7 years old

 

My first born turned seven years old last week. We celebrated with an Angry Birds party last Tuesday. A handful of his closest friends came to enjoy the festivities. In attendance were Tyler, Emery, Reagan, Logan, and Luke.
First they colored pictures of angry birds, cut and pasted them to make their goodie bags. Then they donned their handmade masks. I'm quite proud of those masks, thank you.

 

Next, we had a quick game of Pin-the-Beak-on-the-Angry-Bird. All credit for the amazing bird and beaks goes to Paul. He free-styled the whole thing while looking at a picture. I'm impressed. So impressed that I left the thing laying around the house for several days afterwards because I felt sad to throw his hard work out. After that, the kids just played, which is all kids really want to do anyway. They did play Duck Duck Angry Bird while they waited for their mothers to pick them up, though.

 

 

For lunch, I constructed an Angry Bird from a take-and-bake pizza I bought at the store. And I also made Angry Bird cupcakes. Sam approved. He said, in fact, that it was his best birthday party ever. I'm glad he enjoyed it. It makes the effort and stress worth it.

 

Sam's Birthday Interview:

Age:7
Height: 48"
Weight: 53 lbs

What is your favorite thing to do? Play sports.
What do you want to be when you grow up? A basketball player.
What is your favorite food? Ice cream.
Who do you like to spend time with? My friends.
What do you do really well? Shoot the basketball.
What makes you laugh? Funny things.
What is the best time of day? The time of day when Dad comes home.
What are you afraid of? When I'm alone.
Who is your best friend? Henry
What do you like to do with your family? Go to the children's museum
What do you love to learn about? History
Where do you like to go? Children's museum
What is your favorite book? A to Z Mysteries, Calendar Mysteries
What is your favorite color? Blue
If you had one wish, what would it be? To be a basketball player right now.

 

7 Months

Claire is now 7 months old. Over the last month, she grew her two bottom teeth. It took a little while; we could see them just below the gums for about a week, with the gums bubbling up a bit. Finally, just as she turned 7 months, they popped through, the first a day or two before the other. That week before they finally came through was pretty rough. She woke up during the night a lot more than usual, one night even waking every two hours. Since then, she's waking up twice every night and expects to have a bottle before going peacefully back to sleep. I have been very tired. Otherwise, she's a good little sleeper; she doesn't give us too much trouble going down. I put her in her crib, put her lovey on her head (which she promptly pulls off, but for some reason she cries less when I put it on her head), walk out and close the door, and she talks to herself for a little bit before going to sleep. When she wakes up, she will usually call out. She has started to pattern her call after her brothers' calls, or so it seems. When we are awakened in the night (or morning) by her call, it's hard to determine at first which child it was. Claire is our first child who will lay quietly in her crib for a bit upon waking. Sometimes, I go into her room and find her laying completely still, in sleeping position, but with her eyes open and her finger holding her paci in. Then, as soon as she sees me, she lifts up her head and gives me her sweet smile.

For the past several weeks, Claire has been babbling "dada dada", which of course Paul interprets as his parental name. Clearly, she's just making easy sounds, but we will let him believe as he wishes. She's also been saying "babababa" more recently.
Claire is not crawling yet, but she does get up on all fours. Anyway, she gets wherever she wants to go by scooting around. She still loves her brothers and they are still great at making her laugh. She particularly loves to pull their hair. Actually, she loves grabbing and pulling hair on anyone's head.

In May, she went for her first swim. She loves the pool! When we sit her on the edge of the pool, Claire literally throws herself into the water. It is the cutest thing ever. She loves to kick and splash in the water and has never seemed to mind the cool water or getting her face splashed.
Claire has the best personality of anyone in the family. I think we will keep her.

1st Grade Wrap-up

The last month of school was very busy. I was able to attend two of the four field trips Sam's class took in the last month. First, I met up with his class at Roper Mountain Science Center. They spent the day learning about old-time farm life, fossils, the rainforest, space, and more. I was actually quite miserable that day, as I was covered in inexplicable hives, so I cut out early, missing the simulated roller coaster ride through space.
The next week we went on a tour of Happy Cow, a local dairy where we also picked strawberries. The weather was just perfect, the field trip was relaxed, and it was fun to watch Sam interacting with his school friends.

 

The next end-of-the-year school activity I was able to attend was Sam's awards day. The children received some awards as a whole first grade in the atrium and then other class awards in their own classroom. Sam received an award for completing the Book It program (he had to read a certain number of books each month for 6 months), first place for his class in First in Math (an online math program), and first place in his class for AR (online quizzes they take after reading a book- he read 180 books during school hours this year). In his class, Sam's classmates voted him "Smartest Boy".

Sam was lucky to be in a class full of great kids. He enjoyed making friends with each of them. I'm quite happy about that.


Paid in Full

I've admitted it before and I'll admit it again; I'm frugal to a fault. I've never been a big spender. In fact, I don't much like to spend money at all. Even when I receive gift cards, I painstakingly contemplate the best way to spend them and how to get the most mileage out of them. Typically, I don't even use them to buy anything fun for myself. To me, just about everything is a want rather than a need. Even toilet paper is a want right up until the point of desperation. Down to the last roll? No problem, it can be shared amongst all three bathrooms. I kid, I kid. Sort of.
I don't know when I became so thrifty, whether it was a learned habit or an inherited one, though I'm far more thrifty than my parents. And let's be honest, when I say thrifty, I really mean cheap. I'm cheap and that's never really been embarrassing to me. For at least the first 4 years of our marriage, Paul and I lived a very minimalist existence. Even after he got his first real job out of college and we bought our first house, we had almost no décor and nearly as little furniture. It wasn't until we bought our second house (the one in which we now live) that we got a kitchen table. In our first home we ate on a $40 card table which we thought of as a major purchase during our days in Provo. We shared one car until about the time we bought our second house, as well.
I'm proud of these things. I have never been ashamed of having lived that way. We were living within our means. It has never bothered me to do so. Though I will admit that during one period it became evident to me that a group of people at church must have assumed we were a charity case. I have never been poor. Never once. Not even when Paul was in school and I was the only breadwinner, averaging about $8.50 an hour (I've never made more than $12 an hour in my life) were we poor. Even then, we saved money.
Today, we live in a humble home. It's nothing fancy. It's just a regular house. But I love my house. Oh sure, there are things I HATE about it, but at the end of the day, it is more than just a house. It is the place to which we brought home two babies from the hospital. It is the place my children play, and laugh, and most of the time sometimes yell and fight. This house is where Sam learned to ride his bike, where Paul and Chris built a playground in the backyard, where Nathanael has spent countless hours playing trains in the playroom, where many play dates and birthday parties have occurred. This home is where my kids are happy.
In the last few months, we have had a couple opportunities to move away from our sweet home. Paul was offered a quite tempting job opportunity in North Carolina. We labored over the decision but ultimately I just couldn't let go of living near my sister and my comfortable life, including my home. We've grown attached to this house.
So we made the decision to settle in for the long haul. Right here. In this house that sometimes feels too small. Today is a historical day for us. A day that I am writing about so that, one day, we can look back and remember when it happened. It's a day I feel proud of and a day that grants us a great amount of financial freedom. Today we have made our final mortgage payment. Today this house is ours.