Happy Birthday Hayley

Have I told anyone lately how much I love Hayley. She is the most amazing spouse. Hayley takes on everything that is asked of her and them some. She is doing a wonderful job teaching our children principles that will guide them throughout their lives. She reminds me often of how much she cares for me. She always impresses me with her capabilities. I love her so much!!

Family photos

Sunriver, Oregon

We had a great time in Oregon with the van Beevers, Wilsons and Jones. Can't wait to do it again.

Check out the videos.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=em-upload_owner&v=LTsi9KI1-ZQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NKlnrNE5og

Cohen turns 7!

Cohen turned 7 on December 12!  We opened seven presents and had some cake and ice cream after his school Holiday choir performance.  Then that Saturday he invited some friends over to watch Planes.  He finished up soccer and now is onto basketball and Bach children's choir.  I love this Christmas baby of mine.  He is so affectionate and always gives lots of hugs and kisses.  He is so generous with his possessions and tries to save things for people because he is so thoughtful.  His handwriting is outstanding and he has many creative ideas.  He broke his wrist falling off the playground structure but toughed it out we didn't even X-ray or cast it.  He also got to go to a BYU bowl game with Luke, Dad, Grandpa and cousins.  He mastered the back flip this summer and blows me away with athleticism.  In soccer he could run and never get tired.  He loved to slide tackle and even scored a few goals.  I love watching him play sports and play with Luke.  They are buddies and he always wants to know where Luke is and what he is doing.  Happy Birthday to my Christmas baby!

Choir

Cohen joined the Bach Children's Choir in January.  He has had a good time and really come to love singing.  It was fun to watch him perform and open his little mouth and sing his heart out.  I enjoy hearing him practice around the house and watching him develop confidence through this new talent.  At his formal concert he was well-behaved.  He kept his eyes on his instructor and held still and smiled.  One song they sang had a trumpet and I could tell he was very excited about it.  He has been playing my old trumpet the past two days.  He said he loves choir so much he wants to do it instead of soccer.  This surprised me since I kind of pushed him into it at the beginning.  He has a wonderful instructor who is actually our neighbor and a member of our church.  It was nice because he was able to catch a ride with her too.

My baby is 1!

Travis turned one on May 16th!  He seems much younger than my other kids at this age because he is still crawling.  He can take a few steps and stand up in the middle of the room without pulling up on something so I'm sure he will be running soon.  He loves sucking his thumb and often rubs his belly while he does it.  Max started climbing out of his crib so now Travis has a real room instead of the office and Max sleeps under the stairs so we can lock him in.  Max is very protective of Travis, he often lays on top of him to prevent him from crawling in the street or getting into the bathroom.  Max loves to hold Travis and it makes me smile how much love they have for each other already.  Travis is very snuggly and flaps his arms when he gets excited.  His birthday was a crazy day, but I managed to make a cake for him.  We didn't get to eat it until 8:30 that night because Luke and Cohen had a play-off baseball game.  They were counting on winning and making it to the championship game but ended up losing 2-1.  It was a very emotional night.  I have never seen them so upset and sad.  They had a really good season shutting out and winning most of their games.  So pretty early on they had their sights set on this game.  I was even sad.  The little ones were such troopers going to all their games and practices.  It was fun to get out and watch them play and enjoy some beautiful weather.  Luke tried out for the All-stars team and made it so now we will be watching more baseball in the heat.  I am excited for him to improve his skills and experience baseball with regular baseball rules.  Cohen is going to take an insect collecting class and Jade is going to do dance and gymnastics.

random pics

Max Turns 2!

Max turned 2 on April 11!  He is doing really well.  He is off anitbiotics from the fusobacterium necroformans that caused his epidural abcess and sigmoid sinus clot.  They don't plan on any more MRI's or follow up testing.  He still has the clot but after 3 months of antibiotics they decided to stop and he has been fine.  Of course we all had the stomach bug over spring break, but no ear infections or signs of loss of hearing.  He is happy and full of energy and life.  He loves balls!  He drags around his bat to play baseball, constantly pulls my arm and wants to play ping pong and basketball is a favorite too.  The other day on the play structure at school he managed to climb out the opening of a tall pole like climbing thingy, a fair distant straddle and arm reach, I thought he was going to fall but did it all by himself.  He loves to wrestle, hug, hold and play with Travis.  It really does melt my heart because they aren't too different in size.  He calls him ba ba.  Max doesn't have many words down.  Jade is jee and Cohen is toe, and I can't distinguish Luke yet.  Somehow he gets along just fine without words.  He loves to open the fridge all by himself and get applesauce and cheese.  He still likes his oatmeal which is great because it fills him up!  He is a big boy.  Thick and solid.   He loves to sing.  When we are singing or the radio is playing or just randomly he will sing out loud and strong in all his non word attempts.  I am so grateful for all the prayers, love and support in his behalf.  Our prayers truly were answered and I can't imagine my life with out him.  

