We had a nice low-key New Years Eve at our house playing games. The kids went to bed at normal time and then we started. True to form (she did this last year as well) Alli woke up at 11:30 and joined the party til midnight. It is always funny how happy she is and FUNNY when she wakes up after sleeping a few hours!
The next day we had a really fun party with most of my family! James had just gotten in from Arizona (Natalie and the kids came 2 days earlier for her fam reunion) so they were here and we were only missing Bryan and Annie's family. We played some Minute-to-Win-It games like we did last year. It is always hilarious.
Ryan proved to be pretty darn good at getting those fruit loops onto his spaghetti noodle.
These kiddies had a lot of fun playing together! And Ryan made a lovely rainbow-loom bracelet ;).
We were cleaning up from Christmas and taking down the Christmas decorations that were up on the high shelf so Alli was helping...
And this was the result...I was not a big fan. They thought this was the greatest thing ever for Ryan to put them up there. Biggest problem is that a few days later when Ryan was out of town Ilene came in crying when I was getting Cam to sleep because she couldn't get up there by Alli! Alli had put a kitchen stool on top of the counter and climbed up. Yep not my favorite thing as I explained just how dangerous that was...we had explained this originally as well :(. I am just glad she didn't fall and break any bones! And we have closed that chapter.
Cam thought he was pretty clever one day and opened the peanut butter jar I had left on the counter. He doesn't love stuff on his hands though so it didn't last too long before he wanted them cleaned :).
Kapri was here playing one day and the girls all made up and performed a show for us.
It was hilarious, and pretty cool with "stunts". They loved it!
We went up to the Ice Castles. They were beautiful and pretty impressive!!
Cam thinks it is great to climb up and play with anything electronic-especially down in daddy's home office if his work stuff is home.
Don't worry I probably just moved him off of something-like the computer from the above picture :) or I took my phone away from him...
Alli has been playing soccer. It has been fun to watch her learn more about the game. She may not be the most competitive, but she very well may be the most compassionate! She is so quick to help her teammates when they fall down and she told us this weekend that is her favorite part of soccer.
He will "pose" himself and he thinks it is great. If I take a picture of one of the girls he will most likely want his picture taken too. I have to obliged because he is just so darn cute!
His expressions kill me...and he loves playing with his "baskball" as he calls it. He loves throwing it to you and especially making baskets in this door mounted hoop we used for a career fair a few weeks ago.
My half naked little children. Alli was either teaching school or singing me a song...with her apron on naturally!
This dude loves his "ba-ball". When Ryan is watching Cam will often climb up to watch with him. Ryan is quite the proud dad to have his boy watch with him :). When the Superbowl pre-game show came on Ryan was working on his wings in the downstairs kitchen and Cam ran in to get him saying "ball, ball" taking Ryan over to the tv.
One night Ilene was being super slow to put her pull-up one getting ready for bed so of course we put it on Cam's head and he thought it was so funny. Pretty soon we had 3 little pull-up ninjas.
Alli put this outfit together for school one day. I was getting Cam down for his nap and she brought each part in and laid it down together to see how it would look. I loved it, she is getting so big, but is so fun (98% of the time!)
Cam thinks he is so grown up to eat his cereal out of his bowl. He isn't quite the most accurate and this happened. Plus he was making his "scowl" and I couldn't resist the pic!
Alli was so proud when she counted to 100 before 100s day so she wanted me to take a picture of her accomplishment!
On such a sad and unfortunate note Ryan and I were heading back from a meeting with a potential sponsor for AMP and we got seriously rear-ended! I have never been in an accident before so it was quite the new experience and hopefully something I don't experience again for a very very long time! We were slowing down (we were about at 15 mph) at a stoplight were 4-5 cars were backed up and the girl behind us looked down and without slowing down just slammed into the back. The pic doesn't quite do the damage justice. The back passenger side definitely got more than the driver's side.
but her poor car got the worst end for sure :(.
