Zach - Basketball 2011

It's January and February and for us, that means another season of Zach playing ...

BASKETBALL!

We were so impressed at what he remembers from the last couple of years. As usual, he is a top scorer on their team. The very first game, he scored 7 baskets. Every game since then, it's been at least 5-7 baskets. He is having so much fun and we are having a blast watching him.

Dribbling down the court to score.


Guarding his assigned guy.


More guarding (he's really good at this!).


Last week Awa, Jedd, and little Libby came down to watch his game. It was so fun to have them there and although it was loud, little Libs was great! Hailey had more fun watching and holding Libby than she did watching the game.


Since we know the still shots don't do our little basketball man justice, here is some video of him playing:

Shooting and Scoring (of course).



And guarding.



I think we have a basketball star on our hands! We're already more than half way through the season and we have all had so much fun watching, we'll be sad when it's over.

Way to go ZACH - we are all so proud of you!

Rolling Over!

After much anticipation and patience, we finally have a little baby that can roll over! He rolled from his front side to his back side on Monday, January 24th. It was really special since all four of us were there watching him and saw it the very first time. I had some video, but it was really blurry because I was so excited and the lighting really wasn't good at all since it was evening. So after a few days, I finally got him to roll over when I was ready with the camera. So for all of you out there dying to see it, here it is:



Most babies roll over earlier than 8 months, but due to Tate's acid reflux, we haven't been able to put him on his belly very often, so he hasn't had much practice or opportunity to do it until recently.

It was so cute to see him roll over. He really doesn't like to be on his belly, so I think he just all of a sudden decided to get off of it himself! He has also rolled over from his back to his belly once on Friday, January 28th - but I think it was more of an accident and he wasn't happy to be on his belly, so that might not happen very often for now. But at least we know he can do it.

Yes, we are quite proud of our big boy!

King Luther

Hailey came home from preschool last week all smiles and happy, as she usually does. Later that day, Nana and Papa came to see Zach's basketball game later that night and were talking with the kids. Nana asked Hailey what she had learned about in preschool that day. Hailey looked at her and said "King Luther." My mom looked at me wondering if I had any idea what that meant and I just shrugged my shoulders and shook my head. I tried to think if there was a fairy tale or nursery rhyme or something with a King Luther in it, but I just couldn't think of anything. Suddenly, my mom laughed and said, do you mean Martin Luther King? She smiled and said yes! It was so cute that she remembered, but didn't quite get it right when telling us.

On Saturday while they were playing, she asked me if I knew who Marvin Luther King was (misspelling intentional to show how she pronounced it). I told her I did, but could she tell me a little bit about him? She then proceeded to tell me that Marvin Luther King was a very good man. When he was little he was told not to come play at his friends house because he wasn't the right color. Hailey didn't quite understand what that meant - she thought his clothes or something he was wearing wasn't quite the right color. When I explained a bit more about the problem being the color of his skin, she seemed to not understand why anyone would not let someone come play just because their skin was a different color. I was so happy to hear this because we have tried to teach our children about the importance of accepting anyone regardless of how they look or where they come from. She then told me all about Rosa Parks (even though she couldn't remember her name) and how no one on the bus would let her sit in the front. She had to sit way in the back because she wasn't the right color either. Bless Hailey's little heart, she was very sad for her and so much wanted her to be able to sit in the front of the bus.

We (Hailey, Zachary, and I) had a very nice talk about this and it was nice to see that they understood how unfair it was to treat someone differently just because of the color of their skin. They both giggled when I told them we treat everyone the same no matter if their skin is white, black, or purple! I was really proud of my kids and their understanding of the basic principles of equality. Maybe they really are paying attention when we teach them things!

So from our family to yours, Happy King Luther Day!

Tate at 7 Months

What are the two best words to describe Tate at 7 months???

BIG AND FUN!

