Harvey turns 4!

 Our Harvey boy is 4 years old!! He has been waiting to be 4 and was so excited when it was finally his birthday. Tyler was out of town the weekend of his birthday so we did a little celebrating beforehand and more once he got home. 

Harvey wanted me to use the red food coloring when making his frosting. I warned him that it would make the frosting pink but he was adamant, so pink cake it was.

He got some awesome gifts - some golf clubs and balls from Monka and Umpa, and a new bike from Gigi and Poppy!

We had a little birthday play date at the park with some friends and some cupcakes. Sharon brought him this fun puzzle and we’ve had fun putting it together lots of times. Also pictured are the shock absorbers we got him for his tennis racket. 

Some things about Harvey at 4 years old:

- Harvey is such a fun, excitable guy. He calls any meal that he likes his favorite.

- He is super silly and funny. He cracks us up multiple times a day!

- Harvey still loves playing with cars, but he normally just goes along with what other people want to do. He goes with the flow when he’s playing with friends or cousins.

- We’ve discovered his memorizing abilities this year learning songs. I love hearing him sing too! He has such a sweet voice!

Happy birthday Harvey boy!

Beginning of February

Millie and Max spent several weekends creating and playing with paper robots. They made so many and came up with each robot’s powers and abilities. Bonus: they got along so well too!

Millie got to have a play date with Vanessa and Gabby, while Max went to Oliver’s house. Pretty fun to just trade kids with one family!

We went to a park and ran/rode bikes around the lake there. We’d never seen these crazy tire swing trees before, but they were fun!

Poppy and Gigi put a beautiful fire pit in their backyard. We got to go over for a s’mores night and it was awesome! 

The kids were so funny. Harvey declared he didn’t want a marshmallow, just the chocolate and graham cracker. Of course, he said this after roasting a marshmallow! And then Max wanted no chocolate, just marshmallow and graham cracker. 

Hazel got impatient sitting in her high chair and somehow learned to wiggle out of the buckled straps.

Can’t even be mad at her!

Max’s spelling is my favorite. 

A little lunchtime batting practice.

We had some beautiful weather.

One of my things to do this year was to clean off the porch... there was bird poop all over from the birds who try to build a nest on our porch each year. I’m determined to keep them away this year!

Reading on the trampoline because he didn’t want to come inside to do his homework. Also notice how wet his little sweaty head is here!

Millie was showing Max how to find 1 Nephi in the scriptures. It was really sweet.

Thanks to Gigi for the huge box - it was a perfect setting for our family night lesson on Nephi building a ship! And coloring and forts and other stuff too.

Max wanted Poke balls incorporated in his 100th day of school shirt... this is what I found on the internet that I could replicate! The buttons didn’t last but it was sure cute for that day.

We hadn’t played with the Marble Works set in a long time and Harvey thought it was pretty great.

We started doing “special time” with the kids. Everyone gets one night a week where they get to stay up 15-20 minutes later than the other kids and have that time with just Mom (and Dad if he was home). Max chooses to play chess every time. And pretty much wins every time too!

Harvey turns 3!

Our Harvey boy turned 3 in November! So crazy that he’s not a squishy little baby anymore. The night before his birthday I was pulling out some winter clothes for him and he wanted to wear these BYU pajamas, which he calls “BIU pajamas.” He put them on and said, “I look adorable!” And it’s true.

And then it was finally his birthday. He’d been asking if it was his birthday yet for a long time so it was fun to finally be able to say it was finally the day. Dad and Millie woke up early and went to grab donuts, which made for one happy birthday boy. He always picks donut holes and I love that about him.

He got to open some presents before the big kids left for school and Dad left for work. From us he got some stomp rockets! They were a hit.

It was a chilly but nice day so we took a ride around the neighborhood in the afternoon. I love this speedy guy.

Tyler came home early from work and Harvey loved having some extra time to play with him.

We went to McDonald’s for dinner at Harvey’s request. Then we came home for his birthday treat, brownies and ice cream. A boy after my own heart. We took turns saying things we love about Harvey.  

Some things about Harvey at 3 years old:

- Harvey is our class clown! He loves to make us all laugh and once he does he will repeat what he’s done again and again. Funny moves, funny words, funny anything. 

- He loves drinks. Harvey’s first request every morning is juice and he asks for “big water” (meaning, a cup all the way full) often. This may be what made potty training him so easy - he got so much practice so easily!

- Harvey plays with cars most often, but he is super easygoing and will play with whatever his siblings (or whoever he is playing with) want.

- He still naps several times a week, but sometimes it makes it hard for him to go to sleep at night. We’re in that weird phase where he doesn’t need a nap all the time but he’s cranky in the evenings without one. But he wins the prize for being our oldest napper so far!

- Harvey just lives his life at full speed. He runs, climbs, jumps, talks, does everything with so much enthusiasm.

Some funny/cute things he has said lately:

- He was slow ending a prayer and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ... of Latter-Day Saints.” It got such a reaction that he will still occasionally say it just for fun. 

- Harvey had the hiccups and prayed, “Please bless my pickups that they’ll stop pickuppin.”

- He says to me several times a day, “You know what Mom? I love you.”

- His favorite Christmas song right now is “Feliz Navidad” but he calls it “Elise Nadidark.” 

We love this boy so much! Happy birthday Harvey!!

Family Pictures 2019

I’m so glad we had these taken. I think if I could freeze each of the kids at these ages, I would. Well, if I were guaranteed a little more sleep! But really, this is such a sweet phase we’re in and I’d love to delay them growing up. But I think part of the sweetness is the potential that lies in each of them, and  the joy that it is to watch them learn and grow. I’m so grateful for each of these sweet kids!

Potty training Harvey

Harvey was very sad when the big kids started school. He really wanted to go and he really missed having playmates at home! So we distracted ourselves with potty training. I’ll be honest, I was really not looking forward to doing this again. I didn’t intentionally do anything different, so I’m not sure why, but it was SO much easier this time. The first morning was really rough, lots of crying and saying “I just can’t do it!” But after a nap something just clicked and he never went back. He got it so quickly! Below is his thumbs up for being a big boy.

He was not interested in the little training potty we used with Millie and Max, so we just went straight to the toilet and he has done great! So thankful it was a better experience this time around, for his sake and mine! Hooray for Harvey!

Beginning of summer fun

Milk drunk.

Another rogue arm. That was a cute little surprise.

We did a summer reading challenge from Everyday Reading (thanks to Sharon for print off the chart for us!) and one of the challenges was to read in a fort. This entertained them for a long time, for which I was very thankful!

Reading in the fort led to making it bigger and bringing in every toy they own and eventually sleeping in it. This is why summer is so great.

Total relaxation. Also, a super cute outfit!

And a cute photobomber haha.

Millie hopped in the baby floatie Gigi got when she was a baby. Had to dig up a picture of her using it as an actual baby. Time is a thief!

So happy to move that baby bump to the outside.

I found this in our library haul and was laughing so hard. Millie eventually admitted that she chose this book because a boy from her class loves John Cena. It was so funny.

Hazel's hair looks curly when it's wet and it's adorable! 

Some sweet snuggles.

A very intense Pokemon battle. Max is super into Pokemon these days.

When you just can't stay awake anymore! I took the pic and then hurried to lay him down so he didn't fall down. So funny.

A terrible picture but I wanted to remember this sweet outfit a friend gave us. Hazel has been one very well dressed baby thanks to sweet friends and family!