Our January Birthday Boys!

January is such a dreary month, unless you have fun birthdays to celebrate! I was always be thankful that January brought me these two amazing boys! We celebrated both their birthdays with the Smith family on January 3rd. My friend Lindsay made this amazing cake for them- it tasted just as good as it looks!

Then on January 4th, Chase turned 10! I can't believe he's ten. That went by so fast. He was actually thrilled that he got to go to school on his birthday this year.  

At 10 years old Chase:

• Is the most driven kid you'll ever meet. He's quite the perfectionist, something we are working on. But it does motivate him to work so hard in school, piano, basketball, etc.
• Never complains about practicing the piano and does a solid 30 minutes every day. And it shows. He's gotten so dang good!
• Is loving playing basketball with his friends. Games can be intense for him emotionally, but he's learning a lot from it. He's great at rebounds and assists, and can usually get a basket or two scored each game.
• Wants to help and wants others to feel loved. He gives me at least 12 hugs every day. 
• Says he wants to be a software engineer when he grows up

The night before his birthday I set up this little display for him for the morning! Some of my favorite pictures of him, a few wrapped gifts (he already got his big present, a bike, for his half birthday in July) and I wrote little notes on paper stars all about how much I love him. He's since taped those little stars above his bed in his room to look at while he goes to sleep.

He is also thrilled that he shares a birthday with Utah! Utah celebrated 125 years of statehood the same day. 4th graders study Utah, so this year it was especially fun for him. They made this relief map back in December at school and he was so proud of it!

Normally we do birthday parties for even birthdays. This year COVID made that harder. His best buddy Luca has a birthday two weeks before his, so we decided to do a very chill combined birthday celebration at a local park. This ended up being the weekend after Chase's birthday when we had a pretty clear/warmish Saturday. We just brought pizza and cupcakes and let the kids play at the park. It was simple and chill and so fun! 

Davis has really struggled with all the birthdays this month and that apparently none of the birthdays are his! A friend captured this picture of Chase and Luca blocking their candles from the breeze, but that stinker Davis above them still trying to blow them out! After we sang he retrieved Chase's burnt out candle and insist I relight it and that everyone sing "Happy birthday dear Davis!" Oh what a little stinker he is! 

On January 24th it was Hudson's 8th birthday! We love this sweet little 8 year old so much! I tried to get a cute picture of him for his birthday and asked him to go put on a cuter shirt. He told me he had a better idea. This is what he came back with. I had to admit it was perfect. There is nothing he loves more than Nerf gear and next-level comfort. 

He got this minky from Nana and Papa for his birthday and has been wrapped up in it whenever he's home and sleeps with it every night. Nana got it for him because he kept trying to steal hers.

I put together a little display for Hudson as well. He's pretty easy to please, he just wanted split waffles for breakfast and to have dinner at Nana and Papa's. His birthday fell on a snowy Sunday, so he got to play out in the snow with his brothers for awhile.

At 8 years old Hudson:

• He really grasped reading and does so well! But still doesn't like to read for fun at all and only does the bare minimum required for homework.
• Committed to getting all his math facts passed off early so he could start on multiplication and division- he did it!
• Still loves to pretend and has the best imagination ever. He can play legos for hours with no one interrupting him. 
• Loves all things Minecraft, Star Wars, Nerf and Avengers.
• Is the sweetest with Lila- he is so nurturing and is so great at finding little games to make her laugh.