Birthday and Anniversary

So, the last week has been a little crazy. Lots of stuff going on and lots to do so this has really been my first chance to post.

Hyrum turned 6 years old on the 28th and Jay and I celebrated our 7 year Anniversary on the 29th. For Hyrum's birthday we invited all the family and the Frank's over for cake and ice cream on Sunday. It was great to have (almost) everyone here and Hyrum absolutely loved having all his cousins there to play with.

For presents he got a new PS2 game, Bolt, from Grandma and Grandpa Stephens, Uno and a light saber from the Henry's, a handmade library bag from Grammy Lemon, a notebook and some cool two-sided colored pencils from the Frank's, Playdough from the Turley's, a slide for the backyard from the Dave Blair family, Sour Patch Kids from the Kolz's, and we got him some new art supplies, a kite, and Pinocchio. He was so excited about all the presents and I was impressed with his manners and saying thank you to everyone with little help from me.

When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday he was adamant that he wanted a blueberry cake. I looked online for a possible recipe and almost all of them were more of a coffee cake than a birthday cake. So, I improvised. I used the same recipe I have for strawberry cake from scratch and substituted everything strawberry for blueberry. It turned out pretty good and was a very pretty blue color. Hyrum was really excited to have it be blue and I put a Spiderman stuck in his web on top for some fun. I also made chocolate cupcakes so we'd be sure to have enough cake for everyone.

He had an absolute blast and was talking about it still the next day. I'm so grateful we have family and friends. We are so blessed! Thanks everyone for coming and helping make Hyrum's birthday extra special!

I do want to take a quick minute here at the end and say how much I absolutely love my not-so-little oldest boy. He brings such joy in my life and amazes me with what he learns and knows and does every day. He adds so much to our family and I can't imagine it without him in it! I love you to the moon and back, Hyrum!

Control Freak

So, I realize I'm a little bit of a control freak. Especially in the kitchen... especially when I'm baking.  If Jay tries to hug and/or kiss me while I'm in the middle of baking something I have to try really hard not to get annoyed, but usually just try to brush him off and tell him I'm in the middle of something.  My biggest pet peeve (which is unfortunate for my kids) is taking fingerfulls of batter of whatever I happen to be making while I'm still adding things to it.  I've mostly put a stop to this by telling them if they don't sneak a taste they can have a spoonful at the end when it will taste the best anyway.  And that seems to put the itchy fingers at bay for the most part.  Tonight Maddy helped me make brownies from scratch (per Jay's request). She LOVES to help and as much as I'd rather just do it myself, I do enjoy the bonding moments and learning experiences for her.  A lot of my best memories growing up are from baking in the kitchen with my mom and my older sister. So, I try to get the control freak part of me under, well, control and let my kids help me so they can have similar memories.  Off to enjoy a fresh from the oven brownie!

Nightmares

So, the last three nights in a row Hyrum has woken up crying from nightmares. I will go down and calm him down and lay with him to make sure he is settled in and can go back to sleep ok. Tonight when he woke up I was just headed to the bathroom, so I didn't make it down to his room as quickly as I usually would. When I made it down he asked if I heard him and said "calm me down, Mom." I do what I normally do to calm him down and talk to him and trace his face with my fingers (I remember my dad doing this to me when I was little and still love for him to do it). After he had calmed down some he said to me "I'm feeling better now, Mom because I'm thinking of you. When I think of you it makes me happy." He totally melted my heart! I sure do love that boy!