Sledding

Yesterday we had a fun, busy day.  I took the three older ones to the dollar movie with Mel and her kids.  I caught a good nap and the kids enjoyed the show.  Keith stayed home with Hallee so she could nap.  After nap time we went sledding with the Becks.  I get really stressed when I get behind on pictures so I got up early to make sure I was all caught up before the Christmas pictures roll in.  Sometimes I wish I could just turn my mind off and not stress about things, but I am who I am!

Hallee was not a fan at first.  I put her in the sled so I could get pictures of the kids coming down.  She was not impressed!

 

Caitlyn and Jonah were so excited to go sledding.  It is one of those things that I love to do, but all of the work and thinking about going out in the cold keeps me from doing it.  I'm so glad we went.  It was a perfect day.  I was worried because the snow was starting to melt and get really wet, but it was perfect on the hill.

I love Jonah's excitement about everything.  He had a huge smile on his face the whole time.  I can't get over how grown up he is looking.

Usually Caitlyn is scared the first time down, but she didn't hesitate at all.  I love the huge smiles on their faces!

Wyatt didn't want to go down the hill.  Keith is so patient and worked with him to get him used to the sled.  I kept saying, just take him down and he will be fine.

Keith finally just put him on the sled and took him down.  Wyatt screamed the whole way down!  We told him he didn't have to go down anymore.  He liked standing at the top of the hill and throwing snowballs so we took him back up and just let him hang out up there.

Wyatt said he wanted to play at the park so Keith took him down again to take him to the park and Wyatt loved it.  When they got to the bottom Wyatt said, "I'm not scared of any of those lines anymore." He meant that he wasn't scared of any of the tracks anymore.  I'm so glad he got over his fear!

It was so fun to watch the kids have so much fun!

There were a few bumps and Jonah had a blast going on them.

I love the air shots!

Even Caitlyn went on the bumps a few times.

I love doing activities with the kids.  We need this fun time together.  We spend so much time on discipline and teaching them to work, but I want them to remember that mom and dad can be fun too!

They all loved going down in a big train.

Hallee had fun going down the hill.  She would cry when I put her on and then say, "wee" and smile when we started going.

I was worried about Hallee being miserable, so I was really excited that she was having fun too.

Caitlyn had fun taking Hallee down the hill.  Love my girls!

Keith was a great sport.  He woke up with a nasty cold yesterday, but he knew that me and the kids really wanted to go so he was happy to go.

These moments melt my heart.  I love seeing my kids love and help each other!

We all had so much fun.  I need to remember this next time I'm feeling too lazy to go sledding!

Sunday Best

I love the Sunday before Christmas.  The Christmas Spirit is always so strong.  While we were sitting in Sacrament meeting I looked down at my cute, little family and felt so overwhelmed with gratitude.  I have so many blessings, but these five are definitely at the top of my list!

The kids were really well behaved today, which always makes church more enjoyable!  I didn't even have to take Hallee out once today, that is a Christmas miracle!  Hallee also folded her arms for prayer in church for the first time.  So sweet!  I told her it was prayer and she tried to kneel down and then gave up and just folded her arms.  All of the kids got so much from their teachers.  After church their arms were overflowing with presents and treats.  I'm so grateful for all of the wonderful people in my kid's lives. 

We had our annual family home evening where we act out the nativity.  Caitlyn loves to be pregnant and then deliver her "first born son."

Love these kids!

We even got Hallee to join in this year.

After the nativity we did our scripture reading.  We were all excited that we finished the Book of Mormon today!  It took us almost 4 years, but we did it.  We started when Caitlyn and Jonah were young and they would just repeat what we said.  Now they read their own verses and Wyatt repeats what we say.  We started out only reading a couple of verses a day and we have started reading more as the kids attention spans became longer.  It was nice to go slowly because we would really talk about everything we were reading. 

After that we let Caitlyn and Jonah give out their presents.  They both took their own money and bought presents for everyone.  They were so excited to give them out.  I wanted to do this separate from Christmas morning so it would be more special.  I hope they felt good about giving and learned that it can be more fun to give presents than receive them. I can't believe Christmas is in a couple of days.  I sure love this time of year.

On Fire

Jonah had a great basketball game yesterday.  He was on fire!  He was right in there on every play and he was making all of his shots.  He made 10 of the teams 12 points.  I'm so proud of him.  He has been pretty timid in sports lately, but he hasn't hesitated at all this season in basketball. 

He was thrilled that Mel and Earl and all of the kids were there to watch him.  He looked over to make sure we saw every time he made a basket.  He really looks up to EJ and Elijah so it makes him feel so good that they take such an interest in him.

Caitlyn and Hallee were playing house in the front room yesterday.  It was so cute.  Caitlyn was so excited that Hallee was playing with her.

Caitlyn tucked her in.  So cute!  We let Caitlyn stay home from the game with Hallee.  It was during Hallee's nap so she slept the whole time.  Caitlyn watched TV the whole time and thought it was great.  It makes me a little nervous, but we are only 5 or 10 minutes away and Caitlyn knows to call me if she needs anything. 

