Lexi days

When Tallie and Chloe were small I had a Mom and Me pass to a place called Jumping Jacks. Its a building full of blow up bounce houses and slides. And once a week I would take the girls there to play and let all their energy out. And I did it ONCE a week EVERY week. The girls knew they had a day in the week that was all theirs aside from errands and daily routine stuff.

But then school happened and Lexi was born and before I knew it I had nap times and schedules and not many opens windows and when I did I used them for running errands and doing hair and getting stuff done because hey, I had one or two less kids and so it was easy to take advantage of that time. 

I realize how much the younger kids get jipped now while the older girls are at school. I didn't really have a time just for them to take them to do stuff they want to do. So now I have committed myself to dedicating a day a week for Lexi (and Kasen) to have fun with them. While the weather was nice Lexi and I would go to the park with lunch and play until she was done (which can really be a long time). We went swimming at the Prove Rec Center one day, and last week we went to Lowe's Extreme Sports where they have trampolines and foam pits. We were the only one there that day and Lexi had the place to herself and was in heaven. Kids do really want just their parents time and attention. I usually ask her if she wants to have a friend go with us but her response is always no, just us.

Kasen had fun climbing down into the foam pits and getting stuck and liked the trampolines if no one was bouncing.  Its been fun to spend this time with them especially Lexi before she starts school. There is something so special about this year before preschool starts that I just love having my little helpers at home with me. I hate to rush them out of the house before I have to.

Thanksgiving Tree

I think its kind of hard to teach your kids to be thankful for everything they have. Because as little kids they wake up and expect food to be in the fridge, not taking a thought to where it comes from or how it's paid for. They expect warm water for their bath and a car to drive them to school on cold days. They know every morning they will have clothes to put on and lights to turn on when it gets dark. They don't stop to think about these things. The first few days and even into the weeks was hard to get them to really think throughout the day things that they were thankful they had or saw that very day. It seemed to be the big obvious ones which is good they see those. But the more we stop to be thankful the more we realize HOW MUCH we have to be thankful for. The less we think about what we have and how much more we want, the harder it is to be thankful.

The tree was a good reminder to us all.

Tallie happenings

Tallie played basketball this fall. It was fun to watch and I think she learned a lot. She often tells me that she plays basketball at recess and she is always asking me to play with her in the backyard (on the Wakefields court). We practice passing and defense and sometimes we play CAT or knockout. She thinks I'm pretty amazing because I can spin a ball on my finger. Not just one but I can switch fingers on my one hand without the ball stopping. I can even spin it on my knuckles. Guess that makes me pretty cool. I played all growing up and my dad was my coach a lot of the time. He is such an awesome basketball player with a mean hook shot, I'm currently still trying to master mine. He played in College at Adams State Universtiy. I stopped playing in High School when I got lazy and too social and let my grades drop super low to where I wasn't able to play on the team because of my grades. Which looking back I totally regret and if I could go back to High school and do it all over again I would and this time actually go. Anyways beside the point, I like to play basketball and in college Tj and I used to sit at my house and spin my basketball for hours. We always talked about doing a talent show in the ward with some routine spinning basketballs. Some might call us lame but we have some mad skills because of it.

 I forgot to throw in her soccer pictures this year.

Characters

At the beginning of the year I did a post about this princess castle that was donated to us by the Wakefields and the millions of Disney Characters that ALWAYS sat on the the kitchen table. I never bothered to put them away because they were played with constantly by someone. Well that was months and months ago and the castle and those characters STILL get played with everyday. Only now they permanently stay on the floor, unless the girls are trying to keep Kasen away in which case they go back on top the table. Lexi plays with them throughout the day, the older girls play with them while eating breakfast, once they get home from school and after dinner and before bed. I love these toys. I love that my kids ask each other if they want to play "characters". I love how they each will take a handful and separate and have their own quiet/down time. I played with Cabbage Patch Kid figures and any figures that came in my Happy Meals. I remember sitting in my room at my desk for hours just making up stories. Its fun to watch and listen to my kids do it now. They have the funniest little conversations. 

Kasen likes to empty the white box I try and keep them contained in and I wonder if he will be the same way...you know with GI Joes or dinosaurs or something.

What Kasen has been up to

Everytime I turn my back, Kasen seems to find something to get in to. Its a fun age and I love watching him explore and do new things but on the other hand every room in the house has a mini tornado go through it a million times a day.

 This is my bathroom and you can imagine it would be hard to try and get ready with this all over the floor and a little man crawling through your legs.

His favorite spot in the house is the kitchen with his tupperwear lids drawer.

Today he decided to take everything out of it and crawl right in (good thing he isn't very heavy). 

Family Pictures

We kept having to reschedule our family pictures because the weather EVERYDAY was so awful for a few weeks straight. It was either rainy, super windy, dark and overcast or freezing. I also had to randomly find a girl on the internet who would take our pictures and I got lucky because she was so nice and did a really great job. We were also lucky that it was only freezing on our photo day. I'm not a big fan of our family pictures, I feel like in all of them someone has a goofy face or Kasen wasn't even looking or crying. I can't blame him because it really was COLD and he was hungry and miserable. The older kids toughed it out for most of the shoot but finally lost it in the end. At least they had on long sleeves or sweaters, and then there is TJ and I in our short sleeves.