How to Devour a Birthday Cake



Our favorite little guy had a big birthday a couple weeks ago!  Harrison is now 1!! 

In true McArthur fashion, he dug into his personal cake with no reservations. 

We take our treats here very seriously.  There was no screams of disgust or delight, just all business for this boy.

But, he did pause to share a taste with the other brotha in the house!

It was a birthday to remember, for us, that is.  I don't know that he will recall a thing! 

But, we sang and opened presents (very minimal) and reflected on the bright light this kid is in our our lives. 

He has filled our home with joy and so much love.  Having "older" kids with a baby is so special because their lives are changed for the good when a new little one comes a long.  (As opposed to when the elder sibling is jealous and tries to do away with the new babe-flashback to 2007 when baby Katelee entered the scene).  Don't get me wrong, we all made adjustments over the course of the last 12 months, but he has filled a spot in our hearts we didn't know was vacant.  And, while we (ok, just me) got teary thinking of the day he was placed in my arms he just stared, oblivous to my emotions and spread cream cheese frosting across his belly. 

 

 We have loved this year with him and are excited to see him grow with all the fun milestones coming up.  Harrison has his top two teeth breaking...which was like my secret dream come true.  I get so sad when little babies loose their gummy smiles.  So, for him to make it a whole year toothless has been fabulous!  He sleeps all night, is done to one nap and a cat nap whenever we run errands in the morning.  He jabbers and says a few words and is the cutest waddler on the planet!

Other news on the homefront... Brenna started her second year of preschool:

 

 She continues to be a spit fire.  She continues to run away from church, workout classes, friends houses, etc.  She doesn't wander the neighborhood so much, so I don't get too frantic, but I still get upset at her.  She yesterday told me in a non-chalant fashion, almost like a side note, "Oh, and you aren't a very good mom."  This is the day after she told me I was fat and that she loves butts, they are her favorite thing ever.  We are raising a princess for sure. 

And, this week, we went on a hike to Twin Lake.  The kids were stellar, minus number three on the way down.  She melted at the thought of walking anymore and ended up on Dad's shoulders while I lugged around this rascal:

We surely live in a beautiful world!

 

 

Sayonara Summer

 And its official, folks.  Summer has come to a conclusion.  I know a few months ago the season began with some trepidation and anxiety.  What were we going to do with all the time off??  Well, as it does every year, summer flew by.  We finished it with some pretty fun activities: the zoo with friends...

classic, Cowabunga Bay, a road trip to the Blue Angels air show:

 

 

Cousin Evan has been here for the summer and we have loved hanging out with him.  Dave and the older two kids have gone on two road trips with Evan and Aunt Amy.  The Blue Angels is a must see for them-they are hometown heroes of course!!  I really wish I could have gone, but after the disastrous quick trip with Harrison to St George earlier in the summer, we opted out for him and Brenna.  A week after the Blue Angels, the same crew hit up Las Vegas and Evan fulfilled his stratosphere dreams!

 

We are very fortunate to have family  who understands that our kids do not get the outdoor camping adventures they deserve...so they take them camping for us!  My sisters reserved a camp site and I wasn't about to take baby Harry, so they kept the other three.  The camp ground was close, so I went up each day.  Dave was just devastated he had to work and couldn't get dirty with them (I may or may not be laying on the sarcasm there!). 

We were sitting around the fire and a pair of Sasquatch wandered through, some of our group may have been frightened for their lives, some laughed and some just wondered who the weirdos were!  Ha!  My favorite was Angelique thinking the last of those options, til we pointed out the shoes underneath looked similar to Devin's!

We were so happy Brad and Angeliques family was in town for that week and we got to spend time with them too!!  We miss them! 

 

 

Brenna wasn't so sure about Bigfoot, good thing Grandma could protect her!

 

It has been fun having some visitors.  Last week, my dear Laci was in town, so we got all of us gals and our kiddos together (and Dave and Gavin) for pizza and frolicing.  Good times were had by all.  This is what happens after 28 years of friendship:

 

 

 

While we have been relaxing for months, one thing that has not taken a back seat is piano!  Wahoo!  These kids had an awesome recital last week. 

They all worked those fingers like you wouldn't believe...memorized songs, bravo!

 

This year has been so mild outside, of course compared to last year when I was 9 months pregnant and endured a record breaking heat wave.  We have spent lots of time tramp jumping and bike riding.  Harrison gets the hook up a lot.  He totally folded in half and was asleep in the green wagon the other day on his ride. 



But, now the all day fun at home is now put on hold.  School here we come! 

 First day of second grade for Katelee and fourth grade for Grant went so well that when asked what her least favorite part of the day was, Katelee responded with, "I hate to say this to you mom, but it was when we had to go home!"  Say what??  That was her  worst part of the day. 

