Cutie Boys

 Ben loves Cub Scouts.  Yes, Ben really loves Cub Scouts.  He just loves learning in general, and for the most part, each week he gets to learn something new.  This is his school troop at the monthly Pack Meeting.  (We also go to the church troop and pack meetings, but Ben is the only boy his age there, so we decided to double up on Scouts; good thing he loves it!)

 Mitchell just loves to climb.  Until we moved the living room around and put the couch in front of the computer to 'protect' it, this was Mitchell's perch of choice during scriptures and books at night, regardless of the computer being on or off....  Also, an open fridge is an open invitation, right?  The girls will pull "Mitchell's" stool over to get yogurts from the top shelf.  Mitchell knows the sound of the fridge opening and hustles over to see what snacks he can find for himself as well!

 Sweet baby - time for bed!

Sunday afternoon Baking!

With Mitchell asleep, we took advantage of our time to cook!  Except for last year, each year we make sugar cookies to pass along to those special few recipients...  The kids and I made 4 batches of cookies to roll, cut, bake and frost!  Andy spent most of those 4 hours completely cleaning out the fridge and putting back on the handle that has been broken for a loooooong time! 

 Mitchell was enthralled with the drill!  (Side note: sad story...  The next morning, Ben was moving the defrosting turkey to get to the gallon of milk.  Somehow, the turkey outer bag had a hole and the turkey juice dripped down two shelves and into the veggie drawer...all spaces that had been lovingly cleaned the night before.  Also had to toss all the awesome veggies I had purchased for Thanksgiving, resulting in yet another trip to the store!!!)  The kids invited Tara, our neighbor, over to decorate with us!  Uncle Roy and Uncle David, hope you liked your cookies!  It was an all-day effort!

Happy 1st Birthday!!!

 Mitchell woke up so happy on his first birthday, much like he wakes up each morning!  Such a cheerful and busy little guy! This stool is his favorite place to sit and climb.  As such, he is not afraid to strong-arm any sibling that may be standing/sitting in his way!

 Everyone took off to school and we cleaned up the kitchen and headed to the gym.  Then I treated us to Chipotle for lunch.  After nap time, the kids came home and we played until Mitchell's special dinner, which I can't recall two months after the fact....so sad I didn't take a picture of it!

 Mitchell quite liked his cake.  He immediately started picking at it with his two fingers.  He would only eat the black icing...for about ten minutes, just slowly picking at it and taking small consistent licks.  Then I gave him a big fingerful of white frosting and pinched some cake into his mouth.

 It started to get a little bit more exciting then...I had to take away the soccer ball for the rest of us to eat and gave Mitchell his extra-large cupcake to devour.

 He enjoyed the whole cake idea and cried many tears when I finally took away the mostly-empty plate.  Thankfully, he was entertained by the whole idea of presents.  Absolutely LOVE this squatting position!!!

Mitchell had many willing hands ready to take over help him open his gifts. 

 As much as he loves his balls and ballpopper, at the end of the day, suckers will always win out!