Happy Birthday!

 Guess who's 1?

Jameson is such a smiley, happy little guy, but he has a really bad cold and had a bit of a fever last night and wasn't feeling the best on his big day.  This means that we don't have a single birthday picture with his big signature smile.  The biggest smile we got from him all night was when we gave him some ice cream for the first time and asked him if he wanted more.  His big smile answered that question for us. Too bad we didn't get a picture of it, it was priceless. He didn't love the cake and just threw his piece over the side of his high chair and on the floor after a few minutes.  I decided that he must get his immediate love of ice cream from Adam's side of the family. :-) Adam LOVES ice cream and his Grandfather had a bowl of vanilla ice cream every single day until he passed away.

Out of all of our kids Jameson has been the fastest mover.  He crawled up on his knees earlier than everyone else (6 months), he pulled himself up and started "cruising" earlier (7 months), took his first steps at 10 months and now on his first birthday he is a seasoned walker.

This is all well and good except for the fact that he is into everything and we can hardly keep up with him!  I have to admit I cry a little on the inside at church each week when I think about the fact that we still have 6 full months before he can go to nursery. We have already been chasing him around the church for 6 months and it has felt like an eternity!  He isn't a fan of us letting strange people take him during church either.  We have all sorts of people who would love to take him for us, but if there is anyone who can turn on the crocodile tears in less than a second, it's Jameson. He would like to stay with his parents and make them stay in the hall all day, thank you very much.

The kids had a lot of fun preparing for Jameson's birthday and he really enjoyed  his small gifts.  We are breaking out the 18 month clothes already.  Fortunately I never got around to getting rid of some Britton's baby clothes and now they are coming in handy.  Initially I didn't think they would because they were born in opposite seasons, but now that Jameson is 6 months ahead in his clothes it is working out perfectly.

The Holidays

Here are the kids in their Christmas Eve jammies. Jameson hadn't put his on yet, but he was very willing to stop and cheese it up for a picture.  Even though this was 2 weeks before his 1st birthday he is growing so quickly I had to buy his pajamas in the 18 mo. size.

The kids enjoyed their annual Christmas Eve story with Grandma.  Since my parents house is done this year they went home after our Christmas Even festivities and then after a quick phone call at 6:30 a.m. they were back to watch the kids open their gifts from Santa.  This was Jameson's first Christmas and at first he was very confused.

But after a little while he decided that he's a fan of this thing we call Christmas.

The kids declared it the best Christmas ever.

As for our New Year's, well, we didn't exactly win any partying awards. In fact, 4 out of 6 of us were in bed long before midnight.  Can you guess who stayed up? The answer may surprise you. (I'll let you guess in the comments and then I'll give the answer later)

Over the Christmas break the kids enjoyed a day with their cousins from up north.

 We stayed close to home over the break.  We got a LOT of snow so there was plenty of the white stuff to go around and keep everyone entertained.

C-

If I had to grade myself on my blogging this year I would give myself a C-.  At the height of my blogging glory I was an A+ blogger, but this year I really let my blog go. I could analyze it all and figure out what exactly what went wrong, but I have decided to live by my sister Heather's philosophy when it comes to blogs and other such history items, "Something is better than nothing." And so I keep blogging along knowing that anything I throw out there and keep for our family history, however inadequate it may be, is better than not doing anything at all.

I was very busy this week forgetting things (see previous blog entry) but I did manage to remember a few concerts and recitals.  Britton and Jenna had their orchestra concert this week.

 

They are currently the same height and have the same shoe size so they kind of look like twins these days.  I have tried to prepare Britton for the fact that Jenna may be taller for a few years but not to worry because he will be tallest in the end. Growing up I had a brother that was 20 mo. older than me.  He was kind of small for his age so people always thought we were twins (much to his chagrin) and in Jr. High I was taller than he was for a time.  He didn't like it.  Seeing history repeat itself in my own family I decided to at least prepare Britton for it and so far he hasn't let it bother him.  He isn't small for his age but Jenna is just on the tall side.  ANYWAY, they were great in their concert.  Jenna plays violin and will be moving up to 2nd year orchestra after the break so she and Britton will now have Orchestra at the same time (insert cheering here).  Britton is still playing the Cello and is really enjoying it. 

