Sprout Turns 5

Sprout turned 5. He was looking forward to it for months, and when the day finally he arrived he kept asking, "Am I really 5?" It was so hard for him to believe. He requested an Octonauts party, and I did my best to deliver.

I'm not sure where the 3 came from...but Sprout didn't care. 

Happy birthday to our favorite boy!

Catch-up Like a Maniac

I'm behind. I'm behind on life. This is going to be a hodge podge of whatever I feel like so I can consider myself caught up in this area.

Sprout Moments that I remembered to write down over the last who knows how long. So many missed gems. (I'll have to work on this.):

"I'm going to sneak an ax into heaven so I can whack Satan with it."

Sprout playing a game by himself:
Sprout 1:The Spanish are coming! The Spanish are coming!
Sprout 2:Dude, we're the Spanish.
Sprout 1:... ... ... The pirates are coming! The pirates are coming!

I'm the littlest scoop! (How he hears and sings "Little Deuce Coup")

I am a strong and powerful man for I have lived as long as you, the mother of the house. (Says this to me out of the blue at lunch one day.)

I never get cold unless I'm out naked in the winter.

Look! My first freckle! (The excitement at this discovery was adorable.)

He's finally branching out from pirates and ships, but they are still the favorite thing. His imagination takes him all over the world and into many different universes. He can legibly write his name and loves working on "preschool" things that includes practicing tracing and learning letter sounds. He loves being read to. His favorite books are The Magic Tree House books and would probably sit all day to listen if I would sit all day to read to him. He enjoys composing music and songs and is pretty good at storytelling.

Little Lady Moments that I'm recalling from my head because I just realized I hadn't been writing them down anywhere. (Big, fat, mommy shame on me.):

Her response after I rushed out to her screaming on the patio: "There was a spider on my neck and it bit me."
I was on the phone with her dad, so I put him on speaker and told her to tell Daddy what had happened: "There was a spider on my neck, and it bit me, and it punched me."
Mr. Mitchell: "Oh, yeah? Did it spin kick you, too?"
Little Lady wails: "Yeah!"

Me: "It's time for you to take a nap."
Little Lady: "No. I think we shouldn't." Proceeds to try to walk out grandma and grandpa's back door.

She did not like the noise of fireworks, but she did enjoy watching through the window, licking it while she was at it.

She loves to comb and brush my hair. Sometimes it feels very nice, sometimes it hurts like the dickens. She loves taking care of her baby and plays 'little mother' to EVERYONE in the house very often. She's a stinker about eating, likes to pick fights with her brother, and is most definitely in her terrible two's. She dances and sings between taking care of her baby and messing with her brother.

Sweet Baby Moments as I can currently recall:

She is a great, big wiggleworm! I can't hold her in my lap and sing to her or play little games with her because she won't stand for it. She must be squirming and constantly moving. She is usually happiest on the floor or being walked around. She loves watching her older siblings and is tickled when they sit and talk to her. She isn't scooting yet, but I keep thinking it will happen any day. She has two bottom teeth that came in a few weeks ago when she turned 5 months. She's still fussy, slobbery, and running low-grade fevers, but no other teeth have come through. There's not even any swelling yet. Poor baby. She's been sleeping through the night for almost three months, but she's not a great napper. She tries to wave and clap. It's pretty cute. At her four month check-up she was in the 3-4 percentile for weight, but she's been chunking up since she started solids. I'm very curious to see where they have her sitting this time. (And, no, nobody's obsessing over the percentiles or the baby's weight. She's perfect.)

Alright. Pictures and any thoughts that come with them. I have no memory of the last time I posted, and I'm far too lazy to check, so I apologize if these are repeats. Let's get this show on the road.

Grammy visiting shortly after Sweet Baby was born.

They all like to be on the floor together.
Sometimes it's sweet, sometimes it's murder.

Sweet Baby was blessed in my old blessing dress, just like Little Lady was.

This picture only focused on my sister. I guess she's the star of the family
We surprised my dad for his 65th birthday with the presence of all 7 of his children.

Easter egg hunt in jammies before church.

Rockin' the Easter duds.

Exploring with Daddy...

...while Mommy searches for her sanity.

Sister bonding.

Daddy loves to tickle her. He can't help it.

He figured out how to turn the hose on and proceeded to soak everything in sight.
I was not happy. He still tries this.

Waiting for the boys to come back with the kayak so we can have a turn.

Fun time kayaking on the river.

4th of July games - it was more fun than it looks. This pictures looks like torture.
 Although, at one point, my brother referred to it as the divorce game. So...

The boys' game.

The girls' game.

The baby's game.

Cousins.

Pretty sure Little Lady was having meltdowns all day.

He LOVED doing sparklers and watching the big kids light the fireworks.

Ok. Hope you enjoyed!

General Update

Thanks to life, morning sickness, and the hectic summer, I have fallen very behind on documenting what has been happening with our family. The last thing I posted was a catch-up for March, so, you're in for a whirlwind of a catch-up.

April
Garrison and Gabi got married in St. Louis. Abigail and I flew out for the event and had a wonderful time. I was only able to get phone pictures because adding the camera to the luggage felt like punishment. I guess I also missed getting pictures of the couple on my phone, but I did get some of the travelling.  FYI: It's a little claustrophobic getting to the top of the arch. My sister about had a panic attack.

May
Mr. Mitchell and I celebrated our sixth anniversary with a date night and temple sealings. No photographic evidence available.

We do, however, have evidence of our trip to Zoo Boise with Grandma and Grandpa Holdaway. Sprout was king in his wagon, and Little Lady loved the ocelots.

June
In June we had a visit from Grammy and Grandpa Earls who picked up mommy's morning-sickness slack and made up for daddy being gone so much with the start of fire season. They got us all caught up on yardwork and planted our garden for us.

During the summer we spent one afternoon a week at the lake. This tradition started in June with the warmer weather. Both of the kids LOVE digging in the sand. (Little Lady usually preferred to be sitting in the water up to her armpits to do this.)

July
We spent the 4th of July at home. We went to the parade and festival in Buhl, made fun treats and crafts, and enjoyed fireworks at home.

We spent a day driving the Thousand Springs Scenic route and stopped in to dig up some fossils in the middle of nowhere.

We spent the 24th of July in Mendon so Caleb could experience the holiday. It's a great small-town experience.

August
Mr. Mitchell was gone on a long assignment in August, but he was only a couple of hours away, so we were able to visit him for a day. We played in the river, rode a gondola, saw where Daddy is working, 'flew' the helicopter, played in a fountain/mini-splash pad, ate lots of food, and had a great time with Dad in Ketchup (as Caleb called it).

September
This month we finally got to celebrate the newly weds on our side of the country with a cute open house.

Our Sprout turned 4 years old! We celebrated with a little birthday party with family after the open house, and on his actual birthday we opened presents. He was very insistent for a few hours that he wasn't four years old yet because he still didn't reach the '4' on the measuring stick. We were finally able to convince him that height and years are different and rarely the same.

Hopefully I do better in the future of keeping our long-distance family updated with our doings.