Kayden's Birthday

Kayden is such a big boy, ha ha. Pun because he's a teenager and doesn't want to be told that he is a big boy. That's for little kids, he said.

We had his birthday dinner at Mom and Dad's house and he of course requested his favorite meal, roast beef sandwiches with the sauce to dip them in. We all like that meal and Mom cooks the best roast, so we were all looking forward to it.

After dinner the kids of course went to play. Some played in the toy room other watched a movie in the soare room. They were watching Monster House. Owen was having a ball. He would come out and tell us all that we had to come check out the bad guy (the house). It even scared him at one point and he went into the toy room to play till the bad guy was gone.

While the kids were doing their own thing, the adults played card games. An old favorite, scum. Since we brought that game back to life a few Sunday's ago, we really like to play it. Even Brian will play and you know when Brian will play, its a good game.

After Papa arrived home from work it was time for Kayden to open his presents. That crazy kid asked for money. He's saving up to buy something electronic. Not sure what and if I did, I wouldn't understand it anyway. 

I found Kayden the best birthday card. It was written like a ransom letter and it said, "I found this ransom note on my back door saying that if I ever wanted to see you Nephew again, place money inside and send back. Funny though, that handwriting looked like yours, Happy Birthday." Of course with a card like that, we added some money for him to buy whatever it was that he's saving up for. 

He laughed at the card, which is what I was hoping for. He got money from everyone else as well. I'm not sure how much more he needs to save up, but he seemed pretty excited.

I think all the kids are now taking after Kayla and started to draw pictures and making cards. Even Gabbi wanted to draw a picture for Kayden. She was pretty excited about it.

Easter with Annie

Besides the presents Gabbi received at Grandma Annie's we were also there to celebrate Easter. Sadly it rained the majority of the day so the kids weren't able to have their Easter Egg hunt that Grandma set up. Instead Grandma hid their Easter baskets in the house and they went in search for those.

Owen was very excited when he found his. Inside his basket was two small foam dart guns. Grandma has a whole bunch of these in the toy cupboard and he plays with them each time we are there. Now he has a set of his own. He also got some cars. Car and dart guns, that kid was happy.

William, being the baby if the family didn't get some of the cool stuff that the older kids did, but he got some pretty fun stuff to. He got a soft Tonka firetruck, which Owen wanted to claim as his own. He also got a rattle car. Its way cute and he loves the way it rattle when he moves it.

Gabbi got a basket full of surprises. She had a bunny popper. It's basically a gun in the shape of a bunny that shoots soft balls. She also got some stamps, a coloring activity pad, floral baskets, and a few other things. I never really got to look into it.

They all wanted to play with their new treasure, but evil mom (me) said no and took all the baskets and her gifts out to the car, so there could be no more discussion.

After the chaos of the baskets were done we all sat down to eat the tradition Easter Ham dinner. We of course had lot of different yummy sides to go with it as well. Everyone brought some killer food. What can I say, I love to eat.

After we were done eating the kids played around while the adults got to visit. We don't see each other very often, so we like to take advantage of catching up.

After a while Amanda pulled out a game for those who were interested in playing. I have never seen it before. Its a game where you place a balloon in the center of the contraption, then you take turns rolling the dice. The number on the dice indicates how many clicks to a stick that you push in towards the balloon. The one to pop the balloon loses. The kids had a blast especially if it popped on them. They played quite a few rounds of this game.

Like all thing, good things have to come to an end. All the kids were bummed because they wanted to continue playing the game. Till next time though.

More Birthday Fun

Due to weather and already meeting later on that day, most of Ben's family just wished Gabbi a Happy Birthday while at our Easter celebration at Grandma Annie's place. When we first walked in the door Gabbi was bugging Grandma Annie about her gift. I wanted to smack her. I swore I taught her better then that.

Grandma Annie just smiled and handed Gabbi a gift bag. Inside she found some really cute clothes.

A really cute pink skirt with flowers on the inside layer and along with this skirt she got a white shirt with a pink flower on it along with a sweater with flowers on it. She's going to be a walk around spring flower, but she was excited about it. Especially for the skirt.

She also found a special home made dress with butterflies all over it. Along with it was another pink sweater. She wanted so badly to put it on, but I convinced her that she could wear it on Sunday instead.

