BBBRRRR

It is cold. SO cold. We are all really tired of the cold. Some sunshine and a few park days are much needed at our house but until then here is a little bit of what we have been doing to keep ourselves entertained.

For Family Home Evening we had a tower building contest. Here were the final results..

Kaden's

Mom's

Dad's

still Dad's I just thought the top view was important. 

Taycee's

Prizes (dum dum sucker's) were won all around for various awards.

We had a litter of baby bunnies Friday morning. We were expecting them about a week earlier so we had Lily inside in a play pen. They are doing well and will be ready leave mom about Easter time so if you know anyone looking for an adorable baby bunny send them my way. ( They aren't so adorable right now because they are hairless and their eyes are still closed. But give them a few weeks and they will be tiny fist size furry balls of cuteness.)

I should probably mention that a tiger did not attack Lily's back leg. Before rabbits give birth they make a nest out of their fur. She pulled quite a bit of fur from her hind legs so they look a little scary.

On Martin Luther King day we decided to get really adventurous and take the kids ice skating. The kids have been asking for weeks to try it and so we took advantage of Chris's day off. Kaden and Taycee were SO excited and spent the whole weekend talking about it. We gave them a pep talk about being brave and not giving up and they seemed totally set on the whole idea. 

Here they are before we hit the ice.

Taycee made it half way around the rink before Chris picked her up and took her off the ice. Kaden actually made it all the way around but begged the entire time to go home. 

So all in all I would call it an epic FAIL.

I did manage to snap a few pictures of Chris and Kaden as they were heading off the ice.

Luckily the lady at the cash register took pity on us and gave us a "half way around the rink refund"

We took that money and went bowling which was a much bigger hit with smiles all around.

In other news...

Kaden is hilarious. Like really really funny. He is the best entertainment to have around.

The other day on the way home from school he said to me "Mom I need a present that blows my mind out." when I asked what that meant he said "Oh, blows my mind out is how you say freaks me out. Instead of saying that you say it blows my mind out." -- The things you learn in kindergarten.

I decided to take him to get his favorite treat, a slurpee, when we pulled into 7-11 he said "mom are you getting me a slurpee?" to which I said  "would it blow your mind out?" thinking he would say yes but instead he said "Well, it might a little bit, but not all the way. I might need something else to blow my mind out all the way." Then he saw a picture of doughnuts in the window and said "HEY MOM! Doughnuts and a slurpee would definitely blow my mind out all the way." The little stink.

We were watching Mulan and it was in the beginning when Mushu is trying to wake up the stone dragon and Kaden said in a very matter of fact voice. "Mom, I know why that stone dragon won't wake up." I asked him why waiting for a creative explanation and he said "Because he is a stone and stones aren't alive, they don't move at all, they just sit there." and right then Mushu broke the stone dragon and Kaden said "they sit there, and they break. -- I guess Mushu doesn't know that."

He is learning a lot of new words from Mulan. He told me the other night there were 3 names for a cow. -- Cow, Heifer and Bessy. Later when I heard him calling Taycee a Heifer I told him that wasn't a very nice word.

The other night I asked him why he was having such a hard time listening lately, at first he said "I don't know" then about 5 minutes later he came back to me and said "Hey mom! I know what I am having a hard time listening, because my ears are telling my brain something different than what you tell me."

At dinner he didn't want to finish his food and said "Mom my stomach is telling me it will not eat this food." I said, "well tell your stomach it doesn't have a choice." He repeated the words to his stomach, took a deep sigh and said "sorry mom, my stomach just isn't listening to you. I AM, but my stomach is not."

We had some company over for dinner. We made a roast and I did up some fruit cocktail. While we were preparing dinner Kaden asked me several times what it all was. I told him the meat was called Roast Beef and the glasses had fruit cocktail in them. When we were all sitting around the dinner table and Kaden had his first bite he all but yelled. "YUMMM! This roast cock beef is really good!" I quickly corrected him and then explained to everyone at the table how that combination came about.

Kaden and Taycee were playing temple run on the I-Pad. Taycee was playing and Kaden was watching and I hear him say. "Woah Taycee you are really good at this. I think I want to marry you you are so good." Later she was playing again and died and she said "Kaden, I died do you still want to marry me?" To which he just said "no."

