Happy 10th Birthday to my J!

Today, my little J turned 10!  He really isn't quite so little any more.  I love him so very much.  I am so grateful that he was sent to be my son.  He has a very loving heart.  He is a wonderful big brother.  He is incredibly intelligent.  He has just discovered that he has a love for music.  I know he was sent to my family for a reason and I cherish all the time we've had together and look forward to decades to come.  I am feeling saddened by the growing up of my children, but I am loving the way they interact with each other.  It is such a blessing to me to see them growing into great friends.

This first picture is J after family prayer this morning (5:45 am).  He opened one present before K and C left for seminary and then he wanted to play for a bit.  It is a snap circuit toy and he loves it!

 What a goofy kid!  120 months of me being his mama!

 His request for lunch today: Wendy's.  We got to take it to school and then eat with him.  This will probably be the last year that I get to do this ON his birthday.  With his birthday on Friday next year (and our school district always has a half day on the last Friday in September), he will not have a standard lunch.  And, then, he goes to middle school.  He probably won't want his Mama there and that's okay.

 After school, J had piano lessons, which he absolutely loves, so he wasn't at all sad to go on his birthday.  His friend lives across the street from the piano teacher and so he got to visit for a few minutes.

 He really didn't want to leave his friend's house, but I told him we had to since I had more birthday stuff to finish.  Little did he know that he would come home to find....
his cousins there!!!!  He was so excited!  He had already said he was having an awesome birthday, but this totally jumped it up a notch!

Here he is doing a scavenger hunt to find his gift.  :)

 And opening said gift.

 And then hanging out with S, his cousin that is also 10.  :)

 And, then we went to the park, taking with us the Wubble (is gift, which is a cross between a ball and a bubble).

 Obviously, this is not J, but I had these three cuties walking in front of me and so I had to take a picture.  Little C, Cousin E, and V holding hands.

 Still playing with that Wubble

 And then, Big C and K came home.  J was so excited to see them.

 And, we had crepes for dinner, per his request.  He loves crepes and we all find them delicious too.

 One of the presents from his parents was a trampoline.  After V got a toddler trampoline and he couldn't jump on it, but wanted to, we decided to give him one too.  :)

His other present from us he already used....he went to the Rangers came on Tuesday with CK and Big C.  We actually bought his ticket back in July when we bought C a ticket for his birthday.  The three of them had so much fun!  And, the Rangers won, so that made it even better.  I am so glad they got to go.

Again, I am also so grateful to have J be my son.  He is a good kid and I am a very blessed Mom.  I love him.  Happy Birthday, J!

And, just like that, V is FOUR!

It seems so hard to believe that she is four!  I am excited for this next year.  I have always really enjoyed my children at age four (only partially because 4 is my very favorite number!).  I am excited to see her grow and develop.  She is a light in our family.  She loves all her siblings and family.  She also loves going to church and with childlike (for she is indeed, a child) faith, she believes with all her little heart in Jesus Christ.  She is strong-willed and somewhat mischievious, but that keeps us on our toes.  She is also very kind hearted and spends a lot of time trying to help her family members.  She loves to be active (jump, run, somersalt, dance (although her dancing skills come from CK and I...so.....), ride her tricycle, and so forth)!  She loves to laugh and make believe.  She is fun!  I am so grateful that she is mine and I can claim her forever!  :)

A funny story about her.  I always put streamers up on the kids' doors for their birthdays (one streamer per year old).  She was so worried about this and kept telling me last night to remember to put streamers on her door.  She said, "Then I will wake up and be like 'woah!' and be so surprised!"  It is funny that she thought she would be surprised when she took much time to remind me!  BTW...I did, indeed, put up streamers overnight.

 Of course, she chose donuts for her breakfast!

 Her big gift from us was this toddler trampoline.  It is designed for up to 60 pounds and awesome!  I love the handle and I love that she will have somewhere to use her energy.  I am frequently asking her to stop jumping on the couches or the beds.  Hopefully this will give her somewhere to jump instead.  So far, it has been a good gift!

 Her Grandparents K gave her a new baby doll that she loves.  :)

She requested Daniel Tiger for her cake.  It took a bit of time, but it turned out okay.  I was almost done actually when the bag with the stripe color burst while I was using it and I had to redo part of it. A little frustrating, but it turned out okay.  :)

So, I have more photos that haven't uploaded yet, but I am worried that if I don't post this, I won't, so here you have it...part of V's special day!

(This was her blessing day - November 2012)

It has been a while since she gained her claim to fame as the first baby born at her hospital.  Pretty cool.  But, she has grown a lot!  I sure love her!