Christmas

We celebrated Christmas eve at Aunt Jen's house with Sophie & Addie.  The boys played some fun games and got wrapped up like snow men.  Grandpa Fred read them a book about the birth of Jesus.

Then we went to a live nativity where the boys got to show off their Beardos I crocheted.  We saw Jesus in the manger along with wise men with lammas and shepherds and sheep.  It was freezing, but we love to go and remind the kids why we celebrate christmas.

The boys made gingerbread men to set out for Santa.

We woke up christmas morning and found an arm missing from one of the cookies and some bootprints outside our front door.  Jack had been worried Santa wouldn't be able to bring presents because we don't have a chimney.

 

Kire got an ipod from santa.  Then a few games and legos.

Jack got a lego set and some games too.  They got lots of things to keep them busy inside during these cold months.

 

Kael got this fun race track and a baby.

Then we visited grandparents and had a white elephant party with my siblings.  We came home with a fish tank and a channing tatum poster.

 

Kire turns 7

This digital collage generated with Smilebox

Family Pictures

We had pictures done the last couple of weeks.  My talented little sister, Amy Hirshi, has started doing photography and took some shots of us.

Here are the boys with their cousin Mckay, my sister Julia's cute little guy.

 

And then my friend, Jodi Ealy, too some pictures of us at the DaVInci academy in Ogden where there are some really cool backgrounds.

 

 

Summer pics

I'm not good at writing in a journal so the main reason I keep a blog is so at the end of the year I can go through it and create a photo book/scrap book of the year.

So here are some of the photos from the past month.

 

Kael is such a stinkin climber.  He gives me a heart attack everyday, but this is also hilarious.  He has figured out that he can climb up the bunkbed ladder and through the hole to get onto Jack's bed, and half of the time he gets stuck.  While in the tub he likes to climb up on the ledge and hold on to the bar and stand there.

 

 Kire played his first year of flag football.  He doesn't really care about the game, but he has fun running around with his friends, Cache & Austin.

 

Now that school has started I get to spend some good time with Jack & Kael.  I try to do at least one activity a week.  Last week we went hiking and this week we went to the treehouse museum.

On Mondays from 10-3 the treehouse museum in Ogden is only $3 for kids and $1 for adults, so I think we'll try to do this a couple of times a month.

 

 

South Weber has this little train that runs a couple of Saturdays a month and I took the boys for a little ride.  It's super cute and they loved it.

New school year

Kire just started first grade 2 weeks ago.  He loves it, I knew he would.  H also started tumbling & flag football.  He loves climbing walls & monkey bars and anything he can so I knew he'd be great at tumbling.  I don't think he cares much about football, but all of his friends are there and he gets to run around with them.

 

Jack started preschool.  He is so smart and social, but school has been a little hard for him. He goes on Tuesdays & Thursdays which is when I work so my friend gets to drop him off, but I think that is better for him that I'm not the one to leave him.  I put him in tumbling too and he does not like me to leave his side, so maybe if I had someone else take him he would do better.

 

Kael is still the squishiest shiniest little thing.  He freaks whenever someone opens the door and tries to run outside.  He also loves animals.  This is him at our back fence trying to see the dogs next door.

Getting into a schedule has been good for everyone.  While Kire is  at school and Kael is napping I get to spend time with Jack and when Kire gets home we get to read and work on homework together.  Kire and Jack get along better now because they are not together all day long.

Another football season has started which basically means I am a single parent.  Erik is still the head football coach at Northridge High and they are 5-0 so far this season.  We have made it to a couple of games this year, but trying to control 3 kids that want to run away from me is not fun.

