Meet JAK

JAK was our Elf on the Shelf this year. He was given to us by my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas and showed up just in time to keep the kiddos in line. Both Kylie and Jase ate it up which made it so much fun for Jeremy and I. Here's a little bit of what he was up to while he was here....

Its definitely a tradition we'll keep up for many more years...as long as he shows up every year!

Christmas 2012

 We were SO excited this year to have my parents and sister Lexie come visit us for Christmas. Everyone in my family was spending time with their in-laws and since we had already done our Christmas with Jeremy's family we thought it would be fun to have them here with us.  

 We of course started Christmas eve out with one of our favorite traditions of Breakfast with Grandpa/Dad. Then we did some last minute shopping to get ready for a little Christmas eve party.

The day sadly went downhill quickly with the on set of fevers and coughs. The rest of the day we spent lounging around taking it pretty easy.

 We did manage to have dinner and a little nativity program and the opening of the Christmas Pajamas later in the evening,

 then decided it would be fun to show my family the awesomest house St. George has to offer when it comes to Christmas lights,

which resulted in three zonked kids by 7:30 and an early night for Santa! :)

Christmas morning came early and we were all pretty excited...well actually Grandma and Grandpa, Lexie, and Jeremy and I were excited. Kylie and Jase were pretty subdued and it took quite a bit to get much out of them at first.

The morning of present opening was really fun and everyone seemed to be pretty pleased with their loot. Christmas was small this year and I was feeling a little bit insecure about it at first, but I am grateful for little kids that didn't seem to notice the number of gifts they received. They were just genuinely excited and more than grateful for what they had. 

Well, until Addley opened her box of diapers, then she seemed a little disgusted. ;) I don't blame her.

I loved doing Christmas at our own house with my sister and parents there also. 

Everyone seemed to walk away happy and I think we can chalk this one up to a successful morning. 

At about noon we had the chance to talk to my sister Amanda who is serving a mission in California. It was so good to hear from her. She is doing so well and loves the service she is rendering. I loved hearing her stories of the people and the success she is having. It was fun to hear what her everyday life if like as a missionary and the funny/awkward situations she seems to easily get herself into. She is such as awesome example and I am so grateful for the opportunity we have as a family to pray for her and her success.  My kids are adamant about making sure she is included in every prayer and want nothing but the best for her. 

Jeremy's parents came down again for a little Christmas dinner and we finished the day out pretty low key.I am grateful for the memories made and for my amazing little family. They bring me so much joy and as I have said before there is nothing better than kids and Christmas!!

Felix Family Christmas Party

Our Christmas festivities started the weekend before Christmas when Jeremy's parents and brother Jon along with his family met at our house for a little family party. We felt bad we couldn't get together with all of the family, but we were excited to spend the time with who we did. 

We didn't have a single thing under the tree and I think Kylie and Jase were starting to get nervous. Excitement definitely heighten when Grandma and Grandpa came in and filled our tree right up. 

We ate dinner and then quickly got on to the much anticipated present opening. 

Addley got the hang of this present opening thing and was especially pleased with her gifts. She was so fun to watch and the joy of kids at Christmas was overwhelmingly evident that night. 

Grandma Felix made every grandkid their very own blanket which they all absolutely LOVED!!

We ended the night watching a Christmas movie while snuggled in our blankets. We love any chance to get together with our cousins and grandparents. It was the perfect party to start off our Christmas Festivities and we are very grateful for all the gifts. 

Going for a Trailer Ride

One of my most favorite things Jase's preschool does is take the kids caroling on a tailor around the strip mall. They practice their songs all month long and then right before Christmas break they get to go. Jase was so excited! He couldn't hardly wait to...ride the trailer. He asked me a million times that day when it would be time for ride the trailer. He didn't care to sing songs he just wanted to ride the tailor for awhile.

His excitement didn't change once we got there. He hopped right up there and sang his little heart out. It was fun to watch him. I still have a hard time thinking he is old enough for these things. He's always been my little shadow, but love that it is his turn to have these opportunities. He sure seems to enjoy them!

Jase Turns 4

 My little man is four years old. It kinda seems like this day is long time coming actually especially to him. He has been looking forward to it for months and months and months now. I think he has had a birthday gift list a mile long since his last birthday. 

A couple days earlier he wanted to take a treat into his school class. Thankfully Walmart had the perfect  cupcakes and he was one excited little boy. Later that day he decided Addley would also enjoy a little cupcake too. While I wasn't paying attention he went ahead and shared his with her. What a nice guy!!

 His actually birthday was a pretty low key day. He was excited to finally see what was in the huge box that had arrived a few days earlier from Grandma and Grandpa Hansen. Both him and Kylie shrieked with delight when he pulled out this wiggle car.

Hopefully we were able to at least cross a few things off his brithday list he was asking for. Probably his number one request was a bow and arrow and he was pretty dang excited when he unwrapped one...a toy one of course!

 Grandma and Grandpa Felix drove down to celebrate also. They are always so thoughtful and he walked away one happy boy. They also joined up for dinner. Jase's dinner request was McDonalds, but thankfully we were able to talk him in to a corn dog at chili's. He seemed ok with that!

 Kylie had a cheer recital that night so Jase kindly shared the spotlight for awhile, but before the show was over he had just about enough and started asking if it was "done time" yet. Grandma decided a nice walk help and it did. 

 The night ended with 4 candles and a little happy birthday singing. Don't judge the cake! My poor kids will never have anything fancy if its left up to me and actually he seemed quite fine with his giant cupcake he got from his preschool teacher a few days earlier.

JAK, our elf on the shelf even popped in with a message!

I am so grateful for my healthy, happy, growing little boy. He's a crack up and keep us on our toes, but most of the time he's pretty laid back and easy going. He's always tries his best to go whats right, but is always quick to say sorry when he does something wrong. He loves digging in the dirt outside, riding his bike, running around with his friends, Buzz lightyear, Phineas and Ferb, anything Superhero and reading books. He also loves school and it proving to be a smart little boy. He gets frustrated with writing, but he knows all of his letters, numbers, shapes, colors and how to spell him name. We love this guy and are so grateful for him!!

6 Months Old

Addley is now half way through the first year of her life and this girl is full of new tricks these days. 

 Her and her dad have mastered the stiff one handed balance

 She's trying to get the hang of steady sitting,

 but she wants to be on the go too often that she hardly stays in one place long enough to get the hang of it.

She does love this angle in the shopping cart much better than sitting in her car seat,

probably because she absolutely DESPISES her car seat or riding in the car for that matter especially if she is tired. Even just around town she hates being strapped in there.

Sleeping is still something we are working on around here. She's not a huge fan of being put in her crib and has to be dead asleep before she's willing to stay. Some nights it takes several tries to get her down unless we want to hear blood cruddling screams for a good long time and then she's horse the next day!

Its still not very often that we can get a good solid laugh out of her. Jeremy was doing anything and everything he could think of to get her to laugh one night and she just wasn't about to give it up! You can tell she is busting at the seams, yet refused to let it out. The rest of us were all rolling on the floor laughing hysterically at her!

She brings so much life to our family. I can't imagine 6 months ago what it was like without her! Her huge smiles continue to be a highlight of my day. She's lost a bit of her chub and seems to be turning into a petit little girl probably due to her constant movement. She loves to eat and so far I haven't found anything she doesn't like. Jeremy still is slightly nervous about her bald head and often worries she will never get hair. Personally I don't mind it although we are all on edge wondering what color it will be. Actually if it is anything other than red, we'll be pretty surprised!

She is definitely loved and we are so grateful for her and her sweetness!