Afternoon tea...

Mikayla started preschool with lots of enthusiasm.  Now she's discovered that she has to do her work in order to go to recess and she doesn't like that.  Today she was crying because she really didn't want to go to preschool.  I told her that if she went, we could do something fun when she got home.  She requested a tea party on my real china.  Oi.  

But then I got over it and decided that it hardly gets used.  We might as well used it.  We had milk in the tea pot and pretzels and orange slices.  

She loved using the real tea cups and it was fun.  Nothing broke and we had some great buddy time.

Check out the snow!

We wished and hoped for snow at Christmas and it just didn't happen.  However, we finally got some now that it's February.  Mikayla just likes to eat the big snow balls.

Julie and Jack were attempting to make a snow forts.  It didn't really turn out.

Jack launched snowballs anyway.

Why don't you see Maxine?  Because Maxine cut her finger really bad while making her lunch.  It could've used some stitches but Merril just wrapped it up and she earned herself a day home from school.  She's just barely gotten over the whole sprained ankle thing.  I hope injuries don't come in threes.

 Mark's not out there because I don't have quite enough snow boots for both him and Mikayla.  She wears a 9 and he wears an 8 and I only have 1 set of boots that fit.  So he stayed inside and looked at the snow from the front door.

I let them play in the snow and then then drove them to school.

I probably could've let them stay home all day but feel that school is important and after playing for an hour and a half, they can head to school.

Step stool table...

My kids love to eat their food on a step stool.  They sit on one step and use the other as a table.  Mikayla doesn't do it as often as she used to.  Mark eats most midday meals and snacks at a step stool.  For some reason it doesn't apply to breakfast and dinner as much.  

Little hike by our house...

It must be the month for cinder cones because we found another right by our house.  We'd seen the trailhead but never ventured.  We decided to go get some exercise.

Julie didn't want to go so we left her at home with Mark, who was napping.

Jack, Mikayla, Maxine, Merril and Jamie hiked.

It was short and the top of the cinder cone looked like Mars.  It was barren with lots of red lava pebbles.  Now we know what's up there.

Big kid bed for Mark...

Mark has been sleeping in a pack and play in Jack's closet for a while now.  He pretty much fills the whole space.  If his head is touching one side, his feet touch the other.  For a few months, I've been ready to move him out to the bottom bunk but we were busy with the holidays.  I also needed curtains on the window to block out the light.  Got the curtains up, found a twin mattress on Craigslist and out he moved to his big bed.  

I was worried he wouldn't like it and he would try to climb out when it was nap time.  I'm happy to say that he goes right down for naps and stays in when it's bed time!  Wahoo!

Update:  The first week, I heard him open his door to get out and wander around in the basement.  I yelled down "Mark, go get in bed!"  He ran back to bed and had a nap, no problem.  He's a really great kid.

Decorating the mantle...

I feel like we are born with certain gifts.  Home decor is not my strong suit.  I took Julie with me and we headed out to find some things to go on the basement mantle.

It's taken a few weeks but I'm pleased with these items!

The huge marquee letter C lights up and is my favorite piece by far!  The lantern and the marquee letter are battery operated so I don't need to get any wires to them.  I think it turned out great!

Mikayla's fever...

Mikayla came down with a fever Sunday afternoon and it didn't quit for 4 days.  She threw up a couple of times so I figured it was a flu bug.  After giving her a bath on Wednesday morning, I toweled off her head and she said her ear hurt.  Knowing this, I massaged her neck and put a warm compress on her ear and within hours, her fever cleared up and she was fine!  The next day she wanted a hamburger and I agreed because she'd hardly eaten anything for 4 days and had lost 2 pounds.  We had Wendy's at 10:30 a.m.  That's the perk of being a stay at home Mom and getting to choose how we spend our days.  I'm very lucky!

I just threw this last picture in because I think it's silly.  Mark loves sunglasses.  Merril said he looks like the unibomber from way back when.  Ha ha!

Maxine's sprained foot...

On the first day back to school after the Christmas break, Maxine was stepping off the bus at school and rolled her ankle.  She hopped to first period and second but realized that her foot really hurt and wasn't just going to be able to walk it off.  She went to the office and they pulled off her boot.  Her foot had swollen considerably and so they iced it for a few minutes and decided to call home.  I picked her up and we wrapped and elevated her foot.  

We borrowed some crutches from Grandma Gordon and she hobbled around of them.  She stayed home the first day but used the crutches at school for the rest of the week.  We drove her to and from school so she wouldn't have to use the bus.

This is a week later and the swelling is going down and you can see the bruised ankle.  The bruising has leaked down to her toes, there was nothing wrong with them.

She got a lot of help from friends at school and was able to use the elevator, which is reserved for kids with injuries or a handicap.  

Update: After a week and a half, she was tired of the crutches and started walking with a limp.  After 2 1/2 weeks, she was walking normally again.

Hiking up the Cinder Cone by Veyo...

During the Christmas Break, Merril had to go fix something in Veyo and so we all decided to hike up the cinder cone.

