I haven’t written anything since August, but all there really is to share is that at-home school is busy, but getting more manageable.

I wanted to focus today’s post on each of the kids. They are all so fun to be with, and I love each of their personalities so much! So here’s just a little snippet of each of them at this moment in history.

Fay

Fay is in third grade and is just seeming SO grown up! She is so good at doing her schoolwork, even though I can only be there with her intermittently. She still loves reading (especially Rescue Princesses) and adventures and fancy and all the classic Fay things. The other day I was trying to exercise while holding Bianca. Fay came down the stairs to announce that she was on a lunch break from school. When she saw me trying to exercise with Bianca, she just walked over, picked up Bianca, and took her downstairs to play until I was done with my workout. She is doing amazing stuff like that all the time! I am SO blessed to have this girl!

Some funny things from Fay:
The other day a discussion got around to mint chocolate cupcakes. Josh mentioned that it would be funny if the baker used toothpaste to make the mint flavor. Fay chimed in with (paraphrased) “Yeah! You could use it as frosting. It’s even already in a piping bag.” I felt like it was such a clever notion!

Carter

Carter is in first grade and likes it fine. I think he would be a lot happier (as would Fay) if things were all normal and they could just go to real school. But he has absolutely latched onto the Dog Man series of books. He has now read all 9 of them, and if there were 12, he totally would have read those as well. (Thanks to Megan and Calvin for the suggestion!) He is frequently my first obeyer when it comes to doing chores, which is an incalculable blessing! The other day, he just decided to clean up the entire basement by himself so that we could rotate toys sooner. We’re so glad he’s our boy!

Some Funny things from Carter:
A few weeks ago it was after lights-out time and Helen (room-mates with Carter) started yet another escape attempt from bed. I had totally had it by this time, so when I closed the door after saying goodnight, I stayed at the door holding the doorknob so she couldn’t escape. As Helen tried and tried to get the door open, I heard Carter encourage “Helen, try the handle.” I shot back “What?!” to which Carter replied “Aghh! I don’t know what I’m saying!” I cracked up!

Another amusing moment:
Me: Carter, it’s time to get dressed. Can I pick out your outfit?!
Carter: Sure. But can you pick my Hot Wheels shirt?

The boy knows what he wants!

Portia

This girl is always exciting! She is one year away from kindergarten, but because of the pandemic, she isn’t in any kind of preschool. She and I have been learning letters at home and she is beginning to sound out words on her own! She read the word “off” on the bathtub faucet and sounded out my name when writing me a note “momey.” I am very impressed! She still loves stories, playing with dolls and dress-up, sucking her thumb, and playing with all her siblings. We still adore her!

Funny from Portia:
A year or so ago, Josh was asking Portia all her favorites. Favorite food: pasta. Favorite color: pink and purple. Favorite drink: juice. Etc. Then he asked her favorite animal. She emphatically responded: BEAVER. I literally hadn’t realized she even knew what a beaver was. But all this time she has maintained that a beaver is her favorite. That knowledge will help this next exchange make a little more sense.

Me: I love your picture, Portia! Is that a princess on a unicorn?!
Portia: No!! It’s a mermaid on a beaver! Why would a unicorn have a checkered tail?!

Helen

Most everybody who spends a little time with Helen will comment that she is so sweet. And she IS! She is sweet and adorable no matter what she does, which is sometimes a little infuriating. For example, she sweetly pushes a chair over to the counter while everybody else is preoccupied with school or something, and sweetly swipes and eats the last peach that I promised someone they could have after they did such and such. When you catch her at the end of the deed, she smiles sweetly and says something like “peach yummy!” She’s sweet as she sneaks out of bed for the 638th time and pokes Carter as he tries to fall asleep. And no matter what the offense, she gives you the same perfectly adorable smile every time, and you just can’t help but giggle a little at her naughtiness.

