January Just Zoomed On By!

I've been slacking lately!  We are so caught up in our day-to-day fun and hunkering down against the snow and rain that I have completely forgotten about keeping the blog up-to-date!

As usual, we have had our fair share of playdates, library visits, and playtime.  A favorite right now is Lego's and coloring.  Kylie also loves to dress up as a princess! She creates her own crowns and everything!

Also, in the past two weeks, Aunt Chantel and Uncle McKay came back from Taiwan and decided to move down to St. George!  So we have had them over a few times for dinner and games and even attempted a very cold and blustery day at a park.

Kylie and Hayden are always asking when they are going to come over again and can't get enough of them!  They are fun to have over!

Another favorite way to pass the day is the ever-entertaining Snapchat filter, which even Hayden is not afraid of anymore!

Kylie's next tooth is SO CLOSE to coming out, and she's already having troubles with saying 'f' words because of the one she already lost.  She loves school and loves writing sentences at home.

Hayden loves beating up the cat and goes to time out every ten minutes because of it (not really... but some days it feels like it!).  He loves playing Batman or Spiderman and talking to whoever is on the phone (it doesn't matter who it is).

February is already gearing up to be a busy month, so hopefully I can stay on task and get the blog out in a more timely manner!

Winter Fun

Not much has happened this week.  Normal, normal stuff.  Library, walks, playing with friends, art projects, and shelf building.

Some fun things that happened: had a sleepover at Brandon's house for the first time.  Apparently it went very well and they kids were super happy when I came to pick them up on Saturday.  Always happy to hear that they enjoy their time with their daddy.

Today, Sunday, Hayden was still fighting going to his Sunbeam class.  I left him in tears because I had to teach my own class, but everything turned out ok thankfully.  Also I am no longer Kylie's teacher.  (Which is actually a good thing haha).  Things got shuffled around and now I teach the 7/8 year olds!  They are a fun class.  The best part is when we all came in to sharing time and I see Kylie sitting with Hayden on her lap and she is totally taking care of him.  It was the cutest!!  Then, during singing time Kylie finally pulled out her tooth!  That thing has been begging to come out for the last week.  Now she is super excited for the Tooth Fairy to come tonight!

Let it Snow

After our fun Christmas trip it is nice to be back home... if only so we can keep to our sleeping schedule!  New Year's week was spent cleaning out the old toys to make room for the new toys and catching up with our friends.

We also got some snow down here this past week!  It started off as a rain/hail storm, though, so under our dusting of snow was a lot of ice.  But that didn't stop Kylie and Hayden from eating it!  Up in Cedar City they got way more snow so Brandon took them sledding last Saturday.

There were also lots of baths this week to warm up from the cold weather!

On January first Hayden officially became a Sunbeam!  And he officially does not like it!  He's been struggling the past year going to Nursery, so I knew that Primary would be even harder to convice him to go to.  It didn't help that I had to teach that day... my new class: Kylie's class!  So Hayden came with us and lets just say that the two of them in class together is not a good combination.  So the next week I had to teach half of the class (because of circumstances), and then the last half I went and sat with Hayden in his Sunbeam class.  He ate a few pretzels and got him dancing by the end, but in sharing time he was on my lap again.  Sigh... this is going to be a long transition!  He did just barely turn three, though, so I can't be too surprised by his behavior.

Christmas!

Christmas Day we went to church with Grandma Tess and Grandpa Pete.  Even though it was just a short one hour meeting, Kylie and Hayden were still restless, probably because of all the snow that fell the night before!  Kylie did go up and sing with the primary though!  And she ACTUALLY sang!!!  It was amazing.

After church we went to their house to open presents! Once again, we were all spoiled rotten and I have no idea how we are going to get all of these awesome gifts home!  Some favorites were the superhero capes Grandma Tess made, Hayden's big train set, and Kylie's cat vet set.

We spent the rest of playing with all our fun things and, of course, out in the snow.  Kylie and Hayden just LOVE the snow and especially eating it.

Monday we also got to spend with the Hansen's!  We went sledding!  Yay for more snow activities!  It was crazy busy because it was a beautiful, clear day, but Kylie and Hayden had so much fun!  Kylie did super great by herself, and Hayden went down once with Grandma Tess and then a few times with Kylie.  I was hesitant to let him go down by himself, since it was so busy.  Grandpa Pete was at the bottom of the hill taking all the fun pictures.  Even Uncle James showed up at the end and went down a few times!

Then, after some hot cocoa we did a little shopping at the mall and then went to Sizzler for dinner.  It was super yummy and I think Kylie and Hayden ate an entire watermelon between the both of them.
Thanks so much to Grandpa Pete for all the pictures and to both him and Grandma Tess for spoiling us and for the fun time!  It was also good to see Uncle James before he leaves the country and Uncle Tommy (who is always so busy we hardly ever see him!)

Tuesday was spent at the Knudsen's playing with our new toys and playing a game of Tetris trying to pack them all away.

Wednesday we managed to to get the car stuffed to the ceiling (though we did leave a few things behind), and made our way back home to the sun!  Thanks again to everyone for this awesome Christmas and making us feel so loved!

