Snowmen

My kids made their first snowmen ever -- at least the first ones I've ever seen. Jon has a vague memory of making one with them, but I think he's just made up that memory. Anyway, I felt so happy just looking out the window and watching them try to stack up their snowballs and keep them balanced. Kale didn't actually help with the building process, but he was really proud of Rachel's snowman, so we let him be in her picture.
And I feel it is important to report that Hallie happily posed for this picture, and then immediately ate off her snowman's face -- you know, the carrot nose, 'nilla wafer eyes, and biscotti mouth. Pretty funny.

Tea Time

While Jon has been out of town I have been wracking my brains for activities that I can have the kids do during the days -- activities that don't involve Disney movies. We have played every single game in our cupboards, made forts, played in lakes of pillows and animals, and even made letters out of tape on the floor and devised different games incorporating those. But our most recent idea, and most loved thus far, is having tea parties. The kids absolutely love this idea. In the last 5 days we have had at least 8 or 9 tea parties.
Our tea parties of course consist of granola bars, cookies, fruit roll-ups, sandwiches cut into different shapes (a genius move thought up by me -- it's amazing the different things my kids will eat so long as it is shaped like a heart or star), and of course "tea" that magically flows from our bathroom faucet at the mention of a tea party. None of this pretend tea business for my kids.
Ah yes, Jon being gone has been a truly creative time in my life because I am having to make up for Jon's absence. He is truly the better at the two of us for pretending with the kids, but while he's gone they make do with me. Thank goodness February is almost over and Jon will be done traveling. We miss you Jon!

Sky can sit!

Yes it's true. Sky is sitting and playing with toys these days. It is pretty fun to see her growing up and learning new things. She has started trying to crawl (she can move herself forward on her elbows while pushing with her toes), but I hope she holds off on that one for a while. It's already hard enough to keep track of her little rolling self, much less keeping her out of trouble while she crawls around.
During Sky's rolling travels she has discovered the heating vents and she totally loves them. When she hears the heater turn on she will roll on over to the vent and let it blow in her face and mouth. Crazily hilarious!

Rachel's Big Day (and ours too)

On Saturday Rachel turned 6 years old! It is so crazy to think that we have a 6 year old -- it feels like we're still just kids ourselves.

This year Rachel decided to have a birthday party with just our family so that we could go somewhere. The rule is if it's just family we can go somewhere, but if friends come then it's a house party. Rachel chose to go to Classic Skating, except she didn't want to skate. She just wanted to play on the bouncing and climbing things. So, after the regular day things -- music school, primary activity, basketball, naps, etc.-- we made our way to Classic.
Rachel and Hallie were so excited, which in turn meant that Kale was excited too. Rachel was so good to stay with Kale and help him up all the steep climbs. It reminded me of when we would take Jon's little sisters (you know, the three little girls) hiking -- he was always so careful with them and made sure they were safe.

Can you even believe how straight up that wall is (top left)? Jon only tried to take Kale up it once, and he was scared for not only his life, but for any unfortunate child who happened to be climbing up behind him if he fell. It was way too steep to venture onto again. I couldn't believe how good the kids were at climbing it!

I know this blog is about Rachel's birthday, but I couldn't resist putting these pictures of Hallie in. She was so happy the whole time we were there. In fact, I've only seen her so happy and animated a few times in her life. It was so fun to see her like that.

Anyway, Classic was so much fun -- the kids cried when it was time to go home, but there was more fun waiting for us there. Marmee, Papa, and Bree had driven up to have eggs and toast (Rachel's birthday dinner choice) and birthday cake. It was so nice of them to come up -- it made Rachel feel so special. Someone from the family called to let us know that Bree was coming with Marmee and Papa, and when Jon asked Rachel if that was okay, she said, "Of course. Anyone who wants to come is more than welcome." Those were seriously her exact words. She is such a grown-up little 6 year old.
I was especially impressed with Rachel's sharing nature this year. It's natural for kids to want to horde their presents when they first get them, and while you could see that Rachel initially wanted to keep her presents for herself, she overcame her first impulse and let Hallie and Kale play with her things. In fact, she even had them open some of her presents. It just is amazing to me that she can have such a wonderful gift of being aware of others feelings. Rachel is just an amazing little girl. I am so excited to see what the future years will bring us!
In the bottom left picture Rachel is trying to display her awesome DisneyWorld castle and her new slippers at the same time. That's why she's positioned so strangely.

Oh yeah, in addition to Rachel's big day this weekend, it was also our anniversary. Friday marked 7 years of bliss for me and Jon (although he always seems to think it has been longer).
We had a babysitter lined up so we could go out that night, but just before we took Rachel to school Sky threw up all over everywhere. Like, it was so much that she was soaked and so was her bed -- I had to have Jon take Rachel while I did a quick load of laundry and put Sky in the tub. Sick kids are a bummer, but usually not a real problem unless you were hoping to have a sitter come and stay. Even if Sky wasn't contagious, I couldn't imagine leaving a 13 year old at our house with the chance that Sky might have another incident like earlier in the day. I know that if that had ever happened to me while I was in my babysitting years, I would never have wanted to babysit again.
Lucky for me MJ & my mom were planning to go to Salt Lake on Saturday, and they agreed to come down Friday night instead so that Jon and I could still go out. It was so nice of them to come.
This is the hat and scarf that Jon gave me for Christmas. He was so excited for me to wear them on our date.

