Classic Fun Center

The kids had another day off of school today.  Since Provo school district was the only one off we decided to go to Classic in Sandy.  We got to take advantage of the early bird special and it wasn't busy at all.

The kids really needed a day out and a chance to burn off some energy after being home all day Sunday and Monday.  Hallee was doing great on her scooter. She has improved a lot on that. I think she is ready to ride it to school when the weather warms up.

They added this bounce house and the boys loved it.  They played basketball, soccer and dodge ball in here.  I debated on letting the older two bring a friend, but I'm really glad that I didn't.  The kids played great together and had a lot of fun with each other.

The older three were excited to jump into the foam pit.  Caitlyn and Jonah did flips and other cool tricks.

Hallee finally decided that she wanted to do it to.  She sat on the edge and jumped off.  She was so proud of herself.

It cost a couple of extra dollars to add the blast zone so I let the boys do that.  The girls didn't want to so I bought them tokens instead.  I loved watching them laugh and play together.  They all did the giant slides, the obstacle course and rode scooters together.

Hallee used her own money to buy this princess wand.  She has been pretty good about saving her money lately, but that is mostly because I don't take her to stores!  She was sure happy with her wand.  We spent about four hours at Classic before everyone was ready to go home.

Hallee had her snake downstairs and Jackson loved sleeping on it. 

Last night I jokingly hit Caitlyn and Jackson stood in front of Caitlyn and started barking at me.  Just for fun I kept trying to hit her and he was barking like crazy at me and looked like he might bite me.  I'm glad to know he will protect us, well at least Caitlyn!  I think Caitlyn is his favorite so the rest of us might be on our own.

I love passing the sacrament!

Last night I was tickling Jonah and he yelled out, "I love passing the sacrament" while he was laughing.  After that he said, "sorry, I just had to get that out there, I love it!"  It was so cute.  He loves being a deacon and I'm so happy about that. 

Jonah is playing his second season of indoor soccer.  He had an awesome game last Monday.  He has worked so hard and has really improved his footwork.  He had an awesome goal on Monday.  He was off balance and shot the ball and it went in and then he fell over and did a backwards somersault. He loves playing with Christian and they are excited to have Tanner join them this season.  Jonah loves spending time with his friends.  I am very thankful that he has so many good friends.  They are good boys and I don't worry too much about them when they are together.  Jonah, Tanner and Christian got up really early Friday morning to go to the temple before school.  I love that Jonah loves the temple so much!

Tiff and I coached Wyatt and Rockwell's indoor soccer team.  They didn't have a coach so they called everyone and asked for a volunteer. I was a little nervous about it, but I felt more confident knowing Tiff would help me out. She researched drills and did a great job with the practices before the game. 

I think we did a great job coaching if I do say so myself.  The whole team improved and they really listened to what we said and implemented it in the game, so that was exciting. Wyatt loved playing and has decided that soccer is his favorite sport.  He has some great footwork and he loved showing it off during the games.

I wasn't sure how the new Come Follow Me curriculum would go, all I knew is that I was excited for two hour church!  I love it!  It has been so great for our family.  I bought a book for everyone and the kids have been really engaged.  We have a FHE lesson introducing the topic for the week on Sundays and then we go over a section each night for scripture reading.  I have been so happy with how it is going.  I have learned a ton and I think the kids have too. We have been so much better at scripture reading every night since we started this and we get way more out of it.  I have definitely seen President Nelson's promises fulfilled as we have worked hard on learning together. 

Here is a picture of Hallee and Wyatt on crazy hair and sock day for school.  Hallee loves school, she can't wait to go every day. Wyatt is not loving school right now and begging not to go every day.  Luckily he still willing goes every morning after a lot of crying and complaining.  

He was excited about school on Friday because his class was having dad's and donuts.  Keith went early to eat lunch with Wyatt in hopes of helping him enjoy school more.  He is such a good, involved dad.  Wyatt loved having him there.  

We missed Kyle while he was home for Christmas break.  He has been over a couple of times since then and we all love it!  

Last Sunday me, Keith, Jonah, Kyle and Wyatt had a Nerf gun war.  It was a lot of fun.  

Caitlyn loves baking.  She is really good at it and because she has been really good about cleaning up, we have let her do it a lot more.  

