Happy 4th Birthday Colton

My little bear is 4 today! I love this little guy so much! I have really enjoyed having him around with me. I'm going to miss him when he starts preschool next year. I'm not sure what I'll do with out him. He's such a big motivator to get things clean. Audrey likes to sing "The wheels on the bus," so after we've sang the usual lyrics we add our own. We have something for each of our family that we say. Colton's goes like this: Colton on the bus says we need clean this up, we need clean this up, we need clean this up. He has a really awesome cleaning gene in him (at least for now). He is always helping me clean up and make dinner. In fact one afternoon I had just laid Audrey down to nap and came out and asked him what he wanted to do with mommy. His reply: "Let's clean up." No joke. I asked about playing play dough, puzzles, going outside and he wanted nothing of that but to clean. So, we preceded to clean up the family room. Colton is a huge tease. He loves to play tricks on all of us.And most of the time he cracks himself up so that makes us laugh. And speaking of laugh he has the loudest laugh of our family. He is so dramatic in his laugh. He loves to hang out with his brothers. He can wrestle them down to the ground. He loves his sister but most of the day he is busy tormenting her. I call them frenemies because they love to bug each other ALL DAY LONG. Colton is also very good at sports. Somehow he has a natural ability to throw a ball really good and far. He was playing soccer with his brothers and was dribbling the ball and keeping it away from Nate. He can throw a football through holes in a tarp and make like most of them. Colton is such a silly little boy. We love having him in our family!

Here are some random pictures of Colton over the years but I thought they tended to showcase his personality.

Our family right after Colton joined the world. We were so thrilled to welcome him to our family. We also loved having the bragging rights to having the biggest baby of our families thus far! 9lb 10oz

He is the baby brother but look at those cheeks. I think he only was 2 months old in this shot. He started big and kept getting bigger.

Look at these thighs! I loved this chunky little man! And also being the 3rd child, he had to learn to sleep anywhere and still can. He loves to sleep downstairs by himself. I don't know why he even has a bed upstairs because the kids sleeps on the couch at least 5 nights a week.

Although the kid has cleaning tendencies that I occasionally worry about. He does know how to get dirty. He's caked in wet sand! We had a big rain storm and the boys had a blast playing in the dirt.

I came across this photo and thought how ironic that around 1 he is out helping me wash the car. He truly is a great cleaner. If I actually want the table cleaned and washed all off I ask him. He sprays it down with simple green first then washes it with a wash cloth. And every inch of that table is clean. I had one of his brother's do it and let's just say that it was not all clean.

I liked this shot of him because I usually get some kind of funky smiley face from him when I ask him to smile.

If I do make some cookies, that kid will help. But he will constantly be sneaking bites of cookie dough in his mouth. He thought he was being sneaky and getting a bite without being caught. And he really is very quiet about it all. He'll take a bite, chew it and casually come back to the family room saying something like, "I not eating anything."

Now this is a face I get rather frequently. Seriously, I see this all the time from him. It's part of his leave me alone, don't talk to me faces.

Again, him and his brother out in the sandbox getting dirty. Again, showing he can get dirty. They are both shirtless, in fact these 2 would actually run around in underwear all day, everyday if they could.

Proof again, that he likes to clean. He washed the screen door. Just the other day, I was doing laundry and he came and asked if he could clean the boys' bathroom. So, I got him the Clorox wipes and let him clean the sink. He spent a good 30 minutes just wiping that sink down from top to bottom. Then he help me clean their toilet. We had started with a mostly full container of wipes but he went through all of them. Like I said, he's very detailed and meticulous.

Colton and his cousin Sofie. He loves to play with his cousins. He likes to play with friends. He loves having people come to our house. Everyday I hear, "is someone coming over here today or are we going somewhere today?"

Here he is mowing the lawn with his dad. He was out there following him all night long. I called him in for dinner and he wouldn't come because they weren't done mowing. I think he truly thought he was mowing the grass. And he never did come in until Danny was done.