She was stuck under us for a few feet until it broke apart, but it was the strangest sound hearing her engine revving and wondering if she was going to hit us again (not the most logical, but it happens so fast and you don't know what just happened at first-at least I didn't!), but nope she just hit the gas instead of the break in her fumbling...
A few weeks ago I took the kids to the Children's museum with my mom while Ryan in California for work. They loved it so we went back a few weeks ago when Ryan had a work meeting at the gateway so he could come too.
At Alli's most recent soccer game she scored her first goals and once she got started she realized that's pretty fun. She scored 3 in that game and was so excited for a "hat trick".
My cute girls with a drum stick, they love these!
Out to eat for our pre-Valentine's Day dinner! We went the night before and got seated reasonably, but our food was soo slow! The kids were awesome!
Annd back to the beginning of January. My sweet little Ilene opening a present from Sarah!
Ilene made Cam a bed in this box.. They both thought it was great!
Alli with her beloved Christmas snow globe!!
My sweet girls on Ilene' first day going into primary.
Ilene and Cam with Leo. Cam is getting in on the "eyo" excitement now as well. They were out of town while some work was being done on their floors for a few days and we would go get him and Cam would be beyond excited to go over!
One more of the Kapri, Alli, Ilene show stunts!
a blurry pic of one of Ilene's cute outfits for the show;).
And right after the show we headed up here.
The cool "snow princess" chair.
I may quite possibly be sleep deprived so sometimes when I lay with the girls to sing to them this is what happens :).
This was after the ice castles. We went out to eat and the kids were having so much fun playing together. Ilene was loving holding Cam's hand and being so sweet helping him down the stairs. She can be pouty at times, but man she is such a cute little sweetheart!!!
Especially when she puts lipstick on herself ;). Love that makeup job! And ya gotta do lotion all over when you are doing it, right?
My handsome boys! I can never get enough of Cam's big smile!!
More with poor Leo! Sometimes the girls can't decide who gets to hold his leash so they each hold a leash..luckily for him they are good to go together so he isn't pulled in two directions!
A few weeks ago Alli's kindergarten had a winter "celebration" of sorts. I had signed up to help with one of the stations and Ryan didn't go on one of his work trips so he came too. We were the "igloo" and talked about different types of houses around the world and then there was a pretend igloo that was inflated for the kids to sit in.
Cam got his second hair cut...
I just really love this chubby little face!! Sometimes it is so crazy around here, but then I think-really would I not want Cam and I could never not want this crazy little man!! So hard thinking of life without any one of my kids and something that breaks my heart to think about so I really really pray I never have to!
Some goofy glasses grandma found at her house.
Alli and one of her cute soccer teammates.
My mom was watching Jason & Christie's for the day a few weeks ago so we went for an ice cream cone.
They ALL definitely enjoyed it.
My sweet hubby surprised me with these lovely flowers! So thoughtful!
Ilene got these magformers for Christmas and she is such a great builder with them! I love seeing her creations, they are out most every day it seems like!
I don't remember if Cam put himself in here or if the girls did, but either way it made me laugh and they all thought it was great!
Our first go-round at the Children's Museum
Alli was pretending she was the horse in the horse trailer in here.
In the lifelight helicopter.
Cutest doctors around!
Doing a little weather forecast.
Downstairs I had stacked my Christmas bins before putting them away so my 3 little amigos thought it was a great sitting spot for snacks and for jumping off!
Once again, but upstairs this time my cuties having a snack in their pajamas sitting up on top...they really do get dressed...
Ilene was being "olaf" they were so funny playing Frozen with the carrot.
I have such beautiful little girls! I love them so so much and I can't believe how sweet and loving they are to each other most of the time. They definitely have their moments, but overall they just love each other and that melts my heart!
Another bunch ball..or soccer picture.
Cute Bryn was here for one of Alli's games! She and Ilene was great cheerleaders!
Alli in her lovely bathrobe (that she adores) enjoying one of her favorite foods-lemon pancakes! She loves to be the "server".
