Preschool Field Trip: Fire Station

Grant got to go on a preschool field trip to the fire station in January. He has the cutest little class (missing one girl who was sick that day) and they were all so excited for their field trip. I tagged along because I knew Miles would want to go and I wasn't sure if Grant would freak out or not (sometimes ambulances and firetrucks scare him... perhaps a little PTSD?) Luckily, he did really well except for when the fireman wanted to attach a pulse ox to the kids in the back of the ambulance when they sat on the stretcher. He flipped out and I had to quickly let the poor guy know that this was not his first experience. It was probably for the best... I think they might have freaked out a little if his sats were in the 80's.

Grant's highlight was getting to drive the huge fire truck. We went to the station that services the airport, so they had a huge truck designed for assisting on airline fires. It was massive.

I am grateful that he has such a fun preschool teacher. She focuses on art and music and composers and he has some new art experience every day. He has made some good friends at preschool too for which I am grateful.

January

January brought us right back into our normal routine. Our weeks are full of preschool, errands, therapies for Grant (PT, OT, and Speech on a weekly basis), primary stuff for my church calling, house cleaning, etc. I am usually ready to go nuts in January, but having Kyle graduated from his MBA has helped immensely this winter. I don't feel quite so trapped because Grant is old enough to go out as long as we avoid certain places and major crowd settings. Kyle is home at night to give me a break and our winter has really been fairly mild. Thank heavens. Here are some silly photos from our days at home (where we spend a LOT of our time in the winter).

Miles LOVES bare skin. He cracks me up. Kyle and I both love to shower with him because when he gets that skin to skin contact, he just snuggles up and doesn't move. It is the best and he has done it since he was tiny. This morning, I was helping Grant change out of his PJ's and Miles ran over, tackled him to the ground, and proceeded to lay on his bare chest. Grant loved it and just kept telling me to take their picture. It cracks me up that Miles can tackle Grant, but Grant is so cautious with so many physical things (one of the big reasons he is still in PT) and Miles uses that to his advantage. This little brother will probably be beating up on his big brother for years to come.

Licking the beaters is a rite of childhood, but we rarely let our kids do it because Grant cannot eat raw egg (not with the risk). One of our neighbors brought us an awesome Lion House Brownie mix for Christmas and it was made without eggs, so they both got to experience the joy of licking a beater. Kids and chocolate goatee's are the best.

Kyle had picked up a few of the Home Depot kids building projects a year or so ago and had never finished making them. Grant wanted to be involved in the project Kyle was doing (a shelf for my kitchen) and so one Saturday morning, they say down together and built this tool box. Grant and Miles both got to paint it while Kyle worked on painting my shelf. I am so grateful to have a handy husband who lets the kids be involved in his projects!

Santa brought us each our own tape measure for Christmas and now they don't have to fight over Kyle's anymore. They are some of the most loved toys/tools in our house. They will go around measuring everything for hours. It cracks me up.

Kyle hit the big 3-0 in January just before we left for our first family vacation (more to come). We made him an awesome cake and let him open one gift when he came home for lunch. 

Later that night, my dad watched our boys while Kyle took me out to dinner. We came back and had cake and ice cream with Kellie, Spencer, and my Dad (my mom was taking care of her parent's in Colorado). We had saved his big gift for later and I loved his surprise.

Check out that cake! Yum. Kyle requested the chocolate toffee crunch cake from Our Best Bites this year. It was so rich and delicious.

When it was time for him to open his big gift, he was a little surprised to find out that it was only part of the gift.

He had to go look in Mile's closet to find the rest of it. It was a big tool chest that I had been hiding at our neighbors for a few months. I love surprising him. The kids loved taking daddy on a hunt to find his gifts. Happy Birthday Kyle! I am looking forward to the next decade of ours lives together!

Holidays 2013

I have decided that I don't do Christmas Morning pictures very well. I am tired and just want to enjoy my kids reactions in the moment instead of trying to document it in the perfect picture moment. I started sewing these matching Batman pj's for my kids to wear this year and in true Alli fashion, had my mom finish them for me. I really stink at finishing sewing project, but they looked great! Thanks mom! The kids were excited to see what Santa had brought them and mom and dad threw a few fun toys in for good measure too.

I need to remember every year that less is more. Grant would open one present and only want to play with that one thing, forget about all the other packages under the tree! Miles was the same way. We ended up opening a few presents that morning and then pausing for breakfast and more playing. We went to my parents for a brunch and opened gifts there before bringing our kids home to nap. We finished off our present opening that night while facetiming with Kyle's family. It was a great day.

Grant who is obsessed with all things lego/duplo was thrilled with the new things he got this year.

Nate: as usual, you made mom cry as she looked through her 2013 grandkid book. Way to go. :)

I am missing the pictures from our Christmas with Kyle's family. We went to Utah the weekend before Christmas for Grant's cardiology check up. All our pictures were on Kyle's phone, so I will have to get him to download them for the blog. On New Year's Eve, we stayed up "late" for the kids and had a rousing game of Twister. Grant is hysterical when playing Twister and likes to fall down and say "oh no. I fell down. I am out " over and over. He thinks it is better if you can fall over quickly. We love it.