7,6,5,4,3,2....

As of today I have a

7, 6, 5, 4, 3 month, and 2 year olds!!!

Is that not cool?!!! I know it's a stretch with the whole 3 month thing, but I figured this out one of those sleepless nights early on in the pregnancy. That if Erika was born after the 3rd of November, then this configuration of ages would then be a possibility :).... I love numbers, I'm a dork :).... had to make a blog post about it!

Luke's Birthday Party

This is an even year, so we are only doing family parties this year. Luke had seen a Curious George pinata back in October when we did Brad's party and had been talking about it ever since. I couldn't resist getting him one for his birthday even though it would only be us breaking it :).... he was happy. He got his decorations, sign and balloons, just as he suspected :) (and talked about for days). Our kids are so funny about these traditions. I'm afraid we'll never be able to let them die out. They all remind each other of them when it's someone's birthday. But I guess that's the point :) They do love it.
Luke's birthday was really fun and very focused on him.... thanks to him. He was very good at milking it for all it was worth. Reminds me of myself. He started all of his requests with "since it's my bohfday...." It was cute. He got to go to Swimming lessons on his birthday. He was so cute telling his teacher that he was four. He did a lot of playing with his brothers and a lot of waiting to open his presents.


I decided to let him open just one.... bubbles..... while he was waiting. The kids are always so good at waiting till Daddy gets home. He did great, I just caved :)



then we made his Curious George cake. I think this was the easiest cute cake we've done. I liked it :) So did Luke. Although he wanted to me to color in the mouth and now that I am looking at the pictures again, I realized I never did do that! Oh well.

I did post an invite on Facebook, and called a few family members to come. We ended up having Grandpa Hatch, Grandma Hatch, Aunt Heidi, Uncle Steve, Chris and Stephanie, and baby Sophie there to celebrate with us. It was very laid back.... I love that.


Luke finally got to open his presents. He was very excited about his Hide and Seek Monkey, and his race car track. He carrried his little truck around with him everywhere he went for the following 3 days so I think he liked that as well.

(love this smile)

Steve let Luke pick out a present at the store earlier in the day and he was actually surprised when he opened it.... he kept asking me who gave him the light saber :) lol..... he loves it. Even though he's never even seen Star Wars. I know, we need to fix that. How can have a name like Luke and not see Star Wars??

Then we did the pinata! Everyone had a few swings at it and then some.....

This was during Luke's 2nd try.... he really wanted to be the one to break it!

We even got Aunt Heidi and My mom to try it.....

We gave Lukey a third try with his eyes open and he still didn't break it. I think in the end it was Charity who busted the thing open

Time for cake and ice cream. I almost burned the house down lighting the candles. Wouldn't be the first time!

Nate and Chris took the rest of the time playing with Luke's new toys and trying out different ways to set up the track. Fun fun. I think my favorite thing about Luke's birthday was how he came to me, stood as tall as he could, looked himself up and down and then very seriously, but with a proud smile, asked me, "Do I wook four?" It's so adorable that they think they actually grow significantly bigger ON their birthday. I love it.

Friday's Fabulous.... TWO! Yeah, sorry, not too much fabulousness this week.

1. Sunday was my day of SLEEP this week. I had a really late night Saturday night, so Sunday I slept in until like 10:30. Then after church, I fell asleep on the couch around 4:00, slept till 6:00 to eat dinner (which I did VERY sleepily.... I seriously felt drugged or something) then went back to sleep until about 9:00.... sounds disgusting doesn't it!? It. was. WONDERFUL!!!!! I can't thank Nate enough for taking over and letting me be the laziest mom ever. It really was something to be excited about.... and document.

2. Thursday night we got to go out to DayBreak for Nate's Dad's birthday dinner. We went to a place called Tios. Very yummy and great company!

Lukey is FOUR!!!

Luke's likes: to climb, run around, and bounce off the walls. Being upsidedown. Making his little sister smile (and laugh!!). Watching people play his games on the computer. Helping in the kitchen- and tasting every step of the way. Reading books. Making people laugh. Making up silly names to call people.

Luke's dislikes: when people laugh at him when he's not trying to be funny or call him silly names. Having to do things on his own. Sitting still. Being rushed. Having to wait.

What Luke does now: he knows his ABC's. He can count to 30. He knows how to spell and is learning how to write his name. He is learning to swim. He surprises us all the time with things he's learned when we thought he wasn't paying attention. He's really good at sports and enjoys them. He has an amazing memory.

Flash back~

Luke right after they took him out. I remember Nate and I talking about his big lips :) they're not so big anymore, but they sure have personality :)



First Birthday- wasn't quite sure what this birthday stuff is all about, but he loved the attention.



Luke with his new race track on his 2nd birthday. He has LOVED this thing and taken such good care of it. He's really good at that.

Luke opening his basketball hoop on his 3rd birthday. He was so shy back then!

Luke adds a lot of character to our family. He is definitely his own little person and enjoys being different. I admire his ability to be himself regardless of what others will think. He is getting really good at making friends, I love how he is so outgoing these days. I love his cute voice and the way he talks. I love all his constant kisses, and smiles. I love that he is so driven and will accomplish what he sets out to do. I have always felt that if we can point him in the right direction he will be able to do great things. I love my little guy and I can't believe he is growing up so fast!!! I just love my little Lukey.

