one year away from double digits

 My oldest son turned 9!! How old am I?!? 

Easton is such a great older brother and we are so grateful for the example he sets for everyone in our family.

While I know he gets picked on and asked to do a lot since he is the oldest (Hello! Totally get that.), I try my hardest to not do it that much and point out all the perks that come with being the oldest (i.e. - never wearing hand-me-downs, at least until you're older and all your younger sisters have a better fashion sense than you ;)

He is doing so excellent in school and makes it look way too easy. He is also becoming quite the athlete. (I love watching his soccer games!) He is sweet, loving and I'm often in awe of the little man he's becoming.

 

 try not to look too happy

already wearing some birthday presents

he seriously only wanted sports things, or an iPod touch (and since that wasn't happening until he saved for it) he got lots of sports gear

Love you East the Beast!

five is right out!

(only my old roommates will understand the title. :) Sorry, couldn't help it as I was trying to figure out what to title this post.)

Peyton turned 5! He is so full of energy. Seth mentioned the other day about how we don't really experience the "terrible twos" with any of our kids, but Peyton is currently going through the Ferocious Fives. :) I had to agree. He is such a sweet, loving, giving, helpful boy. And then suddenly he can be quite the opposite. 

He is already an amazing reader. Doing math. Quite the athlete. Memorizing scriptures. Loves pleasing and helping any family member. So quick to forgive. Loves trying to figure out (or making his best guesses on) how and why things work.

We are so lucky to have him in our family. Oh how we love our middle child! :)

And yes, that chocolate cake is as delicious as it looks. And probably the easiest birthday cake I've ever made. The best news, it's even better and more moist the next day so you could even make it early.

trey is three

 I still cannot believe it. But, yes, Trey is THREE!! He is such a fun character.

He knows he's funny and LOVES making us laugh.

 He can be very rough with Brock but also incredibly sweet.

 He's so smart as he tries to do everything his older brothers do.

Oh how we love our little Tater Tot! :)

7 is heaven

 Just realized I never posted anything about Cole's birthday. That was almost 2 weeks ago. Oops.

Cole turned 7!! Ahhh! That seems so old. He's now counting down to being baptized and being in scouts. Oh, I'm so old.

We had an Olympic Party with some friends. I actually really love how everything went. The kids designed their own flags and then competed in a Decathalon in our backyard. They seemed to enjoy each event and recording their scores. We then had lunch and cake. It all completely wore me out. But he loved it - so that's all that matters.

Cole is quite the comedian. Always making us laugh. 

He is also so sweet and loving to his brothers. Always concerned about their feelings and making them happy. 

He is also a math wizard. Constantly impressing me with the problems he can solve.

He has also recently become so great at listening the first time. I. love. it. (Especially considering it wasn't long ago that Seth and I were wondering if he had a legitimate hearing problem. Haha!) He has truly become quick to obey. What a great quality! :) 

We are definitely a lucky family to have him!

happy ONE year

My baby is now one!!

Although according to Peyt, he's still zero. Why? Because he didn't even grow yesterday!

It's so crazy because I thought for sure I'd be SO sad, knowing he is my last. And the truth is, I'm not. Sure, I'm sad, but not any more so than when any of my other boys turned one. Yes, it's sad because the time is going by so fast with ALL my boys, but I'm also loving the thought of being done with the baby stage. (And especially nursing. Woo hoo!!) And I know that 5 boys is a whole lot to take care of and my boys definitely deserve to have more of their mom's attention, instead of hearing 'after I feed the baby' or 'we can't because the baby is/needs [fill in the blank]'. 

But I digress. So here's the real post.

 This was really the first picture I got. 

Really mom? Again?

Fine, I'll give you a couple silly smiles

Can you believe the goofy hat my mom put on me?!

 

Cake Time

Seriously? What am I supposed to do with this thing that is already starting to lean?

Hmm... tasty.

Two hands!

 

 

Definitely ate more than any of my other boys.

Perfect after dessert treat - a good thumb suck.

