Royce is 5

With a birthday being at the FIRST of a month, RIGHT after Thanksgiving when you don't feel on top of your game ANYWAY.....well, it can really sneak up on ya. So on Thursday of the week of his birthday (on Saturday, Dec. 5th), I remembered his birthday. And it should probably be celebrated.....

I quickly texted some of the moms of his friends and started on an easy piñata shape that we could pull off fast. It works because Legos happen to be his favorite thing anyway.

I also let him paint the whole thing too. He was in heaven!

His black Lego piñata turned out perfect and he was thrilled.

Brooks was actually working that day, which I knew when I planned it, but I WASN'T planning on feeling so awful that day. One of the worst days in a while.....which is where my ULTRA-likes-to-be-in-charge Emerson (aka- "party planner" and "traffic controller") came in REAL handy. Intact, I didn't even ASK him, he just ASSUMES he's in charge I guess.

Here he is running the whole "Run-around-the-house-with-weapons-making-ninja-noises" game. And calling kids out when they aren't following the "rules".....the he kept making up as the game went along.

Everyone at the table for pizza and oranges.

For Royce's presents, he happened to get weapons from all three of his friends. LOTS of them. 

I went to go throw the wrapping paper away.

When I came back in Emerson had all the weapons on the couch spread out and everyone was in a line ready for their turn to pick which weapon they could play with.

The funny thing is, even CAMDEN sat back and listened to Emerson's rules. He even raised his hand to ask EMERSON a question!

Then Royce got his Ninjago/Lego (that did NOT turn out in the shape of a Lego, but he didn't care) ice cream cake.

He had a great party and I have no idea how it was pulled off..... actually, I do..... Emerson.

That night Royce opened up the gifts from us. 

Of course he got his junk box (that never lasts longer then 24 hours)

And a Ninjago Kai's Jet.

I love how I give a lego set and then the boys play sit together forever putting it together. Emerson usually is the Lego-builder.

The finished product. (obviously, they are brothers). I just LOVE their smiles. 

With Royce turning 5 it also means that next year he will start kindergarten! In the Spanish Immersion school the kids go to the upcoming children need to be evaluated before they can be accepted into the program.

Great.

My kid that talks ALL the time but no one can understand him is going to get evaluated and if he DOESN'T get in, then it meant he would be going to another school then the other 3 elementary aged kids next year. That didn't sound fun. 

So we really worked on his ABC's. He had them pretty good.....enough......or at least better then Iris had them for her evaluation (AND SHE GOT IN). He knew his colors. His name and he knew how to count from 1-10 without skipping numbers. He actually can count higher and does well but for SOME reason he would ALWAYS skip 10. He would go from 9 straight to 11. I knew she would have him count to 10, so before he could eat or anything we would make him count and NOT leave out 10.

On the evaluation day I had to take Kellyn and Everly with me. We walked into the room with Royce and the FIRST thing she asked him was "What's your name?"

"Woyce"

"Can you write your name here on the paper?"

*GULP*

AHHH!!!!! He CAN write his name but only after copying me do it or me telling him what letter came next. 

I sat and waited. He wrote a "R". Phew. Next came his "Y". Oh well. Then his "O". Then he stopped.

"Royce, can you write a 'C'?" *shakes his head* *me-mentally-face-palming*

"Yes, you can Royce, it's the same as Camden's name"

He writes a C

"Royce, can you write an E?" *shakes his head no*

"It's like Emerson's name". Then he writes it.

Whatever.

She had 10 yellow cubes and asked him to count them.

*please don't forget 10, please don't forget 10*

He starts counting correctly, gets to 9, hesitates, looks at the lady with his sneaky grin then says "10"

PHEW!

Then she said, "Well what color ARE these cubes?"

He shrugs his shoulders.

"Royce, do you know what color this is?" (point to the yellow cubes)

"No"

WHAAAAAAAT?!?!?! Now that is ONE thing he DOES know is his colors!!!! It's only my favorite color and we are ALWAYS using it!

Then she asked him all the other colors and he knew them. Asked him about the yellow cubes again and he shrugged his shoulders.

She moved on to number-identification. Ummmm, TOTALLY didn't work on that yet with him. She held up a flashcard of the number and asked what it was. Let's just say he got 1 and 3 right. 

It was at this point I texted Brooks and said, "Guess I will be homeschooling Royce next year..."

