Recipe of Andrew

• 6 pints my dog (Sy)
• 18 pounds family
• 2 cups oragami skills
• 15 teaspoons video games
• 2 cups of school
• 3 pintes friends
• 7 pounds sence of humer

Directions:
First, mix family with sence of humor. Use the "crush" button on the blender. Then, pour the mixtur into a bowl. Then, turn the oven on "heat" to get it heated. Put the mixture in the oven.

To make the frosting, put in two cups school. Then, add two cups oragami skilles. Put in 15 teaspoons video games. Mix. Add 3 pints friends. Put in my dog. Mix well. Last, enjoy this cake!

This was an assignment Andrew did at school. Please note that all spelling is his. :) His teacher awarded him top marks, and I would have to agree. I was happy to see that family was the main ingredient!

Letter to Mom

Brandon and I found the following letter waiting for us when we returned from stake choir practice last night:

12/13/09

Mom,

Colin took a piece of gum from the packet by your computer without asking. I talked to him but he tried to wigle his way out of trouble. And right after he spit his gum out and got a cookie. Well, that's all I have to say now.

Sincerely, Andrew

p.s. Colin was getting a bat (like the ones they use in baseball, of course) to hit a ball around.

Year of the Pocketknife

Andrew turned 9 this past week! He is such a character. See if you can guess what his favorite present was this year:

Kind of scary, I know. Liam also got a pocketknife when he turned 9, so I guess that is now the traditional age in our family to receive one. It has been funny to see how differently they use them. Liam was always very careful and has almost always kept his in its case in his sock drawer (a place we suggested to keep it out of the hands of wee brothers). Andrew, on the other hand, carries his with him whenever he can, and uses it whenever he can! He has found several good whittling sticks in the yard already, and likes to speculate as to what types of different tasks he can now accomplish with this great multi-tool.

Per Andrew's request, we had dinner at IHOP. He wasn't afraid to tell the waiter, "It's my birthday, and I know what happens on your birthday at IHOP." So he had this dessert after dinner:


Then it was home for birthday cake to share with everyone. We actually almost forgot about it, and everyone was being crazy (yes, that sometimes happens at our house--whose idea was it anyway, to give the 3 oldest boys swords for birthdays and Halloween?!) so I was tempted to send everyone to bed without cake. I decided that probably wouldn't earn me any Mom of the Year awards, so I grumpily herded everyone together. Andrew had received the last two books in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and you can see that he could hardly tear himself away, even to blow out the candles:

Eating cake made everyone happier, and I sent them to bed with a guilt-free conscience knowing we had a picture of him with his 9th birthday cake.

Halloween

Halloween pictures up less than a week after the fact! Hurray!

The oldest three were ninjas, and Brandon put their costumes together. Hurray for a creative dad. I sure don't enjoy doing stuff like this, so I'm glad he does. I love their intense poses.

Liam


Andrew


Colin
(So maybe his pose is more cool then intense?)


Aidan got it into his head somehow that he wanted to be a bird. Never mind the fact that we had a cool dinosaur, skeleton, Power Rangers, or multiple other costumes to choose from. Luckily our next door neighbors saved the day with this get-up. He insisted on carrying a sword while trick-or-treating, so we called him a Bird of Prey.

Logan was the usual blue dinosaur. He loved finding Nerds boxes. He didn't want to eat them, just carry them around and shake them.

We had a fun day, with dinner and trunk-or-treating at our church, then dinner and trick-or-treating with cousins (notice TWO dinners there? Put with all the candy, I'm off to a bad start for holiday weight gain!!).

Books Have Saved Me!!

We have had some gorgeous weather over the past few days. The boys have been able to get outside and jump on the trampoline and ride bikes. However, the winter weeks leading up to this were rough. The boys have been (literally at times) bouncing off the walls. And the noise. The noise! Do you know how loud five little boys can be when they're all playing and wrestling at the same time? Logan has already learned that he has to be very loud to get any attention. The thing that has saved my sanity at times has been books. Both Liam and Andrew love to read, Colin is becoming a very good little reader, Aidan loves to look at picture books, and Logan loves to chew on them. So when things get too crazy, I holler, "Go read something!" In a few minutes, blissful silence...for awhile.

Last week: Brandon and Colin are listening to Harry Potter together, while Andrew and Liam enjoy their own books. Ah, sweet silence!

Andrew's Big Day

Andrew was BAPTIZED yesterday!

We are so grateful that he chose to take this important step in his life.

We rounded everyone up for a quick photo after. It wasn't easy!

(Note Brandon's improvement from his beard.)

Here are also a few pictures from some recent events in Andrew's life:

He had a rock-climbing birthday party last month, and scrambled up the walls over and over just like a spider!

I also made him a Pokemon birthday cake. Anyone who knows him right now knows he is what we call, "Pokemon loco!"

(I was quite pleased with the cake. Makes me feel like a regular Martha Stewart--anyone who knows me can just say ha ha!)

On November 23 he lost a front tooth. The other one is now very loose, so he will soon be singing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!"

Our kids lose teeth really late. Yes, he is 8, and he's only lost 3 teeth.

He had me pull his tooth out, which was the first time I'd done that for one of my kids.

First Day of School!

Liam and Andrew started school today. I can't believe how fast the summer went by. I'm not totally ready to say good bye to them every morning! We've actually had a great summer together, and I know for certain that Aidan especially will be missing them a lot. Poor kid, once Colin starts kindergarten next week, Aidan's going to have to rely on mommy for entertainment, at least until Logan's ready to play.

We made slushies after school, so Liam and Andrew could cool down after their hot walk home (Colin had some friends over):

I can't believe that Liam is already in 5th grade, and Andrew is in 2nd. You always hear that kids grow up so fast, and I guess it must be because it is true!