Taycee and Addison both had their well check appointments this last week. Taycee is ranked off the charts for her height at 44 inches tall and about the 80th percentile for he weight at 43 lbs. She is healthy and doing everything well.

Addison was in the 40th percentile for her weight which was 24 lbs and about 40th percentile for her height. So she is finally growing and if we can keep her healthy for a solid month all will be right in the world.

So that has been our January. We would welcome the sunshine and warm weather anytime but for now we will pass the time building towers and watching tiny squirming bunnies grow.

Hope your house is warmer than ours.

xoxo-

me

2012 Wrap-up

Before we move on to 2013 I thought I would re-cap our year. 

As a family 2012 brought a few firsts

First pet(s)- 2 bunnies Lily and Midnight.

First season pass's- To Cherry Hill, kept us quite entertained this summer.

First summer in this house with no major yard repairs

First time going to a temple open house (as a family)

First time to the circus

First family bike ride

First time to Disneyland

2012 was a big year for Addison. She had lots of firsts this year,

First tooth

First time rolling over

First time sitting up

First time crawling

First steps

First solid foods

First (of way too many) ear infection

She is finally caught up to where she should be. Her 18 mo stats were right about in the 40th percentile. She has a few appointments at Primary Childrens this month and we are hoping we can find out why she has such a hard time staying healthy.

She learned so many new tricks including learning how to sign a few words which is making communication so much easier. 

Here is a video of her signing "more" and "please"

She is finally starting to really laugh and I am hoping when she gets tubes her talking will pick up as well for now her most frequent words are

Hi

Hi Taycee

Bu-bye

Uh Oh

Dropped it

Thank You

Diaper

That

Taycee had her first dance lesson

First day of joy-school

First dance recital

First time cutting her own hair (and hopefully last)

First professional pedicure

First professional hair cut

First visit to the Dentist office

First time owning her own real makeup

and she is starting to read. It is actually quite amazing, she is a smartie pants.

Kaden had his first day of Kindergarten which came with so many firsts

first school lunch 

first homework

first school project

first test

he is doing so well and one of the hardest things about moving will be having to take him out of his awesome school. 

He also had his first silver crown put on his tooth

First friend birthday party

First time swimming without a life jacket

First time boogie boarding

I don't know that I had any firsts this year but my photography business did start to take off and I spent a lot of time taking and editing pictures. I also purchased an elliptical and put it right next to my bed. It was probably one of the best purchases I ever made. It has been fun having a kindergartner and I only felt slightly old when they asked me to be a room mom. I volunteer in Kaden's class once a week and love watching him learn and interact with the other kids.

Chris spent the year working like a mule. With the end finally in site we are getting so excited to start making plans and seeing all his hard work coming into fruition. He published a few papers and  even presented some of his own work at an energy conference in Pittsburgh. Basically I am married to a genius. In the end of 2012 he started the groundwork with a co-worker to start up his own business and is very excited about the prospects there. He still remains a super hero to all of us here at home and I am constantly amazed at all he accomplishes at work at home and in his calling at church.

So 2012 was good to us and we are excited to welcome in 2013 with all of it's challenges and new experiences. 

We had family pictures done a few months ago and since I never got around to posting them I guess I will do so now.

Oh and here is our Christmas Card this year. I had all the best intentions of sending them out to everyone... but it didn't happen. Oh well... next year. :D

Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, as we do every year.

We started off with a big Christmas dinner the Saturday before Christmas with my family before we headed down to St George Sunday to spend Christmas with Chris's family. The kids got way into helping set up the table and even made name tags for everyone.

Chris and I tried our hand at making our very first Turkey. It turned out pretty yummy. I realized as I was setting up the table that I was missing a lot of dishes most people have when hosting a formal dinner. So the turkey was served on a plastic green Christmas plate and instead of a gravy boat we used a large measuring cup. :) It all still tasted wonderful.

The kids in their new Christmas Sunday clothes before we went to Church.

For Christmas Eve I-hop is the tradition. Here is most of the group getting ready to order.

