Noah turned 6!

If you've been following my blog recently, you'll have noticed that I've been cRaZy busy constantly trying to update it... THE GOOD NEWS: I'm ALMOST DONE.  Almost.  The BAD NEWS: I still have to post all the pictures and stories from the 2 week vacation I took the boys on back in August... no worries though- it SHOULDN'T take me too long.  I'll try to keep my words to a minimum and just post pictures.  I have TONS of GREAT pictures from that trip I'm super excited to share!

Anyhow, I'm embarrassed to admit that Noah's 6TH birthday was nearly 2 months ago and I'm just NOW writing about it... oh well.  Better late than never!

Before I forget, here are his 6 year growth stats...

His weight is up a lot from last year when he was only in the 5TH percentile for weight; now he's in the 19TH% at 38 pounds.

His height has gone down a little since last years growth stats when he was in the 8TH% for height; now he's barely in the 7TH percentile.  Yep, he's a shortey, but that's okay because the best things come in small packages.  Besides, he's got such a HUGE, fun personality, it overcompensates for his small stature.

Noah's birthday was on a Monday this year, so we ended up spending most of the weekend celebrating it!  Since Spencer's always gone to work before any of the boys are awake in the mornings, I decided to do our birthday morning tradition Saturday morning instead of Monday morning, so Spencer could be part of it.  It began with balloons in Noah's room...

He awoke to find LOTS and LOTS of balloons on his bedroom floor!!!

Just for memory's sake, I thought I would add this picture...

Can't tell who it is behind the balloon??? I'll give you a hint: It was the birthday boy himself.  He may have woken up "year older and a year wiser" but he hasn't outgrown his tantrums.  I can't seem to recall exactly WHAT it was he was complaining about--- probably had SOMETHING to do with one of his brothers.  POIS! You know that million dollar question- If you were stranded on a deserted island and had to choose one other person you'd like to be alone on the island with... I betch'ya Noah would say "NO ONE!"  He sure loves his ALONE TIME and I know for a fact he doesn't think he gets enough of it because his younger brothers are ALWAYS on his heels!

Following some fun with balloons, Noah embarked on his birthday treasure hunt...

The 1ST task he had to complete was to successfully slide 3 monkeys 

(from the game Barrel of Monkeys) 

hooked together down the zip line without letting ANY of them fall...

He passed after only his 2ND attempt!

He followed the maze of ribbon around the house... 

his brothers followed behind him...

And eventually he found his birthday treasure--- 

in the treasure box of course!

Note to reader: Please excuse all of the green buckets you may see in pictures...  if I remember correctly all of the boys were sick that week... every one of them BUT Noah.  They were all throwing up... Ian actually projected vomit on ME instead of in the trash can that was standing only 2 inches away in front of him!  It was really quite a wonderful experience!  NOT!  We held an outdoor movie night Friday with neighbors- poor Ian was so sick he had to stay inside with his bucket and Gatorade, alone, and watch his own movie.  He chose to watch Frosty the Snowman!  Hah!  Can you tell he's excited for the holidays?!!!  Cohen, Bentley and Atticus were all in bed already by the time we started the movie.

Saturday morning we ate birthday doughnuts (g.f.) with chocolate milk (Gatorade for those boys who were sick) and birthday waffles Sunday morning.  Monday morning, the boys were super STOKED to eat the breakfast of champions...  Captain Crunch!!!  It's not very often they get to eat sweet cereal- only on special occasions.

In case you haven't seen me mention it before, Noah's birthday is September 19TH... coincidentally the same day as International Talk Like A Pirate Day!!!  Did you know his first word was "Arr!"?  No joke.  It was the very first sound/word he made when I first held him on the day he was born!

Anyhow, 

he was asked to bring birthday treats to school to share with his class, 

so he brought a treasure box that contained gold and jewels 

(chocolate coins and Ring Pops).

Totally appropriate.

Here's the birthday boy, 

just before we went out the door that morning...

Isn't it cute how Noah has his little mini me--- Bentley?!

