Jaden's 6th Birthday

Jaden turned 6 last week and we spent several days celebrating. Jaden's teacher was going to be gone on his real birthday so he wanted me to bring treats in the day before. At first he said that he just wanted Mrs B to be there, but later told me he was worried that the sub wouldn't know where the pretend cake was in the classroom. So we kicked off his birthday a day early, might as well spread the sugar out a little anyway.

On Friday, Jaden's actual birthday, was our stake's father/son camp out. Jaden got home from school and only had about an hour at home before he loaded up in the car and took off with the boys. He wanted to open all this presents right then, but we really didn't have time and we needed to have something for him to do at his family party on Sunday. He did get to open one gift from his Grandpa and Grandma Holt, who got to come up and spend the weekend with us.

Jaden has been talking about having a friends party all year long so even though I wasn't looking forward to it we let him have one. It ended up being really fun, but it wore me out!

In the past I have always made the kids a pinata for their birthday, but this year I decided to go for the store bought version. It was a busy week and I didn't have a lot of extra time to make one, and I figured that the kids were getting big enough they would need a stronger pinata than the ones I make. I was wrong about the needing a stronger one. I didn't think those poor kids were ever going to break that thing open. In fact I think Scott had to end up tearing it open for them. I guess I'll go back into the business for the next birthday.

Just when we were about to open presents some crazy guy showed up and tried to steal the presents off the table. I had warned the kids to be on the lookout and to spray webs (silly string) all over him like spiderman. The kids loved it, but it got them so excited that I started to lose control of them at that point. Good thing they were about to go home.

On Sunday we had a family party for Jaden where he was finally able to open the rest of his presents. His final gift to open was new underpants (which he was surprisingly not too upset about) after that I handed him a little paper with a clue on it. He had to follow the clues that eventually led him to find a new bike. It is a little big for him, but he was been riding it around all week like a champ.

Is he making a wish or saying a prayer?!

Cannnon has had a busy week. All in one day he learned to crawl, pull himself up on things and mimic his brothers. He is still just as happy as ever and we are all in love with his infectious grin.

The bigger boys started up soccer and love it! Logan physically can keep up playing with all the older kids, but tends to lose attention quicker than the others. At practice last night he kept pulling his shorts up all the way to make the others laugh. That's our Logan. According to their coach (Scott) Jaden is by far a notch above all the other kids on the team. He has a lot of natural ability and we are looking forward to watching him progress over the years. We couldn't possibly be biased could we?

Cannon is happy to sit on the sidelines and watch. He absolutely adores his big brothers.

Easter

Our ward had a Easter activity on Saturday. Jaden and Logan enjoyed hunting for eggs while Cannon had a great time playing with their baskets after they were done.

I looked away for a second in which time Cannon managed to swipe a cupcake from a kid sitting nearby.

The Easter bunny found our house again this year!

After church we headed over to Grandpa and Grandma Hatfield's house for a yummy dinner and egg hunt. Aunt Heather did a wonderful job filling the eggs with goodies!

Both Jaden and I weren't feeling well on Easter so we never ended up getting a picture. I tried to make up for it yesterday, but I think I probably should have waited until after haircuts. This is the longest Jaden's hair has ever been in his life!

Fishing

The boys have been fishing several times this spring and are turning out to be awesome fishermen. There is a small lake nearby that only kids can fish in and they recently stocked it full of fish. Grandpa Hatfield has been teaching them all his tricks and they have come home successful each time.

Basketball

The boys recently finished up another round of basketball down at the YMCA. Logan didn't get to play in the fall due to his broken collar bone and the fact that we thought 3 was too young to play, but since he loves basketball so much we signed him up this spring. Both Logan and Jaden loved every minute of it. Scott coached both of their teams and found out quickly that coaching 3/4 year olds was much harder than the 5/6 year olds. It didn't help that there were 14 kids on Logan's team! It was pretty hilarious to watch kids that little try to dribble the ball and shoot hoops. Logan scored 2 or 3 baskets each game which pretty amazing compared to most the kids.

Jaden was a pretty good ball player in the fall, but was even better this spring. He scored 16 points in his first game and did almost as well in each game after that. Having both boys play made for very long nights and I wasn't sorry to see the season end. The boys will start soccer in a few weeks, but this time we are making Logan play with Jaden in the 5/6 year old league.

The big 3-0!

When I have a birthday I like to celebrate all week long and I have been blessed with a wonderful husband who allows me to have a birthday week instead of just a day. We kicked it off with a little party with Scott's parents who were in town for the weekend. Scott and I were gone for few hours to attend a funeral of our friend's 23 month old daughter (super sad) and when we got home Grandpa and Grandma Holt had helped the kids decorate the house with balloons, streamers and signs. I'm really not sure why but somehow in our house party=basketball so all my boys had jerseys on over there pjs.

On my actual birthday we had a nice party over at my parents house. I was spoiled rotten, so much so that I might just need to turn 30 again next year.

The best part about having a birthday as an adult is while opening presents all the kids flock to you.

Even Cannon got in on the action!

Scott did an awesome job making a cake all by himself for me.

In other non-birthday news...Cannon just keeps getting cuter and cuter! He loves to be involved with whatever the bigger boys are doing. He is 8 months old now and shows zero interest in learning how to crawl. He can get to where he wants to by rolling and honestly gets carried around by mom most of the day anyway. With Jaden and Logan it seems like I was always eager to see them progress and move on the next step, but with Cannon I think I have been trying to keep him a baby for as long as I can.

Beware - long post!

