Hap Bir Day!

We've been celebrating birthday for a week and a half.  Tom loves it!  His birthday was on Tuesday, the 10th, but we held back most of the celebrating until Thursday, when Pris, Ruth and Levi were stopping for the night on their way to Utah.  Tommy was sooo excited to see them.  After all the initial excitement was out, we went out the the lake.  We played in the sand and water, tossed a football, and walked on the nature trail.  I'll share pictures when I get them from Pris.  She's the one who took pictures.

We had Tommy's Little Debbie Chocolate Chip Creme Cookies, that he picked out himself.  I put his on a plate and stuck two candles in it.  Enjoy the video here, because I'm tired of trying to load it on blogger: http://youtu.be/nVF1veVkA5Q

Then we went upstairs to one of the guest bedrooms where Tom's presents were hidden.  He opened the lawn mower first.

Then he discovered the tool bench, tools and hard hat.

 

There was money hidden under Nana's pillow, which he was overjoyed to receive.  He promptly ran to his room to put it in his piggy bank.  He's saving for a swing set.





Back to work.

Levi, Ruth and Nana

Another new toy that entertained the 4 kids.  What are those toys called anyway?

 

Yesterday was Tommy's birthday party.  We were going to be at the park, but the heat forced us to stay at home.  I went to Dollar General to pick up hats, balloons and noise makers for entertainment.  Tom and Katie are party naturals.

Tommy decorated a special birthday chair for himself.

Our neighbor Landry, who's birthday is July 7, liked the music and helium balloons.

Katie, who is teething, liked sitting with our bishop.  They're good friends.

Two boys, a hard hat, foam sword and a helium balloon.

A knighting ceremony?

Tommy still needed help with presents this year.  Five-year-old Brexton and I had to help him look beyond the cool designs of the bags and tissue paper.

Tommy got pennies, nickels and dimes for his piggy bank; walkie-talkies with batteries; hot wheels; and a cardboard book set.  Flo, he loves the books!  He took them up to bed last night so he could read until he fell asleep.  It was the only way he'd consent to go.

Hap Bir Day!!

We only had to sing twice this time.  The second time after he blew out the candles, he quickly whipped out the candles with one had and dropped them on the plate as the other hand shoved the cookie into his mouth.  I was surprised at the speed of those little fingers.

He got bored during the second time we sang, and turned to play with a new car race track, which is a hand-me-down toy from Nana's friend Mary, who Tommy loves.  It conveniently arrived shortly before the party.

Fun things from our kids that I forgot to include in the last blog post: Tommy says "Yuh you!' now.  (Love you!)   He just started last Friday and it's sooooo wonderful to finally hear.  He's starting to say it spontaneously, too.  He'll drop toys he's playing with to run across the room and give me a hug and kiss and say, "Yuh you!"  He says it on the phone to Grandma, Jake, Bumpa, etc.

A couple days ago, I was changing a dirty diaper of Tommy's.  This one didn't require butt cream, as some recent ones have, so Tommy told me, "Poop. Hurt. No. Good job, Mom."  Then he stood up (I was done), gave me a hug (a real one with a good squeeze and hold), and told me "Yuh you!"  Melted my heart.

Since the reunion in June and the introduction of foam swords into Tommy's life, everything has become a sword: chopsticks, pencils, pennies, forks, spoons, knives, etc.

Being a mom requires you to make full use of the 4 limbs you're blessed with, so I often have to pick things up with my toes, or close drawers, doors, etc, with my feet.  Tommy just closed a drawer with his foot after getting a straw for his juice.  Since it was the second drawer up from the bottom, it was a little high for him to try that, so he held on to the whole cabinet.