The kids have had fun baking the last few Sundays.  They made some really good cookies, cup cakes, a cake and muffins.  Caitlyn loves when the other kids want to bake with her.

Hallee brought me this note that she wrote in free writing.  She is so sweet.  It says, "I love my mom so much.  She is the best in the world.  She is like a bright bright start. Her heart is like a flower on the ground.  Her name is Allison. She helps keep me safe from danger.  I love my mom so much."  Hallee is always saying nice things to me and telling me she loves me and giving me kisses.  It means so much to me, especially since the older kids are my biggest fans a lot of the time. 

We loved having grandma and grandpa and Mel and her kids at Jonah's game on Saturday.  Jonah loves when people come to watch him, but he also gets nervous that he won't play well.  He played awesome and his team won so they are 4-0!  It was fun to have everyone there. 

I love watching EJ and Elijah play with Hallee.  They are so sweet with her. 

Katie passed down Boston's suit.  Wyatt was excited to wear it to church yesterday. He sure looked handsome!

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day so the kids are off school. We were going to go to the Beck's, but it is really snowy outside so I didn't want to drive in it.  I went to the gym this morning, got the oil changed in the car and picked up our groceries.  When I came home Jonah was shoveling the driveway and Caitlyn had kept the laundry going and did the dishes.  The kids built this comfy spot and have been playing games together.  This is my version of a perfect day! These are the days that recharge me as a mom and make it so I can handle the hard days!  

Fun in the snow

On New Years Day Keith and I took Wyatt and Hallee over to school to try out the new snowboard that we got for Christmas.  Jonah was off playing with friends and Caitlyn was resting, so we took the littles and had a great time.

Wyatt tried it out first and he did awesome!

He looked so cute on the snowboard.  I was so proud of him for getting back up every time he fell.  He really did great though and didn't fall that much.

Hallee did not want to try the snowboard.  She was happy on her sled.

The kids loved racing Keith down the hill.

We are so lucky to have such an awesome dad and husband!

Hallee thought it was funny to sled down the hill in this position! 

I love the kids faces while they sled.  Hallee screams out with excitement while she goes down.

Sometimes the rope would get stuck under the sled and the kids wouldn't go very fast or would get stuck.  Hallee just sat there and rocked back and forth in hopes of making the sled move.

I decided I wanted to try snowboarding too.  It was so fun.  I jumped out a few times to avoid falling. I love things like this that make me feel young again.

Wyatt even went on a jump with the snowboard.  He had a pretty big wipeout after, but he was proud of himself for doing it.

Hallee had fun going on the jump with her sled.

Wyatt wanted to go on the jump with the sled.  This is his frustrated face because the sled kept turning and missing the jump!

Hallee decided that she wanted to try the snowboard.  She did great!

She stayed bent over like this and held on with her hands too.  She would start halfway down the hill instead of at the top. It was fun to see her excitement that she could do it!  We were all ready to go home after a while because it was so cold! We sure had fun though.

Christmas Break

We had just over two weeks off of school for Christmas break.  We were all going a little stir crazy by the end.  We didn't get out a lot because it was freezing, Caitlyn was recovering and I was exhausted from taking care of Caitlyn.

Jonah and I went to Elijah's basketball games one night. I love watching Elijah play, he is a great athlete.  Mel offered Jonah $20 to dance for one minute during half time.

I was shocked that Jonah did it, he hates being the center of attention.  He did a great job, it was fun to watch him. 

Jonah was thrilled with his $20! He sure has a nice aunt!

Hallee loves to play Monopoly Deal.  We played that a lot over the break!

Wyatt made a comfy spot for reading behind the couch.

Tiff was so nice and had Hallee and Wyatt over to play.  It was so good for them to get out of the house and have fun.

I think Hallee and Wyatt would move in with them if we would let them.

Jonah was out with his friends every day, but the rest of us were home most of the time, so Hallee and Wyatt were thrilled to go over to Tiff's for a while.

We took Hallee and Wyatt to Home Depot for a building project.

They built an easel for a whiteboard.

Wyatt was so excited, he has been begging to build something.

Wyatt did a great job and loved building the easel.

After they built them, they got to paint the easel.  The kids loved all of it, we will definitely need to take them there again.

We all went to see "Ralph Breaks the Internet" with Tiff and Paul on Saturday.  We went to the cheap theatre in Pleasant Grove so we let all the kids get a snack.  They loved that!