Happy 2nd Birthday

Dear Taylyn,
I moan every year that my babies are getting too big.  But given that you are my very last baby I fear I will moan even more with you!  You are such a bright spot to our family.  Everyone just adores you!  Which means I fear you will be very spoiled by all.  Weston continues to be wrapped around your finger.  He will literally do ANYTHING you want.  You are starting to talk so much more and it is so fun to hear your sweet little voice.

You much to my frustration LOVE to draw on yourself and on the wall.  I am often finding scribbles on the walls thanks to you!  Its a good thing you are so dang cute.

Tay you continue to be my shy little girl.  Much like Weston was at your age.  You won't even look at people when they talk to you if you don't know them well.

Watching movies, reading books, and playing babies are your favorite things to do.  Watching the same movie over and over doesn't seem to phase you at all if it is a favorite of yours.  I love snuggling with you and being with my tiny little girly girl. 

At your 2 year check up you were 24.4 pounds (17%) and 33 inches long (35%).  so in a year you have grown 9 pounds and 5 inches.  Which may seem like a lot but you were super tiny at a year.  So a good gain like this is good!

We love you so much little miss Tay!

You're 9

Dear Cason,
Today you are 9.  Your last year in single digits.  Cason your sweet heart and kindness continues to make me proud of you.  This year has been such a great year as I have been you teacher this year.  It has been so neat to watch you flourish with friends, increase in your learning and just see even more what a great kid you are.  Reading still continues to be a bit of a struggle but you never give up!

You continue to have the same loves as you have the last year.  Balto, legos, and talking continue to be your lift.  Recently you have gotten into minecraft and you have taken your love of building and creating to the video gaming world.  Though you are well rounded and will spread your time between video games and actually playing with toys and using your imagination.  You continue to research legos on youtube then want obscure, discontinued legos much to your frustration and dad and I's.  Last spring dad bought you and Weston a 4 wheeler of your own and you are quite obsessed with going to the sand dunes and getting to ride your own four wheeler.  Do you pretty well at keeping up with dad!

I love that people still stop me to tell me how amazing you are at school!  You love to talk and tell stories much to the entertainment of those around you.  During one fluency timing about treasure hunting mid timing you turn to the teacher and insert "good luck with that" in response to the passage saying they were going to look for treasure.

Two years ago when at the beach you tried kayaking and feel in love.  This summer you finally got your own kayak and now you keep asking when it will be nice weather again so you can do kayaking and camping in our new trailer.  You pretty much love being outside if it involves kayaking, 4 wheeling, or being in trailer or boat.

Dad took you to explore old mines with some friends and go repelling and this is your new obsession.  In fact we are having a mining 9th birthday.....I love that your interests continually change and grow yet you still have many old favorites.



Keep being you!

Favorites:
legos
kayaking
mining
repelling
youtube
4 wheeler
balto
talking
talkis
sleep

Dislikes:
cheese
most foods
having to read with me
spelling
Weston bugging you

Its Great To Be 8

Dear Cason,
Happy Birthday my sweet little 8 year old.  Cason you truly are such a sweet, kind hearted little boy.   You always say things to make me feel better.  I can't believe how big you are getting.  First grade was a struggle for you at school.  And though 2nd grade is still a bit of a struggle you are doing much better.  Your teacher read you the story of Balto and you watched the movie and you have no fallen completely in love with Balto.  Weston's friend Kaydence gave you a stuffed Balto and he goes every where with us.  You are completely obsessed, you watch all the movies in the series, have read all the books and have several stuffed Balto dogs.  Some day you want to have a husky of your own.  Can't wait to see if you really do as an adult.

I love seeing you start to play games with your sister more and the imagination you have is amazing! Taylyn you have decided is pretty fun to have sleep overs with and you get upset when she picks Weston over you.  Most the time she doesn't though and you two are little buddies.  That is as long as she doesn't touch your legos!  You continue to be quite the talker anytime you get someone one on one.  People stop me all the time and tell me what a great kid you are and how funny you are.  They love the things you tell them and the stories!

You desperately wanted the Flying Dutchmen lego Pirates of the Carribean ship for Christmas.  Sadly it was discontinued so you made do with a cool Pirate ship instead.  I had so much fun building all your lego sets with you that you got for Christmas.  That is all we did all Christmas break.

Favorites:
Legos
Balto
boats
ships
Pirates of the Caribbean
Transformers
dressing up
Sleep overs with little sisters

Dislike:
Weston bugging you
cheese
most things I make for dinner

Happy Birthday Weston

Dear Weston,
Happy Birthday Weston!  9 years old, wow!  This is a fun year for me.  When I moved to the school I am at now you were almost 3.  You kept telling me I am going to be in your class momma.  Well here you are turning 9 years old and you are in my class!  When you said that so many years ago it seemed so far away, and yet some how the time has come and you are in my class.  You are a third graders!  One of the many things I love about you going to the school I teach at is that I get to spend so much time with you.  I get to see you right until school starts and right when school ends.  I often get to see you in the hall or in the lunch room.  Well this year I get to see you all day long!  I loved you were so excited for the first days of school because I was going to be your teacher.  Now I know the novelty of it wore of with in a few weeks for you.  But I love seeing you learn and grow.  It broke my heart to see you struggle at times but it was nice to know it was generally on things all the other kids were as well.

 You are such a sassy boy!  You can wipe out a comeback or smart alec comment as good as any adult.  Yet though this drives me crazy on the regular it also generally has me laughing.  Stubborn is a good word to still describe your disposition.  When you get something in your head there is no changing your thinking or you will stick with it just to drive me crazy!  But you are also so loving.  You would move the moon and the stars if your baby sister asked you too.  You pick at Cason and tease him like no other yet when he is struggling you are the first one to help him out.

