Evan's big day!

Evan turned 1 on Saturday. He celebrated by sleeping until 8:40 am! So by the time we finally heard him playing in his crib everyone was up and ready to sing. We went into his room singing "Happy Birthday" and the child smiled and glowed like he knew EXACTLY who's special day it was.  So cute.

We asked a wonderful neighborhood family and some other kids over for cake and ice cream. Just to keep things simple I got the same Costco cake Brett selected for his party. We put Evan in his high chair, sang and let his brothers blow out the candle. We gave him a piece of cake and he just kind of poked and prodded it until Scott cut it up and gave him a fork. What I have noticed about Evan is that he does not make much noise while he eats and it is a bit painstaking but eventually he eats everything on his tray. So it was with the cake. With a great amount of perseverance he polished off the entire piece. Then he laid his head down on his tray as if he found the whole process simply exhausting!

Evan and mommy before the festivities begin!

Evan and his big brothers!

All clean and waiting for cake!

During the cake eating process!

Evan - the after picture - heading toward sugar coma!

Two weeks ago the boys started school.  Chad and David both marched fearlessly toward third and first grades respectively.  They have adjusted well to the transition from lazy summer days of hours spent playing legos to early mornings and the after school homework routine (no friends, no playing, no video games until homework is done).  Brett, on the other hand, has not adjusted very well.  I was "invited" to his kindergarten class after school one afternoon to consult with his teacher and vice principal on how we could help Brett follow directions in class.  This was the third day of school.  On the fifth day of school I got a call from the vice principal.  Brett "made a sad choice.  He punched two 'friends' in the stomach."  Jeez.  And I thought they were calling to tell me Brett was selected to be part of the Gifted and Talented program.  As a result of his indiscretion Brett lost his computer privileges for the week-end.  Last week was marginally better but Scott and I are really struggling with Brett right now.  He has never been the most cooperative child but lately he basically fights everything we ask and need him to do.  From getting up in the morning, getting dressed, and riding his bike to school to sitting at the table for dinner and going to bed ever thing is a struggle.  I am very depressed about this and think I will escape from Brett tomorrow for two free yoga classes (it is Free Yoga Day in Dallas!!).  Maybe downward dog will lead to inspiration!

Edgeworth brothers on the first day of school

Brett is definitely not a happy camper!

July trip to Nashville

Scott recently brought home some very anemic looking tomato plants for our garden.  He explained to Brett that they would need some love.  He said, "Brett, I need you to water the plants."  To which Brett replied so earnestly, "Is water love??"  

I cannot believe it is August already which means the boys, including Brett, start school in a few weeks!

Last month we took a very spontaneous road trip to Nashville for cousins Andie and Brady's birthday party.  We left Dallas Friday night around 6:30 and rolled into Nashville around 5 am.  The big boys slept fine but the baby definitely objected to sleeping all night in his car seat.  From about 2 am on he did that annoying cry-out-every-five-minutes routine while he was still asleep!  Needless to say Scott and I got no sleep but managed to sneak a few hours when we arrived at Carrie's.  Another major reason for the trip was to see Carrie's new Nashville home!  They recently purchased a gorgeous home about a mile from their old house.  The new house is definitely Carrie.  Perfect for entertaining with beautiful flooring throughout, a gorgeous open kitchen (very difficult to find in Nashville for some reason), huge windows and lots of light.  Best of all a pool which is where the kids spent all day Saturday.  I especially loved the sunroom off the back of the house overlooking the entire back yard and the surrounding green hills.  Nashville is stunning this time of year.   

We could only stay a few days and had to drive back on Tuesday but it was worth it to see our Haslam cousins and the new house.  I think that is one of the greatest blessings of our living in Dallas.  Frankly a family of 6 does not fly anywhere cheap so we are extra grateful the Haslam's are within driving distance.  

Crazy Brett in the hot tub

Adorable Andie at her 9th birthday party!

Brady and David swimming in the hot tub

Happy Birthday Andie and Brady!

Scott and Becky looking tired!!

Happy 5th Birthday Brett!!

Brett and his best friend Luke Johnson (the sprinkler park is in the background)

We celebrated Brett's 5th birthday this Saturday at the local sprinkler park.  He invited his two best friends from the gym and a neighborhood family with 5 children which worked out well because they also have kids both Chad and David's age.  In fact my kids have spent a lot of time with this family during the summer vacation going back and forth from our house to theirs.  They spend hours upstairs in the playroom building legos.

At 9 am on Saturday I wondered if we'd have to cancel Brett's party because of the torrential downpour ripping through Dallas.  His party was scheduled to start at noon and (literally) around 11 am the heavens parted and it was sunny and blue skies for the rest of the day.  So we got lucky.  