Rather than letting Noah take the bus TO school that morning, I decided to drop him off... I didn't want any of the older kids on the bus to try and loot his candy stash OR WORSE- give him time alone with it, so he could sneak some or ALL of it for himself!  When I took him to school that morning, as we were walking into the school yard I heard a gang of girls scream in unison, "NOAH!".... "NOAH'S HERE!"  There were about 8 or 9 young girls over playing on the playground equipment, who all stopped what they were doing, flocked together and began to run toward us.  I'm used to other little boys having the same name as Noah, so I thought nothing of the hysteria, thinking that the girls were probably gawking over some other little kid named Noah who was behind us--- but before I could bat an eyelash, we were surrounded by a MOB of little girls, giggling and excited to see NOAH! MY Noah. He was blushing, with a grin on his face that looked like the Cheshire Cat's. I was speechless- this was my little boy who didn't even know WHAT a girl was before the school year began; now he was a ladies man!  I was just about to ask him what was going on, but before I had the chance to, he ran off with the mob- 2 guys (he and his buddy Eliot) against at least a dozen girlies playing tag... I've since discovered the kids play the sort of tag I suspected it was--- you know, the kind where boys chase girls/girls chase boys and you have to KISS them if they're "IT"!

A little neighbor girl, by the name of Alora, joined my boys to play in the backyard one afternoon about a month ago;  Spencer overheard her ask Noah if he was going to kiss her!  Ummm, WHAT???!!!  He didn't- at least from what we could tell- however they were hiding out down by the fire pit, out of view for a while- I guess if he kissed her, that's where he would have done it--- I think he's holding out though for our other neighbor's daughter, Sarah.  She's a real beauty and I can tell since school has begun that Noah's had a little crush on her.  AHHHH!!!!  I THOUGHT we had at least another 10 years before our boys would pay any attention to girls! Obviously I called that one wrong!

The boys met Noah at the bus stop with balloons when he came home from school.

We picked up these little candy melts from our favorite toy store, Blickenstaff's in Provo when I purchased Noah's birthday presents...  I remember eating them all the time when I was a little kid, usually with paper still stuck to the backs of them... anyhow, they.are.the.best.candy to give your kid!!!  They'll keep them busy for a long time, plucking them one by one off of the sheet.

I packed all the boys into the car and took them to Arctic Circle to eat lunch... I think this may have been the first time I have ever taken them into a fast food restaurant to play on the playground equipment there.  Normally the idea of doing so, gives me the willies--- I've heard all kinds of gross horror stories about peoples kids finding poop logs in the ball pits, or pee on the slides--- but I ditched my worries and let them have FUN!!!  It didn't hurt that I was distracted most of the time while we were there--- I ran into a friend of mine and we chatted while our kids played.

Following Arctic Circle, we went swimming for a little bit in our neighborhood pool... it was what Noah wanted to do.

The boys came home and napped, while I got busy making Noah's birthday cake.  It was chocolate and gluten free.  Truth is, it wasn't even a cake, but just a bunch of cupcakes, arranged to look like a great big crocodile/sea monster/dinosaur of some sort... your guess is as good as mine!

I was in a hurry, so I forgot to put the teeth on it (cut out of marshmallows) and I lost the frosting tip I was supposed to use to make the scales so I did a sloppy job making them with what tip I could find... and it was also supposed to have more cookie thingy's on top of it but I couldn't find any square or triangular chocolate gluten free cookies and I ran out of time/got frustrated cutting round g.f. cookies into triangles..... SO... it wasn't exactly how I envisioned it to look, but it still looked pretty cool and Noah LOVED it! That's all that matters right?

We ate pizza that evening- Noah's favorite food!...  Aunt Megan, Uncle John and Grandma and Grandpa Campbell came over to help us celebrate Noah's big day!!!

Some how my g.f. pizza became cross contaminated with Spencer's Little Ceasar's pizza and I fell really REALLY ill that evening, immediately after our guests went home...  it was HORRIBLE!  On the other hand--- since I was sick and had taken some Benedryl and gone to bed, Spencer was left to clean up all of the mess from dinner.  It's not very often that I've seen him doing the dishes. LOL!

I'm a horrible mom!  

Somehow I spaced it and forgot to buy birthday candles!!!  

I had to search my kitchen high and low, just to find these ones!!!

I put together another little treasure hunt for Noah to do 

in order to find all of his birthday presents.

Below are the clues I left hidden around the house.

