Joey's 7th Birthday

 A couple months ago Joey told me he wanted to invite all the boys in his class to his birthday party. I was brain storming different ideas and wanted to go with some sort of animal theme. Maybe give a praying mantis as a party favor for his friends to take home. Well, for obvious reasons that didn't happen this year. Joey was really good about it and we tried our best to make his birthday special. The night before we grabbed McDonald's. He said he also wanted sushi so we went to HEB to grab some of that as well.

On the day of we had balloons and decorations up for our little man. He requested watermelon for breakfast and Sam cut it into the shape of a hammerhead just for him.

Birthday boy in the morning! Look at that hair!

Watermelon, yum.

Joey was so excited for his presents as well. Here is his stash (and the new bike he got in the garage).

Looking at the drawing book he got from Grandma and Grandpa.

A stuffed mantis. It's super cute!

Mom and Dad's present to him.

A gigantic book about frogs!

We went to the duck pond to take pictures. All the pictures are posted in his birthday letter. For linner we made homemade pizzas, requested by the birthday boy.

Final product.

A lovely cheese pizza just for Eli.

I didn't want that animal-themed birthday go to waste so this was my labor of love. I melted white chocolate candy and used piping bags to trace animals on wax paper. I picked 7 animals Joey loves for his 7th birthday. We have a strawberry poison dart frog, emperor penguin, king cobra, orchid mantis, immortal jelly, hammerhead shark, and a Dalmatian in the middle. I was very proud how they turned out!

Sam took pictures of the action.

Final product!

Happy Birthday dude!

Sam dug out a fire pit for this occasion and the kids roasted marshmallows.

Then we set up the tents to go camping in the backyard.

The kids enjoyed the tents too much. We ended up going back to our beds because the kids were too wild. I had a feeling that was going to happen. 

Then the next day Joey remembered he wanted Italian Sodas so we whipped some cream, added gummy butterflies and put a cherry on top. He requested raspberry and coconut flavor which we dubbed tiger shark's blood. 

I think he had a good birthday. His favorite presents are probably the books. We got the bike because he was getting too big for his old bike and Eli was growing into that one. We'll see if he ever rides it! We love you Joey!

An Easter for the Books

Hello to our avid readers! Easter this year was a little different and memorable. For the secular part of it I bought things for the kid's baskets weeks ago and was set there. However, I've been having trouble getting eggs as they are a pretty hot commodity these days. To help the eggs go farther I only hard-boiled the kid's eggs to dye so we could use the others for other cooking. Here are our sweet boys enjoying the process of dying eggs!

The next day was Easter! Sam had to work today so the kids searched for their baskets and got dressed while Sam was away. We also had an Easter lesson and watched a video about King Benjamin. Always nice when I can catch these kids smiling at the camera at the same time!

FYI Eden just loves to dance and starts dancing whenever she hears music. This is a video I took when the boys were playing with the different doorbell options.

Deviled eggs for lunch!

When Sam got home we started the Easter Egg hunt. The kids were really enjoying themselves. Eden totally got it this year and loved putting eggs in her little bucket.

WARNING: BLOOD! Not far into the hunt Eli tripped and feel into our patio furniture. This resulted in a good gash on his lip. I really did not want to head to Urgent Care, especially these days with that virus going around, but Sam happened to have stuff on hand to sew it back together. Eli was such a trooper. I held his hands and covered his eyes while Sam injected lidocaine and put a couple stitches in. He actually had to do it twice because Eli kept messing with the first set of stitches and they came undone.

Before

After

A week later. Lots better!

Sam's family did a family Zoom session and we enjoyed seeing everybody! I think technology is what is getting us through this quarantine.

Like I said, this was an Easter for the books. We sure love our family and so grateful for the Savior's sacrifice and victory over death. I can be with my family even after this life because of Christ!

Dear Joseph,

You are 7 years old today. Each year just flies past faster than the last and I'm just amazed we landed such an awesome boy in our family. You have your challenges, but I feel you are doing amazing things at school, at home, and at church. This particular birthday has been memorable because of the COVID-19 virus that has shut down schools and banned birthday parties, but you took it rather well.

You are well into first grade and I have seen amazing changes. Last year we struggled to do any reading or math. Well, something must have clicked because you really enjoy reading and can read words based on context. I just love it! You also have an "Excellent" grade in math from your last report card so you are grasping that well, too. Your absolute favorite subject is Science, particularly biology. I can totally see you doing something in that field as a career with how passionate you are.

And if we go even more specific, you love zoology. Animals all the time! They are your favorite thing to talk about and you jump around as far as your favorites. The animals that have had a solid place in your heart are hammerhead sharks, frogs (particularly the strawberry poison frog), and praying mantises. But you have gone through a penguin phase, jelly fish phase, cobra phase, Hercules beetle phase, and today you told me you wanted a box turtle. You love learning facts about all the animals! Life cycles, habitats, you just eat it up. And I'm an animal lover at heart, too, so I love learning along with you.

You are a growing boy! I recently had to order you new shoes and I need to put away the size 6 clothing. You also lost two teeth (not including the ones that got knocked loose and taken out)! We probably won't visit the doctor too soon because of the quarantine but you seem like a nice, healthy boy. You are starting to like new foods, like mushrooms. I'm so glad you are getting less picky, but you have your total favorite foods. You love lemonade, watermelon, green apples, olives, and I guess a lot of other fruits! I can always tell someone the things you love because of how passionate you are.

Some challenges you face are usually socially related. At school the speech therapist mentioned your problem with pragmatic speech. I can really see it. You don't use any pleasantries when speaking, but jump right in with whatever you are thinking about, especially with animals. It is hard to start and end with an "undesirable" topic and not stray. But you have made friends at school, and it makes me happy to hear you talk about friends again. Last year in school you had trouble keeping your hands to yourself but they haven't seen that issue this year and I'm so glad. Now to keep your hands to yourself at home!

Other things you like to do is draw, make books, and watch shows about animals and science. Your favorite shows include Wild Kratts, Mystery Doug, and Octonauts. Your favorite books are usually non-fiction books about animals. You got a lot of books for your birthday! We also got a book on how to take care of Praying Mantises so hopefully we can keep the ones we have alive. You named yours Pinchy and you love carrying it around. You also love watching our frogs hop around and climb.

One of the best things I've noticed is your knowledge in the gospel growing. You are grasping more and more concepts and read from the scriptures. We are a year away from being baptized so the next year will be a year of preparation. I love you! I love how sweet and giving you are. I love how the simple things make you happy. I can always take a leaf or two from your book Joey. The world is a brighter place since you came along.

Love, 

Mom