Family Photos 2013

We decided to try out Camera Shy this year for our family photos.  It was a very similar set up to Fotofly (where we went last year), but with different backgrounds.  We didn't like it as well.  The staff wasn't nearly as friendly. Our photographer was not very helpful in suggesting backgrounds/groupings/props. She also had a super annoying high pitched squeal she kept using to try to get Beckett to smile.  He was having none of it. And their print pricing is a little higher. Meh. We will go back to Fotofly next year.

These were taken the Saturday before we were all the way over our sickies, so Talia and Beckett were still feeling a little blah. We didn't get a single smile out of Beckett.  I still think the pictures turned out pretty good considering. I sure love these crazy people. :)

THE FAMILY

THE KIDS

INDIVIDUALS

 

Dav Man

Davin is one cool kid.  He is also super sweet and easy going.  He is my creative, go with the flow child.  He loves coloring and playing with building sets (Lego's and Zoobs are favorites). Davin is loving Kindergarten this year and is learning so much.  He picks things up quickly and knows his stuff.  He struggles with using his time wisely and staying on task, which means that he often doesn't complete his assignments in class.  It's frustrating for me, but his brain just doesn't deal with time the same way most people's does.  He tells me that his teacher does time too fast. And I tell him that his teacher does time the same for everyone and the other kids finish their work. :)

Anyway, he recently became part of the 100 Club at school.  That means that he can count to 100.  He actually was able to do this last year, but they are just now testing for it at school.  He was pretty excited to get that cool 100 to bring home. He came home and counted to 200 for me just to let me know he could.  Go Davin!

Once Weston finished up with soccer it was Davin's turn to do a sport.  I thought he would enjoy gymnastics, so we did a couple of trial classes at different gyms then I let Davin pick which one he liked.  There were pros and cons to both.

First we tried Gymcats, which was quiet and empty at the time he went.  It is literally two minutes from our house. The class was pretty small.  It was all girls except Davin. It also is the most expensive place we looked at.  Davin had a blast at that class, but I had completely forgotten how terrified he is of heights.  When his teacher put him up the beam he started crying and trying to cling to her.  She had him try a lower one for a little while then put him back on the big one at the end and he was ok. I reminded him it's all about trying new things and that everything is padded at gymnastics so he doesn't have to worry about falling.

These photos are from his Gymcats class.  Davin was more flexible than any of the girls in his class.

The next week we did a trial class at Jump Up Gymnastics.  It's about 10 minutes away and the class was later in the day.  It was an all boys class with boy coaches.  It was a huge class (9 kids!) but they had three coaches. They got to do some of the men's apparatus, like the rings and the parallel bars.  He even practiced jumping off the vault springboard. He had a lot of fun at this class and ended up choosing to do the all boy class.  It's pricing is a little more reasonable.  The only thing I'm not thrilled about is the drive, especially once it starts snowing. I am thrilled that Davin has found something he is enjoying that will help him learn new skills and overcome some fears.

Sickies

Right after Halloween the kids all got sick in stair steps.  Davin was the first.  He was already under the weather on Halloween but I didn't want him to miss out on the holiday. 

Friday I kept him home from school and he was coughing and tired.  We watched a lot of TV and had a lot of computer time.  Saturday we took him to the doctor and got him going on his inhaler around the clock. His oxygen was a little low so we had to take him back in on Sunday for an oxygen check.  He saw the same doctor both days and she thought his cough sounded different and that he had walking pneumonia, so he started on an antibiotic and continued his inhaler.

Saturday Weston wasn't feeling very well.  That night after dinner he fell asleep on his bed then woke up with a fever and threw up.  Sunday we all stayed home and took it easy. Weston never threw up again and started feeling better by Sunday evening, so he went back to school on Monday. Davin needed one more day to rest.  He went back to school on Tuesday.

Unfortunately Talia and Beckett came down with croup coughs on Monday, so we went into the doctor for them and got their doses of medicine.  It took several days for Talia and Beckett to get all the way over their illness.  They stayed home with me on Sunday while the boys went to church. It felt like we were sick and cooped up forever.