I figure a true clean freak would not be able to hold a caterpillar and enjoy them self. Colton is the first boy to actually pick one up and not freak out. Because of him doing it, his brothers finally held a caterpillar for the first time. He also was the first one to pick up the little minnows when we go fishing. He started trying to grab one in the bucket so then all the boys followed his example.

This is my newest tradition for birthdays. I put crepe paper up and they have to burst through their door on their birthday morning.

And this is what I had watching me while I did the taping. He was so obviously tired. But he insisted on being up and watching me do it to his door. And then to top it off, the next morning he crawled under the paper and wouldn't run through it. He just wanted to pull it down. The little stinker wouldn't do it, he just pulled it down.

Anyways, that my Colton boy! We love him. He brings such a fun spirit to our home. He is a big time momma's boy! Happy Birthday my big blue eyed baby boy! We love you!

Fishing at Smithville Lake

This is our catch when we went fishing a month ago at Smithville Lake. I forgot to post these pictures. A co-worker of Danny's took us up and showed up how to catch some Carp. It was such a different fishing experience than I was accustomed to. He helped Nate cast his pole out and immediately he had a fish on his line. It was crazy. He told us that it was spawning time since then we've heard we haven't made it to the spawning season. I don't know who's right but it was pretty fun. Other loosing 4 brand new fishing poles because we left when it was dark. The poles were leaning on the side of the truck and we forgot about that and headed off. Well, there was only one other family left up there so we can put 2 and 2 together and get the answer to what happened to them. It's unfortunate too because Danny and his friend Justin were back up there fishing the next morning at 6am and they were no where in sight-they were the first ones there too.That was a bummer.

Big huge toad sunbathing when we got there.

Colton and Audrey lounging with their Sonics. We love Sonic!

Everyone waiting for a fish to bite.

My Mr Josh. We were actually fishing on the day of his birthday celebration. We are crazy but he loved it!

2012 Family Pics

I had my friend Michelle from My Fancy Photo take our pictures just recently. I think they turned out really well. She did a great job and got what I was looking for. Now the hard part will be picking one of the family that I want to turn into a canvas photo. If you want to give me your opinion on what would look awesome, please-I'm begging you-give me your vote. So, in no particular order her are some of the favorites. There are so many more cute ones that are sepia, black and white or different poses, these is just a sampling. Let me know what ya think!

Josh's is 6!

Where in the world has the time gone. I can't believe this little guy is 6! It's crazy! We left California and the Marine Corps when this guy was just a few months old and now he's finishing his kindergarten year. He has some major spunk. He looks quiet and timid but he is rather loud and sometimes obnoxious. We should have realized this when at 2 months old he cried the ENTIRE time we traveled from California to Utah. And again the ENTIRE trip from Syracuse to Bear Lake. This kid did not like the car seat, the stroller, anything that strapped him down and limited his movement. He's always been a mover. He began rolling over at 2-3 weeks old. I know this sounds crazy but it's true, I have video to back it up. I know he started crawling around 4 months and walking when he was 8-9months old. This kid has been determined to move around. He might be little but he's got determination on his side.

 I love seeing the growth Josh has made this year in school. He started school a little bit behind, not knowing all his alphabet or his numbers. But he has caught up and knows his alphabet, can count to over 100+, is now reading words, constantly trying to sound out words and spell them. I had the kids write down words they knew while listening to conference. I late found Josh's paper and was so impressed with the words he was trying to write. They weren't all spelled write but you could tell what he was trying to spell. His acedmics have come tenfold. I chatted with his teacher today and she had nothing but praises for him. She wanted to let me know that she has really enjoyed seeing his mind just open up and the growth she's seen in him has been amazing. I, too, have been amazed at his advancements this year. And honestely, I give her alot of credit, she's a great teacher. I have come to realize with him that he doesn't like to let on to how much he does know or how smart he is. He kind of plays us and lets us think he's not as smart as he is. He is smart boy.

