Kyle's 4th Birthday!

My little Kyle turned 4!  

He's always so excited about his birthday because it's just a few weeks after Sean's...

so he's excited about his cake and presents and party!

A Giants Panda Pillow Pet.  Perfect for my son who LOVES soft things!

Can't you just tell that he feels special in this picture?  His look says, "It's my birthday.  I'm special today.  I'm getting bigger like my brothers...and I'm happy about that."

Kyle designed this cake all by himself!  After having chocolate covered strawberries at preschool one day, he'd been craving them...so he asked for Chocolate cake with strawberries and Chocolate covered strawberries.  So that's what he got!  I love making the fun cakes for my boys...but really loved making this one because it tasted so good!  He pretty much asked for this last year too...he loves chocolate frosting...and that's usually what he eats from cake.  But this night he was so excited about his presents, I don't think he even ate one bite!

Then the next night we took a few of his friends to Chuck e Cheese's for an hour of play and cupcakes!

Kyle is a fun and funny kid!  He loves to be silly and make people laugh.  He says some really funny things...just last night he was playing with a friend at Sean's ballgame.  They raced back from the snack shack...and when Kyle got back to his friends dad...he said, "I won!  I can't believe I won!  He's older than me...and taller than me! And look - he has bigger feet than me and I still won!"  He is so aware of what's going on with the big brothers and loves to be like them.  He also loves Cade hugs.  He has been coloring, writing and drawing so great.  All on his own, he has started to write letters and his name!  He loves going to preschool with his friends.  He has quite the imagination!  Just the other day he was coloring/drawing - something he loves to do. This is his creation:

The top drawing is a motorcyle from a learn to draw book...I drew it, he colored it - but he drew the helmet. Guess what the lower drawing is?  You guessed it...

4 friends riding a roller coaster!  

All the lines drawn over in the same place are the times they rode the coaster.  The bumps are the loop d loops.  His comments were: "Weeeeee!" and "They are having so much fun!"  "I wish I could go on that  ride for real life!"

I also interviewed him:

Kyle Reese Motley - 4 years old.

Who is your best friend?  Christian 

What is your favorite color?  Purple

What is your favorite thing to do?  hmm..hard answer...color and going to swim in the pool.

What is your favorite food?  Broccoli

What do you like to do with your family?  go swim in the pool

What is your fav toy?  playing with boats.

What do you want to be when you grow up? fireman

What makes you happy?  When I do good things

What makes you sad?  When I don't get any naanaas.

What is your fav. TV show to watch? Mickey Mouse

What is your favorite book?  find/ search Cars and Mickey Mouse

What do you love to learn about?  Swimming lessons

What was the best part of your birthday? eating my chocolate strawberries.  I love chocolate strawberries.  They are yum yum!

Where do you like to go?  Father and Sons Campout

What is your favorite treat?  Smores

What do you think about before you fall asleep?  playing with toys.  But I couldn't do that because it's bedtime.

What was your favorite birthday present?  Remote control car

Scared of?  Nightmares

Sport? basketball

Where in the world do you want to go?  Disneyland

What do you not like to eat?  Lettuce.

What do you like best about your family?  Mom....What else?  Dad.

What do you like to do with Cade? Play legos.

What do you like to do with Ryan? Going to scouts with Ryan.

What do you like to do with Sean? playing legos.

What do you like to do with all brothers? jumping on the trampoline.

Snapshots of life ~ for Mother's Day 2010

All of these pictures were taken on Mother's Day except this picture of Ryan going into school today. Somehow I didn't get one of him that day, but this morning I snapped it because it's funny how I couldn't find many pictures of Ryan lately. I decided it's because he's in school most the time! There are good and bad things about that. I love to see him progress and learn. He loves to meet and play with friends. But then he comes home and plays and does homework, our time at home surely seems short these days!

The other pictures I snapped because they were bits of my life right now as a mom ~ things that crack me up and brighten my day. And things I want to remember a long time from now!

Then I decided to conduct my own Mother's Day Interview since time moves so quickly and they change so much ~ I wanted to record right now ~ for much later!


What is your favorite thing to do?
R - Play legos and play outside (basketball)
S - play games with you!

What is your favorite sport?
R - Football
S - I think it's going to be Soccer

What is your favorite book?
R - Magic Tree House
S - Hard decision - Jitterbug Jam

What is your favorite thing to learn at school?
R - Reading
S - Science

What is your favorite thing to do at recess?
R - Monkey Bars
S - play dogs (dog catcher tries to get the dogs)

Where is your favorite place to go?
R - Disneyland
S - School

What is your favorite thing to do with our family?
R - Vacations - like going to Virginia
S - Family Home Evening

How old is mom?
R - 33
S - 22

What is mom's favorite thing to do with our family?
R - Having dates with Ryan like going to the school skate night
S - Family dinner

Where is mom's favorite place to go?
R - to your mom's house
S - to church

How old is Dad?
R - 33 - oh yeah! 32
S

What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?
R - go golfing
S - daddy date

What is dad's favorite thing to do?
R - that is a hard one - stay home with his family
S - Family Home Evening

What is your favorite food?
R - pizza
S - pizza

What is your favorite dessert?
R - Ice Cream
S - Cake

What is your favorite Holiday?
R - Mother's Day

What is your favorite church song?
R - A Child's Prayer
S - The house on the rock

What is your favorite part of Church?
R - I like to pass the Sacrament
S - Primary in our little class.

