Jack turns 11!

This cute boy of ours turned 11 last month! 

 

Jack is a really nice boy and I've really felt like he's mellowed over the last year.  He's always been a nice little boy, but he had a temper on him and would especially get frustrated with Hannah and then without thinking would hit her or over react.   He has really gotten better about keeping his cool.  Hannah likes to tease and try to get him mad.

 

Jack is a great student and even though he claims that he doesn't like school, he always comes home happy and gets wonderful grades.  His teachers and his friends always really like him.  We're sure proud of him.

 

He still loves anything to do with sports.  This last year he's played rec soccer, flag football, baseball, tennis and basketball.  He's a huge Denver Bronco/Peyton Manning fan as well as his beloved BYU!

 

I took him to the doctor on Friday for his well visit.  He's 15th percentile for height and 3rd percentile for weight.  So, he still has some room to grow, but he'll get there.

 

We sure love you Jack!  You do a great job handling life with 5 sisters!

 

A week and a half before his birthday (in order to have good weather), we had a birthday party for him.  Jon had just completed building a pavilion and firepit, so we invited his friends over for a hot dog/s'more roast and a movie. 

 

He had a wonderful group of friends, but when you get them all together, they are loud and obnoxious!  I was so, so grateful that Jon was home to be in charge of the party because I liked going in and out of the house and not having to listen to all of them.  I know - I'm terrible.

Jon came up with a couple of games while the coals got hot enough to roast.

 



Case, Dawson, Xander, Hannah, Gibson, Kate & Hugh 

 

 Dawson & Xander

 

The smoke was coming right into their faces, so I told them to squat down and roast that way.

 

 

The weekend before Jack's actual birthday was the UEA weekend.  We went and visited Jon's mom in Oregon (next post).  Our school district also had Monday off, which was Jack's birthday, so he wanted to go to an indoor trampoline place.  We found a place in Orem that opened in the morning and went for a couple of hours.  It was a lot of fun!

 

 

Apparently, I didn't get any pictures of Jack with his gifts.  He got a Peyton Manning framed picture and a Peyton Manning wooden jersey to hang in his room.

 

We asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner and he picked Texas Roadhouse!  Good choice!  That night, we met my parents there and had a delicious dinner where Jack ordered and ate every bite of an 11 ounce steak!

 

Happy Birthday Jack!

Jack's Arrow of Light

Several weeks ago, Jack earned his Arrow of Light.  He and his friend Hugh are exactly the same age so they worked side by side to earn it.

Great job Buddy!

Lindsey's 13th Birthday & Glow-in-the-Dark party

I think Lindsey had a good 13th Birthday.   All Lindsey wanted for her birthday was baking supplies and cake decorating lessons.   So, that is what she got.  She was really sweet and let Hailey open all her gifts and I wasn't smart enough to snap some pictures.  She had school and then soccer practice that night.  I brought donuts to the end of her practice, which I think the girls loved. 

 

 Lindsey, Bella, Beth & Makenna

 

She came home from practice and her sweet friends called and asked if they could come over.  They had been working for hours on a cake for Lindsey.   It was so sweet and so cute of them to do that.

 

Lindsey, Grace, Addy & Sierra

 

The weekend after her birthday, we did her birthday party.   We had decided to do a Glow-in-the-Dark party, which worked out great.  I knew I didn't want 20 hyper-screaming preteens in my house, so having it in the dark at the park was perfect. 

 

Lindsey really, really wanted to play a version of "fugitive" where you drop a group of kids off in the neighborhood and they have to find their way back to the park.  I wasn't willing to be responsible for something like that (Lindsey has a really mean mom!) and felt that we should all stay together at the park.   Lindsey was a really good sport about it - even though she was extremely disappointed.

 

This is the cute invitation that Kelsi designed for me....

 

 

 

It was still light when the kids arrived.   I had ordered some crazy amount of glow bracelets (like 1300), so we let them all make any accessories they wanted.  Some took a lot of time and were really creative.

 

 Bella, Emri, Hannah & Olivia

 

 Emma

Jessica, Megan, Grace & Addy

 

 

 

We had also found some glow-in-the-dark paint, so they could paint a little wooden box to take home.

 



 Hailey is all about a good craft project!

 

 Kate's necklace

 

 Kate & Lilly

 

Hannah

 



 Jessica & Sierra

 

 Jack really got into making as many glowing things as possible.  He was a good sport to be there with all those girls (and Jon and my brother Mike).

 

The group:  R1:  Lilly, Lenaya, Emma, Malena, Addy, Emri, Hannah, Beth & Delaney

R2: Sarah, Grace, Brea, Olivia, Jessica, Megan, Lindsey, Bella, Eve & Sierra

Not pictured:  Zoey & Alyssa  (they had car problems, but got there shortly after)

 

 Then the night games started.  Jon (Bless him!) took charge of most of these.  We had a balloon game where they had to put a glow stick in a balloon, blow it up and keep it up in the air while trying to knock down other's balloons.   They played Jon's version of fugitive and played some capture the flag.

 

At the end of the party, we had dessert and Lindsey opened her gifts.

 

She has great friends and it was fun to have them all run around like crazy in the dark at the park!

 

Happiest Birthday to a wonderful teenager!