Amazingly I never got sick.  Our other saving grace was that we had a few nice, warm days so we could go outside and get some fresh air for a little bit. I'm so glad that we are all healthy again.  Praying we can stay healthy through the holidays!

Happy Halloween!

Wednesday night we carved our pumpkins.  The kids still needed a lot of help scooping and carving.  Weston actually did quite a bit of his on his own and said that scooping the guts out was his favorite part of pumpkin carving. Talia and Davin didn't want to touch the insides, but they chose the faces.  Talia's ended up looking a lot like her Mike Wazowski costume. Davin did triangle eyes and pointy teeth.  Weston chose a snake. Davin wasn't feeling great and went to bed right after he carved his pumpkin, but Talia and Weston thought it was pretty awesome that they got to go outside at night to see the pumpkins all lit up.

Halloween morning I took Talia and Beckett up to the school to watch Davin's kindergarten costume parade.  It was fun to sit with all my neighbor friends and wave to our kiddos. After the parade I decided it would be fun to take Talia to IHOP for a scary face pancake since she was all dressed up in her costume. She got lots of compliments on her Mike costume and a kid even came up to say hi to Mike Wazowski while we were eating. We had fun eating at a restaurant. :)

That afternoon everyone napped.  Ian was able to come home a couple hours early, so we ate our jack o lantern pizza and got ready to trick or treat around six.  The kids were really excited to go get some candy! I stayed home with Beckett to hand out candy.

I sat on the porch for the first 15 or 20 minutes while Beckett walked around the front yard and screamed with excitement at all the kids running around the neighborhood. Once we got cold we went inside and I turned on Monster's Inc. for Beckett.  He had a cozy Halloween watching his movie.

Talia only lasted a little while before Ian brought her back home. She was happy to take off her costume and eat some candy.  Davin came home around 7 because he was coughing so much.  Poor kid.  He got lots of candy still though and had a fun day. Weston hooked up with a friend and stayed out until about 7:30.  He had a blast. I think we will have to plan to trick or treat with friends next year.

It was definitely a fun Halloween at our house! And the good news is that the boys chose to sell their candy at our dentist's candy buy back, so we don't have it kicking around tempting us anymore.  The boys said getting money for their candy was totally worth it, so we will likely be doing that again next year!

Cute

When I got back from my trip my kids were so good. Even Talia was being super sweet and cute. When she wants to she can really turn on the charm. Here are a few cute moments from my first couple days back from my mommy vacation.

Every day Talia comes with me to pick up Davin from the bus stop, which is about 5 houses down from us. She loves to run around and sometimes rides her bike.  While we were walking home from the bus on Tuesday I fell behind the kids while I chatted with my neighbor. When I looked up I saw them walking together holding hands.  It was pretty much the cutest ever.  Especially since Davin and Talia are my kids who bicker the most. Made my heart happy.

Every year during Red Ribbon Week at the kids' school they decorate the halls with Just Say No posters that the students can make. Weston did one last year and really wanted to participate again this year.  This was his poster.  The Just Say No ninjas bringing the heat on a guy drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette.  It's cute for lots of reasons, but mostly I just love that he is so innocent that beer and cigarettes are the worst drugs he can think of. I know those days aren't going to last long, but I have confidence that Weston will make good choices and keep his mind and body pure.  Love that boy!

Again with a cute Talia. She had fun wearing her brother's silly disguise glasses that he got from the Fall Carnival.  I couldn't resist taking a picture because she looked so adorable.

Lastly, on Tuesday evening I took the kids to the pumpkin patch to pick out Halloween pumpkins.  We were cutting it a little close, but it worked out because all the pumpkins were only $2. What a deal! Davin wasn't with us because he went with a friend to his Taekwondo Halloween party. I was surprised at how much different it felt to just have three along for the ride! Weston and Talia each picked a pumpkin and we all chose one for Davin. Beckett got two little mini pumpkins, a green one and an orange one. He loved walking around and touching the pumpkins. Weston was SUCH a good helper! And there's nothing cuter than kids and pumpkins.

