New Year, New Post!

Could Christmas break be any more wonderful? You know that line in the popular Christmas song that goes, "and Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again?" Well that couldn't be further from my truth. But the break is over, kids are tucked back into their desks at school, and it's on to tackle the new year! Upon reflection, I discovered (all right, I already knew it, but had to face facts...) that the time I spend on facebook looking at what other people were doing in their lives might be better spent recording my family's life. After all, we are pretty awesome people and my kids say and do some pretty awesome things. And since no one reads blogs anymore (is anyone out there?) I can be pretty honest about what goes on around here without worrying about starting some global outrage (I actually worry about that when I post anything on facebook.) So, Welcome to the Aaron and Christie Hall Family History blog! I think I'll just start by posting our Christmas letter from this past year. Here it is: Dear Family and Friends, Yay! It's the Christmas/New Year's update letter you've all been waiting for! (And we know you've been waiting a long time... 2 years by our estimation...) Even though we're a little slow, we still wanted to touch bases with people that we care about and let everyone know that we are alive and doing well. Sometimes we're a little frantic and busy and teetering on the edge of insanity, but it's a good kind of insanity . So here we go ~ .

Aaron is a Director with Okland Construction and oversees large commercial construction projects. In 2011 he completed his job at the City Creek Center in downtown SLC (a huge project that rebuilt and improved several city blocks downtown), and for nearly 2 years he has worked on a new building for Adobe in Lehi, UT. It is a very innovative, spectacular building that had a catch phrase tagged to it early by the owner "Awesomeness in a Building!" He continues to work with 11 year old, first year boy scouts at church. Aaron and Christie just got back a couple of weeks ago from a 5 day trip to Hawaii. This was an amazing and incredible trip, and he was amazed that he talked Christie into leaving the family just 2 weeks before Christmas. With five boys he has little spare time but enjoys keeping up with all things family and fun.

Christie is still trying to hold together a household of 6 boys (5 children and Aaron). We have a framed art piece in our front entry that reads "Boy, n.: a noise with dirt on it," and our boys live up to that standard. She finds time for herself in the mornings by participating in classes at the local gym (at 5 am - eek!), then it's off to the busy-ness of motherhood. One accomplishment that she feels pretty awesome about is completing a 5K FoamFest race in August. (It made me feel like a stud-woman!) She is a Webelos Den Leader in our Cub Scout pack at church and tries to find time to play her flute when she gets a chance. She recently played in the orchestra for a church production of Handel's "Messiah".

Jordan is now 15 and in 10th grade at Bingham H.S. He is adjusting quite well and is clearly glad to be out of middle school. Frankly, we can't blame him. He really enjoys participating in the plays at school, and he is the Vice President of the Spanish Club at Bingham. One of his big accomplishments was earning his Eagle Scout award in 2011 (and the cell phone that came with it). He has started some online chats with girls, but we can't tease him too much as then he won't tell us anything more! He enjoys Pokémon, video games, reading, and creating digital art. As I work on this letter, he is sitting on the couch studying the driver's manual preparing for his test for his learner's permit. (oh my.)

Zach is now 13 and in 8th grade. He is all too eager to drive. We may have to chain him down to keep him out of the car. Zach has continued playing soccer and has gotten to the point where we really enjoy watching his games. He hit a growth spurt and picked up some quickness which really helped him out on the field. Zach enjoys hanging with brothers and friends, playing his trumpet, wearing contacts, and especially loves art and doodling and drawing anything he can. He is a Life rank in scouting and hopefully will be finishing his eagle this next year. He joined a city swim team this past year and surprised us (himself most of all!) by placing 3rd out of 40 swimmers in his first county-wide swim meet in the 50 meter freestyle.

Caeden is 10 and in the 5th grade. He is a great helper around the house for his mom. He also played soccer and swam on the swim team this past year. He is a strong little man! He says he wants to be an artist when he grows up and keeps sketch journals everywhere. He is doing great in his scouting and Aaron looks forward to having him in his 11-yr. old scout patrol in 3 months. He loves anything that is soft and fuzzy. Before we went to Hawaii, we asked each boy what souvenir they would like. Immediately Caeden boasted a large and shy grin. Without even asking we knew he would want some stuffed animal that reflected Hawaii.

Jacob is 8 years old and in the 2nd grade. Jacob is extremely bright, just like his older brothers. He also has strong computational skills. If you say we are going to go somewhere "around 5 o'clock" he will look at the clock, get this thoughtful stare and then quickly tell you that we will "leave in 73 minutes". He's not much for estimating, and takes everything literally. (Although he has finally started to catch on to jokes and puns!) Jacob has an infectious desire to love and be loved. We sometimes feel we have a family pet because he often hops on your lap, wants a hug, and then wants to be scratched or tickled. He has progressed well in schooling and his teacher and resource counselor have helped us find ways to help him gain more sense of self-control and involvement with the other students. It has been awesome to see.

