January 2016

Here is a little look at our January from 2016. (I am over a year behind at documenting our photos and life, but I really like looking back over the years on this blog, so I am going to continue to try to do it!)
Nora the cute little super hero! She is just over two years old in these photos.
 
My cute little Mylie girl is always singing! She is almost 8 years old in these photos.
 
Here are photos from Russell's birthday in 2016. Mylie made him the amazing crown to wear. He chose to have a layered strawberry, chocolate cake dessert. So yummy! These kiddos sure love their daddy, and so do I!

A little from our January~

Here's a little look back at January.

Russ celebrated his birthday which is always the highlight of the month...There really isn't much else to look forward to in the cold and dreary month of January. We snapped a few pictures before heading out to eat as a family for his birthday.


Bennett lost his top two teeth during the month (the first of the two might have been at the very end of December.) He enjoyed being Nanny McPhee for a while with each of his teeth before they came out. He let the first one get a little too lose and literally LOST it one night. He woke up without his tooth, and we couldn't find it anywhere. He must have swallowed it!
Bennett also enjoyed getting to play on a basketball team throughout January and February, so that has been fun during these cold and dreary months. He has his last game this week, and is sad for it to be over.   And these little beanie boos have been enjoying their lives as part of our family. The kids set them up on the towels in the bathroom and wanted them to have their picture taken, so here you go.

Wrapping Up September~

September was a fun-filled, busy month! Our days have been full with school and preschool, homework, soccer, basketball, dance, piano lessons, library days, appointments, photo shoots, potty training, gardening, reading... and the list goes on! It gets tiring but I don't think I would have it any other way! I feel so blessed to be able to have the wonderful life I've been given. It is so fun to watch each person in our family grow, learn, and accomplish goals. I'm so excited for the arrival of October. It may be my favorite month of the year! Here are just a few pictures from the past few weeks.

Our kids all love books and reading. I found the kids like this one Sunday morning when we didn't have to rush off to church since we had the Brigham City Temple Dedication Broadcast that day. All of the little stuffed animals were given to them by the cute babysitter we had the previous night. She played a game with them and gave them the animals for prizes. My kids thought it was the greatest thing ever.
Coy and Mylie being cute at lunch one day. They have to stick together and are becoming great friends now. We sure miss Bennett during the day, but I'm glad these two get along pretty well and love each other so much.




Coy is such a fun kid. He reminds me a lot of Bennett in many ways, but he definitely has a little personality all his own. He has learned his colors very well now. Before he could say all of them, he would point at things that were pink and call them "Mylie." He would also point at things that were blue and call them "Bennett." And anything that was green he would call "Baby." He now calls every color by their correct name...except for green, he still calls it "Baby." Coy's favorite color is with no doubt, green. But he WILL NOT say the word "green." Furthermore, to this day he WILL NOT say the word "Coy." We will tell him: say "Mommy" and  he will repeat "Mommy." Say "Mylie" and he will echo, "Mylie." And so on with everyone's name in our family. But if we ever say: Say "Coy", he will say "Baby." He calls himself "Baby." No matter how hard I try, I cannot get him to say his name. We'll say to him C-C-C Coy, with much emphasis and exaggeration of the sounds. He will say, "C-C-C Baby." It will be a big deal when one day, he will say the color Green and say his own name. But until then, I just didn't want to forget that silly little thing about him.   *Update: Right after I wrote this entry, my mom got Coy to say "green." So he has been saying it like crazy today, pointing out everything green. Funny thing is, now when I ask him to say "Coy" he pauses for a second and then says "Green." So now his name is "Green."   On another note, I decided to bring some of my hydrangeas in one last time. Lately, each time one starts blooming, the flowers turn whitish-brown rather than turning pink. I thought maybe I'd try to save a couple by bringing them inside. I was thrilled that they did turn pink, and in fact are even bigger and pinker now than they are in these pictures. I love my hydrangea bush!

wrapping up the school year~

It seems like only yesterday I was writing about Bennett's first day of school! And now it has been almost a month since he said goodbye to Kindergarten. It was a great year, but so far he says he doesn't miss going to school! I've been enjoying the laid back summer time with my kids lately, and am in no rush to send him off to first grade...But I am sure it will be here before we know it! I'm excited for next year because Bennett will get to learn Spanish...I'm glad he will have something to challenge him. Hopefully the program works, and in a few years I may have a bilingual kid!