That's right, my little chub-a-lub is really getting big! He weighed almost 20 pounds at his 6 month dr appt over a month ago (before he started baby cereal or baby food), so my guess is that now he probably weighs somewhere around 24 or 25 pounds. HE IS A BIG BOY! But we love all the chub and wouldn't have him any other way.


But despite how big he is, he is just loads and loads of fun! Zach and Hailey love him to pieces and can't get enough of him. Of course, who could resist this cute smile?


He's currently in size 18 month clothes! Funny since they are finally big enough around, but are so long that we have to roll them up - WAY UP in some cases!


Tate loves sitting in his megasaucer where he can jump, spin around, and play with a bunch of toys that don't fall on the floor (we're loving that part of it too!).


He has the funniest expressions at times, especially when I pull the camera out. I always seem to catch the strangest looks on his face.


Here are some other fun things about Tate at 7 months:

- He loves to squeal loudly - either when he's happy or sad. Ask me how many times I've made it through Sacrament or Relief Society in the past month or so without having to take him out - that would be a big fat zero!

- He's so close to rolling over, but not quite there yet. He's sitting up pretty much on his own and only has a tip over every so often.

- He jabbers all the time - it's fun to hear him pronouncing different letters (gee or dadadadda or nananana seems to be the most prevalent lately).

- He is really good at knowing what I need him to do and NOT DOING IT! For example, when I need him to get up at 6:00 or 6:30 on Sunday so that he can get in a nap before church, he will sleep until 7:30 - making it impossible. But of course, he's up at 6:15 the last two mornings!

- He's trying a bunch of new things. One of the most recent:


Laffy Taffy! (Before anyone has a heart attack, we were very careful and didn't let him suck or pull any of it off and swallow it.) But needless to say ...


HE LOVES IT! Boy, is he in the right family or what?


In fact, taking it away from him was very difficult! Nothing like "taking candy from a baby" that everyone swears is so easy. Yes, he cried, he squealed, he thrashed, all to let us know he wanted that yummy candy back! He did eventually settle down, but Nana and Papa - your present was a hit - Tate loves laffy taffy!

Chopped!

Last night I decided to cut Zach's hair. It was getting bushy and shaggy and I couldn't stand it anymore. While I was pulling out the clippers, Hailey informed me that she wanted a haircut too. Usually we have a very talented lady in the ward cut her hair, but since she just had a baby a week or so ago, we decided this would be a good time to give it a shot on our own.

Hailey kept telling me she wanted it short, short, short and kept putting her hand up to the top of the back of her head. There was NO WAY I was going to cut it that short, but I did cut it quite short.


I didn't originally plan on cutting it this short, but a quick turn of her head while I was making a cut made it so we had to go shorter than I wanted and when we evened it out, we ended up as you see it here. Needless to say, we had a big talk about holding still and after that she did really great.


Even though it's shorter than I was planning, it does look really cute. Who knows, maybe we'll keep it this short for a while?

Hailey's 5th Birthday!

You heard me right, our little Hailey turned 5 the end of last month. Where did the time go? She has been growing up so fast, we can hardly believe it. Here are her stats at her 5 year doctor check-up:

Weight: 38 lbs (just below 50th percentile)
Height: 45 1/4 inches (around the 80th percentile)
So she's tall and skinny!

As for her birthday, it was a lot of fun! The day started out with a new tradition we've implemented in the last year or two - the birthday child gets to choose whatever breakfast they want, in whatever color they want! This year Hailey chose pink crepes.


Hailey was so happy, she couldn't stop smiling during the entire breakfast.


And although the only thing I did was add food coloring to the batter, the kids kept telling me that the crepes were the best they had ever had.


After breakfast, we started the big job of decorating for her party - we decided that it was time she had a friend party and since 5 is such a monumental age, we thought this year was as good as any other.

She decided to have a princess party, so everything was pink and princess themed (I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the house all decorated! I was so rushed getting everything done, that I completely forgot!)

