Jan. 22nd-29th 2017

Some members of this household started feeling better this week. Mostly everyone except Calvin...He is feeling a little better now though, but it took all week long.

 Jaxton and Rodrik looked so cute working on their homework together. They were concentrating so much. Rodrik was actually just PRETENDING to work on homework--he likes to do that--he doesn't actually have homework in Kindergarten. But look how well he would do it if he DID. ;) 

Side note, Justin bought those red ear mufflers for like $3 to wear shooting one time, they didn't work great. BUT the kids LOVE to wear them all the time. I don't know why it makes them feel cool--but it does. They are SO big on their little heads...!:)

 

Jaxton made this poster "All About Me!" back at the beginning of the year to share during his Spotlight Student week. I had forgotten about it, it's so cute. He put his favorite things on it. 

 

 Jaxton and Rodrik both have a fantastic art teacher that happens to also be in our neighborhood. They did a Robot display (I put it on the blog about 2 months ago) and they finally came home with their Robots and the boys are still so proud of them. They are so fun to look at and I love the captions. Rod:"Karate Bot" Special Skills:"He misses bullets when someone shoots at him. When he dies he can miss the sword." Hehe! Jax:"Dimunde Robot" Special Skills: "It can cut Dimunds" Haha! Loved them both. Jax later added "And it can crab Dimundes frum far awy. And it can look undar the grawnd and if he finds a Dimund he can deg weth hes shuvul and he can cute weth hes speshel acx and the liter can cut as well and the gak hamer." Sigh. I heart him. Rod's robot also has more special skills, but they would take pages to cover...! :)

 

 Sometimes Calvin and Rodrik play together and it is THE BEST. Here they are both being lions and transporting the markers from one room to the other with their mouths. I was trying to get them both to look at me for the picture but Calvin could't take his eyes off Rod. He thinks Rod is the coolest. Rod is so good at pretending, EVERYTHING. And it's SO cute because he usually "HAS" to take his shirt off to make whatever character he is playing more realistic. I love is. :) Also, he has the SOFTEST skin of all my children, it's like butter. So if you ever see him shirtless you should give him a hug and feel his beautiful skin.

 

 

Jax had a fun night on Saturday. His awesome piano teach Terry (on the left side of the picture, I cut off her head! grr!) had all of her students over for a pizza/movie party. He loved it. She is always doing something over the top and fun for these kids.

We had to pick Jax up early from his piano party so that he could go to the UVU basketball game with my mom and dad and Max! Jax had been looking forward to that for a whole week! Rod went as well with Eli. It was some kind of Teacher Appreciation day (Mom works at UVU) so everyone got little "meals", soda and chips were the highlight, the boys came home SO hyper...!! :) Clarissa and Zach were waiting for Eli to get home at our house--we all watched Fixer-Upper for an hour and a half (love it!!) and when the boys all got home they literally freaked out for like 30 minutes straight. Like screaming and running and rolling with each other. It was fun to spectate; especially when chubby Porter would get into it with the big kids. It was so cute.

They had such a great time at that game!! I love these pictures! Thanks Mom and Dad!!

 These are some selfies I have on my phone from Jax. I think they are hysterical.  He is trying to kiss his bicep! Where did he even see that?? Haha!! I can always count on Jax to leave me things in my phone that are so silly. He can really make me laugh.

 

 My Dad's Birthday was yesterday! These are the only picture I got; I thought it was cute how all the kids were so into the shirt he got. Calvin was so into it--he "helped" me wrap it up. So cute.

 

My dad got this sweater stuck on the top of his head for like 30 seconds. It was pretty funny, he couldn't unbutton the top button, it looked so funny.

 

I made my Dad berry pie for his birthday. I unknowingly doubled the pie crust somehow. So it was very much crusty. And just a little hint of oven smoke from the pie spilling out in my oven. Someday I will make a perfect pie. Of course my Dad didn't complain. I love him. :)

 Clarissa took these pictures, and they are so cute!! It was SO MUCH FUN to have Zach and Clarissa in town this weekend!! I'm so glad we were able to see them as much as we did.

 

 SO GLAD JANUARY IS ALMOST OVER!! This has been THE WORST winter I can remember. I have never in my life seen so much consistant snow and such arctic temperatures. It has been awful. Please come quickly spring...!!

Jan. 16th - 22nd

This week started really great and then got not so great as Cal, Jax and Justin all got sick with some kind of head/chest cold.

