Winter

 Winter here has been a breeze compared to last winter! Still, come the end of February it gets to feeling a bit long. But we've had a pretty enjoyable winter.

 Pirate's booty and library books on the table.

 Conversations with grandma or Naunie on the phone.

 Bathtime.

 We have actually been able to go on afternoon walks to get the kids from school sometimes! If it's about 20 degrees with no wind we like to walk!

 Brian was out of town just for a night so the kids and I had pizza and played the Wii.

 Wesley loves Sullivan!

 Nerf gun wars with dad are the best!

 Nora did the 4th grade Battle of the Books and had fun doing it. Her team didn't go to the finals, but she didn't mind because then she would have had to read even more books, and therefore have less time for crafting!

Sullivan is trying to pull himself up on the furniture lately. It's pretty cute.

Valentine.

 Here is Nora in her Valentine outfit for school! Sophie was a bit sad that the 6th graders didn't do anything this year, no passing out cards, no treats. They did sell carnations at the school for the kids to buy and have delivered, but she thought that was pretty lame. Miles had a hard time because he despises anything pink or purple and hearts. So... pretty much everything Valentine's related! Ha! He did enjoy the candy.

Our ward had an 80's Valentine dance. We dressed up as best we could without spending any money. I knew keeping my hair crimper would come in handy!

Wesley's tongue

 

December

 

January

February

Back in October when Wesley ran into a wire fence at the orchard his tongue was cut pretty badly. It didn't heal very well because he kept chewing on the piece that was hanging off {shudder}. I took him in to see an Oral surgeon in December after our dentist looked at it. The surgeon said the piece hanging off would possibly need to be cut off and his tongue sewed back up, but that stitches from tongue surgeries often come out because of how strong the tongue is (especially on kids who can't be more careful). He suggested watching it for a few more weeks. So then I took him back in January and I was pretty excited that it had gotten quite a bit smaller. The doctor had scheduled a time at the hospital for Wes to come in but thankfully we didn't need it. Hooray! Now it is almost completely gone, just a very small bump. Pretty amazing. Wesley is happy that he can now eat on both sides of his mouth. And he's probably happy that I will stop saying, "Wesley, let me see your tongue!"

6 months

Half a year has just flown right by! This happy baby is such a delight. He's perfectly chubby and smiley. I love the feel of his cute, tiny hands grabbing my hair and face, how he ducks his head into my shoulder when he smiles, how he can army crawl across the floor by using his arms and his left foot, how he smiles with his mouth wide open, and.... well just about everything about him. I could do with a better sleep schedule. But I'm not very good at teaching my babies to fall asleep on their own. So then I pay for it when they need me to nurse them to sleep multiple times a night! But truly, he's a dream in every other way and I just love having this little guy by my side every day! He weighs in at 17 pounds 9 ounces and was in the 60% for weight and 20% for height. Cute little chub!

Christmas day!

I love Christmas, it's such a fun time to be a parent! At our house the kids each get 3 gifts from mom and dad (like the three gifts the wise men brought to baby Jesus) and the kids leave out a Santa bag and stocking. Santa usually leaves them one or two things in the bag, some candy and such in their stockings and leaves some special cereal, too.

Miles got some legos and a joke book from Santa. He loves telling jokes!

Sully got a toy bus from Santa!

Nora got an Elsa Barbie and a Bitty Baby dress from Santa.

All Sophie could think of this year that she wanted, was a basketball. Santa didn't let her down!

Brian and I got all the kids a gift card to go to Build-A-Bear. Miles was thrilled!

Scooter got some new balls!

Sullivan opening a present with some help from dad. 

Nora made gifts for everyone and painted this portrait of Brian.

Wesley's main gift was this awesome Imaginext Bat-Bot. He looks a bit concerned in this picture, I'm not sure why, but he has really loved it. It has a remote control and talks - pretty awesome for our Batman loving kid.

Miles really wanted a Hotwheels Streethawk flying car. It was the only thing he wanted. So he got it from Brian and I. We took it out flying on Christmas day and after about 15 minutes of crashing over and over again the wheel broke off. He was pretty sad about it, but after looking on-line at other options we decided to return it and ordered a different flying machine. Fingers crossed it lasts longer.

Nora's main gift was a big craft box! Nora crafts every day and our supplies were running low! She was pretty excited.

Sophie got a Kindle Fire! She is such a sweetie and would probably have never asked for one, thinking she'd never get it. It was fun to surprise her. After school every day she needs to use my phone or the computer to access homework information for school, so we figured it was time she had something of her own. Plus, it will be good practice for her to be responsible for something like this before she gets a phone in a few years. She was very excited, but was a bit sad to let go of the title "the only 6th grader without some form of technology of their own"

Brian's family always had a Christmas puzzle and Brian bought ours this year. It was a doozy. Out of 1,000 pieces the kids and I probably did less then 50 of them! I was all for getting out last years puzzle, but Brian persisted and stayed up late a few nights to work on it. I finally helped him and we got it done.

We made a real gingerbread house from scratch on Christmas day, which was pretty fun.

 A nice Christmas nap for Scooter. I gave Brian a calendar on Shutterfly for his office and I made him a tie rack for our bedroom. I got a handheld vacuum and an arm band to hold my phone when I run.

What a lovely, lovely day!

Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve was a lovely day at our house! We invited the Cornia and Coburn families over to have an early dinner and then decorate cookies for Santa. The Coburn's brought a set of chimes with a book of carols so we had a great time playing carols on those.

The Cornia's! Shelley, Reed, Beatrix and Callum

The Coburn's! Cami, John, Daniel, Clara, Aaron and baby Lily

After our friends went home we had our family gift exchange, opened Christmas jammies and ornaments, talked to family on the computer and did the extended family gift exchange and read Christmas stories and the Christmas Nativity before bed.

 

Wesley got Sophie a book for the family gift exchange

Brian had Miles' name and got him a game he liked as a kid called, "Two-Cushion Bumper Shot". We've all loved playing it!

I had Nora's name and got her a Care Bear book with playmat and Care Bear characters.

Nora had Sullivan and made him this mobile to hang over his crib.