Burke is Six!

Happy Birthday Burke! We had a great time celebrating Burke's big day today and took some of his friends to a place called "Sky High Pizza" where they have inflatable things to bounce on and lots of slides. Burke is off-track right now (year-round school) and so the timing was perfect! We had the entire place to ourselves and the kids had a blast. Burke received two Star Wars Lego sets that were identical; later when I asked if he wanted to return one (I had purchased one of them) to get something else, his response was, "No. I want to keep it so that Hewitt can have one of them." Just one of the many evidences that my little boy is growing up. Tonight in Burke's personal prayer he said, "...I'm thankful that I will still be six tomorrow..." What a sweetheart. I love you Burke.

Weekend Funnies

Yesterday was Hewitt's very first soccer game. Three is a fairly young age for soccer; the uniform fit more like a dress and Hewitt and his buddies were more interested in rolling in the grass and wrestling with each other than chasing the ball. He had a good time and got some energy out at least.


When Rob went up to check on the boys after they had gone to bed last night, Hewitt's door was shut with the light on. He opened the door expecting to catch him playing with toys but found him sound asleep in the middle of the floor surrounded by his toys (I would love to watch this process on hidden camera. There was a car in his hand, so I can only imagine that he was busy playing and then thought, "Man, I'm tired, I think I'll just rest on the floor here for just a minute...").

I got laughing very hard on my way into church this morning. We were slightly late (Tosh seems to know exactly when I am heading out the door likes to poo at that very moment) and as we entered the chapel I noticed that Hewitt was carrying the turkey baster. OK then. He got a few things stuck inside it during the meeting and at one point the bulb end went flying off during a hymn (no worries though, it only made contact with the floor and of course Hewitt went crawling under the pews to retrieve it).

Tosh was so exhausted from entertaining the masses during Sunday School and Relief Society that when we got home he fell asleep in his high chair while I was feeding him butternut squash.



Burke approached me this afternoon and said, "Mom, I really need you to do a huge favor for me; I need you to do the laundry because the laundry pile is three feet tall." I'll get on that one tomorrow (not really three feet just for the record).

We all got a big laugh this evening when we were standing in the kitchen and Tosh suddenly walked from our family room couch to the desk in our kitchen (about 10-12 steps). It was just so sudden and unexpected!

Steps and Slides

Well, our baby is growing up...and too fast I might add. While on vacation Tosh took his first steps (pictured below, notice that he is going after a ball). Tonight, he was taking 5-6 steps at a time and also started climbing down the stairs (he's been able to climb up them for a while now). He would slide down halfway, stop to clap for himself and then continue on. This was very cute of course but made me nervous. These landmarks are happening much sooner than with our other boys. Clearly it is very important to try to keep up with the older brothers.



I'll post more from our fun vacation soon; still cleaning up and putting things away...

Addendum

After reading my last post (Reality Confessions), my husband was concerned that you might assume that he is watching these reality shows along with me! So, on his behalf I am dispelling any belief that Rob is a Reality TV fanatic. Actually, reality shows got going around the time that Rob went back to graduate school and so it was something I could do (after the kids went to bed) to entertain myself while he studied. ... These days, Rob is usually in the basement working on his music or watching the NBA on a different TV in the house while I am watching R-TV. Rob does ask me questions such as "who got voted off?" and will watch clips and episodes from time to time (I think he's more interested than he claims to be or is it that he's just trying to show an interest in what I'm doing? hmmm).

Well, this is my last posting for a while as we are headed off on vacation tomorrow and I have oh, so much to do today to get ready. Something that was already taken care of this week was a trip the dentist for Burke and what I call the "summer cut" pictured here:

Burke all ready and excited for sunny California...

And this is what I call just plain sweet:

During dinner last night Hewitt put his head down on the table and said, "I want to take a nap in my bed." He went to sleep at 6:00pm and woke up at 7:30am this morning. That is what I call a tired boy! Well my friends, check back here in about 10 days for details and photos of our trip. Adios!

What a difference a day makes

Well, there's nothing quite like the stomach flu to stop you in your tracks. First the baby (he had it the worst), then me, then the three-year-old (you get the idea)... Whenever I'm sick I can't help but wish that I (and all moms) could take a true "sick day." You know, someone to actually step in and take over everything I usually do (laundry--lots of laundry when it's the flu, the cooking, the cleaning, reading to and playing with kids, etc. etc.) so our household could continue on without missing a beat. Seriously, where is Mary Poppins when you need her (well, I guess she didn't even have to cook or clean anything besides the nursery)? My husband is a great sport about picking up the pieces when I'm sick (along with great neighbors who help me out in many ways). Last night Rob got pizza on the way home from work and then spent quite a bit of time cleaning the kitchen and doing other things I just wasn't up to doing yesterday. I don't think that Burke (my almost six-year-old) minds so much when I'm sick; for him it means being able to watch TV and help himself to cold cereal (at least that's what seems to happen anyway). I did overhear Burke helping his little brother several times during the day- taking off his shoes, getting and peeling a banana for him, etc... he was also cheerful about cleaning up the toys and helping load the dishwasher after dinner. I interrupted his cleaning to read with him before bed and he said, "OK Dad, you just keep at it" as if he were the one in charge. Being sick mostly reminds me of how grateful I am for very good health (my kids and husband included) and for life's luxuries like the dishwasher, the washing machine (even if mine is so "old school" I still have to prewash, JA) and other things I take for granted everyday. Today things seem to be returning back to our happy chaos/normal which is something else to be thankful for. I forgot that today was school picture day. Burke put on a hat and his suit coat just before school (he was being an "undercover cop").

Burke undercover

The hat of course messed up his freshly combed hair, but I'm usually not too fussy about those things. We'll find out when the photos come back if some volunteer was there ready to fix his hair with a little black comb... The other photos I took after dinner tonight (yes, happy chaos)


Notice Tosh's tongue in this pic at the piano with Rob (one of his very fav things)- so cute!

Just plain cute

I would suppose that most blogs authored by mothers may have a high consistency of cute quips about their darlings and photos to prove so. I took a couple of photos of Tosh yesterday that admittedly are pretty cute even if I say so myself. It's hard to get a good photo these days as he is rarely holding still...already so busy at nine months! Tosh did not take an afternoon nap this afternoon. I could hear him banging the walls and playing in there fairly contently. When I finally decided to go in to see what he was up to I found him sitting there laughing with his pants off! He seemed very proud of his accomplishment.