Christmas 2017

Christmas time has come once again and 2017 was a great year!  It was the last Christmas we expect to be together for quite some time.  That's right. Our kids are growing up and are about to start fleeing the nest.  Here are some of our Christmas memories from this year:

McKay put himself on the naughty list by modifying the Christmas decorations.  He thinks he is pretty funny....ok, so the rest of us had a good laugh as well.

 Our elf Buddy Link was up to his yearly shenanigans.  He came in like a wrecking ball!

 We made dinners for the Food and Care Coalition with the White family and then delivered them.

We hosted our annual office Christmas party.  We had an ugly Christmas sweater contest.  Jeremy had a pretty sweet looking suit that was impressive!

 The boys decorated gingerbread houses with the cousins.

 

Grandma White made the grandkids her annual Christmas pajamas.  We celebrated Christmas Eve with the Whites.

Finally Christmas morning arrived.  McKay declared that he should be the first one up the stairs since it was going to be his last Christmas home for a couple of years.

The kids coming up the stairs to see what Santa brought for them in their stockings.

Checking out and even trying out their stocking gifts.

The boys were excited to see which presents were theirs. We started a tradition a couple of years ago that we don't put name tags on any of the presents.  Each child is assigned a wrapping paper and they don't find out which one is theirs until Christmas morning.

 Jaxon digging his Spurs sweatband while opening presents.

 McKay was excited that he had the largest present under the tree....until he discovered that it was luggage for his mission and college years.

 Kayden unwrapping Legos.  He received a new set from us and then McKay took apart all of his old sets and bagged them up with the instructions and gifted them to Kayden.  It was a very thoughtful gift.  Kayden has Legos coming out of his ears!

 

 Josh opening his present.  I love watching their faces as they opened presents.

Our neighbor and dear friend made this quilt for our family.  It was the most thoughtful neighbor/friend gift ever! 

Christmas was on a Sunday this year so Jeremy wore his Christmas suit coat and tie to church.  He said the whole suit was "too loud" to wear to church.  He wasn't the only one showing Christmas spirit at church, Jeremy's fellow deacon's quorum advisor showed his Christmas spirit as well.

We also celebrated Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Haacke's house with all the cousins.  I guess seating was short since McKay sat on his dad!

We also went on lots of outings and played with the cousins a lot during he break. It was a great Christmas break!

Kayden's Karate Belt Advancement

It just been a few months since Kayden started Karate and he has already advanced belts!  He loves going to Karate and has worked hard to be ready for his belt advancement.

Showing some of the moves he has learned over the last couple of months.

I got to present him with his new belt.  It was a very cool ceremony.

Kayden with all the kids from different studios that advanced belts that night.

Christmas Sing In

It's no secret that I love the school's Christmas Sing In.  The 4th grade changed up their songs this year and you could definitely tell his teacher prefers country music.

Kayden did not enjoy the 4th grade's selection of songs.  As you can see on the left that he isn't singing with much enthusiasm.  But he did enjoy wearing a BYU Santa hat for the Sing In.

Ding-A-Ling the Christmas Bell.  If you will notice he does not participate in the actions.

Holiday In Your Heart.  He does the actions in this one, but only because he is forced to.  Needless to say he was quite entertaining regardless.

Sunday Shenanigans

What does a house full of boys do on a Sunday afternoon you ask?
 

They dog pile.  Yes.  All of them.  Josh is on top, followed by Kayden, McKay and Jeremy.  Jaxon is at the bottom.

View from the other side.  Poor Jaxon.

Christmas Piano Recital

Josh worked hard this last fall perfecting his Christmas piano pieces.  It was fun to watch and listen to him perform:

Silver Bells

Feliz Navidad

9 Broken Ribs

My dad gave us a scare the day after Thanksgiving by breaking 9 of his ribs while trying to fix the Christmas lights on the house. Long story short, his ladder slipped out from under him and he took a spill onto the hard cement and also the ladder that was under him.  I spent a good deal of time at the hospital sitting with him and the rest of my family for a week.  It was definitely something that brought us all close together--and not just in a physical sense.