Levi is 5 and in kindergarten. He is our big tease. Perhaps being the youngest and getting a lot of things dished out to him has helped him respond in this formativeway. Most of the time it is fun. (Sometimes he becomes the proverbial "last straw.") In it all, he is full of life and love. He loves everything robot, monkey, and yellow. He has picked up reading very well and must be read to every night or he won't be able to go to bed. He is also quick to remind us about having family prayers each night and is always the first to volunteer to say it. Well, we close another year and are so very grateful for the bounteous blessings in our life. We are grateful to have you in our lives. We are thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ and his gift of life and love for us all. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to all! Lots of Love from the Hall family, Aaron, Christie, Jordan, Zachary, Caeden, Jacob, and Levi Hall

Time to blog again!

Wow, time flies when you're really busy! In honor of the 1 year anniversary since my last blog, I am posting an update! With milestones flying past in the lives of my boys, I guess it's time. The boys start school this week, so I guess it's a good time to re-dedicate myself to keeping our family's story up to date. We'll start off with a few pictures that my sweet sister took of my boys while we vacationed in Texas. (Thanks Julie!)



Jordan, age 14, is getting ready to start 9th grade. He is also doing everyone's chores to earn as much money as possible so he can by a 3DS. (That's the DS that's in 3-D. Pretty cool, and pretty expensive.) And he is now the proud owner of a cell phone. I told my boys a long time ago that they could have a cell phone when they got their eagle scout award (which he did), and with him in 9th grade, it will be nice to be able to communicate with him when there are school activities and such. Jordan hosted a pokemon DS tournament for his friends last weekend. He got trophies, prizes, and served lunch and treats. I'm happy he's willing to invite friends over. Could it be? Maybe we don't embarrass him too much.



Zachary, age 11, goes into 7th grade on Wednesday. He's getting excited to be in the band! Zach got his trumpet this week. Go Zach! He has it out every few hours sounding like a honking goose downstairs, but I'm happy he's excited to play in the band. He's also doing well in soccer. I watched practice last week and he was 3rd or 4th in the ladder sprints, which was great considering he was slowing down for the turns. He's a lot better than what he thinks he is. We got his schedule last week for school. He got into all the classes that he wanted to, and because they do an a/b schedule (4 classes a day on alternating days), he is so excited for his "B" day - it's band, language arts, art class, and math. Basically half the day will be play for him. I'm happy that he's happy to go back to school.



Caeden is 9 now, and will start 4th grade on Wednesday. Caeden is busy being the loving, teasing boy he is. Just loves to play with brothers, and does good things to be happy. Love it. He starts soccer in a few weeks, and is excited for 4th grade because his favorite friends are in his class.




Jacob is 6 and starts 1st grade this week. Jacob has been growing like a weed. Which is surprising considering how little he eats. (SO PICKY!!!) I hope his teacher is ready for him. He is worried that he won't be smart enough (he is), and is super-worried about what will happen if he doesn't follow directions. Should I be thankful that he's at least thinking about that, or worried...? He will also start soccer next week.




Levi, my 4 year old (and always my baby!) starts preschool this month. sniff sniff. Levi is super excited about school. He remembers dropping Jacob off at the same school, and he thinks it's "so awesome" to be going to a big kid school. Everything good is "super awesome" to him. It makes me smile. I'm going to miss having him by my side all day. Except when I want to nap. Then maybe not so much. He will be soccer player #4 this season. Let's just say that my life will be over-run by soccer this fall.



Aaron is staying busy with his job. The new project that is just beginning is keeping him busy. I was hoping that he would have been able to get ahead while we were in Texas, but alas, no luck. His day consists of leaving for work just as I get back from the gym, then he gets home just in time for dinner, we read scriptures, say prayers, he helps tuck the boys into bed, then I go to bed while he works from home for another 3-4 hours. The beginning of a project is always so busy!

I'm staying busy keeping track of my boys. Got a lot to do to get them ready for school. I swear, Jacob has grown 6 inches this past year. He shot out of his size 5 pants, through the 6's and we're going to try on the 7's today to see if I can just pass down Caeden's uniforms or if we need to go buy some more. Maybe we'll have a tall boy yet! We're also working on painting our living room (again.) I want to lighten it up with a different green, but Aaron doesn't want it to be too bright (Light green reminds him of the walls of the mental hospital down in Provo. And no, he has never been a resident.) I think we've decided on a taupe-ish green. We'll try it and let you know what we think. I also delved into the world of canning this week. We picked a basket of apricots from my mother-in-law's tree last Monday, and on Wednesday I spent 5 hours or so peeling, halving, pitting, and canning apricots. We haven't tried the plain apricots yet, but the jam is yummy. This week, we will tackle green beans out of Dave and Wendy's garden. We are grateful for all the yummy vegetables that they are willing to share! So here we come to harvest and bottle... It will be good. And it is pretty easy. And my boys love home-grown beans. So it's a win-win all around.

Well, that's our life in a nutshell. Or in a nuthouse. You choose.




Oh, how I love my boys!

Another big milestone (by accident...)

