The kids have been begging to hang up their posters in their bedrooms like they had before we moved… we finally got around to doing it. The boys had Skylander and sports posters and the girls didn’t have as many so Packer went and drew them a Rapunzel Poster and made snow flakes for them! He is still mr project and a good big brother.
Cali has made a calendar at preschool the last 2 Christmas’s. The Calendar’s are adorable, each month made from hand and foot print art work (I’m sure you could pinterest the idea 🙂 ) The cutest part though is how Cali marks off each day on the Calendar. She is trying to understand how it works and the days of the weeks and what months have fun holidays. She has the order of our family birthdays memorized and she looks forward to each event.
PACKER LOST A TOOTH!!!! He was so excited! Dad pulled it out right before school. 2 weeks before this Packer showed us that he had a loose tooth. It was notably loose but that was the last I heard of it. On this morning he asked Ben to pull it out and it came right out! HE WAS SO EXCITED! It’s hard watching all your friends in kindergarten lose their teeth and then half of first grade – it’s funny how anxious they start to get. It was his bottom left that came out first and the bottom right is very loose.
Benji spent the ENTIRE day wiggling his loose tooth trying to make it come out before bedtime so that the tooth fairy could do a double visit. He finally gave up – I think that tooth still has a month 🙂 Packer was so excited to find a dollar and a pack of gum under his pillow. In Fact he was so excited that we had to go to the dollar store the very next day to spend that dollar! He spent it on a blue webkinz hippo 🙂
We are in full Bumbo stage around here. Millie really likes being in the bumbo in the middle of whatever we are doing. She sits in it while I make lunch or dinner, or while I help kids with homework. The Bumbo is one of her happiest places to be. I love the BUMBO – great invention 🙂
This weekend was our Thal Family sleepover. We had a great time. Last year we went to their house so this year they came to ours. They have 4 kids all the same-ish ages as ours. We only see them once or twice a year but the kids played great and were all excited to see each other.
all 10 of the kids
We played all day Saturday. They had never been to the Purple Turtle so we headed there for lunch. We chatted a lot and made plans for the unfinished basement and the garage. We played games, watched Cooper play with Brewer, played Skylanders, watched Meatballs #2 and ate pizza. They stayed the night and the kids just loved it. I don’t know what it is about a big slumber party but the kids were bouncing off the walls with excitement. They headed home Sunday morning before church.
purple turtle
dinner
It’s a new year! 2014. Remember in school when you would write the date on every paper and the whole month of January you’d be fixing the 94 to 95 or whatever year it was… will our kids have those same memories? and remember when time passed so slowly and 1 week could feel like an eternity? I’d pay good money for time to slow down or to have more hours in a day like I did as a kid…
Remember that week that I didn’t do any house work beyond the dishes and daily pick up? I played with the kids more and read more to the kids and built my lego haunted house and exercised and I spent time holding my sweet baby. This was a GREAT week. Luckily the kids have cleaned the bathrooms so I’m not feeling to far behind. Maybe if I had money for a maid service life could always be this enjoyable 🙂
It’s been a good start to the year. I have set goals and I’m actually doing a lot of them (reading with kids, (especially Packer) chore chart. eat healthier. exercise. plan and make dinners. scripture study.) Organized Chaos is better than just plain chaos 🙂
We got to see my sister Tracie and her family! Alaska is far away. I’m glad they make visiting family a priority.
A few favorites:
wrestling with dad after work is a first choice in this house
no more nursery – Rose is a Sunbeam at church now!
the boys got caught in this 2 minute hail storm on their walk home from school. I felt like a mean mommy.
Rose and Raymond went to the Disney store for Dad Night!!
this Cali girl is growing out of all of her baby fat
3rd grade is big. I made him slow down for a picture.
just precious
This Cute Baby is 4 months old!
She likes to yell. She is just discovering her voice and it is not a scream or a coo it is a yell.
She is already working her abs and squirming 180’s.
She weighed in at 14 pounds 12 ounces and officially fits our short and chubby mold.
She will eat as long and as much as you will let her!
She is super snuggly and watches mom like a hawk.
loves interaction
She just started loving the bumbo, not a swinger, wants to be where the action is.
She IS a thumb sucker.
We drove to California the day after Christmas. In perfect weather. We love when that happens especially with all of the cold and snow that we have had. When we got to Oroville that evening we got to see lots of family and have Robertson Christmas. All of my siblings were there except Ryan and his family and Kelsey is on her mission. The Christmas Chaos is so fun. We pack into the living room and soon there are boxes and wrapping paper and kids wanting to open new toys and… It’s great.
On Friday we played with cousins and played games and watched BYU lose and a few of us babysat while the others made a Hula’s run:
Mallory serving everyone dinner
cute cousins
John helping Benji and the boys put together the marshmallow shooter
Ben almost dominating some Smallworld against Kevin, Sean, Mike and Liz
Sean and Kins, John and Bren, Brady and Millie… watching some football
Saturday the 28th my mom and sisters and I all went to a baby Shower in the morning. Then we drove to Chico to meet up with Liz, Suzie, Mal and Megan. We ate and shopped and got home a bit later than we expected. The men handled the kids just fine. They played at the park and made a slurpee run – YES it was 60 degrees or more EVERY DAY that we were there! It was SOOO nice to be able to go outside after having a cold snow covered December.
cousin sleepovers!!
These two are 3 weeks apart – cuties.
Raymond giving his little cousin Mckinley a ride.
Sunday! Tracie and John blessed Bren Holder Lewis at church. He is such a cute little guy. It was nice to be there and to have most of the family there. The Eggers made it back for that so we played with them after church and watched some important football games and of course played more games.
