Sweet Secrets of a two year old

Last night as we were trying to put Nate to bed he told me that he wanted to tell me a secret. I had to laugh becuase what does a two year old know about telling secrets. Anyway he had me lean in and move my hair out of the way so he could whisper sweet nothings in my ear. I wasn't sure what to expect so I was a little cautious. You never know what the older kids may have taught him! It turns out he really didn't have a whole lot to say. He just pretended to whisper in my ear. What a sweet boy he is!

Eric Turns 12

This past week has been a little crazy. On Wednesday the 14th Eric turned 12. Am I really old enough to be the parent of a 12 year old? Ok, so i know that I am, but it seems like just yesterday that I was taking him to his first day of kindergarten. Where does the time go? Eric is a very kind-hearted boy. If he sees someone in need he tries to help. He is also very free with his hugs when it comes to mom and dad. I hope he never grows out of that! He has done very well in middle school this year. His last report card was all A's except for 2 B's. We are very proud of him. Eric loves the scouting program and has a great love of reading. Eric is also a huge help around the house. On his birthday we had some friends come over and help us celebrate. Since the week before Nate decided to use a whole box of candles on Chase's cake I decided to use tall matches to light up his cake. It worked pretty good if you didn't mind a little ash with your frosting. Tod surprised Eric with a home-made knife that his friend Dave made and much to his dislike he got some more clothes. (The kid is growing like a weed. He needed them!). He also got some money and a new DS game. On Sunday Eric was ordained to the office of a Deacon by his dad with the help of Uncle Kevin, Uncle Lance, Grandpa Call, Grandpa Hardy, Bishop, Brother Sherratt, Brother McGuire, and Brother Plumb. It was a great day all in all.

Christmas Traditions

One of our fun family traditions on Christmas eve night is to wrap the entrance into the living room and the window between the dining room and the living room after Santa has come and gone. The kids know they can't break through the paper until 7am or we won't be able to open presents until 5pm that night. It's great incentive! At 7am everyone gets to pose for a picture and then the fun begins. As you can tell Nate wasn't quite awake in this picture. Eric showed Nate how to start ripping the wrapping paper and after that it didn't take long for him to catch the excitment of it all.

The kids have really come to look forward to this tradition and mom thinks its great to get more than a couple hours of sleep that night.

Chase turns 9

Chase turned 9 years old on Sunday. It seems like it wasn't too long ago that he was baptised. Where does the time go? Sunday night we had some family friends come over and help us celebrate his birthday with cake and ice cream. As you can see by the cake there are more than 9 candles on it. Nate thought he needed to help put the whole box of candles on the cake while mom wasn't looking. Chase was excited about blowing out that many candles so we just left it. Chase is such a good boy and out of all my kids he is probably the most even tempered. He loves to read his scriptures. He's helpful and he does very well in school. He is also very free with his compliments especially to me. He loves the outdoors and anything to do with hunting and fishing. In fact he is looking forward to getting his own hunting license in a year so he can hunt for his own elk or deer. I am so thankful that Chase was born into our family.