Tyler's in the double digits now

My amazing Tyler turned 10 on January 13th! He's so much fun to have around! He tries to be as goofy as possible, sometimes in wrong situations, but he's such a card it's hard to get mad at him. Will was in Seattle for Tyler's birthday so he ended up with quite a few nights of celebration to make up for Will being gone. On Tuesday we went out to eat at Franks with Mom and Dad then we came back to the house to hang out for a while. On Thursday Mom and Dad took us out to McDonald's for dinner (totally unexpected) and I had purchased some mini chocolate chip muffins from Costco to give him a little birthday celebration that night. He got a couple small gifts from his brothers that night, too. It was a lot of fun!


I made his birthday cake Saturday night so we could have it for the Sunday whole family celebration. Well, Will and Logan ended up getting sick on Sunday so we postponed the celebration for Monday at lunch time since it was MLK Jr day and there wasn't any school or work for the men. Tyler kept asking for Nintendo DS games for his gifts, well, I had something else in store since he had grown out of his bike he got 3 years ago...I think he was pretty happy with his gift! :) We had a great day and lots of wonderful small days of celebration. He is one special kid!!

10 Reasons I love Ty:
1. His sense of humor
2. His desire to the best he possibly can
3. How he wants to take on more responsibility
4. How he can remember whatever he chooses to remember
5. His sensitivity
6. He follows examples very closely, so it keeps me on my guard to speak with a kind voice always (at least I try)
7. His understanding of the gospel and desire to choose the right
8. He loves having friends and feeling loved by them
9. How much he loves being so close to his Gramma and Grampa
10. His desire to please the Lord

I love you so much Tyler!!!!

Thank you for serving our country

Yesterday we went to Staples to recycle some printer ink cartridges (so I can get $2 for each one in Staples savings for my next cartridges). We were up near the counter and Kaleb was kind of hanging close to this gentleman in Army fatigues and I asked him what he was doing. He said, "I'm kind of nervous to tell him thank you for serving our country." I looked at him in utter amazement and said, "Well then, just go do it before he leaves." So he did! The gentleman seemed a little taken aback and said it was his pleasure and he wouldn't have it any other way. He said thank you to Kaleb for saying that to him. My son makes me soooo proud to be a mom. I remember mentioning to the boys to do that to a group of Army members quite a while ago when we were in a store. No one was able to before the group was gone. That he would remember how important it is to be thankful for their service to help keep us safe brings tears to my eyes! That's my boy!

Then, last night I had Kaleb watch the boys while I went to the Temple. I had 2 neighbors on call for emergency situations, just in case. Everything went smoothly and the house was standing when I got home. Then as he was hugging me goodnight I told him I had money for him and he said I didn't need to pay him. I just asked him why and he said that a scout is willing to serve without any monetary reward. :) Ah, doesn't he just melt your heart?!! I payed him anyway, because he is soooo awesome! I love him and every day he makes me more and more proud to be his mother here on Earth!

A few things about me...It's amazing what one summer can do to you! I think the stress of everything that has gone on is catching up to me.  The one thing I do have to say is that stairs in a house are a very good thing for someone who is trying to get off a few pounds.  I'm starting to get back down to my comfortable area in weight.  It's the laundry I have to do day in and day out...the washer and dryer are downstairs and all bedrooms are upstairs. Yikes.
Also included is a picture of all the charts we've put together for the boys to remember our rules and rewards and consequences for breaking and/or keeping those rules.
The Strike is something just recently added.  They get a strike when a tantrum (rolling eyes, stomping, slamming doors, mimicking, yelling back) occur when they are told to do something (or stop doing something). Once they have 3 strikes in 1 day they lose all priviledges for the rest of the day...TV, computer, playing with friends, video games, etc.  It's not often that they have 3 strikes in one day, but it has happened.  There are times we adjust the loss of items to longer than 1 day, depending on when the infraction occurred and how bad it was.  This is something I learned from our own little town paper in a parenting advice column.  It's something the Psychologist recommended doing, since it worked for him.  It's helped a lot, and the boys like to see no strikes at the end of the day (as do we).  With 4 boys in the house the craziness is enough to send a person over the edge.  These rules help keep a bit more order to our crazy lives!