Brian's Birthday Bash

Brian's birthday began with him helping to make his cake.  Then he decorated it almost all by himself.  I helped with the frosting and he did all the candy.  Brian said decorating his cake was one of his favorite birthday activities. Timmy was always close at hand to help eat the extra candy.

He asked for an airplane/helicopter themed birthday.

 Brian wanted to have his cousins over for a party, so all that could come obliged and we had the Evans cousins and Hsiao cousins that are in town come for a birthday lunch party.  Brian also requested his favorite meal in the world, so we ordered Panda Express Walnut Shrimp and Orange Chicken for everyone!

After filling up on Panda Express the kids headed outside for some backyard/zipline fun!  They had a blast!

They would cram as many cousins as they could on that thing.

And then they would usually lose someone on the way down. Luckily no one was really hurt.

After lots of fun in the yard we went in for the birthday song, presents and cake!

We had so many family members there to celebrate Brian's sixth birthday.  He is one blessed boy and we are so grateful for all those who love him so much!

He loved opening presents and he keeps them all in a special place in his room.

Brian told me it was the best day ever!

Happy Sixth Birthday Kiddo!

Brian - Age 6

My baby boy Brian has turned six years old!  I cannot believe it!  He's six, and getting so big, and he's already lost one of his front top teeth, and where did the time go?  It feels like he got so old this last year.  He has done a lot of growing and changing.  Oh how I love this boy!

I love being around Brian.  He is easy to talk to and he always has interesting questions and insights.  Most of the time he has a great attitude about everything.

He has been loving Kindergarten.  He is always happy to go to school.  He loves seeing his friends and I think he loves the structure at school.   He seems to thrive on the routine of it all.  He is starting to get the reading down and enjoys math and art the most.

Brian is currently taking piano lessons and gymnastics.  He is doing well with both.  He loves being in the boys class at the gym.  He says he is so strong and so fast.

At home Brian enjoys putting together Lego kits, playing outside and playing with Timmy.  Those boys get pretty wild sometimes. He has gotten really good on his bike and can ride for a long time without getting tired.

Brian is almost 44 inches tall and he weighs 36.5 pounds.  He is still in the 25% for height and 5% for weight.  I feel like he is growing like a weed!

He has lost 3 teeth on the bottom, but only two have grown in.  Brian has a small mouth like me.  I don't know how all those new teeth are going to fit in that mouth of his.  He lost one of his top teeth a few days after his birthday and the remaining front top is loose and has now moved over almost into the middle of the gap.  It is amazing how fast his smile has changed! He certainly is growing up.

Birthday Interview

Favorite color:  green

Favorite Food:  walnut shrimp from Panda Express

Favorite toy:  Legos

Favorite thing to do:  play with Timmy

Favorite animal:  panda

Friends:  Cousins, Marley, Soren, William, Zander from school

Favorite book:  loves all books

Favorite TV show:  PAW Patrol

Favorite Thing to do with Mommy:  do the dishes

Favorite thing to do with Daddy:  wrestle

Favorite Primary Song:  He Sent His Son

Favorite Holiday:  Christmas

Something he likes to do with Timmy:  play animals

Something he wants to do as a 6 year old:  to run faster

Favorite gymnastics activity:  trampoline

March 2014

I cannot remember everything that happened in March, but I want to record the things I do remember before I forget those too.

The first day of March brought my nephew Jordan's baptism.  We love seeing nieces and nephews baptized! Not to mention the delicious food and fun that happen afterward.  Brian is starting to think about his own baptism in 2 more years.  His cousins have been such great examples.  Good work Jordan!

A few days later we got together with the Hsiao family to celebrate a niece's 4th birthday!  We have missed the Hsiao parents so much since then.  They've been on a six week trip to China and Taiwan.

During March we spent time in the backyard!  While the boys played, we raked and cleaned and filled a huge trailer full of pine needles, branches and leaves to haul away to the dump.  The boys love the zipline as much as ever!

We also put new sand in the sandbox, which the kids still enjoy when they aren't digging holes in their "construction site".  Because Brian was wearing a brown shirt, he really thought he was so camouflaged that no one could see him when he got in the hole.  I didn't have the heart to tell him he was still very visible.

I took the boys to Brian's school fundraiser where we bought his piece of art that was for sale.  His favorite part of school is Meet The Masters, where they learn about an artist and produce their own piece of work after the artist's style.

 We had a great trip to the Hogle Zoo.  We hope to get back really soon with our new zoo passes!

 This was a month of birthday parties for us.  My niece Ellie turned 1 and Mandy and Big Brian threw a celebration for her!  My kids loved the party and playing outside with their cousins.

They had so much fun they were totally worn out by the time we got home.  Brian couldn't even get his party hat off his face before he fell asleep in the car.

Towards the end of March, Mark participated in a multi-business ping pong tournament.  And you guessed it, he won!  It was actually a really big deal.  It went for two days and there were lots of companies and people that participated.  He represented his company well and brought home the title.  I love this guy!  He is so good at so many things!  Check out that championship belt!

March ended with the beginning of Spring Break, a BBQ with some neighbors, Brian's birthday and the purchase of this beauty!

Mark sold the motorhome for a profit and drove to Montana to bring home this Scamp fiberglass trailer.  It is light enough to be towed by almost anything and sleeps all four of us!  I love love love it!  More on our Scamp adventures to come.

February Recap

February actually had some pretty good weather making it possible to go on a few outings.  One of those outings was a trip to Heritage Park.  The boys had fun playing around and seeing a few animals.  At one point they were hanging out near the blue door in the pictures above.  I thought it looked like a nice place to take a few pictures of them.  Remember, I lost my camera a few weeks ago so every picture is now with my phone.  If you look at Timmy's pants you will notice they are soaking wet because he decided to jump right into a ditch 2 seconds after I told him not to get his feet wet.  Then afterward he whined and whined about cold feet and we had a hard time getting him to smile for me in the pictures.  Luckily Brian is really good at getting him to laugh so we got a few cute pictures.  His feet dried and he enjoyed the rest of the visit.

The boys were interested in the oxen until they got a whiff of the corral they were in.  This is how Timmy felt about it.

It must have been the month of farms, because we also got in a great Wheeler Farm visit as well.

 We always love feeding the geese and the ducks, but because there are not very many people feeding them in the winter, we got mobbed when they noticed the kids had food.  It was actually a little overwhelming until I got the boys up on this tree stump so they weren't eye to eye with the hungry aggressive geese.

 Come on now, would you want that guy right up in your face begging for food? Once on the stump it was all fun throwing out grain for the birds.

 The sheep welcomed visitors as well.

And of course the tractors were the biggest hit, again.

 The kids spent so long playing on the tractor that I ended up hanging out with this sweetheart of a horse while I watched Brian and Timmy in the background.  There is something about standing near and touching a horse that brings so much peace to my soul.  Horses are truly special animals.

The rest of February was fabulous.  I really got sucked into the Olympics this time around and I watched it every single evening.  It became a big part of my February.

Valentine's Day was fun with class parties and candy for everyone!  We even decorated cookies at home this year and took them to people in the ward who needed a little Valentine's love.

During February Timmy finally decided to be completely potty trained and he earned his remote control tractor that he has been working towards for at least six months now.  It was a happy day and he's been fine in underwear since.

Also this month, we found out that Brian got into the Chinese Language Immersion Program at his school!  We are so excited for next year to start.  He will be doing half his day at school in Chinese and half in English.