It was kind of a cold day, a little windy and no sun.  We tried to bundle everyone up and most were fine.

Mikayla wanted to hike in a princess dress.  Go figure.

Mark was okay on the way up but was pretty grumpy on the way back because it was past his nap time.  

I ended up carrying a blanket that Juliet didn't want anymore.  I was a little chilly but not too bad.

It was a good little adventure.

By the time we got back to the car, Mark little hands were freezing.  I sat in the back to try and warm him up.  He cried until I warmed his hands with mine and then he totally zonked out and slept all the way home.

New Years 2016!

Usually we have a party for friends at our house but I just wasn't in the mood this year.  We had a ward Halloween party, hosted Thanksgiving, had part of my family over for Christmas day dinner and I was burned out.  So we just had food and counted down with our little family.

Just because we weren't inviting everyone over, didn't mean we could celebrate quietly.  We still bought tons of food, sparkling cider, noise makers and party headbands.

Mikayla got tired around 10:30 p.m. and I think Jack made it until 11:40 or so before he crashed on the couch.  We didn't even give Mark a chance.  We put him to bed at 8:30 p.m.

The older girls and the parents stayed up until midnight!  We toasted the New Year and then everyone went to bed!

It was so pleasant to celebrate with just our family but the kids said it wasn't nearly as fun without all the people over.  *sigh*  So who knows, we might have to throw a big party next year.

Ice skating...

When I was a kid, my Dad would take the family ice skating on lakes that had frozen over.  We've skated on Baker and Pine Valley Reservoirs.  He used to drive the Big Red 3-wheeler out on the ice and tie sleds and tubes to the back and we would ride around.  It was good times.

Part of me wants my kids to experience ice skating as well.  There used to be an ice skating rink in St. George a few years back but I don't think it was cold enough here and they ended up moving it to Cedar City.  I just recently found out about it so we decided to head up to Cedar to skate!  Merril went home with Mark so he could have a nap.

Maxine and Juliet have been before.  It seems like both times, Jack had been off playing with cousins or Dad.  This was his first time skating and he did amazing.

Maxine and Juliet, who considered themselves pros, struggled more than they thought they would.  Juliet hugged the side more often than not and kept trying to get the walkers and buckets that Mikayla was using.  By the end, everyone was getting the hang of it.

Mikayla was so cute and had a good attitude the whole time.

Jack skated the most but also fell down the most.  But he kept getting right back up and going again!

It took me a few turns around the rink but I remembered how to skate and only fell twice, mostly because one of the kids I was helping fell and took me with them.  

After a few hours, we were freezing and ready to head home.  Everyone fell asleep on the drive back because that is a lot of exercise!

Christmas 2015...

On Christmas Eve there was a prediction for snow!  SNOW!  Unfortunately, we didn't get very much.  This is the closest I've ever been to a white Christmas!

We had fun getting up and opening presents.  Mikayla loves her Frozen purse.

Jack got Legos, of course.

Mark wasn't sure what was going on but was excited nonetheless.

Good times at 5:00 a.m.

Christmas was a little different this year.  My whole family couldn't get together until the day after Christmas so instead of running from one family event to another, we had a more mellow day.  After opening presents, we hurried and got ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa Campbell's house for Christmas Carol Roll.  We had to be up there by 8:00 a.m. because Justin and Rachel had a brunch they needed to be to at 10:00 a.m.  So we ate, hung around until mid morning and then came home.  All the kids wanted to play with their toys.

My new toy was an itty bitty camera to take places when I don't want to lug my big one but still want the quality of a camera.  So we were playing with it.

Julie had been up most of the night on Christmas Eve/morning so she was beat.

It was refreshing to go to a Christmas get together and then have the rest of the day off.  We usually meet up at my parent's house in the afternoon so kids fall asleep on the drive between grandmas' houses and by 6 or 7:00 p.m., they are all so tired.  This year we just had a chill Christmas afternoon and I secretly loved it.

Christmas Eve Ride...

For several years, Merril would ride mountain bikes in the dark on Christmas Eve with his buddies and brothers.  The last few years, that tradition has fallen off.  He still like to go ride and this year took the 3 older kids.

It was a good activity to get them out of the house so they didn't explode waiting for Christmas to come!  

A Christmas picture with 5 kids...

I used to take a group picture of my kids in front of the Christmas tree every year.  It seems like I haven't taken any since Juliet was small.  I decided to break out the camera to snag some pictures of the kids.  Mikayla had a sad moment but we were able to pull her out of it for a smile.  They ended up being pretty cute!

Holiday Season...

We went out to the live nativity at Tuacahn and the kids thought it was fun to see the live camels and horses.  All the kids wanted their picture taken in the face holes.

Merril went to a bonfire with Ryan and Jared and some of their kids.  Just Jack and Maxine went.  It was getting late and so me and the 3 younger kids stayed home.  The kids thought it was so cool to see adults playing with fire.  They poured gas on the sand and lit it on fire.  I don't disagree, the sand on fire is quite a spectacle.