Christmas

Christmas was so much fun this year! The kids made the day perfect. They were so excited for Christmas and excited by every little thing they got and did.

We always start Christmas day with a special breakfast. This year I tried a new recipe for morning buns. We also enjoyed bacon, sausage, eggs, chocolate milk, and eggnog (other than the eggs, these are not normally eaten in our house so it was a special treat).

After breakfast we opened presents. In our house we open presents one at a time. Who ever opens the present gets to pick the next present to be opened and gives it to the appropriate person.

One of the things Caden is really into, is superheros. He was very excited to add a new spiderman outfit to his dress-ups. He has also been asking for some "boy books." All we own are girls type books or gender neutral ones. He was SO excited to get 3 superhero books that he immediately sat down and started reading them and it was near impossible to get him to open his next present.

Chase had no interest in opening presents, all he wanted to do was eat his chocolate from his stocking. Here he is going back for some more candy.

Ken finally forced him to open a present. He wasn't too sure but once he got started their was no stopping him. He even loved picking and handing presents to people (doing so even when it wasn't his turn).

Kailyn has been wanting a bathrobe for awhile now. I had been looking everywhere for one but could never find one in her size. I was so excited when I found this one at Saver's (a second hand store). Kailyn was super excited to finally get her robe and loved the fact that it is fuzzy and pink!

Jordan was totally thrilled by every aspect of Christmas. She loved every present she got.

Every year the kids buy for each other. This year we had the kids draw names from a hat to try and make it a bit of surprise. The kids are not very good at keeping secrets because within a day they all knew who was buying for whom.

When we first moved here, Kailyn saw some little statues at the dollar store that she thought Jordan would love. Kailyn was thrilled when she picked Jordan's name. Jordan loved her mermaid statue from Kailyn.

Opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa Jones. They loved the toys they got.

Chase got a train. He loved it so much that he even slept with it.

The girls got jewelry making kits. They have been having so much fun making necklaces, bracelets, and even rings.

Caden got a tool set. Which he was so excited with. He loves to pretend to fix things.

Aunt Ashley and Uncle McKay got us a fun game set. It will be perfect for our new yard, once it warms up a bit.

The kids were so excited to give their dad his present. They decided to make a treasure hunt for him. They even thought of the clues themselves.

Every year we have a treasure hunt for one present. This is a tradition that I (Shelly) had growing up. The kids love the treasure hunt and look forward to it every year. This year we sent the kids on a treasure hunt to find their new Wii.
After opening presents we had some people from church and 4 missionaries come over for games and food. The evening was a lot of fun, unfortunately I didn't get any pictures.

Gingerbread House

All I Want for Christmas...

...are my front teeth.

Jordan lost her very first tooth. She was over the moon when it came out. She had been begging me for a week to pull it (I only pull when very loose). She was able to pry it out at school and was practically jumping out of her skin to show me her toothless smile.

Just a few day before Jordan lost her tooth, Kailyn bit into a biscuit and sent her tooth flying across the room. She loves having 3 holes in her mouth although it won't be for long, the top two adult teeth are already starting to poke through.

WOW!

I know it has been forever since I posted. I was a little behind and then we unexpectedly moved and it put me way behind. Well, I finally decided to catch up. There are a lot of posts, read on if you dare.

Football

Ken has been wanting to take the kids to a college football game since we moved here. He found out that they were having a kids get in free day and decided it would be the perfect time to take the kids. Unfortunately, it ended up being an extremely cold day. Ken decided to brave it anyways and bundled all of the kiddos up. I decided to stay home and wait for the call to come and get my frozen children. I was surprised the 3 youngest lasted till half time (at which point I came and got them and brought blankets for Ken and Kailyn). Kailyn lasted until halfway through 4th quarter. I don't know that they got a lot out of the football game but they sure do love doing things with their dad.

Ouch

Chase can be a little dare devil. He loves to climb and do anything his older siblings are doing, even when they are being naughty. Here is the result of him jumping on the bed like his big brother. Chase feel off and hit his eye on the bed post. He was a tough kid and stopped crying as soon as I picked him up. We're lucky it wasn't more then a scratch, a goose egg, and a little black eye.

Ken was watching the two boys so I could go to the doctor. Caden was having a hard time leaving Chase alone. He was constantly smothering Chase. Caden loves to squeeze Chase, hold him, and basically invade his personal space. Well, at one point Chase was crying and then Caden came into the room where Ken was. Ken told Caden that he needed to not touch Chase if he starts to cry. Caden replied, "I was just trying to get his head unstuck." Ken quickly went to find Chase. This is what he found...

