Hat Day

It was hat day at school and Ali came downstairs with one for Jake too; this baby gets left out of nothing around here!

First Birthday Party!

Since we had so much family in town we decided to celebrate Jake's 1st birthday a couple of weeks early on Easter. If you're keeping track that means we had out-of-town guests, a baptism, a family birthday party for Ali and Logan, Easter, and a family birthday party for Jake all in two days! It sounds a bit overwhelming, but it was all just so much fun and surprisingly not stressful at all!

Jake had LOTS of help opening all of his super-fun gifts!

He was very interested in these cupcakes:

And he was so anxious to eat one that he put out the candle with his hand...and there were no tears! I was amazed that with all the noise, people, and excitement he was so relaxed and calm, but that is, after all, the way he is most of the time!

It was sure fun celebrating this wonderful little boy. We're sure glad he's ours.

Baptism Day

March 26 was a long-awaited, happy, wonderful day: Ali and Logan were baptized! They have been so excited for this day and it was everything a great day should be. They were dressed in their Sunday best (Ali in the dress Grandma Quillen made her and Logan in his handsome new suit) by about 7am that morning even though the baptism wasn't until 1pm, and I think they grinned all day long. 

Ready to go!

We were blessed to have Grandma and Grandpa Quillen, Grandma Eldredge, Uncle Todd and cousin Jeremy all fly in for the occasion.

Cousins!

And one of all the family including Amy Amy, Uncle Steve, and cousins Paige, Ethan and Emily.

Jason and I are so proud of the people Ali and Logan are growing up to be. We love them and are blessed to be their parents.

Crafts

Eli sure loves crafts. I sure love him.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the two cutest, smartest, kindest, funnest, silliest, most wonderful eight-year-olds in the world! Thank you two for making me a mom, one of my favorite things to be!

All the Kids

This is happening more and more: ALL my kids playing together)

Happy Birthday Parties

We almost have two eight-year-olds! If that's not a reason to celebrate, I don't know what is! We had a birthday party double-header again, with Ali's party in the morning and Logan's in the afternoon. Ali and her friends went to play at Sky Zone, a trampoline park (her cake is supposed to be a trampoline and she drew pictures of her friends "jumping" on it), and then home for cake and presents. Logan and his friends went to play laser tag (his cake is supposed to be full of laser beams), and then home for cake and presents too. It was an awesome day to celebrate two truly awesome kids! 

Logan and Jake

I don't have many pictures of Logan and Jake because Logan doesn't feel comfortable holding him, but don't let that fool you; Logan plays with Jake ALL THE TIME, just from a distance, and is the one that can get him to laugh the easiest.  

Happy Play

My older kids go in cycles of happily playing together and maddeningly tormenting each other. Thankfully, right now we're in a happy play cycle. In these moments I'll often point out how much fun they're having and how nice our home feels, to which they reply, "Yeah, yeah, mom." They spent almost a whole Sunday playing Animal Rescue in Ali's room:

We're trying to sell our old couches and in the meantime we have four in the front room, leading to all sorts of fun. Even Jake got in on the action here--see him?

Please let this cycle last for a long time!

Boxes

Someone is learning early the joy of a good box.

Minecraft

Like every other kid his age, Logan loves Minecraft. And if I'd known how motivating it would be for him I would have happily bought it for him sooner!

Grandpa Quillen

My dad came for a quick weekend visit a couple weeks after Jason got called into our new ward's Bishopric to ordain Jason a High Priest. We loved having him here and were grateful he made the time for us during a very busy month for him!

Sitting

Someone has learned to sit himself up...guess it's time to lower his crib! He still doesn't crawl (at 11 months!) but this week he has started scooting himself around on his bum; it's the cutest mode of transportation ever!

Fire Station

Eli had a field trip to the fire station and I got to go as his date:) The Firemen gave a great tour and we had fun!