Happy Birthday Ethan!

Yesterday was Ethan's 6th Birthday! I'm not sure what to say about it. I feel like I just keep saying "how did he get so big?" and "can't we just make them stop growing?" I guess I should just enjoy them the age they are...but, really, it goes sooo fast! Ethan is such a sweet and funny kid. He is a great helper. Everyday I ask him to do things for me while I'm feeding Noelle. He always does them without complaining. And way faster than the girls who seem to do 12 other things as well, when I send them on an errand. Maybe it's an oldest child thing, but he has always seemed really responsible.

Ethan was pretty excited with his presents this year. He has really started to get into Legos and Hot Wheels tracks. Thank goodness! Better that than Bakugan, right? Nothing against it, but I just don't understand what they are or what they do. I know, I live in the past. I don't know if I mentioned it on here at Christmas time, but Ethan asked for some funny things for Christmas. He wanted a back scratcher and a shoe horn. Yep...you heard me right. For scratching his back and horning his shoes. I don't know why I'm worried about Ethan being 6, I should be worried about him being 40. Anyway, the retractable metal back scratcher he got in his stocking broke pretty much immediately. So for his birthday he got a new heavy duty (Dollar Tree) wooden one. He was a happy camper.

I let Ethan decorate his own cake this year (...but, Mom, Olivia gets to!). I usually like to do something fun (he's had pirate ship and airplane cakes), but I think this was probably more fun for him. Oh yeah, and less work for me! Yay! He wanted half blue frosting and half green. Half gummy bears and half gummy octopi. And every sprinkle we had in the house. Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm.

Happy Birthday sweet Ethan! We love you!

2 Months

Noelle is two months old today. It's gone fairly quickly and poor Noelle has fallen prey to 4th child syndrome. Yes, it's true. I have hardly any pictures of her and I only sit and stare at her for an hour a day instead of the requisite five. So sad. But we sure do love her. She's already almost eleven pounds. She still sleeps a lot, and is starting to smile more. We finally caught it on camera. What a cutie!

Sisters

Avery LOVES her new little sister!

Ethan's First Snowboard Trip

Bryce took Ethan snowboarding at Snowbowl on Saturday. This was Ethan's first time and he was pretty much beside himself at the thought. We couldn't even get him to sleep the night before. He just couldn't wait. What a cutie in all his gear, right?

Bryce says that he actually did pretty good, but he didn't last too long. He was pretty cold after a couple runs. Here's Ethan and Dad looking awesome!

Poor Bryce didn't get to snowboard at all.  But he knew what he was getting into.  He was just excited to be able to teach Ethan.  Here's Bryce and Ethan on the way home.  It seems that Ethan has inherited the "Dopp Picture Face" aka "Make Sure Mom Has No Pictures Of You Smiling".

Here's a video of Ethan just starting to learn.

Don't Break My Heart

My heart is about to break. And so close to Valentine's Day! My little boy is officially not a little boy anymore. I just finished helping Ethan with his valentines for school tomorrow. All of a sudden he said that he wanted to write one to a special friend. Special friend??? He wouldn't tell me who it was... and then he got up and went into the bathroom to write it.

So, who's with me? You have to peek at it when he's not looking, right?

And there it was: "Brooklyn, I Love You"

And there went my heart.

When did I stop being my 5 year old's special friend? I am definitely not ready this.

Noelle's Blessing Day

Bryce blessed Noelle in church last Sunday. It was such a special day. I am so thankful that Bryce was able to give her such a wonderful blessing and that our family was able to be there and share the time with us. We are so blessed to have the priesthood in our home and in our lives.

Noelle with her sweet Daddy.

My four kids together. I am so thankful for such sweet, beautiful kids. They love their new little sister so much.


Most of our family that came to be with us for Noelle's blessing. We love our family so much and are so thankful to them for sharing this time with us.

Caitlin's Fieldtrip

Last week Caitlin's preschool class had a fieldtrip to the Riparian Preserve. They had just finished a unit on dinosaurs and were so excited to see the Preserve's Dinosaur Dig exhibit. They all got a shovel and brush and were able to uncover "real" fossils in the ground.




Caitlin got to eat lunch with all her friends under the ramada at the park. They also spent some time playing on the playground and with a parachute. Then they all got to enjoy nature as they took a little walk/hike around the lake. I'm so grateful for her school and teachers. They get her so excited about learning and experiencing things.


Caitlin with both preschool classes(am & pm) and her teachers. What a great day!