Ok, so last Sunday Zachary came home from church with a big, huge, powdery lollipop thing. And being the kind brother that he is, he decided to share it. (Alright, I know some of you are disgusted by our family lollipop sharing practices, but if no one's sick, I just let it go. Honestly, I'm more grateful that they're sharing than worried about the transfer of germs! But, back to the story...) Jacob had been sucking on this thing for a long time, and his brothers were starting to get a little grumpy, so I imposed a time limit to sucking. Jacob's time was up, and so I went to get it from him. He ran away from me, with the sucker in his mouth - which, unlike brotherly germ sharing, kind of freaked me out (due to an incident that happened when I was young - a friend ran down the hall with a toothbrush in her mouth, fell, and the toothbrush became imbedded in the back of her throat. Thankfully her father was a pediatrician and she survived, but now the sight of kids running with things in their mouths really scare me. And, again, back to the story...) So, when I cornered him in the laundry room, I told him that his turn was OVER and it was time to give up the lollipop. I told him that I would count to three, then it would come out of his mouth, like it or not. "One..." "Two..." (do you see where this is going?) "Three..." And I (being a mom of my word) pulled the lollipop out of his mouth. At the same time, Jacob decided that his teeth would be stronger than mom's fingers, and he clenched down. Jacob was wrong. Next thing I know, he's on the floor yelling at me that I had pulled all his teeth out. I panicked, then checked his mouth. There was one bottom tooth that was a little loose, and I told him that if he would leave it alone then it would tighten back up and be fine. Meanwhile, his brothers filled him in on the tooth fairy. Jacob decided that it was in his best financial interest to work that loose tooth out. And so 2 days later, I had a sweet 5 year old who was $1.00 richer. Is this all my fault? Maybe not entirely, but kind of. I'm going to try to place some blame on his brothers to help alleviate my guilt of how this mom invited the tooth fairy to meet Jacob...

Another practical use for pokemon

Anyone who really knows my sons will recognize the "Pokemon" overload we have going on over here. I mean, these guys love pokemon. Like, they watch the shows, collect the cards, play the games, talk the talk... I even overheard Jordan and Levi talking the other day:
Levi, the 3 year old: "I battle you!" (as he throws something imaginary at Jordan)
Jordan, the 13 year old: "Levi, I am not going to battle you until you get some new pokemon!"
And I think "Wait, the 3 year old is battling the 13 year old, and the 13 year old is taking it seriously enough to be concerned about the 3 year old's collection of pokemon?!?!"
OK, so maybe you had to be there, but I had to shake my head and laugh.

Another case in point: Here's Jordan's birthday cake. Yes, it's a Pok-e-ball.Do you notice what Zach is doing in the background? Yup, playing a pokemon game on his DS.

Anyway, in order to save some money, I am now trying to teach my boys piano (yeh, I know what you're thinking, and I'm thinking it too, but we'll see how it goes...). So I sit down with Jordan for his lesson and introduce his newest song. It has triplets and 16th notes, and I'm trying to get Jordan to count them out loud. To get the rhythm right, I count "trip-o-let, trip-o-let..." on the beat. Jordan decides to customize it. He starts counting "pok-e-mon, pok-e-mon..." on the beat. Then we get to the 16th notes. I, being the boring old mom that I am, start counting "one-ta-tee-ta, two-ta-tee-ta..." as I was taught to count them in music theory class. But, hey , what do I know? Jordan thinks and asks "Do I have to count them like that?"
"Well, I guess not. How do you want to count them?"
Of course, out of the hundreds of pokemon out there, there would be a 4 syllable pokemon creature name. So now from this day forth, it is no longer a 16th note, but a "Rat-a-tat-a."

Hey, whatever works, right?

Artwork

Sometimes I just like looking at what my boys are drawing. I smile the biggest at the simple "MYMOMMYLOVESME" written at the top of a page by a precious 5 year old who's just learning to write:


Or the first "smiley face" of a 3 year old:

But sometimes they get a little more creative. Take, for example, Zachary's interpretation of swinging on a rope swing into a mountain lake fed by snow: The water really was close to 35 degrees, but I'm pretty sure there were no sharks. The fear, however, was most likely as real as it can get.(here's the real thing!)
But sometimes their drawings are just an indication of how they are feeling. Here is one of Jacob's on a day where he's feeling particularly happy. Notice the boots. Yes, he wears them in the summer for real, too.
These are just a few of my favorite things about being a mommy. It just makes my heart happy!

"I'm a robot"

Levi, for some reason, has been loving his inner robot. He is often caught walking around our house with stiff legs and straight arms, and when asked "Whatcha doin'?", he'll reply in a monotone voice "I'm a robot." For Levi's 3rd birthday, Zachary was especially tuned in to this and got him a stuffed robot. Levi loves to play with him! Gave him a name and everything. We call him "Robot." I guess this morning, Robot was hungry. Such sweet boys! I'm not exactly sure where this phase came from, but it makes me smile none-the-less.

Duh, mom, don't you know???

A "New" Tradition

In honor of Pioneer Day, we decided to start a new tradition. You see, a long time ago, in 1856, we had some ancestors who crossed the plains in the Martin Handcart company. Just when my great(x3) grandmother Mary Ann Mellor was about to give up, her daughter found a pie in the snow. It reminded Mary Ann of her blessing that she received as her journey began on the boat "Horizon," that she would see her children safely to Zion. Here is an exerpt from a speech that Louisa (the daughter that found the pie in the road) gave on March 26, 1881:

We witnessed some heart-rending scenes on our journey to Utah. Sometimes, I saw as many as thirteen bodies being buried in the morning before we started on our way.