I used to be really good about writing in my journal. I love going back and reading over things I wrote and remembering the small details of my life. Then I had kids and I suddenly didn't have the time or energy to write things down like I used to. Once I got out of the habit of writing it got really hard to get back into the habit because every time I went to write something I would have to catch up on all the big events and all the fun small stuff would get left out and what I end up with is a fairly boring list of what was going on. I feel like the same thing has happened with my blog. I no longer post about out day to day activities but rather toss up a few pictures with a small explanation...boring right?!

Since printing my blog into book form is on my "to do at some point" list I feel like I at least need to write more about my kids, since let's be honest I'm not doing it in my personal journal or heaven forbid in their baby books. So if you feel up to it grab a snack and get comfortable because my kids are awesome and I love to talk about them!

JADEN (5 1/2 years)-

I love Jaden, he is the perfect big brother. He loves to talk to us about his brothers or just life in general like he is one of the adults. Jaden will shake his head and shrug his shoulders when Logan is being crazy and he is doing pretty well at perfecting the eye roll. As of late he has been a little more sassy and defiant, but he still has plenty of hall monitor left in him. He will tell me all about the kids who get in trouble on the playground or who doesn't obey the teachers just to make the other kids laugh.

Jaden loves school, his favorite part being PE and recess when the weather is nice (he does not like it to go out when it is cold since it's too hard to play b-ball or climb with gloves on). He is reading well and is excellent with numbers. At a recent parent/teacher conference he received high marks on everything except when it came to talking to his neighbors and remembering to raise his hand. He is a little chatterbox! The other day he had to stay inside for part of recess because he was talking too much. Jaden said "I'm just like dad, talking all the time" (which is very true).

Jaden just last week lost his first tooth. It was a little loose but the permanent tooth was starting to come in behind it so Grandpa said it had to come out in the next day or two or else the permanent one would come in funny. I didn't have the heart to try to pull his tooth out myself so I made my dad do it, he is a dentist after all. I was worried about his pain tolerance and what he would do when he saw blood, but the boy didn't even flinch he had his eye set on the prize ($$$ from the tooth fairy). The next morning I think his exact words were "Jackpot!" He then put his money in his skiing money jar. I mentioned maybe putting some in his missionary bank, but he informed me that he puts all dollar bills in his skiing fund but all the little money for his mission.

Jaden's favorite color recently changed from blue to red and his favorite food is white shells (that's right Pasta-roni). His favorite pastimes are riding his scooter and playing basketball. He can tie his own shoes and just started styling his own hair. He combs and gels is up, Jaden told me "this is the way the Ditto boys do their hair". It makes me sad to see how fast he is growing up, but it's also exciting to see how mature he is. Jaden is very aware of what goes on around him and is a deep thinker. He'll come up with a solution to any problem and gives sincere answers to questions.

The missing tooth!

Jaden made this reindeer hat for Logan the other day at school.

LOGAN (3 years) -

Our little Logie Bogie has made some major strides in the past month or two. He is definitely a daddy's boy still, but at least I can get him to go back to bed now once he wakes up and realizes that his dad has left for work. Of course he still cries for 5 minutes first, but it used to be a solid half hour. Logan is wild and crazy and we are surprised that he has only had one broken bone so far in his short 3 years.

Logan's favorite colors are blue, green, yellow and orange. He is in a "no girls allowed" phase and recently tried to exclude me from our family hug. Logan will eat just about anything as long as it is dipped in ranch. He loves to write and usually has a pen and paper on hand. He is a smart boy but you have to catch him when he isn't paying attention to see actually see how much he knows. If you ask him to count he'll mess up after a few numbers and start laughing. He loves to tease and make people laugh so we seldom get a serious answer from him.

Logan's current obsession is basketball. He wears a jersey and shorts 24/7. We have to put his pants and a shirt on over his basketball clothes whenever we leave the house which he promptly removes the minute we get to to our destination. He takes his basketball with him everywhere, by far his favorite Christmas gift! Scott has taught him about BYU basketball so Logan now talks about Jimmer all the time.

We love our Logie!

I had asked Logan to get ready to pick Jaden up from school, this is what he came up with.

This was one of those "Hey Mom take my picture" moments.

CANNON (7 month) -

By far Cannon has been my easiest baby, he is happy all the time! People are always asking me if he ever doesn't smile. He is so easy going and loves to be entertained by his big brothers. I feel like I am enjoying this baby stage more now than with the other boys, probably because I realize now how fast they transition into big kids.

Cannon's current tricks include sitting up by himself, clapping his hand, clicking his tongue and waving bye-bye. He can get to just about wherever he wants by rolling, but is still not a fan of being on his tummy so he hasn't shown any interest in crawling yet.

I love that he loves his mama, it won't be long before he ditches me for his dad. Cannon has gotten away with being nursed and rocked to sleep during the night longer than his older brothers were. I know we need to let him cry it out before too long so he learns to fall asleep on his own, but I have really been enjoying my time snuggling with him. I'm in love with this boy!

Scott (30 years) -

No reason not to say a few things about my biggest boy. Scott is one of those people who is just amazing at whatever he does. He is very determined and a hard worker, therefore he is very successful. People often ask him how his job is going and he humbly says "oh pretty well," but he truly is awesome at his job. He has far surpassed all the goals and expectations the company has set up.

Scott loves basketball just like his boys. A favorite family activity is to watch him play on the church team. It has been fun to watch Scott transition over the past few years in how he plays basketball. Now that he knows that his children are watching him he has mellowed out a ton while playing and isn't nearly as aggressive as he used to be - that being said he is still the best one on the team :)

If I were to ask Scott his favorite color he probably would say pink just so that Jaden and Logan would die of embarrassment for him. He loves to tease the kids. I often have to remind him that he doesn't have to wait until the kids cry before he stops teasing them. Scott is an amazing, involved father!

We spent last weekend up at Camp Zarahemla