Clayton Turns 6

I don't need to tell all of you about how much of a blog slacker Ive been for the last year (or, ahem - two) but I'm on a mission to get back.
One of the reasons is that I was really proud of myself for writing the kids' birthday letters over here. I'm not great at taking pictures and Carter only got half a baby book filled out. Poor kid.

So I'll start back with Clay. I missed last year's birthdays. Your last one was when you turned 4.
I'm sorry babe. I think five was good for you. You went to Transitional Kindergarten and blazed through it. You're an awesome reader and can multiply in your head. And then, not surprising to anyone, just skipped to first grade.

Your brother, Carter, is always the trailblazer and so LOUD and smart that most of the time your incredible intelligence sneaks by without us noticing until we actually pay attention to what's going on in your head. I guess that's the curse of the middle child, huh? But when we slow down and watch you read, or watch you explain how something works, or listen as you answer 2nd and 3rd grade math problems in your head at the tender age of 5, we remember.

But mostly, you're just SO SWEET, and kind, and thoughtful. You still love to snuggle and have someone lay with you at night.

You are so forgiving. You take the brunt of the "next time" or "later" or "not tonight" because you are the most agreeable. I'm not saying this is fair by any means. But your brother and sister are mostly just so unforgiving. 
I am more likely to buy you a treat somewhere just because. Does that count for something? Please say yes. Because I know being the middle kid isn't the most fair. And I know that you know. You point it out occasionally. But me and Daddy and trying. We never want you to feel like the middle kid. We love you SO MUCH. Always remember that we do.

These days you're into riding your bike (which you did at 3 by the way! Earlier than any of your siblings! You can always rub that in their face later in life. I give you permission.) You love playing with friends and being rough and wrestling. You have really enjoyed soccer and basketball this past year. You're such a boy. But you are also so capable (and very good!) at playing with girls, and playing with your sister. You've got the whole package babe. You are smart, and kind, and extremely good looking  (Zoolander?). I'm pretty certain I'll be standing in-between you and many o' ladies in the upcoming years.

Clay, the day you were born a very special thing happened between the two of us. I still feel it every. single. day. I hope you always do too. I love you!

Student of the Month

Carter got student of the month in October! I'm not really on the up and up with the whole student of the month thing. First of all, you can only be student of the month once you're at least in second grade. Second of all, I didn't realize that there's a student of the month for each classroom each month.
Soooo....I'm also not completely sure what qualifies you for Student Of the Month. I'm guessing some sort of algorithm that includes good behavior, grades and cuteness.

Cutest 4yr old in the World

We finally got Vivi's School pictures back. I can't believe all three kids' school pictures turned out so well!

Minnie Winnie Remodel

If I had been really smart, I would have take awesome before and after type photos. But, we were just really ready to start ripping stuff up....So we mostly just have after photos. You can take a look at what it looked like in our Spring Break 2014 Posts if you need a comparison.

Our new back splashed step. All these steps were carpeted. As you can imagine, one day of camping and these things were trashed.

Notice all the nice hardwood laminate too! :)

The couch just has a fitted sheet over it, but you can see my curtains  (I made all of them) and my mattresses and new dinette cushions.

Up on the bunk, there are two long green mattresses. They're stacked onto of each other in this picture but  that little drawer pulls out and then the mattresses can be side by side.

New dinette cushions and curtains

A better view of my mattresses (that I also made!) and curtains for the bunk. 

Here's a decent 'Before and After' Pic:

Notice gross couch, disgusting carpet, tacky window coverings and nasty wallpaper.

NEW!

Into our bedroom

Behind the couch

Bedroom

Bedroom, again.

Bathroom. We just put new floor and painted the walls in here.

A view from our bedroom looking into the living area.

Front door. 

Boys' School Pictures

We got the boy's school pictures back last week. They look so much better than last year! Ha! I'll post Vivi's once I get hers back. Also, I'll have to post Clay's soccer pictures. We sent them back because they said "CLAYTGON 2014" on them. So that was super.

Carter 2nd Grade

Clay 1st grade

Halloween 2014

It was super cold this year. Normally, it starts to cool off around Halloween but this year a cold front moved in and it was super chilly! Luckily we didn't have too many Halloween activities during the week so that we were burnt out on Halloween before it showed up. We had the AWANA fall festival the day before where Cory and I volunteered and then went trick or treating on Friday. The kids all picked out their costumes a few weeks back and luckily still wanted to be those same characters by the time Halloween rolled around.

Carter just finished the first Harry Potter book so he was very excited to be Ron Weasley. Although, he was a little frustrated that everyone assumed he was Harry. He kept saying, "Mom, don't they see my red hair? Ron has red hair like me so they should know that I'm Ron!"

Vivi was determined to be Optimus Prime. She's quite the tomboy and girly things are not 'cool' in her book. Really? Why must my only daughter do this to me?

Clay had been wanting to be Boba Fett (Or Jango) for awhile now and so he was perfectly content with his costume as well.

Cory and our friend Darren took the kids around while me and Darren's wife (also named Cory; I know, very confusing) handed out candy and tried to stay warm...with what we dubbed as 'not coffee'.

After trick or treating all the kids (including our friends') came over, dumped out candy and traded and talked about their loot. We then put Ghost Busters on until late into the evening.

Our Jack Skellington and one 'regular' jack o lantern