But he HAD to pass the color thing. She asked him AGAIN what color those darn yellow cubes were. Finally I said, "Royce, you KNOW what color that is."

Then he came over and whispered in my ear, "Lellow"

"Yes, it IS that color, why don't you tell HER that answer?!"

"Because I can't say it right."

"Just go tell her anyway"

He walked over to her, she asked what color the cubes were again and under his breath, without making eye-contact he says, "Lellow".

"Well, thank you Mrs. Smith for bringing him in, we will be in contact with you."

Suuuuuuuuure you will.

"We really do enjoy your other children at this school and see them exceling in all their grades and our challenge courses"

Yes, PLEASE remember that and that there's HOPE for Royce in his genes.

The family got a huge kick out of Royce's evaluation when I told them around the table that night. 

I now play Uno about every morning over and over with him (number recognition when we say them outloud) and we playing matching games with flashcards. Not to mention buying him that singing Leapfrog letter bus for the fridge for Christmas. We may have failed that darn evaluation but the kid will be ready when fall comes.

MUUUUUCH to our suprise, he ended up getting accepted to the Spanish immersion school with his brothers and sisters. 

I just forwarded the letter to Brooks with the words, "Miracles never cease".

He's really looking forward to riding on the "lellow bus"

Heaven help his teacher.

Thanksgiving

The night before Thanksgiving I got to take two of my princesses to Disney on Ice. Like last year, I only had to pay for one ticket with their food drive they did again. It's a HUGE win-win

I DID feel kinda guilty seeing Minnie without Kellyn there though. 

Not enough to actually BRING her, but there was a little guilt.

Happy as can BE!!!!

I'm sure I would hear a collective "Amen" when I say, "Fantasia is probably one of Disney's lamest and most boring movies they ever made." BUT.....their Fantasia segment with the glowing brooms was my favorite part. Go figure.

Thanksgiving Day is such a lovely time here. There's no one coming over to eat so we can take the day as lazy or rushed as we want. I had made most of the things the day before so the fact that a big FORT was built in my kitchen on Thanksgiving Day wasn't TOO much in the way. :)

Building forts IS am important job though...... just like downing the appetizers like Deviled eggs.....

And pickles and olives.....

And playing with the turkey neck. 

Because that's not gross or anything!

The turkey turned out great!

Well, actually the whole dinner did.

I am sure thankful for my FULL table (food and bodies)

#ChinetplatesfortheWIN

I can't remember how it came up but we were teasing Bronson on being slow or something. Then Brooks said, "I'll bet you couldn't even beat mom who is pregnant!" 

I started thinking of all my high school track days and how slow-to-start Bronson is when he runs and thought, "YEA, I can beat him!"

Bronson said I couldn't and before I knew it Brooks set a wager. We would have a race. If I won, he had to put away all the laundry downstairs (which believe-you-me, that day there was a TON). If HE won, I had to put his clothes away (hanging up and all) for a week.

I stalled as MUCH after dinner as I could, because I was STUFFED. Also during the dinner I kept telling Bronson to eat more, hoping he WOULD get stuffed.

It was race time. Brooks said "GO!" and we started off dead even.....which wasn't in the plan, since I was hoping my sprinting skills would get me a head start. We stayed neck-and-neck and then my body had a HUGE epiphany! It said, "Hey woman, I realize your mind is TELLING your body to move, but it ain't listening. Plus you haven't moved in months so it has forgetten how!"

And that was ALL she wrote. The last half of the race he killed me.......along with my pride.

There is always next year, right?

I still shook his hand though as the grand loser.

#laundrypilehereIcome

THANKFULLY, the Smith-family Turkey Football game ended in my favor though. I even made the final touchdown (after Bronson said, "Mom can't catch anything". Obviously that catch felt pretty good). Funny thing is, the boys probably should've won, but they botched their last possession and gave us the chance.

But hey, winning is winning....doesn't matter how it happened.

(the neighbor kid jumped in for the picture....and no, Iris, Kellyn and Royce didn't play)

This is up on our mantle. 

#kindofabigdeal

Aleeya's Baptism

As with the older boys, Aleeya took RA's challenge to finish the Book of Mormon (reading aloud) before her baptism.

