8 is Great! (for making a parent feel old)

Porter turned 8 just 5 days after Jane's b-day. It was a party week! This is an especially significant birthday for him because he will be getting baptized and we are so proud of his choice to do this. But more on that later. Porter is turning into such a responsible and helpful oldest child and I need to do better at appreciating the wonderful boy he is. He loves taking care of Adam and is endlessly creative. We celebrated after school with homemade chick-fil-a sandwiches and Muna and Papa came over for presents and cake.

At the end of the week he got to invite a few friends for a party. Getting boys together is always a little crazy and it seems the older they get, the level of crazy doesn't go down, the bodies just get bigger. So we're already thinking up alternatives for next year. They had fun tho:)

3 years old

Jane turned 3 in September! It really seems like she should still be my baby, not a growing toddler! And she is quite the spunky little thing. I'm not sure if she scowls or smiles more often. She claims that her favorite color is pink, but other than that she loves boy things. In fact the other night we were watching a movie at a friend's house which she had no interest in. Instead she found a giant wooden gun with blank round belt on it to carry around a shoot for most of the evening-that's my 'girl'. She loves to change her clothes, make silly faces at baby Adam and write in little notebooks. She chose cookie cereal for breakfast and mac and cheese for her b-day dinner. She also had a fun time putting all the marshmallows on her pink cake. We love Janie!

Jane has talked about a pink computer for months-what she really wanted was a laptop like daddy and to be able to find cool things to watch and play on the internet, but this will have to do for about 10 more years:)

A birthday ride on Daddy

First Day of School

We have a new kindergartner at our house and he was WAY excited to go to school! Our school is doing a new program in kindergarten called a staggered start where only half of each kinder class comes the first day and the other half goes the second day, then they have their whole class attend the 3rd day (and every day after that). Andrew was assigned to go the second day...which made that first day VERY LONG but he made it and now we're sinking into a routine of getting half the children in this house out to the bus each morning. The other bus-stop moms have now seen almost my entire pajama wardrobe. Andrew however, is the first one up every morning-gets dressed (except when he wears his next day's clothes to bed the night before so he doesn't have to change in the morning??? Maybe I should try that:-) and even gets himself breakfast most of the time. Here are a few pics from the big day(s).







As for me, it has been a lot easier on the emotions letting this one go since school isn't such a great unknown anymore, and since Andrew has no reservations-just big smiles and excitement. Yay for school!

Jane

What to say about Jane...this little girl keeps us on our toes! She has made it clear that she can hold her own among 3 brothers. Her puppy phase has subsided, but she still loves to change into dinosaur jammies and the Darth Vader or iron man costume periodically. Her favorite activity is jumping-she jumps on and off of everything. She's also developed a dislike for...just about everyone. For about the last month she has started frowning at most people-family, friends and strangers alike and sometimes even points to them and loudly announces "I don't yike him/her!" much to our embarrassment. Needless to say, we have a lot of conversations about how being mean makes other people feel and hopefully one of these days our conversations will sink in (cross your fingers!). Jane is also tremendously entertaining, a delightful contrast to what I've already shared. Sometimes I will tell her to do something and she will respond that she can't because she is 'star command' (from Toy Story). Gotta love this girl!

Isn't this what everyone wears outside in 90 humid degrees??

My trying to be mad face

Happy Jane!

Nothin' like a gooey indoor s'more!

This was 20 minutes before church, during lunch. It's tiring being two!

Andrew

Andrew is getting too big! He will be going to school this Fall as a kindergartener and I don't know if I'm ready for another big kid yet! At this age, Porter was into drawing and art, but Andrews passion is playing games. I haven't been able to beat him very often in checkers for almost 2 years now. He also loves monopoly, yahtzee, uno, battleship, bingo and a host of other games. We definitely get our fill daily!

A funny story about Andrew is one day when he was torturing Jane's doll, he wrapped it's legs around the head. Then he asked me, "what if people could do this Mom?" The next thing I know he's on the couch in the same position and we all start laughing. Funny thing is, we went visiting teaching a short time later and this nice older sister lets the kids watch cartoons while we visit. During the conversation she turns to Andrew to ask a question and he's sitting in this same position, mesmerized by the cartoon, so not only does he not answer but the way he's sitting sets everyone into hysterics again because honestly, how can that really be comfortable?

