Hi from Corb

We are still here.  I have a lot of catching up to do--preschool, Halloween, Disneyland and San Diego, and then Christmas.  More posts to come soon.

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.

Corbin Michael

Welcome Corbin Michael Wilson!  Born 5.30.13.  8 lbs. 13 oz. 21 in.  Birth story to come...

This is the best picture I have of Corbin.  Here he is 2 weeks.  Sadly, our camera was malfunctioning in the hospital and most of the pics we took there were naked shots.  Could also be because he is our third??  I am hoping to get a nice camera in the near future.  I have big plans then. :)  

Reed's first soccer season

We were so excited (and nervous) for Reed to start his first soccer season this spring.  Besides being one of the youngest and smallest on his team, we also know that Reed is pretty slow (shh, don't ever tell him that) and sensitive especially when he gets left behind.  So we went apprehensively to his first game.

 So cute in his uniform though.

 After several games of this...

 Can you see him??  I decided I was better off not speaking at all during his games.  It was just too frustrating trying to encourage him to try.  Just try to run after the ball.  I am definitely not one of those parents screaming at my kid to score or at another kid to do something, but I realized that yelling in general (even if it was meant to be encouraging) did NOT work.  He got frustrated even more and I didn't enjoy watching his games.  Once we backed off and let him just do his own thing, he actually had a few good games!

#1 fans: Taryn and Grandma.  Let's be honest though, Taryn only came for the treats she would try to steal from Reed.

Reed's last 2 games were, by far, his best.  Earlier in the season, we even tried to bribe Reed that he would get an M&M every time he kicked the ball.  Surprisingly, that wasn't very motivating to him.  Apparently, 6 M&Ms are just as good as 20 M&Ms.  In a crazy attempt to motivate Reed, we told him that we would buy him a small toy of his choice (ninja turtle toy) if he scored a goal! (knowing full well that would never happen in a million years).  The last game came and, for the first time this season, our team was dominating the other team.  Turns out, when Reed is on a winning team, he tries SO much harder!  He had a few near goals and then it came: REED SCORED A GOAL!!!  For some of you, that may seem like it's not a big deal, but let's just say that both Kevin and I almost cried we were so happy!  When Reed scored, he raised his little arm in the air in victory and ran back down the field in triumph, slapping high-fives to his coach and teammates.  He immediately ran up to us saying, "I get a ninja turtle toy!"  Mind you, we had made this deal weeks ago and had not reminded him of it.  Apparently he had tucked that little nugget of bribery into the back of his mind.  Of course, we had to deliver and the $7 toy was worth every ounce of joy it brought us that moment.  And even happier am I that his season ended on such a high point that he wants to play again! :)