Jax and Rod got to go play at Ethan and Lincolns on Monday for a long playdate. It was quite the treat, they loved it! Pictured is the kids playing watch games, kindle games, and camera games! Such happy boys!! :)

Here are the two little boys, sick and watching the ipad. It was so cute they were watching like this, I had to take a picture. It my very favorite when my boys are sweet to each other!!

   

 Jax and Rod played the game Sorry later, but they made up different rules and had kingdoms and fighters. It sounded really fun. :) Cute kids.

 

Isaac got a new tank top! :)

Here are some pictures I just took of my kids. We have had such an uneventful week there isn't much to say about it. I'm hoping everyone starts feeling better really soon. 

       

Jan. 8th-14th 2017

Justin and I read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Make-over and are making over our finances for the new year. It's kind of a big deal. Hopefully it all goes well and we are successful..!

 I LOVE this picture of Calvin. My sweet baby. He has gotten so lovey these last weeks. He is all about hugging and kissing all the time. It's the best. He loves to give kisses and is really good at the sucking/popping sound at the end, haha! He also will just give me kisses over and over and over. Or he will just kiss my leg or arm or coat or anything. It's super wonderful. He is my snuggly little boy and I love it so much. I love when any of my boys snuggle me, I just get it from Calvin waaay more often, it's the best.

Grandmother Gause gave our family some money for Christmas, so we thought we would use it to do something fun, as a family. We decided to go to the Rec Center swimming pool. The kids (Rodrik and Jaxton mostly) had a lot of fun. Calvin and I were freezing and liked sitting with each other on the chairs with towels. Justin was so fun to have there playing with the boys. They love him.

 

Here is a picture of Calvin with Justin right at the beginning, Calvin was really excited in the beginning, but then things just got cold, and there was water shooting out of spouts and crazy stuff like that. Calvin reminds me of my adult self sometimes. He is usually very cautious and loves to spectate on the sidelines, generally on my lap. It makes it really easy and enjoyable for me at these times.

 

 I'm so proud of Jaxton. He can totally swim! And he has never had a swim lesson in his life! He swam across the 12ft deep pool to be able to do the activities in the deep end. Specifically the cliff jump and the rock climbing wall. I was so impressed with his swimming, and love seeing him try new things. I thought he was so brave and he just acted like it was nothing for him to swim across that big ol' pool. It was so fun to watch. I have video.

  

Rod's favorite thing at the swimming pool is the lazy river. He likes to have his floaties on so that he can float in the strong current. He likes them off at times too, to try and practice swimming with the current to help. He would spend all day in that lazy river...! :) Rod loves to insert the words "specifically" and "actually" (there are more I cant think of right now...!) into whatever he is saying. I LOVE it. Example: "Well, 'pesiffically, I don't think that is a good idea." It's the best.

  The kids were both spotlight students within the last 2 weeks, so we had certificates for them to go to Pizza Pie Cafe. They love that place because we went there last with Natasha and Steve's family and it was a happy time. So we made there dreams come true and went there again! We sat at a booth in front of a TV, this is what happened for much of the time. My kids have such a hard time doing anything when they are watching TV. It was a football game--not even a children's show. It's so funny. 

 

 For the record, Jax gets like 6 pieces of cheese bread, and then I get him a bowl of sliced, canned peaches. That is his "happy" meal. Rodrik on the other hand, does really like pizza, but when he heard there was lettuce and noodles he opted for that. So he had a bowl of plain lettuce with balsamic vinegar and then penne noodles (his favorite kind) with balsamic vinegar. I added a little Italian dressing for extra flavor.  That was his "happy" meal. No dessert pizza's for these two, thats a little too edgy for them. ;) Calvin actually had pizza, his other favorite is those club crackers that come in a 2 pack by the salad bar. Kids are so funny.

 Justin really hurt his groin playing soccer. Upper thigh picture below. It was bad news. He had a hard time walking for a couple days and has been slowly getting mobility back. It looked so gnarly...!

Christmas 2016

My sweet dad worked with Jaxton and Rodrik to make us this cute robot for Christmas. It was super darling. I love them.

 

  
Jaxton loved his joke book right away. We have a a very healthy supply of jokes being told around here, and to any listening ear. :)
Some good presents this year included robes and slippers. My kids love having them, and they are so soft. I should have gotten a picture of them all in them. They just get too excited for posed pictures on Christmas. Jaxton got a motor scooter, (it was quite the fiasco getting it) he has been asking for one for years. We made him wait until everyone had opened all of their presents, and then we let him open his. It was super exciting, we filmed the whole thing. So fun! We didn't realize, however, that it had to be charged for 12 hours before any use. So he mostly just had to just stare at it...but that's okay. He loves it.
Rodrik got a Maui toy, it talks and comes with a giant hook. It makes him very happy. He also got a "Crabber Nabber" which he has been wanting for about 4 months. Its this big plastic crab (I think it's actually a sand toy...) that you pull the giant trigger and it's huge pinchers can grab things. Happy Rod.
The kids all got a little plastic sucker holder, Calvins had the Hulk on it. He really liked that.

