2014 Misc

I did a terrible job keeping up to date on my blog last year. I need to get it printed but I have not finished it from last year so I am doing a bit of quick recap. These are pictures from my phone mostly from the fall but some from earlier in the year too that I never did post. I am hoping to do better with the blog this year. HAHAHA. Above the kids on the A at Utah State, they all wear their Utah State shirts with such pride.They are so adorable. 

Addy wanted to go swimming at the indoor water park for her birthday but they are not open on Mondays so we surprised her after pajama day at school and took her to the new scheels that has a ferris wheel and all kinds of fun. The kids had a blast, bowling, exploring the animals, tents, boats, guns, etc. It really was very cool.

 The skunk Pee UUU  The kids did a great job posing for my photos

Grandma came with us and got to go on the ferris wheel. Addy told the operator it was her birthday so they gave her free tokens to go again. The first time she went with me, the next time she took grandma and James.

I have no idea when we actually took this photo, but she was just too cute not to include it. 

 We try to take the kids to the theater both live and the Movie theater. This year we have gone to Cirque Mechanics the kids loved that it was amazing, The very Hungry Caterpillar which was black light puppetry Addy did not care for it, James liked it. Mary Poppins, both loved it, It's a wonderful life both kids were confused they liked some of it. I don't remember which shows we went to at the movie theater not many I am so picky about what they watch.  They do love the Theater though. We all do.

 Two cute randoms

 These two do love to play together with Mommy when Addy is gone. They are so much fun, it is a much different pace very boy oriented lots of cars and planes and flying balls, baseballs, basketball and soccer.

 Another one of the kids at Scheels for Addy's birthday James face is so funny in this one, For some reason the pictures didn't load in the order I loaded them oh well.

 Addy has OT twice a week, once at this facility and once at another, They work on different area's and both are very good at their area of expertise Audryn likes to take up residency in the balls while we wait for Addy. She thinks they are so fun. Usually Addy works for 30-40 min without us there and then James, Audryn and I come in and work or play with her for the last 20 min or so. James Loves to be included and it is good to push addy with James funny how that works. She is competitive though and if he can do something she pushes hard to do it too.  The second picture is addy on a easy roller which is also what Santa brought the kids for Christmas. They have been having so much fun with them. They ride them all over Grandma's house and are getting very good at it.

 We were waiting for a prescription and Audryn needed something to do, too cute. No she does not have or need glasses

 I usually save all the school type pictures for evernote but Addy had been working so hard at mastering all her lowercase letters we are now working on perfecting the writing of them.

 SD friends come to visit, it was a super short visit, but short is better then not happening. My friend Liza stopped for a short visit. Raquel and James are a couple months a part, They were having a great time playing together I was so glad to see my friend. We both have had another kid since we had seen each other so we played catch up really quick.

 Look close, What do you see, Well good thing he is covered up there is a naked James in there, He feel asleep working on the me readers. What a funny boy, He also took off all his clothes and bundled up in a blanket at first look I thought he had left his room I looked all over for him and started to get worried when I decided to take a second look in his room and realized he was in the bundle, I was even more surprised when I finally woke him and he was naked. Yipes!!! I was not expecting that.He rarely if ever naps any more but he still does quite time or a personal time everyday for a bit he needs it.

 Seriously, this one is so spoiled, is it any wonder why!!! She is too Adorable for me. Just chillin waiting for big sis to be done. She loves to sit on things, it is really funny, she always sits on other babies she loves them and will go right up to them and sit on them, She is super social and friendly she will also walk right up to strangers and sit on them or ask them to hold her, she will go anywhere with anyone, Have to keep my eyes on this one.

 Lost another tooth, the week before Christmas it came out as she was flying in the frog swing at OT. The Day after Christmas is when she got her abscess from her molar growing into her baby molar. We are so thankful to have good friends one of which is a dentist he came right over and checked her out so we didn't have to worry or take her to the emergency room.

