Jake at 11 Months... and Boys Beds!

Stop growing, baby!!! My little tiny baby turned into an 11-month-old in the blink of an eye. He is as sweet as ever and we all dote on him.

A few things I want to remember... when he hears music, he starts to dance and wiggle to the beat. When he hears someone calling or yelling, he calls and yells too. When we say "hi" or "bye" he waves. When I sing "Popcorn Popping" he does the little hand movements (this one always melts me!). He puts lots of objects up to his ear and talks to them like a phone. He is finally crawling for real and it's so cute, although sometimes I miss the lopsided army scoot. He likes to shake his head 'no' to be silly. He snuggles up on my shoulder when he is tired.... ooh, that's the best.

He finally likes bath time. For the longest time he couldn't handle it for very long, but now he likes to splash and play.

We have a gate at the top of the stairs and he is often hanging on it, calling to people at the bottom and throwing things down. And yes, he can now climb up the stairs, although one tumble down a few stairs seems to have cured the problem for now.

He is a great eater. He eats almost anything we give him and eats almost as much as me sometimes!

We made carrot cake muffins and the girls licked the bowl and left it on the floor. Jakey found it and licked it even cleaner! Funny baby.

 

I love my cute crew all dressed up for church--had to take a quick pic because as soon as we get home it's back into pj's.

Jake spends a lot of time playing with the cars now and trying to walk along beside or behind them. He is also cruising on furniture, transferring from one thing to the next. 

And now........ we finally moved Ty from the nursery and put him in a big boy bed!!! And that translates to Jake finally getting a real crib instead of a pack & play! For various reasons (and excuses that weren't very good) we kept them in the old beds too long. I finally got sick of it and made the switch last night. It was a family affair and very exciting for all involved.

One last shot of Ty in his old room. I am such a sentimentalist and it was hard to move my boy from the room he came home from the hospital to. 

When we told him it was time to move rooms, he took us literally and tried to push it. Ha!

As long as he could have his favorite items, he was totally ok with it. He was super excited to sleep in a big boy bed like Daxton and Bodie.

We gave him a new bedding set to make it his own. Unfortunately I bought it when we were going to get him a twin bed, but we decided to put him in the queen we already had, so it doesn't fit. I figure it works like this for now, and in a few years when Jake is old enough, we'll buy them a bunk bed and it will fit.

It's a little empty still and needs paint and curtains, but it's his!

After re-hanging his growth chart it seemed a good time to measure him. This little guy has sprouted like a weed and all his pants are getting too short. Again, strop growing!!!

Maddie was really worried about him falling out, so we sandwiched him between Pooh Bear and a pillow. He stayed in bed and slept well, so far so good!

And Jakey baby slept in the nursery for the first time. All seems right in the world.

Goodnight my baby, now it's time to sleep.

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

Amid all the hustle and bustle of birthdays around here, we have also been doing the everyday stuff that life is made of... learning and growing, and enjoying the spring weather!

Ty got out some clay letters the other day and brought me his name! "T-Y is Ty Mom!" There is no greater wonder than learning to spell your own name.

My kids have a strong affinity for the written word. They carry books around more than toys. I just finished reading Black Beauty aloud to them. Ella can read from the scriptures now and enjoys contributing to family study time.

A few weeks ago we stopped at the DI to look for a desk to re-finish, and spotted this $1 bargain! Ty is so proud of it and can't wait to be big and go to school like his sisters.

On warm days we usually play outside in the afternoon. Poor Ty Ty needs a boy bike.

On 3.14 I sent Mike a text saying "Happy Pi Day" and he responded, "As in 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609433057270365759591953092186117381932611793105118548074462379962749567351885752724891227938183011949129833673362440656643086021394946395224737190702179860943702770539217176293176752384674818467669405132000568127145263560827785771342757789609173637178721468440901224953430146549585371050792279689258923542019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960518707211349999998372978049951059731732816096318595024459455346908302642522308253344685035261931188171010003137838752886587533208381420617177669147303598253490428755468731159562863882353787593751957781857780532171226806613001927876611195909216420198938095257201065485863278865936153381827968230301952035301852968995773622599413891249721775 ?" He doesn't often make requests in the kitchen, so when he asked for key lime pie, I acquiesced and went and bought the ingredients. We were not sorry!

