Happy Birthday Jonathan!

I cannot believe that my little baby is now 5 years old! Jonathan has been looking forward to his birthday all year. It was torture for him that "everyone" has their birthday before him. He was really excited to find out he was going to have a little brother--especially when he learned that the baby would be born in November. To Jonathan that meant that he would no longer have the last birthday in our family. One of the things Jonny has gotten quite good at is tracking what day it is. When I told him we were going to have a "October Birthdays" dinner party at Grandma's house the Sunday before his birthday he was so happy. However, I should have waited longer to tell him since I then received daily updates on how many more days until the party. When family asked what he wanted he said Switch and Go Dinos, Legos, and paleontology stuff. Family did not disappoint and he was one spoiled little boy!

Birthday boy wanted to play with my phone...20ish selfies later...

When Jonathan woke up the day after the party the first thing he did was put together his new Galaxy Squad Legos. He said they were the best Legos he'd ever had.

On the morning of his actual birthday he was excited to find his presents from us. And to get his requested birthday breakfast of donuts and chocolate milk!

From his siblings he got a fossil kit.

We made his dreams come true by getting him a velociraptor switch and go dino. (On a completely related note I've decided that my kids are no longer allowed to be exposed to commercials of any kind...not sure how to enforce this new policy though!) 

Jonathan got a few phone calls from family members on October 30th to wish him a happy birthday. He then shared the woes of his day...he had stepped on a toy and hurt his foot, he had bumped his head on someone's elbow, and the worst was when Reagan accidentally closed the sliding glass door on his fingers. Poor kid said that it just was not a good day because of those things. He did enjoy his birthday lunch: potstickers at Panda Express!

Jonathan just had his 5 year old well-child exam last week. He weighs 43 pounds and is 44.25" tall. He remains on track to be about 6 ft. tall. I cannot picture him that big! I have been doing "mommy school" with Jonathan and he is definitely prepared for kindergarten next year. Jonathan can read (which is amazing, but also annoying because you can't hide things as easily from him!) and loves to do math. He just recently started working on counting by two's and already counts by ten's. I have been reading the Harry Potter books to Jonathan at bed time this year. When we finish a book then we have a movie night together and watch the movie for the book. We recently started book 5. He is convinced that this will be the best since 5 is his favorite number. Also, his favorite time of day is 5:55. All the fives make him happy.

Here are a few things to know about Jonathan at five:

Favorite Color: Black and White

Favorite Animal: Dinosaur, Jaguar, Penguin, and Fox

Favorite Book: Captain Underpants and All About Penguins

Favorite Movie: Paw Patrol

Favorite Food: Carrots

Favorite Song: I am a Child of God

When you grow up: Paleontologist and Scientist

The joy that this little man brings into my life is difficult to describe. Every day is an adventure for sure! He is too smart for his own good and keeps me on my toes. 

Young America Day

Every September Andrew's Guard unit hosts a family day. Every other year it is the entire wing and a huge event! This year was the big year and (I think) the best one so far. We got to ride a hay ride over to the hangar and then spend several hours taking advantage of the beautiful weather. There were huge bouncy houses, sumo suits, a jousting ring, a dunk tank, and a couple of jets that the kids could sit in the cockpit of.
In addition there was LOTS of free food: cotton candy, ice cream/popsicles, and the lunch was provided by Burgerville, Papa Murphys, and a gourmet hot dog vendor. We felt completely spoiled and had the time of our lives!
I love the way Reagan loves her daddy and how excited she was to see where he goes to work.
 

The kids loved the jet. Reagan told me that we should just borrow it to go to her cousin Brielle's house really quick. I laughed that she thought we could just "borrow" a jet from the military. Cute kid!

 

I don't think Jonathan will ever be a pilot...he hates heights and he was freaking out just from the stairs up to the cockpit.

 

 

My husband is somewhat of a nerd at heart though and believes that these glasses are the coolest ever. There is a reason why they are called BCGs (birth control glasses)...I'm just saying.

 

 

 

Alaska Airlines was one of the sponsors and the kids got some pretty cool airplane hates from them. Reagan spent quite a bit of time "flying" around the house once we got home.

Spartan Race

Have I ever told you that I am married to a freaking maniac?! Andrew is seriously a beast in my opinion and I am completely jealous of his physical abilities. He spent the first half of the year training for a marathon that he had to sit out of due to an injury, but then came back strong and participated in the Spartan Race in August. This was an obstacle course that I am sure I would have died trying to attempt. He decided to start out with a crisp white shirt to see how dirty it would get. (It might still be hanging in our garage...gross.)

 

 

 

My husband is an animal and I love him for it! I can picture him doing stuff like this until he's in his 80s if I'll let him. Way to go babe!