Christmas Eve

The drive up north on Wednesday was uneventful, thankfully!  The kids were so excited to see Grandma Shari, but disappointed that there was no snow.  It was definitely cold enough for snow though!

After dinner and running around like the crazies that they are, we did some gingerbread houses!  Kylie and Aunt Kelsey made a super cute house, and Hayden and I made a train.

Thursday evening we went to see Luminaria at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens (which apparently changed its name to The Ashton Gardens).  It was pretty cold, especially when the sun went down.  Kylie ran around with Aunt Kendra and Aunt Kelsey so she stayed pretty warm, but Hayden got really cold and had to be held by Grandpa Gary the last half.  The lights were so beautiful and it was so fun to run around them!  They even had live reindeer that you could pet!  Kylie loved that part.

After the show I went with the girls to see a movie and the kids got some grandparents time!  All that walking must've zonked them out because they were asleep when we got home!

Friday Shari took us to see the movie Trolls.  Hayden was so excited for this because he had been watching snippets of it on Youtube Kids for the last few weeks and even sang along with one of the songs.  It was a cute little film and both of the kids really enjoyed it.  The did such a great job sitting in their seats most of the movie and there was no complaining at all!  It made me so happy!

Friday evening I went to another movie with Gary and Kendra, so the kids got to have Grandma Shari all to themselves!

Saturday was Christmas Eve!  That morning I went to lunch with my family (the Hansen's), and left the kids with the Knudsen's, since the movie we went to afterwards they would not have liked.  Yes, that is four movies in three days and I think I am good with the movie theater experience for the next six months!  Haha

That evening, after my excursion with my immediate family, we went to Shari's side of the family for some Christmas Eve fun.  We had a yummy dinner (Kylie only ate a roll and Hayden only ate chips and dip.  Typical...) and then a fun talent show.  Kylie's talent was being a puppy dog.  The ENTIRE night.  She has loved being either a cat or dog practically all day for the past week.  It can get really annoying after a while.

After the party we went back to the Knudsen's to open presents!  And, man! did we get spoiled!  The kids got so many presents and they wanted to play with them all right then.  We really appreciate everything we got and want to thank the Knudsen's for everything they've done this holiday for us!  We love you!

Seeing the Nativity

More Christmas fun this week!!  We started off by finishing our huge crafty ginger bread mansion.  It seems that we are building our own Christmas Village!  The kids love to play house on them.

On Monday I took the kids to Tuacahn to see the live nativity.  It was cold and crowded but so worth it!  We watched a little choir perform before going into the amphitheater.  Kylie and Hayden sat so well and were completely immersed in the live retelling of Jesus' birth.  They always got super excited when a horse or donkey came on stage, but they were ecstatic to see the camels.

Then Kylie did some rolling down the hill while we waited for the Christmas Train ride.

They loved the "train" ride, but were both thoroughly frozen afterwards and happy to head home.  I really loved taking them to a live nativity!!  I think it helped them realize more what Christmas is all about.

Other highlights of the week:

I did my first ever French Braid in Kylie's hair!  She was awesome and sat so still while I restarted five times...

Hayden was pretty sick all week... lots of throwing up and diarrhea - but only at night.  Go figure.  Basically he got to the point where there are no sheets on his bed - just towels.  Poor kid!  He's thankfully feeling a lot better now!

Kylie also turned herself into a Christmas tree!

We received a few Secret Santa gifts to the family this week. It's so humbling to be on the receiving end of these acts of service.  The kids absolutely loved it and since we were going to be out of town for Christmas I let them open their gifts.  Whichever individuals got us gifts really know us because the kids gifts were perfect!  One of the most favorite was a little cash register.  Kylie and Hayden played store for quite a while before bedtime!

Now we are getting all packed up to head up north to be with family for Christmas!!  So excited!!

Getting Ready for Christmas

This week was nice and normal compared to last week.  In that, we got to get back to our schedule (which I love so much) and Kylie got to go back to school (which she loves so much) and Hayden got to relearn his boundaries (which he will come to love so much, haha!)

We finished decorating the house for Christmas, did several Christmas crafts together, as well as make sugar cookies with our friends.  It was kinda cold this week so we didn't go out much.

Hayden did get a haircut (shorter than I planned but oh well.  It should grow back.)  And he can say his name better this week - "Hay-nyan" versus "nyan-nyan"!  Getting that H sound down!

On Saturday they spent the day with Brandon in Cedar City.  They went swimming and then to see Santa!  Kylie apparently was terrified of him, but Hayden was brave enough to talk to him.  He said he asked Santa for a Polar Bear Cake.  Kylie wants a White Fluffy Kitten.  That is real.  Because our cat needs a friend.  Hmmm...

We have also listened to a lot of Christmas music this week - which turned into spontaneous dance parties.  Which involve booty shaking.  And for some reason the only video I got has the kids pants-less so I apologize.  But it is still pretty funny to watch.

We have one more normal week before the holidays are fully upon us!