February 2016

     

 

February was the month we went dairy free to see if Hyrum's hives would clear up & especially Dallen's tummy trouble.  Well it was inconclusive - it didn't really help that much so we are happily back to eating dairy again.  Dallen was such a great trooper!  I couldn't believe how willing he was to not drink milk, eat cheese or ice cream or yogurt.  We got some coconut yogurt to make smoothies so he was a happy camper still. The whole family participated to make it a little easier on the guy.

Double rainbow!

 

The top two pictures are of our troops pinewood derby race.  Hunter was excited to be able to make a car & participate this year as well.  He actually came in first place with Hyrum at second! They both qualified to go to regionals at the KOA & had a lot of fun with Jeremy camping out in the cabin the night before.  They ate out, got ice cream, went swimming at their pool & stayed up late playing games & reading.  The other kids & I joined them the following morning for a long day of racing.

Hunter worked very hard at school & was able to get his self manager badge.  With that come certain privileges for the kids.  He is a good kid & I think he means to listen/follow directions but he does get pretty distracted a lot so he had to work hard to show he could be responsible enough etc. to get the badge.  It was a happy day to see his work pay off!

Dallen & I spent a happy couple of hours one nice morning at the beach.  We haven't done that in a long time!  I haven't been up to many outdoor adventures.  We needed to collect sticks, shells & rocks for our octopus project & decided to stay & play until he was done.  What a nice date.

 

 

My last few weeks of teaching preschool were fun.  We did O is for octopus one week so we went on a field trip to the aquarium to see a real one!  If you call & say you're part of a school & want to do a field trip then it's only a dollar a person - so cheap!  We also went with our preschool friends to the bounce house in Astoria.  Dallen made a giant block tower.

Beautiful!

One Saturday we finally put together the dresser for baby E & one day later on I organized & put all the baby clothes etc. inside.  I'm starting to feel a little more prepared for her arrival.  We also bought NB diapers, desitin, nursing pads etc. at the store the other day.

I think I figured out that we did like 110 Valentine's or something crazy this year!  Whew!  I didn't want to contribute to the sugar rush so we opted to give glow sticks instead.  The key in kindergarten is for them to sign their name but to not put who it is to.  Since they are all the same it doesn't matter & it makes distributing them a thousand times easier.  I helped out in their classroom assisting 5-6 of them at a time distributing their Valentine's in their classmates bags.  I kind of forgot that most of them cannot read so it was a very frustrating experience!

 

Emma & Jeremy continued with their tradition - 3rd year in a row now - of going to a Daddy/daughter dance around Valentine's day.  It is put on by the community & they always have a great time taking pictures, dancing, eating snacks & seeing friends.  Some day baby E can go too :)

 

This smarty pants finished his preschool workbook, started his Kindergarten workbook & finished reading the first box of BOB books to me!  All before turning 4 years old.  I've never had a kid be so interested in learning & reading at such a young age.  It seriously impresses & baffles me at the same time.  Hopefully his love of learning will continue throughout life :)

    

I was excited about the spice jars we bought at IKEA & it was fun to reorganize the spice cupboard.  I can find things so much easier now!

I took Dallen & Tommy to the prom to ride bikes one gorgeously sunny day - it ended up like 70 degrees!  Dallen did awesome on his bike.  He has really taken to it.

 

 

  

Dallen turns 4 on March 1st but we decided to celebrate mid February because he wanted my parents to be there & that's when they could come.  His friend Tommy has these rescue bots that he is obsessed with & loves so we surprised him with buying all the same ones.  He also has been asking me to make my strawberry jam again because he doesn't like the store bought kind.  I finally made some & wrapped one up as a present.  IT was a cold, wet day but he wanted to go to the castle park, go for a bike ride, go to the arcade, eat crumble cake, have a yellow snake cake & eat spaghetti.  All his birthday dreams came true :)  Can't believe how big this kid has become :(

It ended up being a double fun weekend with Pa & Darlin because the next day was Valentine's day so they were able to celebrate with us!  It is the one holiday we make cards for everyone else in our family & that is my favorite part - to see what everyone says to & draws for one another.  We had our traditional heart shaped pancakes with lots of red berries.

This is what happens for hours after we go on a library spree!

Playdoh mustache!