Monday Fun!

When I got home from California the break was over.  Monday was literally non-stop.  A couple days before I left on my trip a car backed into my van in the Smith's parking lot.  No one was hurt.  It was just a fender bender, but Monday morning first thing in the morning I had to drop off my car at the body shop and get a rental car. Luckily I got a van to rent.  I consider it a good sign that I like my van way better than the newer Town and Country I got.  Although the back up camera was pretty handy.  I definitely want that on my next car (in like 10 years!). 

After we picked up the rental I went to Smith's to pick up some grocery essentials like milk, bread, and fruit.  Then I swung through Kneader's to pick up lunch for myself and my college buddies who were coming over for lunch.  I headed home with just enough time to get the downstairs looking presentable before my friends came.  It was so much fun to get together with these girls I hadn't seen in a long time. We are all mommas now so there were four adults and ten kids.  And that was with a few of ours in school during that time. We had a great time catching up over lunch and in between wrangling kiddos.

The three one-ish year olds 

Once lunch with my friends was over I had a couple hours to tidy up and help Weston with a little homework.  Then that evening was the kids' school Fall Carnival. I had a major mommy brain moment and accidentally pre-ordered tickets for the Fall Carnival twice, so we had tons of punch cards and extra meal tickets.  It was really a fun night.  Crazy and chaotic, but fun. We found some friends right when we got there so we ate dinner with them and then split up to go play games. I ended up with Beckett and Talia.  Awesome.

Talia played the games and was excited to get candy and prizes. She got her face painted and ate way too much junk. Beckett tolerated being pushed around in the stroller for awhile, but then was just done.  He wanted to get out and walk around, so we spent the last half hour or so in the cafeteria letting Beckett wander a little and trying to keep him from eating food off the ground.

By the time we got home and put the kids to bed I was so tired I couldn't move.  I got in pj's and vegged on the couch with Ian for a bit before bed. Whew!  What a way to get back from vacation! ;)

Family Fun Day!

Friday night we all stayed up way too late.  When we got home from the dinner Mom and I went in the spa to relax and debrief the evening.  It was fun, but when I got out I was so ready to sleep.  Everyone else was watching the BYU game that had been on while we were out.  I headed to bed first.  I'm so lame these days!

Saturday morning we got up and Mom and Mel made us Swedish pancakes and sausage for breakfast.  It was so good.  I hadn't had Swedish pancakes in a few years.  We were pretty lazy all morning and didn't get ourselves showered and out the door for our park outing until noon.  We brought a picnic to La Mirada Park and just relaxed, played, and talked.  It was such a fun afternoon.  After a couple of hours we headed home so Dad could start dinner.

It was a low key day.  I got some good visiting time in with Joy while we "watched" the girls swim in the spa.  I read my book.  I even napped a little.  We all enjoyed Dad's ribs and homemade ice cream. Dang, that man can cook!  The Henshaw's headed home after dinner.

Later that night the rest of us played a round of Yahtzee.  It's one of my favorites and it's even more fun with my silly family. I made Jules and Mel do one of the routines from Zumba with me and then we vegged to some YouTube videos until we were tired.

Sunday morning we all went to church.  It was weird not having any kids with me and only bringing my purse! It was actually a really nice sacrament meeting though and some of our good friends, the Clausen's spoke.  I loved getting to see people from my home ward.

Dad and I headed home after sacrament meeting so I could eat lunch and pack up my stuff.  Then Dad took me to the airport.  I am always sad to leave my family and it was such a fun getaway that it was hard to leave, but I missed my kiddos and Ian. The flight home was uneventful and kind of fun because I got to actually read and watch TV and get a soda (things I never do when I'm flying with kids). Ian and the kids picked me up from the airport and it was back to reality.  I am so glad I was able to go on this quick trip.  I so appreciate my neighbors who watched my kids on Thursday and Friday, and Ian who held down the fort the rest of the time.  It's a big job. :)