Joshua's 6th Birthday

It's amazing what happens in just a few years. We go from this...

... to this.

Josh celebrated his 6th birthday this last weekend.

He got some toys and other presents.

He also ate pizza, played a lot of video games, and just spent time with the family.

I felt bad later though because he wanted to invite some of his cousins over to party and I didn't realise it until later at night. We'll try to arrange that for sometime during winter break.

I also didn't get my usual picture of the cake, but here it is the morning after.

I was rather proud as it was completely homemade (no box cake mix). It was even pretty good and didn't last the weekend. I'll blame the boys for that one.

Halloween and other things

I'm at the beginning of my winter break, the boys have one more week until theirs starts and the baby is napping. Let's see if I can catch up a little on everything that's been happening.

First, because it's what I titled the post, Halloween!

I thought that I got better pictures of the boys' costumes but I can't find them. This year Richard was in charge and decided to take them to our local thrift and dollar stores to create something (other than just buying it straight out). Nathan was a pirate and Josh a Musketeer (you have to picture Josh with a hat, sword, cape, and mask. He actually looked more like Zoro but he didn't know who that was). They were even more helpful with their pumpkins this year and both cleaned them out almost all by themselves. (I had a pumpkin for Rosie but ran out of time and didn't carve it. I ended up saving it and used it to make a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving)

This little girl is becoming a little handful. She crawls and cruises around the house and likes to get into everything. She is also developing a taste for cat food. Good source of protein, right?

It's hard to tell from this photo but the boys were pushing Rosie around in this toy and having a great time until she tried to stand up and fell out. I am glad that both Nathan and Joshua love being older brothers to their baby sister. They love her so much and she just adores them. We have a lot of fun around the house when they are all playing together.

And here is the classic baby eating spagetti picture. Hope it puts a smile on your face. It always works for me.

Pet Birds

We were working in the back yard during the summer when I was looking at the play house and trying to decide what work need to be done to keep it from falling apart. I saw some trash up in the eaves and was thinking about having one of the boys go up and grab it down when I saw something. Can you see it?

How about now?

We got a mama bird and her three eggs in our playhouse. The boys thought it was fantastic until I forbade them from climbing up there to get a closer look. They understood when I explained that I was just trying to protect the eggs as the mother might get nervous if we get too close. Also I got some good pictures with the telephoto.

We were pretty sure that this was the father as he was always hanging around near by.

A week or two later we had three baby birds up there and then a month later they were gone. The boys would go out every once in a while and check on them and then give us a report. They were nice to have around and I hope that they come back again. Although I need to work on the playhouse before they do, or we will never get it fixed up.

Smile!

Nathan's Baptism

At the begining of July, we had the pleasure of seeing Nathan being baptized.


Richard performed the baptism. Our stake is now asking that we have our children baptized in groups so three other children were baptized at the same time as Nathan, one who is a good friend of Nathan's from the ward. Because it was a stake baptism, we didn't need to do much for the program, although we were able to have Grandma Loveridge give the talk on the Holy Ghost. After everyone got dressed in dry clothing, Richard did the confirmation with Grandpa Loveridge and Uncle Jon assisting (I'm trying to remember if anyone else was in the circle, anyone out there remember?).

After the meeting was over, we headed over to Jessica and Jon's for a family lunch of spagetti and meatballs. It was great to have so many family members come to Nathan's baptism and we had a wonderful day. Richard and I are so proud of Nathan and the young man that he is growing into.

Nathan's 8th Birthday

Nathan's birthday was almost two months ago now. I had been waiting to post after his baptism and party but it is taking me forever to organise his party so I'll just post what we have now. In some paradoxical way it will probably be easier to plan a party when I do.

His birthday fell on a Sunday this year so we quickly had a breakfast of pancakes (his favorite) and opened his presents before church.

I don't usually buy the other kids something on someone else's birthday, but we made an exception this time. They had a two-for-one sale of DS games at the store so we got two copies of the Star Wars Lego game, hoping that they will have fun playing each other on their DSs

Nathan had wanted a red birthday cake but I got tired of adding food coloring. He didn't like how pink it turned out so he added a little more color by dropping more food coloring on top. I think that it turned out pretty cool.

In one day...

...my five year old (baby) boy did this...


...and this...



...for the first time. It was a big day for him. He's not a baby any more.

Rosie's Photo Shoot

I have a wonderful friend, Cielo Roth, who is turning her passion for children's photography into her full time profession. She was so nice to meet up with me, Josh and Rose at the park for a play date and photo session (her older daughter Molly is one of Josh's best friends). I got the CD of the photos in the mail today and here are some of my favorites.

Pretty good, huh? Oh, who am I kidding, they're fantastic. Now I just need to pick out the ones I'm going to get printed up.

Love Bugs

Easter 2011

I know that these are a couple weeks late, but finally there is no one clamoring for the computer. No teenage boys, no little boys, no husband. And I really don't feel like grading.

Joshua's class had a field trip at the park the Friday before Easter, and as it was also Good Friday, they were running low on parents to help out. I hadn't planned on going on that field trip but I was glad that I did.

Here is Josh with Gavin, a Loveridge cousin, and his friend Ethan, scooting around on one of their favorite riding toys.

This is one of Josh's teachers getting her baby fix by holding Rose for a bit. She said that she had had a dream that she was pregnant and so she wanted to take care of the urges before anything happened.

Rose being spoiled.

Josh, Gavin, and good friend Dayne with other classmates on the merry-go-round. They got that thing going FAST.

Gavin waiting for the egg hunt.

Josh trying to hold on to all of his eggs.

We had a great time.

On Easter Sunday, the kids enjoyed their baskets...

hunted eggs

and counted their spoils.

Roselyn at six weeks, in a dress I wore when I was a baby, on the blanket her cousin Jillian made her. By the way, this baby is really the sweetest baby. She has a very mild temper and hardly cries. I'm being very spoiled and I'm more than a little sad that she will probably be my last. I'm trying to enjoy her as much as possible, but she seems to be growing just too fast. At her 1 month check up she was 12 lbs 2 ounces and 22 inches long (3 lbs and 1 inch more than when she was born).

Sleeping Beauty

Roselyn Victoria, March 12, 2011