Grant's preschool graduation

We all had fun at Grant's preschool graduation.  (back in May- better late than never, right?)  He was excited to sing all the songs he has been practicing.  And we were surprised to see in the program that he would be leading the Pledge of Allegience!!  He did a great job!

He has done really well at preschool.  He had a best buddy and he seemed to like a lot of the other kids in his class.  He did well learning his letters and numbers and passed all the end of year requirements.  He is super excited to start kindergarten.  Unlike me!!

We are so proud of Grant.  He is awesome!

He is sitting behind the boy in the sombrero.  He sat with a somber look most of the time!  But he said he had a fun time.  All the songs were really cute and I enjoyed watching all the cute kids.

He sang his little heart out!

That face!  I can't help but kiss those adorable cheeks!

Scotty's funnies

My boys make me laugh all the time.  Here are a couple of funny things from Scotty recently.

Scotty said to me and Miles "Look at my booty!"

While I was on my girl's trip Miles texted me this picture and said that Scotty was calling this "Butt crack pizza."

It's a laugh a minute around here!  Many of the jokes are about butts or farts, but what else do you expect from a house full of boys??

Scotty's Baptism

Scotty was baptized on Saturday, April 13th.  It was an awesome day!  He has been so excited for his baptism for so long.  He has been studying and learning about what baptism means and he is definitely "a young man prepared"!  Miles practiced with him how the baptism would go and showed him how they would stand in the font and that helped relieve his nervousness beforehand.  His only concern was having to wear the baptismal clothing that someone else had already worn!  He asked Miles if they washed it really well and Miles assured him that they did.  Funny boy!

Our stake has a stake baptism day and there were 10 children being baptized the same day.  Scotty was the only one from our ward.  We lucked out and our ward was the host ward, so Scotty was able to choose who participated in the program.  He asked Grandpa Steve and Grandpa Scott to give the prayers, Grandma Geri to give the talk on baptism and me to give the talk on the Holy Ghost.  We aren't a very musical family so a boy from our ward played a song on his clarinet for the musical number.  It was beautiful.  The program went well and we spoke to a full chapel- it was as full as a Sunday sacrament meeting! The host ward goes to the font last so we had a long wait after that until it was our turn.  As Miles and Scotty started to step into the font they saw a spider floating in the water!!  Luckily it didn't bother Scotty too much!  He looked so happy when he came out of the water.  It was a very proud moment for this mom!!  He said the water was really warm.  And he got to try to swim down and pull the drain plug!  

We sang songs while waiting for them to get dressed and then Miles confirmed him a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost.  The Spirit was really, really strong.  Miles gave him an amazing blessing.  

After the Bishop asked me to share my testimony (again!!) we had the closing prayer and then had refreshments.  We had 36 people there and I'm thankful to my in-laws, my parents and my great grandma Jill for helping with the food.  A very special thank you to my friend Sharon for making delicious home made cinnamon rolls!!  We had a great time visiting with family and friends.  We were so happy that my sister Aimee and her family were able to make the long drive from Mesa, Arizona to attend.  It was a perfect day for a very special boy.

We had Miles' brother Drew take some pictures of him for his invitation.  He looked handsome and we all had a fun evening doing the pictures.

Grant and Collin went with Aunt Aimee and Uncle John to wait in the chapel before we started.  

Love that boy!!

We're thankful to everyone that came and supported Scotty.

Especially the Yorks that drove 24 hours in 3 days!!

There aren't many boys that would want to invite their hairdressers to their baptism....but we have a pretty special hairdresser!!  Scotty was happy to have Brenda come and loves the blanket that she made for him.

Celebrating with Scotty

Scotty had a few different birthday celebrations.  The day of his birthday he got his presents from us- a new bike and a Ninjago book.  We made him his favorites for breakfast and dinner- French Toast and Country Chicken Casserole with homemade rolls.  And for dessert brownie cupcakes with chocolate chip cookie dough frosting- yum!  

We had a family party at the Lawrence's Sunday dinner.  Scotty asked for a rocket cake and Miles had fun making it.