He got to finish out the year with a fun fieldtrip to the zoo. I tagged along, of course, and the weather was beautiful! Then of course there was the Kindergarten Graduation. It was so cute! And now that Bennett has graduated from preschool, and Kindergarten, he won't get to graduate again for another 12 years. I'm hoping time will slow down a little bit here! These kids just grow up way too fast!






Oh and this is just some randomness from our lunch time. The kids like to make turkey masks. And Coy is enjoying his new booster seat so he can sit up to the table with the big kids.

January recap~

Rewind. I have so much coming up in February, but I thought I'd better do a January recap. January is definitely a unique month. In many ways I love~okay maybe only like~it, but I also really don't like it. It's great at first, but then just seems never ending--cold, dreary, gray, long...it gets to be yuck to me after a while. So I am super glad to be welcoming February! It holds a special place in my heart especially since we welcomed our little girl into our family almost four years ago. I also love that it is a short month, after the unending doom and gloom of January. But here is why I like January:

Just one more celebration to welcome a new year. It promises new beginnings, another chapter of life, and many things to anticipate and look forward to.

We rang in the new year at Patrick and Kara's this year with lots of yummy food and fun entertainment in the form of the old-fashioned Little Rascals episodes that Patrick rented from Netflix. The kids though it was hilarious!








Another thing I like about January is how laid back it is. After the busy holiday season (which I love), it is nice to take it easy and just relax a bit at home! Coy and Bennett are enjoying some library book fun.




And here's a little card playing fun. Old Maid in the form of Disney Princess, with the Old Maid being none other than the wicked Ursula.


This game is some serious stuff.


Oh, and who can forget the cute little impromtu tea party we had. What started as a princess party ended up with the brave and cunning Spider Man being more than willing to pour the "tea."









Also, a great thing in January is getting to celebrate Russell's birthday. This year we went to the Temple and then ate at Famous Daves. Thanks to my mom for watching the kids! He picked brownies and ice cream for dessert afterward.

These crappy flash pictures from his birthday (and from many of the pics in this post) inspired me to buy a new "Point and Shoot" camera! It is so nice to have a camera that requires little to no thinking and works much better than the old point and shoot that we got back in 2004. It's amazing how far technology has come since then...So in January I also got a new camera...which I was planning on buying soon anyways because in January we also finally booked our Disneyland trip which has been literally YEARS in the making. And I really wanted a little P&S to take with us. We are so excited to finally go this summer.

And that was my January recap, sort of, in too many words because I never can make it very short.

Working on my "Resolution"~

Since a new year is a great time to set some goals (aka resolutions), I decided to try and buckle down and get caught up on my yearly photobooks. After all, I'm only 2 and a quarter years behind! Here's a page I just finished today. I just can't believe how much my kiddos have changed! And how fast they grow! I was thinking I wasn't that far behind on my photos, but then seeing little Mylie when she was close to Coy's age, I realized I really have some major catching up to do. Wish me luck! My goal is to only be a year behind by the end of 2012. That means I need to finish up this 2009 book (only 10 pages left) and complete all of my 2010 and 2011 books this year. I'm already doubting myself....I would just like to get to a point ~eventually~ when I can immediately make a page of the pictures I just barely took! Now wouldn't that be nice!

A new post...

Busy season is here...hopefully I stay sane!

I love fall, but it is definitely a balancing act trying to get all of our activities and responsiblities taken care of. I hope I can just keep it all together and not feel like I am always trying to catch up with life. And are you kidding me with all of the Kindergarten homework?! I feel like it is my homework, too, and I only have ONE kid in school that goes only half a day! I can't imagine what it's like for people who have more...such as this cute family I just photographed.

It's my turn for family photos tomorrow. WISH ME LUCK!! It never turns out the way I want, and I always mess something up. Hopefully I get at least one! That's what everyone always says, right? Well I'm crossing my fingers. I was awake most the night last night stressing over what we will wear...I've been laying out outifts upon outfits all over to get a look I like. I don't think it will ever get to where I really like it...unless someone has $$$$ they want to give me, like right now, so I can go shopping. In fact, I think I need to go, right now, so I can go stress some more over everything.

Meanwhile, see more of this family's photos HERE. Lucky for them, they are done with theirs. I am envious.