Shaky Seth

Seth has some energy.  He's working on harnessing it:

Thanksgiving and Ruby's blessing

This year Grandma Zonda, Grandpa Cliff, Kristal, Casey and Kami came for Thanksgiving. We had a great meal and went to see the movie "Megamind" on Thanksgiving and we had a nice time being together. Saturday night we went to see the Cactus garden at the Chocolate Factory. Our kids look forward to that every year.

Then Sunday, Ruby was blessed at church. It was a wonderful blessing and nice to have family there with us. Ruby looked beautiful.

A Dream Come True!

Some nice ladies from church brought us dinner tonight - BBQ Chicken.  Little did they know that Rachel lives for drumsticks.  She repeated "This is a dream come true!" at least two or three times.  I had to take a picture to document her giddiness:

Seeing that picture got me thinking about some things.  One thought was that in about 15 years time some lucky man will look over the table at a KFC somewhere, stare into Rachel's blue eyes and say "This is a dream come true!" 

Let's say 25 years instead - I'm in no rush for that dream to come true. . . .

Ruby Jean Cox

Ruby has arrived!  She was born on Thursday, 11/11/2010.  She weighed in at 7lbs and 13oz and measured 20.5".  Jean was induced in the morning, but nothing exciting happened until 5 - then it all happened rather quickly.  Mom and baby are doing great and come home tomorrow (Saturday).



She's been a sleepy, quiet girl so far.  Long eyelashes, long toes and dark hair (for now).  The kids got to meet her today - all of them were excited, especially Seth.  He went nuts over her (see video below). 



Click on the photo below to see additional pictures:

Kids These Days

Here are a little sampling of conversations held in our house during the past few days.  Yes, you're missing out on some gems. . .

"It is pretty hard to control your drool when you're swinging a bat and everything." - Danny after both he and Aaron had a problem losing control of their salivary glands.

"You did bring something to eat!!"- Aaron after looking for a snack in Jean's purse and finding gum.  Apparently gum is a snack food in our house.

"Everybody farts sometimes." - An eternal truth spoken by Danny after the kids were discussing whether chilli induces gas.  They decided that it doesn't.

Halloween

This year we had two star wars guys (Danny was Pre Visla and Aaron was Bobba Fett), an Indian girl and an elephant. Our elephant wasn't too excited about his costume, though. But he did think it was pretty great when he held out his pumpkin bucket and people put candy in it.

Here's a happier picture:

We went to the ward trunk or treat for our main activity this year. And this is the mandatory examining and trading of the candy after the event:
Since Halloween was on Sunday, we didn't do our usual trick-or-treating. We had dinner with a few families in the ward and then we trick or treated to all the cute older people on our street who would notice if our kids didn't come to their houses. Bob says we can count it like visiting the elderly.

Mr. Excitement Turns 5!

When in need of entertainment, excitement or simply something to talk about Aaron is your man. He's full throttle in everything he does. Aaron has two gears - neutral and overdrive. Once he's in, he's all in. He drives a hard bargain in negotiations and petitions. I've often thought that he would be a great salesman or businessman - he almost always finds a way to 'make the sale'. He can focus like a laser beam - almost to a fault.

His personality, red hair and freckles act as people magnets when he's got his game on. He has a knack for saying things that can make you laugh and can add a fresh new take that will get you thinking. Just be careful in laughing - he's sensitive and can interpret your laughter as laughing at him, not with him (as Uncle Rico would say of Napoleon - "He's a sensitive guy.") He's very observant and attentive to detail. He's got style and likes to look nice (nice = Star Wars shirt + shorts + combed hair).

He has a fierce love for his siblings, especially Seth. He enjoys playing with his Legos, games on the Wii, riding his scooter, jumping on the trampoline, dancing, playing living room soccer, watching America's Funniest Videos and getting tossed on the couch by his Dad. He lives on a steady diet of granola bars, apple juice and any candy he can find in the kitchen cabinets. If you're looking for some energy food, that's the formula.

Some things we love about Aaron

• He loves Star Wars and Legos. He can build with Lego for hours.
• He plays Lego Star Wars on the Wii. He jumps constantly while he plays.
• He doesn't like regular breakfast foods. For breakfast he usually eats a granola bar or asks for a hot dog or chicken nuggets.
• He's a good faker. Whenever he's tired of walking or doesn't want to clean up or other work, that part of his body starts hurting so he's unable to use it. "My arms hurt; I can't clean up the legos!"
• He gets compliments on his hair everywhere he goes.
  

Aaron's birthday party was at a park this year. He had six little boys come. It was Star Wars themed. He helped make the lego star wars flags to go in the top of the cupcakes. And he filled all the treat bags. He was so excited. We played on the playground most of the time, but we also did some duck, duck, goose and red light, green light and did presents and cupcakes.

We love our red man. Happy Birthday, Aaron!