 

Jenna and Korinne also had a violin/piano recital this week.  Korinne started taking violin and piano with Jenna's teacher in September and did a wonderful job at the recital.  She has always had a hard time getting up and doing anything in front of crowd, but last night she acted with an old pro and did all of her solos without a problem.

 

I forgot to mention that my brother Taylor and his family stayed with us for a week after Thanksgiving.

 

 

June and Jameson are only 6 months apart and ended up being little buddies.

 

 

When Jen comes it is always nice to have a partner in crime for the week

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Sometimes Korinne forgets she isn't the baby anymore.

 

 

And Jameson wants to forget he IS the baby.

 

 

He is walking more and more.  Most of the time he looks like a drunken sailor, but he is walking all the same.

 

He has decided that table food is a lot better than baby food and eats what we eat 100% of the time.

 

 

 We threw the kid a curve ball 2 weeks ago when we put shoes on him for the first time.  During the summer we never worried about shoes and then we kind of forgot about them. Once he started walking we looked at each other and said, "Oh, it's winter and he's walking, guess we better get him some shoes."  (Yeah, we're good parents like that.)  I got him a pair of shoes and put them on him and he just looked at me, looked at the shoes and then looked back at me with the most confused look on his face.  Since then he has gotten used to them, thankfully, but I'm sure we won't be winning any parenting awards in the near future.  On a side note, his first pair of shoes are a size 5.  Those are some big feet!  It's good that he has big feet because they match his big hands. :-)

 

 

I'm losing it

The last few weeks have shown me that I'm getting older.  In fact, I told Adam that maybe he should start looking for a nice assisted living center to place me in when I can no longer "function".  Yeah, I'm losing my memory.  Case in point:

1- Completely forgot to pick Britton up from Orchestra after school and only remembered when I got a phone call from his teachers 25 min. later. Yup, I arrived 30 minutes late. That's a record.

2- Spent a lot of time preparing Jameson's diaper bag for the 4 hours he would be at the kids club while I was helping with preschool at the Sports Academy and then totally forgot it on the table when I left.  Adam had to drive across town to drop it off. FAIL.

3- Got all the way through the checkout line at the store only to realize I had forgotten my purse.  With 2 people waiting behind me I ran to the car to get it, but I hadn't left it in the car, I had left it AT MY HOUSE.  So embarrassing.

4- Last but not least, for the last 3 years I have taken turns ordering Bountiful Baskets with some neighbors.  We rotate who orders and then picks for the week so we only have to get them every 3 weeks, but we still receive one every week. I have never forgotten to order when it was my turn. . . .until this week. I had it written down and everything and I'm still not sure what happened.  By the time I remember it was too late to order for the week.

Four things I have NEVER forgotten before.  My confidence is shaken and now I'm always stressed out about what I might be forgetting.  When Adam called from the post office on Friday and said, "Did I leave that letter I was supposed to mail on the counter?" I smiled and said, "Yes, it is. Welcome to my world."  It's nice to know I'm not the only one forgetting things lately.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving my Aunt Kathy pulled out all the stops and provided commemorative 2012 Thanksgiving aprons to the person in each family who did the most cooking for the feast.

 

 

Yeah, I didn't get the apron. We all know Adam is the real cook in our family.  I was sitting in the family room when I heard my Aunt Kathy say to Adam in the kitchen, "Well, if anything ever happened between you and Hilary, you know would still have to come to Thanksgiving to do the rolls, right?"  Right.  I'm optional, Adam and his rolls? Not so much.

