Christmas 2013

Christmas came and went in December and it was a great time at our house!  I didn't take many pictures this year as I was busy watching the kids enjoy the season.  I am realizing that they are growing up way too fast and I'm spending way too much time behind the camera and only seeing life through the lens most of the time.  So I'm trying to take a few pictures and enjoy the experience without the camera plastered to my face.

A usual, the kids were thrilled with all of their presents this year.  Here is Zach's haul.  You can see he is moving from little boy to big boy as you his tastes in presents change.  He's into older things now like electric guitars, legos, and board games.

He was so excited to get this purple electric guitar, he wouldn't put it down for at least an hour!

He has also been begging for the Apples to Apples game and was so excited Santa brought it for him!

Here is Hailey's haul.  You can tell where her presents are because you can see quite a bit of pink when you glance in that direction.

She has grown so much the last year or so that her bike was way too small!  So she asked for a new bik and Santa decided she was good enough to get one!  She loves the bright pink, purple, and blue on it!  

She has also been into Lego Friends - legos for girls that are fairly new.  She got a set of Lego Friends and a nail art studio.  If you know her and how much she loves "paint nails" you know she loved this almost as much as anything else she got.

Both the older kids got microphones on stands as well.  They were so excited to have their own band - Zach on guitar and both of them on the microphone.  Jeremiah and I are wishing Santa had thought to bring us earplugs!  But they are having fun with them!

Here are Tate's presents.  You will notice quite a bit of different items this year.  He's getting bigger and you can see he's moving from the baby stage to the little boy stage.

One of this most wanted items was the Elmo train set.  He played and played and played with it and was just so happy to get it.

As he moved from nursery to Primary in January, we knew he would miss the toys at nursery - so we got him a home version of his favorite - the sit and spin.  He has been flying around on this thing ever since!

And of course we had to make sure Tate had his own microphone to sing into as well.  His came with a little boombox that plays songs for him to sing along with.  Needless to say the noise level here has been extremely high.  But all three of them are having fun singing and dancing with their microphones!

We definitely had a wonderful Christmas!  The kids were thrilled with all of their presents and that what makes us happy as parents!  

Random Pictures - A Bit of a Catch-up

I have to admit I'm way behind on blogging and I'm struggling to find time to catch up.  So I'm going to combine a few random pictures from the last few months into on post to save a bit of time on posting each of the separately.

Tate has been into building forts lately.  I'm not sure where this obsession came from, but he's been begging for one almost every day.  He likes to build it over in the corner of the room by the couches.

And we have to use every available blanket to cover every inch of space or he gets very mad!

Of course he loves getting into his little fort and spends quite a bit of time in there.

Nothing like a wink to make your day!

I decided to surprise him by crawling up to the little gap between the couches and surprise him! 

I reached in and tickled him and he laughed and laughed and laughed.  Then reached out to tickle me too!

Back in December, Hailey and her friend Rylee decided to build a snowman and fort out in the front yard.

They got a little ambitious with the size and didn't get more than a couple of rows of snow piled up before time to come in, but it was fun watching them work together to build their snow fort.

Reading time.  One Saturday morning I found the following scene as I went upstairs to put something away.  I'm not sure how much actual reading was going on, but they were sure having a fun time!

Just a few pictures to show some of the fun things going on at our house during the last few months.  Never a dull moment, that's for sure!  :)

School Christmas Sing-a-long

For the past few years, the elementary school where Zach and Hailey attend has had a Christmas Sing-a-long.  I look forward to it every year because it's fun to go and see each class as the school sing.  They had two times for parents to come this year and it was a lot less crowded.  They usually have each grade sing two songs together - which for some of the grades presents a real problem in getting them all up there on stage!  A new school is being built in our area and they are going to make 3 school boundaries out of the two existing school boundaries, so a bunch of the kids from our school will be leaving next year.  It's sad because half of our ward will be going to the new school!  But it will be nice to reduce the number of kids at our elementary - it's bursting at the seams!

Here are the 2nd grade classes - you can see Hailey right there in the center in her red shirt.  The kids were supposed to wear red and green, so Hailey chose her red shirt complete with big red flower hair bow.

She was so darling!  She kept looking at us and smiling while they were waiting for everyone to get set.

They sang:  "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" and "Oh Christmas Tree."  It was so cute!

Here is the fifth grade classes.  Zach is wearing the dark green shirt right at the center.  

He saw us right when he came in, but didn't really look much at us, he spent more time quietly talking with the friends around him.  A sure sign that looking at Mom and Dad wasn't cool anymore.

They sang:  "A Hot Cup of Cocoa" and "Grandma's Secret."  So much fun!

