Keeping Up With the Joneses

So after more than 3 years of being sure we were done having kids--we aren't! We decided to jump right in and at an early ultrasound (barely over 12 weeks), the tech was positive its another boy. Marshall and the boys are absolutely thrilled and I'm getting used to the idea of being the only girl in this family permanently. I'm already in love with this little boy and don't know how I'm going to wait 6 more months to meet him!

I always like to take a minute on my kids' birthday and record the special things about them. It isn't hard to think of all the many reasons Myles is such a sweet kid. He has a very different temperament than the other boys. On the one hand, he loses his temper very quickly and gets angry very quickly. On the other hand, he is the most cuddly and compassionate kid I can imagine. The boy is just so smart and energetic that it takes a lot to keep him entertained, but once you find something he can play with it for hours.  For a while we were having trouble with Myles in primary. His teacher always told me that he wasn't the ring-leader, but if one of the other EIGHT 5-year-olds in the class were misbehaving, he would join in. We had a talk about being a good example and developed a reward system. For the last month we've asked his teacher to give him a rating out of 10 for behavior, and if he gets an 8 he gets a free turn on Monopoly (one of his passions), if h...

Yesterday was Myles' 6th birthday and he decided he wanted a China party. His obsession with China started about 3 years ago when he watched Big Bird Goes to China obsessively. Since then he has learned many Chinese words and phrases and insists he wants to learn Chinese (so he is going to a Chinese Immersion school next year). Here are some pictures from his party. This was the invitation. He wanted the entire invitation in Chinese and it took me a while to convince him his friends wouldn't be able to read it. So instead I found a good Chinese font. We rolled up the invitations into scrolled, tied with gold ribbon, and attached a tag with his friends' names written in Chinese.  A friend who used to live in China had a few boxes of Chinese clothes, decorations, etc. One of the outfits fit Myles perfectly and so he got to look like a cute little Chinese boy for his party.  Myles and his buddy Ari (Hannah's son) For some reason he thought he was dressed as...

I realized I haven't posted for a while and want to keep the momentum going. So, here are a few random pics from the last couple of weeks. Mason is really into hiking and was disappointed he couldn't go backpacking with daddy and the scouts last weekend. I found this smaller pack at Costco and decided to get it to see if it would fit. He still needs to grow about 10 more inches around the waist before it will work! Myles has had a few times being naughty in primary and lately we have resorted to bribing him. If his teacher rates him a 10/10 he gets a special treat. This time he chose homemade cotton candy. Totally worth it! Max was very excited last week when he noticed daddy getting his tools ready to go to Aunt Nicole's to fix stuff in her house. He ran and got his hard hat and tools, put on his shoes, and was about ready to head to the car in his pajamas. When he realized he couldn't go he was very upset, but spent the morning at our house "fixin...

Two weeks ago my grandpa Goates passed away at the age of 92. Marshall and I left the kids with their grandma in Delta (fortunately it was Spring Break) and went up to Idaho for the funeral. I'll always remember the twinkle in his eye. My dad and at least Myles have it as well. They can not tell a lie or tease without it giving them away.  He and my my grandma were married for 65-or-so years.  We very rarely see the cousins on the Goates side (with the exception of Christina). In fact, the last time was our Grandma's funeral three years ago, and I can't remember the time before that. We took advantage of the opportunity of all being together to snap a picture. Thanks Megan! The cousins with the spouses/fiance, minus my sister-in-law Annie who had to stay in Georgia. And now that I look at it, I have no idea where Daniel was for this picture. Oops. Since this blog is likely the only family history I'll ever do, here is the headstone. Stuff like that ...

Yesterday I made a good homemade dinner and when Max walked into the kitchen he took a sniff and said "Oh! Is Hannah here?"  Maybe I need to start cooking more. . .

Mason wanted to decorate eggs this morning and fortunately I had bought a kit a few weeks ago so we were ready. We didn't get to it until almost noon, and the kids were still in their pajamas, but we had a good time. It was so much less chaotic and messy than I remember it being in past years. Myles and Mason had very particular ideas of what they wanted their eggs to look like.,  Mason made (what else!?) a Minecraft Creeper car.  Myles wanted his name on each of the eggs he dyed.  And poor little colorblind Max kept saying "now I want that water" and could not understand why we were dipping eggs in "water." He looked so cute and confused the whole time.