This was the first year there weren't major tears on my part.  I attribute this to a few things.  1)While second and fourth grade are nothing to scoff at, they aren't milestone years.  Last year it was Katelee's first time gone all day, kindergarten before that, the previous two were Grant's first experiences.  So, I feel like we kinda have a groove going on 2)The kids were SO ready.  We had fun for sure, but we had lots of fights this summer as well 3) We were getting to school as the classes were already filing into their rooms.  I had only a brief moment to watch these two and it was more me telling them to get going than me telling them how I would miss them.  I already have missed them the last couple days, so much.  Be kind to them world!  They have my heart! 

 

Now that they are back at school, we here at home focus on important tasks,

like unrolling every toliet paper roll and eating as much of it as possible!!  Harrison is a total walker/runner now.  Amazing what a month of practice will do!!

A Midsummers Dream

And here we are, in the middle of Summer.  Actually, we started with 10 1/2 weeks of school free days and now we are down to 4.  Man, it is flying by!  We have been jam packing in the fun and I think the remaining weeks will be less exciting.  Ah well, thats a good way for the kids to be gung ho about going back to school.  The beginning of July, we went to our local pool with wonderful Shannon.  They have these awesome Aquaballs the kids would get in and try to run across the pool.  Mostly, they just fell and crawled.  Shannon is here with one had on Brenna and one hand guiding Katelee in her sphere.  

 

 I was watching Katelee and Grant try it out (and taking pictures), while chillin with this dude:

 

Yes, he does glow in the dark. 

 

Dave ended up having some 'business' in Wyoming, so he stopped at a firework shop up North and he and our neighbor put on quite the show. 

 

 

I was totally ready to run if I heard sirens.  Dave was on his own...maybe even the kids too! 

 

We had a bit of a let down in our fourth of July firework show because the park is being renovated.  We got a bogus tip on where to watch the display at the temporary location.  We Petricks aren't messing around with our love of pyrotechnics.  Here's to next year... but, we did have a great neighborhood pancake breakfast,  make an attempt at a star braid,

wear festive apparel

 

 

and eat patriotic food!

 

 

We had the demolition derby the next day and got our hillbilly on as we cheered on crashing cars! 

Dave had some work in St George, so I though it would be a great idea for us to go down and stay in the hotel with him, swim, go to the children's museum down there and have a mini getaway.  Turns out it was a terrible idea to Harrison.  He cried the entire way there and back (minus 15-20 min naps) and he now despises his carseat.  No good.  But, the non baby McArthur children had a royal time...



I got some awesome video of Katelee and Brenna performing Frozen songs for random strangers, they brought the house down! 

 

Later that week, Dave took Grant, Katelee and Brenna to Phoenix to visit Uncle Brian and Uncle Brent, Aunt Kimber, Max and Karly.  They spent two days on Brian's boat and playing with cousins. 

 

 Grant and Katelee both got up for a bit on the surf board and I was told Brenna has no fear in the water just like the other two!   No surprise there...

 The kids were in heaven with their awesome cousins.  Here are the soul sistas...

 and the infamous Max

 

They can't wait til we get to visit with them again. 

 

I enjoyed some one on one time with baby boy and loved having an empty sink.  Is it me or are there never ending dishes!!  I watched Shakespeare and ate artichoke pizza, you know, important things no one else would want to do around here.  Brenna came back with a new song she made up a few days later..."I love everyone in the world except you."  I almost choked on my water and I had to clarify.  So, I replied, "Brenna, do you mean you love everyone in the world ESPECIALLY me?"  She thought for a minute and sang again, but with a twist.  "I love everyone in the world BUT you."  Guess she really knew what she meant.  I would be offended, but practically the next day she told me  that she loves me so much and I am the best mom she has 'ever seen.'  She then said she was gonna keep me forever...awwww...it may or may not  have been because I just bought chocolate milk, but I will take it!

 

She is one for the dramatic pause, though.  We asked her to say the prayer over dinner and we all bowed our heads, closed our eyes and waited.  I peeked over at her after awhile and she smiled as she said, "Oh, did you want me to say that out loud?!" She is a tricky one. 

 

We started this week out with the float preview for the upcoming pioneer day celebration.  We are SO happy Devin and his family are in town!  The kids had some awesome face painting designs that day. 

 

And, Mr (you are a Wizard) Harry is 11 months today!!  He is super grumpy the last couple weeks...I think he is growing some teeth and doesn't enjoy that.  He loves to wave bye bye and has started taking steps.  He is a momma's boy and wants me to hold him all the day long, and most days I don't mind!  Love this little boy!

Playing Hard

 This summer has kicked off with a month just as we expected-lots of sun and fun and full of sibling disturbances.  For the sake of posterity, we will try to focus on the play!  We have played good and hard...literally for this little gal:

Katelee made her theatrical debut as an orphan (Betty) in a community production of Annie.  It was adorable!!  She loved every minute of it and has found her niche.  Never once did she complain about her late and lengthy rehearsals and she is already asking when she will be able to be a main character-yikes!  I have to teach her when you love theatre, you love being any part. 