Yes, I eventually ate something healthy.

 

 (And for the record, no I don't go around giving my one year old whole apples, but he stole this from Trey and was just way too cute trying to get some tastes.)

Happy Birthday to our perfect little one year old!! 

We're so extremely lucky to have you!!

great to be eight

So my baby turned 8! It still seems insane to me that he is that old, although sometimes he acts so much older. :) 

We've decided for big birthdays (8 and 12) we won't spend money on a friend birthday party and get them an extra big present. (Although I'm still trying to decide how exactly we want to do birthday parties... doing 5 most summers just seems like PURE MADNESS! My sister-in-law gave me a great idea that her family used to do (each year the child could choose between a big friend birthday party OR a night out with just the parents and pick a few presents together), but Seth doesn't seem convinced of it yet. So if anyone else has great ideas, let me know. :)

Anyways... the reason I explained that is because since there was no official birthday party, I don't hardly have any pictures of Easton and his birthday. 

Birthday Breakfast (Yes, that is a doughnut. Krispy Kreme to be exact. Hey, what the birthday boy wants, the birthday boy gets.)

Then a week later we had his baptism. It was a beautiful and perfect afternoon. Despite being late, (I won't blame anyone, but will say that it was not my fault :) and not getting a picture of Easton and Seth before. :( Seth got one on his phone but we're still figuring out how to email them. 

and no, Seth is not going bald. He just shaved his hair with the shortest clippers and this picture makes him look bald. :)

And I will share this tip for all those who have future 8 year olds ;)-

I got some cardstock in a couple shades of blue and cut them into about 5x7, then while Easton and Seth were changing after the baptism, I asked everyone to write down thoughts and/or their testimony for Easton to keep. And my sister Mandie played music during this time. The next morning Easton and I read them together and it was so special. I loved reading all the encouraging words, advice, testimonies and everything else. And he just couldn't wipe the grin off his face while reading them too. So special and I'm so glad I did it!

Happy Birthday my Baby Boy!!

am I four yet?

The whole day before Peyton's birthday he kept asking "Am I four yet?". The next day his brothers informed him he wasn't 4 right when he woke up, cause it had to be the exact time he was born. So then he had to wait til 3 p.m. But once he saw the clock after 3 p.m., he would shout "I"m 4! I'm 4!"

Birthday Breakfast Crepes

 Opening up presents (Yes, in pajamas. He had his first baseball practice and then we went to dinner and between the two places he got filthy, so the boys had to shower before presents and dessert.)

Birthday Whoopie Pies :) (I knew I'd be making a cake for his friend party and wanted to do something different.)

Caterpillar Birthday Cake for his friend party

On a side note, and for anyone with future 4 year olds, but mostly for me so I remember for Trey and Brock.... 4 year old's don't need planned activities for a party. All they want to do is play. Any future parties I throw for 4 year olds will be a swimming party or bouncy house. 

I planned fun bug activities - like

-'kill' the bugs with silly string

-search for bugs (I had scattered big plastic bugs) in the backyard and put them in jars with grass and sticks

-keep the balloon bugs in the air

-make a caterpillar magnet

Between those, cake and presents I thought that would last the 2 hours. We were done in about 1 hour and 15 minutes. :) But then they got to play - just what they wanted to do. (I did have a couple back up games planned but since I knew they really just wanted to play, I was totally okay just sitting back and being done.)

Happy Birthday to our amazing Peyton! He sure is quite the spunky, handful - but we wouldn't have him any other way!

the terrific two's!!

Trey turned two. (What is that - an alliteration?)

Sometimes it seems crazy cause he's still like a baby. Other times he seems to be growing up so quickly.

He is saying new words every day. He's definitely learned how to tattle-tale.

He loves Brock so much. Sometimes too much. He gets mad if I take Brock away when he's trying to hug him - or more like smother.

He is so independent already. If there's something he wants, he tries his best to get it on his own. And almost always succeeds.

