Happy 4th Birthday Marrick!

 Beware of 3 long posts!
Marrick Aaron turned 4 last week!  He had a rough 3rd year, but we are looking forward to brighter days!  This was one fabulous day with sunshine! Hooray for NO coats!  But, with sunshine comes melted snow and MUD!  Marrick celebrated his birthday ninja style and decided to show me some of his "moves."  Enjoy some Marrick-isms to follow:

 Yes, those were his "moves."  He is very good at them and has perfected the sound effects as well.

 For his birthday, all he talked about all year when we mentioned it was his rocket ship cake.  A day before his birthday, Auntie Sacha came to the rescue with a cute robot idea.  He was sold!  So, here is his finished product:  Cute, huh!

 We had a yummy cafe rio salad dinner and then had the Gomez's over for cake and ice cream.  And they told us that Paul got the job he just interviewed for as a dispatcher.  Hooray!

 Happy Birthday to our Marrick~ (As he sang all week, "Happy Birthday to MEEEEE!")

 Grama hangin' at the kiddo table

 All the fun and chaos

 We love our Pagah and Grama Annie's birthday cards with as many dimes as they are old.  Marrick was so excited he said, "I have money!"

 Oh, thank you Grama!  kisses for you.

 This is my silly boy a few days earlier.  I heard some weird sounds to find this:

 What are you doing Marrick?

 It's hard believe that these 3 boys turn 4 this year!  And it's hard to believe how much our long-haired, cool dude baby has grown!  He was so hard this year!  Especially with giardia (this sickness does not deserve a capital G).  He has gone through stages refusing to wear clothes, hitting, biting, saying the "s" (stupid, get your mind out of the gutter!) word a lot just cause he knows it's naughty, crying, crying, crying, potty training and oh so much more.  I told my mom, "can you believe Marrick is turning 4!"  She said, "Yes, it's about time!"  Even though he has had a rough toddler-hood, he really is such a sweet boy.  He will finally pray with us, and he will even say a prayer, he will finally repeat a scripture or Article of Faith with us for family scriptures at night, he will finally pick up a crayon and draw a little and write his letters, he is finally starting to be happy in the mornings (we haven't woken up to as much crying lately) and he finally is sleeping through the night!  He LOVES to read stories and play outside. He loves swords, airplanes, legos, Ironman, Astroboy, Superman and he knows all of the superhero names and what they do.  He loves to eat pizza and treats.  He doesn't sneak them, he just says, "mom, I want this treat please."  He is a cuddler and will give kisses.  He has the most fantastic sound effects you've ever heard and if you're too close, you'll get spit on!  Marrick is my sweet boy that I love too much to tell.  Spiritually, he has such a presence.  I have always sensed the priesthood power with this boy, which is a very sacred amazing thing.  I know that even though he has been a hard toddler, he will become such an amazing man because he is so determined and able.  He is good at everything he tries the first time and I see him succeeding a lot in life.  He just needs to learn to stop long enough to realize it. I love you baby MAC, my non-toddler.  Grow well.

Happy 9th Birthday Alana!

 I cannot believe (and I think I say this every year!) that Alana is 9!  She was just my fist, new, sweet baby girl.  With her traumatic entrance into this earth life, we were so emotionally overwhelmed when not only did we become parents, but we met Alana on this earth for the first time.  She was so good, barely making a peep and slept through the night right away.  Her independence started at 18 months when she realized she had her own 2 legs, places to go and people to meet.  She was a hard toddler, with a determined mind of her own.  As she has grown, she continues to amaze me with her confidence, determination and self will.  She knows exactly what she likes, what she wants and how she will get it. She just finished the 5th Harry Potter book.  We have been hesitant to let her read it, feeling it is a little much for her age, but decided to let her after a few agreements.  So, for her birthday she wanted a Hedwig cake.  (Sorry Alana, this is a sad attempt but will have to do with our time crunch!)