 

 

All the orphans got to walk in a parade.  She is on the bottom right of the picture.  They sang as they marched-way to represent!  We all had fun watching her perform (well, except Brenna...she liked it for about 15 minutes, then I wrestled with her the remainder of the time.  Brenna did poke me and point up to the stage as she announced, "Mom, you dance like that lady."  She was pointing at Miss Hannigan, who was hilarious and slightly crude...yep, just my kind of gal!! It was a blast for Katelee!

 

 

The kids and I continued on our theatre month when we went to the production of Peter Pan with the Taylors.  It was a fantastic show!  We loved every minute of it, again, Brenna loved about 20 minutes of it before she started asking when it was over or when they would take HER to Neverland.  

 We have enjoyed the outdoors a bit this month.  Grant and Dave went on a Father/Son campout, we have gone to the waterslides, are hitting up the pool today, had swimming lessons and broke out the baby backpack for our first summer hike. 

 

 

We love the view from Ensign Peak. 

We had an awesome time at the hospital's health fair.  We look forward to it every year.  Here the kids are in the fire truck where Grant decided to share a story with the firefighter.  He told this community helper how his dad MADE him watch this show called 'Fear Factor.'  He asked the fireman if he had heard of it and the man, suppressing a smile said yea.  Grant continued on about how some people had to put on all this fire protection gear and go through a burning building.  Outraged, Grant said, "For 50,000 dollars!!  Can you believe it?! I would NEVER do that."  The firefighter taught us that is not a good idea and that money isn't everything! ;)

 

The boys in our family had a big month.  The runt turned 10 months!  He randomly stands but is hesitant to take any steps.  He sleeps through the night (Hallelujah!) and cut his first tooth!  Big boy right there. 

(Sissy boy in this outfit, says Dave)

We get to celebrate Dave in June with Father's Day and his birthday.  For his birthday, he and I had a most wonderful date night-dinner and the Arts Festival.  It was SO much fun!  We will plan on going to that next year and maybe even let our munchkins attend too!  We saw dancers, performers on stilts,

 

a jazz band, awesome visual art work, the Animals Inside Out Display, and had some really great people watching moments!

 

Here is the Father's Day breakfast in bed display....

For any of you unfamiliar with the white blob at the bottom, its a nice pile of grits!  I love Grant's face peeking through.  Grant had his first empty running away threat.  I found a backpack filled with granola bars, clothes and a sling shot and it gave me a clue.  After asking Grant about it, he was so afraid I found his goodbye note but he did show me the list he made of necessary items.  It included: clothes, money, food, water, knife, pocketknife, a note from his third grade teacher and a picture of Harrison.  Those are Grant's basic needs. 

So, on to month two of summer!!  We are loving late nights, sleeping in til 8 (yea, you are old when eight o'clock is a lazy luxury), and all the fun things to do!  The house is a constant mess, (not just because of moments like these:)

But, I can always clean in the fall, right?!

Lets Start Summer!

 We have begun our summer vacation!  Yeehaw!  I didn't take a picture of every event that wrapped up the school year, but here are a couple of highlihts: 

Brenna graduated her first year of preschool.  Congratulations to her!  (Congratulations to her teachers! They will probably enjoy the break more than the kids!). 

 Here is Brenna before the program started, she was so thrilled to show off her vast knowledge of songs and letter sounds.

 

 

Katelee had a first grade program that was lovely and both she and Grant had some really fun activities the last bit of school. Every year their school holds a carnival and for sure Brenna thinks about it all year.  We went at the end of May and Brenna has already started asking when she gets to go to the 'junior high party' again.  Pretty much this party is the reason we like this school!  Ha! 

 Katelee climbed this rock wall a few times.  She really is like this little spider scampering up with no problem.  She rocks it...ha ha!  Ok, that was a stretch. 

 There was an 'instrument petting zoo,' where all these orchestra and band instruments could be tested.  Brenna and her demure personality seemed to be drawn to the sweet sounds of the violin.  Well, she tried them all, I just like this picture! 

And, there was an epic sibling battle between our big kids.  It was rough in the arena, but I had major flashbacks of watching American Gladiators with my siblings and imagining what I would do to them!  Dave ran the Ogden Half Marathon that day (had his best time! We are so impressed!)  so he met us just in time for the sibling slap down.  It was a busy day of flag football, dance pictures, half marathon, and carnival.  Grant played flag football this year and dubbed the parent volunteer "GC" (grumpy coach).  Lets just say he isn't eager to sign up again anytime soon. 

We have already had some fun summer events, I will post pics all together of those later.  We have also had plenty of privelege revoking going on.  The sounds of summer have not been so sweet yet, but we have hope for the remainder of the weeks...or I may go insane!!

Harrison is so enjoying his first ever taste of summer.  So far, this little 17 lb 6 oz dude (just had his 9 month check...still 10% for weight and head, 25% for heighth) has gone crazy over rootbeer floats...

and popsicles....

 
We can tell he approves of this summertime season thus far!!