My kids weren't able to visit much since my dad was in the ICU for a few days and the kids had school. Kayden wrote him a get well soon note and made sure that I would take a picture of Grandpa reading it so that he would know Grandpa was ok.

I was grateful for all the tender mercies that were put in my path that week.  This was a beautiful sunrise one morning.  I was busy getting the kids out the door for school and getting ready to go to the hospital when I stopped and saw the sunrise.  God is real.

 My sister Caprice flew in from New Jersey just in time for my dad to go to surgery to repair 8 out of his 9 breaks.  She passed chocolate peanut clusters around the surgery waiting room.  My mom, my sister Juli and I all just giggled as she did so.  I think there were some pretty grateful people there to lighten spirits with chocolate!  My brother Paul came down from Idaho for a couple of days after his operation as well.

My dad post-op giving us the thumbs up.  Again, my kids wanted proof that he was going to be ok.  It was a scary time, but he will make a full recovery.  So thankful my family could all be here to help out and to support each other.

Kayden's a Bear

Kayden received his Bear Award at Cut Scouts after wrestling a bear.  See his bear paws?

He did a good job pinning on the mother's pin.

All bandaged up and after receiving his award.  See the band-aid on his eye and claw marks on his cheek?  Looks like he got out of the Bear Den just in time!

Another Teen in the House

Josh has officially entered into the teenage years!  He celebrated his 13th birthday this last week and has enjoyed the perks of becoming a teenager by having his first girl/boy party.

We combined birthday parties with two of his good friends that share a birthday week.  Since it was going to be such a large crowd, we had the party at the church.

As you can see, there wasn't much mingling going on.  The boys stayed on their side of the room and the girls kept to themselves.  Even when they were eating pizza there was a clear division.  We wanted the kids to intermingle so we played some games.

 We played partner tag where they were forced to stand with someone from the opposite sex.

We played some relay games where they had to accessorize the birthday kids.

We also played a winking game where you had to guess who was winking and if you were winked at you were out.  And we also had a gift exchange with all the party goers instead of having gifts for the birthday kids.  It was a fun night for the kids and the adults!

By the end of the night the kids were all one big happy family.

 

The birthday kids: Josh, Eli and Ella.

On Josh's actual birthday I checked him out of school and we went and got lunch together at Cafe Rio.  It was fun to be together to celebrate his birthday during the day.

 Josh's birthday night was packed full of scouts and young mens so we opened gifts late that night.  All Josh wanted for his birthday was his own iPod.  He had saved his money and then for his birthday we pitched in the last bit for him to get an iPod.  He was pretty happy about it!

13 Things We Love About Joshua

1. He is so accommodating and wants to please everyone.  He really goes out of his way to make sure others are happy.  He definitely puts others above himself.
2. He loves his friends.  He is learning more about having friends and being a friend.  After a rough sixth grade year, seventh grade has been great!
3. He loves sports, especially basketball.  He puts his heart and soul into whatever sport he plays.
4. He is so animated.  He knows how to have some fun!
5. He has been taking piano lessons and is very dedicated to his practicing.  I enjoy listening to him play.
6. He is very patient.  
7. He is also very quick to forgive.  Both are needed virtues at our house!
8. He likes to earn and save his own money.  He did a lot of extra work in the yard and mowing the lawn this last summer to earn money.
9. He loves his brothers and he supports them in all they do.  He loves watching his older brothers play basketball together and also attends Kayden's games.
10. He has learned that girls make pretty good friends.  He likes hanging out with them and he likes even more that the girls thinks he is funny and fun to be around.
11. He loves being with his dad.  They are so much alike!  
12. Josh learned how to play golf this year.  His Grandpa White taught him and they went golfing together every week until the weather got bad.
13. His room is always nice and tidy.  He got a room makeover this year and he has been great about keeping it nice and clean.  He enjoys being in his new room--especially sleeping in his bigger bed!

Love you Josh.  I couldn't be prouder of who you are.  So thankful you have a kind heart and was placed perfectly in the middle of our family!

Kayden is Double Digits!

Kayden celebrated his 10th birthday this year by doing all things Zelda. It is his current favorite video game at the moment.  It was a great birthday week!

