyatt is obsessed with lighting candles, so he did the honors.

Gorgeous girl!

When we dropped Tessa off Paul gave us this box of cookies, Hallee was thrilled with that!  We all loved trying the different kinds of cookies. That Mr. Dave, he is a nice guy!

That night the birthday girl got to stay up late with mom and dad.  We played a game and then she wanted us to watch Bunked with her.  She was sad to see her birthday come to an end.  I'm glad she had such a great day!