6 year-old Brigham

We can't believe our Brigham-boy is six years old now.  How the time flies.  

He was excited for his birthday!

We opened presents in the morning before Daddy went to work.  Rebekah gave Brigham a dinosaur shapes things that you can put them together to make tesalations.  He had fun discovering how the dinosaurs fit together.  Hyrum gave him a nerf basketball hoop that hooks on the back of the door with a ball.  That gives him something to do when he gets in trouble and gets sent to his room.

I gave Brigham some books and a model Jeep Cheroke.

Timothy gave Brigham camp chair-  you can tell how Brigham felt about that by the look on his face.

Nana and Papa (and family) gave Brigham some good books, cars, and a semi truck to put them in.

He's been playing with the truck and cars a lot, he also really likes the traffic signs that can with it.

Brigham requested a basketball birthday cake, which I quickly agreed to because I'd done it before and it was one of the easiest cakes I've made. 

Brigham is a joy to have in our family.  He has a great sense of humor and keeps us laughing.  He has recently been diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome which is like a high-functioning autism.  This diagnosis has been liberating for our family because we feel like we can better understand some of his behaviors and now we can learn how to address his needs better.  As he's been growing, but some of his skills haven't it has been very frustrating for us for know what to do.  But, I think understanding him will help us immensely. 

Brigham is reading the Book of Mormon now (with only a little help on the big words).  He also has been learning a lot about science and has a curiosity about how things work. 

Happy Birthday, Brigham!  We sure love you!

Rebekah's Birthday

Our little girl is 5!!!!

We started out with German pancakes for breakfast at her request.

Here she is opening Brigham's present which is a Rainbow Fish puzzle

We even got it put together!

Next she opened Hyrum's gift

Which was some hello Kitty Pajamas he chose for her.

Trying them on!  Yep, she likes them- good pick Hyrum!

Opening Nana and Papa's (& family) present- we took a lot of pictures for you- cause we knew you (Rockwell family) would have liked to be here.

stickers!  She was so sweet and shared many of the stickers with her brothers.

A nice book about relaxing and going to sleep- she loves reading at bedtime.

Little People Birthday Party set

a coin purse with money already in it!

Playing with little people birthday set

This is Daddy and Hyrum watching Bekah open her gifts.

Brigham found the packing bubbles and had fun popping them.

Gift from Mommy- some more school clothes (not very fun, but she needed a few more things)

Daddy wrapped his gift in her sheet.

A camp chair!

With arm rests and a cup holder! 

magic tree house cake

Rebekah really wanted a Magic Tree House cake- we've read most of the books and she and Brigham just love them.  I wasn't sure about making a Magic Tree House, but it turned out okay.  I stuck two doll house people in to be Jack and Annie.  She loved the cake- and that's all that really matters.

close up of the cake

Eating cake and ice cream

We are glad that Rebekah is part of our family.  She is so helpful and sweet with others.  She just started Kindergarten and is doing well- she has already made several friends.  She like to draw and is starting to write with creative spelling- which is great for her age!  She has come a long way in the past year, and is really starting to mature.  It's fun to watch her progress and work through the things that challenge her. We sure love her!

Happy 5th Birthday, Rebekah!

It's the First Day of Kindergarten, and oh- oh-oh the fun's begun!

 Today was the first day of Kindergarten for two very special people.  They were a bit nervous and a bit excited at the same time.

 Here we are getting into the van to head over to the school...

Brigham looking pretty nervous about his first day.

Hyrum excited to take the others to school.

Rebekah a little more excited than nervous at this point.

Rebekah is now big enough to sit in a booster seat with a real seat belt, which she is proud of!  (40lbs at last!)

Outside the school looking more and more nervous as the time gets closer.

Hyrum is holding the Cherrios for Brigham- we signed  up to bring Cheerios for the "Zero Hero" treat.

Playing on the slide while we wait for the bell to ring

Hyrum thinks he's a kindergartener when he's on the playground, but doesn't want to go in the classroom- luckily he has two more years before it's his turn.

 

Rebekah got static hair right before going into school, oh well, it looks cool right?

 They both had a good day and had stories to tell when they got home.  They are in different Kindergarten classes, but are both in afternoon kindergarten so they get to see each other at recess and gym.  Hyrum and I were both sad to see them go into their classrooms without us.  Hyrum wanted to see Dad to tell him how sad he was, so we drove over to Daddy's work and talked to him for a few minutes.  Starting tomorrow they will be riding the bus which also makes them a little excited and a little nervous. (And Mama and little nervous too, but the teachers and bus drivers say they will keep track of them and make sure they go the right direction- hope all goes well with that.)

New Glasses

 Another person has joined the ranks of needing glasses.  Rebekah is going to need them as she is learning how to read.  She was excited to be able to get glasses like Mommy and Hyrum.  Hyrum broke his glasses about a week ago by sticking them in the VCR and trying to get them out again.  So, $276 later we have two new pairs of glasses.  (Why do we pay for vision insurance if they won't even pay for eyeglasses?  I;m a bit frustrated about the insurance thing- they were supposed to pay for up to $100 for each child- but they couldn't find us in their system, so they didn't pay anything, but that's a different story....) 

 Cute Rebekah in her new glasses.  You can't see it, but they are pink with white hearts on the sides by her temples.

 

Hyrum picked out his own glasses this time (last time we only had three to choose from and I picked them, but the shop here had about 20 to choose from and I let him pick with a heavy guidance.)

Rebekah is excited that she got her glasses before Kindergarten starts on the 21st of August.

 Hyrum is grateful to have glasses that fit right, his old ones were getting pretty beat up before they finally broke.

Jump!

 We sold a lot of toys, clothes, strollers, and other baby stuff before we moved and ended up with $687.00  The children decided they wanted to spend their "toy money" on a trampoline and a picnic table. 

They LOVE the trampoline!  

 Brigham has begun doing little tricks on the trampoline.

 Hyrum enjoys getting his energy out almost as much as Mommy loves him expending his energy productively.

 Rebekah is just so happy about the trampoline she runs out to jump every chance she gets.

 This is the picnic table the children bought with their "toy money".  They spend a lot of time sitting at it in play and eating their snacks.

A little video of the children jumping on the first day we had the trampoline set up.

Brigham's "fun" summer

 Brigham has had some injuries this summer....

He broke his left arm the end of May.  He was climbing on a foam toy at the mall playground and lost his balance and tumbled to the ground.  He got up with a very crooked arm and was screaming. He had a cast on for about 6 weeks. 

Just last week we had to run Brigham to the doctor real fast because Hyrum threw a wooden block and clocked Brigham right on his head.  He was bleeding everywhere and I could tell it needed stitches.  So I ran him into the doctor and they managed to fit him in real quick and sew him up.  He needed 4 stitches. He also got a nice black eye from it. 

This picture was taken about 5 days after the injury and it's looking more healed up.

 

Here's his version of the story.