Happy Birthday Matthew

For the life of me I cannot figure out where the past year has gone. How is my baby already a year old!?!?!?! Well, let us take a look at the happy day (and then I will catch you up on the past two months). I will try to keep the chit chat to a minimum since I have about a thousand photos to share (okay, more like fifteen, but still more than usual).

On the morning of his birthday, Matthew was treated to the musical talents of his brothers and mom. I don't think we sounded too hot, but Matthew seemed to enjoy it as he started jumping up and down in his crib.

Here is a rundown of the Matthew's big day: Matthew and I spent the afternoon hanging out (as we normally do) - and I took advantage of his nap time to decorate the kitchen and make his cake. For dinner we had eggs and pancakes (two of Matthew's favorite staples) and then it was time to open gifts. During the gift opening ceremony, we had a monumental event. Matthew took his very first unassisted steps!!! Yeah!!! After playing with his toys for a while, we thought it was time to introduce Matthew to the beauty of the combination of refined sugar and flour, combined with lard to make what we all affectionately know as birthday cake!

Hmmmm....why the picture of the trash can, you may ask? Well, I wanted to show you Matthew's most favorite thing in the world. Yes, he loves the trash can. I spend a majority of my day either deflecting him from the trash can or prying whatever he has fished out of the trash can from his hand. And it's not just this trash can that he loves....it's all trash cans.

So naturally he had a trash can cake. I have a tradition with my boys that for their first birthday I make a cake which represents their favorite thing or activity. I know it is kind of a squatty trash can, but it was the best I could do. I think I have been watching Cake Boss too much (unfortunately my skill level is not quit on par with Buddy's).

We broke out into the required rendition of "Happy Birthday" which Jacob decided to improvise with a loud "B!Y!U!" in between the verses. Needless to say, Matthew was not a fan of the shouting and immediately burst into tears. The end of the song kind of fizzled out as we were unsure whether or not Matthew wanted us to continue. We helped Matthew blow out his candle and then we dished out the cake. It took Matthew a little while to decide whether or not he wanted any.

And true to form, he eventually ditched the cake to eat the plate. Matthew has some weird obsession with paper. He loves to rip up book, magazines, anything - and then consume (literally) the contents. Anyway, we eventually took the plate back and put a new piece of cake on it.

Luckily he finally got the hang of it and was covered in frosting in about two minutes. The whole night was fun, but possibly a little over stimulating for Matthew. He slept an extra two hours the next day.

Alright, now it's time to rewind and give a brief summary of the past two months. I will do my best to kept it short. As you all know (or may not know), Scott's birthday is the week before Christmas. Lucky Scott - it snowed on his big day (please note the sarcasm). I was going to shovel the sidewalk as a mini birthday gift, but Scott was adamant that he really wanted to do it. (I think when his back aching that night he realized he should have taken me up on my earlier offer). The boys were conscripted to go out and assist their father with the shoveling - however, that soon turned into a snowball fight, followed by - a snowman building project.

Okay so in all honesty, Jacob was throwing the snowballs and Andrew was building the snowmen. Scott had his hand in both activities.

The boys called me outside to show me the snow version of me. Sad to say, but they got the figure down pat.

A couple of days pater it was still snowing, so on Scott's day off the three guys decided to build an igloo/snow cave. I am so grateful to have a husband who loves the outdoors and his kids so much that he is willing to face potential frost bite in order to provide his boys with a snow cave. Here they are building the frame of the cave.

I forced all three of them into the cave so I could get a picture of its creators. Please note that the person who is front and center had the least involvement in the construction. I am hoping the fact that he is wearing short sleeves is kind of a dead giveaway that he had not been outside for the past hour working on the igloo.

Fast forward a few days and we found ourselves getting ready for Santa's visit. I actually found the time to make cookies for the boys to decorate this year. (I think the past few years I have just bought something from the store, had them smear a little icing on it - and then leave it on a plate for Santa). This year Santa was actually excited to eat the cookies....as opposed to just hucking them in the garbage (where they would have undoubtedly been discovered by my one year old the next morning as he was doing his daily rummage through the trash). Anyway, I digress.

Here they are, Christmas morning. I just noticed it was still dark outside when I took this picture. Ewww! I also want to mention that those are not all technical gifts under the tree. We had a few moving boxes left in the family room which I had could not bring myself to unpack. I think I had hit some kind of wall. However, I was sick of looking at said boxes, so they got wrapped in Christmas paper. Yes, that was much more time effective then just unpacking the dumb boxes in the first place. However, those boxes came in very handy for the boys' big gift this year!

As here is a picture of what that gift was. My brother breeds beagles, and his last litter came just in time for Christmas. We had convinced the boys they would NOT be getting one of the new puppies, so they were pretty excited when they found one inside one of the "fake" Christmas presents.

Matthew was very excited to have someone other than himself be limited to the gated area. (The gate had previously been used to keep him in the family room and he HATED it! He would spend most of his day trying to get through, over, or around it). In case you are wondering what we have named the new dog, it is "Berlindsey" ("Berlin" for short). There is a story behind this name, and yes, you are going to hear it. That is unless you decide to skip down to the next picture which you are more than welcome to do.