8th Grade...

is completely freaking me out. The main thing that has me freaked out is simply how close to high school this is! I cannot believe how quickly time flies. Adrian and Luke just won't stop growing up and I can't stand it! When Andrew and I got married they were 4 1/2 and 6 years old. It doesn't seem like enough time has passed at all for them to be in 6th and 8th grade. Adrian was excited to get to see his friends from school again and anxious about getting back into the routine. I think he really liked the idea of being the "big" kids in school. When I asked him if he was nervous about anything all he said was that he was nervous about seeing his Aunt Hayden there since she would now be in 7th grade. What would he do if he saw her?! This made me laugh so hard! They see each other all the time and they have been in the same school before. He said it's just a little weird for him since she is younger than him, but his aunt. I can get that though. I am often sad that my kids are growing up so far without cousins on my side of the family (more than enough on the Stott side though!) But, then I remember that they have aunts their ages so it's not like they have no one their ages.
 

Adrian has so far been doing quite well with school. It has never been something that was a strong point in his life...he rather hates school, but he seems to be doing better about staying on top of things and being honest with himself and us about what he should be doing/is learning. My fingers are crossed for continued growth and maturity. As hard as it is for me to accept that he is growing up, I am sooo ready for some maturity to start increasing to go along with the giant feet, deepening voice, and acne. When I dropped him off at school the first day he was commenting that he couldn't wait to see if his friends looked any differently after the summer. In listening to him it was as though he believed he hadn't changed at all! I assured him they would look similar enough that he would recognize them, but of course they would look different just like he himself looks different. Less than 5 years to go until he is leaving on a mission and done with highschool. Crazy!

Costco Family Fun

One of the perks of working at Costco is that Andrew has the opportunity to be a part of their "employee club." He pays dues of a couple dollars a month and then when they have events/activities we can go for free. It works out great! This year when the store was closed for Labor Day they hosted an event at Mt Hood Ski bowl. We got free lunch and then free 2-hour passes for the "rides." The highlight of the place was of course the Alpine Slides. Andrew, Adrian, and Luke spent some time on that while I took the littles over to where there were some younger rides. It was one of those things where, for what it was it was a lot of fun; however, if we were paying full price I don't know that I would do it...I'm kind of a cheap skate though!
There were pony rides (with the most enthusiastic teen ever running it...note my sarcasm.)
 

Reagan especially loved this one because she is totally going to be a cowgirl when she grows up.

There was a canoe ride (Jonathan kept trying to stand up in the canoe when he thought we weren't looking!)

A mechanical swing ride (that at first Jonathan refused to go on since he was sure it was only for babies.)

There were a lot of other rides too: bouncy house (more like little tent), rock climbing wall, trampoline bungy jumping, go karts, and a "fun house." I pretty much stuck with the littles while Andrew and the big boys ran around trying to do as much as possible in our allotted time period.
When it was time to go Reagan was in a grouchy mood, but still darn cute!

 

 

 

We had a lot of fun with our last hurrah before school was to start the next day!

Summer Sitters

This summer was a lot of fun and a little crazy! My kids are all at really fun ages and stages of life. No diaper bags and built-in babysitters. With working 2 days a week I was a little nervous about how the summer would actually go, but it all worked out marvelously! Andrew usually goes to work mid-morning so by the time I get home it really hasn't been too long for the kids to be home. Adrian got to see his bio-mom this summer and also got to spend some time with her where he was away from home. Throw in Scout camp and all the other stuff going on there were times that help was needed. The way we worked it this summer was that my sisters, Hayden and Taylor, took turns alternating weeks of coming over to help out. One day I came home and Taylor had made a list in the morning with the kids and they spent the day having a dinosaur party! It was so stinking cute. The list had dino books, dino games, dino food, dino movie, and dino toys on it. She told me that she'd had fun with them and just wanted to make them love her more than Hayden;) Well, Hayden found out and so the next time she came over she made the kids owl sandwiches.

The kids took lots of random pictures with the camera on the days I was away from home. Adrian loves to pose and make silly faces and is teaching his siblings how to do the same.

 

 

 

 

Reagan often would complain that there weren't enough girls for her to play with so she loved having Taylor and Hayden come over and focus on her. I love my little curly-haired fireball and sure missed her while I was gone at work. I feel like one of the luckiest moms on the planet that my kids not only have amazing aunts and uncles, but that they are so close to them! If it wasn't for my family I honestly don't know how I manage our crazy schedule. Now we just have to see how one more little babe can change the dynamics up!

Weitzel Reunion at Rilea

When we weren't playing baseball we were busy camping! This year we stayed at Camp Rilea in Warrenton, OR and it was a lot of fun. We tried some new things (dutch oven enchiladas) and we got to break in our new tent. Andrew finally got his wish and we now have a tent we should hopefully never outgrow.
 

 

As tradition you can't be out near Astoria and not go to the jetty, so of course we had to swing by there with the kids on our way home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so glad that my family started this tradition of family reunions as soon as us older girls started to move out of the house. It has become a natural part of our summer plans and is something to look forward to every year. What will next year have in store for us? Guess we'll just have to wait and see!