The Big Four

Austin celebrated his 4th birthday on Sunday with Grandpa Dave and Grandma Mary Lou. They happened to be out here for his birthday. We also had his friend/brother Logan along with Logan's mom and brother. Per Austin's request we had pizza, salad, and watermelon. He also wanted a strawberry cake.

Besides Grandma and Grandpa being here, another surprise was that Jason and my dad ended up setting up our new trampoline the night before. The first thing he wanted to do the next morning before church was to try it out.

Still in pjs.

Many more jumps on the trampoline, swings with his new t-ball set-up, and presents from friends and family kept it a happening "party".

Even Erik figured out the t-ball in no time.

BFFs

We even got to celebrate Grandpa Dave's birthday earlier this week with a special yummy cake!

 Austin is a very lucky boy. He gets to play with his friend Logan every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday while Logan's mom goes to work. They get in their tifts here and there, but otherwise get along great and Austin always asks when Logan is coming. He is obsessed with numbers and loves watching timers, the numbers on the cd player, numbers on a tape measure (hence the tape measure b-day gift), and numbers on Karissa's number grids for homework. He can actually count to 109 forward and backwards, sometimes even higher.

He loves music, stories on cd, riding his bike, dancing with his sisters, and watching Wild Kratts. He's my big helper at home and will help in the yard, with the laundry, vacuuming, and baking/cooking. We even signed him up for a preschool cooking class for a few weeks that he loved! He's taking a beginner dance class with his friend Dallin since they have been so patient while their sisters have danced the past few years. I think I'll sign him up for gymnastics this fall since he's getting a pretty good handstand already.

The girls got to be the "demonstrators" for the dance class last week.

The pizza he made in his cooking class.

His recent graduation from preschool.

He just found out that the Gordon he was trying to tell me about who's not the train, is Gordon B. Hinckley, the last prophet.

He's my sweet boy who loves to hug people and rub Grandpa's hurt shoulder. He makes me smile every day!

18 Months

Erik is 18 months now. It's amazing how many things he can do that I know my other kids didn't do at this age, just because he's the 4th and I don't hover over him like I did with the others. One example: we were at our friend's house on Sunday for dinner and all the kids were in the yard playing while we were talking inside at the table. Every once in a while I looked out and he was climbing up the rock wall and sliding down the slide. He did it many times and is now the rock climbing pro!

He doesn't talk as well as the others yet, but I think he's doing just fine. His favorite words are:

Dada: meaning Daddy, Mommy, and anyone else who's a caregiver to him (Grandma, babysitter)
Baba: bottle, usually full of milk
Muh!: more, usually more milk (exclamation points means he yells it out)
Wuh!: woof, whenever he sees a dog
Buhbuh!: slug bug (whenever anyone in the car says "slug bug")

After those words, he makes other sounds for words here and there, but nothing repeated enough as these for me to figure out the meanings. He does say Mama, but only when he's really sad. I try to get him to say "please" when he asks for more, but he just looks at me with the sweetest smile instead. Good enough for me! He can do sounds for cats, cows, sometimes sheep, and horses. He's learning his body parts and will play the "point them out" game with girls. As soon as he's done, he puts his hand out for a high-five and then always has to clap right after.

He loves to dance to music, play in the tub, play outside, flirt with the twin girls (7-year-olds who adore him) behind our house, and play with cars and trains.

He doesn't like tantrums from other kids or fighting between siblings, or Logan. When someone is having a tantrum and or the one initiating the fight, he will promptly go over and hit that person, or fling his hands at them as if he's hitting them. Not the best habit to be into and we're working on it, but sometimes I can't blame him!

He's not very fond of strange women who come over at the store to smile and coo at him. He gets really shy and bashful, then he'll get mad if they stay around too long, another thing my other kids didn't do.

He's very tenderhearted and loves to hug his sisters and Austin and Logan and any other little friend who we come in contact with.

We're still working on getting him to eat more. Instead of just wanting to nurse all the time, he just wants his bottle of milk. Now that he's getting some molars in, maybe he'll have a great desire to chew on more food!

Ready for Nursery!

He loves the see-saw better than the swing.

When we had our heat wave last week he was super grumpy, until he got soaked with his clothes on!

He loves to line up the vehicles.

We love Erik and enjoy seeing his personality come out as he grows!

The Best Gift

We actually got to celebrate Jason's birthday on the big day, despite his busy job. It was on Wednesday and he left early enough for us to meet at Antonio's, an Italian restaurant that the kids loved when we went there a couple years ago and they loved it again this time. The each got a free huge drink with their huge meals. Karissa and Austin ate their salads, Victoria ate her soup, not to mention the many bread sticks and of course their meals of pizza, ravioli, and spaghetti.