But she is also just sweet when she’s sweet. She will happily play with anyone, but will also happily play by herself–which, with the advent of school, she has to do far more often than I would like for her. She loves coloring (frequently, sweetly all over furniture), baby dolls, play food, and Anna from Frozen. She continues developing her speaking skills and frequently speaks in sentences. And everything that comes out of her mouth is seriously SO SWEET! Like the other night when she saw me looking through cans in food storage, she excitedly asked “Whata you picking?!” I showed her the can I had removed and she giggle with elation as she said “Oh! Thata corn!” I can’t get enough of her sweetness!

Some sweet humor from Helen:
At any moment in the day, with or without catalyst, Helen may pipe up with the following conversation:

Helen: Mommy.
Me: What, Helen?
Helen: Bianca cute.

I usually respond with a hearty affirmative followed by a declaration that Helen is also cute. That may be why she is so apt so say it…

Bianca

This baby, tho! Based on her first two months of life, I expected Bianca to be crawling by now. But she decided to sit and stay and get two teeth, instead! She is SUCH a happy baby! Over the past month or so, she has left basically all her cranky moments behind her and is either content, overjoyed, or ready for a nap. Josh’s mom asked a while ago “Were all of your kids this cute? She just gives the hugest smiles every time I look at her.” My response is: “All our kids were definitely that cute. But there is still only one Bianca.”

She absolutely LOVES eating big people food! She gets super excited watching the kids on the swings. She is fascinated by me sticking my tongue out and tries to grab it. She is definitely at the stage where she tries to put everything in her mouth. And she finally seems to have settled into somewhat of a nap schedule. She is such a joyful addition to our life!

Some baby humor from Bianca:
A baby game I like to play with the kids is putting a thin blanket over them as they lie down and then pull it off exclaiming “peek-a-boo!” Bianca LOVES this game; but every time I pull the blanket off, she goes into the newborn startle reflex with her legs and arms straight out and a startled look on her face. Then she’ll go back to a smile. It is so funny to see the startle over and over!

Don’t you all just wish you could hang out with them all the time?! Having these amazing little people in my life is the biggest blessing! If only I had the best-ever husband to go along with them… Oh wait! I totally DO! 😉

This past week, the Monson family all got together for 4 days at Bear Lake. Mom and Dad rented an amazing cabin that felt spacious even with all 19 of us in it. We spent the days playing at the beach, playing at the cabin, playing lots of Nertz, and eating as much raspberry shake as we could (along with other yummy things)!

The house truly was amazing! The thing that stuck out the most to me was the fact that the kitchen was designed to comfortably seat 30 people at a table or counter and also had extra stools to add to the other side of the counter if needed! I’ve never seen a kitchen like that before! They also advertised 21 beds–13 of which were all nestled together in an impressive array of bunks. Clearly a “cousins’ room.” Our kids were the only cousins who were old enough to sleep away from parents; so we just claimed that whole corner of the house.

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Other things to do around the house included: a playground, tetherball, a pickleball net, a games closet, TVs on which we played Switch, Game Cube, and Scene It, a little indoor pool downstairs, a closet filled with Barbies and dress-up, and an absolutely phenomenal view of Bear Lake!

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The first evening we arrived, Mom announced that she wanted to eat a raspberry shake every day we were there. Josh was determined to make sure her wish came true! But he wasn’t the only one to help it happen. We really did have shakes all the days at the house!

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But we spent most of our time at the lake itself. The first day we got misinformation about having access to a private beach. We had a lot of fun there, and the true owner of the beach was very kind to us even as he told us we didn’t actually have access.

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The other two days, we went to the North Shore beaches which were really nice, if a little busy. Everybody got plenty of water time–such that our kids didn’t mind so much that they never got in the pool downstairs–and lots of sun! Despite our best efforts to sunblock everybody thoroughly everyone in our seven person family ended up getting burned except Carter. (Lucky!) Six of us got quite burned.

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Mom rented us some paddleboards and kayaks for the trip and we had tons of fun with them! There were multiple sandbars that made it such that even when we felt like we were really far from the shore on our paddleboard, we could still easily touch the bottom. Even the kids could touch most of the time! It made it much less nerve-racking as a parent. 🙂

After we packed up and said goodbye to the beach on Thursday, we caravanned together down to Logan where we finished off the trip with Aggie Ice-cream. Even after all the shakes, everybody was able to thoroughly enjoy it!

