going private

It is time to make the good old blog private. I'm sorry for the inconvenience this may cause my faithful readers (if there are any). Also, I'm sorry for the hassel it is to constantly check someones blog that is private to see if there has been an update or not, and now I'm one of them :) I know, it's annoying!

Please, PLEASE leave a comment if you would like to be invited. I would LOVE for you to still check in to see how the Layton's are doing. Please include your email address because some of you I have updated emails for but others I don't. You may also just email or facebook me for an invite ... I'll take any form of communication!

Don't be shy to leave your email, I fully admit to blog stalking! Now is the time to fess up and let me view your blog too. The more the merrier!

Thanks!

Birthday Time

My little boy turned 4, even though he still says he is 3 when asked how old he is. He was SO excited for his birthday cake and to open his presents. He specifically asked for a Chewbacca birthday cake (from Star Wars duh!!) and I even put slivered almonds on there for his teeth!

After he blew out the candles and opened his presents I gave him a slice of cake to eat. He told me he didn't want to eat it, and then he asked when I was going to make him another birthday cake. He just wanted the excitement of a birthday cake and blowing out the candles. Cute kid!

(I love that he is already wearing his spider-man costume from his Grandma & Grandpa)

(the cheapest gift is always the best gift ... and the first one broken and in the trash by the end of the week ... but still fun)

This was the most anticipated birthday gift.
HE-MAN
All Miles' toys from when he was little ... He-Man galore! The kids (and Miles, of course) loved playing with all of these figures! Check out Hulu for all the episodes on-line for Free! The kids cant get enough of them!


feel free to skip over this next part ... unless you are family

Things we love about our little boy:
He is so sweet to Anika, always holding her hand and telling her how cute she is ** He loves Star Wars! ** He still loves trains, especially geo-trax ** He is the best cuddlier ** The only thing that keeps him interested in the scriptures are all the fighting scenes ** His teacher at church tells us that he is always the most well-behaved one in the class ** He loves Friday Family Movie night ** He loves singing the primary songs with his sisters ** When he is tired he tells us that he is and wants to go to bed (I love it) ** He loves to swim ** He knows all his letters in the alphabet and their sounds ** He loves to help me when I'm making chocolate chip cookies ** He loves swords and guns (just like every other little boy) ** He loves playing in the forest with his sisters and their friends ** He loves his soft blanket ** He loves Thomas the Train books ** He loves the Light Saber game on our iPhones ** He is such a joy and so easy going!

what is up with the large font

Sorry about the whole LARGE font, I've changed it over and over and it just wont publish it the way I want it to be. I guess those who wear glasses to read wont have a problem reading my commentary for the month of January. Enjoy!

A Bit of January to share

FRIENDS
I love how silly boys can be when you ask them if you can take a picture of them! These are Evan's little friends. They get together once or twice a week to play geo-trax, trains, lincoln logs, cars and anything that might involve fighting. I'm so glad that Evan has such good, cute, fun friends from such great families. Unfortunately, when they moved up from Nursery to Sunbeams (into Primary) they were all put into 3 different classes. Can you believe it? We have 30 Sunbeams (3 classes)! Since they can't get together on Sunday's we are FORCED to get them together during the week. It works our nicely for moms and boys all around.

Legos' Anyone?
Miles' mom saved ALL his toys growing up. No joke, 6 bins and 4 big boxes worth, all stacked in our garage. We decided that we needed to organize some of the toys in order to consolidate space and to get out the age appropriate toys for Evan. Evan is either at the perfect age to play with them (note: what he got for his Birthday) or will be within the next year or so. He isn't quite ready for the little legos' that we inherited so it was good we were just organizing them.

This is what my bedroom floor looked like during the month of January ... millions of legos EVERYWHERE. Along with the legos we had some boxes and almost all the instructions that they originally came in or with. Miles wanted them all built, put into plastic zip-lock bags along with their instructions/pictures/ or cut-up boxes, and safely put away to await the time when Evan could and would more fully appreciate them. We were building constantly! After the kids went to bed Miles and I would stay up building legos' for 2 to 3 hours a night. I would even build them while the kids were at school! It was pretty funny to watch Miles turn back into that little boy who got them for his birthday or for Christmas.

SUNDAY LAYTON TACO's
Every Sunday we have the traditional Layton Taco's cooked by the MAN of the house. Every week on our way home from church we ask the kids "Who want's Layton Taco's?" or "Who want's beans a Papa?". Depending on how hungry the kids are, they usually love this silly game and add onto it with other silly questions that don't relate to Tacos in the slightest. (If they are really, REALLY hungry they don't like to play because they are too busy crying and pouting because their little stomach's hurt.) Truth be told, sometimes it gets a little out of hand and someone yells "Who wants to eat poo?", and without fail Anika yells "I do" and we all laugh. I love this family Sunday tradition; the excitement from the kids, how much the kids love these Taco's, the fact that Miles cooks them and not me, and the accompanying homemade salsa and guacamole. I hope one day my kids will carry on this tradition in their own home with their own families.