SIX!!

My baby is six! When did that happen? I told him he couldn't grow up...he didn't listen!

I love this boy so much. It has been my tradition to share what I love about the birthday kiddo so here it is, six reasons why I love my 6 year old!!

1. That smile! The cute little cheeks, the bright eyes...his smile lights up any room he is in. I love.love.love it!

2. He still SNUGGLES! While he barely fits on my lap, he will still climb up and cuddle in my lap. Or snuggle for stories. He will also snuggle with any of his siblings... as long as they let him! He is my love bug, for sure!

3. He loves to clean! He really does. I thought he would grow out of his "helper" stage but nope. He calls himself a "professional bed maker" and is always willing to wash a table, mop, sweep or vacuum!

4. He is nice to everyone. Even if he has a friend who annoys him, he is still kind. He will play with anyone and include them in his games. He would spend hours out at the park playing with whoever was out there.

5. He loves anything his brothers do! Legos, Minecraft, Star Wars...and doesn't let them tease him when he wants to watch a "baby show" like Paw Patrol, Jake and the Neverland Pirates...

6. He loves to read, draw and do puzzles.

Happy Birthday sweet six year old! Mom loves you!

Happy Birthday to Ivan!!

OK, how does time go by so stinkin' fast?! I swear I was just in the hospital having this kid!

...and now he is nine. NINE!

So per birthday tradition, here are 9 reasons why I LOVE my nine year old!!

1.He sleeps next to a window, and no matter what the temperature outside, the window is ALWAYS open. And he sleeps cocooned under a good 10-12 blankets.

2. Whatever he loves, he loves it with his whole heart. From Legos, to M & M's, to the American Revolution. He goes all in.

3. He wants to work at LEGOLAND when he grows up.

4. His sweet smiles.

5. When I go pick him up at school, he runs to me like he hasn't seen me for a year and practically knocks me over with a hug! I literally have to brace myself for impact.

6. He only wants to sit by me. At church. During movie night. At the table. That is dedication!

7. He has an awesome sense of humor.

8. He doesn't worry about things like being popular or doing the "cool" thing. He is who he is.

9. He is a good big brother to Mason, even though he struggles with it sometimes!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IVAN! I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!

14 lessons for my 14 year old...

My daughter turned 14!! How did that happen?! Normally for birthdays I do a post about the reasons I love the birthday boy or girl.

But with Harmony heading to high school and entering a new phase in her life, I decided on something different. Life lessons. Things I hope she learns in her life.

So here they are, 14 lessons I hope my 14 year old will learn...

14.) Her brothers aren't as bad as she thinks!

13.)To not take everything personally.

12.) To find healthy stress relievers.

11.)To be happy in just.being.herself.

10.) That she is amazing.

9.) What a true friend is.

8.) How to be content.

7.)That life is full of good things.

6.) Have a personal relationship with her Savior.

5.) To know who she is.

4.) To be thankful.

3.) That her Dad teases her because he loves her.

2.) Be confident.

 

1.) That no matter what happens, no matter what she does, that I will always, always have her back.

Happy 14th Birthday Harmony!!

Goody bags---> big kid style

Our family has a policy of having a friend party only every other year. It helps to keep the birthday madness at bay...kind of.

Seriously, a trampoline is good for kids of ALL ages!

Well this year it was Ethans turn to have a friend party. What do you do with a bunch of tweens?! I was out of my element.

The entertainment was figured out fast by my son...video games and jumping on the trampoline. Easy enough. There was a major "Just Dance" off and I loved it! The kids were so fun!!

Cute boys gettin' down!

I wanted to send the kids home with something BUT was at a loss. Besides candy, what do you give tweens? Something fun but not a budget buster. Here is what I ended up with:

It was an Angry Birds themed party so...

Angry Birds graham crackers (these were $4.69 yikes! and were part of a B3G1F at Target. Some of the items in the deal were juice boxes so I got those for the party)



I found Angry Bird popsicles (otter pop type) in the $1 section! It was perfect and was a nice big filler :)

These Light Saber suckers were on clearance for $1.22 each. Normally these puppies are around $4 each! Score!

A fake mustache (.25 at Party Express)

Glasses and nose (.35 each at Party Express)

Rubiks cube (.25 each at Party Express)

The buckets themselves were .99 each. I know I could use bags for much cheaper, but I just like to use something that can be reused over and over. I always love it when my kids bring things home that I can re-use some how.

I made chalk board labels (easy shmeazy!) and added each childs name. The best thing about using chalk? If you spell a childs name wrong, you can just erase it and re-write it! Not that I would know anything about that...

 

Everything was a hit and the kids loved all the items. I was able to fill those buckets for pretty cheap. Honestly I don't know what I was worried about.

Next up, a birthday party for 5 (3 & 4 years) old boys...

12 reasons...

Today is a double celebration at our house! It may be Cinco de Mayo but my favorite thing to celebrate is my oldest sons birthday! For a long time, he would tell people that he was part Mexican because his birthday is Cinco de Mayo.

