The whole fam

Happy 5th birthday, Reed!

I can't believe Reed is 5!  Boy do we love this kid!  Here are 5 things we love about our not-so-little boy:

1. He cares about others, especially his little sister and brother.  He often "takes one for the team" to keep Taryn happy and is always trying to make Corbin laugh.  He also absolutely loves his friends.

2.  Reed has a great imagination.  He makes up words and games all the time.  He can go for days without playing with traditional toys, because he spends most of his time "make believing."

3.  He still wants to be snuggled.

4.  He often tells us how much he loves us....especially when I make his favorite dinners. :)

5.  He is really obedient.  Sure, he doesn't listen all the time, but he is a big rule follower.  When we first moved into our house, Kevin told Reed that anywhere besides our driveway was "out-of-bounds."  The other day when friends were over and they were near our neighbor's driveway, Reed wouldn't go because it was "out-of-bounds."  

The past 5 years have been such a blessing with this boy in our lives!

Our family celebration at home

Getting prepped for the friend party: rockets!

The grub

We hunted for silver moon rocks,

shot aliens with squirt guns,

and of course, ate cupcakes. 

We opened presents, 

and hit an "alien" pinata.  Yeah, I tried and failed at making my own moon pinata.  Kevin had to run to Walmart the morning of the party and this was as close as we got to fitting the space theme. 

Luckily, we had a 8 year old (Harry) at the party to help bust the pinata open. :)

4th of July

Now that we own a home (I guess I never mentioned that), we can now host!  We were so excited to host parts of both our families for the 4th of July this year.

Decorating bikes will become a new tradition.  This goes back to 4th of July parties at the Burkharts' in IL.  Miss those days so much.

Tera painting Mckay's face.

Reed was even brave enough to get his face painted.  It's not usually his thing.  But he'll do almost anything if his cousins are doing it (that could backfire....).

The whole crew

We had pop-it throwing for days!  By far, my kids' favorite part.

Ready for the bike parade.

Reed, Taryn, (Bridger hiding), Mckay, and Rhett

Bike parade along to patriotic music

Love this picture

Me and my baby girl

Me and my favorite little boy

Much braver this year with sparklers

Watching fireworks in the street

Another favorite part for the kids: light saber wars with giant glow sticks!

MY favorite part. :)  Looks like I never have to leave Utah after all....

Our third

 One month

 Pile 'o kids

2 months

Reed and Taryn LOVE him

We have ourselves a thumb sucker!

Corbin with his friend Riley who is only 2 weeks younger.  Just thought the difference in size was pretty funny.  Corbin was 15.5 lbs at his 2 month appointment putting him in the 97%. :)  So proud.