Birthdays

In our family, we only do big parties when you turn 5, 8, 12, and 16.  I just thought I'd make that clear so you don't look at these pictures and think Daphne is the favorite child.  It just so happened that she turned eight this year, which means she got to have a "friend" party.   She chose to have a Harry Potter birthday, and we all had some fun planning it.  I think the boys were just as excited for her party as she was.

Here is Hayden studiously working on the word search.  Ha!  That funny boy doesn't know how to read yet, but he was definitely circling letters in that word search.

Wand-Making

Dallin dressed as Snape was our Potion's master.

All of our secret ingredients were edible, but not necessarily tasty when they were combined.

The girls told me that the "Love Potion" was particularly nasty.

At the end, everyone got to go shopping at "Honeyduke's Sweet Shoppe." 

Hayden had been waiting all weekend to get his hands on one of these giant lollipops! 

We are so blessed to have Daphne in our family.  She is a wonderful big sister who has fun playing with everyone in the family, no matter their age.  She can often be found lugging her baby sister around,  helps her get dressed and even changes her diapers sometimes.  She loves playing with friends, drawing, or doing other crafts, and loves looking at pictures of our family.  When she earns screen time, she like to get onto iphoto and just look at all the pictures.  She is a wonderful singer, and writes cute creative stories.  She's currently working on a story called, 

"The three tiny seahorses, and the Ginormica, Evil, Shark!"  

Happy Birthday, Sweet Daphne!  We love you!

Sean turned 6 this year, which is not a "friend party" year.  

He took it pretty well. 

Here he is with his favorite present; Hagrid's Hut Lego Set.

All the kids have spent most of their free time yesterday and today working on constructing it.

Sean is a happy boy who is usually a peacemaker in our family.  When Hayden was wearing one of Sean's favorite shirts today, Sean said, "It's okay, Hayden.  You can keep it.  But just for today.  I want it back tomorrow."  Sean is enjoying school so far, at least I think he is.  He doesn't remember much of anything that he did by the time he gets home, but he's happy when he leaves and happy when he comes home, so that makes me happy too.  Sean is thoughtful--he doesn't always jump right into the action.  He listens and processes and then when you least expect it he'll ask a really good question.  And he sees things just a little differently than most of the rest of us, so I love his unique and fresh perspective on things.  We just love this guy!

Happy Birthday Sean!