 

 

It was Jameson's first Thanksgiving and it didn't take him long to decide that he is a fan. Here he is with a mouthful.

 

He's lucky that on his first Thanksgiving he was old enough to enjoy all of the real food instead of just formula or baby food. 

 

 

He loved being a part of the crowd and had a great time with all of his cousins and 2nd cousins.

 

Here are the ladies. 

 

 

This year 4 out of 6 kids in my family were in attendance.  That is the most we've had in a long time.

 

 

It is one holiday that is worth the flight.

 

My camera card was full about 2 min. into the bowling portion of the day so I didn't get a lot of documentation, but I did manage to come in last place in the ladies bowling bracket. . . again.  I'm really cool that way.  I come in last every year so I can make everyone else feel good about their bowling skills. Adam, on the other hand, won the men's bracket. . .again.  He had so many strikes and spares it would have made you think they were the only option when bowling.  It's a good thing I was there to remind everyone that gutter balls can and do happen.

 

The piñatas and fireworks were a hit again this year, and I know that I had at least 2 large cups of the homemade root beer.  We also had a cake and sang to Korinne for her birthday.  We have so many Thanksgiving traditions that it keeps us hopping all day long. During the month of November Korinne's school teacher asked each child's parent to come into class and talk about traditions they do with any one of the holidays during the year.  Before Thanksgiving break I went in and talked about our family's Thanksgiving traditions.  You should have seen the looks on the kids' faces when I finished telling them about our traditions.  When the teacher asked if they had any questions the first question I got was, "Why do you do fireworks on Thanksgiving??"  Good question.  I just told him it was because we were silly and he seemed content with that.  If there was one word to describe our Thanksgiving celebration it would probably be "redneck".  Hey, you can take the boy out of Idaho, but you can't take Idaho out of the boy.

Look who's 7!

 

Korinne turned 7 on Thanksgiving Day this year, but we had our family party with cousins the day before Thanksgiving so we wouldn't have to pack everything with us out of town.  It was nice to have her own party apart from the Thanksgiving festivities.  She had an Egg Nog flavored Bundt cake that was super yummy (and I don't even like Egg Nog so it really was just that good).  She asked for Egg Nog and "something girly" for her birthday. Yes, she actually asked for some Egg Nog.  As a toddler she used to stand up on a chair and yell "Nooooooooog!  Nooooooooooooog!" over and over when she knew there was Egg Nog in the fridge.  She has been a true Nog fan for a while now. Me? Not so much. 

 

 

Kind of fun to have cousins from Texas and China around for cake, ice cream and presents.  The big present this year was a new bike. 

 

 

I'm not sure how "girly" a bike is, but it had streamers and the appropriate coloring and she absolutely loved it.  Glad there wasn't any snow so she could try it out.

 

 

Happy 7th Birthday Korinne!

R.I.P

My computer died last week.  If you want to know how much you use your computer, just have it die suddenly and see how things go. It has been a super fun experience (insert sarcastic tone here).  I was on it when Jameson got to the surge protector and flipped the switch sending the computer, screen and printer into blackout.  The printer and the monitor recovered, but my computer never turned on again. The "mother board" was shot, said the geeky computer guy we took it to, and there was nothing to be done.  The computer was 4 years old, practically a dinosaur we were told, and it was time to let go.  The whole situation was an annoyance rather than a catastrophe, thanks to Carbonite, my online backup.  Never once did I panic about something being lost and I have a LOT of irreplaceable family history and pictures on my computer.  Having an online backup is the best $5.00 I spend each month.

So, what have we been up to? Well, Jameson has mastered going down the stairs.  He has been going up them for months, but finally figured out how to come back down.

 

This is his favorite box to play in. Who needs toys?

 

He is also getting closer to walking and has taken his first steps.  I don't have documentation because he decided to take his first step during the middle of deacon's quorum in church today (clearly the most logical place) and I was busy teaching Relief Society.  Jameson, can you please plan to do major milestones when we're together and I have a camera? That would be great, thanks.