A few other family members had a birthday surprise for her as well.

A box of fruit snacks and a super hero lalaloopsie doll from Aunt Karen, Uncle Brian, Ellie, and Cami.

A candy necklace making kit from Aunt Regina.

Gabbi had a blast and she was on cloud 9 the remainder of the day.

Birthday Open House

We planned to have Gabbi's Open house the Saturday after her birthday. It was a very busy Saturday and ironically enough we were already getting together with Ben's Mom and siblings later that day. I had told them that they didn't need to come since we would be getting together, but they were more then welcome to. Despite all of that, we were hopeful that Gabbi would have a blast with whoever was able to come.

Gabbi was really excited when we pulled out her cake. She came with me to the store to pick out the cake and everything that went on it. She loved the cake, but I was a little unsure. To me, I thought it was missing something. I wanted to write her name on it, but I have horrible handwriting. So it was what it was. At least Gabbi liked it. I think it was only because there was a toy on top of it. 

The weather was pretty crummy that day, but it didn't put Gabbi down. She was really excited when her cousins walked in. The both screamed and ran downstairs to play. Us adults just visited for a while and then Gabbi could hold on any longer. She wanted to open her present and have some cake. So we let her do her thing.

Beth made her the cutest outfit and Gabbi loved it. She asked me if she could put it on. She loves to dress.

They also gave her a level 1 reader of the story Frozen. It was too cute when they all sat down and Gabbi read the story to all the kids.

Once she was done opening those gifts it was time to sing to the birthday girl and give her the much wanted cake.

After the party was over, Taycina had text me to let me know that they were sorry for being late and were on there way. I told Gabbi and she couldn't wait to see Nicholas. When they got here, he was asleep, so wasn't going to come in.

Taycina then gave Gabbi her gift, 2 lalaloopsie mini dolls. I was dishing her up some cake to take home with them, then Jeff brought Nicholas in because he had woken up. The kids had a blast playing with him. We were able to visit for a little bit while they played. 

As they were on the way out the door I realized that we never gave Gabbi her gift from us. We gave her lalaloopsie mix n' match dolls. They were pretty cute.

She then pulled out all the lalaloopsies she had and her and Owen play with them till it was time to head to Grandma's.

After we got home that night, she got one more surprise. Melissa and Brandon stopped by. Melissa felt so bad, so thought that the open house started at 6. When she checked the invite again, she discovered that she thought wrong. She felt so bad, but they still wanted to be able to wish her a happy birthday. Gabbi didn't mind at all. She likes all the attention.

They gave her a cute Kelly barbie doll and an outfit for Barbie. She was really excited. She hasn't played with her Barbies for a while and now she has a reason too.

Drive-In

Ben wanted so badly to see Divergent. We looked up its show times and places and found out that it was playing at the drive-in with Captain America, another show we wanted to see. So we decided to act before they changed the line up again because last weekend they were both with a different movie. We had planned to go after the Walk-a-Thon since we already had plans Saturday night.

Sadly it was a bad choice. When we watched the new that afternoon they said there was a chance for rain showers. Ben checked his weather bug app and from 8 to 11 it said there was no chance for rain and then at 11:30 it jumped to a 50% chance. Well weather bug was wrong. It rained practically the entire time. 

We had planned to sit outside in our lawn chairs but had also prepared to have to be stuck in the car as well. We brought the DVD player for the kids and once we started a movie, they weren't too bad. I exaggerate when I say too bad. About every 20 to 30 minutes one or both of them were doing something to make the other one mad. Not even a candy or popcorn bribe could stop them from pestering the other. 

They first watched finding Nemo and once that was over they wanted to watch Frozen. Owen fell asleep about 30 minutes into Frozen. By this time we had had the kids put on their seat belts so they couldn't touch each other to bug each other. This was a great idea because now that he was asleep, we didn't have to worry about waking him to put his seat belt on. Gabbi on the other hand stayed awake the whole time. She didn't want to watch Frozen anymore so I turned it off. She said she wanted to watch Sherman and Mr. Peabody form the other screen. She could see it through her window. I had no problem with that and now I didn't have to listen to the DVD player. After a little while however, I realized that she was actually watching our show. Little turd, she stayed up the whole time too. She was still awake when we got home. 

