Hyrum’s Christmas Program

Hyrum has been practicing with his class several learning songs and Christmas songs to perform at a special Christmas Program.  It was very cute to watch and he had a short speaking part that he nailed.  Singing the songs isn’t really his favorite thing, but we were pleasantly surprised to see him mouthing some of the words.  Right now in Pre-school he’s earned his second book that he can read all by himself and he can write his name without any help. I can’t believe how grown up he’s getting!

Cleaning House

The floors hadn't been cleaned in. . . well, a long time.  The boys weren't taking a nap.  I needed a moment of peace.  So, I taught the boys a new way to mop the floor.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

It was a lot of fun for a good hour or so.  They took turns pulling each other around on the towel and spraying the Eco-green.  Then out of nowhere Hyrum came out from under the table and he laughingly said, “Look Mom.  I’m all bloody.”  At first I thought he was joking because he was laughing still, and then I saw blood all over his hand.  I asked him where he was hurt and he insisted it was from Noah.  I looked Noah over and couldn’t find anything so I went back to Hyrum and found blood dripping from his hair.  Once I told him that I needed to wash his hair in the sink he started getting upset.  Not so much because of the blood dripping, but because he hates getting his hair washed.  What a strange boy.  It was a pretty good cut on his noggin, but nothing worth stitches.  He never seemed to mind or notice the cut.  The only thing that seemed to effect him was getting his hair washed.

Thanksgiving In Albuquerue

We had a great time in Albuquerque for Thanksgiving this year. Here are a few of the highlights.

Of course we had some amazing food, but the biggest highlight was all of the time they spent with Grandma and Grandpa. Early (6am) on Thanksgiving morning Grandpa drove the boys down to see some hot air balloons going off. Hyrum took some awesome pictures with his camera of the balloons that I’ll have to add later. As soon as they got back Noah ran to me really sad and said, “The workers didn’t let us get on the balloons.” It was pretty cute. They loved it. . .someday maybe the ‘workers’ will let them ride on one too.

We had a movie night.

One of the biggest highlights was helping Grandpa put up all their luminaries for Christmas. They got to climb up the ladder and use the drill. It was like heaven. They also loved spending a lot of time in the backyard with a little shovel they both called ‘the digger’. They flung dirt everywhere and dug all kinds of holes. Hyrum loved to pull weeds out and be Grandpa’s helper.

Owen got a lot of attention and was the happiest baby in the world. He rarely ever fussed and mostly spent his time smiling and enjoying the world around him.

We caught a nasty bug on the last day their and sadly had a long car trip back home full of puke. Hyrum was such a trooper. He had a bucket in the back seat next to him for throwing up. He threw up more times than I can count. He never whined or cried. He would wipe his mouth off with a paper towel and sometimes ask for a new movie or some water to drink, but there was never a complaint. He really impressed us. Noah did pretty well behaviorally, but didn’t quite recognize his sick cue's. I’ve never seen so much vomit come out of such a little body before. It managed to soak all of his clothes, seat, and it seeped onto the floor. We did what we could to get things cleaned up on the road. We did get the car thoroughly shampooed right after getting back.

The Man

Hyrum has taken upon himself the role of second man of the house.  With Owens coming he seems to feel a greater responsibility to take care of things which is both wonderful and makes me so proud but also kinda scary at times.  A couple of days ago, without even asking or mentioning it to me, he made himself a peanut butter and jam sandwich because he was hungry.  He got everything out including a plate and just made it.  I noticed later that he must have put the jam on first because there was a good amount of jam in the peanut butter jar.  After making it he ripped off a piece and put it on a plate for Noah too. He's really been doing well with being the big brother.  I haven't been able to do as much with Hyrum and Noah as I used to so they spend more time playing together.  They still fight and have their moments of sibling rivalry, but overall I think gaining a brother has brought the two of them closer together.

Hyrum has really been loving his preschool.  He has learned the sound and name of the first ten letters that they require to earn his first preschool book.  He is so proud of it and we practice reading it every day.  We've been on a waiting list since July to get Hyrum in the Mon, Wed, Friday class and we just found out that he will be getting in after Christmas break! We're so excited to let him spend more time learning with his peers.  

Sunday was our Primary Program and Hyrum had a short speaking part.  He walked up to the podium and told the Primary leader that was there to help that he didn't need her help because he knew his part. Then he got right up into the microphone and confidently said, "The Lord created the earth. . . actually, the Lord created the earth for all of us.  Ok."  (His actual line: Jesus Christ created the earth for me.) Then with a big proud smile he went back to his seat.  I just love watching him get older, even though it scares me.  

He's really a great helper with baby Owen.  He sometimes insists on carrying him, so we had to set a strict rule of no holding Owen unless Mom and Dad are right there.  Well, sometimes he lives by the spirit of the law and it makes my life a little more chaotic.  Last week I put Owen in his crib and had the boys playing so I could take a shower.  When I got out I went to check on Owen and my heart skipped a beat when he wasn't in his crib.  I found his little self on the floor all wrapped up in his blanket with a binky in his mouth. I immediately asked Hyrum about it and he said that Owen was screaming so he helped him.  I liked to hear that my cute little preschooler wanted his 'Baby Bubbles' to be happy.  With that said:  AHHHHHHHH! I can only imagine how Hyrum, who's head doesn't even reach the top of the crib managed to carry him down to the ground! SO SCARY!!!!  Yes, we had a nice long talk about the rules again.  

Blessing Day

Today Brett gave Owen a name and a blessing in sacrament meeting at church!  Owen is such a special baby.  He has a sweet personality.  At six weeks old he loves snuggling, humming, and sucking on anything he can get in his mouth.  It’s so cute listening to his almost constant grunts and hums.  I love it!  We love Owen so much and are glad that he’s a part of the family.  We hope that Owen knows that he is loved. 

Grandma and Grandpa Partridge would be coming into town for the blessing on Saturday night, but we decided to meet up with Ryan and Jennifer in Provo for a little celebration dinner before their plane got in.  When we were led to our table we were completely surprised to see Grandpa and Grandmama Long sitting there!!!  We were so excited to have them and feel honored that they would make the trip especially Grandpa Edwin, who Owen Edwin Partridge is named after.  It’s been such a blessing to have so much family support with my Mom staying with us for 2 weeks and then to have so much family here for his blessing. 

Adobe Halloween Bash

I've been told for months by Brett about the upcoming Halloween party and it finally came.  All the talk did not disappoint.  I really wasn't prepared for how big the whole thing was!  The walk through alone took over an hour  with fully built villages to walk through (Brett spent some long nights at work this week building the set), a totally decked out Harry Potter themed area, Book Land with several children's book walk through's -Disneyland style, haunted areas, and of course a whole section devoted to Angry Birds where we actually got to shoot at pigs with big slingshots.  Those are just a few of the areas but they also had a live band, magicians, live snakes, and so much more.  We had a blast!

A conversation with Hyrum

Today we were doing Saturday chores, and while we were cleaning I noticed a random dirty footprint on the wall all the way up by the light switch:

Mom: "Hyrum, where did this footprint come from?"

Hyrum: "Oh, it was just from my foot." (said very nonchalantly)

Mom: "Well, how did it get all the way up here on the wall?"

Hyrum: "I was just being a frog and jumping up super high."

Mom: "OK". . said very skeptical

Hyrum: "The frog just needed to get up there, but my robot can make footprints higher. My robot has super big feet."

Mom: "Oh, ok. Well, lets not put footprints on the wall anymore."

Hyrum: "Ok, Mom, but I didn't make that footprint it was just someone else."