We celebrated Hyrum's birthday for three days. (we're big party-ers at our place!) On his actual birthday he got to open presents from his parents. Then his dad had to rush to Scouts, and he got to eat ice cream at home with his Mom and sister.
The next day we opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa Francis. By this point he knew what was going on and was much more excited!
See, look at that face. Can't hardly control the enthusiasm. Brielle felt a great need to "help" with everything. We had to "ask" her to sit with mommy, a situation that left her feeling just a tad disappointed.
Notice Russell's vise-like grip on Brielle. Birthdays can be violent and emotional affairs!
Oh yeah, Hyrum learned to walk two days before his birthday (on my birthday.) Our friends, Mike and Joy, had come over, and when Mike put Hyrum down he just took off walking like he'd been able to do it all along (Hyrum that is, not Mike who actually HAS been able to walk for quite some time) . Hyrum had never so much as attempted to take steps before that. From then on he learned rapidly and by the end of the week he was walking everywhere!
Since Brielle quickly confiscated all of Hyrum's new toys, he had to make the most of the situation. His sister wasn't interested in the new clothes from Grandma Francis so Hyrum threw them in the air, laughing and squealing as he rolled around the floor on them.
Then the next day we had a birthday party for Hyrum. He had his friends Dade and Madilyn, and his doggy friend Shona, come over, and we ate pizza and birthday cake. And opened more presents. =0)
I was going to make Hyrum a super cute birthday cake (see picture below) but then I decided to make something that actually tasted good instead. I made triple chunk Ghirardelli brownies with a mint frosting and chocolate mint ganache on top. Perfect with mint chocolate chip icecream. Yahoo for birthdays! On the top I did a race track (just like his cousin Jonah's birthday cake) with the number one and little cars.
I loved this cake, it's darling, and Hyrum absolutely adores the bathtub, but the water is made of blue jello and I didn't think that would taste very great, so once again I sacraficed looks for taste.
But Hyrum didn't seem to mind. He was pretty good at blowing out the candle.
Then he dug right in.
We met Roma and kids at a playground halfway between our two cities today. It was a gorgeous afternoon, I'm so glad we were able to get out of the house. The kids had fun playing, and I always enjoy a chance to sit and talk with Roma (well, chase kids and talk.....)
Here's Hyrum with the ever present mouthful of wood chips. Sometimes I take the bark out of his mouth, but he just grins and shrugs as if to say "that's fine mom, I can always get more."
Hyrum's hair is turning more and more reddish, especially in the sunlight.
Brielle has started choosing her own clothing, you may have noticed that pink is her favorite color.
Here's Brielle and Cassandra.... (Brielle is showing her midriff for the camera, just like I taught her!)
And Hyrum and Brendon.
The girls were "itsy bitsy spiders" climbing on the nets.....
This last structure spun around and around.....the park had several unique aspects, but probably not one we'll visit again any time soon. Fortunately there are a million parks in our area, so finding new ones every week hasn't been a problem!