 The week of Christmas Doug's office closed for the week work was still happening but he didn't have to be there everyday, it is a nice gift his boss gives to us. We loved having Doug home for the whole week, he did have to take some calls and do a few things, but for the most part we got him to ourselves we got to go sledding and go shopping, I was super sick on Christmas eve but Doug took the kids to the art Museum to see the Lego exhibit. We also took a day and finished making some selections for the new house. We took the kids with us and after four hours of selections they had earned to go out for lunch they really were well behaved, they picked Mcdonalds with the play area so Doug could see it as he has never been there before

 Speaking of the house it is a little further along  than this and has a lot of snow around it, But this is the last picture I snapped the sheeting is on the roof now and they are almost done framing hopefully the weather will actually warm up like the weather man says it will and next week will be very productive at the house.

 We have some super creative kids, they are always coming up with random games and costumes, Here they are dressed like soldiers ready for battle.

 And our little miss, she is growing too fast. She is almost 15 months old. She walks and is trying to run, really chase is her favorite. she loves to be involved in everything and anything. She does not like lying down in the bathtub but loves to swim and has started be quite the little cleaner, She was washing the shower with her rag. She loves to pick up and tear things apart. She loves to feed herself and hates shoes, like  she will not wear them even when it is negative 10 out, it is all I can do to keep her dressed. She is really good at getting into our technical devices and has started being able to play games on the ipad, not that I let her, but if one is left out she will high jack it. She doesn't speak much she communicates well though. I am hoping now the walking thing is sound that the talking will keep coming. She really likes to be read to and to have her teeth brushed. She Started walking well on her own at about 13.5 months. She is really my average normal child, I love that She is so right down the middle of the road, Such a switch for us.

Six years old

 Adelaide also had a birthday right before Christmas. She turned 6!!! I am in awe of her everyday. She is amazing. She is truly one of the kindest most thoughtful and Selfless people I know Which I think is saying a lot since she is 6. She has a very mature spirit. She is close to the spirit and is very good at listening to it. She often prompts me to help others and to meet needs that I didn't know needed to be met. She does have her moments when it is clear she is 6, but they are few, Life is not easy for her by any means but she is happy so happy. I just love her. She never wants anyone to feel left out and will give of herself willing usually at the drop of a hat. She shares like a champ, sometimes I feel bad she is so willing to give and James knows she will move heaven and earth for him.Sometimes a lethal combination :) This little girl has the growth jean! She grows and grows like it is no ones business. She is over 4 feet tall and has lost 10 teeth total although one of them had to be pulled she had a permanent molar that was growing sideways into a baby molar and destroyed the root of it, so it had to be pulled but the rest have just come right out no problem. Which is CRAZY!!! She was just days short of getting her front teeth for Christmas they cut in the 5th of January. We are excited for her to have teeth to eat with she was getting kind of low on them.

 Addy loves legos and is SO GOOD at them, It would not surprise me if she grows up to be a builder or designer of some kind, she has the brain and aptitude for it. I give her different cards to make all kinds of things out of building materials and she puts them together no problem, She can follow constructions as she calls them very well.  Her favorite animal is an Owl she loves them. She loves a good adventure and is really quite tomboyish. She really likes anything boy, She is starting to phase out of her favorite color being pink which is a sad day for Doug and I it was really the only girly thing she liked. She loves to swim and be in the water, to swing and go to the park, to go to chuck e cheese and gymnastics. She also really likes music class. This year she is doing Kindergarten at home we supplement with a class at the gym that she adores. She has music class she is doing pre piano and she still sees a speech therapist an occupational therapist and a vision therapist. She works so hard and has made so much progress. She is learning to read and is making great progress with it, She is a natural at math which goes hand in hand with that building thing.

 Her day is not complete if she has not played outside which I love about her, she loves her outside time even if it is so cold I can only give her five minutes outside she makes the best of it. She loves to go and explore and play!

 A pilot for Halloween nothing girly was her requirement for her costume

 She is so brave and tries hard things everyday, The specialists we work with will occasionally meet with Doug and I to review Addy's diagnosis and her situation helping us to adapt to her current needs and to prepare for possible future needs, They always make it a point to express to us how much effort it takes for her to do even the simplest of tasks because of the way her brain works and learning new tasks is particularly consuming, The advise extra patience and understanding and a holistic approach to learning rather then 1 dimensional . When I think of her and how much she can do, I can't help but know how blessed we are. And how amazing she is, She wouldn't be able to do the many things she does if she didn't have an outstanding desire and positive attitude.