And he's already learned to whistle. :) (I have got to remember to not talk in videos)

And some pictures from his big day

Birthday Breakfast

  

Opening Presents

Birthday Dinner

Birthday Dessert Nachos

Allow me to explain - We had Cole's friend party not so long ago and that cake lasted a while.

For Father's Day we had ice cream cake and there was still some in the freezer.

I was all caked out.

I made him a plate of dessert nachos. Yummy cinnamon chips with strawberries on top. Drizzled with chocolate. Normally Trey loves strawberries. But once he tasted the cinnamon and chocolate, he picked off the strawberries and licked the cinnamon and chocolate.

Didn't seem to miss the cake.

Cole's Party

Cole wanted the easiest party ever. He only wanted to invite 3 friends and go to Chuck E Cheese. So here's two pictures to prove we did it.

We had lunch and cake at our house before.

I'm cheap or frugal. Whatever you want to call it. 

Luckily Cole didn't care at all.

The Birthday Crowd 

(One of Easton's friends ended up coming as well)

6 years old!

My Cole is 6 years old!!

Birthday Breakfast

(Crepes. In case you can't tell and may be weirded out)

Instead of a birthday cake (because we had cake on Sunday and will be having cake for his friend party) I made a Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie. Looked and smelled delicious but nobody liked it. Ridiculous! (So I have half a pie in my fridge if anyone wants to come try it out. :) This one in case you're intrigued.

Such a sweet, loving boy. Always wanting to give everyone kisses and hugs.

Such a smart boy. I'm constantly blown away at the math you can do in your head.

Such a funny boy. Always making your brothers laugh, especially when they are sad.

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

We love you Cole!!

may the force be with you

Easton turned 7! I still can't quite believe he is 7 years old. Wow! That sure makes me feel old.

He had a Star Wars Birthday Party and it was tons of fun. But I did decide two things - 1) I really need want to take a photography class, so all my pictures don't turn out just BLAH and 2) For the next birthday party that I put so much effort into, I am going to specifically ask someone to just come take pictures. We did many fun things, that took a lot of effort but I didn't take pictures of any of them because I was too busy running the show. ;) Anyways, here's some of the things we did - without pictures to prove it. Destroy the Death Star Pinata. Star Wars Bingo. Jedi Training Course. Pin the Ship in Outer Space.

When the kids arrived (on a side note, since when does every invited kid come to a birthday party? East invited 14, so I planned on 10 plus my 3 older boys, but we ended up with everyone there. So poor Peyton and Cole didn't get their own lightsabers. Maybe if people would've RSVP'd like I asked them to...I totally understand not calling when you aren't coming, but when you are?! Really? Anyways...) they got to choose the color of their lightsaber and Seth made it for them. Then they got their Jedi Knight Robes (made by my fabulous mother!). Then it was off to the Jedi Training Course. Seth set up an obstacle course - with lava and rocks, jumping, tunnels, balancing and then to fight Darth Vadar (Seth :) at the end. They loved doing that!!  

Then we came inside and played Star Wars Bingo (made by me, so if anyone wants to borrow it, I'd love to get more use out of it) until Seth got back with pizza. After lunch, we played Pin the Ship in Outer Space (I have no idea what it is actually called, but it was an actual Star Wars game I found at a party store), which was kind of hard to keep everyone's attention, so that didn't last long. Then we went outside to Destroy the Death Star. They loved hitting the pinata, but who doesn't? 

Then we had his Lightsaber cake and ice cream (I'm bummed this is the only picture I got of the cake, cause it actually turned out pretty cool.) and then opened presents.

It was such a long, fun time for all. And it was definitely worth being so exhausted afterward. But it did make Seth and I re-think how we'll be doing birthday parties in the future. As we were getting things ready the night before, Seth said "4 times a year? Are we really going to do this 4 times a year?" Hmm... I'm not so sure.

Happy Birthday Easton! You are such an amazing example to your younger brothers and mom and dad. So smart. So sweet. So sensitive. So hilarious. We love you East the Beast!