Our February field trip for preschool was to the post office. The kids each came prepared with one letter addressed to their home. I don’t know what’s in the envelopes but I am looking forward to getting it in the mail! They each bought a stamp, put it on, and mailed their envelope.

The funny thing is that we have a PO Box, so JT’s envelope only has to travel about twenty feet down the hall!

Then we got a tour of the backroom and the mail bins. We even got to go outside and see a mail truck! It was really fun and I actually learned a lot too.

We had a jam packed weekend! First, we had to reschedule our annual New Year’s Day brunch for Groundhog’s Day (remember Jim, JT, and Haley all were sick?). Fortunately, everyone could make it! We had a pancake bar and everyone brought toppings to share. Haley and I made a quadruple batch of pancakes, three egg-ham-hashbrown casseroles, maple sausage mini meatballs, and Boston Creme cupcakes for dessert. Yum!

Click here to compare with 2011’s photo

We take a picture of the kids on the couch every year (except last year… sad) and it is fun to see how they’ve grown. Of course, we started with only adults… so the group has gotten much larger.

Then we hosted Brady and Carson for dinner Saturday night while their mom was at a birthday party. Poor Haley was just sure Carson would want a tour of the house (“Look, Carson, want to do puzzles with me?”) but he was very interested in being a boy. So Haley hung out with me and the boys played great, ate well, and were very kind. Here are JT and Brady praying for dinner – so sweet!

Sunday was Super Bowl, and we had a party to go to at the Schmalzes’ house. The pregame activity was clay shooting. The ladies rotated turns watching all nine children in the house while the rest of the crew went out to play.

During halftime, we avoided the children watching commercials and the halftime show by serving dinner. Of course, no one was really watching the game anyway, but still.

Elisa made a huge spread and everybody brought something, so we ate for four hours straight.

Yum!

I took all of these pictures on Tuesday this week…

It’s not nearly as fun as the cabins in the snow at our house, but we try. Here’s Haley pushing her kitty in her stroller. They are going to the store.

Every week, I write JT’s memory verse on our chalkboard. I think I’m improving on my look! I have a fine balance between readable for JT and artsy for me.

Last night, JT got out a flashlight and the kids spent about twenty minutes doing all sorts of fun things.

Checking for lost toys

Hiding under the couch fort (but came out for the photo)

Flashlight tag on the ceiling

This last one I got on video because it was so funny. Haley was dying laughing at JT saying “it is over here? is it over here?” and shining the flashlight all over the ceiling. It was so cute. Love my two!

We have been planning this past weekend for months! We have a great group of friends from Jim’s college life. We’ve known the guys for fifteen years and have gotten to know the wives as they’ve gotten married. Now there are 13 kids to add to the six married couples. We met up last in July 2010, before Haley was born, and then saw each other last year at the 17th Ave House Reunion. We’ve been looking forward to our weekend in the snow since we planned it this summer. One family couldn’t make it at the last minute, but the rest of us had a wonderful time! Everyone is on board with making this trip an annual tradition.

Saturday: ate lunch at Snoqualmie Summit on the back of our Volvo. I love the tailgate for this very reason. 🙂

 
We arrived late afternoon. Unloaded into our bedroom and private bath at Bethel Ridge Retreat in Naches (outside Yakima). Got the kids geared up for some sledding right outside our cabin door.

First sled ride with dad

A view of one of the cabins at night.

JT and Liv enjoying a bedtime treat

Haley getting a pull

JT finally got brave enough to go down the hill by himself!

Jim attempts the skeleton

Smiles!

JT had this great wipeout captured on camera… he got up laughing and licking the snow crystals off his face. He still has a little snow burn on his cheek to prove it! He also went completely off the track once and landed in the trunk of a tree. He was cracking up laughing, surrounded by twigs with his foot caught in the sled rope, when I fished him out.

The adults had just as much fun as the kids

Playing in the snow fort

For lunch on Sunday, we had campfire roasted chicken sausage and hot dogs. Yum!

Jim invited me to double sled with him. Sixteen years after our first date, he’s still got it. 🙂

But I got a little nervous after we started sliding since I was barely on the sled!

 

Jim took JT out to practice with his beebee rifle. We are training him up correctly in firearms safety and his second amendment rights. He told me this one is his favorite picture from the whole trip!