What is your favorite Scripture story?
R - 1 Ne Ch. 4 - Nephi cuts off Laban's head
S - 1 Ne Ch. 4 - because Nephi kills Laban

Ryan came up with more questions...

What is your favorite lego set?
R - Star wars with Mace Windu - doesn't have it - only seen it

What is your favorite movie?
R - Star Wars Episode 2

What is your favorite Star Wars Guy?
R - Mace Windu

Who is your best friend?
R - Kyle Ludlow (11 year old neighbor kid who is the neighborhood nice guy ~ organizes soccer or basketball or Capture the Flag with the kids). Ryan likes to play Capture the Flag with him...
Also McKenna (likes to play with her on the Monkey Bars).


* I have pictures of me doing this with Mr. Potato head glasses too! He's done it before, but what was so funny about him finding them that day was that Ryan had bought himself new sunglasses the day before. Sean already had sunglasses and the boys got me a new pair of Sunglasses for Mother's Day. So apparently Kyle decided he needed his own pair too!

These are the things I so much enjoy about being a mom. There are so many things to look forward to! And things will change over the years, but with new and different stages. Different stages rewarding or challenging, what ever it may be ~ we will love it! Luckily my calling as a mother is eternal!


Happy Mother's Day Mom! Love you and what you have taught me. It was you who shaped who I am today. Thank you for supporting me always! Then and now!

Boys interview August 2008

I thought it'd be fun to record some of the kids answers to interview questions after seeing Jillian do the same. These things crack me up. The answers are their own true answers...

What is something mom always says to you?
Ryan: I love you.
Sean: Stop doing stuff.
Mom: What stuff?
Ryan: He meant doing naughty stuff.

What makes mommy happy?
R: putting seat belts on by yourself
S: Putting my pants on all by myself

What makes mommy sad?
R: Not putting seat belt on when mom asks me to.
S: Not listening
R: Breaking crayons

How does mommy make you laugh?
R: tickling
S: tickling

How old is mom?
R: I don't know, 15
S: 15

What's mom's favorite thing to do?
R: Go places, chuck e cheese or the store
S: On the Border or to a restaurant

What's mommy really good at?
R: Juggling (I can juggle scarves)
S: Teaching your class

How are you and mom the same?
R: Our faces are the same.
S: Our noses are the same

How are you and mom different?
R: Our noses
S: you are silly.

What is mom's favorite food?
R: Burritos
S: Burritos

What do you like to do with mom?
R: Go to Chuck e Cheese
S: Go to On the Border
R and S: PLAY UNO!

What is your favorite food?
R: Ginger beef sandwiches or a corn dog
S: Cereal, spaghetti or Hangabers (Hamburgers)

What is your favorite part of the Olympics?
R: Diving and seeing the Great Wall of China
S: The drums (Opening Ceremony)

What is your favorite fruit?
R: Pineapple
S: Blueberries

What is your favorite vegetable?
R: Asparagus
S: Broccoli

What is your favorite part of church?
R: Drawing pictures in my class
S: Singing in nursery

What is your favorite dessert?
R and S: Strawberry Shortcake

Favorite place to go?
R: Disneyland or Hershey Park (says Disney is best though)
S: Chuck E Cheese

What is your favorite toy?
R: Transformers
S: Legos

I think it's funny how they answer some questions because they think it's a good answer - for example...the toy question. The only real transformer Ryan has is pretty complicated and we don't ever play with it...and he's never seen a transformer cartoon or movie. I should have split them up when I asked questions because some answers were certainly influenced by brothers. Chuck E Cheese is surely a favorite around here - and they ask to go all the time. They know we think the pizza is gross, so they ask to go just for the games/rides and not to eat. I think it's funny they are so obsessed. We don't go much and we've got other great things we do more frequently that I enjoy more.

Kyle can't answer any questions but is a happy boy! He started rolling over a few weeks ago and got really good at it this week. However he's at that stage where he rolls over to his belly is happy and proud of himself. Looks around with a smile for a bit with good back strength...but then after a few minutes gets tired and is done being on his tummy. So then he's grunting and face plants into the floor. After a few times of me helping him to return to his back, he immediately flips over but is already done being on his belly and is mad instantly. It cracks me up. If you don't want to be on your belly, don't turn over:) Sometimes it seems almost like a reflex. A toy does distract him from the instant roll over for a bit, but he's not great at playing with toys yet so it doesn't stay in his hands (I put the toy in his grasp)very long. He's super happy and smiles lots for us with some laughs mostly at big brother Ryan.

Anyhow, we are loving the Olympics...but tired from staying up so late!