Merry Christmas

Our family just wanted to wish you a very, merry, late Christmas! We had a wonderful day, and hope that you did too. We had a family picture taken for Christmas cards, but it never actually made it into a card. I was a little bit disappointed since this was the first time in about 6 years that we haven't sent them out. Oh well, there's always next year.

Basketball

Today was the first day of basketball for Jarren and Maya. Jason is coaching both teams, we'll see how that goes. After the second game his throat was hurting pretty bad. Try talking over bouncing basketballs and noisy 5 and 7 year olds, plus noisy fans for 2 hours.

This is Jarren's 3rd year and he was totally excited. Although we will need to work on the pride factor with him. He thinks his team is definitely the best, as far as basketball skill is concerned. His game was at 8am, so just Jarren and Jason went. I'll try to get pictures next week.

Maya was excited, but a little bit nervous. She didn't want me or grandparents to go because she doesn't like people she knows to watch her; it makes her more nervous. I told her I could just hide my eyes sometimes. I guess that made it okay. Maya stayed pretty close to Jason during the game, but she played. She dribbled a little and she even shot the ball once. I was so proud of her! On our way home she said, "I love basketball!"

Thanksgiving Fun

I think the thing that Jarren was most excited for about Thanksgiving this year was the whipped cream. I know it sounds a little odd at first. But remember Jarren is only 7. My sister, Jessica was a willing player too. (Thanks Jess!) You spray as much whipped cream in your mouth as you can and then whoever can eat it first wins. Jarren won!

Thanksgiving Turkeys

It's a tradition in our family to make gumdrop turkeys every Thanksgiving. This year we made them at grandma's house. The kids all had fun making them, and had just as much fun eating them. Although keeping track of who made which one was pretty much impossible.

Halloween

I am so glad that Halloween is over! It has been a crazy 2 weeks leading up to Halloween. I decided to make Maya and Kate's cheerleader costume, however, as anyone with a newborn knows, time completely got away from me. Anyway, my mom stepped in to help get those finished, bless her heart.

I ended up getting 5 kids ready in costumes (including combing hair for 4 girls) on 3 different days for different parties and activities, and that's not even including the school parade for Jarren and Maya. Let's just say those costumes aren't going to be put on again for a long time. Although, I think the kids looked so cute in them.

Kate did not want her picture taken.

I'm sure you can guess which costumes I was in charge of and which one Jason was in charge of. We ended up with Slash (I have no idea if I even spelled it right, I guess I just gave away who was in charge of Jarren's costume) and a Utah cheerleading squad.

Go UTES!

Jarren was very disappointed that only adults knew who he was. We thought at least some of the kids would know who he was because of Guitar Hero.

Maya was even lucky enough to go to the University of Utah game on Halloween with Jason. She got to go trick or treating there and she supposedly got a lot of candy, but she ate it so fast at the game that I never got a chance to hide it from her, and ration it out.

Halle's Blessing

I cannot believe that Halle is 2 1/2 months old. Where does the time go with these little babies? I took her for her 2 month appointment with the doctor and she is still very little. 8 lbs. 14 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long.

We had her blessed at church a few weeks ago. I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the pictures.

I love how she was smiling in this one. That was a pretty new thing for her at the time.

We can't forget the proud siblings in this picture. It's a fight to see who gets to hold her. It looks like Maya won in this battle.

The baby acne made her face all red, plus she likes to rub her hands on her face. What a cute little princess anyway.

I Love You

I was putting something in Jarren's backpack this week and I found a piece of paper that I thought was a piece of schoolwork. I pulled it out to find the words "I love you. Please like me." Taped to the paper was a quarter, a nickel, and a little jewel. I didn't want to embarrass Jarren, but I was curious. When I asked him about it he told me it was for a girl in his class. How cute is that?

Go Utes!

We just wanted you to see the University of Utah's newest cheerleader.

Best Friends

What a Doll!