Sunday morning, I did a Bible lesson, songs, and a craft with the kids. We made salt dough flowers and learned about Jesus caring for us. Good stuff!

One afternoon the older kids snuggled in to watch Veggie Tales while the moms prepped dinner. It turned into a wrestling match on the couch. 🙂

Halle and Haley

Our weekend stock of cocoa and cider

Waiting for taco bar dinner – playing board games

We saw deer twice – right outside the windows.

One night, the men went out and lit off fireworks for the kids (and for them… ahem!)

Playing hide and seek in the cabin

The Keenes decided to have s’mores in the snow… so fun. A great memory.

 

Breakfast in the cabin… Haley decided she wanted a BIG bowl of Kix. She ate it all, and drank the last of the milk in the bowl that was as big as her head.

Monday morning we spent our last minutes in the snow before leaving after lunch time. Haley was a little cold in the 20-degree temperature and wanted to be held a lot of the time.

We did manage a group photo shoot and individual family photos before the kids got too tired and cold. They turned out great!

Okay, the all-kid photo did not turn out great. Check out Haley and Abby!

Love. Love. Love.

Haley said she would sled with me if she could snuggle me. So down we went, with her huddled in my coat. She didn’t want to get snow on her face.

We did the hot tubs a couple of times, and our kids loved it. It feels so good after the cold snow to warm up in the hot tub!

Get dad!

 

It was absolutely wonderful… the weekend was everything we hoped for. We can’t wait for next year!

Since JT is a summer birthday, I asked him if he wanted to celebrate his half birthday at preschool or wait and celebrate early in May. He said a half birthday would be fun, so that’s what we did. I signed up to be parent helper on January 15. I have a nice arrangement with a friend to watch Haley while I take her son Asher with us to preschool (he’s in another class). Here we are headed to school on the big day. (Love my car, that allows me to pop in another child without moving in a car seat… hooray for integrated boosters, Volvo!)

We brought special snowman cookie snacks in which the children got to frost and decorate their snowmen with a cup full of goodies. Here is JT enjoying his birthday snack. Sitting on the table near him is the porcupine toy he picked out of the birthday box at school. They even sung “Happy Half Birthday to You”!

His teacher and I talked about next year, because he is a summer birthday. She said he is completely on track with his older classmates (he is the youngest in class by a full six months) but would totally understand placing him in junior kindergarten next year. Of course, that has been our plan all along. So he has a spot reserved for the JK class at his preschool with Miss Robin. He is very excited to already know who his teacher will be, and it’s nice to skip registration for a year. 

In other news, JT had a follow up visit to his doctor to check his lungs after his pneumonia two weeks ago. He is 100%, and he is certainly acting like it. He is also making up for lost calories and eating everything he can. It’s nice to have him back. We went to Trader Joe’s afterward and enjoyed the kids’ shopping carts.

It’s been over four years since I first started going to a workout at a local church. It’s Wednesday and Saturday mornings, it’s free, you bring your kids, and it is an awesome group of ladies who have become some of my dearest friends. We showed up in very coordinating colors last Wednesday, not at all on purpose, and I convinced everyone to take a picture. This is at the end of an hour of torture so we’re all very sweaty! A huge thanks to my friend Jen (next to me in the picture) for inviting me four years ago. I’m in the best shape of my life.

I got a houndstooth coat from a friend who didn’t want it anymore… it was a steal at $10. Here I am headed out to go grocery shopping, rocking the new coat. It’s very Roll Tide, but there is a lot of houndstooth in stores right now too. It’s fun!

JT got to help Jim blow up a bunch of balloons for a project at work. He did a great job using the air compressor all by himself!

And finally, we can’t forget about Miss Haley Bean. Twice in the past week people have commented that she sounds like a three year old when she speaks… with a vocabulary that rivals a preschooler and an attitude to match. She has started to use expressions correctly (“Holy smokes!” = cutest thing ever), and articles like the or a or an. Don’t get me started on her pointing out letter Hs in everyday objects, and in stores, and asking “what these letters spell” and counting into the teens. Here she is wearing her Christmas Eve headband, getting ready to go to church. You will also notice her hair, courtesy a second hair cut from me. We are getting close to her hair being even all the way around, which is nice. Love her to pieces!

