I don't know how my E.E. is 8! It seems like just yesterday he was the running toddler that never stopped moving and that I could never catch. At age 8 Ethan is awesome! He loves to play, his imagination is as big as the world and he is constantly getting his brothers to join him on adventures as super heroes, animals, or Star Wars jedis. Ethan is a great big brother, he is patient and kind and is a peace maker. At age 8 he is also a tease. He lives for fun...and brings a lot of fun into our home.
He was so excited to wake up to decorations and presents wrapped on the table on his birthday. He opened Caden and Quinn's presents right away. I don't know who was more excited!
For his birthday my mom, the boys and I went to a trampoline park and to see The Good Dinosaur in Colorado Springs. Perfect activity for bouncing boys!
We decided to start calling her Air Grammy!
That night Ethan requested pizza for dinner and an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. My Dad and Grandma P. made it to Pueblo just in time for the cake!
Love those grins!
Right after this picture was taken, Caden went in a little closer to photobomb and his hair lit on fire from the candles. Luckily, it just singed off a little chunk...he was pretty embarrassed though and ran away and hid for a bit to recover. It was too funny!
Grammy came to Pueblo for Spring Break and it was the best! We had lot so fun playing, and seeing lots of movies. She helped me prepare for Ethan's big birthday and baptism celebration the following weekend. I couldn't have done it without her.
It was bring your own container to 7/11 for a Slurpee!
She got to see the boys play in their last basketball games of the season.
The peacocks were strutting at the zoo.
I had been asked to do a presentation about my mission in Romania for the youth in our stake. My mom helped me boil and dye 120 red eggs for part of the presentation. It was an awesome night.
We taught the youth a Romanian folk dance.
My Dad and Grandma P. flew in just in time for Ethan's birthday celebration. We got to take Grandma for a little nature walk around Garden of the Gods.
Quinn and I got to spend a day with Grandma at Royal Gorge Basin. They both loved the gondola ride.
A few weeks ago I found this red mailbox at Goodwill. I was so excited to make it into our family love note box for the month of February. Of course, Caden was the first to get into the spirit of it! It is only February 10th, and we've gone through more envelopes than I can count. Tonight it was a small, sparkly "diamond" or rock in an envelope for each person. Last week he pulled $1 out of his piggy bank for everyone in the family. That little sweetheart is a giver. We've loved checking the box each night at dinner. Both of the boys' Grandmas even sent Valentines to be put in the box.
Caden was so excited to find a special letter for him in there one night. It was a card from mom asking him on a date. He was over the moon excited!
A few days later we got to go on our date. Before we left Clark slipped him a little money and told him to buy me a treat. He was insistent on finding me a Diet Coke to buy...so we headed into Target to start our date. He shyly went to the snack bar and said, "2 pops please," then handed the girl his money...he was so excited he ran back and gave me a hug before she could even give him his change.
For the rest of our date we went to the craft store (Caden's heaven), and glowing mini golf at the mall. We finished with frozen yogurt at Menchie's. Caden said it was the best day ever. I thought it was pretty great to spend the day with my little buddy!
This month of love has been interesting for Caden as he informed Clark and I of his first "crush." In case we didn't know he explained that a crush is when you want to talk to someone, play with them at recess, and be with them. When I asked if that was the same as a friend, he looked at me like I was so dense and said, "it's so much more than that."
Tonight we made his Valentine box, we wanted a 3D owl, so we covered a big plastic pretzel container. I actually enjoy doing projects with Caden. He gets so into it and has so much fun with it. Totally worth a few glue gun burns to see his smile at the final result!
A little video to wish a Happy Valentine's to you!
Go Broncos! It's been pretty fun being Broncos fans this year! Especially because the boys are on board now. Pueblo is a huge supporter of the Broncos. I've never seen more orange in my life than if I run to Walmart on the weekend of a big game. The boys are into it big time because their teachers and friends at school are big fans. Ethan's teacher even went to the Superbowl this year. Caden made little Broncos posters to hold up during the game, and all the boys made sure we all had on Bronco gear to watch the game.
I ran to Walmart Saturday to get a few treats for the big game and it was busier than it was on Black Friday! The shelves were picked over on important things like blue Kool-Aid, Little Smokies, and Sunkist.
My favorite part was the half-time show. Especially my own private half-time show I got in my living room. Bruno Mars brings the party to our house!
We were so excited that the sunset that night was bright orange! Love my football fans!
I don't know how it happened, Clark tried to claim that we just weren't a "Star Wars family," but the pandemonium that has been "The Force Awakens" this year caught like wildfire at our home. Before December the boys had played a Lego Star Wars game on the Wii from time to time, and they owned a light saber or two but that was about it. Now it is all light sabers all the time! This week while the big boys were at school, Quinn was around the corner from me playing and I heard him say, "I'm so proud of you Jedi Quinny (pause) thanks Yoda."