Jade's 4th Birthday

Jade turned 4 February 25th!  She was counting down the days until she was "the boss."   We were able to celebrate Friday night at Wahoos with my parents.  My mom made her a cake and we sang to her.  It was a precious moment to see how special she felt when she saw the cake and we began to sing to her.  It made me want to be better at planning and celebrating birthdays.   Then Saturday we hit McDonalds (Chuck E. Cheese was way too packed and I think she had just as much fun in the play area) and then ate pie and cake and sang again.  On her actual birthday Monday, she wanted to play at Teagan's house in the morning and have her friend Scarlet over in the afternoon.  It was a beautiful day for a beautiful little girl.  She is really into painting nails and wearing high heels.  She has been painting my nails everyday.  She loves to sing and has the sweetest voice.  Her voice is so unique and pleasant.  Her vibrato blows me away. I look forward to accompanying her and hope she can develop that talent and continue to enjoy it as much as I do.  She is sensitive and a mama's girl.  Her reoccurring demand is "hold  me standing up."  I don't know why she likes that so much.  I often worry she isn't getting enough attention stuck between two babies and two school boys but I know we will have a great relationship as she gets older and we get to do more girl stuff just the two of us.  She loves to help me in the kitchen, fold laundry, clean toilets, whatever the task she is right there behind me.  She is smart.  She loves puzzles, taking things apart, and doesn't give up easily on whatever she is tinkering with.  She talks a lot.  I love it and hope I can nurture her talent because I love chatting.   And I don't always have a lot to say so its nice to be around someone who can talk a lot. I am so thankful I have a girl, I love Jade.

Braces, Birthday and Baptism

 Luke turned 8!  What a week it was for him.  He got braces on the 4th, birthday on the 5th and baptized on the 9th.  He was excited about the braces and was eager to show and tell, but it became a little stressful when four of the eight fell off.  Now he has an expander on and almost died choking at the neighbors eating some pancakes.  We turn the key every morning and he only asked for pain medicine the first day.  I didn't even think about braces being stressful but now that he is used to them I am not too worried.  Kids are so resilient, a little pain one minute off running playing the next.  His birthday was pretty low key.  He requested to go to Chili's and then we had some family friends over for Marie Calendar pie, daddy's choice, but Luke of course so easy going didn't say a thing.  He also went to Boomers with his friend Trey and Cohen the next week.  For his baptism he asked his Uncle Justin to confirm him and Will baptized him.  I was kind of confused when Will told me Luke asked Justin to confirm him.  But Will said he let Luke choose. (Sometimes I forget to let my children plan and make small choices, but they love stuff like that)  It was a special confirmation and baptism and I felt the spirit very strongly amidst the multitude of people and small children.  It was a sweet experience for me to have Luke choose to be baptized and understand the covenant he was making. I know he has a desire to be righteous and that is comforting to me.

Luke is a good kid.  He is easy going, kind, forgiving, friendly, responsible, it seems I could go on and on!  I admire how quick he can forgive his siblings and how hard he tries to make them happy.  He is on the ball with his chores and obeys most my snappy demands.  He is doing well in school and enjoying reading.  I think he got through most of the Book of Mormon this past year.  Its almost hard for me to believe because it seems a difficult book to read for a kid his age.  Just when you think he's not paying attention to family scripture reading he rattles off answers to Will's questions faster than I can.  He got 3 A+ on his last report card.  He blows me away in sports.  He is playing basketball right now and is becoming more coordinated.  He fakes people out, drives hard to the basket, steals for a break away and makes smart passes.  I thoroughly enjoy watching him play.  This mom leaned over to me and said "he's almost too good to be true."  Not that I have anything to do with him being good at basketball but it felt really good.  Luke might have my sensitive gene.  The first Sunday Max was in the hospital a lot of people were asking me about him so of course I balled for 3 hours.  Church was over and I was still crying as I responded to one last person and I saw him hide into the hallway.  As we walked out to the car I noticed he had tears in his eyes, I asked him why he was crying and he said it was because I was.  I love my Luke.

Epidural Abscess

Max was in the hospital for 2 weeks in the beginning of January.  His ear infection turned into mastoiditis and then into an epidural abscess with a sigmoid sinus clot.  A rare and serious infection.  They surgically drained his ear twice and he has had a CAT scan and 2 MRIs.  He is still on IV antibiotics every 8 hours at home and has another MRI on the 14th.  Its been long, hard, and sad knowing how sick he is; but after the first week in the hospital he has been pretty cheerful so that has helped keep me calm.  He seems himself so I am hoping he is healing and we can take the PICC line out of his arm after the MRI.  The first night he was in the hospital I had a dream he was home playing happily and that brought me a lot of comfort and then after Will was able to give him a priesthood blessing I  felt better.  Sometimes its hard to just put things into the Lord's hands and let His will be done, but I know that is all there is left to do.

Helper

Jade is my little helper.  Max thinks he is my helper.  He has mastered pushing the stool to where he wants, climbing up and getting into... medicine, glass cups, hidden cookies, art supplies, the microwave, you name it!  He also loves climbing into the dryer and going into the bathroom, lifting the toilet seat, pulling up his shirt and pretending to pee.  He is crazy busy!  Each kid has gotten busier and I hope Travis doesn't take the cake because Max will be hard to beat.

Luke's Award

Luke received the true blue character award at school on Monday.  It was nice to go to the assembly and hear his teacher say many kind words about him.  As a mom, there aren't many pats on the back for the job you do at home, so its rewarding to have some validation through the good behavior of your children at school.  The teacher even printed her little speech she gave for him to take home.  I have reread it a couple times and showed it off to whoever has been to our house.  I couldn't be more pleased with Luke, he has a "heart of gold" just like his teacher reported.