I pulled the pictures off our camera yesterday and came across this one, it made me smile. Halle really does look like a doll laying on the doll blanket and doll pillow.

Nail Polish

Can I just start out by saying that I DO NOT like nail polish. I thought I was being such a good mom by painting the fingernails and toenails of Maya, Karli and Kate. Well, afterwords one of my sweet little angels, named Karli, decided that she was going to use 3/4 of a bottle of polish on the wall and the carpet. Lucky for me she chose to hide behind the couch in our living room and do it. So, I guess we'll only have a problem if we move that couch. I was able to remove a lot of it from the carpet with Windex; who knew that Windex cleaned carpet and windows? (Thank goodness for the Internet for that idea). The wall, well the polish pretty much stayed there. I guess it's a good thing we really need to paint anyway.

First Day- Take 2 and 3

Maya started kindergarten this last week and she absolutely LOVED it! When we got to school on the first day she was acting kind of funny, so I asked her if she was okay and she told me that she was just shy. She was nervous going into the classroom at first, but once she got there she did great. The only other time when she told me she acted shy was when she had to tell the kids in the class her name.

We did have our first clothes battle on the first day of school. I wanted her to wear one of her new dresses. Maya wanted to wear old clothes with her brand new tennis shoes. Of course Maya won.

Karli started Preschool last week too. She was so excited to go to Ms. Charri's class, there was no nervousness shown on behalf of this child. As soon as she came out the door she was telling me everything that had happened at school. I was shocked, I remember asking Jarren what happened at school at Ms. Charri's and he could never remember. One of the differences I guess between boys and girls.

New Title

It was kindly pointed out to me that I needed to change the title of our blog, since we now have 4 little princesses and a prince. So just for your information, the title has been changed, but for now I am not changing the blog address.

First day of school- Take 1

Jarren started 2nd grade this last week. He was so excited for the first day that he told me he was afraid he wasn't going to sleep very good the night before. He really seems to like his teacher, although in all honesty, I think he'd really rather have his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Atkisson, again. He tells me every day that he sees her or he talks to her. I think it's so cute that he likes her that much, she really was an awesome teacher! (I'm hoping Maya will get her next year).

Maya and Karli start school this next week, so their pictures and experiences will be coming soon.

Halle's First Photo Shoot

I don't like to have my kids pictures taken professionally until they are a few months old, however, I don't like to wait to display a picture of them for that long. So, I just take one at home and have it enlarged. Today was the day to try and get a good one of Halle. Here are some of the results.

Bowling

Our family went bowling a few weeks ago and the kids LOVED it! It was Kate's first time and she even liked it too. Usually what happens is we get about half way through the game and all the kids have lost interest, but they didn't this time. Jarren was very excited because he got a strike. And while we were bowling he asked, "Mom, why is real bowling so much harder than bowling on Wii?"

Jason was the official helper. He did a great job!!

Kate was pretty excited about her experience with bowling.

These girls are the best of friends!!

She's So Little

I still can't believe how little Halle is. And she seems especially small when I see her in her car seat and her chest clip and buckle are almost touching.

Halle Jo!

Let me preface this post by saying that you all get a guest blogger today (a first time blogger, I might add), while Andrea is resting up in the hospital for a couple of days...I hope I can do this post the justice that it deserves!

Let me get the answers to the most common questions out of the way first...Halle Jo was born on Monday the 17th at 9:08 am. She weighed in at a hefty 4 lbs 13 oz and measured a respectable 17.5" long. Similar to what you see on most basketball rosters, I think the nurse may have been a little generous on both her height and weight (a little exaggeration never hurt anyone right?). I guess if you count the length of her hair in her height she would probably measure out to nearly 19" inches. She is doing fantastic after a couple of minor complications that keep her in the nursery a little longer than we had hoped for. But, luckily, despite her small size, she has overcome those issues and is handling things very well. She is doing fantastic!

