Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day.  Not my favorite.  I hate all the pressure that comes with it.  I keep it pretty simple, though I still acknowledge it.  My kids love it, so Valentine's Day lives on.  In the morning, the kids woke up to cinnamon toast crunch for breakfast and a couple of hershey kisses.  I've spent years trying to make "special" holiday meals, and I'm always frustrated because the kids don't like it.  They won't eat crepes (I know, who are they?!), no fancy waffles (fruit, etc), no cinnamon rolls, no french toast casseroles, etc.  And since I've recently banned cereal from our house (don't ask), they were pretty thrilled to see it on the table.  I also made them each a Chatbook documenting some favorite pictures from 2017.  All of them loved looking at pictures of themselves (except Reed who could care less.  He's so predictable).  The Littles and I went to Kevin's work to eat lunch with him, which doesn't happen often enough.  The kids loved that.  And then we had my mom over for a "special" dinner of steak, and ended with dessert.  Kevin and I went out the following weekend for an all day date (as part of our Christmas present from my mom who babysat our kids).  

I'm starting to have strong opinions about allowing my kids to be creative and independent, especially when it comes to school.  Reed wanted to make his own valentine's box, and he was pretty proud of the end result.  It's a wolf den if you can't tell.  He drew wolves and cut them out and glued it on the box.  The valentines were supposed to fit in the can and go through a hole in the box.  It's a fine line to figure out how much to allow my kids to just do on their own but also risk a chance of possible embarrassment or failure.  I think the best lessons are learned when we fail, but I can attest to the fact that it is really hard to see your kids fail and be so distraught (remember last year's pinewood derby?).  Regardless, he was happy with his box and he did it all by himself.

Heart attacking Daddy's car at work.  Corbin and MJ thought it was awesome.

One too many fun dips.

Mommy Date

At the arcade with my cute date, Corbin.  One-on-one dates are some of my most favorite times with my kids.  

Young Women

I love my calling.  I get to work with the Young Women in my ward (16-17 year olds in particular).  It's like I get to go back in time (which has gotten me in trouble a couple of times...).  They are the best, funnest, most spiritual girls ever.  I love them!

I believe in miracles

Speaking of tides changing....I think I cried silent tears of joy when Reed asked to shoot baskets with me a few weeks ago.

Girl cousins!

Taryn and Ellie have been lone girl cousins on the Wilson side here in Utah and there is quite an age gap between the two of them (MJ is around but she's a sibling not a cousin).  Taryn is constantly reminding me how sad she is that she has so many boy cousins (10 on Kevin's side, 12 on my side) and not enough girl cousins (only 3 total from both sides!).  Recently Andie came to visit from Texas and the two of them hit it off.  They are 2 years apart and there wasn't a ton of interaction when she lived her a year ago, but the tides have turned and they were in girl heaven!  It was so cute to see Taryn so excited!

Andie, MJ, Taryn, Ellie

No, this is not a crime scene...

Mj is so stubborn that she has refused traditional napping for over 6 months.  When she just can't fight the fight any longer, I'll find her like this....

And her brother isn't so dramatic but certainly is just as stubborn....

Happy 7th Birthday, Taryn!

I let Taryn decide what kind of birthday party she wanted, though I certainly tried to convey my opinions in a subtle way.  In years past, she's always done a party at our house and invited a few friends over.  I really don't do anything fancy but, for some reason, birthday parties really stress me out.  So when Taryn agreed to take a couple friends to a fun place (she chose Kangaroo Zoo), I was beyond thrilled.  And even easier, she only wanted her best friend, Melody, to come and her siblings.  Best birthday party ever.  Afterwards, I took them all to McDonalds for lunch and to play at the Playplace, and then let Melody play at our house until dinnertime.  Taryn was one happy & year old!

The mountains are calling

Since I've tried to make hiking a weekly event in the summer and go as often as possible in the fall and spring, it had been killing me to not get into the mountains.  I know people hike in the winter, but for some reason I've been wimpy about it.  I finally decided to put my big girl pants on and take the kids into the mountains.  Yes it was cold and we didn't stay long, but it was amazing what it does for me.  

We mostly just let the kids explore.

And another time we brought firewood and marshmallows and had a campfire!  It was so fun!

When it's cold outside...

You color shrinky dinks.

You pretend to be Santa Claus.

(This is the imaginary play of my dreams!: Santa, elves, and reindeer)

MJ getting girly.

We went to the Aquarium over Christmas break.

Corby and Liam are the best of buddies.

Taryn and Lincoln doing a little light reading.  

Sisters

Corbin with his lunch staple.

A fun pack meeting where the boys had to feed each other an ice cream sandwich off of a string.  They loved it.

Even the younger siblings got to participate.

Taryn and Melody

Superhero pals

 

It often comes to this to get this girl to take a nap.

I am loving Corbin's drawings lately.

(Dad and Corbin)

Christmas a.k.a. the best day of the year

Anxiously waiting to run into the living room

Corby as Spiderman (I love how he shoots his webs); he also told me he wanted to be Spiderman next Halloween (sweeeet!)

It actually snowed a decent amount Christmas Eve night, so we were lucky to have a white Christmas.  We shoveled,

built a snowman,

and went sledding (at the grade school- not a ton of snow but the kids managed to make the most of it).

Reed worked on his Minecraft lego kit (I actually think this was Christmas Eve).

And he finished his Star Wars lego kit.  I don't know why, but it makes me so happy that he basically put the entire thing together by himself.  

My Christmas elves

Do you know how happy it makes me to have tiny elves?  I never really got into the whole new PJs tradition....until I found Christmas elf ones!  I will continue to buy these same ones as the kids keep growing. :)