6 yrs old! What? That sounds so old…  Jackson had a lot of things he wanted to do to celebrate his birthday – he couldn’t quite decide what he wanted to do most. Finally we decided we would go bowling as a family and have a little party for him with his cousins. I haven’t decided on our “policy” for birthdays yet… I know some people only do parties for certain birthdays and they go all out on those specific parties, others go all out every year for parties, some do family parties some years and then friend parties the other years – I’m kinda just playing it by year.

Anyway, so our family bowling was really fun/ funny – everyone was happy and it was fun just to be together. The party with cousins was also a blast! We played a few organized games, had pizza, cake and ice cream, and then we just let them play in the backyard.  We played the candy bar game, a funny balloon popping game, simon says, and button button. Jackson’s cake was a lot of fun to make. He wanted a football cake with an AZ Cardinals helmet and a BYU helmet. We came up with just what he wanted – it was fun to create and tasted great, but let’s be honest, if you’re getting detailed at all fondant just takes so long! It was fun to see all the boys reactions to the cake though – they were chanting “BYU” over and over.

Playing Simon Says

The Cake

This is the video Micah made the week of his b-day:

skip to about 4:15 in the video for b-day stuff

Jackson is a fun little guy. He loves any good competition, and I mean any competition. He loves a good game and at this point hasn’t learned to be a bad sport about losing yet. He is very determined when he sets his mind to something. He’s smart, kind, and just has a good nature about him. His teachers all love him and tell me what a polite and thoughtful boy he is. He is such a great little guy!

Phew! We made it through the birthday month again, now on with the rest of the year!

Are any of you or your kids hot wheels fans out there? Think you have the fastest car? Well, we’d love to have you at the race to see your car in action! Micah is putting on a race for family and friends from Youtube. People have sent in cars from all over the US, Puerto Rico, and the UK. We have about 65 cars now and expect a few more to roll in in the next few days. If you don’t have a car on hand, don’t want to go out and buy one, or don’t have time to ship a car we’ve got you covered… We went and found some of the fastest looking cars and you can sponsor a car here.

The race will be held this Saturday, 6:30 PM and pizza will be served! Of course besides bragging rights, winners will leave with a prize! Let us know if you’re interested in entering your fastest racer(s) so we can add you to the bracket. Its going to be the race of the year so you won’t want to miss it!

We love little Autumn – all of us! Each of the kids have been so kind to her. We love to make her smile, and as of the past few weeks she’s been giggling and we really love that! You have to work for those giggles though and boy do the kids try hard! She gives some of the biggest grins I’ve ever seen.

She will be so happy and smiley then its like  we flip a switch and she’s upset! Its kinda funny.

Everyone comments on Autumn’s chubby cheeks – each of our babies have had great chubby cheeks (where on earth do they get those from?;o)  I thought she may be a little different because she started out smaller… she’s actually only 69th percentile for weight, which is smaller than they others, but when we went in for her 4 month check up the doctor looked at her and said, “Wow, those are some chubby cheeks for such a normal weight!” What can I say, we are blessed with chubby cheeks! I love kissing these cheeks though and seeing her sweet little smiles when I do.

I am thoroughly enjoying little Autumn. She has a sweet personality and is starting to figure so many things out.

 She watches everything move around her. If we ever have the TV on her eyes are glued to it unless we distract her. She watches things move, but still isn’t great at grabbing them. She loves to hold on to fingers though. She likes a pacifier, but she doesn’t love it like the others did, and she sucks on her fingers most of the time instead of a binky. I think she prefers me to Micah, but I guess that’s typical for babies. Somehow by about 2:00 AM every night she ends up in our bed and then she sleeps in in our bed ’til 8:30. I never thought I would have a baby sleep in my bed, but man, its nice to get some sleep while I feed her. To be honest, in a way I feel like I’m more in tune with her, and I wonder if  it that may have something to do with it. She’s getting to the point where its harder to get her to fall asleep, oh the little baby days are drifting quickly! I love watching this darling baby grow up, but I sure wish it would slow down!

We love when we get to visit Mama and Papa great. We love them and they are so kind and loving to each of us. Even with so many grandchildren and great grandchildren we are treated individually and are loved almost as if we are the only ones. It is such a privilege for my children to know Mama and Papa and to know they are so loved by their great grandparents.  Thanks to Melissa for getting this great picture! It is precious to me and will be forever.

 

 

 

 

Lacey is a firecracker! Her favorite thing to do is watch movies. Right now her favorite is Tangled.  She loves to have FUN and make people laugh.  It is actually very hard to get her to hold still long enough to take a picture.  She is also a night owl.  It is not uncommon to hear her talking or singing to herself in her room past 10pm.

This year she wanted to have a tea party and play at the park.  She got to invite her 2 favorite cousins, Hannah and Anna.  They made frilly hats, and got their nails done.  Sarah got them all disney princess press ons.  It was funny watching these little 4  year olds trying to eat with silly fake nails getting in their way.

I had seen this idea on Pinterest and suggested we do it and Lacey loves Minnie mouse so she liked the idea.

While the girls made hats and got their nails done the boys set up the tea party at the park.  It was sort of a Fancy Nancy affair.  They had paper doilies as place mats and sandwiches with frilly toothpicks in them.  Their favorite part of the meal was the red jell-o jigglers.  So fancy!

Jackson got to practice being a gentleman.  He will be sure to get a lot practice with 3 younger sisters.

Rachelle, Chelley, Chelle. She is growing up way too fast.  She is a  talker and can tell you exactly what she wants.  She was really excited for her Birthday.  This year she got to share her celebration with her Papa-dad who turned 60 and cousin Eliza who turned 1.  Unfortunately, she was actually quite ill the evening of her Birthday but she was still in good spirits.

Her big present was this Lalaloopsy playhouse that came with a doll.

Sarah used her Giant cupcake pan to make a cute little cottage for her cake.  The tulips were leftover from Sarah’s birthday.

You can tell from her rosy cheeks she was running a little bit of a fever.

Even with a fever she was bouncing all around (Minnie mouse outfit was from Grandma Stubz).  Chelley loves to jump.