He also got to have a couple friends over to spend a day during spring break.  They had fun playing their own Minecraft with the basement toys and having lunch at Pizza Hut.

A very exciting part of turning 8 for Scotty was he got to become a Cub Scout.  He was very excited!  When we took him out for his date with mom and dad we went to the Scout store to get all his stuff and he wanted to wear his shirt everyday after that!  He immediately started working on his Bobcat requirements and went to his first den meeting already having earned his Bobcat.  His first Pack Meeting was the next week and he got his Bobcat plus two beads.  He LOVES being a Scout and is looking forward to doing lots of fun things.

He had a lot of fun for his birthday and we had fun celebrating with him!

Happy Birthday Scotty!

Today is Scotty's 8th birthday!!!  Crazy!!!!  Scotty is very excited to turn 8.  He is going to be baptized in a few weeks and he can't wait.  He will be starting Scouts next week and is ecstatic to be a Scout.  This past year has been fun for Scotty.  He finished 1st grade and loved his 1st grade teacher.  He is doing really well in 2nd grade.  He is almost finished with 3rd grade math, but he loves history and science the most.  He has learned to love reading- if he has a good book, that is!  He lost his front teeth, which brings his total only to 4 that he has lost.  He finished his first year of soccer and played again in the fall.  He loved being able to learn and play the different positions.  He started karate and LOVES it!    He has been skiing a few times this winter and really enjoys that.  He still loves to build things with Trio building blocks, Legos and anything else that he can find.  Scotty is an awesome big brother and Grant and Collin love him and look up to him.  He loves riding his bike, hiking, swimming, Star Wars, learning about the Titanic, playing video games, his stuffed gorilla and rock climbing.  Scotty is a very kind boy and gets along well with others.  This past year we have seen him really develop the ability to have empathy and to think of other's feelings.  He loves to help us and his brothers and we are so lucky to have him in our family.  Happy Birthday Scotty!  We love you to the moon and back!!

Some pictures from the past year:

Party!

We had a fun time celebrating Collin's birthday.  He had a party with his extended family, a date with Mom and Dad to his doctor check up, lunch and Toys R Us, and a fun day on his actual birthday.  Collin is such a joy to be around.  He didn't go through the "terrible 2's or 3's" that his brothers did.  I've heard that might mean we are in trouble when he is a teenager, but we'll worry about that when it comes!  For now we're going to enjoy this sweet, funny 4 year old!

Collin loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  He asked Miles to make him a Jake treasure chest cake.  As always, Miles did an amazing job!

Everyone is excited for cake!

He got fun presents from his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

This is the mandatory picture before opening presents on his birthday.  He was being silly!!!

And he thought it was pretty funny.

A good one!

I made him his favorite dessert- Cookie Monster Dessert.  We ate it for breakfast and sang to him before Scotty went to school and Daddy went to work.

Then we had it again for dessert!  I love that face!!!

Happy Birthday Collin!!!

Today Collin is 4!!!  I can't believe my BABY is 4!  Collin has been so excited for his birthday.  Everyday for two weeks he has asked if today is his birthday.  Collin is such a fun little boy!  He is hilarious and makes us laugh all the time.  He is very thoughtful and likes to make others happy.  He loves to give kisses and blow them on so they stay forever.  He likes me to call him Snugglebum!  Collin is an adventurous boy.  He loves to climb on anything and has no trouble keeping up with his big brothers.  (He even does lots of stuff they won't!)  He didn't go to the 3yr old preschool so he has been having "home preschool" with me.  He loves to do preschool and has learned so much.  He is very proud that he can write his name and loves figuring out things that are opposites.  He loves to run, jumping on the trampoline, digging in the dirt, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, trucks, playing with his brothers, being loud (and he's good at it!), swimming, Luigi, throwing rocks, almost all junk food and his beloved dinosaur blankie.  He is so cute and we love him so much.  Happy Birthday Snugglebum!!

Here are some pictures from his past year.