 We partied Alana style with a few friends, (it was not supposed to be a friend year but since we are moving we let her choose 3) pizza and chuck e cheese.

 This is her good friend David.  They have been good buds since Kindergarten and hang out every day.

 Cortlyn, our sweet neighbor gave her a dog bank.  Perfect for Alana!

 This is Ashley our very awesome neighbor friend.  Ashley loves Alana.  Alana knew that one of Ashley's favorite things was pizza and so she decided that Ashley needed to be one of the friends to come.  She loves to come walk over to our house (shoes or not) and watch or borrow a movie.

 The gang

 Happy Birthday to you!!!

 Halle loving Grama and Pagah

 Grama and Pagah.  We are so sick about moving away from them.  Even though it will only be a few hours, as mother says, "you might as well be moving to Florida!"  She doesn't drive anywhere.  Maybe we can talk her into learning to like it?  Or we will just have to visit a lot.  I can't even think about it!  And she just scheduled another hip replacement surgery for June!!!

 Chuck E Cheese.  Where a kid can be a germy-filled, nasty pizza-eating kid.

 At least they had a good time!

 Lana loves this stinky, dirty, rotten, good, sweet dog Zorro who chews binkies and sleeps at the foot of my bed and comes when I call him. (at least he doesn't potty in my house!)  She couldn't be happier to have this pup. 

 This is Alana's science project.  They had to make a simple machine.  She chose the pulley and crane.  It had to be made from objects around your house.  So, with paint sticks, play blocks, and some spools from Grama, we had a finished product:

 It seems that as your oldest grows, you wonder how this earth life could pass so quickly, yet so slowly.  Alana's pregnancy seemed to last 10 years and her last 5 years of life seemed to be only 1 year's time.  I can't imagine life without this angel.  She is spunky, annoying, funny, rambunctious, silly and totally unpredictable.  She is starting to grow up though.  I see traces of it everywhere.  She told me that at school the other day she played soccer with all of the boys and a girl watching told her, and Alana said this sentence and she recalled it "exactly," "Let's just say you're good at everything but soccer."  Alana told her that she wanted to play and they told her she could and that wouldn't make her stop playing soccer.  Yeah, that's my girl.  I just pray that we have taught her enough to be the kind of person she is needs to be.  It almost feels like my motherly influence is not needed as much anymore.  That all I can do now is continue to help her be confident, honest and loving.  She truly is an amazing daughter, lent to me for such a short while.

 Happy 9th Birthday Sweet Lani.  I love you more than the whole universe and the biggest Elephant!

Halle's stitches

 Halle fell last Friday night right before going to bed onto Alana's metal bed frame.  I was on the phone with Aaron, he was on his way back from Logan.  She was playing with Zorro the dog and tried to tackle him and landed on the corner of the frame and split open her lip.  It was so sad.  Because I always need a second opinion when it comes to stitches, I left the other 3 kiddos reading stories in their room and ran over to Auntie Sacha's house.  She thought she needed stitches for sure.  Luckily, Lexi was out with a friend and was coming home in 10 minutes and her friends dad is a doctor that works at the local instacare.  The instacare was closing and I would not have made it in time.  He told me that because the cut went past her lip and onto her chin a little it would leave a really big scar.  I followed him to the instacare where the very resistant check-in lady let us in.  He had her taken care of in 10 minutes.  She was NOT happy but did really well.  They wrapped her tight in a blanket, I held her body down and the nurse held her head.  It was hard to stitch because she kept crying and it was her lip that needed stitching!  Poor baby!

 This is the owie

 Here she is with Grama Annie all stitched up!  She says "Gwama" and "Pagah" now.  She fell 3 more times and bloodied her mouth before her stitches got taken out.  She put her tooth through her lip, severed the piece of skin above the front teeth and reopened the owie and even broke the top stitch off!  Let's just say she had a rough week.  Love you Halle baby!