Tag: 8 kids

This guy is now ten years old.


He celebrated with his friends nine days ago, but now it’s official.  This guy is cheerful, generous and affectionate.  He makes friends easily.  He is creative and fun to be around.  He is good at figuring things out.  He’s a blessing to our family.  It’s hard to believe he’s already ten, but we love him so much.

A look back at the party:


and the space mission:


The captain’s chair was his for the day, and they successfully completed their mission.  The entire crew after their voyage:


My view from the control room:


Today for his birthday I took him Chick-fil-A for lunch.  He requested “shrimp and fish” for dinner, but I simplified things and we had shrimp scampi.  Although the children like their parties with friends, it’s the family celebrations that I enjoy most.  Ours got a little silly tonight, but everyone had a nice time.






The highlight, as usual, were the playmobil toys.  He has loved them since he was three years old (or younger).  He is blessed with an awesome imagination and these toys are well-suited to his personality and interests.


At his request, a closer look at the battle scene:




Happy Birthday, big guy!  We love you!

HH

Wow, is it fun to have a twelve year old daughter!   Just yesterday I was looking at a picture of her at three months, a big smile on her face.  The time has flown by and it’s been so much fun.  Here’s a quick look back at her birthday festivities.


This picture of the birthday girl hugging her two year old sister tugs at my heart.   These two have a special relationship which I hope they manage to keep over the years.  It’s sweet to watch the two year old idolize the older one, and the older one be so loving and patient with the little one.  The same goes for the baby, below.


We had a fun celebration at home and the birthday party for friends was the following day.  We baked sugar cookies in seven different shapes and had a cookie decorating party.  I taught them all how to outline and flood each cookie with royal icing and then we let them loose.




I’ll admit to mild feelings of dismay when our guests turned the decorating tips on each other.


I kept quiet, however, and they had a great time.






I failed to anticipate how much noise twelve year old girls make, even while decorating cookies.  In my mind I pictured a cookie decorating party for some moms a couple of years ago, remembering how quiet we were.  I planned the party for the evening so my husband could take the other 7 upstairs and put them to bed.  In reality it was so loud that even the baby couldn’t sleep and we had a very noisy house for several hours.

Still, the cookies were cute…





…the girls had fun…

…and the birthday girl was happy.


For the record, here are some favorites at age 12:
Favorite song:  You Belong With Me, Taylor Swift Favorite food:  spaghetti Favorite dessert:  apple pie Favorite color:  pink and blue Favorite sport:  soccer and gymnastics Favorite movie:  Man From Snowy River Favorite book she’s read:  Love Comes Softly Series Favorite book she hasn’t read:  Twilight (stole it from Mom and read half) Favorite Shakespeare play:  Twelfth Night Favorite outfit:  jeans and an Aeropostale t-shirt, with a hoodie when cold Favorite dressy outfit:  new green sweater (thanks Grandma!) with black skirt OR gray ruffle skirt, white shirt and silver gray cardigan Favorite piece of jewelry:  jingle bell necklace and bracelet (from a friend) Favorite store:  Aeropostale Favorite friends:  Riley, Jessie, Kelsey, Erica, Sydney (2nd cousin), Savannah, Samantha Favorite class at school:  Theater/Drama Favorite saying:  “Sweet lady, ho ho”  (see above favorite Shakespeare play) AND “Be not afraid of greatness, twas well written…. Some are born great, Some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.”  (from same play) Favorite word:  antidisestablishmentarianism Favorite scripture:  1 Nephi 3:7 Favorite snack:  goldfish crackers Favorite candy bar:  3 Musketeers Favorite candy:  chocolate covered cinnamon bears (along with much of the family) Favorite way to do her hair:  pony tail Best thing about being twelve:  graduating from Primary to Young Womens

I don’t post about my older children as often as I do the younger crowd.  I’m not sure why.  I guess part of it is because I’m a rookie at parenting teenagers, while the little ones don’t intimidate me.  Part of it is a desire to leave them free to establish their own identity in our community unhindered by anything that I might say about them on this blog.  I don’t want to embarrass them, or post something that could erode their trust in me.  Really, though, they’re great kids and I should say more about how much I love and appreciate them.


This beautiful girl, my oldest daughter, is now twelve years old.  She is fun to be around, generally cheerful, and manages a lot of activities with great calm.  Her two year old sister worships her, and for good cause.  She’s kind and helpful and patient with the little ones.  She does her own laundry.   She usually has something going on almost every day of the week, but she handles everything with grace and enjoys it all.  She’s quick, witty and intelligent.  She gets a lot of exercise, takes good care of herself, and grows prettier every day.  I enjoy being around her.  We love her so much.

On a whim, I turned her lunch into a gift.  (Please excuse the late-night lighting, but I really wanted to remember this idea.)


I individually wrapped every item that went in her lunch.  I picked up a couple of favorite things to surprise her when she opens it at school.


I realize it’s possible that she will be totally embarrassed by it, but I think that she will enjoy having a bunch of small gifts to unwrap during lunch hour.  I added a little note to remind her that I’m thinking of her.


Because I am.  She’s our beautiful birthday girl.

HH P.S.  It’s been a crazy couple of days, but I’ll be back later today with more pumpkin posts!  I’m trying to make up for lost time…