 He is such a cute litle boy. I love his true dimply smile-it melts my heart everytime. He is a spittin image of his father. Heaven help us, cause he really has his personality and temperment too.

 I hope he had a great birthday. We had to split it into a 2 day party. Because we had swim lessons on the day of his birthday and we didn't feel like we'd be able to do everything that day. So, on Monday we checked the kids out of school early and went fishing. I think he really enjoyed himself. Then we came home and let him open up his presents. After dinner, we got in the hot tub. Then it was time for cake and ice cream. So, all these pictures we actually taken on the day before his actual birthday. 

The day of his birthday, I took him a Happy Meal and ate lunch with him. I bought him some licorice ropes for his school bday treat. Later that night we had his birthday dinner. He had requested chicken legs and mac n cheese which really translated to KFC. And he loved it! And then we headed off to swim lessons and of course I couldn't deny him some dessert on his bday so we had some ice cream. This kid is a great kid. We wouldn't be the same without him. We love him so much especially his little Audrey. That girl adores her Joshy. She follows him everywhere, hangs on him, clings to him in the hot tub-never letting go of him, pulls him by the hand and takes him everywhere she wants him to be. He is quite the lady's man. He really does treat her really well and is very patient with her. I think the girls are going to be after our Josh when he's older. Anyways, for now he's our little Josh! And this is our Joshy on his birthday! 

My big 6 year old Josh fishing his heart away.

Josh with his fake smile and Lego cake.

This is my attempt at a Lego cake. It turned out ok. It was such a paint to frost and work with. Definitely recommend using fondant.

Josh was super thrilled with his new camera.

He was super-duper excited about his gumball machine. This is seriously all he wanted

This expression says it all. He had drooled over this beyblade for months.

Again he was happy to receive darts for his nerf gun.

A very pleased boy with his very own lantern

Josh's Fight

My little Joshy got in a fight on the bus the other day. Poor kid has the meanest black eye! Sadly it took us until we sat down to dinner for Danny to point it out. (In my defense they were sent directly to their rooms to clean their bedroom so I never noticed it.) The story is: he got some silly bands for his birthday from primary. Apperantly some of them were glow in the dark ones. So, Nate told him to put them under the seat of the bus were it's dark and look at it. Josh followed his brothers advice. Well, when he was coming back up to his seat he must have hit his eye on a metal part of the seat and the end result was this nice shiner. So, it was just a fight with the bus seat and not an actual fight with another kid. But it sounds like a better story. It's been a few days now and his eye is now going to that ugly green color. It really looks so much worse in person. I can only imagine how that must have hurt like the dickens. I would have been crying or swearing when it happened. As I look at these pictures, I realize I need to make my kids an appointment to get their hair done.

This is the next morning. There is still alot of puffiness left.

If it was eye shadow, it would be a great shade of purple.

Nate's 1st Pinewood Derby

March 24th our pack did it's annual pinewood derby. This was Nate's first official race as a cubscout. As a bonus, Josh and Colton were also able to race a car. At the end of the pack's brackets were all finished they opened it up to anyone else to race. Danny had made one for them to participate in. Nate chose a snake for his car and J & C's was a patriotic truck.

Nate's snake car that he painted all himself. Daddy may have help cut it.

This was made for the whole family but we let Josh and Colton take claim of it.

Our 2 cars side by side

Nate getting ready for his first race.

I think this is part of any open race with everyone. And he'd been slaughtering everyone. But this time he put his car up against another brother's car and started talking smack. And because of the smack talk he lost! Silly boy!

Coming down the track, Nate's in the lead.

Waiting for it to finish

And we have a clear winner.

Unfortunately, we think something happened to their car. It ended up with a 50/50 winning streak.

Looks like they are winning this one

A picture of my pretty girl

She kept laying all over Joshy. He'd kept moving away and she'd follow.

And the winner is: Nate. Danny handed out all the awards.

He really is a happy camper!

Danny is helping the boys hold their award. Everyone or rather every kid recieved some type of award.

They boys were more thrilled that it was over and that they got their truck back than about getting an award.