Alli had some funny sleep positions, but Ilene is definitely our "funniest" sleeper and wins the award for the most random and awkward seeming positions... Seriously what the heck she started with her head on the pillow and ten minutes later is like this? Or we have found her sleeping on her floor multiple times and even in her closet a few times...
Magformers again-this time as glasses!
My sweet little ballerina. She goes through phases where she doesn't love having a teacher, but right now she does like it because she has realized she learns more. She is actually quite a beautiful dancer and really feels the music. She is getting so graceful and coordinated! Don't mind her low cut swimming suit giving the cleavage shot!!
Decorating sugar cookies!!
This was the day after our little accident and honestly I was not feeling so hot! I was nauseous and felt like my head was spinning when I would stand up. My head and neck just hurt! Grandma bailed us out and we decorated sugar cookies!
Back to the trip to the children's museum with Dad. Cute Cam as the fort lookout.
Playing with the newfound friend.
Soo our neighbor watched Ilene a few weeks ago for me for a little bit and Ilene fell and hit her head on their wall. She didn't really cry just sat in our neighbor's arms for a few minutes and then kept playing. When they were moving their furniture for their new flooring she found this dent in their wall...from Ilene's head! My kids are definitely hard headed in more ways than one!
This dude...has had a rough couple of weeks. It started off with a little slip in the tub resulting in biting/tooth through the bottom lip. We called to see about getting it stitched up but within 15-20 minutes the cut under his bottom lip had sealed up nicely. He is such a tough little dude though before the bleeding was even stopped he was all smiles and wanting to play again. Next week (the day after our lovely accident) he was playing/trying to play with the girls who were dancing in their room while I finished up dinner in the kitchen and he screams like I have never heard before :(. I run to see and his poor finger is shut in the hinge part of the girls' room door which is latched. Made my stomach so sick for him and his poor little finger swelled and he cried like I have never seen :(. Alli felt terrible for hurting him and was so apologetic. He really cried for over a half hour which is so untypical of him so we took him to the doctor to check on it. He cried himself to sleep when Ryan was holding him after getting home from work. So we get to the doctor and he immediately starts playing with the toys??? He favored his hand some, but not a ton! Luckily everything was fine, no tendon damage and no major breaks in his finger. There may have been a break in the tip, but it was set fine and was in a place that would heal fine on its own so we were supposed to buddy wrap the two fingers, but he immediately pulled that off so it was buddy wrapping his whole hand and within a few days he was fine without that.
Alli has a tiny crown from one of her dolls and wanted a bun with the crown for weeks so last week one day I obliged. She was thrilled! I must she she is one darling princess!
She also has a major love for scarves! She loves mine and she wanted this one so much during our pre-valentine's date she bought it with her own money.
She had gotten some tickets to a game from school and was so excited to go.
Ilene wanted a picture laying with leo. I love the pajamas with the dress up skirt over the bottoms :).
After I took Alli's picture with her hair, Cam put himself in this corner/same spot as Alli for his picture...He is so darn cute, I can't handle it sometimes!!
And just for good measure a few more randoms...Little fisherwoman Alli..
When I was out running errands on a Saturday she made this "stand" sign with Ryan...so cute and it was yummy lemonade! I love the limes on the edges.
We all loved it.
Alli making her special strawberry lemonade once again.
Life seems to be crazy or ridiculously crazy for right now...not sure if it will ever really slow down, but I am learning to just hold on tight and Enjoy it! I feel so so lucky to live such a beautiful life with people I love so so so dearly!!! I love each of their sweet, individual personalities and I just feel so much gratitude for the things I am learning and the patience I am hopefully gaining. I hope this year I can just "be" and enjoy the time I have with my kids instead of always trying to "do stuff". I love blogging because of the chance it gives me to look back and reflect because I am just filled with so much love and happiness and peace thinking about these memories. So here's to a productive year becoming a better person and not putting the most important things off!
