We hosted a little New Years Eve get together with the Walkers, Maloufs, Batemans, and Bingham. Everyone contributed and we had mini sandwiches, shrimp cocktail, veggies, chips, dips, cookies, oreo truffles, and of course, some Mormon bubbly.
We heard about Netflix doing a countdown for kids at anytime, so we found one of the shows and brought the kids in the media room to celebrate the new year. Little did they know it was 9 pm! I could've gone to bed then too actually. My mom left poppers from last year, so I pulled those out and we called it a party.
After the kids went to bed, we played Telestrations, which is hilarious every time and never gets old, and we finished up with Incan Gold. All the adults made it to midnight! We actually made it even later. We missed Zara though since she's still recovering from her surgery.
New Years Day was Sunday, and Grayson had his first real day as a Sunbeam in Primary! It was so cute to see Hazel grab his hand and proudly walk him in. He was a little hesitant, but he eventually sat down and got comfortable. I now serve in the Primary, so I get to be with all of my kids, which is awesome.
Later that day, we went to meet our new puppy cousins. Tami and Kaye got sister silver labs, Scout and Shadow. The kids loooved them. By the end, they were calling the dogs "yours" and "mine." It's nice we can just go and visit and leave all the hard work to Tami and Kaye! The only bad thing is poor Grayson is allergic (sorry, my bad), so he had swollen eyes and needed a bath and Benadryl as soon as we left.
A few days later we went to Hazel's school for an award ceremony. Half the classes got "Best Effort" awards (the other half will in the Spring), which I thought was a little silly, but the kids really did enjoy getting recognized! Hazel definitely earned her award. She's always does her best.
Then a miracle happened on January 6th - it snowed! (a tiny bit) It started just as soon as Hazel got off the bus, so she was super excited.
The kids have been wishing for snow because they wanted to throw a snowball at Jada to make her laugh. It was suuper windy though, so Jada and I didn't stay out long.
Side note - speaking of Miss Jada, look how adorable she is in her tiara! She's the perfect Anna baby!
Another wish came true this month... my wish to have a garden! James has worked so hard to put in drip irrigation around the entire house. Then he assembled two planter boxes, and next up is the dirt! I'm so excited!
One night our friends Ciara and Brenton came over, and they made us some delicious jalapeno poppers. To be honest, I was worried when they told me they bought 3 lbs of jalapenos because I was pretty sure my sissy self couldn't handle even one. I was wrong! After they were cored and cleaned, filled with cream cheese and roasted in the oven, they weren't hot at all! Yum.
I also hosted preschool this month, and since we were on the letter K, I taught about Martin Luther King, Jr. The kids loved having their hands painted.
Jada turned 9 months on the 12th! I can't believe my baby is getting closer to 1! She is the BEST baby ever!! I seriously can't get enough of her. The latest is she's 20 lbs., in the 80th percentiles for everything, she loves to crawl, pull up on everything, climb the stairs, kiss(bite) her mama, giggle at her siblings, get tickled by Daddy (it starts young), sleep all night (yay!), take 2-3 naps a day, eat her toes, eat real food, do the "Jada pump" (coined by Eva), say "Dada", and smile the cutest little smile with her 2 bottom teeth.
Hazel has really gotten into writing and says it's one of her favorite things at school. She wrote and illustrated the cutest book about our Christmas vacation.
On MLK day, we had the cousins over and painted birdhouses, did nails, played Pie Face (Hazel's favorite game she got for Christmas), and played outside. We love having Hazel home on a weekday! James got home early that day too, so we went to Torchy's and Chuck E Cheese's at night. Hazel declared it the "best day ever."
This month we started a healthy snack challenge this month for Hazel's school, and she was so excited to make this particular snack out of her little recipe book. Yay for raw food! Here's to a healthier, happier year!