Kael's pics

At his 1 year check up Kael was 21 pounds and 25% for height and weight. That suprised me because he still looks to chubby and squishy, but he's proportionate.
He is running around like crazy and freaks whenever a door opens, he loves to go outside. He loves being pushed around in his little car and Kire & I take turns pushing him around on a trike or skooter.
We think he has finally said mama and dada. For a while he would babble, but we couldn't be sure he really understood what he was saying. Now he'll say it occasionally. I swear the other boys were more vocal by now.
He loves to carry around the electric toothbrush and throws a fit when it turns off. Then he runs to me and says, "uh uh uh," really frantic until I turn it on again.
My friend Jody just took some pics of him and I put them together in a collage so it spells out O-N-E

Goodreads

I go through periods where I'll read like 3 books a week, then go a few months without reading. I've been reading a lot lateley and have found some fun books. I swear everything I read is YA fantasy, so if you like that kind of crap enjoy my recommendations.
 
Firelight by Sophie Jordan:
Humans turn into Dragons and are hunted. Dragon falls in love with a hunter. Sounds kind of lame, but I really liked it. It's a series so I'm starting the second book.

 
Graceling by Kristin Cashore:
Set back in history with knights & castles. People are "graced" with special gifts and hers is the ability to kill/survive. The king uses her as a weapon until she fights back. Also a series.
 
Birthmarked by Caragh O'brien:
The 3 first born children each month are given up to the city, who control everything. She's a midwife and tries to save her parents from inside the city walls. Series.
 
Insurgent (Divergent #2) Veronica ROth:
This was the second book I'd been waiting for. Set in the future, reminds me a lot of Hunger Games.
 
Pandemonium (Delerium #2) Lauren Oliver:
Also love this series. In the future kids go in for a surgery once they reach 16ish which cures them from "dilerium" so they won't fall in love and have to face heart break.
 
City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) Cassandra Clare:
Why don't Jace & Clary just get it over with, seriously, do it.

I go to goodreads.com a lot, so find me on there and we can share recommendations.

Crystal Hot Springs

Friday we took the kids to Crystal Hot Springs, it's just outside of Brigham city.  I told Erik we need to go more often because I was the cutest, skinniest girl there.  It's kind of white trash.  But they have 2 big water slides and the boys can go down them, unlike the other pools around here where you have to be 4 feet tall to ride alone.  And there's no line for the slides so we just ran up and got on.

It's fun to go in the winter because the pools are natural springs and so warm.

South Weber Days

Last week we had our little town South Weber Days.  Kael had to enter the baby contest of course.  It was cowboy themed and he won for the kids his age, just like his older brothers.  He just smiled at the judges with his cute little dimple and walked across the stage and it was over for the other kids.  So we rode in the parade on a bale of hay with the other winners.  I hate parades, but this parade is always fun.  It's just like 1/2 mile long down the main road in town and all of the floats throw candy and shoot water into the crowd (which isn't usually allowed at parades).
 The boys did mutton bustin at the little Rodeo.  I didn't think they'd really do it, but they loved it.  Kire's sheep ran fast to the other side of the field and he held on for a while, but it wasn't long enough to win a medal and he was dissapointed.  Jack held on for a few yards, fell off, brushed himself off and asked to go again.

 Cache & Kire

and

Jack & Jayde

 Jack getting ready to go!

Kael's 1!

My sweetest Kael turned one today.  He is still the sweetest, happiest, chubbiest thing.  He's my favorite and I love him so much.  He's been standing for over a month and just the past couple of weeks has really started walking.  It is so cute to see him stumbling around, but I hope he doesn't get skinny too fast.

Says: Mama & Dada
Loves: his soothie binky & muslin blanket
Food: anything, obviously, but loves strawberries & cottage cheese
Nicknames: Skinny & Kaely Whaley

I wanted to make this darling monster cake I saw on Pinterest.  I decided to ask our local bakery if they could make it, they did and gave us the mini cake for Kael free.  It was so worth it.

I made the cake pops and will never make them again, biggest pain ever.

Lots of cousins & friends over to celebrate!

Our awesome friends lent us their bouncy house so the kids had a blast.

Kael feeding me his cake.  He played with it and ate his eyeball cake pop, but he really loved his playdough ice cream cone.

After his ice cream he didn't really care about his presents but Kire & Jack helped him open them.

 He got a couple of stackers toys, and a book.  We already have so much so we kept it pretty simple.