There were a LOT of hours put in. And quite frankly, I delegated a lot of it to Brooks, since later at night was trickier for me (patience-low and all) and she ASKED to read with him because he would scratch her legs while she read. (He's clearly thrilled)

But the night before her baptism Aleeya was set to finish the whole book. 

Here she is reading the last verse.......she couldn't hold in her smile while she read.

Upon finishing she immediately started squealing.

And couldn't hold still with all her jumping!

Nothing like setting a SUPER hard goal and accomplishing it!

NOVEMBER 15, 2015

Aleeya's baptism was right after our church services on Sunday, which worked out easier for me (already having the kids dressed in church clothes and all). We didn't get a whole family picture (that would take corraling my kids), but we DID get a picture with the Girl-of-the-Day!!!

My sweet Aleeya-beeya.

Aleeya with her Primary teacher, Sister Spaulding.

Aleeya actually asked my Dad (Grampy) to baptize her. I love seeing two of my favorite people dressed in white together.

Aleeya with Grams and Grampy

and Aleeya with Grandma and RA.

Both of the Grandmas gave such sweet and perfect talks on Baptism and the Holy Ghost.

Before the service started I snapped this quick picture of these two looking at each other.

What a sweet moment bringing back so many daddy-daughter feelings of mine.

Aleeya had so many people there to support her the room was as full as my heart was of gratitude to all those that made the day special for her.

Grandparents Galore!

How many times do you get TWO sets of grandparents fly in at the EXACT same time to spend 4 days with you?!?!?!

Well that happened to my lucky kids!

When they arrived it was fun just seeing the kids snuggle up to everyone just like no time had lapsed since we saw them!!

While the older kids were at school and Brooks at work, I was grateful Pat and RA came and grabbed the younger three and took them to a Bounce House, Monkey Joes. Pat got a cute picture of these two.

I wasn't there, but I can imagine Everly was pretty cautious through the whole thing.

Later they checked these three boys out of school early to go golfing

and then introduce them to Cookout shakes. I personally think they taste like a regular shake but my kids think they are amazing and around here people brag about them.

My parents came over during the day and did some things to make life easier for me. They even got my Christmas tree downstairs and set it up so we could have our Thanksgiving Tree up.....since they know how much we love it. 

And get this, IT WAS MY MOM'S BIRTHDAY TOO!!!!!!

Nothing says "Happy Birthday" like, "Hey mom, how about doing my work for me for a while." :)

She DID have quite the table of birthday singers though to enjoy her Marie Calendar's Cherry Pie (aren't I the best hostess)?

Saturday morning Camden and Emerson had their first flag-football games of the season...and what a treat to have the grandparents there. I was so grateful Pat took her camera for me and that the grandparents made sure Brooks didn't leave anyone there. :)

The menfolk watching the game

Iris snuggling Grams. I love this picture.

After the games, all the menfolk went golfing.....

While the Grandmas took Aleeya to buy a new dress for her baptism. Apparently it was the second one she tried on and KNEW it was the one she wanted. 

Then Grandma and Grams took Aleeya and Iris downtown Greenville to find the 9 "Mice on Main". There's a Children's book sold downtown to help find the 9 metal mice, scavenger-hunt-style and we've actually never done it.

Here they are starting by the first one, "Marvin".

They were gone a WHILE but apparently found them all! My girls absolutely LOVED it.

And they bought them metal mice to remember it. 

Everly warmed RIGHT up to the grandparents. A little TOO much!!! She didn't want ANYTHING to do with me or Brooks if there was a grandparent (ESPECIALLY a Grandma) in the room. When she woke up from her nap she just came out and walked straight to RA and sat there and snuggled him.

Then later after her snack she made herself comfortable on Grampy's lap for the rest of the time. #spoiledrotten

Here is Grandma taking these three rascals on a walk.......

It wasn't just ANY walk.....she walked them to Wendy's for frosties, then across a few parking lots to Burger King to lunch/playground. I guess Kellyn didn't want to leave (imagine that!) and started losing it. I laughed when Pat came back and said she told Royce she was going to leave Kellyn at Kmart! He wouldn't let her.

The thing is, it's too funny to me because I would've felt the same way!!!!

My kids are SO lucky to have these four in their lives.

AND our Thanksgiving tree had fun answers on it this year from the grandparents that have never made an appearance on our tree yet!.... things like, "hole-in-one" and "fireworks"