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One more thing I want to mention is how much of a rockstar Josh was on this trip (even extra on top of his normal rockstar levels). Since his company got acquired, he is now in a limited PTO situation at work; and since he just started at the first of the month, he doesn’t have any yet. So he worked some last Saturday, and he woke up at 5 and 6:00 each morning of the trip in order to get most of a day’s work in before the rest of us had really started the day! I was super impressed, and grateful for his diligence.

Finally, here is a video Josh made of the trip. I tried to include different pictures in the post than he did in the video; but I apologize in advance if there are duplicates.

Josh really does look so good on his skateboard (see the post 30, Flirty, and Thriving). And I really wanted to document it. Plus, it is now a family affair that everybody loves, and that is obviously worth documenting as well. So here I am. Documenting it.

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Charlotte LOVES to run and play chase with Josh on the skateboard. It’s especially funny because she won’t run with a scooter or somebody just running for love nor food!

I have also taken several turns on the skateboard and can now maneuver it rather decently. (I literally NEVER thought I would learn how to steer a skateboard.) I even fell off the other day, which felt a little bit rad, and like I’m a real skateboarder now! (I’m definitely not.)

It’s been so much fun playing with the skateboard the past couple of weeks; but I know it’s not doing anything for our image as responsible adults. Oh well! If any of you want to come and look like a totally cool teenager with us (without any of the effort of actually pushing yourself!) just come on over!

On Saturday, Fay was baptized! She was so excited to finally get to do it, since her birthday was back in May. I’m so proud of her choice to make covenant promises with Heavenly Father, and so impressed by all the ways she has prepared herself. She is truly an amazing young woman and I am beyond honored to be her mother!

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I am also so grateful, in light of Fay’s baptism, for Josh worthily holding the Melchizedek Priesthood and therefore being able to perform these sacred ordinances!

Before quarantine even began, we had decided to combine Fay’s baptism and Bianca’s baby blessing. Fay was thrilled to be able to share her day with her brand new sister!

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There were so many more moments I would have loved to have captured from this ultra-special day. But despite the pictures we didn’t get to take, and the Zoom call dying at the church, and the whole pandemic situation, Bianca is now blessed and Fay is now a baptized, confirmed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, possessing the gift of the Holy Ghost as her constant companion, and we are thrilled for both our beautiful girls!

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Our experience trying to get this all to happen has been a beautiful reminder to me that, though Heavenly Father does allow us to experience disappointments and setbacks, He also prepares a way for “every needful thing” to be accomplished.

Thank you to everybody who supported us by coming, or watching over Zoom (or trying to), or just thinking about Fay and Bianca! We truly appreciate all your love and support!

Plus some other stuff.

On Friday, I FINALLY turned 30! I feel like I’ve been living the life of a person in her thirties since I was 22, so I’m really glad to finally just be official!

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For my birthday, Josh got me my dream tea-set! We have had tea (aka: steeped herbal beverage) with it once with the whole family and I am VERY pleased to report that nothing is broken!

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I celebrated my birthday by eating anything and everything I wanted and braving a baby-sitter in the pandemic so Josh and I could go on a date! Thanks, Mariel! It was lovely and relaxing, and I feel very celebrated!

Josh figured out this past week what he wanted to do with his birthday money and “motivosity” money. So he bought an electric skateboard. 😀 Josh was into skateboarding as a kid, and his new electric one means he can have all the fun without any of the work! He has taken the kids on many rides and gone on some lengthy pleasure cruises by himself. I must confess, he looks really good on it! (If a little bit like a teenager…) But I don’t have a picture of him on it; I only have a picture of his dad on it. Apparently Dad used to be into skateboarding too.

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I’ll have to get a picture of Josh on this thing! Especially one with one of the kids!

Anyway, back to business (and I don’t mean the American lady with her cats, sisters).