The outlook was very discouraging. The captain called a meeting and told us there was only enough food for one more day and asked us if we would rather have it all or divide it into three days. We all agreed to divide it. And despite our desperate situation we sang the handcart songs. One was, "If we should die before our journey's through, Happy day! All is well!" The camp gave up to die, if need be, and scarcely a dry eye was left to see the dying.

My mother, being still weak, finally gave up and said she could go no further. The company could not wait for her, so she bade my father goodbye and kissed each one of the children Godspeed. Then my mother sat down on a boulder and wept. I told my sister, Elizabeth, to take good care of the twins and the rest of the family, and that I would stay with Mother. I went a few yards away and prayed with faith that God would help us, that He would protect us from devouring wolves, and asked that He would let us reach camp. As I was going back to where my mother was sitting, I found a pie in the road. I picked it up and gave it to my mother to eat, and after resting awhile we started on our journey, thanking God for the blessings. A few miles before we reached camp we met my father coming out to meet us. What a joyful meeting that was! We arrived in camp at 10:00 p.m. o'clock. Many times after that Mother felt like giving up and quitting; but then would remember how wonderful the Lord had been to spare her so many times, and offered a prayer of gratitude instead. So she went on her way rejoicing while walking the blood-stained path of snow.

So, to honor the our pioneer heritage, we have decided to make a pie on pioneer day. I just didn't want this great story and example of our ancestors forgotten!

We don't know what kind of pie Louisa found, so we just made our favorite, blueberry! We had a fun night talking about all our pioneer ancestors and eating pie. It was a great "Pioneer Day Pie" family home evening, and we will be doing it every year!

Happy Pioneer Day!

One wonderful thing about living in Utah is the extra holiday. July 24th is Pioneer Day, when we celebrate the day that the pioneers, along with Brigham Young, entered Salt Lake valley. I couldn't stand the thought of spending the day just cleaning and doing laundry, so we decided to get out and play! We found that Cottonwood Heights was celebrating "Butlerville Days," so we went over there to see what was happening. Sadly, we forgot our camera, but Aaron managed to capture this on his cell phone: (Get out your magnifying glass!)

(of course, need I say that Aaron's phone really stinks as a camera? I tried to resize, but I couldn't blow it up at all without it looking all blurry. Sorry!)

Here's another picture of Caeden going down just after Zach hit the target:



Both Caeden and Zachary got to sit in the dunk tank. We threw the balls and if we didn't hit the target, we just ran up and dunked them ourselves. We enjoyed free concerts (the best was Eclipse, a male a capella group, who are just awesome! - and we're not just saying that because we know one of the singers...), really expensive greasy fair food, bounce houses, a hilarious juggler, and fun fireworks. All in all, it was a great day!

Did you all do anything fun to celebrate?

I know that I will want to remember this!

One of my reasons for keeping a blog is so that I can remember all those wonderful things that my boys said and did when they were young, (and so I can possibly use it for bribery and/or blackmail purposes when they get older). But sometimes the things that make me laugh hardest are those cute one liners or the simple contemplations of a young boy. Not quite enough to make a whole blog entry, I used to think... Until Now! Hey, this is my blog, after all. So every now and then, I'm going to post a "post it" of the little things that my kids do that make me laugh. Here's the latest:

Trying again!

Oh no! I've become that blogger who lets her blog go for months at a time! But, thank goodness, I can just try again. After all, you haven't failed until you've stopped trying. (which, ironically, is also my dieting motto. whole different story there...)

Quick update on all that has been going on here the past few months:

Our big project has been our basement. Yes, I know, we finished it 4 years ago. But Aaron had a bad case of basement envy (so many people have done such cute things with their basements, and every time we went to visit someone else, you could see it in his eyes: "Look, they have an exercise room..." or "Wow, a theater room" or "what a fun game room" or "wouldn't a second kitchen be awesome???"), and so he decided to redo our basement. Luckily, the bedroom/bathroom area has remained untouched. And by untouched, I mean at least the rooms weren't demolished. But they were filled with drywall dust. We've got them mostly cleaned and now they're ready to paint... again... (Jordan wants brown walls and Zach and Caeden want a blue room. We'll see what we get done in the next few weeks.)But the paint project is separate from the whole "remodel" project, which consisted of ripping out our big rectangular family room and making it into 3 separate areas using arches, cabinets, and flooring changes. So of course we had to change around all the electrical wiring and plumbing, too. Anyway, we now have a basement kitchen, a game room, and a tv room with surround sound. I think I may miss my big play room, but it does look pretty good. And Aaron is very happy ~ and because he did the lion's share of the work, that's what is most important. For the past 2 months, he has been working his 10 hour days and then coming home and putting 4-5 hours in on the basement. We are so glad that this project is finished! Now I just need to finish deep cleaning all of the construction dust which has imbedded itself into every corner of the house... Aside from our house projects, life has been going on and the boys continue to grow. (I guess that's what I get from feeding them.)