January 2016 - birthday month!

Hunter was the first one with a birthday & a giant birthday it was!!!  He turned 8 this year & decided to get baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We taught him our old missionary lessons in family home evening, the sister missionaries taught him the discussions & he read the entire Book of Mormon finishing it on Christmas Eve.  We are so proud of how prepared he was!

 

 

  

 

It was a wonderful day & it made it that much more special to have both sets of grandparents there & my brother Brigg, Havalah & their 3 kids.  We had a lot of ward members come & Hunter's best friend from school with his family, his piano teacher, his school teacher & Jeremy's secretary from work.  We felt so loved & supported!

  

He chose bowling with the family afterwards & chocolate cupcakes for dinner that night.

The following week he chose to have a friend party (we give our kids the choice to either have a family or friend party except when they turn 8 they get both since it's such a special time) at the local bowling alley & pizza joint.  All the friends he invited came & everyone had fun & were well behaved :) 

Justy chose a family party this year & he wanted Pa, Darlin, Nana & Poppie there so we had it the day before Hunter's baptism.  He wanted crumble cake & a smoothie for breakfast, a mousse cake, lightsabers & to play at the jump house.  Can't believe he turned 6 this year!!

 

 

While Poppie was here for the baptism he worked tirelessly putting together the Christmas present he & Nana gave the kids.  It was missing several pieces & had been manufactured slightly the wrong way so he had to take several trips to the hardware store & he drilled a couple extra holes :)  Sure glad he was here I think we would have given up!

 

Dallen is such a big helper in the kitchen!

  

Finally putting together Dallen's Christmas bike.  He rode it around in the house for about a month until he got really comfortable on it & then we finally (sometime in February I think) took it outside.  He loves it so much!  He's not a big outdoors kid yet but if you mention bike riding he is out the door in 5 seconds.  It's been so fun to have lots of family bike rides around our neighborhood since then.

Emma chose to have a friend party so we had it the week after her actual birthday.  I feel horrible I did not get many pictures at all of her birthday :(  I meant to & then it was over!  She had 10 or so friends to the jump house for playing, eating & present opening.  She had a blast!

Justy & Emma had a snowman project in their Kindergarten class.  They were learning about communities & all the people & places that it takes to make one.  Emma chose to make a flower shop & Justin chose an amusement park - funny he has never been to one before.  

We love lettuce!

Our friends had their baby about 4 weeks early & we got to watch two of their 3 kids - good times!

 

Hunter finally became a WOLF & joined the Cub Scouts with Hyrum he was so excited!  Jeremy & I put together that cabinet for our new & improved art room.  It was like putting together a giant Lego set.  Now all the junk has somewhere to go & it's much cleaner & more organized.

  

Hyrum turned the big old 10 this year - double digits!!!  He chose halfway between friend & family party.  He is like his Momma & doesn't like a lot of attention so he chose to have one friend with us on our family adventure.  He wanted to go to the Dairy Maid for lunch & play games at the arcade.  He opened his presents at home & he & Ryder put together his new giant Lego x-wing ship - Po's ship from the new Star Wars.  He still has it all set up in his room & guards it pretty closely.  He wanted root beer floats for his treat.  It was a fun day celebrating him :)

 

There I am at 6.5 months preggo & there is Dallen with a giant apple

  

Drew & Dallen sporting some awesome shades!

 

We spent 3 out of 4 Fridays in January in Portland at IKEA for a dresser for our baby, an art cabinet for the art room, new dishes & a few other random kitchen things.  We also spent a lot of time bouncing around furniture stores.  We really need a bigger couch that we can all fit on & something to sit on in the fireplace room.  So we finally decided on the above couch but in a chocolate brown color.  I love it!  It is super comfy & soft & warm & has a chaise lounge which I've always wanted.  It has 11 pillows for lots of comfort & an ottoman with a storage container.  So we will put the new sectional in the living/front room & the couches currently in there will move into the fireplace room.  The green armchair will go upstairs in our room for when the baby is here & needs lots of rocking.  Problem solved!  Dallen was a huge trooper at all the shopping we drug him around to.  He kept himself occupied occasionally by snapping selfies of himself.  He loved Ikea where there were plenty of things to sit & lay on & some of them were just the right size.