First off, we were so excited to watch the Tide stomp all over Notre Dame (and we were right), but Monday morning we got some scary news that Jim’s cousin’s baby was born with some very serious health concerns. They live in Alabama, so all we could do was pray and wait for updates. So while we had a nice time watching the game with family and friends, it didn’t really have that celebration feel. There are more important things than football, to be sure. You can be praying for little Leah as she battles her way into the world along with us.

Jim hung up a rack of Alabama attire in case anyone coming over didn’t have something appropriate to wear. 🙂

Haley wore her new polka dot Alabama dress she got for Christmas from our Tuscaloosa family. It was soooo cute!

JT had a great time playing with Alona!

Cathy and I wore our matching scarves…

And JT made sure we inflated our blow-up Alabama chair. It’s his favorite place to watch football.

Grandpa made sure to get some Haley snuggles before the game was over!

And here we are during the big moment… in this carefully staged picture with Saban lifting the crystal football in the background. 🙂

After spending a week under the weather, we are finally on the mend. Haley enjoyed trying out her new tea set in between sniffles from her cold, while Jim and JT built JT’s monster truck kit (and painted, and stickered) that he got for Christmas. Such great guy time! JT also got to use his tools to fix a wobbly wheel on his bike. Another new favorite activity is JT teaching Haley things on the Kindle Fire. He shows her the shapes and the letters and helps her count to get the right answer. It’s like having a tutor in the house for my two year old. Love it!

No photos… just an update. Jim went to the doctor this morning and he was told he has rotavirus. JT went to his doctor this afternoon and was diagnosed with rotavirus and pnuemonia. He started an antibiotic today. Both boys are very fatigued and spent most of today horizontal. Pray for recoveries and that Haley and I stay healthy!

Update 12/31 – Haley has been sick with a fever (up to 103) and a congested cough since Saturday. I took her to Children’s Urgent Care on Sunday and she has clear lungs, so that’s good. If she’s not cleared up by Wednesday I will take her to her pediatrician for another check. I feel a little run down (you think?) but am doing fine otherwise.

Here’s to a healthy 2013!

With the boys sick, I made the tough decision to leave them at home and take Haley to the family Christmas dinner at Jim’s sister’s house. It was really hard to leave, especially with JT saying, “Why are you leaving us when we’re sick? Who will take care of me?” as I headed out the door. But Haley and I had a wonderful time at the family dinner and then rushed right back home to take care of our boys.

Haley and Travis!

Our hosts, Matt and Jen

Grandma gets some baby lovin’

Haley got her energy out with Grandpa Cole after eating two Christmas treats.

When we got home, I found out that JT had started throwing up while I was gone. My face looked something like this.

He threw up twice again in the night time and was very slow waking up the next morning. He did manage to rally enough to open some gifts and play with ones from Christmas morning.

Jim was not better. He spent a lot of the day like this.

If you read in the Christmas Eve post about Jim being sick, you might be wondering how Christmas morning went. JT woke up about 5:30 crying that his throat hurt to swallow. 😦 I tucked him back in bed and Jim, meanwhile, got up to throw up. He said he felt much better and then we woke up about eight, along with Haley, who was excited to open her stocking. Then I popped our blueberry french toast casserole in the oven and puttered around until JT got up, at about 9:30. We ate breakfast and then JT opened his stocking.

Then that was enough for poor Jim. 😦 He just felt awful!

But seriously, he did a great job trying to stay awake while the kids opened their presents from us.

I got a new lens for my camera! And a camera sling pack, and a 4-hr photography workshop session. I’m so excited!

To show you how amazing my new lens is, check this out. I just switched lenses… suddenly, my dark family room pictures are bright and light.

I took these two exact same pictures of Jim with the same mode, from the same spot, with identical environment. The only thing I did was switch lenses.

So I’m a little excited. On to it…

New slippers… I literally wore a hole in the bottom of last year’s

I made Haley a makeup kit inspired by my friend Stephanie. I used old Clinique makeup cases and washed them out, then glued in colored paper. I bought some new brushes and put the whole thing in a cute case. Haley loved it. It was so fun watching her pretend to get gussied up for us.

JT spotted a cash register at a garage sale this summer and has wanted one ever since. He was pretty excited to open this from Uncle Jeff and Aunt Gena.

Haley goes shopping with her basket from Uncle Jeff and Aunt Gena

Can you find Jim? Poor guy. About this point I took JT’s temperature and it was up to 100 degrees, and his tonsils were huge and red. Not the way I expected to spend Christmas morning!