Happy First Birthday!

Thanksgiving was great! We had friends over and Jason added this yummy, new, fresh stuffing recipe to his already amazing selection of Thanksgiving foods.

But now we get to celebrate a birthday around Thanksgiving- Erik's! This year is was the day after. I guess it'll keep getting farther away until it actually falls on Thanksgiving one year. Since we had friends over on Thanksgiving we decided to go simple with Erik's first birthday. He has enough siblings now anyhow that we didn't feel like we needed to have a big celebration. If you look at his face in this picture, I think it was good we didn't. He looked a little frightened as all five of us sang in his face with a big cake in front him, lit up with a candle.

My goal was to spend as much time playing with him as I could, and that would be birthday enough for him. And it was! He loves to play "catch" now, so he would throw the ball to me and I would throw it back and he would go chase it. The kids played with him a lot too and loved putting on the Beatles' song Birthday to keep up with our tradition.

Since Monday, Erik has been walking about 1/3 of the time. (Actually, today he's mostly been walking.) He loves to push his walker around, dance to music, play with cars and balls, and walk around. He says "dada, dada" a lot. He did say "mama" as he grabbed onto my leg last week, so I think he know what he's talking about! Eating is still slow, but he does drink milk from a bottle now, so we're on the right track!

He seems to be less aggressive with his friends now and not as interested in the toilet, so those are some good things he's outgrown, at least for now!

 He didn't have one taste of his poppy seed cake, just threw it on the ground, which didn't surprise me. Victoria was the only one of my kids who did eat any of her cake at age one.

Having fun with all the attention from his siblings.

The one "baby" toy that he likes and we didn't have is the stacking rings. He always plays with them at the library, so I got him his own, and he loved them!

 Happy Birthday sweet Erik!

Here's a clip of him walking on Tuesday.

Preschool Pilgrims

For Austin's preschool we did something I've never done before: a reenactment of the First Thanksgiving. It was very short, but I enjoyed it and the kids did too. I made some hats, made some sails, and put on music from Pocohontas.

Here's the Pilgrims sailing the Mayflower.

The Indians not welcoming the Pilgrims.

The Pilgrims and Indians are friends now.

The Thanksgiving Feast

As you can see, the feast was decided by all the preschoolers. Goldfish, Oreos, fruit snacks, granola bars, pumpkin muffins, and rolls. Karissa and Victoria were my special helpers since they had no school.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Random Excitement

Some exciting things have happened around here.

Victoria got her expander out.

 Before

 After

The girls went to the Daddy Daughter Dance (Karissa's first time!)

 Karissa had such a great time. I know Victoria did too, but word is Karissa was all over the place with her friends doing the train.

The boys and Mommy went to McDonald's and played there while the girls were on their date.

 Austin did really well shooting hoops there and Erik had so much fun he couldn't stop drooling!

Erik has been taking many steps here and there. Here's some steps he took while Grandma and Grandpa were here.

Victoria's Baptism

This day is at the top for one of the most special days. Victoria was baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. I feel like I've been waiting for this day since she was born. It feels like a whirlwind, but everything went very smoothly. She had many close friends and teachers attend to support her, some of whom were not members of the church, and I'm so glad they came. I have seen a lot of growth in her, even during the last week. I know she was ready to make this step in her life. She and Karissa and two other sisters (one who was also baptized) sang I Know When I am Baptized and signed it as well. It was so sweet and lovely!

 Look how sweet and innocent! This is the other girl, Kenna, who was baptized today.

Afterwards, we had everyone back at our house for all of Victoria's favorites: peanut butter cookies, Grandma's healthy and yummy cookies, pumpkin marshmallows, pumpkin bars, cider, veggies and pitas with hummus, and berries. She asked why I was making everything so special and I reminded her how special this day is. Later in the evening we had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with a roasted chicken, another of Victoria's favorites. I will not forget the Spirit I felt today and I'm so happy we could share it with Grandma and Grandpa Chatterley.

Halloween Time

There is so much to do around Halloween with four kids. So here is a brief overview of our activities.

Pumpkin picking

 The cutest pumpkin of all

 Hiking behind the church on a lovely autumn day

 The church party (Grandma is a Mongolian princess, Victoria a vampire, Karissa a cat, Austin Superman, Erik a bear)

 I went as a Mongolian princess as well, though it didn't go well with carrying a baby, and Jason a tavern man

 Austin's preschool party ( he was jealous of Karissa's make-up as a cat, so he wore her costume to the party). Grandma taught Halloween dances there.

 Karissa's party at school

 Victoria's party at school ( I told her she didn't need make-up at school since her face is so pale already!)

 Mummy hot dogs for dinner- huge success!!!!!

 Trick-or-treating with Bethany, luckily Austin wanted to be Superman again so we didn't have a fight over the cat costume.

 The best part: Erik started to swipe Victoria's candy and put it in between his legs as if he was hiding it. Then he discovered how fun the wrapper was, so he sucked the Twix wrapper until the candy bar got totally smashed and even popped open a little. YUM!