We Moved

We were loving our apartment, the pool was great, the rent was reasonable, the kids were in a great school...but there was the neighbors below us. They were totally unreasonable. They would constantly pound on the ceiling. We would be sitting down at dinner and Caden would get up to clear his plate and they would pound, pound, pound, pound, etc. Chase would go into his room to get his pajamas and trip and we would hear them pounding and pounding on their ceiling. We tried to go and talk to them to figure out a solution but they refused to talk to us. They called management on us a couple of times for noise. Management would call us and say there was a complaint. We would calmly tell them that we were sorry our 1 1/2 year old was walking in the kitchen. Our kids never ran in the apartment and they did not jump or throw things, we never played our music loud and we went out of our way to not be in the apartment. Management quickly realized that we were not the problem but the pounders were. They had a special meeting with them to inform them that part of being in an apartment is hearing others around you and that we had a right to live in our apartment and make noise as long as we weren't being loud during quiet hours. We found out that the neighbors below us were three college students (I know I was surprised, you would think they wouldn't be so sensitive) that had never lived an apartment before. The pounding continued. It began to stress us all out, especially Ken. Anytime Caden would trip he would quickly turn to Ken and say, "Sorry Dad." Ken just did not enjoy coming home because of the constant pounding and stress of worrying about if we were being too loud. So we decided it was time to move.

We were really lucky to find a house to rent that is in the same school for our girls. The move was a little crazy. We didn't really box things. We would put things in tubs and then just dump them at the new house. It was a total disaster for a little bit. The kids have absolutely loved our new house! We have so much more room. They can finally act like kids. They can play with their toys without worries and even play a game of hide and seek. Life is much better.

Ken took pictures as we were unpacking. I was appalled that he would take pictures of our mess but he said its a memory. So here is the disaster we call our move.

Kailyn's Book Review

Kailyn was asked to do a book review for their school book fair. Here is what she created.

In case you can't read it, here is what it says:

The Puppy Place

Muttley

By: Emily Miles

Book Review By: Kailyn Bassett

Do you like dogs? If so, you will love the book Muttley. Lizzie is a girl who loves dogs and fosters them until they get adopted. One dog she takes care of is named Muttley. Muttley saves the day and becomes a hero. If you want to find out how, you will have to read the book!

I feel like I want to read it all over again!

I'd give it an A+!

Pumpkin Carving

We didn't carve a jack-o-lantern this year because things were a little crazy around Halloween and because we lived in an apartment, thus we had no where to put it. We did let the kids gut a pumpkin for our traditional dinner in a pumpkin. They were thrilled as you can tell...

Chase was obviously thrilled and dug right in.

And was obviously obsessed with what was dug out of the pumpkin and wanted to exam it very closely.

Jordan jumped right in with both hands.

Kailyn wanted to do the whole thing by herself but kindly only did one handful so there would be enough for everyone to participate.

Caden reaching in...

...and as you can see refused to let go of the pumpkin guts because he loved the feel.

Halloween

Our treat or treaters...

Kailyn-fairy, Chase-bumble bee, Jordan-fairy, Caden-fireman

Our ward had a great party (actually it was 3 wards that worked together to put it on). They had games and trunk-or-treating in the parking lot.

Caden doing a ring toss

Kailyn fishing for a prize.

Chase was a bit hesitant because of the dim lights and the large crowd but quickly warmed up once he won a sucker.

Jordan working on a craft.

The kids playing a game. They would take turns rolling a dice and moving their piece and the first one around won.

The highlight of the evening, for Jordan, was winning the award for 'Best Girl's Costume.' She got a metal (which she wore everywhere for the next week) and a huge size Hershey bar. (The judge was a little girl that picked someone from the audience). I really don't think she has ever been so proud as she was of that metal, it was really cute.

Paper Mache Pumpkins

Jordan loves to do crafts. She discovered a craft book I bought last year at a garage sale and has been having lots of fun making the things in it. Unfortunately, I don't always have all of the material she needs, like for the kite below. She doesn't care and tries to make do.

Sometimes she lucks out and I have everything she needs. Like for the pinata she wanted to make. She was so excited and decided to make them into pumpkins for Halloween. Ironically, she almost didn't make it when she saw the paste she would have to stick her hands into to make the pinata.

She eventually got over the grossness of the paste (at least enough to make her pinata).

Once the other kids saw what Jordan planned to make, they all wanted to join in. Kailyn was very focused on getting her pinata made.

Caden making his pinata.

Chase was excited to join in with the big kids.

After we made the pinatas, we had to let them dry and then the kids were thrilled to get the chance to paint the pinatas.

Caden wanted to paint his green, his favorite color.

Their finished creations. (yes, Caden's turned out blue he decided to paint the whole thing blue in the end).