Since it is Josh's birthday week as well, they both got to blow the candles out on their birthday cake at Grandma Haacke's house.

The weekend of Kayden's birthday he invited all of his friends over to the house and we had a big Zelda birthday party. 

We started the night off with pizza for dinner.  Not sure how to tie Zelda into pizza, but it was tasty and the boys all enjoyed it!

The boys did some target practice with the sling shot as well as some archery.  They also had a big sword fight and played some elimination basketball.  Thank goodness the weather was nice!

We capped the night off with a rambunctious singing of Happy Birthday where Kayden blew the candles out on Tri-Force Cookies.  The singing got so loud that Kayden plugged his ears!

His friends all spoiled him as they showered him with birthday gifts.  It was fun to see them all so excited about what they gave him!

Finally Kayden's actual birthday came.  We opened his present at home after church.

That is one big present!  He had been wanting a Zelda sword and shield and finally got them!  He was pretty happy!

He wrapped up his birthday week by having his shared birthday dinner with Josh at Grandma White's house.  It was a great birthday week!

10 Things We Love About Kayden

1. He loves to read.  In fact, after we tell him good night and get him into bed he sneaks on his bedside lava lamp and reads long into the night!  He thinks we don't know--but it's hard to miss that orange glow from under his door.
2. He works hard at school and is an excellent student.  His teachers all love him and say the nicest things about him.
3. I love watching him play sports.  His baseball team won the championship this year and he was super excited about that.  He also just wrapped up flag football season last month and is now into basketball season.
4. He has started karate this year and he is doing really well.  We have fun practicing his punches and kicks together.  Thank goodness for his punching bag!
5. He always flashes the "I love you" sign in sign language every time he gets out of the car.
6. He still likes to snuggle.
7. He still loves Legos and putting them together.
8. He loves his friends.
9. He always compliments me on my cooking.  Even if he adds "...but it wasn't my favorite" at the end of his compliment. He still LOVES tacos.
10. He loves his brothers and loves their attention.

Happy birthday Kayden!  We love you so much and are so thankful you are the caboose to our family!

Josh's Life Scout Rank Advancement

Super proud of Josh and his Life Scout rank advancement.  Jeremy is on his seventh year being Scout Master.  Pretty proud of him too!

Halloween 2017

We had a great Halloween this year. All of us dressed up. Yes, you read correctly, ALL of us. Even me.

For my exercise class that my friend holds, we all dressed up.  I found an awesome velvety sweat suit while shopping at JC Penny's with my sister that I couldn't pass up.  It looked like something straight from the 80s that a mall walker would wear.  So that is what I was: A professional mall walker.

I exercise with these ladies every Monday and Thursday.  I love them!  We have a good time together.

Kayden had been really wanting to carve pumpkins this year.  Poor youngest child--we haven't carved pumpkins that he can ever remember.  So Kayden came up with a design and his dad helped him carve.

The finished product, just in time for Halloween--as in the day before.

This year's costumes did not disappoint.  I always love to see what the kids are going to come up with.

This year McKay got into watching The Office on Netflix.  So he dressed up as Dwight.  I thought he did a pretty good job pulling it off!

Jaxon chooses his costume according to the comfort level.  So he dressed up as an Average Joe Dodgeball player.  He looks good--and comfortable.

Josh loved dressing up as an old man last year, so he wanted to pull it off again this year.  We added some old man pants and shirt to his cane and shaved head.  He looked great!  He ended up winning the costume contest at school and will have his picture placed in the yearbook!

Our family loves the old Nickelodeon TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender and Kayden especially likes the character Sokka.  So Kayden grew out his hair so he could have a man bun and then his Grandma White sewed his costume.  He definitely looked the part!

Everyone at Jeremy's office dressed up for Halloween this year.  Jeremy dressed up as Dracula and even made his own teeth to top off his costume.

I love the traditional Elementary School Halloween Parade.  I look forward to it every year!

Kayden waved at me as he came through.

And of course I made him stop so I could take a picture.

Kayden likes to trick-or-treat at his own pace and so he usually like to go with Jeremy or I.  We ran into some of his friends while out and about the neighborhood.  They had a good time knocking on a few doors together.

It was a fun Halloween!