Billy was baptized today.   He was excited.  I was nervous.  All the way to church I had butterflies in my stomach.  I asked him if he was nervous, but he said he wasn’t so I guess I was nervous enough for the both of us.  He was so excited to get in his baptism clothes and to be with Bill.  What a special time for father and son.  He listened intently as Grandma Dunow talked about how the prophets of the church had been baptized.  Most were baptized in creeks or rivers.  It was snowing outside today and some prophets were baptized in a river with snow and ice, too.  He said his favorite part was being in the font.  He did great. He doesn’t like to get water in his face, but he came out of the water a new kid with a smile on his face.  Then Bebe (grandma) Barnes gave a talk about the Holy Ghost and gave him a treasure box with a compass, flashlight and a picture of Christ to help him always remember the Holy Ghost.  Then Grandpa Barnes confirmed him.  Billy had three of his namesakes in the circle, his dad, father and great grandfather Hurst.  It was so special to see this sweet little boy be baptized. Even though Jessica couldn’t be with us as she is on her mission, we know she was there is spirit. She said she told everyone she talked to yesterday that her little brother was getting baptized.  We are so proud of him and of his decision to be baptized.  We love you, Billy.

Billy turned eight today. It’s hard to believe he is 8.  I am still 29 so how can he be eight? 🙂  He started the day being able to watch a little TV before school.  Then he had cupcakes with his class in the afternoon.  He returned home ready to open presents and see his cake.  After presents and blowing out the candles on the cake, he was ready for a Happy Meal.  He spent the rest of his birthday being able to play his new Wii game and then watching episodes of Mr. Bean.  He told me it was a great day and you could see it written all over his face.  Happy Birthday, Billy!

Billy is 7!  He had a great day. He actually started his celebration a little early when we had a small party in Utah on Sunday night before we left.  Grandma made a cake and Great Grandpa Hurst, Aunt Kim, Uncle Curtis, McKenzie, Bryson, Garrett, Chandler and Millie all came to celebrate. It was a fun night. On the official Billy Day,  he had cupcakes at school with his classmates.  Then we headed to town (Albuquerque) to have dinner with Bill.  Billy picked pizza at a great pizza and sandwich place called Dion’s.  He got to open his presents there, too.  Baden was disappointed that Billy was opening presents and he wasn’t.  Being the good big brother that he is, Billy had Baden help him open some of his presents.  Then the boys and I went to the movies to see Yogi Bear.  When we got home, Billy was on  the phone with Jessica, Uncle Jeff, Tia Blanca, Hannah, Emily, Bebe and Grandpa.  He loved all the birthday wishes.  He told Bill that now that he is seven he will get 10 chicken nuggets instead of 6 so I guess 7 = 10.  Happy Birthday, Billy!

The Big Man came to our house and we were all so excited. Billy got a Nintendo DSi XL. He said, Oh thank you Santa. I wonder how he knew I wanted the big DSi. Baden is happy with his new toy, Stinky the Garbage Truck.  Bill got an Eagle Scout ring and I got a cool cutting/crafting machine called a Silhouette and a new Wii game called Just Dance.  We also got a lot of fun movies to watch. We’ve had a lot of fun playing with our new toys.  Our Christmas dinner didn’t turn out quite how we had planned.  We thought it would be great to go to a buffet and have no dishes to wash. Well lots of others had the same idea.  It was a very long wait, so we ended up having Christmas dinner at IHOP.  It was a bummer, but the sandwich I had was really good and Baden ate all his pancakes.  🙂  The boys and I have been playing Just Dance and it’s quite the workout. It’s a lot of fun and even Baden dances around.  Bill’s mom came to spend Christmas with us and we have enjoyed having her here.  She is a lot of fun and the boys love having their Grandma visit.  Merry Christmas!

With a brother named Baden Powell and a father that bleeds khaki it only made sense to get Billy started in Cub Scouts. He is now a Tiger Cub. He had his first Pack meeting on Friday night.  At the beginning of the meeting, the Cub Master said really loud, “Hello, Pack 640!” and all of the scouts yelled back.  Then he said, “Oh good, I thought I had a bunch of Brownies here.”  As the meeting progressed, Billy leaned over and told me he was hungry. I told him we would be eating dinner when we got home.  He said well I want a brownie.  I didn’t think anything about it as usually there are refreshments after a pack meeting.  Well after the pack meeting was over and there were no refreshments, Billy asked me where the brownies were.  That’s when it dawned on me that he didn’t know the difference between a brownie and Brownie.  I said, “Oh, Billy there aren’t any brownies here. The Cub Master was talking about Girl Scouts!”   I can only expect more fun over the months to come.

Billy always comes off the bus with a smile on is face. Today, he didn’t.  I knew something was wrong.  He told me a boy that we attend church with told him that he hated Billy.  This boy has a little sister that is in kindergarten and she likes Billy. She is always chasing Billy.  The first graders and kindergartners have recess together.  Apparently the little sister told her older brother that Billy pushed her.  Billy was adamant that he didn’t push her and he would never do that. He said I don’t understand why he hates me. I didn’t do anything wrong. He told me the boy always liked me before and now he hates me.  Billy said Mommy, this breaks my heart. This in turn broke my heart.  My little boy was learning one of many life lessons that sometimes people aren’t nice all the time.  Sometimes people you thought were friends turn on you for something that didn’t happen.  As we drove downtown, we listened to the Primary Program CD.  Billy wanted to listen to the song, I Feel My Savior’s Love.  He said it made him feel better.  This made me feel better, too.  I pray that Billy will always feel the Savior’s love in his life in good and bad times.

Billy started school on Tuesday. He is in the first grade.  We met his teacher during his evaluation and she seems really nice.  He gets to sit at a desk this year. He has been used to sitting at tables so desks are a novelty.  He is riding the bus again this year.  On Tuesday when I woke him up for school he asked me where did the night go.  He was up and ready to go and was heading out the door at 7:30.  His bus doesn’t show up until 8:27.   I was hoping this attitude would last. It did for two days.  Then today we missed the bus and Billy is complaining that first grade is too long.  He went to all day kindergarten last year so I don’t know what the difference is, but he seems to think there is.  He is already complaining about homework. He has had to read two books to me and practice counting backwards from 20.  Not hard at all, but it’s homework.  Billy is a funny kid. He may complain about going to school, but once he’s there he has a great time.  So I am hoping for a semi-good attitude ( I don’t want to get my hopes up) because there’s only 169 days to go.