Now about Andrea....I feel like I can't accurately tell you how she is doing without providing some background information. Having gone early with all of our other kids, Andrea and I both expected Halle to follow suit and come sometime this week, which would put her between 37 and 38 weeks. So, early Monday morning (around 4:30), Andrea got up with one of the other kids (bless her heart...dad just sleeps right through everything!) and noticed that the baby wasn't moving. She ate something in hopes of getting Halle to move, but nothing happened. So after talking to her doctor, they decided to have her come in and check things out (around 6:30 am). After hooking her up to the fetal monitors for a bit, the doctor noticed that Halle's heart rate was dropping and that the placenta (I hate that word) had stopped doing its job, but Andrea's labor, or lack thereof, wasn't progressing. Much to Andrea's dismay, he ordered up a C-section to be performed as soon as they could numb her up. I got a call from her that said "I need you here now" followed by a phone call 2 seconds later from her doctor telling me what "I need you here now" meant. I walked in the OR just in time for them to start the c-section...about 2 minutes later, Halle was born! So, there's the background...

So how is Andrea you ask? I hesitate to comment on how Andrea is doing because there is really no possible way for me to understand how and what she feels. My first reaction to that question, is that she is doing quite well. But, having never been sliced open like that before, I'm 100% sure that I would grossly underestimate the pain and "discomfort" (to say the least) that she is feeling. But, at the risk of being silently mocked by all of the women who read this that have had a c-section before, I am going to take a stab at it. From my own personal observation, she appears to be doing fairly well. Since she hasn't had a C-seciton before, she is trying to get used to not being able to move around and do everything for herself like she has done in the past. Not being able to have Halle in her room until today took a toll on her as well. But, once she got to hold Halle last night for the first time, it seemed like everything was just perfect! There is nothing more genuine than seeing a smile from ear to ear on your wife as she holds her baby for the first time. I'll be honest, I was a little worried about Andrea....until I saw that smile. From that point on, despite the pain, I knew that she would be just fine. Anyway....Enjoy the pictures!

Vacuuming the Grass

I thought these pictures were too cute! I came outside to see Jason mowing the lawn and Kate trying to mow the lawn with her toy vacuum. And Karli, she just looked cute!

Fishing

Last week Jarren and Jason decided that they were going to go fishing at the end of the week. Well, it was the talk of the entire week. Jarren talked about going to the store on Tuesday to buy a fishing pole and supplies. Then he talked about how on Thursday they were going to practice casting with their new fishing poles. And then Friday was the big day! Jason and Jarren woke up at about 6am to try and catch a few. When they got home Jarren was SO excited to tell me that he had caught 2 fish and Jason hadn't caught any. He then told me that he had caught his fish with hot dogs. The power bait that Jason used hadn't worked, but obviously hot dogs were the trick.

New Car

We got a new Toyota Sequoia this past weekend, well, not brand new, but new to us. We all love it! Jason is trying to find excuses to drive it, he's even thinking about driving to Idaho to visit his grandparents. I think it's funny! I would have thought he would be tired of driving, since he had to drive for 21 hours to get it home from Dallas.

Now we have the fun part of selling our van. Wish us luck!

New Bunk Beds

Maya and Karli are now bunk mates. Jason and the kids set up our new set of bunk beds tonight. Now we have bunk beds in each room. Maya and Karli were pretty excited about the new beds until it got to be about 10pm and according to Maya, Karli was being too loud. I guess it will take a little bit of adjustment for everyone.

Maya was pretty excited because when the baby comes she will be able to see right into the baby's crib from her top spot on the bunk bed.

Big Girl Bed

It's official, Kate is a big girl. She got her own big girl bed/ bunk bed tonight. I was a little bit nervous about the transition, but she did awesome! I put the baby gate up at her door, so she could see out, but couldn't get out and I think that helped. She got out of her bed a few times to get more books, but there were very few tears. Way to go Kate!!