Erik was the only one who didn't thoroughly enjoy himself.

Our dining experience made for a shorter celebration at home of presents, cake, and the Beatles's Birthday Song.

Victoria put 37 candles in the cake. Call the fire department!

Lots of smoke too!



We got him a new measuring tape, since the kids broke his other one, among other gifts.



The best gift of all, I believe, was at the Father/Son camp-out two days later. Our Stake President, who is in our ward, brought Ziggy (previously played for BYU and now drafted by the Detroit Lions) along to meet the locals. He won't actually be in our ward, he'll attend church closer to where he'll live in the Detroit area. When Jason called me to tell me he needed a new BYU hat because his was signed by Ziggy, he was giddy! Had I known I would have sent Austin's cap along, but it's getting small for him and he tends to remove it often. I didn't want it lost on the camp-out. Austin got to play tug-of-war with Ziggy, though.

 We love you Jason! We hope you had a great birthday!

A Week With Mom

The week leading up to Mother's Day, and few days extra, my mom was here for one of our busiest weeks of the year- dance recital week! Here are some of the highlights and even more activities that made it even busier!

-the boys were recovering from fevers and coughs the day she got here
-recital practice from 9-3 on Saturday
-a hike on Sunday returning with tics on many of us (that's what we get for wandering off the trails)
-shopping for discounts!
-dance run-through Monday and Tuesday
-carpet replaced Wednesday through Friday
-Mother's Day activity at church with Victoria
-Mother's Day activity at school with Karissa
- preschool cooking class for Austin
-dance recital Friday night and Saturday afternoon
-basement project placing the old carpet down there


Phew! Many of these huge activities will have to be highlighted in later blogs. We had a great time with my mom, even though the week was crazy. It was great to be able to go with my girls to their Mother's Day activities and have my mom watch the other kids. I even got to see her Mother's Day morning!

Baking cookies with Grandma (and Logan who's here 3 days a week)

Stake Conference Sunday gave us extra time for a photo shoot with Grandma

Hiking up the "big hill"



Erik had some stranger anxiety at first, but warmed up quickly



My kiddos with their mom for our annual Mother's Day pic

Most of the flowers here are from our yard for me, but the tall carnations were for the girls after the recital.

Jason got me the beautiful hanging basket and our tree has kept it's blossoms this year for a record time!



P.S. Since my last post about the girls' recital was actually before the recital (we can't video tape at the real thing), I have to mention now that they did so well there! Victoria's dances received many whoops from the audience and Karissa's many "awwws". Karissa did the best job I have ever seen her do on her tap dance. I'm a proud mom!

Dance, Dance Dance!

Another year, another dance recital! Here's Victoria's and Karissa's pictures in their costumes.

Here's their dances from this year. Victoria's tap was the first one filmed, so it was more experimental. She's third from the left. We miss her a little toward the end, but she ends up in the front for the last pose. This is her favorite dance. The next one she is third from the right.

Karissa is on the far right both dances, but ends on the far left in this first one (they always put the smallest at the end and since she's always the smallest, she's always at the end!) She did great this year, but for some reason blanked on her tap dance.

They both have come a long way and are becoming quite the little dancers!

A Day Out With Thomas

Since we have season passes this year to the Henry Ford Museum, we had to take advantage of this exciting event with Thomas the Train! Austin loves trains, especially Thomas. Erik has been favoring our Thomas toys over the others lately as well.

First we got to ride the train, a favorite of every one's.

Somehow we managed to get a front-row seat!

Then it was picture time. They had little platforms for family pictures that you could buy, so after our shot I squeezed this picture in with my own camera.

A little farther from the optimal photo area.

There were all sorts of activities like bubbles, chalk, a motor area, story-time, and train tables to play on.

Austin enjoying the motor area.

What's Thomas without Sir Topham Hat?

Erik enjoying the train table, even though many older boys kept taking the Thomas trains from him.

The kids also enjoyed the downtime we had hanging out by the pond and looking at the fish. Even though it was focused more on Austin's age, the girls still had a great time.

April Showers....

April showers do bring May flowers, but my boys are more interested with the puddles they bring.

Recognize these boots? That's because all my kids have worn them. Even I did!

 Erik does resemble Victoria a lot!

Looking for worms.

I can't always get a good face on Austin lately...

Found this two-seated wagon waiting for the trash to pick it up. Not a thing wrong with it and the boys love it!