Rockwell turns 10!!!

Rockwell turned 10 years old on Sunday! I told him that we should do a birthday picture on the beach in Hawaii, which he wasn't too thrilled about. But when I told him that would mean he wouldn't have to do a photo shoot at home, he was all for it. :)

Rockwell is seriously a stud. He is what parents' dreams are made of. He is super responsible, and we hardly have to ask him to do anything. He has always been self-motivated and isn't afraid to work hard. He asks at least a couple times a week if there's anything Paul or I need help with. He is an amazing brother to Tessa and Damon. I am so grateful that we get to have Rockwell in our family!!

Rockwell loves Minecraft, playing with his friends, reading, and building with Legos. He enjoys learning math, and sometimes practices it just for fun. He wants to eat an entire bag of popcorn every day, and his new favorite treat is root beer. He loved loved loved Hawaii, and would swim all day every day if he could.

He took a few friends to the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point for his birthday party on Saturday. Logan, Flynn, and Grant came over and Rockwell opened presents before we went to the museum. He loved all the Legos and rocket darts.

Boston and his family met us at the museum, after Kiara's basketball game. I didn't take any pictures while we were there, so I'm bummed Boston isn't in any of the pictures. The boys had a blast at the museum! Rockwell really enjoyed himself.

He chose Olive Garden for his birthday dinner, so our family went there after his friend party. It was delicious, and the waitress let the kids play video games for free at the table, so they thought that was awesome.

He wanted crepes, bacon, and sausage for breakfast on Sunday.

He was excited to open presents after breakfast.

He loves his pajama pants, lego bases, treats, headphones, and Minecraft on the computer.

He's been wanting to make Minecraft videos on youtube. We agreed that he can learn how to make them, and put them on youtube after he makes them, but not make them public. He's happy with that, and just wants to send the link to a few friends. He made two videos yesterday, and thought it was amazing! 

We had the Ham Fam dinner for February birthdays Sunday night. Rockwell loved getting to play with his cousins. He was really excited for the Lego people, money, and Lego set he got that night.

It's fun to share a celebration with Grandma and Ataiya.

We all love love love Rockwell!! He is so funny, intelligent, and athletic. He is thoughtful and truly enjoys helping people. He is grateful and polite. We are so proud of him and how he chooses to live his life.

Life Lately

It was Family Week at Northridge a couple weeks ago. Damon and I went over one day to eat lunch with Rockwell and Tessa.

Rockwell's class eats before Tessa's does. When we were finished eating, Rockwell walked me over to show me where he gets to see Tessa every day as her class lines up outside the lunchroom. He said he goes and finds her every day to give her a hug before he goes out a different door, back to his classroom. I had no idea he goes out of his way to find her and give her a hug every day at school. My mom heart overflowed when he told me that!! He is seriously an exceptional big brother!

We went to Steam Night that week too. The kids loved all the activities. They made marble mazes, marshmallow catapults, played with giant blocks, and built a grabber and paper airplanes.

Tessa's class celebrated the 100th day of school by dressing like a 100-year-old. She looked so cute.

Damon had a field trip to the BYU Bean Museum. His friend Heather got to ride in our car with us, and he was very excited about that.

We got a lot of snow one day. Damon and I shoveled the driveway and sidewalks, and then sat in the hot tub when we were finished.

Paul took the kids to a basketball game at his school last Saturday. They loved that.

After the game I took Tessa to get her ears pierced. She's been asking about getting them pierced for years. I've always told her that she can get them pierced when she is responsible enough to take care of them, and when she's unafraid enough that she'll sit in the chair by herself for the piercing. I told her I will hold her hand, but I won't hold her down while she cries and screams. She has had eczema for a while now, and has made sure to put her medicine on every day whenever it acts up. She takes care of that herself, and has shown she is responsible. And then she said she felt brave enough a couple weeks ago, so I told her we could do it. I waited a little bit to make sure she really was confident about it, and she was. She did awesome, and only cried a little bit right when they shot the guns. They look so cute! She loves having them pierced.

Tessa brings home two books a day from the Book Fairy, an awesome program her school does. She likes to read one book to Damon and one book to me. I think it's adorable to see her reading to her little brother.

The temperature has been just right for the hot tub lately. It's cold, but not miserable. Damon and I have had fun out there lately.