People-watching at the best game of the season

Nate and I got to go to the Jazz Game tonight. It was INCREDIBLE!!! My dad gave him the tickets for Christmas and they were just really great seats, lower bowl, about 20 rows up. It was fun. This is only our second time sitting up so close, so for us, it was pretty special :). They of course one. It was a really close game until the fourth quarter when the Jazz just kicked the Mavs' trash. I loved it. Nate loved it. It was a good time.
Now, I'm a little bit of a people watcher.... and in situations like that, where there are millions of people around me..... I get distracted. I saw a lot of interesting people. I thought I would tell you all about them :) Because I am bored mostly and it's too early to go to bed, but too late to clean.... so here it is:
1. The 4 beer drinking guys that sat next to us. They were funny because when we got there, they looked up at us like "you're going to sit here??". They were polite, asked how we were doing, smiled, asked about the baby, laughed at some jokes that we couldn't hear, then didn't talk to us again until after half time (I believe they were finally loosened up enough from the alcoholic beverages they were drowning in LOL). They really were hilarious. I think I should take up drinking. Maybe I would be more fun to be around.... might loosen me up a little. *Incidentally this is about the time my mind began to obsess over the question "WHY can they not put LIDS on their beer???" Does it seem strange to anyone else that everyone's just carrying around a plastic cup of pee colored liquid and almost spilling it (and in our case doing so) all over everyone as they climb in and out of the row?? And I get that people don't necessarily want to drink beer from a straw, but couldn't you use a coffee cup lid type thing?? Oh well. I've been wondering that for quite some time now and my wondering hasn't helped. I should ask Steve, he's my expert on these matters. This one is not to offend any of you drinkers out there. I am in no way saying that I don't love beer drinkers. Sometimes they can be quite entertaining. And they make me jealous that I cannot relax more.
2. The 4 cute little boys in front of us. Now these were some cute kids. Getting up to get their drinks, then basketballs, then the icecream covered in Fruity Pebbles- one kid actually had a waffle cone with two scoops in one hand and then the softserve with the cereal on top in a cup in the other... someone likes ice cream! Very cute. And you could totally tell that they were savoring every minute of their unsupervised freedom. I dread the day when I have to let my boys do stuff like that on their own.... I'm way too much of a control freak.
3. The whistle happy ref. He was annoying. And I wondered why anyone would CHOOSE to have a job like that where EVERYONE has no choice but to hate them at one point or another. Kinda like dentists.... weird.
4. The crazy guy that goes around finding people to do the timeouts and winners for the little games and stuff.... that would be a fun job. Everyone likes you and cheers when you come around. Making people's day.....
5. The cute little toddler girls with their Dads on what looked like a little Daddy-Daughter Date night. All dolled up. Fun.
6. Those guys that mop up the court every two seconds. They make it seem like a fun job. All bouncy when they get up, hurry as fast as they can to wipe up whatever bodily fluids have been spilt on the court before the team gets back to their side. And sometimes they have to really hustle! Especially with all the steals Kirilenko was getting tonight! Keeps the mopping boys on their toes! Nate said I needed to document that I was wondering what types of mops they use. He thinks it's strange that I could be at the "Best game of the season", in lower bowl seats, and still care about what kind of mops they're using. I don't think it's strange. That's something you would only notice when sitting that close! I miss my Star Mop. I need to go to another State Fair and get one. That thing was priceless. I still don't know what kind of mop they were using though..... maybe I'll google it.
7. The fifty million people who walked past me (we were on the end of the row next to the aisle) while I was nursing Erika and did like fifty double-takes (or are they called fifty-takes?) trying to figure out if I was actually nursing a baby at a Jazz game, or if I was just holding her there.... pretty tricky huh folks!!! I think I fooled some of them. Course I think I got even more looks after she fell asleep in my arms and I WASN'T feeding her... funny how that is.
8. The 2 guys in the Fanzz shop who couldn't get over the fact that they make JAZZ hats with Y's on them. Purple Y hats. hmmmm. Yeah, that is kinda funny. All those loyal BYU fans that can't go all the way and buy a hat that actually says Jazz. (they had U ones too, but for some reason we feel the need to make fun of the Y ones more)
9. The sweet old German man who commented on my screaming baby in the back seat as we were paying for our parking. "....It's good for their lungs!....." I'll have to remember that :). Makes the screaming seem a little less annoying when you can look at it from the perspective of a cute, little, old man.

And now you're probably thinking, "Man, did Christa have amazing seats and then just spend the whole time watching people?? She IS crazy." But before you do- I'm a multitasker.... I can see lots of things at once. I did see Millsap go up for a layup and slam the ball right in between the rim and back board and have it stick there. That was pretty cool. And the really fun pass Williams made to Millsap a little later. And I LOVED that Kirilenko was so on top of the rebounds and steals. He really didn't let me down that way. I HATE it when they don't get rebounds. I did see the weird face what's his face Kidd made before his free throw that he didn't really deserve. I saw them pull off an amazing win, WAY ahead when the game had been REALLY close up until the fourth quarter. I even saw the Jazz let the Mavs' bench players have a few easy shots, just to be nice in the last minutes of the game. It was really just a fun game. And the best VERY BEST part about going to a Jazz game, is being able to watch Nate watch his team up close. He LOVES the Jazz. I think that he has to be their most loyal fan. He gets SO excited and has SO much fun that it's exciting and fun for me too. Not to mention he lets me ask all my dumb girl questions about things and fills me in on the stuff I miss when I'm out changing Erika. It was just a fun time. Loved it. I'm so glad Nate let me have the other ticket!
*pictures to come.... they're on Nate's phone.... yep, forgot the camera. again.