Another Clayton tradition is matching jammies. The pictures are a horrible quality but I just had to post them. Notice the girls in the front row hardly move yet in all the pictures we took we could not get one with all the boys looking at the camera with smiles and eyes open. Come on guys....

Kaden and Taycee had matching jammies too but by the time we got around to snapping a picture they were far beyond asleep. In fact as soon as we got home from dinner Kaden crashed on our bed and we couldn't get him back up for anything.

Grandpa and his girls.

Christmas morning came with lots of excitement. Having little kids sure makes Christmas fun. I was totally lazy this year and didn't take any pictures on my camera. Luckily the I-pad was handy and we got a few snapshots on it.

As you can tell by the pictures there was more than enough presents to go around and we were all spoiled rotten. Chris had the Christmas of his life and got every electronic toy a man could want. The kids all came home with more toys than we have room for. And I spent 4 days laying our in pajamas which is exactly what the doctor ordered. 

Grandma and Grandpa Clayton gave us an extra Christmas present and kept the kids through the weekend so Chris and I got 2 whole days of freedom, we walked around the mall saw a movie and wondered what we ever did with all our free time before we had kids. 

Hope you all had a very merry.

xoxo-

me

Two thousand and thirteen

I really can't believe that 2012 is over. It was a good year for us. We had some ups and downs as every year does but I think our good times far surpassed the bad. Memories were made, firsts occurred, hundreds of load of laundry were folded and put away, and we enter a new year a little wiser and a little more grateful for what we have.

2013 is going to be a good year for us. Lots of big changes are happening we will embark on a new adventure, I will officially be married to Doctor Christopher Clayton and hopefully we will  pay off the mountain of school loans the we have been accumulating the last 6 years.

But before we take off into the new year I have to finish documenting 2012.

I have been terrible at taking any pictures but luckily I captured a few of the highlights on my phone.

These pictures make me laugh. This was back in November when Addison was just starting to walk on her own. She would take about 10 very wobbly steps before falling on her rump. She wouldn't take slow carefully steps she would always take off running.

She has come such a long was since then. On Christmas day she decided it was time to start walking. And she did. She literally stood up by herself in the middle of the room and started walking. She is funny that way, she doesn't do anything slowly she just waits forever and then decides to master it in one day.

We had a ward Christmas party during the beginning of December. I was in charge of a few primary numbers for the party. For one of the numbers I had a small group of girls playing jingle bells on the chimes. One of my girls backed out last minute but she was playing a chime that only got hit 3 times through the entire song so I figured Kaden could probably fill in. We practiced a few days before with all the girls and he did great. He hit is note right on time every time. I wasn't worried at all about him. When it came time for the performance I handed out the chimes and had all the kids stand on the stage. Kaden immediately started running back and forth across the stage ringing his chime. When I finally wrangled him down and got him to stand in line the crowd was giggling a bit. I started the first chime and the girls were doing wonderfully then it came time for Kaden, he paused for just a second before hitting his chime AS HARD AS HE COULD. A few snikers from the audience but the girls were pros and carried on without missing a beat. Note two came around for Kaden and he paused for just a moment longer than the first time and pulled his arm back up past his head then smacked the chime again as hard as possible. More snickers from the audience. The girls carried on and finished the song, Kaden had the very last note and this time he paused pulled his arm back wound it up in a circle a few times and then crashed his stick into his chime with a sense of victory. The audience broke into laughter. Kaden had his proud "I just did something awesome" face on. I shook my head and helped them all of the stage. My son the comedian.

Later "Santa" visited. He was the youngest skinniest Santa I have ever seen, but he sure tried. After Kaden sat on his lap he said "Mom, that is not the real Santa, his beard kept falling off." I suggested that maybe he was just a helper to which he responded "no that was definitely just a guy in a costume."

Taycee had a dance recitle in December. She was so excited for it. She was lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents and Aunt Kelsey and Uncle Ben come to watch. We sat through a 90 minute concert to watch her 2 minute number. But boy was she cute.

She got more roses than any other dancer there I am quite sure. She felt pretty special.

Here she is with her cute friend Stevie who lives down the street.

So although much more happened in December, that is all I captured with my phone. I DO have some Christmas pictures somewhere that I will round up and post... tomorrow perhaps.