On Thursday night, we went to Farmington where one of Josh’s LP associates had a GIANT fireworks show in a park near his house. He sends requests each year to the people in the office for the coupons for fireworks that come in the mail, and then invites everyone to come to the show if they want. Well, we sent him a coupon last year, and sent him three coupons this year, so we figured we definitely merited our invitation. Apparently when he began doing this show, it was a group of like 30 people or so who would meet at his house. But it has now grown into a GIANT production at the park with food-trucks, music, and around 700 people in attendance and SO many fireworks! It was fun to be part of it.

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We had a fun week! But Saturday was the real highlight! Check the next post!

This week we endeavored to ignore the pandemic by camping again! Although, I feel like it was boarder-line glamping. But it was still lots of fun!

We finally made it to Jordanelle to play at the Utah-beach! Our campsite had hookups so we had a fan going during the day and a heater on for the second half of the night. It was pretty incredible that there was an almost 40 degree difference between day and night!

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In order to camp with hookups you have to either have your tent on a teeny tent-pad (not pictured) or put it on the parking pad for trailers. Since our tent was way too big for the pad, and you can’t stake it to asphalt, Josh made these really cool PVC frame-type-thingies to structure it. Then we put our bags and things in the corners to keep it from blowing away. It worked great!

After getting all settled in on Tuesday afternoon, we went down to the beach and played in the water. Josh and I didn’t wear our swimming suits because we weren’t planning to stay too long. I joked to the kids that if they went too far out in the water they would be busted because then Josh would have to dive in and get his clothes all wet to save them. I had no intention of being prophetic; but only a few minutes later Fay lost control of the floaty (a giant watermelon popsicle :D) and started panicking. Josh, sure enough, ran into the water to save her. Fortunately, he had just deposited his phone and keys with me and Bianca in the shade tent. After saving Fay, he figured he might as well just keep playing with the kids. They didn’t mind!

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When we got all dried off, we took a little drive to Heber for dinner where we got burgers, fries and shakes from Granny’s and ate them at a nearby park. Best camping-dinner ever!

We slept well in our mansion-tent (once Helen and Portia decided to settle down for the night) and when we got up, the kids all played at the playground right by our campsite. After that and breakfast, we headed back to the beach to play in the water. We were the second people on the beach at 9:00 when we arrived; by the time we left at noon, it was super crowded! There were many highlights from the beach: turning little girls into little mermaids, eating yummy snacks, the rental of the stand-up paddle-board, more floating on the giant popsicle, and sleeping in the shade-tent (guess who)!

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After the beach, we went back to camp for a HOT lunch break, then we took off back home. It was lots of fun! But, as I said to Josh, no matter how long or how fun a trip is, it always feels nice to be back home.

On Saturday, we met up with some friends up Big Cottonwood Canyon for a baby hike and a BBQ. It took us an amusingly long time to figure out how to get to Hidden Falls (I guess it really was hidden); but it was worth the effort!

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As we adults were chatting and enjoying our dinner, we heard the kids start erupting with excitement followed by a very distinct rattling sound. Daphne reported “I first thought it was a sprinkler; but then I saw that it was a snake and I knew that it was a rattlesnake.” We got everybody away to a safe distance and watched as the rattler slithered through some trees and then finally away from our BBQ. It was a little freaky, a little strangely coincidental (as Tanner had just killed and eaten a rattlesnake days before), and a little fascinating. I’m pleased to report that we all returned home safe and sound with lots of good memories! So fun!

Maybe I’m just a brat; but even with all these fun things we’re doing, I still feel like there is this cloud of COVID-despair and suffocation hanging over me and all of life. And yet, simultaneously, I feel like there are so many ways that we are being blessed BECAUSE we’re staying home and together and BECAUSE there’s so much uncertainty out in the world. I’m grateful for the ways the Lord is blessing us and helping us grow! But, at the same time, I am thinking that it would be REALLY nice to have our world back. I know that one day this will all just be a crazy page in our history; so I guess, for now, I’ll try to keep on being patient and looking for the good.

