February 26's 4th of July

Carter and Andi put together our FHE (we had it tonight because Jefferson and I selfishly went out on a date last night). Carter had received a little American Flag and stand and pamphlet about the flag at school and so they based their FHE around that. Carter picked out some high points from the brochure to share. (did you know they don't fly the American Flag at the White House when the president isn't in Washington DC? Seems a bit unpatriotic and maybe they should fly it anyways to confuse people as to whether he's there or not, like leaving your porch light on when you're out of town). He talked about what the stars and stripes represented and what the colors stand for. I actually learned something new. They also chose our prayer people and picked our songs. We started with "God Bless America," which they both learned in preschool. And then they wrote and performed the closing song all by themselves. It was so cute. Here are the lyrics:

We march in America.
We made the American flag.
We love the American Flag.
Yes we do!
We're so glad we have the American Flag.
And we fighted for our city, yes we did!
Hooray!

They did such a good job! Taytum and I baked cookies and ate them with ice cream for dessert. It was sweet. (the FHE... and the dessert too).

Valentine's Day

We had a great Valentine's Day over in these parts. All of the kids were excited for their various festivities. Taytum and Bentley had a Valentine's party at their singing group the day before where they got to exchange Valentine's. I let Carter and Andi choose what they wanted to do for their valentines and Carter chose Ninjago with candy and Andi wanted to make pencil valentines. I didn't take any pictures, but they turned out super cute. When the kids got up in the morning, their Valentine goodies from us were waiting for them. We had pink pancakes with pink sprinkles for breakfast. The kids' lunches consisted of heart shaped pb&j. My mom came over to watch the littlest while I went into school to volunteer, and she showed up with Valentine goodies from she and Grandpa Paul. Such loved little ones.

After school we played a Valentine Minute to Win It. The kids loved it:

 For dinner everything was either red or heart shaped. Spaghetti, red jello, red 7Up, heart shaped strawberries, and heart shaped cucumbers. Then we frosted heart shaped sugar cookies for dessert, of course!

After we were done with the kid festivities, we hired a sitter and headed up to my parents house for a grown up Valentine's dinner with my sister and her husband. We went completely kidless! Usually Beckett tags along, but we timed it just right. It was so nice to sit and eat and talk and talk without any interruptions. The time went by way too fast!

It was fun to put Andi's valentines together. She was so mindful of which pencil she gave to each person and carefully thought out each valentine. That is just her personality. She is so aware of others, their feelings and needs. What a sweetheart.

The next day volunteering in Carter's classroom, first off his teacher said that a number of parents said that they had wanted to get Carter a special valentine, or picked out the "best" one for him. Then, I was looking at one of their projects on their wall. They were hearts that said, "Someone special to me is..." and the kids finished the sentence and drew a picture. I was scanning through to find Carter's and most people put their mom or dad and why. Carter put his dad because he plays with him and has a picture of them playing soccer. But then as I was reading the rest of them, three different students put down the person that was special to them was Carter; because he is nice to me, because he helps me, because he is a good friend. It was so sweet and brought a little tear to my eye. 

B Boy @ 5 monhts

Oh Beckett Boy... He is such a joyful, handful. Ever since he was sick he has been crying a bit more and a little less content. The boy does not like his carseat at all! He cries and arches his back almost every time I put him in it. That being said, he is usually pretty easily distract-able. If he starts to whine or cry I can usually make some crazy face and sound or say "Boo!" in his face and he'll light up into his big smile. He's still not much of a chatter or giggler. He likes being tickled, just doesn't do a typical baby giggle. He rolled over from back to tummy on January 31st (of course when neither Jefferson nor I was there to witness it) and then from tummy to back the next day! He's done it only a few times since. He's sleeping through the night, or at least not waking up to eat. He will occasionally wake up crying in the middle of the night, but we just pop his binky back in and he's sound asleep. He loves sucking on his fist or fingers, so I am very diligent about popping his binky back into his mouth. Beckett is a major drooler. He loves watching people and being with everyone. He does not love laying on the ground, sitting in his bouncy or his swing, but prefers to be held. We can convince him to lay on the ground for a while if one of the siblings is entertaining him. He loves bath time, just not the getting in or the getting out part. He also does not love being lotioned up, but does have super dry, scaly skin on his arms and thighs. He no longer wants to be snuggled or lay content in my arms. He wants to be sitting up taking in the world. I did snag a few snuggles the other night and he even dozed off in my arms. It was so yummy and sad to know it might be the last time I get delicious baby snuggles from one of my own. I love my big owl eyed baby!

 

 The kids before church on Sunday. Yes, I got them ready, all five of them, by myself, on time for 9 o'clock church, with enough time to snap a picture.

Then we made our own "Title of Liberty" at FHE the other night. We "rent" one of our shirts to make them, and the kids thought that was pretty cool.
Carter's said, "I will stand up for my friends! Our friends are awsom!"

 Tay just wanted us to put "Tay Tay" on it. And no, she does not have black eyes, she is not sick or on her death bed, Andi just put on make up for her earlier.

 Andi's said for "Love & Friends."

Friday Family Bowl

Jefferson has half days on Fridays, so we decided to take the kids bowling after school. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bentley loved it!! She took over most of mine and Jefferson's turns and cried hysterically when it was time to go. (see below)

 

Snowflake Parade

The Snowflake Parade is the largest nighttime parade west of the Mississippi... so we hear. It certainly has a lot of floats!! We decided to brave the freezing cold weather and venture down to Main Street to kick off the holiday season with Nic and Alli. Our kids loved it! They got lots of candy and they were out way past their bed time. How bad could it be?

 

 

December

 Our December was a fun one!

Just some random pics of the kids...

Bentley was so exhausted one day that she fell asleep sitting in our room watching a movie. 

 

  

Dress as your favorite winter character to school day; Carter was Jack Frost and Andi was Cindy Lou.  

 Tummy Time:

Our friends hosted an ugly sweater/pajama Christmas party. Jefferson won "best (or worst) dressed." 

 Jingles was back this year and we caught him doing all sorts of silly stuff. We found him bathing, making hot chocolate, having a snowball fight with Spiderman, drinking a juice box in the fridge, wrapped under the tree.... The kids loved finding him every morning in December.

 Crazy hairs out of the bath:

 Our ward Christmas party was really fun, a little long, but fun. We're in the Spanish branch so we had lots of delicious authentic Mexican food!! Santa even made a visit at the end. And the best feeling is when you know your kids are going to get what they asked for when sitting on Santa's lap. Nailed it!  We tried to get Bentley to sit on Santa's lap. She was so excited when she saw him and kept yelling, "Santa!  Santa!" But when I went to put her on his lap she started screaming and bawling. Maybe next year.

We've had some great snow this year and we've taken advantage of it with lots of play time outside.

 

 

 The kids had their Christmas program at school. Our music teacher, Mrs. Hay, does such a phenomenal job with these kids!! All of their songs were adorable and they sang them so well. My parents and Aunt Alli came to watch as well. The show was during school and after the performance we all headed out to lunch/ice cream.

 Grandpa was kind enough to take the kids on four wheeler rides. Never gets old.

 

I told you it was a fun December!