Each clue/picture led Noah to a spot where the next clue was hidden or hung...
Here he is with his side kick, Ian, searching for clues...

It took him a little while to find all of his clues,

but eventually he found the last clue 

which led him to his presents stashed away in the music box!

Of course, he made out like a pirate on his birthday gifts this year!!!  I think his favorite gift was the compass grandpa gave him.

He also received a Nerf Bow and Arrow and this te-pee below.

It's his reading te-pee... 

otherwise, his little place he or any of his brothers can go and hang out in 

just to read books.

Funny little story about Indians and te-pees... on our way back from San Diego only a couple of weeks earlier, we had just driven through the canyon, along I-15, before hitting St. George, when Ian asked me where all of the Indians were along with their te-pees?!  It took me a while to understand through more questioning what on earth he was talking about, but as it turns out, he was under the impression that there were going to be Indians and te-pees out in the desert, in the middle of no where!  I can't say he's been watching a lot of old western movies, but that's about the ONLY way I can explain WHY he thought Indians would be there- out on the red rock wilderness!  Needless to say, he was terribly disappointed when I explained to him that there were no Indians to see.

It's NUTS!  We're only 2 years away from Noah being 8 years old and eligible for baptism... and cub scouts- 2 YEARS!!! How'd that happen and where have the past 6 years gone?!  I remember his birth day like it was just yesterday.  It was LOVE at first sight.  I didn't actually get to meet him immediately as do most mothers with their newborns--- instead I had to wait a few hours AFTER he'd been born and our first encounter was brief before he was swept back away into the NICU- he experienced a lot of health problems acclimating to this world of ours... but I recall holding him for the first time and thinking that he was the most beautiful baby- really he was. He had a gorgeous creamy peachy complexion and a LOT of thick DARK hair- but of course, I also couldn't believe how chubby his cheeks were! WOW! They were CHUB.B.E.E.!  They were so big, it worried me a little... okay maybe more than a little- a lot!  It's all good though- 6 years later, he's finally grown into his cheeks- he even kind of has dimples; they're there- not quite as noticeable as his brother, Ian's. He DOES have gorgeous long eye lashes- long enough to catch butterflies and he has the.sweetest.smile.  He's ALWAYS grinning! Generally speaking, Noah's always a happy child and he's so easy to entertain... occasionally, he will try to test my patience- he likes to sneak sweets--- I've caught him red handed with chocolate smeared across his face at least a hundred times and he'll always place the blame on one of his younger brothers- he LOVES his sweets! He has his weaknesses but they're nothing we can't work on. He's unusual because unlike most young boys his age, he LOVES broccoli and tomatoes.  He HATES HATES HATES onions and pickles.

Noah is a good kid.  He's always very friendly--- he makes friends easily, finding fault never in anyone. He really LOVES company and he's very loyal to his friends.  He's extremely helpful around the house- and he's my right hand man when Spence is gone to work. 

He's brilliant!!!  I can easily picture him growing up and becoming an engineer.  He's great with numbers and he LOVES to build things... he reminds me a lot of my dad.  He's incredibly creative--- he's really got a fascinating imagination!  He's really becoming a fabu reader--- and he enjoys reading.  He has an insatiable hunger for knowledge!  He's also an amazing artist!!!  It actually surprised me to see how well he draws considering he hasn't really used crayons, pens, pencils much until now for anything other than for writing at school. Even his pediatrician was SHOCKED by how well he drew for his age and by the amount of detail he added to each of his drawings.  I have to admit, I DO look forward to seeing what he's drawn everyday when he comes home from school.  Remember this picture? 

Noah became a great little swimmer over the year.  He LOVES the water!!!  Whether it be the ocean, the pool or water park, a lake, river or bucket of water--- he thrives in water!  I LOVE it!  He's a kid after my own heart!

I know I've said that Noah would like to have his own time and space away from his brothers- he has a lot you know- brothers that is--- but truth is, he loves them and both Spencer and I can see that by the way he plays with them.  He's a great friend and example for his 4 younger brothers to follow- I only hope he continues to be such as he grows older.  They all need him.  We need him!  I need him!  He makes my life brighter and more meaningful!  It's been an honor and an adventure being his mother.