Wish me luck. 🙂

We have so much playing the past few weeks! It almost feels as though life has recommenced since COVID began–but not quite, because we just got notice that we are un-returning to church now. 🙁 But STILL, we have done a lot of fun summery things!

The first thing we did was Fay’s family party on June 15. She had a vision of what she wanted–snacks and drinks and everybody partying in the pool! I have yet to go in the pool, actually, because I’m always on baby duty; but the kids all had tons of fun and it made Fay’s pool party dreams come true.

Our next party, and our first grand adventure of the summer was camping in Green River. Our original plan was to be at Jordanelle; but there was a giant rainstorm that drastically lowered the temperature all over the Wasatch Front and the temperature was supposed to get down to about 33 at night. We still really wanted to go camping, so we tried to find the closest place to camp that wasn’t affected by the storm. Green River fit the bill. Josh EXPERTLY packed the car with gear and food for everybody (Seriously impressive! We have a lot of people.) and we set off. We stopped at Provo Bakery on the way down to pick up an early addition to Josh’s birthday–buttermilk bars! If you’ve never had a Provo Bakery buttermilk bar, you SHOULD!

The campsite at Green River was just about perfect for our age group. There was grass and shade abounding and the river was plenty close enough to go investigate, but plenty far enough away to set parents’ hearts at ease. We had lots of fun running around, playing/sleeping in a tent, and making food on our portable camp-stove.

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The next morning we decided to drive the extra hour and visit Goblin Valley. It was probably the most pleasant weather in history! We happily climbed all over the goblins with Josh and I taking turns holding Bianca/watching the little ones. We met some cool people from South Carolina who have been driving across the country for the past month and will continue on their journey until September, visiting their children as well as cool things along the way! I said it sounded like a great way to spend quarantine; and they said it was how they were spending their retirement. It was a happy encounter.

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Our next party was for Josh’s brother Aaron. His birthday is on June 18, and on our way home from camping, we stopped at his birthday open-house and ate some really yummy chocolate-chip-cookie-dough ice-cream cake!

The next day, June 19, was Josh’s birthday!!! He is now 32 years old and more fabulous than ever! I had been trying for about a month to get him to tell me what he wanted to do for his birthday and he never could think of anything awesome enough. After work on his birthday, he decided he would head out to the store and come home with a birthday party. DID HE EVER!!!

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He got a ton of delicious foods that turned into an instant barbecue along with a bunch of outdoor games and party poppers for us all to play with. Then he got out his giant speakers and had his current favorite music playing. It was all so much fun! Happy Birthday, Josh!

The next day, June 20, we got to go to Kathryn’s midsummer party at her house and Bianca was honored to be the midsummer princess. I don’t have any pictures, sadly.

June 21, we celebrated Father’s Day with Josh in the morning and his dad in the evening. Lacey made some delicious peanut-butter cup cookies to go with yummy tacos, and we ate them outside in the lovely weather.

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We woke up on June 22 thinking it would be a normal work-day Monday. But when Carter remembered it was his turn to pick family party he decided that, since we had finally finished reading Harry Potter 2 on the way to camping the past week, we needed to have our watch-the-movie party THAT NIGHT for his family party.

This is a moment where I’m going to indulge in a bit of tooting my own horn. Carter decided he wanted our big Harry Potter party that evening at about 10:30 AM, with all the exciting things we had talked about. By dinner time, the three big kids each had a robe–two of them homemade and a custom-made wand. With our dinner of homemade bread (made that day) we had Professor Sprout’s garden, Hufflepuffs, snitches, and home-brewed polyjuice potion. Josh did go to the store while he was out for lunch and got some of the things we didn’t have yet; but I basically made all of that happen in about 7 hours!

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We also had our little lesson from Come Follow Me. And, most importantly, Carter was very pleased!

Then this past Saturday, June 27, we joined Aaron’s family once again for Medli’s 3rd birthday party. She was just about as cute as you can get as she lapped up every detail of her Pinkalicious party.

