Henry Got Baptized!

It's great to be eight!  Henry got baptized on September 13th and it was a great event.  We flew Marcus and Ethan home for the weekend and we had both sets of grandparents join us as well.  Henry was hoping to get baptized with his best friend Jack but it ended up just being Henry.  Henry performed a duet of "I am a Child of God" on the piano with me, he was baptized by Marcus, and confirmed by Randy.  Ethan and Landon were the witnesses and the grandfathers both gave perfect, short messages about baptism and the Holy Ghost.  We had a room full of people and even had a bunch of Randy's employees come so that was extra awesome.  We fed everyone cinnamon rolls and called it good.  

Henry looking so cue as he walked confidently into the church

We got there an hour early to set up and wait and wonder if anyone was going to show up.  We actually removed two rows of chairs and then had to add three rows as people kept filling in.  I guess we have more friends than we thought!

Ethan saved the day by racing back home to get Henry's white underwear I had bought just for this occasion.  Marcus forgot his too (insert eye roll).  

Return missionary Marcus knows how to take fun baptism pics

Brothers

Our super fancy display :)

The whole fam together

The grands

Jack gave Henry a special baptism towel.  These two boys are such good friends and see each other almost every day. Jack is a week younger than Henry but a year older in school.  And a whole lot taller!

We love you, Henry!  

Someone Isn't Growing

Something big happened to little Henry.  He's started taking daily growth hormone shots.  This has been in the works for almost a year.  All my boys are short but Henry is much smaller than all of them have ever been.  I did research, talked to people in similar situations, and was ready to not take no for an answer.  The doctors always just tell me since Randy and I are short, we are going to have short kids.  And they are correct.  But neither of us are crazy short.  And don't get me started on why it's so impossible for even one of our kids to be a little taller than Randy.  Seems like most families have kids taller than the parents but not us.  We are cursed.  

Anyway, I took Henry to a pediatric endocrinologist and she said all the same things about not being concerned about Henry but she'd do some tests to check things out.  After another x-ray of his hand, an all-day growth hormone test, and an MRI, we found out Henry actually doesn't produce hardly any growth hormone.  His pituitary gland is working just fine so we don't know the cause but we do know he isn't growing.  Even his baby teeth aren't falling out so everything about him has just stopped.

The good news is insurance is covering the shots which are $30,000/year.  The bad news is that Henry has to have these daily shots in the butt until he hits puberty which will be about 10 years from now.  The other bad news is the shots will only help him to be two inches above or below the average growth rate of Randy and me which is 5'8".  That means Henry could only reach 5'6" or as tall as 5'10". That's hardly worth it but when I said that to the doctor, she said if I don't do the shots, Henry won't even hit 5'6".  So shots it is!  

Eventually Henry will be able to do them on his own but for now, he acts like it's a big deal and it's a two-man job where one of us gives the shot while Parker softly pats Henry on the back.  It's so cute! Grow Henry, grow!

The first box of growth hormone supplies.  I can't wait to see the picture of him with the last box!

January Little Things

January was pretty uneventful.  We didn't have a lot of rain which I appreciated because I'm training for a half-marathon and the weather determines how pleasant/unpleasant the training experience is.  Every once in awhile on a pretty day, I take a picture to send to my college boys to remind them how beautiful WA is and how ugly Utah is so maybe one day they will want to move back home.  Temporarily, of course.

The daily grind of piano practicing is back in full swing.  Henry is actually really good!  Parker is too but he loathes the piano.  Marcus and Henry will probably be my only piano players.  So sad.

Landon is so good about putting in the daily grind of practicing lacrosse and one time Henry decided to go with him.  These brothers are so cute!

We still can't get over all the fallen trees when we go on mandatory Sunday walks.

Randy spent a couple weekends buying tools/supplies to build a temple in the garage.  

The seminary kids will fill in the walls with popsicle sticks that they earn by reading their scriptures.

I've been influenced!  I bought a weighted vest and Parker was having fun with it.  I think it's supposed to help with perimenopause stuff but I just liked the idea of wearing it around when as I do laundry and clean the house or for going on walks with friends.  I haven't noticed any benefits but do I like it?  Yes!!

Parker is playing rec basketball and he's actually pretty good!  We go to the church a couple times a week to work on his shots so he can be an actual weapon on the court.

I signed Henry up for lacrosse.  None of my boys have started this young but Henry needs stuff to do since he doesn't have a neighborhood full of kids to play with.  He's actually pretty good!

I went skiing and that's Parker in the red coat

That's Henry in the green trying to block Parker from being in the picture.  Oh Henry! 

I love my pink goggles!  And skiing with these two was pretty fun!

Marcus played on an intramural inner tube water polo team with his girlfriend.  I got all kinds of excited remembering when I played at BYU.

WE won!  And I still have the championship t-shirt to prove it.  Also, back then if you wanted to swim in the BYU pools you had to wear one of their standard issue swimsuits.  They were always baggy so we'd often wear our own swimsuits underneath them.  Kids have it so easy these days!

Henry is such a good reader!  He's actually way above his grade level and it's so cute seeing him read at Parker's basketball games.  We both bring books to read when Parker isn't on the court.

Oh, Henry!

