Christopher turns 5 !!!

I can't believe that Christopher is 5 years old already. It seems to me that time goes much faster once you have kids. It's hard to believe I don't have a pre-schooler anymore, but a "school-age child". I love this picture of him because it shows his sweet little personality. He can be loud, funny, boyish and even a little crazy sometimes, but underneath it all he really is a sweet little boy that is concerned about others feelings and loves to help people. I love it when he wakes up in the morning or from a nap and gives me a hug and asks me to read him a book. He is always concerned when people cry, especially at church and is learning to recognize the Spirit when he feels it. He has such an imagination and he and Michael can make up the most elaborate stories while they are playing. We are so grateful to have Christopher in our family and he will always hold a special place in my heart as my first little baby.

For his birthday we opened a few presents from Grandma and Aunt Tatia in the morning since it's too hard to make them wait until Dad gets home from work. After we did our chores (yes, we are mean parents and still make them help with chores on their birthday) we got Frosties and went to the park.

I told Christopher he could choose what he wanted for dinner and he said he wanted black beans. It's that so funny. I told Jeff and he just laughed so hard, so we decided to go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner.

Here is Christopher eating his black beans. The bowl is even shaped like a bean. :)

Then we went home and took quick baths and opened up the other presents. Here they all are showing them off since Christopher was nice and let Michael and Annie help open them.

Then we had our neighbors the Reeds over for cake and ice cream. It's fun to have friends that are like family living right next door. It was a really fun day. Michael kept singing a cute and funny version of Happy Birthday to Christopher all day and even in to the next day a little bit.

A Week of Firsts

The boys had a couple of fun firsts this week. On Thursday Christopher called a girl for the first time. I know 5 is a little young to start this, but it was pretty innocent. :) It was playgroup day and he kept asking me if Kaia was coming. I said maybe he should call her and ask. So he grabbed the phone and I dialed and told him to ask for Kaia when someone answered. Here is how the conversation went.
Christopher: "Hi, is Kaia there?"
Maile: Yes, just a minute
Kaia: "Hello?" - I think she was surprised the phone was for her
Christopher- "It's Christopher. Are you coming to sprinkler park today?"
Kaia- "Yes!. But we have to clean up our room first."
Christopher- "Oh, I have to do that too. Then will you come?"
Kaia- "Ya"
Christopher- "Okay, see you there." Then he hung up. I think Kaia would have talked longer but Christopher hung up the phone.

It was so cute. I hope that it will be that easy for him when he turns 16 and calls a girl to ask her out. :)

Then Friday night the Reed's watched our kids so we could go out for our anniversary. We got home late and they were all asleep. Annie heard us talking and woke up so we took her, but Shannon said we should just let the boys sleep so they had their first sleep over. I wondered if they would wake up a little bit confused, but Shannon said in the morning she just heard them talking away in the room and they were totally fine. They had such a good time and weren't concerned at all. So the first sleep over was a success!!! My boys are getting so big. :)

Current picts.

Annie with the homemade strawberry jam and some pretty roses Jeff brought me.

We aren't huge beach people but I've already taken the kids twice so far this summer. They really love it and even venture out in the water a little bit. Annie wasn't a huge fan of the sand at first though....she's a princess after all. :)

We took a fun trip up to Warwick NY with the Reed's to a drive-in movie. It brought back lots of memories from when we would go to the Orem drive-in when I was little. We had a really great time.

Annie and Ashlynn are almost the same size and good little buddies.

Oh, by the way....

It's a BOY!!! I've known for a little while but forgot to mention it. :) We love boys!

Sayings

I have been really bad at posting lately since we still haven't gotten a new computer. But here's just some random things as of late.

Annie woke up from a nap during a rain storm. When I went in her room she says "Mommy. Raining lots!" I said, "Yes it is". She proceeded to let out this totally fake cry about the rain. I said, "Oh, it's okay that it raining." She stopped crying and said, "Oh, okay...snack now?"

Michael while we are driving past Home Depot - "Mom, look at that orange store. Can we go in there."
Mom- "Why do you want to go in there?"
Michael- "Because it's orange."
Mom- "What do you think we need from that store?"
Michael - "Light bulbs"
(Probably true. I feel like I buy a lot of light bulbs since the wiring in our place makes them burn out a lot).


Also Michael, while grocery shopping. He is in the "why, what is that" phase. He had asked many why questions including
Michael-"What's that sound?"
Me- "It's the radio"
Michael- "Why is it a radio"
Me- silence since I didn't really know how to answer that.
I had come up with some pretty smart responses to many of his questions and I finally asked him, "Michael, why do you ask so many questions?" His response was, "Because I like myself all the year long." :)

One of our rules at meal time is that you have to finish what is on your plate. Jeff and I both grew up that way so I guess that's why we do it. I don't put a lot on their plate at first so it's not really hard for them to do. There are certain vegetables that they will always eat and others that take a little time to find their way into their mouths. But I've discovered that time is sometimes the cure for an aversion to vegetables. Over the last month Christopher has discovered that he likes green beans and broccoli. The first taste was difficult, but it's wonderful when you hear, "Hey mom, I like broccoli!!! Can I have another one!!" I about fell off my chair when I heard that one. :) Michael on the other hand ate it and made a yucky face and said, "I'm not big enough to like broccoli yet." Hopefully time will change that as well.