William is 5 Years Old

It's been over 2 months now since William turned 5 years old.  I'm a bit behind in posting his annual birthday video, but I finally got it done.  I love putting these videos together.  As I looked at pictures of Will over the past year I was reminded of all the little things that make him so loveable.  All the frustrating moments melt away and I find myself relishing in the happy, silly and fun times we shared.  This kid cracks us up.  His enthusiasm and dramatic facial expressions keep us laughing.  He is growing up so quickly and is anxiously awaiting starting kindergarten this year.    

Here are some things about Will at this stage of life:

• He continues to be very animated and enthusiastic about everything he does and says
• He started preschool in the fall and loves socializing with friends
• He begs for “play dates” often 
•  He enjoys learning and has recently been into writing down words (he will ask me what words he can spell and then he will write them down in his notebook)
• Though loud and busy, he is very sensitive and can get emotional at the flip of a switch
• He loves the freedom of riding his two-wheeler
• He likes anything chocolate
• He adores Emily and likes to feed her, make her smile and carry her around the house 
• He loves to go to the bookstore and play chess on his "daddy dates"
• Superheros, firemen and ninja turtles are his top picks for playing dress ups with his brothers
• He is learning to read and especially enjoys sitting on daddy's lap while he sounds out words in the Book of Mormon
• He LOVES to play soccer in the living room (he is often seen representing Manchester United or Manchester City, teams he likes to watch play in the European league)
• The list could go on and on....this kid is full of so much personality

Here is his birthday video which captures a little more of what William has been up to:

Hyrum Lost His First Tooth

After waiting patiently for about a month, Hyrum's loose tooth finally came out (with a little help from Daddy).  Hyrum was so brave to let Dave try all sorts of things to get it out.  Pliers, tweezers, floss, string, a balloon and washcloth were all unsuccessful; however, they loosened the tooth enough so that Dave could yank it out with his bare fingers.  The tooth went flying once it came out and landed right down the drain.  Luckily Dave was able to recover it and Hyrum placed it under his pillow with a note which read, "Dear Toothfairy, I want to show my class, for show and tell, my tooth.  Can you please not take my tooth.  From, Hyrum."  He was surprised to wake up this morning and find 4 quarters wrapped up in a paper tooth.  Hyrum has had fun putting his tongue through the new whole in his mouth.  Maybe by Christmas he will be saying, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!"

Donuts and pizza and cake...oh my!

Donuts, pizza and chocolate cake have brought me such happiness lately.  I know it sounds crazy, especially coming from me, but let me tell you why.  About a month and a half ago I took Hyrum to see an allergist that a friend of mine recommended to us.  He did a skin prick test in his office and then sent us to have blood work done.  A few days later he called to let us know that Hryum's allergy levels for milk and eggs had decreased to the point where he wanted us to start slowly introducing them to him in baked goods.  It has been so fun to watch Hyrum try new foods.  At first he was a bit hesitant and afraid to eat things he has been told his whole life he can't have, but now that he knows how good "real food" tastes he's pretty willing to try anything.  A few weeks ago we went to a community service project that served Crispy Creme donuts afterwards.  I told Hyrum he could try one if he wanted to and he eagerly accepted the offer.  I looked over at him after he'd been eating for a few minutes and he was just standing there all alone with a huge smile on his face.  I asked him how the donut was to which he replied, "soooo good!"  That was the first time it really hit me that this was real...Hyrum was eating his first donut and savoring every bite.  He has been a real trooper over the past six years to graciously say, "I can't eat that".  What a blessing this is for our family.  I think it will be awhile still before Hyrum can tolerate straight eggs, milk or milk products that have not been cooked, but we are definitely moving in the right direction.



Hyrum eating his first "real" pizza, cheese and all

 

The newest member of our family....



Bella the parakeet! 

Dave surprised us friday when he came home early from work with this little bird.  The boys were so excited and have hovered over her cage non-stop.  Since she has the look of the Brazillian flag, we decided to name her Bella, which means beautiful in Portuguese.  Having Bella in our home has brought Dave back to his childhood days.  It's fun to hear him tell stories to the boys of all of his bird adventures growing up.  Now our boys can make memories of their own to share with their children someday. 

One Sweet Girl

Gotta love this face...

Fire, Fire, Fire

 Yesterday we had our first encounter with fire.  Nothing real serious, but enough to make my heart pound and my legs go weak in the knees.  I was upstairs helping Hyrum clean the bathroom when I heard William start crying downstairs.  I thought Thomas had probably just hurt him and kept on doing what I was doing.  A moment later William was upstairs screaming/crying, "FIRE, there's a fire downstairs!"  My heart immediately started pounding and I took off down the stairs.  On the way William, still terrified, cries that the fire is in the microwave.  I ran into the kitchen and saw that the inside of the microwave was filled with orange  flames.  I stopped the microwave, unplugged it and opened the microwave door.  Black smoke poured out.  I ran to open windows so the fire alarm would not go off and then ran back to the microwave and blew out the fire (thank goodness that's all it took to put it out).  It was then that I saw the culprit of the fire; a set of play keys.  Apparently Thomas had put them in the microwave and started it.  Now that I look back it doesn't seem like such a big deal, but in the moment I was really scared.  I was shaking for a while after it happened.  I don't know if the microwave could have exploded or if the fire would have just gone out once the microwave turned off, I'm just grateful that Thomas was not hurt.  I'm also grateful that William knew exactly what to do.  He ran right to me and told me what was wrong and exactly where the fire was. He's our little hero.  Hopefully now the boys will never play with the microwave again.  :) 

After the fire the, boys got all the rescue heros and lined them up on the ledge to keep us safe.

Preparing For Conference

Last night for family home evening we had a lesson to help us get ready for the upcoming General Conference.  I set up a play tent in the living room with the door opening towards a picture of the temple.  We sat (quite snugly) in the tent and read from the Book of Mormon the account of King Benjamin gathering his people together at the temple to hear his words (Mosiah 2:1-8).  I asked the boys why it was important for the prophet to speak to us and they replied, "to teach us, it's kind of like going to school," "to tell us things."  It was fun to hear their simple yet truthful answers.  We then talked about things we could do to help us listen to the propthet during conference.  We set a goal for each of us to listen for one thing during conference that will help us be like Jesus.  I then had the boys draw pictures of our prophet today, President Thomas S. Monson.  Here are their masterpieces.  It's fun to see the difference in details from the youngest to the oldest.

This was one of the first times Thomas has drawn a recognizable person.  Notice his circle head, two eyes, mouth, arms, legs and the line below the mouth is his tie, according to Thomas.

William's prophet with a super-human arm.

Hryum's very detailed picture including, stand, microphone, flowers, audience and a message from the prophet telling us, "do not smoke."

Oh, how I love it when family night is a success, ending with priceless memories instead of contention and  frustration.