Today’s family party was Portia’s choice and it was just what we needed. We all played dress-up after the lesson–even Bianca!

All the things have happened since the last time I posted! School is now officially over, Fay finished up dance after having a 3-week bout of sickness, Bianca is two months old, we went to church last week (!!!), and things are really getting summery around here. Since it has been so long, I’m going to skip an actual “story” and instead just post pictures with explicatory captions.

Home Life

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Summer Time

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The Pool

This one actually gets some commentary.

Because of COVID and a newborn, we are feeling pretty grounded these days. We don’t have the usual museums and library to go to, and we’re not planning any vacations. Josh and I were trying to think of something we could do to make the summer still fun for the kids. They love playing in water, so we thought about getting another large wading pool, like we have had in the past. Josh looked at approximately 5 different stores in-person, and countless places on-line and couldn’t find one available anywhere. (Apparently, we’re not the only ones in quarantine right now.) We talked about trying to make something out of wood and tarps, and we just couldn’t figure out a way to get it to actually work. We found some above-ground pools on Amazon and we decided that since we weren’t doing a vacation this summer, we could splurge.

About 47 seconds after we clicked the button to place our order, I started panicking. We have little kids! I could totally just imagine Helen investigating that pool when I was inside working on dinner or something and falling in and drowning!! I told Josh we should cancel the order. But, as always, Josh had a plan to save the day. He proposed a fence with a locked gate to go around the pool so that the kids couldn’t get in! And, of course, he was able to build it for us!

After many considerations of where to place the pool we picked a spot, and Josh set about making it level enough for the pool (basically none of our yard is level on its own). We also decided to take advantage of fence that was already there, so we only had to build two sides of the one for the pool.

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Josh also hacked away at the rosebush in the corner (NOT the first time we have done that) to make space. He also had the fun idea of the kids making concrete stepping stones to go around the pool.

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Josh spent about a week leveling the corner, and about 3 hours building the fence. He is so awesome! None of it is perfect or fabulously beautiful; but it is a fenced-in pool and we are loving it!

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Since it arrived last Tuesday, we have played in it every afternoon except Saturday (because it was chilly, and we had somewhere to be). I was nervous that the kids would just want to poke around it all day while they play outside; but I guess with playing in it for at LEAST an hour every day, they get their fill and really just ignore it most of the time it isn’t officially pool time. Even so, I still pray basically every day that nobody will drown in the pool.

Conclusion

It just felt fun to have another heading. 🙂

Summer is definitely underway around here, and it is, so far, turning out to be better than I had feared, considering the restrictions of COVID. I am hopeful that it will be a good one for us!

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Our favorite Fay finally reached the great milestone of 8 years old on May 7th. She is anxiously awaiting the day when the world will open enough for her to make her long-anticipated first covenants with Heavenly Father through baptism; but for now, she is still excited to have left the number 7 behind her.

For her birthday this year, Fay wanted EVERYTHING Unicorn! She specifically requested a unicorn tablescape along with a unicorn cake and a unicorn stuffie as a gift. I feel like we fulfilled her wishes adequately; but you’ll have to ask Fay what she thought. 🙂

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Also, here is the birthday girl opening gifts!

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But Fay is about so much more than just unicorns!

One thing Fay has always loved, and continues to love, is arts and crafts! She can frequently be found making beautiful pictures on her easel (she kept her room clean for a week to be allowed to have the easel right in her bedroom), putting flowers together in fancy arrangements, and following Carter’s lead by making wood creations in the garage. I also include, in her love of art, her cupcake creations. She enjoys experimenting with all art media.

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Fay is also all about adventures! Another thing she requested for her birthday was adventure gear, especially a rope. She loves to roam around the backyard, trying to find unexplored areas and interesting things. She also has requested that we get a bigger, less fenced-in yard so that she can go on more adventures and rescue animals. One day I came out to the yard to Portia yelling that Fay had fallen off the chain-link fence as she was returning to our yard (she is NOT supposed to climb over the fence). I asked Fay what was going on and she declared rather dramatically “I just wanted an adventure!”