It really made for a fun start to the holidays!  I'm so looking forward to it again next year!

Tubby Time with Bubbles!

For a while, we had been in the mode of showering the little one since the older kids were showering.  After a while, we decided to revert back to a standard bath and brought out the bubbles.  For some reason, we hadn't done that much when Tate was little, so it was like discovering the joy of a bubble bath all over again!  Look at that smile!

Yes, the simple of joy of a bubble bath can make all the difference!

And hours of fun for playing!

Bet you can't guess whether we shower anymore!

Give Me an H-A-I-L-E-Y, GO HAILEY!

This fall, after Hailey finished her fall soccer season, she decided to do another round of cheerleading.  I always love cheer because it teaches her so many things.  She is still in the middle class (ages 6-8) and she loved every minute of it.  At the end of the classes, they do a big pep rally to show off all that they learned.  We were so excited to go and see it again this time.

At the beginning of the program, they always do a cheer - loved that Hailey was at the back and there was enough of a gap that I got a picture of her in the cheer huddle.

Here she is doing one of the cheers

She was so on target with the beat and the actions, I was amazed.

I love her enthusiasm!

Here are a few videos of her because the pictures just don't do her justice.  At the beginning of the program, they show off some of the cheer jumps that they learn.

Here she is doing one of the cheers.

And lastly, a little bit of her doing one of the dances (you can see how right on she is based on the actions of the leader that happened to be in the frame as I was taking the video).

Here they are after finishing the pep rally, waiting to get their certificate and gift from the leaders.

She got a certificate, sticker picture, and bottle of candy - she was one happy girl!

Here is the whole cheer group - all 3 classes - so darling in their outfits!

We were so excited to find out that one of Hailey's best friends, Riley, from down the street was in the same cheer class.

It made it so fun to have someone to be in class with, carpool with, and practice with.

Best cheer buddies.

Here is Hailey with the girls who led the cheer classes.  It didn't seem that they were much older than her!

The boys wanted a picture with their cheerleader sissy!  Tate decided to wink just as I was taking the picture - goofy boy!

Nana and Papa made the long trip down for a 15-20 minute program.  Hailey was so excited that they came.  And of course they took everyone to ice cream afterwards.

Way to go Sis, we are so proud of you!  You are one good cheerleader!

Future Blackmail Pictures

This is what happens when you are a boy and have a sister just older than you to play with.

Of course, he doesn't know to be concerned about anything - look at that smile.

Unfortunately, these pictures will probably come back to haunt him at a later date.  Poor kid.

Happy Halloween 2013!

It would be an understatement to say that my kids love Halloween.  Actually, they can hardly wait for it and countdown to it every year.  The big decision was to decide what to be this year.  

Hailey decided to be a witch again this year.  I was extremely glad since I absolutely LOVE this little witch costume we got on clearance a few years ago.  She is so darling!

We even spiced it up and bought some glow-in-the-dark green hair to add to it.

And of course we had to write BOO on her cheeks - that's a must in her book!

Zach decided to be a vampire this year.  We found this costume online for pretty cheap and he was thrilled.

He didn't want anything special done with his hair ...

... but we found some fake blood to have dripping from his mouth - scary!

 Tate chose to be Buzz Lightyear.  It really wasn't a fair choice since his options were costumes we already had, but lucky for us, he loves Toy Story, so he was more than excited to see that as an option.  The costume is still a little bit big, but he was thrilled and I'm thrilled that he'll more than likely be happy to wear it next year too.

He was so cute, it just makes me realize how big he is getting!

Here's a quick picture of all 3 of them before Zach and Hailey headed off to school.  Love these 3!

Half an hour later, Tate and I were sitting in the school gym watching the Halloween Parade.  Last year we weren't as prepared with the camera when both the kids came by, so this year we paid extra attention so that we didn't miss them.

Here comes Hailey!

She was so cute and was all smiles!

Tate was so excited to see her, he was jumping up and down yelling her name!  She was so sweet and waved back to him!

 Here comes Zach!

They were all walking so fast, it was hard to snap too many pictures, but I actually got pictures of the front of him this year!

Tate was quick to get his attention too and was so excited to see his brother.

Zach even slowed down so I could get a good picture of him.

Later on that evening after dinner, we took to trick-or-treating the neighborhood.  The kids were so excited and were basically running from house to house.

 This was usually the scene - the two older kids way up in front and the little one a bit behind.  But they were great about waiting for him once they got up to the door.

Yes, it was another successful Halloween.  Mom and Dad were just about as worn out as the kids once the evening was over.  Good thing it's a whole year before it comes around again - I think we all ate enough candy to last at least that long!