Happy Birthday Jared!

Jared celebrated his 5th birthday last Sunday, May 9th.  He was gracious enough to share his day with me since it was also Mother's Day.  Jared requested Oreo ice-cream cake.  I love an excuse to make this yummy cake!

It's a good thing Jared likes Ellie so much--he even let her help him blow out his

candles.  Ellie just couldn't help herself.

Here's Jared after a couple of bites and an already messy face, but he is showing off his favorite present.  His face lit up when he unwrapped this sword, which made Scott and I smile.  Generally, we only get our kids one present for their birthday, but I was afraid the sword wasn't enough so I got him something else.  It turns out the sword itself would have indeed done the trick.  Jared is in heaven.  The girls made him a crown.  He wears the sword in a holster held up by a belt of mine and all day he rides his stick horse and pretends to be Peter from Narnia. 

 

See how tough this guy is?  If you come over, he'll show you how fast he can unsheath his sword.

Jared spends most of his play hours pretending he is a hero of some sort.  He loves using ropes or robe belts to tie things and people up.  He begs me to play all day.  I'm always the bad guy--he has a million super powers like freezing me with his hands or shooting webs at me.  Luckily, Ellie loves to join in with Jared so I can get something done.  Jared put this football uniform on and had me pin a red cape on him. 

 A couple of weeks ago a friend passed along a Power Ranger's dress-up costume to Jared.  He was in heaven and proclaimed, "Mom I want every Power Ranger's for my birthday."  I thought he meant he wanted all the play figures which made me laugh, because he NEVER plays with any of those kinds of toys.  He clarified that he wanted all the Power Ranger's dress-ups.  Yes, he would love those.

Jared has an incredible imagination and can take ordinary objects and make them the most exciting toy.  He has a fascination like many little boys for all things weaponry.  And isn't he handsome!

Jared has a tender heart and is kind to everyone.  He loves to snuggle and sit on our laps. We went to the zoo the other day.  Jared took it upon himself to act as Ellie's caretaker making sure she was always close-by and safe.  Jared starts Kindergarten next year--it is all day here so we are going to miss him so much during the day.

We are very grateful to have this sweet boy in our family.  He makes us all so happy!

What's Up?

Here are a few things going on around here:

More baby bunnies in the garden!  Mama Bunny is much earlier this year than usual.  One bunny--so small its eyes weren't open--crawled out while Scott was watering.  He was wet and shivering.  Scott wrapped a small "blanket" around him and stuck him back by his hole until his momma came back. These bunnies are softening us all!  Unfortunately the mom must not have liked our "help."  Her litter did not survive.

Brynn is trying to win the "Nasty, Stinky Sneaker" contest at her school.  She begged me to let her make her tennis shoes as stinky as she could.  I don't think I support this program, but she REALLY wanted to do it.  I finally relented since school is almost out and she needs new shoes for next year anyway.  As soon as she gets home from school she takes off her socks and wears her shoes the rest of the day without the socks--she wants to make her shoes "juicy."  How gross is that?!

Jared is engrossed with "Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe," the movie.  I wouldn't have even let him watch it, except he loved the book when we listened to it on our way to Utah over Spring Break and then I saw the movie at the library. He has spent hours building Lego horses with little men holding swords just like the fighting scenes at the end of the movie.  Jared is "Peter" of course and tries to mimic the English accent by downplaying all the 'r' sounds. I love when Ellie plays with him too--she's Lucy.

Kaitlyn has her first piano recital coming up.  She has really taken a liking to piano and has picked it up very quickly.  We only have 3 1/2 weeks of school left until summer break.  I can't believe I will have a fourth grader next year! Her teachers have really touted a lot of the creative, artistic things she has done lately.

Ellie wants to play every minute with her friend Wyatt.  Those two kids are hilarious to watch and everyone thinks they are twins.  She's demoted all her dolls and instead wants to play with all the stuffed animal bears we have.  She took one of Grandma Esplin's bears home with her from our Spring Break trip to Utah.  I thought for sure she would quickly forget about the bear, but that is not the case.  It is her "Nate."  She distinguishes between 'her' Nate (the bear) and 'my' Nate (our real baby Nathan).  "Mom, where is your Nate?"  "Mom, my Nate needs a diaper change, does yours?"

I've decided to head up a summer Children's Musical Theater in June.  My friend has done it the last couple of years but is having a baby this summer so wasn't going to do it.  She said she'd help if someone else would spear head it.  Scott thinks I'm crazy to add another thing to our lives, but it has been a welcome change for me.  It's a good distraction from the mundane tasks of my life, and makes me feel empowered to make this happen.  I hope it turns out! 

Scott is busy as always with a million youth things juggled with work.  He is so great to always make time to play with the kids.  He got the garden planted and is enjoying watching it grow.