Once her friends arrived (6 beautifully dressed princesses), we began with coloring, doing some paint nails (nail polish), and then played a game of pin the princess crown on the paper. I so much wish I had gotten pictures of some of these games, but with 7 little girls running around, it was hard to keep them all in check and focused on the activity, much less grab some pictures. Thank heavens my Mom was there to help me out, I don't know what I would have done without her! I did grab a quick picture of the paper with princess crowns all over it - they all did surprisingly well.


Next it was time for cake and ice cream - yummy!


After that came the time for opening presents. Hailey could hardly contain herself as she tore into the presents all of her princess friends brought.




After the presents, I was able to corral all 7 of them into one location long enough to snap a few pictures.


Don't they all look darling?



Later that night we had our family party for Hailey (because a girl needs party after party on her birthday right?).

We had dinner - yummy spaghetti and then got to opening presents.


Here's the purse and chapstick set that Aunt Shell, Uncle Brian, Ashy, and Brans gave her. She loves it!


And the Pinkalicious doll and crown from Uncle Bubby and Afton. She carries pinkalicious around all day long.



I was super excited to give her this mp3 player / boom box with a microphone. She loves to sing and sings to almost any tune (even if the words don't match), so I thought she would just love this.


Zach gave her a new bright red beanbag for her room, she got right into all of her presents and a little bit later, I found her like this - singing and lounging on her new beanbag.


Yep, it was a good birthday. Best she ever had, she informed me later that night. I'm so glad it was fun for her, she really is growing up into a sweet little girl. Love you Hailey!

Christmas

It's taken me a bit to get these pictures on the blog - I really enjoyed the holidays and wanted it to last! Needless to say, we had a wonderful Christmas this year. The excitement from the kids was priceless and I still think back and laugh at how much fun they had! Jeremiah and I really look forward to this time of year just to be able to see them get so excited.

I always like to take a picture of the Santa set-up before the craziness begins. Here is what the couch looked like before the monkeys got at it. Hailey's stuff is on the left, Tate's in the middle, and Zach's on the right.


In addition to the stockings and small gifts on the couch, Santa also left some wrapped gifts under the tree too! We had quite the pile to open.


It's so much fun to watch the kids dig into their stockings, they were so excited about every thing they pulled out.


My favorite thing to hear is "How did Santa know I like (or wanted) that?" They are just amazed at how smart Santa is! I agree, he's quite clever. ;)


Even Tate was into pulling things out of his stocking. This being his first Christmas, we were so excited to see him getting into the spirit of it all.


As you can see the two older kids were overjoyed with their little piles of goodies!


Tate absolutely loved the little stuffed doggie Santa got him. It was a last minute decision on Santa's part and I'm so glad he decided to do it considering how big of a hit it was!


After everything was pulled/dumped out, the kids had to go back through and really look at what they got. Zach was as excited about what Hailey got as he was with what he got.


Tate also liked the whale bath toy Santa left in his stocking. He was content to lay on the blanket and play with it for quite a while.


I didn't take many pictures of the kids opening presents because I realized last year that I didn't get to enjoy the excitement or the expressions on their faces because I was so worried about getting that "perfect picture" - so I just took pictures of their loot at the end.

Here's Zach and all of his presents. (We hadn't opened presents from either of the grandparents at this point, so those aren't in the pictures, but they loved those as well!)


Hailey and all her presents.


And of course Tate and his presents.


After breakfast and playing with quite a few of their toys, the kids wanted me to put Tate in his new stroller he got from Santa. He really wanted a small umbrella stroller to keep in the car now that the huge one we already have takes up most of the free space (isn't he a smart 7 month old?). This one will be nice to just keep in the car for times when we don't know we need it!

He loved it or should I say being pushed around it in by both the kids for almost an hour! (I had a picture of Zach pushing him, but it was too blurry to include, so I'll just include the one of Hailey for documentation purposes!)


Look at that face - can you tell his just loves it?


Yes, we had a wonderful Christmas! I think I had more fun watching the kids get excited and open presents than I ever remember from being younger myself. It truly was a fun day and being together as a family was the best present of all!