Neighbors Zoe and Paulie with Chad

I love this particular park because the water activities are right next to the play structures.  So the kids had a blast running back and forth between the sprinklers and the swings.  I grilled hot dogs at home and brought them to the park for lunch.  And of course we had cake.  Brett has pointed out a particular cake at Costco each time we went for the past couple of months.  After spending hours on Chad's snake cake I was only too happy to oblige and let Costco do the work!

Brett blowing out 5 candles!!

Waiting for CAKE!!

More recently overheard at the Edgeworth house:

Brett:  "I don't want to die on the cross because it hurts."

David:  "Don't worry, they don't do that anymore.  Not since, ummmm, 1973."

Whew.  Glad I wasn't alive in 1973.

David, Scott and Chad working on our Frisco garden

Brett is in charge of composting

Recently overheard in the Edgeworth house:

Brett:  "Chad, I just found your (Nintendo) DSi in my closet.  I don't know HOW it got there?"  Stated in a voice that could only be described as incredulous.  

Earlier in the day:

Chad:  "I wish it was my birthday everyday."

David:  "But then you'd be 300 years old!"  Smart little guy.

Beautiful picture of Evan and Grandma

I reluctantly drove my mom to the airport today.  She arrived last Friday for Chad's baptism and spent a lovely week with us.  I really appreciate how my mom just pitches right it and helps us out with the kids and the house.  She fed Evan spaghetti and meatballs (minced in my food processor of course), watermelon, homemade banana bread and tons of oatmeal, bananas and Greek yogurt.  She took the boys to the pool and the movies, Brett to McDonald's twice, David once and both Chad and David to Target on a Lego shopping spree.  In between all that she did laundry, cleaned my kitchen daily and even made it to the gym with me twice and once to yoga.  

She is Wonder Woman (or Wonder Grandma!).

Meanwhile I was studying like mad for the ACE certified personal trainer's exam which I managed to pass by the skin of my teeth on Friday!!  Yeah!  It was a great feeling of accomplishment. 

So we are all depressed now and Evan will probably lose the five pounds he gained while Grandma was here because let's face it:  no one loves you (and feeds you) like your Grandma!! 

One last picture before leaving for the airport

Chad's baptism and Edgeworth happenings since April!

Patriotic David on Fourth of July 2009

Our families gathered this past week-end for Chad's 4th of July baptism.  Carrie and the Haslam cousins drove over from Nashville and arrived on Thursday.  On Friday we did three airport runs to pick up the rest of the gang.  The best part is watching the kids jump right back into playing as if they just saw each other five minutes earlier.  

I really enjoyed the wonderful spirit at the baptism.  It was a tender moment as a parent to see the front pews of the stake center filled with children dressed in white.  Unfortunately Chad was very sleep deprived and cranky.  He had been up until 10 pm the night before and naturally Brett woke him up early on Saturday morning.  Then we realized afterward that he never ate breakfast because he was too busy playing.  So between his low blood sugar and lack of sleep he was surly indeed.  

After the baptism we had the obligatory 4th of July barbeque, went swimming and watched the Frisco fireworks at the church.

Other highlights from the past couple of months:

Evan and I flew to Las Vegas Easter week-end to celebrate my Grandma Waldron's 85th birthday.  Between the eleven adults present the baby was hardly a moment without lavish attention.  It was a fun trip for me, catching up with family I had not seen for ages.  

The last month of school was one continuos celebration.  At one point I felt like I was at the school as much as the boys!  I was pretty glad when the end finally came and we could enjoy the respite from homework and the early 7:50 am start time for a few months.  Our summer routine is pretty basic.  We ride our bikes to the gym each morning.  The boys need a morning outing or they are bored by 9 am!  We go swimming in the afternoon and in between the boys have some reading quiet time and journal writing.  Brett is really into writing letters and drawing corresponding pictures in his journal.  I had despaired thinking he would not learn to write his name or any other letter of the alphabet before starting kindergarten this fall.  But he finally rose up and figured it out on his own.  Typical Brett.  

And then there is the fighting and agitation...sigh.

Chad turned 8 in June and had a fun birthday party the Friday after school got out.  We rented an inflatable water slide that was actually enclosed in a bounce house.  The kids had a blast in that thing although this might be the last year we can get away with inviting the whole class.  I definitely noticed that the girls did not want to play as rough as the boys and were not always amused by their antics.  He also joined cub scouts and spent a week going to cub scout camp each afternoon.  I chaperoned one afternoon and despite the scorching heat and humidity it was a blast watching these boys and their excitement about shooting BB guns (we are in Texas after all!).  

Evan is 10 months today and is crawling everywhere, banging his head on everything and eating like a professional sumo wrestler.  He is still a joy and puts up with his brothers wanting to carry him around and thrust toys in his face (Brett).  

I posted some fun pictures from the above events on a Picasa web album.  Here is the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bedgeworth/April09July09Highlights?authkey=Gv1sRgCJuxiva19oDvLQ#