 

Henry is one of a kind.  He came home with the cutest art work and New Year's Resolution.  He came up with it all by himself.  

His goal is to "Eat more sugar cookies." I laughed so hard when he told me in total seriousness, that he really wants to eat more cookies this year.  I told him we usually set goal or make resolutions to help us improve at something or to do something that's hard for us.  He looked at me like I was crazy and asked when we could go get cookies.  I told him it's kind of ironic because my resolution is to eat less cookies.  He got a good laugh.  As long as we don't make cookies--the delicious homemade kind that I can't resist--we are both happy.

We now have a pretty regular tradition of buying 1-2 packages of gross, store-bought sugar cookies that Henry hides in various places around the house (usually on the top bunk bed) to prevent his brothers from eating them.  I'm hoping years down the road, this boy will continue to make resolutions and hopefully he will remember how I helped him, for better or worse.

All the Fall Things

All the fall things happened pretty uneventfully.  Henry played soccer with his best friend Jack and Randy helped coach.  Parker finished his cross country season with only one rainy race.  Landon went to homecoming and has become a sometimes-grumpy teenager.  Landon started shaving and insisted on specific instruction from Randy.  The other boys just figured it out on their own after I told them the basics.  Landon also finished his drivers ed course.  Now he just needs to learn how to drive without killing anymore deer.  Yes, you read that right.  He hit a deer in Randy's new Audi.  You might be wondering how many Audi's the Ball family will continue to wreck before getting a different car.  I wonder the same thing!  You might also be wondering how much we pay for car insurance for four cars and five drivers.  It's a lot and makes me question why I had five kids.  I'm not kidding.  And in case you didn't know, deer actually make noise.  I wouldn't call it talking but it turns out in the split second when you hit a deer with your car, it makes a crying sound that will haunt you for the rest of your life before the impact takes its life.  

Henry and Jack with all their donuts and end-of-season treats.  

When bribed with donuts, this team scores goal after goal.  Otherwise, they really don't care and it's hilarious to watch.

Henry's tongue!!

Ethan came home for a weekend and cheered Henry on, then carried him off the field on his shoulders as they headed to Panda Express--Henry's favorite place to eat. Brothers are the best!

Parker's first meet

finishing strong

I've been watching cross country finals for years!  So glad it wasn't in the rain this time.

Landon confidently asked this cute girl to homecoming during one of the football games.  He was hoping his freshman friends would follow his lead but they were too chicken.  Things got pretty stressful the week before the dance when there wasn't much of a plan but it all worked out.

New suit courtesy of Amazon

Landon doing big boy things is still weird to me

Pictures and dinner at the Plateau Club.  All the kids ordered salads for dinner since it was the cheapest thing on the menu :)

Clean shaven...luckily he has super blond facial hair so shaving every couple weeks is probably enough

Cute little Henry playing the piano.  I finally got him a teacher because the battle was not something I could handle with him.  He loves it and is actually really good.  Also, I love that he stands at the keyboard.  

Happy Fall Y'all!

Oregon with My Littles

Landon and Parker tried out for the Seattle Starz and they both made the team!  Believe me when I tell you that this is a big deal.  Landon had several teammates from his Skyline team try out and none of them even made the B team.  I should probably know the rankings but Landon would tell you the Starz are ranked pretty high nationally.  Some of their teammates travel as far as two hours away to attend practices.  Lucky for us, their practices are right here in Sammamish.  Landon and Parker were all smiles as I dropped them off for their first practice.  Landon was on the team in the fall and after the coaches saw Parker playing at some of their clinics, they asked me if Parker would consider trying out.  He made the team and thankfully they gave me a pretty good family discount.

Now for my rant.  Full disclosure: Travel teams are the worst.  Whoever got the brilliant idea to monetize youth sports had to be affiliated with the airlines.  Paying lots of money to travel to different States is so lame (especially for this non-athlete mother).  But for lacrosse, it really makes a difference since it's a new and growing sport where competition can be sparse in certain areas.  If my kids played soccer I'd really be annoyed at traveling when there are soccer teams everywhere.  Pretty sure it wouldn't be that hard to find a good team to play against that doesn't require a flight somewhere.  With lacrosse, it's a little bit different. But I still feel like I got suckered into something that makes big promises to my kids but is really just going after my wallet. I digress....

Luckily they play three tournaments and two of those are the same. Randy and Landon flew to CA for Landon's first tournament and the following weekend I drove to Portland with Parker and Henry for Park's first tournament.  It was actually really fun having Henry along with us.  We got to rode trip in the CIA (my Expedition).  It's so comfortable and Henry made a comfy little bed for himself and slept for most of the drive (that took an extra two hours because traffic was so terrible). 

Parker is #17

These four boys all play for Skyline.  It's pretty impressive to have more than two kids from the same local club on the team. 

The hours in between games is what kills me.  Henry and I went back to the car so he could watch a movie while I read a book.  Thankfully it wasn't hot in Oregon that weekend.

We had one king-size bed for the three of us.  Oops!  Good thing they're little.  And so cute when they sleep.

Our hotel was just down the street from the temple so of course I made them go before I took them to see the movie Inside Out 2

Parker's team won all four games so they played for the championship and won that too.  Hooray!  The other teams weren't that good but don't tell them that :)