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But Fay is also a total princess! She loves teaching Portia about Princess etiquette, dressing up, dancing and singing with Princess songs, watching all the Barbie and Disney princess movies, and being every kind of fancy! She is a total ham for pictures and will try to sneak into as many of the other kids’ photos as as she can. And, appropriately, she is naturally as pretty as any princess there ever was!

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Fay will also try just about whatever is available to try! Her school teacher happens to also be a yoga instructor and offers online yoga classes each weekday morning. Fay enthusiastically joins in; and her enthusiasm spreads to her siblings.

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Fay also loves reading! Her reading frequently leads to new things to try out and be excited about. She loves to read just about whenever she has a minute. She reads books about animals and people who help save them, princesses, adventures, mysteries, and even sometimes the scriptures!

Just for fun, here is a picture of Fay dressed up for Star Wars Day which was part of at-home school spirit week. She ROCKED the Rey get-up!

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And finally, Fay is still and forever the best big sister! She is a leader, teacher, and adorer to all her siblings. She is especially excited about being my big helper with Bianca.

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Oh Faymous! We just love you so much! We’re so glad you’ve been ours for 8 whole years!

Carter turned six this past Tuesday! Josh and I were looking forward to this birthday even more than normal, because it was the day we got all our cuties back after Bianca’s arrival!

Carter really got the best of both birthday worlds, because Grandmother made his dream birthday breakfast before bringing the kids home. Then when they got home, the kids got to immediately hold their new baby sister, and then Carter opened presents! Then in the evening, Grandpa dropped off Carter’s requested birthday dinner–pizza–and we had the cake and ice-cream Carter had selected weeks ago. Grandma and Grandpa Monson also came by and brought even more gifts! The only complaints Carter had were that both Fay and Portia did something unkind to him during the course of the day, which he took SERIOUS exception to. He believes, and I agree, that people ought to be exclusively nice to you on your birthday. (And every other day, really.)

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A little about Carter these days:

Carter’s interests are impressively varied. He likes riding his bike and scooter, and is making a lot of progress with each; he likes crafting and coloring; he likes adventuring in the back yard; he likes school; he likes building things and watching Josh work on whatever he is building; he likes reading; he likes video games; he likes helping in the kitchen and yard; he likes dancing and making music; he likes eating. And he’s happy to engage in basically whatever the family is doing. He’s a seriously fun dude to have around!

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One thing I love to watch Carter do is play with the dog. The girls like to snuggle with her or try to walk her; but Carter likes to get down and play with her. He will play chase and keep away and fetch with Charlotte for several minutes at a time. Charlotte would never admit it; but I think she probably missed Carter most of all while the kids were all gone. I wish I had a picture of them playing together.

Carter has lots of fun, creative ways of entertaining himself. He–along with his accomplice, Fay–finds ways to recreate experiences he’s had or things he has seen others use with whatever he can find available around him. They both amuse and amaze me with what fun inventions they contrive.

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Another creative thing that is purely Carter is his “wood.” Whenever Josh has extra pieces of wood or other parts of workshop projects, Carter will claim them. He gets Josh to help him screw, hammer, drill, saw, etc. his things together into some random assembly which he basically always calls his “wood.” He has been doing this for probably about two years, and now his sisters are seeing that it is pretty fun and cool. Again, I wish I had a picture!

For Christmas, Carter got a camera. He frequently takes pictures and videos, and they are always a hoot! We’re still working on getting the pictures uploaded before they accidentally get deleted, so we don’t have a full repertoire to choose from; but here’s a little taste of the fun he has with his camera.

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Carter is also a fabulous brother! I asked him yesterday what he thinks of having 4 sisters! (For some reason, that just seems like so much more than 3 did.) He declared, with an exhausted expression and voice, “Ugh! Too many sisters!!” But the truth is: he loves every one of them. He plays with each of them in a unique way and manages to enjoy all (well, most) of their ultra-girly activities while still being the boy.

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We love our boy! And we are so happy and grateful that he has been ours for six whole years, now!