Let's go through life boy by boy...

Jordan: Just turned 13! Finished first year of middle school. Survived. Ran a 5K with me last month. Smoked his mom by 3 minutes. Got braces.(I think he looks more like a teen, which makes sense because he is!) Has been invited to join the "pre-competition" swim team at the rec center. Thinking he will do it. Did great in the school play, but decided to take ceramics next year instead of theater. Theater teacher was bummed, but she'll get over it. Has decided he wants to be a computer graphics designer - that's why I want him to swim, too. A kid has got to have balance in his life! He was so excited when his piano teacher decided to take June and July off to care for her mother, because it means he's done with piano - although his mean mother is making him learn a hymn a week. He is almost done with eagle required merit badges, and is starting to look for a project. We're thinking he may finish by the end of the year.

Zach: He has decided that he is "Zach," not "Zachary," which I can handle, but I still get to call him Zachary at home. He finished 5th grade. Zach has had a few run ins with regard to bullies (just one example - he kicked a bully who had his friend in a headlock in order to save his friend, and then he and the bully had to sit side by side in the principal's office and received the same punishment! which I thought was terribly unfair. We had the whole "we don't fight at school" and "what to do when a bully is attacking" talk, but Aaron took him out for ice cream afterward for having the guts to stand up for his friend), and a few other issues this past year, and so I have switched him to a charter school, Hawthorne Academy. It will mean he'll be on a traditional schedule like Jordan, and the curriculum is an IB curriculum, which means that they study subjects more deeply and broadly, instead of pushing them up a level when they get bored. It is exactly what he needs. He is smart enough to be in ALPS (Advanced Learning Program for Students - the same program Jordan is in), but he doesn't want to be one of the "nerds", and I am thinking (hoping) a change of pace will do him good. He also has passed off the swim skills to join the pre-comp swim team, and is still in piano lessons - which he enjoys, as long as he doesn't have to admit it. Still doing scouting, and will be playing soccer in the USA league this year. Still has that tender heart, loves the color red, and anything sweet.

Caeden: Turned 8 in March, got baptized, and his mom finally got his baptism blanket finished 2 months after his birthday. (yes, I'm a slacker. deal with it.) He finished 2nd grade, and is doing well, except for his handwriting. What is it with boys and handwriting??!? He is keeping busy with scouting, bike riding, and friends. He is my most social boy. He is taking a lot of teasing because he was caught holding hands with a sweet girl during track. And to be honest, it serves him right. Geesh. But he's not letting the teasing bug him. Is that a good or a bad thing? Caeden is on the waiting list for Hawthorne for next year. I'm not sure how this will pan out, but he likes his class at the neighborhood school and doesn't want to leave, so maybe it won't be such a tragedy if he doesn't get in. Although, he'd be the only boy in our family on year round school. Ugh. He is such a strong kid, and his soccer coach invited him to play goalie on his winter team team, so Caeden played indoor soccer this winter. This fall, he'll play in the USA league, like Zach. The USA league has more structure and learning than the rec league they've been playing on the past few years so we're thinking maybe it will help them step up their skills. He's a sweet little bugger, and still has that teasing streak. Dude, a serious teasing streak. Like, if a child is screaming, it's probably because Caeden is in the same room with him. I love my Caeden.

Jacob is still Jacob. We are discovering he is a brilliant kid. He starts kindergarten in the fall at the charter school with Zach, and is reading almost as well as Caeden. It took about 2 days for him to figure out how to blend the letters' sounds, and then he was off and reading. We've been trying to figure out if Jacob is just Jacob or if there was something a little different that needs a some attention. And after observing him at pre-school and being his primary teacher, we have had some behavioral evaluations done. Officially, they're thinking it's ADHD, with an emphasis on impulse control issues. We tried some medication, but it just brought out obsessive compulsive behavior, so I took him off of it before we even went back to the doctor. We have worked with a behavioral psychologist, but she wanted to pull him out of his academic preschool program and put him into a behavioral therapy program, but Jacob is smart enough to know that he was being "demoted." And besides, his preschool was working so well with him, providing positive reinforcement, and he was academically soaring. And he was surrounded by kids who didn't have problems. The behavioral preschool would have been with half the kids, and twice the teachers, but it just didn't feel right, so I decided to not do what they suggested. So now we're working with a psychologist who is helping us make sure that we have the right diagnosis, and decide what we can do to help. I still have panic attacks now and then about Jacob. My biggest fear is that we will lose him one day. I think it's just residual fear from his (literal) death-defying leap from the window, but I still don't feel fully comfortable leaving him with others watching him. (I still do it, fighting my fear, but can't fully relax until I am almost home and can see that there's no ambulance or police car in my driveway.) He is always on the move, and not always aware of his surroundings. I still don't let him play in the front yard unattended, because he just doesn't get the whole "look before crossing the street" thing. What I love the most about Jacob is how loving he is. I love how he comes up to me and gives me huge full body hugs and tells me how much he loves me. In fact, his biggest complaint about his mom at one of his behavioral therapy sessions was "She just loves me too much." I guess I can live with that.