Millie and Bren and Camden 🙂
cousin games
always a game on the table. sometimes a game on each table and the ground!
On Monday we got up and played soccer with friends. Mom was nice enough to take care of all of the children. After soccer we started cleaning the kitchen and prepping the ceiling for paint. The guys went frisbee golfing. The Hancocks came over to play. We had pizza for dinner since the kitchen was under construction and then the kids went hot tubbing. Ben and I left the kids with mom again that night and went to yogurts with a few friends.
it’s so fun to go HOME and see great friends each Christmas
the babysitter
Mom and the babies – both zonked out
yogurts! Girls pic – not sure why we excluded boys 🙂
Tuesday – the last day of 2013! Our kitchen project turned into painting and organizing the laundry room. We had a lot to get done so I worked on that and Ben took our kids Geocaching. They loved exploring and again enjoying the warm weather. We hit Taco Bell and then cleaned up before the New Year party. The Hancock kids came over to play again and I went and visited my Aunts that live in Oroville and they got to meet Millie. That night we invited the Hancock’s over and we played all night and 10 of our 11 kids made it to the new year hour! We played headbands on the phone and we played Yahtzee, 7 wonders and Dominion. The parents played Nertz all night long and wouldn’t let us join in. The kids played headbands with us and just played and watched Planes. We had yummy snacks and rung in the new year with Walts firecrackers.
Geocaching
my cute kiddos
the laundry project
Headbands with Hancock’s
Nertz and Rose and Gentry being pals
count down…
Packer!
Happy New Year
we woke Cali up – she would have been MAD to miss it
Benji!
Millie was still awake and my dad was helping at the church
Rose made it until 11:30, Ray learned to climb out of the crib so he helped ring in the new year.
watching the loud firecrackers from the window
Erica was here
Benji, Pacen, and Camry (the big kids)
hancock firecrackers
me and my man
January 1 – we started off the new year with some more soccer. This time we took the older kids and let them play with us. After soccer I went hot tubbing with the kids and then we watched some football. That afternoon I went up to the Oroville Dam for a few minutes with Katie and Erica while the kids got to play with Pacen and Camry again. And that evening Kevin and Liz came back to enjoy moms famous chicken noodle soup and rolls (yum). We finished out the day with Mikila and a few games.
Our kids and Hancock kids put on a slightly altered 20 minute version of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
Ray Tom and Tom Tom fighting over the football!
enjoying some noodle soup
Thursday January 2 – we all slept in! and then my mom took the big kids to meet up with Liz and her kids at the park to ride bikes. I got to visit with Tonya and meet little baby Noah. Then we loaded everyone up and headed to the movie theater because we hadn’t seen FROZEN yet! I know, we should not have waited so long because that movie is AWESOME and we all loved it. Mom and Mike came with us and we have officially joined the frozen soundtrack obsession. We spent our final evening in Oroville over at Kevin and Liz’s house. Liz made delicious tacos and we ate and chilled and played a little hoops and the kids put on a play for us.
Helping Himself – Raymond figured out where the junk food stash was at Grandma’s house!!
the princesses in the play
Jaydn and Packer – not sure what their part was in the play… But I love that they all get along and love playing together
Friday we said goodbye and headed home. We only stopped twice but it still took us the 11 ish hours that it always does. Our kids were good in the car and had plenty of electronics to entertain them. It was fun to come back and watch the kids remember all of their Christmas gifts and then we CRASHED. I am finally feeling recovered from the Robertson vacation and I almost have Christmas put away and almost have the house back together and almost have a place for the new toys.
HOME sweet HOME
What a fun day full of joy and love and family and magic. Having small children makes Christmas day and Santa so enjoyable. The excitement level is intense and the smiles and giggles are awesome. I am loving this time in our lives.
I also look forward to future Christmas’s when they figure out that Christ comes way before Santa Clause and it really is more fun to give than to receive. Check out some of these faces:
We opened presents and ate candy and pumpkin pie and eggnog! We played and opened boxes and set up and examined and then we got out of our PJ’s and went to Grandma and Grandpa Nettesheim’s for Christmas Dinner. We enjoyed time with family and LOTS of yummy food. (no wonder I gained so much weight!) We came home around 8pm and got the kids in bed and did lots of packing and cleaning to be ready for our California trip the next morning.
Isn’t he adorable?! and I love his serious look when he is figuring something out.
Millie and her new Minnie
the kid tablet was a hit for all ages
tea party!
XBOX games!
Cousins at Christmas Dinner!
We had a Merry Christmas and LOVED all of our traditions and family time. Rosie is already asking when is it Christmas again 🙂
On Christmas Eve we got up and wrapped a few presents and made some pies and got everyone ready for our McDonald’s lunch with the cousins! Ben had some extra days off so he didn’t go into work at all that day. We met up with everyone at McDonald’s and let the kids get all of their hyper-ness out. After McDonald’s we went home and avoided the busy streets and stores -there was definitely a Christmas Bustle this year. We gave the kids their Christmas Jammies to open. Having presents under the tree was killing them. In the Evening we had a party at Michelle and Udine’s house. Unfortunately Cali was pretty sick. I stayed home with her while everyone else went to the party. Since the party was next door I got to sneak over a few times and enjoy the food. They ate and played and chatted and then had the kids act out the nativity. They did it all on their own this year! No adult help! pretty cool. We came home tired and excited and ready for Santa to come! (so tired I forgot to get a jammy picture 🙁 )
McDonald’s
our shepherds
the whole crew
Packer left this note for Santa 🙂 Choowe is our elf Chewy and I loved that he pre-thanked for ALL of the toyz!