New Years Eve

Wes had a deer hunt over New Years, so I was alone to wrangle the kids. We partied at a friends house until about 11 and then headed home. I was hoping the kids would be ready for bed, but alas, only Jaxson and Kamryn fell asleep just a few minutes before midnight. They were so disappointed that they didn't make it. In my defense-I tried to wake them up to watch the ball drop, but they were in a deep sleep.

 

Christmas 2015

Christmas Eve I came down with a terrible cold and was really overwhelmed with trying to make our traditional lasagna dinner, pack for Mesa, finish wrapping and getting ready for Santa to come. Morgan was left alone on the floor as I was trying to get everything done, and like the angel baby she is, she chose this moment to start sucking her thumb and fell asleep. It felt like a true tender mercy.

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at our house this year, and then drove down to Mesa in the afternoon and spent a couple  of days down there.

 

Grandma sent matching pajamas that the kids were so excited about. We had our traditional lasagna dinner and then watched a couple of church videos about Luke 2.

The kids got to open their jammies, of course, and then the family game-Yahtzee. Their summer babysitter always brings it to play with them, so I knew they would love it.

Christmas morning

 

Santa presents: Morgan-nothing, Kimber-cozy coupe, Addison-an annoying puppy who yips all the time (Santa didn't know it yips), Kamryn-kids gopro thing, Jaxson-bike, Hallie-science kit. They don't get very excited about things, apparently even though they are all loving their new things.

 

 

After opening gifts we went out to breakfast at Denny's, per tradition. And then we came home and packed up to go to Mesa. This was out view as we were leaving our house. Luckily, it got clearer as we got closer to Mesa.

Meeting her namesake

 

Hanging out with Grandpa

 

One of our nieces was baptized the morning after Christmas, and then we spent the rest of the time just hanging out with family. I was really sick, so Wes took the kids to church with my parents while I tried to recooperate.

 

Morgan 2 months

 

Morgan had her "newborn" pictures taken at about 5 weeks old. Oh man, it was quite the ordeal because she pooped all over the outfit I had borrowed, before we had even started. My friend, Tania, took her pictures (she also took the ones of all my other kids earlier this fall). She ended up getting some great ones, even though she had to edit the poop out of it.

 

She is learning how to pick up her head during tummy time.

 

I take so many pictures of her sleeping- I just can't get enough of her cuteness.

  

Morgan sucks on her hands all of the time, and I keep watching to see if she will start sucking her thumb. I am rooting for it at this point so she can learn how to self-soothe. I won't know what to do with her if she doesn't!

 

Morgan had her 2 month well check today. She is 10 lbs, 15 ounces which is the 30% percentile, and 22 inches tall, 25% percentile. She has really chunked up the last few weeks!

 I think Morgan is the only one of my newborns who actually enjoys her bath. All of my other kids hated them until they were old enough to sit up and play.

 

Morgan is sleeping a little better...most nights she will fall asleep between 9:30/10:30 and sleep until 3 or so , and then again until around 6. But some nights she is up every 2 hours. Her naps are still sporadic and don't have a real pattern yet.

 

She is as big as the creepy doll that Kimber carries around. (The back half of the head is missing).

 

We brought over a swing from my in-laws house, and that helps her sleep when she is fussy. She has also started sitting in the bumbo. Usually when she is cranky I can hold a pacifier in her mouth and she will calm down without me having to do the whole rock/bounce/walk around the house thing. If only she would suck on the pacifier herself!

 

Morgan started smiling a couple of weeks ago, but does so more consistently now, and it is so much fun. It always amazes me how much joy I feel to see them smiling for the first time.

 

Jaxson's first Quail Hunt

 

Building an Igloo

One Saturday in December we got invited to go play in the snow with some friends at a local park. When we got there the kids and dads went to town trying to build an igloo. It was a nice day to play in the snow...plenty of snow but pretty warm too.

The kids helped bring "blocks" of snow over to the dads who were building the walls and roof.

 

 

We ate pizza while we were there

At the end we piled as many people in the igloo as possible...I think there were like 15 kids and 2 adults. We took a video of everyone coming out one at a time, because it was hilarious to see how many we fit in there! But of course, I didn't upload the video.

Balloon Rally

The Red Rock Balloon Rally is the first weekend in December every year. We have gone in the past to the Saturday night glow at the mall, but had never been to Red Rock State park for the Friday night glow. We were in a major time crunch-trying to fit it in while Jaxson was at basketball practice (who schedules practices for Friday nights? seriously inconvenient.)

We had to walk quite aways from the parking lot and these girls were cold. If I had been on top of things I would have brought hot chocolate.

They liked this pink camouflage one

Decorating the Christmas Tree

We decorated the tree the first weekend in December. I bought a new tree last year after Christmas, and man it is a beast. But I got it all up by myself and the kids helped me decorate while we blasted Christmas music all morning.

fter going to an ornament exchange the past couple of years, I have determined I want to start making a "batch" of homemade ornaments every year, with the hopes that I can give a set to each kid when they leave home and are on their own. I know that is highly ambitious, but we shall see if I follow through. Too bad I didn't have this idea years ago when Hallie was little.

Thanksgiving 2015

Originally we were supposed to spend Thanksgiving in Gallup this year, but my father-in-law has been battling some health issues and was sent to Phoenix the week before Thanksgiving to get the treatments he needed. So we packed up and spent Thanksgiving weekend down there. My parents were also out of town so we decided to live it up at a hotel in Phoenix. Each day we went to the hospital to visit with my father-in-law. It has been emotionally stressful watching him go through so much, but we are happy that he is on the mend!

We first spent Thanksgiving with all of Wes's sisters and their families in Mesa. The kids were so excited to play with their cousins and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Rockin' the leopard print. We spent Friday morning running around doing errands and a little shopping, and then headed back to the hotel to swim. The resort had a lazy river, water slide, pools, and goofy golfing that we enjoyed. The water was heated so it was pretty warm, though the breeze made it chilly when you got out. I wore Morgan in my front carrier, even on the lazy river! She never even got wet:).

Saturday was Hallie's birthday. We invited all of our in-town siblings to come party with us at the hotel. We all enjoyed pizza, a delicious cake my mom had bought for Hallie's birthday, and swimming and goofy golfing.

Our kids just love their cousins and I'm so glad we were able to hang out for a couple of days with all of them!

That night we let Hallie pick the restaurant she wanted to go to, and she chose the BBQ place at the hotel. The food really wasn't that great, but that girl loves ribs, so she was happy.