Baptism Day for B

Oh my goodness. This was indeed a special day for a special boy.  Beckett had been looking forward to his baptism day for some time now and none of us could believe it was here so quickly!  We have been talking, preparing and reading up with Beckett so he would be as ready as possible for the big baptism day.  He was especially excited to get his own new scriptures (which he asked for a few times on his baptism day...he just couldn't wait! So sweet.) The baptism itself went great.  I think he was a little nervous, but it didn't show a bit.  He even said later that the water felt warm...lucky boy! It seems like the kiddos always say that the water was a little cold.  There was a wonderful spirit in the room when he entered the water and was baptized.  I had a nice spot with Dawson in my arms to see it all, behind the little spectators gathered in on the floor in front of the font. There is nothing quite like your own child's baptism day.  It is such a special, joyous, heart filling spiritual experience.  Corey confirmed him a member of the church afterwards and did a beautiful job.  Dawson had decided he liked the baptism part okay but was done by the time the confirmation rolled around, so he was getting loud and squirmy!  I REALLY didn't want to have to take him out.  My sister Jen rescued my by swooping in to save the day and take him into the hallway for me.  I was so grateful, truly.  We were so blessed to have friends and family there to enjoy the day with us.  Grandparents on both sides, as well as two of my sisters (Jen and Kayla) and their families came out to support us.  It was wonderful to have everyone there and the kids couldn't get enough of all the cousin time.

After the baptism, we had a fun ice cream sundae party to celebrate...cherries and all.  And we gave him his new scriptures, which he spent the next several evenings eagerly marking up.  We are so proud of our Beckett and the choice he's made to be baptized into the church and receive the Holy Ghost.  He's a great kid with many talents and this first great choice he's made will be a boon to him throughout his life.   Congrats on a wonderful baptism day, B!  We sure do love you.

Dawson turns 2

Oh my goodness.  How can this little man be 2?!  He is such a joyful, fun little man to have around.  His birthday was lots of fun and he was SO excited.  For starters, when he woke up he was singing Star Wars and the ABC's in bed...so it was sure to be a good day.  Later that day when we were at the store, a nice lady that works at Smith's gave him a balloon from, then Johnny (one of our favorite checkers) wished him happy birthday over the intercom system.

Some fun facts about this 2 year old:

*He calls his belly button a "Tummy Butt."
*Calls Asher "A-ee" and absolutely adores his brothers.
*Is the sweetest and says "thank you", and "there it is" all the time.
*When asking about a stuffed panda, he called his paw-hands "Glubs."
*Loves to sing the Star Wars theme songs. This whole year, he would hum songs over and over again too.
*Also tries singing along with the Newsies soundtrack when the boys play it.  He loves the music.
*I've been asked at the store if I found him in the 'cute aisle.'
*He calls horses "neighs."
*Sings the alphabet song everywhere we go, knows his colors, some shapes, and likes to skip number 8 while counting to 10.
*He thinks the 'man with the yellow hat' is Woody from Toy Story.
*He totally hated nursery at church for a solid 4 months.
*He likes to pretend he's a puppy and then tries to like your face.
*While eating a small bowl of Cheerios recently, he looked at me and said it was "delicious."
*Helicopters = Hot potato. M&M's = homineas.
*He's very picky about which stuffed animals get to go on his bed.
*He likes to try to make small talk during meals, and loves eating watermelon, and noodles of any kind.
*He says that he has a tail. He just LOVES puppies and dinosaurs.

He was VERY excited about his cake, saying, "Cake all done!" and "Cake, cake!"  He couldn't wait to eat it (unlike last year when he at none of it, haha).  Even so, he ate more ice cream than cake!  He also loved his balloons, and jumped all over the house with them.  One of his favorite presents was his basketball hoop.  He played, "Hoops, ball hoops" until I made him finally go to bed, which he really didn't want to do.  He just wanted to play with all the new toys.  When we said prayers that night, and was saying what he was thankful for, he added cake and hoops to the list.  What a fun day for a fun boy.  Happy 2nd birthday!

Eight year old Beck

Beckett is one fun, spunky, passionate, intelligent, friendly, sweet kiddo.  This birthday was a big one because he gets to be a Cubscout, and also (and most importantly) he can and has chosen to be baptized!  He was beyond excited for this birthday.  He brought donuts for his school class and we put his name on the school marquee.  His birthday was scout night, so he excitedly went to the meeting too.  Afterwards I received a text from his scout leader telling me how grateful she was to have him there and that he was smart and helpful in any way needed! The night before his birthday he asked if he could open a "Birthday Eve" present.  Nope, this isn't Christmas!  He also asked first thing the next morning, then before dinner.  The wait was nearly killing him.

When he finally got around to getting to open up presents, he loved them and, as always he was very gracious with even clothing items.  He loved the Storm Trooper cake he chose and the balloons.  For dinner my adventurous little eater chose Pho.  He loves the stuff and he likes it hot and spicy!  He's always trying to convince Asher to add some jalepeno or sriracha like his, but he won't do it!  That night he heard from all of his grandparents and even his Great Grandma and Grandpa Pettit (who missed him because he was at scouts, but they are just so thoughtful to call!)

