Taylor's Birthday

Taylor had his 7th Birthday on the 22nd. We can't believe how fast he has grown up! Taylor is a great kid and big-brother. We can't keep Wyatt away from him because he is so much fun.

The night before Taylor's birthday, Carter came to us asking for some paper and tape so that he could make Taylor a shirt (yeah, I know, really comfortable) that said "It is my birthday today." Taylor had requested it from Carter. For those who know Taylor, it makes perfect sense that he would want his birthday to be known, but wouldn't want to be the one to announce it. We told Carter that he needed to go to bed, but we'd make sure Taylor's teacher knew it was his birthday.

Taylor was very happy that his teacher gave him this awesome hat to wear in school. I also brought in a balloon and some sugar-cookies for his class. He got plenty of attention through the day.
It isn't Taylor's year for an "official" Birthday Party, but we let him have a late-night where he stayed up and watched a movie while eating lots of treats. He also got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Allen a few days earlier who celebrated with some chocolate cake.

Taylor wanted Bakugan toys and a Dr. Who "Sonic Screwdriver" for his birthday.

Here is a picture of him opening a lock with his new Sonic Screwdriver. Josh couldn't be more proud that his boy also loves the British Dr. Who show. Taylor was even nice enough to let his Dad take the Sonic Screw-driver to work so that he could show his co-workers.

Here's seven more Bakugan to add to his collection of 50+!

Happy Birthday Taylor!

December Update

It has been a busy past month. I figured I ought to put a decent or recent post up, considering we included our blog address with our Christmas cards. By the way, our Christmas cards were embarrassingly impersonal this year. My sincere apologies go out to those who received them. It has been a busy year, and I was sort of lucky to just get them out.

Not a whole lot has happened since the last post, but here are a couple little happenings:

1. We signed up the boys for Karate, so watch out!! They were intimidating kids to start out with (see picture). (Actually, the picture probably explains why karate might be necessary for our kids.) Karate has been good so far, except I don't think the boys learned the "You should never actually use karate on anyone, especially your brother and sister" lesson very well. Needless to say, there have been more tears in our house the past couple of weeks.
2. We took the kids to see Santa (from the pictures you'll notice that we were lucky enough to get the actual REAL Santa. Can you believe it?!). We were shocked by the fact that Wyatt didn't cry when he sat on Santa's lap. WOW! That is a first in our family.
3. Wyatt lost his last pacifier, so we decided to wean him from it. It was probably a good thing since the pacifier was really more for me than for him, and it looks really strange to see a kid with glasses and a pacifier. It makes you wonder if he is an old man or a baby with all those things on his face. Now he can just look like an old man.
   

Well, that's about it! We hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year.

A Feast for the Mice

Here's what accumulates around Wyatt's booster chair in about 24 hours. If all that food could make it into his tummy every day, he'd probably be able to move past the 5th percentile in weight!

Mallory's Birthday

Here are some pictures from Mallory's 4th Birthday (and Party).

She wanted princesses, dresses and ponies, and that's what she got. What a girl.
Here is Mallory next to the castle that the girls all colored at her party.Some of the other games included:
*Search for jewels in the rice/beans
*Build a castle out of marshmallows and toothpicks (picture below)
*Musical Chairs/cake-walk
*Treasure hunt for gold candy

Just a few observations-- Girl parties are WAY easier to run than boy parties. We did many of the same games that we have done at our boy parties. The girls were so obedient, tame, and civil. No kung-fu, no running around chasing each other, no intense screaming. Ahhh, it was so nice.
I also have to admit that it was pretty fun having an excuse to make a bunch of girly stuff. When do I ever get a chance to paint a huge castle on a wall?

Wyatt's First Word - Thumbs Up!!

We have been concerned that Wyatt hasn't been speaking yet. In fact, as of October 15th (his birthday) he had not said a single word. No "Ma ma" "Da Da" "Ba Ba" or anything.

Finally this last week he said his first word: "Thumbs up!" or "ZZZZZ ZAhh!" Just to be sure, we have tested him all week on the word and he is really saying it. :)

He first said it while we were playing a game around the dinner table where everyone was saying good or bad things about their day. (We were saying "Thumbs up!" if the experience was good, "Thumbs down!" if it was bad.)

Who'd have thought that would be his first word/phrase? Weird!

Birthday Month - 2 Down, 1 to Go

October is a crazy time of year. Somehow we managed to have 3 October babies, and now we are paying for it. We just finished Carter's Birthday on the 17th, and we have cake coming out of our ears. We still have Mallory's Birthday coming up in a week.

Wyatt's 1st birthday was fun. He, of course, had no idea what was going on. I took him for a doctor's appointment in the morning, which was a downer for him because they gave him 5 shots. In the evening we had a party for him. Here are some pictures of his celebration. I'm posting a picture of the cake for Mom with hopes that my ultra-amazing-cake-decorating-sister-in-law never sees it. She puts my cakes to shame. Wyatt wasn't a big fan of the cake either.

Carter wanted to go to the Rexburg Straw Maze for his 9th birthday. We let him invite a few friends. They got through the maze in 4 minutes. We were shocked! It took our family an hour to get through it on Family Night. Here are some pictures of his celebration, along with his cake (it's supposed to be a straw maze).

Carter wanted Bakugan balls for his birthday, so we gave him a set. By the end of the day, one was lost and he was so sad. We looked everywhere and practically gave up. Before bed we said a family prayer asking that we might be able to find Carter's lost Bakugan. After the prayer, Dad held Carter on his lap to console him and say goodnight. From where they were sitting on the floor, Carter was at the perfect angle see his Bakugan ball stuck to the bottom/underside of our kitchen table. (Bakugan balls are magnetic and there happens to be a metal piece under there holding our table together.) God answers prayers. We can count that as Heavenly Father's gift to Carter on his Birthday. :)

Frankenstein

Here are a couple videos of Wyatt walking for the grandparents. This first one is from September when he was just starting to get good at walking on his own.


This one is more recent (a week or so ago). He usually holds his arms up like Frankenstein in order to keep his balance, but he's getting better now at keeping his arms down.