Ethan is such a sweet boy, and I can't believe that he is already 12. He has turned into a young man and is no longer my little guy. With all of my kids, I find myself wrestling between wanting them to stay little and wanting to see who they will become. As I am sure all Moms feel!

Here are 12 reasons why I love my 12 year old...

1. He is a good big brother.
2. He is very empathetic.
3. He is a self starter. Many mornings he is up, dressed and showered before 6:30.
4. He works hard.
5. He is creative and comes up with fun games for the boys to play with.
6. He is friends with everyone.
7. He is patient when I need help with technology.
8. He always wears shorts. Every single day. No matter what I say about the weather.
9. He is protective of his Mother
10. He can drink a whole jug of oj by himself...and very often does.
11. He is well behaved (at least for the most part)
12. He likes to play Words with Friends with me

What can I say, he is just an awesome kid. Happy Birthday Ethan!

11 reasons

Yesterday was my husbands 35th birthday...and today is my son Connor's 11th birthday!! Born at 12:15am he just barely missed sharing a birthday with his Dad.

So here it is, 11 reasons why I love my 11 year old....

1. He has the sweetest heart
2. He is kind to everyone
3. He is a master Lego builder

4. He is very smart
5. He is a voracious reader
6. He is a total gentleman
7. He looks after his Mother :)

8. He loves to get dressed up
9. He is my little meat-atarian
10. He loves music and loves to dance
11. He hates that he is so skinny, but he is so handsome that it doesn't matter

Happy Birthday Connor! I love you a ton kiddo!!

8 reasons...

Today is my son Ivan's birthday!! I can't believe this child is now 8 years old. He is a crazy, funny, huggable, sweetheart.

The past 8 years have been full of ups and downs, highs and lows, but we have weathered it all. In honor of him turning eight, I give you eight reasons that I love my 8 year old...

1.) Every time I am in the kitchen, baking or cooking, he comes in and says, "Mmmmm, what is that delicious smell?"every.single.time.

2.) When it is time to wake him up for school, he has me get in with him to snuggle. Melts this Mom's heart, for sure.

3.) He never stops talking. I know that sounds strange, but there was a time when he rarely spoke. Using grunts, hand gestures, screaming etc. to get what he wanted. Now, he talks and talks and talks. I usually have no idea what he is talking about, but I love to listen.

4.) He is so smart! He constantly amazes me with the things he knows.

5.) His favorite color is red. This can be a good thing and a bad thing...as he wants everything to be red. Plates, bowls, shoes, clothes...

6.) Ivan has crazy mad Lego skills. He used to need help from his brothers but not anymore! He can build with the best of them.

7.) He has the best smile.

8.) He loves pirates. He draws pirate ships on everything. He loves to dress up as a pirate every Halloween. He builds Lego pirate ships.

HaPpY HaPpY BiRtHdAy to my IvAn!!!

13

Oh my goodness gracious. It totally snuck up on me. My daughter just turned 13. My not so baby-baby is a teenager. I swear I am not that old...ok maybe I am.

So I just wanted to share 13 reasons why I LOVE my 13 year old:

1. Crazy smart. Seriously. She amazes me with all she knows.

2. Talented. Everything she does, she does it well. If not, she will practice and practice until she does. She has some mad skills...writing, music, drawing...

3. She knows who she is. For the most part, she couldn't care less what people think of her/her likes.

4. Funny. She really has a good sense of humor.

5. Creative. In her writing, in the games she makes up, in well everything.

6. Very practical.

7. She is a good friend. She is fiercly loyal.

8. She has this amazing range of likes. From tv shows, to books, to music, she loves things from other countries...

9. She is determined. She makes goals and goes after them.

10. I love that she loves to watch Jeopardy and she answers alot of the questions right!

11. She loves to do crafty things with me.

12. She doesn't follow the crowd. If she doesn't think/know something is right, she won't do it.

13. She is beautiful inside and out.

I seriously love this awesome girl. She enjoyed going on a date with her Dad to Barnes & Noble, World Market, Michaels and then out to eat at a local hamburger place.

Later she opened a few gifts and celebrated with birthday pie instead of cake, her favorite Coconut Cream Pie.

HaPpY HaPpY BiRtHDaY HaRmOnY!! MoM LoVeS YoU!!

THREE!

My sweet little Mason is three!

 Technically, since he was born on Guam, and the time zones are different, his birthday would have been yesterday. Good thing I am not very technical.

With my husband being gone, and his return date is still up in the air (but is soooo stinkin' close!) that I am holding off any celebrating. How boring I know. But he is still young enough that he doesn't know the difference anyway.

I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and his answer was, "candles! presents!" That was it. Makes it easy enough, right?

Luckily I have a gift cupboard full of Little People, Thomas trains, his movies....

I just love my 3 year old. He is busy, funny, snuggly, sweet, messy, bossy...But oh that face (:

Happy Birthday to my little Dennis the Menace!