Hallee loves babies.  She will scream "baby" anytime she sees one.  Here she is giving her baby a hug.

17 Months

I needed a new picture of Hallee for the wall.  When I look at the picture on the wall I realize how much she has changed since she turned one.  She is looking like a little girl now!

She has also grown up a lot.  I feel like we have passed that hard phase where I can't leave her alone for a second without her getting hurt.  She can climb up and down and knows her limits for the most part.  She can wander around the house and she hasn't been putting things in her mouth as much lately.

I wish she would have been in her smile at the camera mood, but it was a lot of work for me to get pictures of her today, she didn't want to cooperate.  I gave her marshmallows, put things on my head and I might have even put marshmallows up my nose.  Whatever it takes!

She might be thinking that her mom is crazy in this picture!

She doesn't say a ton of words, but she is able to communicate with all of us.  I have heard people say that the younger kids don't talk as much because all of the older kids do the talking for them.  This is true in our family.  As soon as she makes a noise Caitlyn and Jonah jump up get her what she wants.  She does say, "mama, dada, uh oh, no no, baby, baby Einstein, me, Jonah and ba ba (for drink)."

She shakes her head and says, "uh uh" all the time, even when she means yes.  I have started putting her in time out when she tries to plug in the Christmas tree or hits someone.  She thinks it is a game.  I tell her to go to time out and she goes to the corner with a smirk on her face and when I talk to her she always nods her head when I ask her if she will stop and then she runs away smiling. 

She gets so excited about things.  Whenever she sees a stuffed animal or a doll she will get a huge smile on her face and yell, "baby."  I love seeing her excitement.  She plays shy with people, but she loves attention. She is definitely a mama's girl, but she gets so excited when Keith walks in the door.  She loves all of the attention that her siblings give her, but it drives her crazy that they always pick her up and hug her all the time.  I have to remind them that Hallee isn't a doll!  Hallee still gives dirty looks sometimes, but not as much anymore, instead she just plays with her fingers when someone talks to her.  She is growing up so fast and I love sitting back and watching!

Sing Along

The kids had a Christmas sing along at school the other day.  It is so crowded when they have something like this.  We couldn't find a parking space or a seat!  Jonah was supposed to dress up and he looked so handsome!  I can't get over how cute he looks lately.  He sang four different songs, three of them were in French.  He did a great job with all of them.

Caitlyn sang one song and thought it wasn't fair that Jonah got to sing so many.  Hearing kids say something isn't fair is like nails on a chalk board to me!  Caitlyn did a great job, she loves to sing.  I wish they had a choir at their school, she would love it. 

I had a lot of shopping and errands to run this week.  I think everything takes twice as long with these two in tow.  Yesterday I had to pick up the kids from school and they had an early day.  I decided to go to Walmart to do some shopping and then just get lunch at McDonalds before we went to pick up the kids.  It was a great plan until we were eating lunch and I looked over and realized that Wyatt had poop on both sides of his pants.  We packed up and went out to the car so I could change him.  The only pants I had in the car were pink capris.  After I got him changed we just went to the school and Hallee and Wyatt played in the car while we waited for the kids.  I guess Hallee felt left out because she pooped while we were waiting too!  It had been snowing all day so after I got Wyatt and Hallee down for a nap Jonah and I went out and shoveled.  It was so much snow!  I was soaked when I came in.  After that I got a call from Keith that he was locked out of his car.  I waited until Wyatt woke up and then piled the kids in the car to take Keith his key.  Luckily the roads weren't horrible.  It was a fun day!

Hallee cracks me up.  Sometimes she wants her picture taken and will just keep saying, "cheese."  Of course it is never when I want to take her picture, but I can't say no to this cute face!

She loves to stick her tongue out.  She has been happier lately. Two of her molars have cut through and that seemed to help.  It is nice to see her happy again.

She cracks me up.  I love watching her play.  She loves all the attention she gets around here.

Wyatt decided that Caitlyn's new lotion is his, "spyer lotion."  He has been playing spies a lot lately.  I love seeing him fight pretend bad guys.  Wyatt slept well for a week!  It was so great, but this week hasn't been so good.  The other night he was terrified after a scary dream.  I think it was about a spider, but I'm not sure.  If only I could find him some sleeping lotion!

Cute kids!

Caitlyn and Jonah sang in Sacrament meeting today.  They did a great job.  It was sad that our whole primary consisted of twelve children.   It has been so sad to see all of our good friends leave the ward.  The kids have lost most of their friends in the neighborhood. 

The kids all looked cute in their red and black.  Every one was cranky, but of course I still made them take a picture.  I will have to try again next week.  Three out of four isn't too bad though!

I love these two.  They really are good kids.

Pretty girl! 

Jonah lost another tooth after church today.  This is his third tooth.  All of my kids were late teethers and I hear that means they lose them later too, so far that holds true for us.

I found this dress for Hallee really cheap last year.  I have been so excited for her to wear it.

She didn't sleep much last night so it really wasn't the day for pictures.  Maybe next week!  She sure looks beautiful!