Levi is 3 now! And for the first time in 13 years, I don't have anyone in diapers. Amazing, isn't it! Levi loves me, and I love him. He usually wants me and only me, and sometimes it gets tiring, but since he's my baby, I put up with it. He is talking and being understood, can tattle on his brothers, and loves to jump and play right along with them. There is definitely a difference between the things that a first child says and a 5th child. Levi makes me laugh with his "Will you just stop talking to me!" or "What the crap?" (yeh, he gets that second one from his dad.) He can identify pokemon, and his favorite show is "Go Diego Go!" He is coming out of the "do everything for me" stage and now it's all about "let me do it!!!" and "My turn!!!" We have to have 2 family prayers every night. One where the person whose turn it is says the prayers, and a second one for Levi to say the prayer. What are we going to do? Tell him "No, you can't pray."? He has to have 3 books read to him every night. Thankfully, Jacob (yes, Jacob) will read at least one of them, then we read the rest. And we can't forget the drink. If he falls asleep before he gets it, he will wake up in the middle of the night and ask for a drink. His schedule is very important to him! Oh, he's a sweet guy! And he makes me laugh!

As for Aaron and I, we are just plugging along. Aaron is busy with work and scouting, and we're still waiting to see if we are going to be transferred to Washington DC. Stupid government. It's ok for them to take 3 months to make a decision, but will only give us 2 weeks to move a whole staff there and start the job. Although, at this point, we're thinking we didn't get the job. If we had, we probably would have some feedback on the bid by now. So we're just moving on as if we're staying, and unless we hear something, I'm just not going to worry about it. As for me, I am tired. I finally decided to get a few tests done to check thyroid and hormone levels. Normally, I get a small measure on energy back after having a baby, but it's been three years since I had Levi and I'm still dog tired half the time. I'm trying to lose weight - in fact, I've been running 3-5 days a week for almost 2 years now, and yet have gained another 20 lbs! So I'm now officially as heavy as what I was 9 months pregnant with Jacob and Levi. So sad! Am I tired because I am fat, or am I fat and tired because of low thyroid? Turns out it's a combination of things, and I'm trying a few medications. So far, I'm feeling a little better, and getting more done. Also started weight watchers again, and I'm hoping the combination of the two will make me feel normal again!

And around us, life is going well. My brother is finally back from Afghanistan! YAY! He had 2 coworkers and friends killed a not too long ago, and one of the reasons it wasn't my brother was because it wasn't his day to travel. He was on the ground and encountered dangerous situations every day. He joked about it (Like when he told us about rocket that flew over the building where he worked, and why we shouldn't worry about it: "You can't expect to get an accurate trajectory when firing from the back of a donkey." Or his theory of why so many terrorists come from Afghanistan: "It's the plumbing. It backs up so often that it makes you want to kill someone."), but I was so stressed about it. It was different having him on the ground working for the "lethal targeting unit," compared to the other times he had been deployed and was mostly in the air. So glad he's home!

So there's the update! I'm going to try to get pictures up and catch up on things that have been going on. I still want to put our pictures up from Nauvoo (last summer's vacation!) plus since then we have had family reunions, camping trips, and generally fun things happening. Life is good, and I want to remember that. Especially when I am swamped with crying boys who are mad because their brothers aren't doing what they want them to do... like right now... guess I need to go and get back to mothering...

I love my boys!

The costume -

I have always loved how Jordan likes to get involved in school activities. This year, he decided to be in the school play. He tried out and made it. The director wanted to give the students an opportunity to experience many different aspects of the play, so the students and teacher chose a theme (King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table), wrote about 8 different sketches, practiced, memorized, designed sets, etc, all under the watchful eye of "Queen V," their theater teacher (that's Ms. VanDerloh to us non-drama folk.) It took about 3 months, but finally they were ready to perform. The night before dress rehearsal, Jordan told me he needed a costume. Actually, he didn't exactly tell us, he just proceeded to have a meltdown when we asked him to practice the piano. When we finally got him to tell us what was wrong, the story came out:
"What is the matter?" I asked in that ever (ok, it was not so very) patient voice of mine.
"I need a costume for the play."
"By when?"
"Dress rehearsal is tomorrow."
"So you need this by tomorrow. When tomorrow?"
"3pm."
"What exactly do you need?"
"I'm a knight."
"So, a suit of armour?" (Already I'm trying to figure out where in the world I will be able to find SOMETHING... ANYTHING...)
"No, I'm not fighting, so I don't need the armour, but I'm still a knight."
"But isn't there a fight scene?"
"Yes, but we're in the woods hunting, not jousting. So I need whatever a knight wears when he's hunting."
"And, what does a knight wear when he's hunting?"
"I dunno."
"What are the other knights wearing?"
So Jordan tells me of one guy who has actually brought his costume to school before the dress rehearsal (his mom is obviously trying to show all of us loser moms up), but he is a frivolous knight with sparklies on his helmet and a feather boa. But Jordan is not a frivolous knight, so that wouldn't work for him. And that brings us back to the question: "So what do you really want me to gather together for you?"
"I have no idea."
"And you need this by 3pm tomorrow?"
"Yes."

I love my boys.