 I think one of my favorite things is to see her hand in hand with her siblings, James and Addy usually walk together hand in hand to primary, be still my heart.

 Her fashion sense well, who am I to be critical, as I have no fashion sense but she really is her own person. Her favorite clothes to wear are a pair of gold pants and a blue button down shirt, if I want her to wear something all I have to do is say it looks like something daddy would wear and she is sold.She is really into yoga and swimming right now and motivates us all to do them with her as often as possible. And she LOVES sledding

She really is super sweet and just amazing. We definitely have our days, but for the most part she is so obedient and tries so hard to make good choices and to be the BEST big sister and a good example. She cries when she misses church and will NOT let us skip family home evening, if we have to have it on another night she holds us to it. She is a planner through and through, and loves most everyone unconditionally.  I asked her 20 questions here are some of her answers.
Who is your favorite person in the whole world? My whole family even my cousins
What song do you love? Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam
What is your favorite color? Red
What are you really good at? Helping my brother and sister and building lego's
What would you buy with 1000 dollars? Maybe save it
What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? The problem is I like them all, maybe vanilla
Who is your biggest hero? My brother and Sister
If you had one wish what would it be? To stay with my family forever

And that last questions sums it up, So sweet. Love that girl. I just wish she wasn't growing up so darn fast.

Four Years Old

 James turned four right before Christmas. It was the strangest thing, He went to bed still very much a three year old and woke up very much a four year old it was so WEIRD it was like he matured overnight, we all got a good laugh out of it, but honestly we love our Four year old. He is so much fun. He is so smart and talented, He is very good at learning whatever he wants to learn, just like that which is a little hard for those of us who have to actually put work into learning. He has to be careful though he can easily get distracted and lazy, if we can keep him from those two pitfalls I suspect the world will be his to do whatever he wishes in life. This year he has been going to preschool two days a week and has an additional day  of coop. He is learning to write his name almost has it mastered the s throws him a bit, and he is doing great with his reading. He loves to sing and dance and run. Fast is the speed he knows best slowing down is not really his thing. He is working on riding  a bike without training wheels. He loves cars and planes and lego's and really any game. He is a bit on the emotional side, usually more emotional then the girls. He can be intense and his feelings are very tender, but with that comes he can be insanely sweet and kind and has true passion for life. He does not like to be told what to do, often has to learn things the hard way and has a laugh that flows through the whole house.

 The first three pictures are ones I had done for his birthday, the next one is his school picture.

 These are random pictures of him He really keeps us on our toes and is just so much fun.  He pushes us all to try a little harder to be a little better, He is always wanting to learn new things to try new things and to look at things in a different light.

 King of the snow pile, Totally fits his personality he is most often the leader of the group, he really does not like being the last person for anything, And he still struggles with losing but is getting much better at it and at not getting his way.

 While he can't pull the sword out of the stone he is really quite strong and loves to work on his strength, He often will workout with me saying he needs to be strong and healthy. He is really into gymnastics and trying to stand on his head right now.

 He is really a very good brother. He loves Audryn and babies actually. We went and visited a newborn the other day he asked to hold the baby and when we left he snuggled up to the baby kissed her on the forehead and said I love you sweet baby. It was adorable. He takes great care of Audryn and plays with her. She loves to play cars with him. They are so cute together.  And he is a great bother to Addy, I always say the best thing we did for Adelaide was have James he is the perfect brother for her and helps her so much. They teach each other so much and have such different strengths that they make a perfect team.

Yep just look at that cute boy! What is not to love! I asked him 20 questions for his birthday here are some of his answers.
Who is your favorite person in the world? Addy she is also my best-est friend.
What is your favorite show? Octonauts
What sport do you like best? Baseball
What do you want to be when you grow up? A knight
What vegetable do you not like to eat? uncooked onion
What is your favorite vegetable? celery with cheese on it
What is your favorite song? Frozen heart song track 1 and Teach me to walk in the light.
Stats: James is currently wearing a 5T in clothes and a size 10 shoe he weighs 44 lbs and is 3 and 1/2 feet tall. I cannot believe he is four already!