Here it is: Andrew, has been in love with a little girl who was in his class two years ago. Her name is Lindsey. So, Andrew wanted that to be the name for the dog. Seeing as I do not feel naming one's dog after one's heart's desire is not the best homage to love, AND the fact that I have a darling niece-in-law with the same name, I told Andrew this might not be the best idea. On the other hand, Jacob wanted to name the dog after one of his favorite soccer teams. Neither boy would even consider the other's suggestions. I finally piped up and offered up the name of my daughter (who I am now convinced I will never have), Berlin. (Yes, I wanted to name my girl Berlin. Come on! Berlin Barlow!?!?!?! That's cute...isn't it!?!?!?). Anyway, I came up with a combination of the two names: Berlin + Lindsey = Berlindsey. And there you have it.

I also have to admit there are days when I have no idea what I was thinking getting a puppy when I have a mobile baby at home. I feel like I have twins running around the house. In all honesty, Matthew and Berlin are totally cut from the same cloth and get along great - which means they run circles around me. For example, an average morning will involve Matthew breaking Berlin out of her crate. Berlin will then go find a nice warm place to pee, while Matthew dumps out her water bowl and food, then rips up all her newspaper. The two of them will then make their way over the garbage can where they can both find a nice snack to munch on. No, I am not a checked out parent. This can all happen in the one minute I allow myself to use the restroom. I used to take Matthew with me - but he would either unroll all the toilet paper or dump all the toiletries out of my drawers. At this point it became the better choice of two evils.

Okay, time to get back to Christmas....

Andrew only wanted art or construction items for Christmas. One thing he wanted in particular was foam board. Not the most glamorous gift, but he was excited.

Scott made two soccer goals for Jacob. I think his Christmas could have ended here and he would have been happy. Oh wait! I forgot. After getting his goals, a new puppy, and quite a few gifts from Santa and his grandparents, Jacob had this great quote Christmas afternoon, "Christmas was fun, but (sigh) I wish we had gotten a big surprise present...."

I don't think I need to describe the look on my face...

Let's just say Jacob was sent to his room. And let's just say that I am considering that we will only be GIVING service next year for Christmas.

Jacob did apologize and attempted to explain that he meant something else. We made up pretty fast. (I also can't stay mad at my son who decided to dress up as Joseph Smith for hero day at school. Only in Utah could we get away with that one...)

Here was Matthew's favorite Christmas gift. A little train that he can ride, that also plays music and has little block that slide through it.

Berlin had the same favorite gift as Matthew. I think this is the point where he realized his life had changed forever.

The day after Christmas we were lucky enough to have my parents come out for a visit. Let me specify this was very kind (and brave) of them seeing as they had just been here for Thanksgiving and it was fah-reeez-ing!!!! My mom spent her second day of vacation out in my front yard helping me shovel snow.....twice!!! The boys have finally caught on to the fact it is easier to offer to watch Matthew inside the nice, warm house rather than brave the cold and snow. Anyway, here are my parents being all romantic on New Year's Eve. Awwww....

We were lucky to have my brother, Mike, and his family, as well as my nephew, Evan, spend New Year's Eve with us. It was so fun! The kids spent most of the evening playing basketball and the wii in the basement, while the adults were upstairs watching funny youtube videos. (I have a current obsession with a guy named Billy Dance).

On New Year's day, Scott took the boys up to Suncrest (the place where we first lived when we moved to Utah) to go inner tubing. I came a while later with Matthew, my nieces and nephews, and my parents.

Here is my little snow lover! Doesn't Jacob look excited to be playing in the snow!?!?! I couldn't get a picture of Andrew because he would bolt up the hill the second his sled stopped.

Here is a sweet picture of my nephew, Evan, going down. He burst through an embankment of snow on his way down the hill. This kid lives in Arizona, and was wearing jeans, but somehow outlasted everyone on the hill. It was so much fun watching everyone go sledding. Yes...I said "watching". I opted to stay in the car with Matthew while my stud of a husband braved the cold for over two hours digging runs for the kids and going down himself. We are proof that opposites attract.

I was also lucky enough to have my sister come out for a couple of days. It was so much fun to have her stay with me!!! She is so much fun to be with and I love whenever we get to spend time together.

I also was able to see my dear friend, Kristen, for a few hours. Kristen was in my ward in Singapore. She and her family were in the midst of relocating to Johannesburg, and were in Utah for a few days visiting family. Anyway, we spent the afternoon at Costco loading up on goods for her to take to South Africa. It was a blast!!!

Okay, I need to wrap this up. I also had my birthday a couple of weeks ago. I mention this only because Scott surprised me with a night in the city. I love the boys...and Berlin....but it was SOOO nice to wake up because I felt like it - and not because someone needed my immediate attention. (I am so selfish...I know). Scott's niece, Christine, was so sweet to come up with her roommate to watch the boys for us while we were gone. However, I think the boys are now in love. They had live entertainment (Christine's roommate plays the guitar) and woke up to chocolate chip pancakes. They now only request Christine when I ask who they want to come babysit. Anyway, it was a wonderful birthday and I so appreciate all the effort that was put into making it so great.

Okay, Matthew is back in the garbage.... time to go....

And no time to proof read....

I just had to close with this picture because it warms my heart.

I think he is so happy because he has such amazing older brothers!