That night we had movie night and watched "Mary Poppins". Our kids had never seen it and I figured it was high time. I loved it as much as they did! I remembered every word, laugh, expression, song of the entire movie.... quintessential childhood memories, right there!

Let's go fly a kite, up to the highest height, let's go fly a kite and send it soaring! Maddie got one for her birthday and tried it a few times. It's harder than it looks, and of course the one time it got some good air, I was helping Ty go potty and missed seeing it fly.

 

We've been enjoying afternoons on our back desk. One day Ella and I fell asleep reading in the sunshine.

St. Patrick's Day was pretty fun around here too. The kids art creations made good green decorations.

A silly leprechaun ate a gold candy I left out, took a drink of our milk and turned it green, made a trail of gold confetti to the bathroom, and turned our toilet water green too. Maddie put her green on first thing in the morning, and was quick to pinch the others kids who didn't have green on their pajamas (you can imagine how they liked that).

The girls colored pictures or rainbows for the leprechaun and requested rainbow toast for dinner.
 

We added green eggs and ham for a festive feast. (Ty just discovered that book and thought it was really fun.)

Jakey had something green coming out his nose!

After dinner the kids treated us to an Irish Jig performance. I can't make this stuff up! It was pretty entertaining.

Butterfly Birthday for Maddie's 7th

Maddie decided that this year she would have a family party instead of a friend party. I heartily agreed!

We set the stage with some printable butterfly decorations.

Then we added cousins to the mix! Emrie and family were able to come for a weekend visit to help celebrate! I don't think Maddie could have asked for more.

Her wish (for the last many months) has been to go to Kangaroo Zoo. Daxton and Bodie cousins joined us too!

 

Tyler was afraid of any slide that had more than five stairs. But then Mike convinced him to try one that had 6 stairs, because it was just one more. After that, he felt more confident and bravely tried the BIG one with 15 stairs!

The next part of Maddie's master plan was big burgers at Rumbi. They didn't disappoint, and I was happy because they have yummy salads.

Because Maddie's real birthday was on a Monday, the whole weekend became a party. Sunday we had family dinner and decided to have cake and presents then, in order to include all the cousins.

Silly faces at dinner.

My big 7 year old! I told Maddie her birthday is also the anniversary of me becoming a Mommy, so it's special to me too. I can't believe that was 7 years ago!

Present time!

Ella has been keeping her present a secret for weeks. She spotted it on one of our trips to Hobby Lobby and knew it was just right. (I didn't get a picture but it's a ladybug seat belt cover.) Ella decorated the wrapping paper herself and hid it under her bed. I love how they get so excited to give things to each other.

Grandma Marcia scored with a Baby Alive.

Auntie Dana scored with a rug kit. We remember doing these when we were little and she thought it would keep Maddie busy. She thinks it is the coolest thing!

This face says it all--the loom she has been waiting for!

The final surprise: a desk!!! Obviously it was a little anti-climactic to get a printed picture of a desk, but the shipment came the next day (her actual birthday) so we made do. She has been begging for a desk in her own room for her many projects, and a place to do measures (piano) and homework that wouldn't get wet by the kitchen sink.

The Sunday festivities ended with the butterfly cake! Maddie requested a chocolate cake, cream cheese frosting, and a fruit butterfly. On your birthday, your wish is my command.

Funny story... later she told me that her wish was that the pizza guy would come! How random is that?! She was disappointed her wish wouldn't come true because she told it to me, but I reminded her you have to actually order pizza for him to show up.

We said goodbye to cousins and ended the day working on a loom band bracelet called the starburst. It was difficult, but she persevered.
 

There was actually no school on Monday, so Maddie was able to spend her birthday at home, working on her many projects and enjoying her gifts. We made butterfly treats to bring to her school class the next day.

  

She took good care of her Baby Anna and dove into some new books.

Daddy picked up and built the desk!

 

Now that is one happy girl!

I just know this is the future site of many great works of art, literary genius, and musical compositions. :)

We didn't get a chance to fly the new butterfly kite, but I'm sure with the fickle March weather, we will find a day soon!

We finished off the birthday extravaganza with another Happy Birthday song, Family Home Evening looking through Maddie's baby book together, and reading Grandma Osmond's journal recollections of Maddie's birth. She brought Maddie a CD of classical music and I am grateful she is giving Maddie a classical background, because that is something I lack in. And a book, Ramona by Beverly Cleary. We can never have enough books around here!

And now, we will rest.