Britton finished up his soccer season and is now down to just one soccer practice a week. *insert cheering* The only reason they can still practice in the winter is because they have access to an indoor football field at the University. For the club it's a blessing, but for select parents (myself included) it is kind of a curse. We never get a break. But, Britton absolutely loves it so it's hard to put a stop to it.  He has also been taking a pre-team swim class to see if he would enjoy being on a swim team. When he told me he wanted to try swimming I had to do some research to see if swim teams for non high school kids even existed. Well, they do and I found out that there isn't just one, but two local swim teams around here. Who knew? The only stroke that still needs work before Britton can be on the team is the Butterfly. Britton was looking really good in his classes and I've come to appreciate what a great sport swimming is.  I really wish I had learned correct swim technique years ago so my transition into triathlons wouldn't be so overwhelming. 

Just before Halloween Britton had a piano recital where he played "Fur Elise" by Beethoven.  He did a great job.  He had to go straight to a soccer game after the recital and I was worried about how we were going to change clothes with so little time, but then I saw that costumes were optional so Britton dressed as a soccer player for his Halloween recital. Perfect.

Jenna also took swimming lessons the last few weeks and is making great progress.  She is a first year orchestra student at her elementary school but because took private violin lessons for a year before starting orchestra at school they are going to move her to the second year orchestra class after Christmas.  This is great news for me because then she and Britton will be together and it will be one less thing to coordinate.

Jenna's best friend, Maryn, moved to Arizona at the beginning of November so it has been sad for Jenna.  Here they are on their last day together.

 

They were always very serious together as you can see.

They are two peas in a pod so we were sad to see Maryn go.  They call each other on the phone every couple of days and are determined to stay in touch.

Korinne will be getting a new school teacher after the Thanksgiving break.  Her current teacher, Mrs. Mickelson, is having to retire early because of health problems so this Tuesday morning we will get to meet her new teacher Mrs. Cook.  Korinne is a little anxious, but hopefully will handle the change well.  She is getting excited for her birthday this week.

The last little while my exercise routine has been suffering.  I've had difficulty motivating myself to do hard workouts because I don't have anything I'm specifically training for. The reality is I need to have better workouts so I can eat! (I kind of like to eat, it is very important to me) So, I was contemplating taking the big leap and just paying for a membership to the Sports Academy where I had my kids in a 4 week session for swim lessons.  I wasn't excited about how much it was going to cost but I knew having a ton of classes to go to would really motivate me and get me going.  The night before I was going to go and find out about a membership I was talking to a good friend of mine who said, "Hey, they are looking for someone right now, as in today, to help at the sports Academy preschool for 4 hours a week (which is what she does).  If you do that you get a free family membership." What? Free family membership??  The next day I was in the office of the person in charge of the preschool and started as the newest preschool aide 2 days later.  I guess there is a waiting list for people wanting to work at the preschool for free memberships, but because one of the current staff referred me I got to the top of the list.  They have a kids club for Jameson when I'm in the preschool or working out on other days that costs 25 cents an hour. Yes, that means my 4 hour stint in the preschool on Mondays costs me $1.00 in child care for Jameson.  Yea! I've already been to several workout classes and have the sore muscles to prove it.  Jameson is still getting used to the kids club, but I'm sure he'll really grow to love it.

So that's what has been going on in our neck of the woods.  Adam is staying really busy these days with work and his calling in YM's.  He went on his first camp out Friday night.  The scoutmaster is a die hard and makes sure there is a camp out each month, winter included. How fun for him.  I'll stay in my nice warm bed on November 17th, thank you very much. Britton can't wait until he turns 12 and gets in on all of the action.  It's hard for him to see and hear about all of the fun activities Adam does with the YM and not be able to go, too. He's only got 9 more months, but the wait just may kill him.