Happy Birthday, Blake!

Sweet Blake! How can you possibly be 6 already? You are a light in our lives. I am often amazed at how helpful, loving, and smart you are. You are an excellent reader and a great student. You love being with your cousins, friends and family. You love your uncles. Sometimes when you pray, you say, "Please bless my uncles, and my uncle's families." You are great at creating artwork, especially coloring with markers and using scissors. You have the mind of an inventor and are constantly thinking of ways to improve every day life. Sometimes you think of things that are already invented, which proves that you're full of good ideas, even if you weren't the first to think of it! You like to destroy things...you enjoy smashing small rocks and breaking sticks into lots of pieces. You are great at jigsaw puzzles like your Daddy and you are such a good big brother. I hope that you know how special you are and how much we love you.

We decided to visit the Dinosaur Museum to celebrate Blake's Birthday. I made these cute matching t-shirts for the boys using dinosaur stencils and a little bleach.

Clayton has a hard time saying the word, "Dinosaur," so sometimes it comes out, "Dinards." Here's our two little "Dinards" by a huge Triceratops.

All of Blake's cousins and one friend came to the museum with us.

It is so fun to be close to family.

At one point in the museum, there are huge dinosaur pieces that you can use to Velcro on to a large body and create your own type of dinosaur.

This of course, led the group to a dinosaur battle with the large, soft pieces. (Thanks to Daddy.) We were pretty unruly for the quiet nature of a museum, but the kids were having a great time.

The sand and water tables at the very end kept the kids entertained for a long time.

Afterward, we headed over to a local burger joint for twisty ice-cream cones and presents.

My cute sisters-in-law

Blake got a lot of great presents, but this was the only picture I got because the kids were all so grabby! Blake was pretty excited about his Hot Wheels Dinosaur track, his Dinosaur puzzle, and Optimus Prime Transformer.

Birthday squeezes! or "Too-tights" as Clayton calls them.

"You like 'too-tights' Mommy?'

We went out to Tepanyaki that night with Granny and Papa.

Blake's actual Birthday was on Sunday, so we had Granny and Papa over for dinner...Spaghetti and Meatballs (Blake's choice.) Blake got Battleship and the movie Robots for his Birthday. He really likes his new game, but wasn't thrilled about the movie choice. He told me he didn't really like that movie in a sweet way, though.

A couple weeks before the party, the boys came down with bad coughs/colds which inevitably was passed on to Warren and me. I was so sick and having the hardest time recovering. I was exhausted and I knew it was turning into a sinus infection. All parts of my head were throbbing, my nose and ears were completely plugged and nothing I did seemed to help much. I asked Warren and Miles to give me a blessing that night so I could get better. I was able to get on antibiotics the next afternoon and it made a world of difference! I was mostly better within a week. The Friday before Blake's party, I was really sick and I couldn't stop crying which only made my congestion worse. I finally sent out an S.O.S. email to Claudia and she came to the rescue that night. She slept over, got up with Clayton early in the morning and got the boys out of my hair the entire next day so I could sleep. I am not one who likes to beg for help very often, but it was SO appreciated to have my plea answered so quickly.