Party Hardy!

When asked who she wanted to have come over for her third birthday celebration of pizza and cake, Karissa responded, "Mr. Tom!" our neighbor who is like a grandpa to them now with all the treats he spoils them with (fruit snacks, cherries, oranges, milk, gummy bears, spice drops, cakes he doesn't want to finish by himself, etc.) Since we invited Tom, we decided to invite our other neighbors, Bethany, who is Victoria's age, and her family. Bethany's mom and sister had to work, so it was just Bethany and her dad, Bernie. As we were sitting eating our pizza, I thought it was interesting that two of our closest friends here are our neighbors who are both a lot older than us; Tom is 60 and Bernie is 48. Karissa was as happy as could be with all the old men to cuddle with and hug. They brought her some nice gifts and she enjoyed playing with Victoria and Bethany as well.

On New Year's Eve, the kids all went to bed early. It wasn't even planned, they were just tired from the birthday celebrations the day before and the morning of Glo Golf at Zap Zone for the stake New Year's activity. We played some games and toasted to the new year at 6pm, complete with instruments, and they were all asleep by 8!

Austin is now 7 months. Where has the time gone? He is cutting is first two teeth on the bottom, which is about a month earlier than Victoria did and two months earlier than Karissa. He enjoys sticking out his tongue so he can feel them. He sits on his own now, which is his preferred way of playing. As you can see from his picture, we're teaching him the "blue" doctrine!