This Week...

Elle had class pictures. We made her hair straight, and she loved it. She does not have super curly hair, just cute waves and ringlets at the ends—I love the curls. However, Elle does not love the curls at all. All she wants is straight hair. “No curls, Mommy. I want straight, straight hair.” So for her class pictures, we gave her the straight hair she has always wanted. And she couldn’t have been happier.



And since Elle got a few pictures, Hudson had to have a few, too. This little boy loves to copy his sister. He will do anything she does—even the naughty things



We also had Elle’s girl’s day for her birthday. We went to a cupcake store, we made glass necklaces, we did crafts at Anthropologie (and I shopped), we went out for lunch, got a balloon animal (where she specifically asked for a blue poodle with a pink leash), and we went to Chuck E. Cheese’s (boys were included in this activity). It was a great day. I love girl’s days, and spending one with my birthday girl was perfect.



It was a fantastic week.

Elle's 6th Birthday

Elle had a fantastic 6th birthday. She has been waiting a long time to reach this point in her life. “How long until my birthday?” she would ask me almost every day. This was a hard question to answer when it was over ninety days. But slowly—especially to her—the days became less and less, until it was finally the long, awaited day.



We started the official countdown for her birthday when she only had five more days of being five. Everyday she would wake up to find a new number on her door, telling her the number of days she had left until she was finally 6. This was a fun way to count down the days. “I wonder what the number will look like tomorrow,” Elle would ask each night.



On her last day of being five, we did our traditional sparklers. It is our favorite way to say goodbye to the old number, and welcome the new. The smiles and giggles from Hudson and Elle attested to that. (Although, I am a little upset with Hudson, because he burned a small hole in our trampoline with his sparkler—naughty boy.) They absolutely loved running around with the sparklers, and we went through five boxes total. They would have done more if I had had any. But five just had to suffice.



The day of Elle’s birthday was perfect. Even down to the very last second. Elle chose a rainbow theme for her birthday this year, and I tried to make everything center around it—except for her dinner choice of spaghetti and meatballs; that I could not center around a rainbow. But from the presents to the cake, everything had something to do with a rainbow—which by the way is Elle’s favorite color (she chooses rainbow, because to her that includes every color—even silver, gold and sparkly colors).



But I think the highlight of Elle’s rainbow birthday was that an actual rainbow appeared in the sky at the end of the day. It had been raining off and on all day, and when we were about to take her up to bed, a beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky.

“Hurry!” Johnny yelled. “There’s a rainbow outside!”

We all ran out immediately, and were stunned as we looked at the beautiful rainbow stretching across the sky.

“Wow!” Elle said. “Heavenly Father and Jesus made that.”

I smiled and hugged her. “They sure did.”

It was amazing, and none of us could believe it. It was the perfect way to end her birthday.



I am so happy that Elle’s day turned out to be everything she wanted. It was worth the two whole days it took me to decorate her cake. And it was worth those fifteen batteries I had to put in all of her new toys. And it was especially worth all the time, effort and money. It was a wonderful day.

I want to take a moment and say how much I love my sweet little six-year-old. She is such a joy in my life. She is imaginative and creative. She has a personality that is larger than life. She is kind, caring and sensitive. She is stubborn, short-fused and impatient. She is funny, sarcastic and silly. She is loving, helpful and thoughtful. She knows her mind, and there is no one—I mean NO ONE—that will change it. She is very determined, and focused. I love her desire to choose the right and to be the best she can be. She is an amazing little girl, and I am so glad she is mine.

Happy 6 Elle!

And as a side note, I wanted to say that last year we let Elle send off one of her birthday balloons with a wish; but when I asked her if she wanted to do it again this year, she said, “No. Last year I wished to be a princess, and that didn’t come true, so I don’t want to do it this year.”

This Week...

We jumped and played in the rain.



We played with grandparents. (Hudson and my dad are best buddies.)



Hudson decided he loves kale. (Can’t get this kid to eat a number of delicious foods, but he will chomp down on some raw kale any day.)



We went to the BSU spring football game. Johnny LOVES football—especially college football—and naturally, he wants his son to have the same love. So we thought the spring game would be the perfect way to introduce Hudson into the crazy world of college football. For the most part, the introduction went well, but Hudson did have a little trouble sitting for so long (he is two). But other then the sitting, we all had fun.



It was another great week.

This Week...

We had tea parties on the cold, hard cement driveway.



We went on an egg hunt. The kids loved this. There were a lot of kids, but Elle and Hudson both ran fast and got plenty of eggs. But what impressed me the most was that at the end of the hunt, there was a little boy who did not get one egg. I heard the mother talking to the little boy, and I could not believe he wasn’t able to pick up one (there were so many eggs). After hearing this, I immediately asked Elle if she would give him one of hers. Elle, without an ounce of hesitation, reached in her bag and handed him one. I was so proud of her for sharing her hard-earned eggs. Later that night she even told me, “I should have given him six.” I thought that was a sweet comment. I am always grateful for opportunities to teach my children the value of kindness.



We also went to this free kid event, where Elle and Hudson got to play in jump houses and go on rides to their hearts content. “Hudson love it!” Hudson kept saying over and over. And Elle had a smile on her face the entire time.



The Easter Bunny came and visited us. The kids were ecstatic. They loved going on their egg hunts and finding their Easter baskets. Hudson actually participated this year, and did a pretty good job. We did hear a lot of, “Hudson can’t find it,” but with a little help from Johnny he did great.



We got all dressed up and went to church. I love getting the kids ready in their new Easter attire, and going and renewing our love and gratitude for our Savior Jesus Christ.



Elle and Hudson blew bubbles. Hudson's puffed-out cheeks were too cute not to capture.



Hudson spilt glitter. He is always so kind to take time out of his day to make an interesting mess for me to clean up. (It was impossible to get every fleck of glitter up; I will be finding glitter in that carpet for a while). And all Hudson could say was: “Choo-Choo love it!” Glad someone does.



It was a great week.