Robert's Birthday

Robert's birthday was this past Thursday. I think he had a nice day. He took the afternoon off----and took a nap. He didn't want anything too crazy, so we kept it low-key. We did the traditional things--dinner, cake and presents. The boys and I gave him a new bag for work and chocolates. Gavin gave him a nap on his shoulder.

Adam and Matt are thinking, "who's this crazy guy?"

40 Things

40 Things About Robert--

1. Robert was born October 7, 1970, in Logan, Utah--40 years ago today.
2. He is the oldest of three boys.
3. He is now the father of three boys.
4. According to his boys, he makes the best (Kraft) mac-n-cheese.
5. He enjoys playing soccer, baseball, tag, etc.. with his sons in the backyard.
6. He is incredibly patient.
7. He paid for all of his college education by himself--all 7 years.
8. He has had lots of jobs in sales and was quite successful at them.
9. His favorite meal is lasagna.
10. He LOVES chocolate.
11. He can fall asleep in two seconds.
12. While in college, he went to a singing audition. He did so well that he was called back to go to Nashville. However, he turned it down because he can't stand country music.
13. He used to deliver pizza for Dominos.
14. When he was 3 years old, he won a "cutest baby" contest and won a trip to Disney World.
15. He loves to read biographies and other non-fiction.
16. When he asked me out on our first date, he had it all planned out. I was really impressed. He didn't ask, "So, what do you want to do?"
17. His first mission call was to Peru. While in the MTC it was changed to Puerto Rico because of too much violence and the lack of safety for the missionaries in Peru.
18. He likes to pick out his own clothes and doesn't really like me to shop for him.
19. He has lived in four states--Utah, Kansas, Virginia and Nebraska.
20. He grew up with cats as pets. He named his first one "George Brett" after the baseball player.
21. He loves to negotiate. He is always trying to negotiate a deal or get a bargain.
22. He graduated for the University of Kansas and wants our boys to do the same.
23. He loves that I shop in the clearance section.
24. He wants to live near the beach, preferably Florida.
25. He tends to have a lucky streak. While in law school, he won a number of contests, winning us tickets to a Broadway play, a TV, many dinners out, and lots of t-shirts.
26. He works really hard at not watching football on Sundays.
27. He does the dishes! And the dusting!
28. He enjoys 7-11 slurpees. He's even been given the nickname "slurpee boy".
29. He tends to let our boys stay up late and will play with them while putting them to bed.
30. He likes to watch "Dog, the Bounty Hunter" and "Top Chef".
31. He has lived in Kansas for 28 years.
32. He likes to occasionally make a late-night run to Dairy Queen for a blizzard.
33. He works really hard at his job.
34. He would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to have season tickets for KU basketball.
35. Since we bought our house, he's learned to lay flooring, tile, do electrical and plumbing work, install appliances, do lots of demo, and paint even more.
36. He likes Coke over Pepsi.
37. He watches Sports Center every night.
38. He is low-key and laid back.
39. He was 26 when we got married.
and #40. He is very loyal and loving to his family. And we're happy to celebrate his birthday with him.

Weekend Update

We've had a nice weekend. Adam and Matt have tomorrow off from school so they're extra to have a longer weekend. The boys had a soccer game yesterday morning. One of the moms in our ward started up a mini soccer league because all of the other leagues in town hold their games on Sundays. So, most of the kids ages 4-7 in the ward joined up to have our own soccer league. The rest of the day was devoted to General Conference. Watching conference with children isn't usually quiet or relaxing. Most of the time it's a lesson in patience for me. We do have some type of conference activity and candy to keep the boys entertained and somewhat involved. We had conference bingo for them this time. I remember being Adam's age and watching general conference at our house in San Antonio and thinking, "this is so boring. I don't even understand what they're saying." And even though we heard lots of complaints and said multiple times, "put the ball away and come sit back down", it was nice to spend so much time together as a family. Any other Saturday would have been spent doing chores, errands, etc and we wouldn't have been together as much. Between sessions, Robert took the boys to buy new tennis shoes. We told Adam he has to finally get some tie shoes, not the velcro straps anymore. He struggled with learning to tie his shoes in kindergarten and hasn't wanted to do it since then. We explained that since he's older now it would be easier to learn. And it was. He got it down in just a few tries. Matt even learned how to do it. So, they did spend part of conference tying and retying their shoes. They're both at the age now that they only change shoe-size about once a year. And I've learned, through trial and error, that if we buy the better shoe brands (Skechers, Nike, etc) we only have to buy one pair per year. In the past I bought shoes at Walmart but ended up replacing them every 2-3 months. Now we just need to teach them how to ride bikes. That's for another weekend.

I Love NY

All three of our boys have worn this outfit that Auntie Holly gave us back when Adam was a baby. Here's a couple of photos--one of Matt and one of Gavin wearing it. I have a photo of Adam wearing it as well but we didn't have a digital camera when he was a baby so that particular photo is not on our computer. Matthew is 3 1/2 months in his photo and Gavin is 4 1/2 months in his. Can you tell who's who?

Gavin's 1st Cereal

On Sunday, Gavin had his first serving of rice cereal. He seemed to enjoy it and didn't fuss at all about eating it.

Matt wanted to be in the middle of the action. Here he is helping feed Gavin.

Weekend News

I title this 'weekend news' although I can't really say there's much news to it. We've had a nice weekend. Yesterday Adam and Matt seemed to get along better than most days and played well together. Basically just goofing off and having fits of the giggles. It's great fun for Rob and I to see them laughing and having fun with each other. Two weeks ago Robert repainted the basement. Yesterday we finished painting the trim. Only the doors are left now. We fed Gavin his first baby cereal today. He did better than expected--no crying, not even a 'what-the-heck-is-this' face. I'll post pictures later. He has dropped his evening nap. Now we're down to three a day. Last Sunday after church we were informed that the spanish branch we attend would be dissolved into the english ward. That officially happened today. I'm excited for the spanish members to be in a fully functioning ward and be able to enjoy all the blessings that come from that. I hope the language and culture differences won't be a barrier to anyone feeling welcome and/or accepted. So, that's my short post. Just wanted to record what's going on around here.

Growing Up

Earlier this week Matt and Adam were discussing who was stronger. Matt said he was 'cause he could do more push-ups. Of course Adam countered that and said he could. So, they both got down on the floor to see who could do the most push-ups. Adam did a typical kid push-up with his bum in the air, but Matt had the correct form and quickly did 10 of them. This caught me by surprise. Not that Matt hasn't always been athletic and quite stocky, but that he could do push-ups properly at his age. I told him to let me feel his muscles. I noticed that his biceps, triceps and shoulders seemed to be quite a bit stronger. So, I asked him if he had been practicing doing push-ups. He replied that he hadn't. So, then I asked what he had been doing to get stronger arms. He said that he's been doing chin-ups during recess.

Adam went to a classmate's birthday party this week. It was the first girl party he has been invited to. He even received a princess invitation. I wasn't sure if he would want to go but he said he did. When I took him over to Alexa's house, I noticed there were 6-7 girls there but no boys. Alexa's mom (who happens to be Matt's kindergarten teacher) told Adam not to worry, that more boys were coming. After the party ended and Adam came home, he told us about the party. He said, "When I went inside, all these girls swarmed around me and my stomach felt weird and I didn't know what to do". Both Robert and I started laughing.