Christmas 2013

We had a lot of sickness in our house the whole month of December. Thankfully, we were all better by Christmas Eve. Here are some things we did to celebrate the season: 

 The elementary school's Jingle Jam.  This was Allison's first Jingle Jam!  (I didn't get a picture of Matthew singing, only a video which I can't get to load on Blogger): 

Fun in the snow:

The Sunday before Christmas:

On Christmas Eve, we had the family over for dinner, a cousins book exchange, and the traditional Nativity. Corinne and Sydney organized the kids, and then Sydney read from Luke chapter 2. Corinne directed the Nativity.

I usually take a picture of my children on Christmas Eve with their stockings. I forgot to do it until after Shane was in bed, so he isn't pictured.

Santa came! 

(I designed a new gym bag for Corinne that says "I (heart) gymnastics".  Santa brought Allison Rapunzel and Flynn Rider barbies.)

(Shane got a ball track.  Great call by Santa because Shane played with this ALL DAY LONG.)

(Santa brought Matthew a nerf football, a BYU football jersey, and a Monster's University poster.)

(Corinne got some new leo shorts and dowel grips for gym in her new gym bag.)

We had a nice Christmas and continue to feel grateful for all of our blessings, especially our wonderful families, healthy children, Tyson's job, and of course our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are excited for what the new year will bring!

Halloween 2013

I'm back!  And instead of trying to play catch-up, here is our Halloween:


Allison was a "hula girl" for our church party and for school.

Shane insisted I take his picture too.  I love how he stood still with his hands at his sides.

Cute little lion ready to go to the kindergarten costume parade.

Shane and his friend Makay waiting for their sisters at the parade.

Allison loved doing the parade! 

Everyone ready for trick-or-treating.  Corinne wore my old high school cheerleading uniform, Matthew went as a BYU football player (Kyle Van Noy), Shane was a lion, and Allison was a BYU cheerleader.  (Allison always has a costume change at some point on Halloween.)

Every time I said, "Let's take a picture", Shane would run and pose by our pumpkins!

Shane is a little obsessed with our pink baby doll stroller.  He pushed it around the neighborhood and didn't care much about trick-or-treating.

The End.

6th Grade Graduation

It's amazing how busy the last month of school can be.  Corinne especially had a busy month because it was her last days of elementary school.  She officially graduated from 6th grade!  She was very sad to let elementary school go.  She loved it.  Sixth grade was particularly great because she had amazing teachers that she loved, and she was able to have some of her closest friends in her class.

Here is 6th grade graduation:

The students sang a few songs.

 

Each teacher gave out a few awards to their students.  Corinne got the Citizenship Award for being well behaved, kind to others, helpful in the classroom, and being a friend to those who needed one.  I was very proud of her!  I think I would rather have her get this award than any other academic award.  I'm grateful she is a kind and respectful kid at school.

Below is her awesome 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Park.  We loved her.  Corinne is with two of her best friends, Cami and Macie.

What a great end to elementary school.  Bring on Junior High!

Shane is 2!

Our little baby Shane Shane turned two.  What?!  Yes, it's true.  He is still the joy in our lives, just with a 2 year old temper!

My parents came down for his birthday from Idaho.  We decided at the last minute to skip the big party and just go on a fun outing that Shane would love.  We went to the Farm Country, and, yes, he did love it!  Shane loves farm animals.  He loves to yell "COW!!" and "PEE!" (pig), and other farm animal names.  He even rode a pony for his birthday.  It was fun and laid back, just how I like it.

After the farm, we came home for dinner and dessert.  Shane doesn't seem to be a big fan of cake, so I made brownie sundaes.   We sang to him and then he opened his presents.

I tried to get a few good pictures of Shane in his "birthday boy" shirt, but he refused to smile.  What a little stinker!

Some stats on Shane:

height: 32.5 inches (10%)

weight: 23 lbs 8 oz (10%)

favorite foods: strawberries, cereal, chicken nuggets, oatmeal

favorite activities:  going outside, watching "Petting Farm", playing on the swings and slide

His names for our family:  Mommy, Daddy,  Eeee (Corinne), Mah or mum (Matt), Ayah! (Allie)

Progress in speech:  Shane still works with Kids on the Move for his speech.  He is only mildly delayed now, and he has made HUGE progress over the last couple of months.  He repeats anything we ask him to say, and he's starting to make spontaneous requests, like asking for water ("wow") or to go outside ("Side").  He is even putting two words together too.

Favorite words or phrases:  cereal (ee oh ee oh ee oh...),  "oh yeah!", "anoo" (animals), "bye!" (which he says to everyone), "bye bye" (requesting to listen to his favorite song, NSync's Bye Bye Bye), "saucy" (sausage)

We love you Shane!!