 

Calvin loved his balance bike! Also his cars slippers, and Batman robe! Those are his favorites. And his big Dusty Crophopper Plane! He loves that. So fun to see kids excited!

 

Rod has been asking for a giant lollipop for as long as I can remember. He finally got one! He was excited! We ended up throwing like 97% of all of them away. I was so hoping that would happen! Merry Christmas to me! Ha! They are more for show... :)

  

We always go over to Debbie and Preston's house during the day. It's always so fun and relaxing. The kids have such a great time together. Debbie always kind of spoils everyone..! ;) There is always some good food and good family. Always a good time.

 

Rod loved his bow and arrow! Jax and Ethan got that cool Perplexus! Jax loves it!

 

Cal got this awesome little plane he loves, and a really cool Lightning McQueen Car! He was so excited!

 

Look at these happy kids!

 

These two are BUDDIES!!

 

We came to my parents house around 4 to make sure we got to talk to Chanel!! She is so beautiful!! I was trying so hard to hug the computer and the TV...It didn't work very well... It was SO good to talk to her and see how good she was doing!! Next Christmas she will be BACK!!

 

Happy people with our cutest little Chanel!!

My parents got us this AWESOME utility/recreation wagon! We will be using it a lot!!

 

Look at the cute books my parents got my kids! My mom also made all the kids these soft cute sharks sleeping bag blankets (for the boys) or mermaid sleeping bag blankets (for the girls) They were a huge hit and I don't know where the pictures are...I think the kids wouldn't hold still, so I couldn't get one--but I think Natasha has some...

  

 

Happy happy Christmas.

Later in the week it was "free" day at Hogol Zoo, so we went with Jason and Brooke! 

It was seriously the coolest zoo experience I've ever had. Which actually isn't saying much, but anyway. It was FREEZING and we thought we wouldn't see much, but we did! It was really fun! I don't have many pictures because my hands were frozen...

I have some videos that are so cool, but only a couple pictures. The lions were a highlight, they were so big and right by the glass. And they peed on the glass right in front of the kids! On video! Haha!

Then these monkeys were just sitting in the corner, and when Calvin got up to the glass the monkey came all the way over to him and just stared right at him, right in the face, right in front of him. It was so cool. Calvin was saying "Hi, Monkey!" over and over, waving. Then the monkey's baby came over and the monkey sat back and held him. It was cute.

We saw so many animals. The tigers were really cool too. We saw them nice and fairly close as well. Happy fun Zoo Day! Thanks Jason and Brooke!

 

We also got the kids into the dentist during the break. We have such a good dentist. Dr. Lund. I'm so lucky, the kids never have cavities. Anyway, Calvin is just getting better and better, less screaming at every appointment! Look at him just sit there without screaming! He let them take pictures of his mouth and everything! I had to hold him for the cleaning and the exam--but no big deal. It was great!

 

And here is Calvin in his new favorite outfit...:)

We had a super fun time at the Haight family sledding party at Rock Canyon on New Years Day! There was tons of snow and Grandma made her yummy chili, and Gord brought hot chocolate! It was so SUPER! Again, my hands were freezing. So no pictures except this cute one...! We love those Haights! Such a fun time!

 Jax has recently started writing us little notes. They are darling. Here are a couple. He tapes them different places for us to find. I got one on my bed that said I was "the best". It is so nice! These ones say we are the best at the "cuputr" and that he loves justin's "vediyo" game. It is so cute. I love him.

 

Rodrik was Spotlight Student in his class at school all week last week. I don't really know ALL that it entails, (I actually didn't know he was Spotlight Student until Thursday night..!) but I found out it is because he is doing good things in school, academically and otherwise. He is a great student. Also, it meant I could got read his favorite book to the class, it was a big book about dinosaurs, it was too long to read the entire thing, so I just read the "Giant" Chapter. He got to sit in the front by me. He also can bring a show and tell, he brought his little stuffed rainbow tiger. :)
Here is his teacher (Mrs. Sarkady) asking him what his favorite things are. He felt so important. I loved it so much.