Some fun facts about Beckett are....he has lots of friends at school and is always bringing home little things he trades (I'd swear there's an underground market going on).  He's doing well at school, loves Roald Dahl books, playing basketball, Legos, building with anything at all (on his birthday night he built 3 snap circuit creations before we made him go to bed), Star Wars, playing outside (he also prefers to do his writing journal homework out there).  He does not love doing his jobs around the house but he does do them well when he puts his mind to it.  He loves to have a good time.  Beckett has started bearing his testimony every month lately.  Beckett is just a really cool kid with so many fun interests and talents.

His friend party was lots of fun at Peter Piper Pizza.  It was a big party with family in and out of town here for his baptism, and friends from both church and school.  They all had a great time eating pizza, cake, and playing games galore.

Happy 8th birthday buddy!!

Webelos Badge

Asher worked hard this year in his Webelos den.  This boy planned hikes, memorized information, camped, taught others, arranged for speakers for his group and so much more!  He was especially proud of achieving his Arrow of Light and his Religious Knot.  It's been a fun and wonderful scouting year for him, and he's excited about becoming a Boy Scout (new oversized tan shirt and all).  I think the camp outs might be the big draw.  Congrats on a great year Ashman...and Eleven Year Old Scouts, here he comes! Here are photos from his year including his hikes, day camp, advancement badge nights and his crossing over. 

Welcome 2017

This New Year's was destined to be a mellow event. We didn't have any family in town and we didn't go anywhere this year for the holidays.  After a little thinking, I decided mellow didn't have to mean 'not fun.'  We ended up having a great time at home with our little crew of 5.  Dawson headed to bed at 9, but everyone else endured until the anticipated strike of midnight and the dropping of the ball in Times Square! (Side note:  Asher and Beckett wanted to know why they drop a ball...good question, and I have no idea.  Come to think of it, it's a little weird, isn't it?) 

 

To keep us going, we worked on our Balloon Puzzle (version 2.0, post Dawson's puzzle attack), which totally saved me.  We ate yummy snacks (cookies, chex mix, fruit kabobs, veggies and dip, homemade egg nog) and watched Elf.  The boys hadn't seen it yet and were cracking up!  They also chose to watch several episodes of America's Funniest Video's which kept us all laughing and talking.  We rang in the New Year early (9-ish) with some silly cartoon countdowns for Dawson.  Everyone wore hats and had little horns with streamers to blow on.  Things got a little crazy, so hats and blowers weren't around for the actual New Year's countdown, but they were still fun to have around for at least the first one! 

New Year's Day, we all woke up about an hour later (ha, that's all the late night bought us) and had waffles.  Church was nice, and we finished up our puzzle.  On Monday, we had fun at home playing laser tag, Wii, and then hitting Gravity Park later that night with some friends.  Lots of fun.  It was Dawson's (and my own) first time jumping and after the initial nervousness passed he was fearless (and scary) so Corey and I took turns making sure he wasn't too Kamakazi.  I found out I could still do backflips (but was greatly humbled by waking up the next morning with a very sore, limpy ankle...no clue what happened there), and Asher and Beckett zoomed around and came home nice and sweaty.

We set some family goals for the year and are looking forward to 2017 and all it may bring.  Happy New Year!

Asher's 11th Birthday

 Ah, this boy.  The 'growing up too fast' thing is killing me, and he's leading the way.  Eleven already! First thing this morning he came to check in with Corey and me, and after we wished him a happy birthday, he said, "And now I'm officially a pre-teen!"  We agreed.  Last year, he insisted that entering double digits put him squarely in pre-teen range but we weren't so sure.  This year, I think he might be right!

For Ashman's big day, we started out with a breakfast request of pancakes (with mini M&M's) and eggs.  In the afternoon he opened up presents at home then we headed over to Texas Roadhouse for a fun birthday dinner.  Asher absolutely loves it when restaurants sing to him and bring on the birthday hoopla.  Sitting on a saddle and getting a mini brownie served up with a big "Yee-haw!" from the whole restaurant fit the bill and he was a happy boy.  He was able to talk to both sets of Grandparents and his great Grandpa and Grandma Pettit even called to wish him a happy birthday!

Corey and the boys went to a UNM basketball game after dinner to celebrate some more.  This boy is a huge fan of all things sports and loves to cheer on the Lobos.  UNM won and the boys had a fun time.  When they came home we finally had some cookie cake...everyone was too full after dinner!

 

We are so proud of Asher.  Besides watching sports, he enjoys playing soccer, basketball, swimming, running, and baseball and I have to say he is pretty good at all of them.  He's learning to play the piano, and sings beautifully too.  He loves to read (Harry Potter still reigns supreme), loves the Titanic, Legos, Star Wars and playing the Wii (he has started beating his dad on a regular basis, but don't tell!).  Asher is also an awesome big brother...he adores his baby bro beyond measure, and plays with his younger bro constantly.  I am so lucky to have this smart, sweet kid as my boy!  We all love you Asher and hope your birthday was happy!