William wasn't any easier. Last time we went we were able to walk around with him to get him to settle down, that wasn't the case this time. He definitely did not like being confined to the car. We each took turns holding him trying to play with/soothe him. We would pass him off when we couldn't take it any more. Eventually it was time for his nighttime bottle and he fell asleep in the middle of it and stayed asleep even after we put him back in his car seat.

If you were to ask me about the movies, I couldn't tell you much about the first show, Captain America. If we couldn't hear because we were yelling at the two older kids, we couldn't hear because of William. The second show, Divergent, was a lot better. I was actually able to hear and enjoy this one. I'm glad I was able to, I really liked the show. So much that we went out and got the books.

All in all, maybe the worst drive-in experience. Some would ask if it was worth it, sadly I say yes, it's two movies for the price of one. I hate to say that this experience was the worst ever because I love the drive-in. If only the weather hadn't been so bad.

Random picture: This is a picture of William after his long 40 minute struggle to fall asleep, right before his bottle. I just loved his hands.

Walk-a-Thon

Gabbi's school had a fundraiser the week of her birthday. They hosted a Walk-a-thon. Each of the kids were asked to get pledges from close friends and family. With each pledge they received incentives/rewards. If they turned in their pledge money early they received extra incentives/rewards. The child who collected the most pledge money received a grand prize and the child that walked the most laps received a grand prize. They do this instead of the random fundraisers throughout the year. It's a good idea, but sadly I won't ask my family to donate to a school that their children don't attend. In that sense, I'd rather do the random fundraisers.

When we got there the kids were really excited to get going. We picked up Gabbi's lap card and incentives/reward bag for turning in her pledge money early. We then waited in line for Owen to register as a preschooler, so he could also get a lap card. Then the laps began.

Gabbi had a blast. She was cruising around the track with Ben. At one point she found some of her classmates and walked with them, but they weren't walking fast enough for her, so she soon left them behind. Ben and I took turns with the boys. One would push William in the stroller and the other would walk with Owen. I say walk, but it was more us holding him as we walked the laps.

With each set of 10 laps the kids got to get a lap prize. The first 10 laps rewarded them a piece of candy and a paper airplane, the next 10 rewarded them a pen and a coupon for free bread sticks at Pizza Man, the next 10 laps rewarded them with a toothbrush and toothpaste. That's were we ended it. Owen was complaining, so we decided to call it quits once he hit the 20 lap mark. Gabbi wanted to keep going. She only had 4 more laps before she hit 40 and would have been rewarded a giant bouncy ball. I wanted to let her, but Ben was done listening to Owen complain. They both did really well and at least they had fun somewhat.

When we were done with our laps, we headed to the pavilion to pick up the dinner we pre-paid and ordered. We got the hoagie sandwiches, but after seeing the hot dogs, Ben wished he had ordered that instead. They weren't the flimsy tiny ones we were assuming they would be.

Each meal came with the sandwich, some chips, veggies, drink, and dessert. Gabbi did really good with her dinner. She ate it all. Owen on the other hand only ate one side of the bread, one bite of the meat, and the cheese. He of course ate his chips and dessert, none of which surprised me. He wouldn't have eaten the hot dog, so he did pretty good considering.

We were debating letting Gabbi take her last few laps to hit 40, but it started to rain, so we took that as our cue to head out.

6 Month Check-up

Friday brought a milestone in William's life. My blue eyed baby boy is now 6 months old. Some would say that it flew by, for me not so much. Three has been a challenge and each days brings a new trial. Some of those have been a boozy so it doesn't really feel like its flown by.  

Besides all that, William is growing into a healthy boy. His Doctor gave him a clean bill of health and said we were doing a great job with him. He started his on his fluoride drops and gave us the okay to start him on baby food. That will be an adventure. I have been searching my brain for memories of how I did it with the other two kids. Not one had come back so it will be an adventure for us all. 

He was also given his next doses of vaccinations. He did much better this time then last time. He's a tough little guy.

6 Month old

16.38 lbs     30%

26.14 in     41%

At 6 months old I can officially say that he can roll over and not just because of frustration.