So in desparation, I go to the dollar store (nothing), Target (nothing), and call the neighborhood (where I get a few ideas and a helmet). Meanwhile, Jordan tries to talk his dad into taking a milk gallon, cutting away half of it, painting it silver, and using it for a helmet. To which Aaron replies "Let's look online and see what we can find."

Finally we find a pair of faux leather pants at Walmart, but because they were 1)on clearance and 2) by Miley Cyrus, Jordan refused to wear them. Come on, kid! Throw me a bone! Knights would have worn leather pants while hunting, right? And the next morning I find on a piece of scrap paper the name of a costume shop in Salt Lake. Aaron had found the shop online, but decided that maybe it wasn't significant enough to tell me about it, I guess. (Really? What were they thinking? Don't they know I'm grasping at straws at this point??? But this is another story...) So I ran all over town looking for boots and a cape while Jordan was in school . At the costume shop I finally found an old halloween costume that had a tunic and a chainmail-looking hood and sleeves, along with black boot-like covers. Yay! Success! I got it to the school with 10 minutes to spare. Jordan, luckily, was thankful. Otherwise I might have had to thump his skull.

Jordan never did wear the leather pants. But we did get Aaron to try them on:
It was worth the $3. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! Thanks Miley.

Again, if you ever wonder why sometimes I don't post very often...

This is what Levi was doing while I felt guilty about Caeden's bad hair day...


I guess he was feeling a little "artistic" with watercolors being the medium. And this is why we have only washable paints in our home.


Oh, what I wouldn't do for a clean house and a mess free day!















(Or, on second thought - how grateful I am for these little men and their messes that make my life so interesting. Now I'm off to get Levi out of the tub before he floods the bathroom...)

Confessions

of a mom who's trying hard, and thinks she's doing the right thing, but still feels guilty...
Today I sent Caeden out the door with uncombed hair (believe me, it wasn't pretty) and no breakfast. I'm trying to let the boys experience some of the consequences of standing around staring at me with those "deer in the headlights" eyes for half the morning instead of getting ready for school. Caeden actually sat on a chair for 5 or 10 minutes this morning in his pajamas holding a lunchbox. And, even though I knew it meant "Ok, mom, I'm up and ready for breakfast, will you please fix me a bowl of instant oatmeal - 2 packets consisting of one strawberry flavor and one banana flavor - with a cup of milk, and maybe a piece of toast - I'd like both honey and cinnamon/sugar, but I know that you won't let me have both, so maybe just honey - and while you're at it, I'd really appreciate if you could fix a cold lunch for me because Zach has one and I love my brother Zach and want to be just like him, but I don't want ham and cheese like Zach, I want pb&j (actually 2 of them) and a soda, but I'm afraid to ask for that because I know how you feel about soda for lunch, but I'd really like it, too, and a granola bar, and by the way I have no idea where my shoes are...," I am trying to get him to vocalize it. Because some mornings I don't always know, and I'm getting tired of my sons getting mad at me because I haven't read their minds. So I ask, "Caeden, do you want some help?" And he answers with a grunt and tosses the lunchbox my way. I remind him of what needs to be done, and even send reminders down the stairs to hurry him along the way. But he still just couldn't get his body moving. By the time he got dressed and found his shoes, I had his lunch ready. And I looked at the clock, and it was time to run. We heard the bus pulling away, and if he ran, he could just make it. No breakfast, no combed hair, but he made the bus. I love my kids, but I hate being an "on-demand" taxi driver, and when you're out of bed an 45 minutes before the bus comes, there's really no excuse. But maybe I should have pinned a note to his shirt saying "Please excuse my appearance, but my mom is trying to teach me a lesson today."

Caeden is Eight!

Wow, this little man is growing up so fast! I have heard so much about the middle child syndrome, and I sometimes worry about my Caeden. (I worry about all my kids on a daily basis, not because there's something to worry about, but because I am the mom. It's what we do.) After all, no one wants to be the one that everyone forgot... But I think Caeden has the problem solved. The boy makes sure that we know he's here. From the very beginning, he has been the tease of the family. (I tell him he gets it from his grandma rigtrup.) He was teasing his older brothers from the time he started to walk, and any time we hear Jacob crying/yelling/generally being annoyed, we know Caeden is within arm's length. He plays so very well with his big brothers, knows all the pokemon lingo and such, and can probably "out-goalie" them easily. And yet, he is perfectly comfortable spending time with his younger brothers, too. The thing I love the most about Caeden is the way he loves. He genuinely hugs and loves and belongs. He will be the first to rub feet (of course, we pay him for it...) or get a drink for mom. He is such a good helper and I can trust him to do what I ask him to. And when he doesn't, he's honest about it. Love that! Loving, honest, hard-working... What more could a mom ask for?

For his birthday, we did his favorite meal (spaghetti and meatballs) for dinner and let him open his presents:

(These are the only pictures with Caeden actually in them - it's what happens when you let the boys be in charge of the camera :-0.)
He got a scooter, some "moon sand" (I've decided that this is in the same league as Play-doh, only worse...), and some games for the playstation. It was a very happy night, spent playing "Crash Tag Team Racing" or something like that.
For his birthday party, we invited friends to a skating rink/play jungle/bounce house place and just let them run wild for almost 5 hours. Oh, they slept well that night.
And the highlight was his baptism at the end of the month:

We were so thankful for all the family that made it! He was able to share the day with grandma and grandpas, lots of aunts and uncles and cousins, and then afterwards we came back to our house and had chicken tacos for everyone! What a fun day, and hopefully one he'll remember forever.
I sure do love my Caeden, and I am so glad that he is a part of our crazy family!