Recently while riding his scooter, Andrew had a run in with the handlebar of a kid twice his size and this is what it did to his helmet. Luckily he was knocked onto the grass and not the pavement otherwise he would have had a lot than just a headache. I hate to think where he'd be if he hadn't been wearing a helmet. We're just glad he was-love you Andrew!

Porter

Since the camera has been kind of obsessed with Adam lately, I thought I'd do an update post about each of the other kids too:)

Porter finished up a great year in 2nd grade. We have just loved each of his teachers so far and he has gotten quite attached to them. Porter is my tender hearted boy and has come home both of the last 2 years on the last day of school with a few tears because he will miss seeing his teacher 5 days a week. Last year he even wished that his teacher (not me) could be his real mom. As a mother I am of course thankful that he has had good experiences-I think that makes for enhanced learning. Unfortunately for him he's stuck with me for a few more years...well maybe eternity:-)

We got to attend an awards assembly toward the end of the year where Porter was presented with this medal for running the most miles out of all the boys in his class. This was a new talent that we discovered about Porter...and has spurred some racing contests on FHE nights.

Porter is also the creative and often silly ringleader of the Kulbeth circus. He's always turning toys or household items or the recycle trash into some store, adventure, or contest and has the other two playing right along.

This is a giant flag cookie that Porter frosted for dessert when we had some frineds over recently. We love our Porter!

Baby Chuba-lubs

Our baby has come a long way since his chicken leg days a few short months ago. Here is a peek! (not sure what's up with the orientation of these pics-it's right on my computer files-technology-gotta love it!!)








None of us can get enough of Adam's cuteness! Babies seem to bring a feeling into a home like nothing else can. I think I'm going to be sad when my 'baby' days are done.

May

This month started off with blessing our sweet little man Adam. He was such a good boy and Aaron gave a beautiful blessing. Many of his family that live in the northern Virginia area attended as well as my parents and GG Smyth. We certainly felt the blessing of family as we joined for this special occasion. After church, everyone came over for some food and mingling and I could kick myself for not taking one single picture with the extended family!!


These are the beautiful flowers that my Mom bought and planted for me for a Mother's day. My Mom is seriously like the most thoughtful energizer bunny ever! She didn't stop working and playing and loving the whole time she was here to help. She is my greatest example and I love her a ton!



And the last but not least exciting part of our month was catching 2 groundhogs that have been plagueing us since before we moved in 2 years ago. They have excavated all the way underneath our front porch steps, eaten most of my garden last year and burrowed countless other holes all over our back and front yards. They think they own the neighborhood (because they have many other holes at our neighbors' houses as well)! The one 'job' that my Mom gave my Dad while they were here was to get a trap, so he ordered it online from some animal loving website, but they flew home before we caught anything. I think the groundhogs were a little suspicious at first b/c we didn't see hide nor hair of them for a whole week after we put the trap out, and usually there are daily sightings. But then they took the bait. We caught one a week after putting the cage out and the next one the next day. Aaron's mom and sister came over to get in on the fun of releasing our long time 'friends' into the wilderness at a park several miles and shopping complexes away. Those were some happy days and now we can start filling up those holes...for good!

Easter

There is something refreshing about having a baby in the spring. Maybe because there are so many new things going on outside too. Every time we have a baby I am reminded so clearly and lovingly that the purpose of this life directly revolves around families. In an article in this month's Ensign, it says that the family is the closest thing to a celestial model we have hear on earth. That really hit me because I think I need the most improvement within our family. I'm so grateful for the Gospel and a loving Savior who has given His life to help us be better.

As far as our festivities went, the kids had fun coloring eggs of course.



Adam even got in on the action:)

...while on the other end of the table Daddy had fun saudering? Yes, always our project man.

Sunday was also a special day with Grandma and Grandpa Smyth here. We figured out that it has been 12 years since I have been with my parents on Easter, so it really was a treat for me.



It was a very relaxing day. After church, we ate a yummy ham dinner and did an egg hunt outside for the kids. This year we did more money and less candy which worked really well since they are still thrilled with pennies, nickels and dimes.