He also will lay on his tummy without screaming now. It doesn't last long, but at least he'll do it.

He loves to make noises and he loves to laugh.

His siblings are his greatest form of entertainment, which is nice for me, sometimes. 

We're working with his on sitting up unassisted. He can sit really well by himself when he's on your lap, but put him on a flat surface and she bends over at the waste and struggles to straighten back up. I was a little worried by this. The other two were sitting unassisted by 5 and 5 1/2 months. His Doctor said that he was fine and even talking to some other moms, they all said the same thing. Their 3rd baby was a tad bit behind the other because they have the older children to do it for them. Curse the helpers, right??? 

Sleeping through the night???? It depends on who you ask. To Ben, he would say yes. To me, I question it. I choose to get up and put the pacifier back in his mouth to help him stop crying and go back to sleep. I do this so he doesn't wake Ben or the other kids. In a way I guess you could call it sleeping through the night because we don't get up to feed him in the middle of the night anymore. I'm just grateful he'll go back to sleep once we put the pacifier back in. 

He is also beginning to really love to do things with his hands. Especially when it helps him put things in his mouth. He'll hold toys, hold hands, etc. It's really cute too. We have a few pictures of him with his hands held together. 

Loves his bottle. He's up to 5 bottles a day with at least 7 oz in each. At night he get 9 oz with rice cereal mixed in. He can hold his bottle by himself, sometimes. When he realizes that he is holding it by himself he'll drop it. I hope that's not an indication of things to come.

I think that about sums up our little guy. 

Firestation

Even though Gabbi is in Kindergarten and Owen's not quite old enough for the preschool group, we were invited to go on their field trip with them. This field trip was to the fire station in North Ogden. 

When we first got there, we were actually late. They took us back to the confrence room where they were talking to all the kids. The fire fighter talked to them about fire safety and what to do in case of a fire. The kids loved it especially when they got to participate in some of his questions.

Practicing to crawl to an exit point during a fire.

Practicing the stop, drop, and roll technique.

When he was done talking to the kids he gave them each a fire fighters hat. Then he took us out into the garage to show us all the vehicles they use to help people that are in trouble whether it be a fire or and accident of some kind.

Checking out the wild terrain truck made specifically to drive in the dirt and off road areas.

Future fire fighters Gabbi

Future fire fighter Owen

Checking out the inside of the fire truck

Watching the fire fighter put on all his gear, I'm sure wishing that they could have a turn.

The whole group together.

The kids had a lot of fun and it was nice to get away from the house.

Birthday Money

Gabbi is truly a spoiled great granddaughter. All of her great grandparents sent her birthday cards with money in them.

This one is from Great Grandma and Grandpa Hall

This one is from Great Grandpa and Grandma Williams

With the money from both Great Grandparents Hall and Great Grandparents Williams she bought a lalaloopsie doll at the BDO. We were lucky to come across it. It was pushed back and hiding behind a lot of other toys. If you've ever been there you know what I'm talking about.

This one is from Great Grandma Shupe, which she hasn't decided what to get yet. That response surprised me.

This one was from a very special friend. I may have mentioned this or not, I don't remember, but Gabbi has a special friend. She sits with him every Sunday at church. He even packs his brief case with coloring book and every type of coloring utensil you could think of. He even brings her and Owen a goodie treat bag for after the sacrament.

He surprised her on her birthday when he stopped by to visit and give her this birthday card. She had a huge smile on her face and gave him the biggest hug. They are too cute together.

When he handed her the card he told her that he didn't know what to buy a girl and said that he was giving Gabbi what he gives all his granddaughters, a little money to buy what she wanted. She was on cloud 9.

With this birthday money she decided to get another lalaloopsie doll.

Puppy

While at dinner Owen thought it would be funny to act like a puppy. He loves to get the little serving cups and get either cheese, crasins, or even gold fish and munch on them throughout his dinner. This time it was cheese and he decided that he was going to eat out of the cup like a puppy would eat out of a dog dish. It got a little more crazy when he started to bark like a puppy as well. 

Ben just looked at me and said "the boy wants a dog." I laughed and shock my head no.