Ethan had been begging for weeks for us to take him to see the new Star Wars movie...we weren't really planning on it because it's rated PG-13, he hadn't seen the other movies, he has never watched anything other than very tame G-rated (usually animated) movies, and he has a tender heart and doesn't like confrontation...even in preschool shows like Paw Patrol.
I suppose we were so wrapped up in the Christmas spirit that when cousin Scarlett sent the boys a movie gift card and they begged to go see Star Wars we just couldn't say no. So many of their other little friends had seen it after all...no big deal. The original plan was for me to take Quinn to a different movie at the same time, but then Quinn was crushed because he wanted to see Star Wars and I didn't want to miss out on a family togetherness event...so we all went.
Call it crazy, call it a brain lapse, call it a major parenting fail...but Star Wars it was! When we got to the theater it was packed, so we had to set in the very front row. Talk about an intense first "real" movie! If you ask the boys today they will all tell you they loved it! Quinn probably did the best of all, he cheered when they mentioned Yoda, and yelled out a time or two, "let the force be with you." Caden snuggled on Clark's lap and did great. And then there was poor Ethan next to me. His imagination is as big as the sky, so this movie was completely real to him. At one point he bolted to the bathroom. In the hall I reminded him that the movie wasn't real, he didn't believe me. He said, "mom, those are real people...what do you mean it's not real?" I tried to explain special effects in 30 seconds, but I could tell he wasn't buying it and he wanted to get back to the show. A few other times he yelled out, "I want to leave, " so I offered to take him out, but then he was back glued to the screen saying "no, I don't want to leave." There was a lot of eye covering, grimacing, and maybe even a tear or two, I couldn't even distract him with a treat from my purse. At this point I was feeling pretty guilty just sure that this night would mark the end of his innocent childhood. But the movie ended and with a big grin on his face he said, "that was awesome." He woke us up after having one nightmare that night, but I felt that was fair, I deserved it. Now he's back to normal, wielding a light saber and ruling his galaxy.
Ethan and Caden worked hard Saturday morning to make a stop motion Star Wars video. They were so proud of the final results it was like Christmas morning all over again! They especially loved when I posted it on Youtube so they could watch it on the big screen.
Here is their masterpiece:
I thought when I came out of the bathroom this evening looking like Princess Leia my boys would be impressed. They weren't.
In January Quinn graduated from the Nursery at church and
became a Sunbeam in the Primary. He was
pretty excited that he gets to join his big brothers for Sharing Time and
Singing Time. I love to hear him sing, “Jesus
Wants Me For a Sunbeam.”
I think this picture is a pretty accurate capture of our Sunbeam...fun and funny, loving to be in the middle of the action.
The following picture captures the Sunbeam everyone see at church. According to his teacher he's pretty quiet, takes it all in, and doesn't make a peep.
Either way, he's still cute to me! Quinn at age 3 is so fun.
He is my favorite little buddy during the day while his brothers are at
school. He has an old soul and talks to
me like a little man.
He’s growing up so fast. He's at an easy age, cooperative and fun to take places. He's potty trained now and sleeping in a big boy bed. Even though he knows he's a big guy, he still appreciates his spot as the baby of the family. If one of his brother’s has found a spot on my lap, or is snuggling by me,
he quickly comes up and worms his way into a little spot.
Because of his allergies and asthma when he gets a little
cold it usually escalates quickly and he struggles breathing. Between those issues and a few bouts with the
stomach flu I’ve been spending a lot of nights lately in Quinn’s bed with him. As much as I don’t get a good night sleep those
nights, I have to admit that he has me wrapped around his little finger. He’s just so sweet. The other night I woke up to something
touching my face and realized it was Quinn’s little stuffed horse. He was giving me kisses with his horse. He woke me up another time to tell me his lion
blankie wasn’t covering his toes all the way.
I mean how could you not want to snuggle with this little face.
Quinn's first time roller skating at the boys' school skate night. I thought we would be going as spectators...but there was no way Quinn was just going to sit on the side and watch.
Sometimes Quinn lectures his Radio Flyer horse. Tonight he tattled on him. He said, "mom, Bullseye Frederick Lightning Johnson peed on our new carpet." He's a funny duck. I love hearing what comes out of his mouth.
We were so happy that we got to spend the New Year's weekend in Durango. We got there just in time to ring in the New Year with our Durango family!
The boys love to play with their cousins in Durango. These boys loved having a boy's night!
We loved having tons of snow to play in! Clark and Derek got the snowmobiles fired up and there was enough snow to sled around the fields.
Quinn asked multiple times if we could leave him in Durango. He loves the horses and the cows. He talks about cows constantly. So having Grandpa to tell him about the cows just made his whole year!
