Ryan is 8!!!!

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I cannot believe how fast time flies. It seems like just yesterday that we were waiting for Ryan to make his appearance, hauling him to classes, and cheering for him to reach each little milestone. He was born at 10:38 pm on Sept 7, 2000 after a long day of walking and walking and more walking. But then he was so perfect and little and amazing. Stephen and I were both going to school and he just went along with us to class. I was working on my Masters in Family Relations and Child Development, so most of my professors were fine with having him in class. There were even a couple who would give us a group assignment just to have an excuse to hold the baby for the hour. He was a total trooper and hardly ever cried.

Fast forward to today: Ryan is a very independent, determined, smart kid. He excells at his school subjects and is usually in the middle of at least 3 books at a time!!! When he turned 7, he used his birthday money to buy himself scriptures and set a goal to read the entire Book of Mormon before his 8th birthday. We read part as a family, but he spent a lot of time on his own listening to and reading along with the CD. And he did it!!! I'm amazed at how well he remembers the scripture stories and how comfortable he is with the language of the scriptures-- he even loved the Isaiah chapters.

He is a fun kid to be around and a good helper. We've been canning peaches and tomatoes this past week and he has skinned them, cut them, and put them in the bottles. He is excited to be able to start mowing the lawn now that he is 8. He is also excited about his baptism and starting scouts!

We love you Ryan!!!!!

Happy Birthday J

J turned 3 on Mar 29th and got a dollhouse that is bigger than she is. It's a Kidcraft wooden one that is 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide. A little girls dream-- and it wasn't even too bad to assemble. The kids have all really enjoyed rearranging the furniture and moving the dolls around. J tends to be a little bossy about just how things should be arranged, but the boys are pretty accommodating. She got a couple fairy dolls from the boys that fit perfectly, and a little baby with a crib from A. When I took the boys to the Dollar Store, they had a hard time choosing how to spend their $3. I told each of them they could only buy one food item-- R chose cotton candy and T chose ring pops, and of course, as soon as they were opened, they were asking J to share-- which she did willingly. We used the money from Grandma and Grandpa to buy her a CD player for her room so she can listen to books and music at bedtime like the boys.
She wanted a pink cake with pink frosting and candies on top-- but then the only thing she would eat was the candy and ice cream. She decided she doesn't like cake. Go figure. It took 3 tries to get all 3 candles, but she got them.

We went to Chuck E. Cheese today with her cousins to celebrate since we were still battling the flu on her actual birthday. She had a blast spending all her money and bought several bracelets and little trinkets with her tickets. It's amazing how much fun the kids can have with 100 tokens for $10, plus the free birthday ones and the bonus ones for the brushing their teeth chart from the website. We were there for over 3 hours!

Happy Birthday A!

A is one year old today! I can't believe my baby is that big. His personality is really starting to come through. He loves to stand at the air hockey table and hold the hitting thing-- the name escapes me, and say go! go! over and over and try to hit the puck like he sees his brothers doing. He thinks he is one of the big kids. The boys were reading a story and it was full of silly puns and jokes, so they kept laughing. Each time they would laugh, A would start laughing and copying them. He was always about 30 seconds behind, starting late and stopping late. It was pretty funny to watch. We did a chocolate cake for his birthday, so I could get messy pictures, but then the camera wouldn't work, so I didn't get cute messy baby pictures, just a mess.