Birthday Dinner

We like to treat the kids for their birthday's, so when asking Gabbi where she wanted to go for her birthday, I wasn't surprised that she picked the Pizza Pie Cafe. She loves that place. She also wanted to wear her crown so the people at the resturant knew it was her birthday too. I laughed, but she was excited when we told her yes. 

When we got there, she knew exactly what to do and helped herself (with a little help from us though, still a little too short to reach all her options). She picks the same things each time, but at least she eats it. 

She was even surprised with a special Birthday cookie from the restaurant. I felt bad that she didn't like it. It was a cookie topped with ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate, and caramel syrup. I admit, I prefer their fruit pizza's myself, but between the 4 of us we got most of it eaten.

After we were done we went home and the kids played in the back yard for a little bit. Once it started to get cold, we called the kids inside. Once we were all inside, we sang to Gabbi and gave her a brownie as her cake.

She said she had a great day, I hope that's the case.

6 Year old Check-up

Birthday's generally mean check-ups at the doctors. So after school that's where we headed. She was afraid that she was going to have to get a shot. I reassured her that that wasn't the case. She then happily agreed to go. When we got there she was happily telling everyone it was her birthday. They all smiles and wished her a happy birthday.

When we got back into the exam room, they weighed her, measured her, etc. It was the simplest check-up she's had yet. 

6 years old

43 lbs   40%

42.52 in    9%

She's so short. Poor kid. 

Funny side note: Owen hopped up on the scale and he only weighs 10 lbs less then Gabbi. They are almost 3 years apart. She really is tiny for her age. 

Birthday at School

Gabbi was so excited to be able to celebrate her birthday with her classmates. She even got to bring a treat to share with them. She wanted to bring cookies, so we went to the BDO so she could pick out the cookies she wanted. It was pretty funny to watch. She'd grab one and then change her mind and grab another, to just change her mind again and go back to the first one she picked out. 

I walked her back to her class and when she walked in she went straight to her teacher to hand her the treat. Her teacher then gave her a big hug and wished her a Happy Birthday. She also told her that she looked very pretty in her dress and asked about it. Gabbi then told her that it was made special for her from her Grandma. She was very proud of this little moment between her and her teacher. I then left her to have some fun.

When she came home from school she happily showed me the crown, the sticker, and the book that she received for her birthday.

The crown and the sticker were so everyone knew it was her birthday.

The book was a birthday present from her teacher. She had the biggest grin on her face.

She had a great day at school.

Potty Reward #13

This one took him a lot longer they I would have liked, but at least he's still working on it.

Reading

Our kids love to look at books. I hope when they become efficient readers that doesn't change.

While Gabbi and I were at the BDO picking out her birthday treat she came across this book. She said she wanted to get it for Owen. I told her that I didn't want to get anything else, we were just there to get her treat. 

She put it back and we looked around just a little bit more. She then came across the lalaloopsie doll. She again bugged me about the book. She was trying to convince me that since she was getting something, Owen needed something as well or it wouldn't be fair. Her logic was pretty sincere, so I agreed and she put it in the cart.

I do have to admit, he was really excited when Gabbi handed him the book.

FHE Easter

Now that the commercialism of Easter was done for our kids we wanted to teach them Spiritual aspect. So for Family Home Evening the Monday after Easter we had the Easter lesson. I have done the same Easter lesson for the last couple of years, but this year we did the lesson that was provided in our FHE club book. 

In this lesson is provided an object lesson for 5 eggs. Each of the kids got to open an egg and tell us what they thought it had to do with Easter. 

1- Heart 

2- Sacrament cup

3- Snow flake

4- Cross

5- Empty

The kids had a lot of fun talking about the items in the egg. They both gave really good answers and then Ben and I were able to explain to them in terms that they would understand the true reason why we celebrate Easter. They may or may not have truly grasped the concept, but it was a spiritually touched lesson. One in which both kids were attentive and actually paid attention.

After our lesson was over we went into the kitchen for our treat. Mom had given me the leftover scone dough from our get together on Saturday. We decided to cook the rest of it as our Family home evening treat.

The kids loved watching them cook inside the fryer and ever more so when they got to eat them. We had three different flavors of honey butter and they each tried all three. They loved it. I think we may be doing this treat again soon.