Chef Zach

Yesterday, Zachary decided to make breakfast. Blueberry muffins to be exact. I was getting out of the shower when he knocked on the door. "Mom? I made breakfast."
"Really? What did you make?"
"Blueberry muffins."
"Do you need some help?"
"Nope."
"Do you need me to turn the oven on for you?"
"Nope, they're all done."
"Well good for you! I'll be out in a second and we'll eat!"
"Guess what, mom..."
"What...?"
"I found some mint extract in the cabinet and put in the muffins. That's why it smells minty in the kitchen."
"Uhhh, really?"
"Yup, I think you'll like 'em."
"Oooooh, 'K, bud. I'll be right there..."
Long story short, everyone had some, (although some ate a little more tentatively than others) and at the end of the day, the general consensus was that they were ok, and the best part of eating blueberry mint muffins is that the minty feeling made their burps feel clean. Leave it to my boys to point that out.

ps - Don't tell Zach, but I don't recommend the mint flavoring...

Levi's so proud of himself!

Yes, I know it's snowing outside and he's wearing shorts. Yes, I know that the boots are 5 sizes too big. But let's look at the positive. The blue and yellow in the shirt match the blue and yellow bugs in the shorts(yes, bugs - it's a boy thing, and being the mother of 5 boys has taught me to get over the squeamishness of letting my boys wear them all over their bodies). Everything is facing the right way, and is the right side out. And best of all, he did it himself! Wow, this little man is getting so big!

Today I started thinking

about how fast my kids are growing up. This morning Levi started to ask for his blanket, which usually echos around the house as "I wann my bankeeeeeee!!!" But today as he looked around for it, he said "I wan my ban-KET." NOOOOOO!!! I'm not ready for my baby to stop his baby-talk!

Jacob has decided to become a force for bullies to reckon with. As we spoke with the kids about bullies at school and how to deal with them, Jacob said, "Mom, I want to be an evil cat and eat up all those bullies." Yes, an evil cat. That will scare them.

Caeden needs to stop growing for a minute. Seeing him hold hands with a girl kind of freaks me out. (Nothing against the girl. She's a wonderful girl. And in 15 years or so, it will be a beautiful thing. But I'm not ready to see my boy hold hands with a girl.)

Zachary is using deoderant because HE NEEDS IT.

Jordan is in middle school. WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?!?!? He is in a school play. He has 8 classes. (He got a 4.0 last term.) He cries for no reason. His voice cracks when he sings the "Dora the Explorer" theme song. (If that doesn't show true straddling of the child/adolesence line, I don't know what does.)

Aaron is a big wig at work and has a belly. (But don't tell him that. He just thinks that maybe he should start running again.)

I AM 40 YEARS OLD!

Didn't I just get married yesterday? Wow. Time really moves on.

Too often I think that I need to update my blog, then I sit down to the computer and think of everything that has happened and tell myself that I'll catch everything up when I have a huge block of time. Then I proceed to play computer games for an hour. (Don't judge. I bet you've done it too.) Meanwhile, my kids grow, do fun things that I want to remember, and time keeps going. So I'm resolving to do better. I'm changing my background so that it's no longer valentine's-ish, and one day I'll figure out how to fix this banner thing, (yes I see that big white gap and I know the picture is fuzzy...) and I'll start recording those things I want to remember. Because my kids are pretty awesome, and I want to remember that these busy, sleep deprived days are really some of the happiest times in my life.

Life is good. I need to take a minute or so every now and then to remember that!

Basketball season ends...

I love it when my boys play on teams. I love it when they learn new skills. I love it when they get their hands on the ball and shoot and feel happy and we get to take them out for a treat. I love that there's something to do on cold wintery January days when no one wants to leave the house. I actually like the smell of gymnasiums. Guess it brings back good memories of the old gymnastics days. But most of all, I love it when it's OVER! YAY! I HAVE MY SATURDAYS BACK! (another reason that I'm a bad mom...)

Speaking of basketball, once in a while Aaron will score a few Jazz tickets from subcontractors. Of course, it is intended to "express appreciation to the Okland management staff" or something like that, but let's get real. It's big time "schmoozing." These are good seats. Last time Aaron got tickets, he took Zach with him to the game. Zach was duly impressed with the concierge service. Nothing like lobster legs and free refills of sprite brought to you by a kind and personal attendant. The view was pretty good, too. I hope they enjoyed it, because I don't think I could ever bring myself to pay what these tickets were worth:
Do you see that? That's $1200 PER TICKET! $2400!!! Oh, the silly things men do to impress each other. On the plus side, Zach and Aaron really did enjoy themselves. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, we love the perks!

Am I a bad mom...

because I let my Levi have mac n cheese for breakfast?