Happy Birthday Madden!

I absolutely cannot believe my sweet little baby is 1 today. This first year FLEW by. It really seems as though he should still be cuddling up on my chest for naps, not climbing the stairs to destroy his siblings' bedrooms.

Madden, we are totally in love with you. You are such a fun baby. You have such a sunny disposition and the CUTEST smile. Your little curls on the back of your head are so adorable. You melt my heart a dozen times a day. Since you are probably our last baby, I love every moment I get with you.

Right now you love to play with cars and trucks. You even make the sounds as you push them across the floor. You love to empty the dishwasher and kitchen cupboards. You love going up and down the stairs. You get so excited when Daddy gets home and you love to hear yourself "talk". Happy Birthday Mads! We love you!

Birthday highlights: stomach flu. You and McCoy spent the night throwing up and are slow going today. We're hoping you may try your cake tonight.

Birthday dinner: Ham and beans, cornbread, chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream.

Happy Birthday Wyatt!

It's hard to believe my little boy is 9 today. I know I keep saying this, but where did the time go? It seems like only yesterday he was scooting on his bum across my living room floor. Now he's a tall young man with freckles and beautiful copper colored hair.

Wyatt, I love you so much. You are an amazing boy. You have an unshakeable faith in the Gospel. I am always amazed at how sensitive you are to the Spirit. You are always true to who you are. You are a deep thinker and need to understand everything around you. You are a loyal friend and brohter. You're little brothers look up to you so much. I know Heavenly Father has great things in store for you.

Thank you Wyatt for joining our family. You are truley loved by the 7 of us. I hope all of your birthday wishes come true.

Birthday dinner: maple glazed ham, homemade bread, freezer corn and jello. For desseret: pumpkin passion and Moose Tracks ice cream

Birthday highlights: lunch with Dad, doughnuts for an afterschool treat ( I never give them doughnuts), watching Rio, birthday pancakes for breakfast

Not our best Sacrament meeting

Every Sunday is a gamble..how long will it take before Madden takes off under the pews, will the kids be quiet enough for me to hear at least part of a talk, will anything be thrown into our neighboring pews, you get the idea. Well today's action wasn't even on my radar.

My friend had asked if his children could sit with us because he had to speak and his wife was out of town. So against by better judgement, we sat in a middle pew (we always sit in a side pew so I can contain them better and we're in Tyson's line of view).

I was sitting at one end of the pew and the nine kids (my 6 plus the Hurst boys) were lined up all the way down to the other end. About 30 minutes into the meeting I was congratulating myself on how well we were doing when I heard a noise that caused me to look down to the other end. OH. MY. HECK. Coleman was on top of McCoy wrestling him! Seriously. McCoy was laying down with his legs hanging into the aisle and Coleman was laying on him squeezing his head. I "jumped" up but not before they rolled off the pew and hit the floor, all the while never letting go of eachother. At that point everyone noticed them and Wyatt pulled Coleman off. Needless to say the Spirit I was feeling was replaced by the spirit of "I'm going to kill these two."

I could have sworn our stake president said we would be blessed with the Spirit while Tyson served as Bishop. Really? Really?

What in the world?!

McCoy made up a song he loves to sing and dance to. He does it all the time. It begins with, "the size of your armpits are so annoying." Crazy, huh? Well, last night he came down from his shower and tells me he has a new song. He then proceeds to sing me a song that begins with," shaving your armpits is so much fu-un." What? Apparently while showering in my bathroom he decided it would be fun to use my razor and shave his armpits, arms and cheeks. He though he was pretty cool. Obviously he's not quite ready to shower by himself :)

Any minute now...

Just waiting for the police to show up and ticket us for violating the noise ordinance. OH. MY. HECK. My children have turned into raving lunatics.

A day at the park

It has been soooo beautiful over the last 2 weeks. We've loved being outside. The other day the kids and I decided to go for a hike and picnic at the park. We loaded up and headed out to enjoy the day. It really was a gorgeous day. McCoy took this pic. Pretty good.

Be nice about this pic. I didn't do my hair and have no make-up on.

Here's all the kiddos in the slide. They loved doing pile-ups. Of course, Madden was just added for the pic :)

Day at the zoo

We went to the Potawotami Zoo for McCoy's birthday. We had a lot of fun. Coleman especially loved roaring at the lions, that is until they roared back. At that point he was clinging to the back of my legs :) We all liked the new otter exhibit and the train ride. It was a fun morning.