Your friends love your personality and though you generally think its your way or no way you are a pretty darn good friend.  I love seeing how well liked you are by others and how nice you are to everyone.

I hope you have a great last year in the single digits.  Next year is the big 1-0!  I love you so much!
Love,

Mom

Like:
Pizza
Football
Utah Utes!!!!
Call of Duty, Minecraft, and roadblox video games
Starting to like FNAF toys and game (the roadblox version)
Snuggling with anyone who will let you
You are a big help to your sister
Love to watch minecraft videos on the i-pad

Dear Cason

Dear Cason,
It's that time of year again for me to write you a letter on your birthday.  Cason you continue to bring so much happiness and joy into your Dad and I's life.  You truly are the sweetest little boy.  It seems that you have the uncanny ability to know when I am having a bad day or feeling bad about myself because you will be there with a ready compliment.  Not many days will go by without getting a "you're beautiful mom!" or a "you're the best mom ever!" I often feel inadequate to be your mom but you have all the confidence in the world that I was meant to be your mom. 

We can often butt heads when it comes to certain things.  And when you set your mind to something there is no changing it.  Which unfortunately has lead to many a meltdown especially since starting school.

Ah school!  Cason you have learned so much and grown by leaps and bounds since school started.  At the beginning of the year you knew a handful of letters barely, no sounds, didn't know how to spell your name and could only count to 10.  Now you can count to 75 (most days :)), know all your letters, sounds, sight words, are reading, writing, and you know your phone number. 

Your vision has given you many a challenge and I worry about you most days.  You struggle more then the average person but you just keep being so upbeat.  I know you will do geat things despite this obstacle you have been given.

 

I have never met a person who doesn't mention how you love to talk!  You can go on and on and on about anything when you think you have found a captive audience.  You generally prefer it to be an audience of one or two.  In a group setting you are on the more reserved side.  Everyone who knows you just loves you!




You are so adventerous!  It was so fun to take you to Lagoon this summer because you loved all the big rides.  I can't wait to take you to Disneyland.

 

Again I don't know how I got blessed with you but I am so thankful I did.  I love you so much.

Some fun facts about you right now.
you love:

• Legos
• Transformers
• Minecraft
• Talking everyone's ear off
• Octanauts
• Watching transformer videos on the i-pad
• still loves his blanket
• giving cuddles

Things that are a must

• has to take something every where he goes
• has to have a snack after Kindergarten as he is always starving
• I have to carry food for you where we go

Happy Birthday Cason!

Dear Cason,
Hey big 7 year old!  Seeing you go off to 1st grade this year was so hard for me.  I don't know what it is about you going to school all day.  But for some reason it makes me feel like you are such a BIG kid!  The beginning of the year was really a struggle for you.  I am so glad to see you getting the hold of this whole all day thing.  It was so neat that you entered the reflections contest.

You made two different airplanes.  One of your airplanes won 2nd place how cool is that!  You were so excited about your special pin.  You are such a creative boy.  I love to see the lego creations you come up with.  You can spend hours on end building legos or playing transformers.  Lego ninjago seems to be your current favorite type of legos.  You also really like to watch videos of this series on netflix.  I sometimes wish you would be a little more kind to your baby sister.  To you she seems to be more of a bother.  I often hear you yelling at her to get out of your room and not touch your legos when all she really wants to do is look at them.





Fear is not a word in your vocabulary when it comes to rides!  You love going on all the big rides.  This fall you were able to get onto Colossus because your hood made you look taller.  That made your entire night!
You still love to talk anyone's ear off that will give you that time.  (Sometimes when when they don't have the time you still do it).  You are such a sweet, special boy.  Dad and I love you so much and just love the great things you do!

Some fun facts about you right now.
you love:

• Legos
• Transformers
• Ninjago
• Talking everyone's ear off
• Octanauts
• Watching transformer videos on the i-pad
• still loves his blanket
• going on rides at Lagoon
• giving cuddles
• four wheel rides
  
  
  
  
  

Halloween 2014

 

 Darling outfit I found at the DI for her to wear during October.  It was so cute it had black tulle along the bottom. 

 

My Team is so awesome.  We decided to dress up as Carebears for Halloween.  I was Love A lot Bear.  The kids thought it was great we were all the same.

 

 Having to show off our little tails and hearst too.

Here are the boys and I off to school for our Halloween parties.  My Knight and shining armor and Zombie Steve from Minecraft.  After school we went to Jamba Juice and got a free smoothie if you are in a costume.

My darling little Elephant!  Isn't she the cutest thing?

 

After Jamba juice we went to the Mall for some trunk or treating.  Tay loved this.  She didn't want to sit in her stroller she wanted to walk from store to store.  Granted she had just learned to walk so this was so cute to watch.  She would hold her arm up high and have her bucket on her arm like a purse.  I have the cutest video of her but it won't load.

 

We went to our annual Halloween Carnival at the Clearfield Aquatic center after Weston's 8th birthday party.  Dayton, Ashton, and Braxton joined us in the fun. 

Here are all the boys and my sweet Tater.

Cason playing a ball and chain bowling game. 

Taylyn playing in the pit of balls she thought this was so fun.

We also went to the Syracuse City Pumpkin Walk.  It is always so fun to see all the great pumpkins.  This year we entered pumpkins into the display.

My sweet boys.

 

Weston with his minecraft pumpkin he made.

My pumpkin.  Isn't it a beaut? Ha!

This year we also went to my mom's ward trunk or treat.  Cason had more fun handing out the candy then trick or treating.  I love that boy :)

 

Taylyn helped cason.  Well not really she didn't want to part with her suckers.

Here they all are all dressed up.  Weston's minecraft head was so heavy and hard to see out of this was the only time he was Steve.  Afterward he switched to be Zombie Steve and I painted his face.