Since MJ & Mom were at our house for the night, we got to hang out after Jon and I got home. It was lots of fun.

Since MJ & Mom had slept over, they were able to open Rachel's gifts with us. Among the many was a Book of Mormon game which the kids love! We've played it at least 5 times since Sunday. Thanks!

A new year! Crazy. Life seems to go faster and faster every year. We had a fabulous time over the holidays with family. There's always a mixed feeling of sadness and relief when the holidays are over. True, the holiday season can be overwhelmingly busy, but it is such a joy to be with family day in and day out. It's always hard to get back to regular life.

The parties began with Dan and Jessica's wedding on the 17th. It was such a beautiful day -- as all weddings tend to be. We loved being a part of such a wonderful event.
Lucky for us this was only the beginning of the fun. We spent the rest of the month going between parties with the Hansen and Castleton families. Christmas day was an adventure this year with all 4 kids being participants. Yes, even little Sky loved playing with the toys the other kids got in their stockings.
Since it's been so long I'll just give picture recaps, but know that we had the funnest month ever!

With the Castleton's
The day started with "sledding" at the secret slide park by Mom and Dad's house. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough snow for our original sledding plan, so we just played on the playground and had hot chocolate and cookies. The kids had just as much fun and I was saved the work of having to pull kids up the hill on sleds -- or Jon was, but I'm sure it would have been exhausting just watching it.
Sledding was followed by a re-enactment of the nativity by the grandkids. If you're wondering who the green-shirted Joseph is, it's our cousins son. They made a surprise visit at my parents house on the 23rd. Pretty fun. Kale started out as Joseph, but then decided it would be way cooler to carry around a special treasure, so switched to the wisemen's team.
Cute matching Christmas pj's from Grandma & Grandpa.

And finally, time for the annual program/sing along. Rachel and Hallie both played a fabulous Christmas solo on the piano.

With the Hansen's
This was the easiest party ever. All I had to do was open my door and the party was brought to us. Anita brought all the food, games, and gifts. It was so much fun!
These stockings were filled to the brim with things for the kids. They each got their own stocking and they loved it so much!

Aren't these little princess dresses adorable? The girls absolutely loved them -- they came complete with their own crowns! They'll fit just in time for next holiday season.


With our family
Christmas morning
You know those things you hated growing up and swore you would never make your kids do when you were a parent? Well, I have one of those and I did not follow through with not doing it. Even though I always looked back at the pictures of us lined up on the stairs and hated how I looked every time, I still make our family have the stair picture every year.


Classic Skating
We met up with the Snarr's, Lee's, and Brian's brother and wife at classic. It was our girls first time roller skating and they loved it so much. They brought their scooters and Kale brought his bike and then they all switched off between bikes, scooters, and skates. It was so much fun to see them with their cousins.

"In the wee small hours of the morning..."

Is anyone familiar with that song? I only am because of "Sleepless in Seattle". Anyway, this song perfectly describes me tonight. Well, not exactly I suppose because I think that song is about thinking of some boy and therefore not being able to sleep or something, and I'm just awake for no reason. Regardless of the reasons, here I am, posting this marvelous post.

So, our most recent news is that Hallie is now "fbour" (that's Hallie code for four)! Thanks to everyone who made Hallie feel so special on, and around, her birthday. She had special visitors from near and far (or at least a little bit further than usual). Here are a few pictures from her special day.

Bree, Star, and Marmee came up on Sunday night especially to wish Hallie a happy birthday!

Hallie had been planning on having just a family party at Chuck-E-Cheese's, but then when she woke up on her birthday, she decided that she wanted to have a party. That's all well and good, but we didn't have enough time to invite anyone. Thank goodness for the Snarr's and their willingness to attend birthday parties on short notice. I think this is the 2nd year running that we've given them about 5 hours notice for Hallie's party.

In honor of Hallie's special day I thought I should include some Hallieisms.
Actually, it would seem that they are escaping me just now -- one of the hazards of blogging in the middle of the night I would expect. Anyway, we went and got Hallie's yearly pictures yesterday and they turned out so cute. The photographer just captured her adorable personality and I am so glad because it can be hard to get her at her best.
Just one last thing. Here are some pictures of our three fantastic kids. I had to show more than one picture because of course having all three look great at the same time is asking too much.

What's been happening with the Hansen's? Here's a picture update.

Snow Time!

Thanksgiving

Kale's new church clothes. A tie just like dad!

And lastly, the Christmas elves just paid our family a visit.