"It's the Holiday Season...."

It's the holiday season and we sure have been trying to enjoy it as much as possible!  In between the kids being sick and Jeremy working like crazy we have been able to do some fun things as a family and hope to continue to be able to over the next few weeks.

One thing that we were able to do was attend the "Lighting of the Trees" at the Landings, which is one of the small strip malls close to where we live.  The kids had a great time getting to stay up late, watching a parade, looking at the lights, sitting on Santa's lap, and even eating ice cream for dinner!
It was a great way to start off our holiday season!

A couple of days before Thanksgiving, Braylei was making crafts and decided she wanted to make a turkey for each of her teachers.  She made them out of pipe cleaners and foam and did a great job!  Then she turned them into cards and wrote on each one.  She was so proud of what she had done and her teachers loved them!

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, all of the kindergarten classes at Braylei's school put on a Pow Wow for the parents.  They each had an assigned part to say and lots of songs to sing.  They practiced for about 3 weeks prior to the program and even got to make their own ceremonial dress and earn feathers to make their headdresses.  All of the kids were so excited about the program and it is all that was talked about during those 3 weeks.  The program lasted almost an hour and was out in the woods on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, which runs through part of the school campus.  It was very official and realistic, complete with "Indian visitors" and traditional activities such as the Buffalo Dance and the passing of the Offering Bowl.  As I watched Braylei during the program she never cracked a smile and was so serious.  I thought that perhaps she was not feeling well.  After the program I asked her if she was ok and she said yes.  Then I asked her why she did not smile and she said, "because it was a very serious thing Mom.  My teachers told me that if we acted out or silly then we would be asked to leave."  I tried to tell her that I thought it would have been okay for her to smile, but she adamantly told me that you do not smile when things are serious.  She is definitely my very literal child!  She did an amazing job and even though Jeremy was unable to be there, he was able to watch the video recording of it and we are both so proud of our "Little Doe"!

Thanksgiving was a little different for us this year.  Not only was it our first time being away from our family, but Jeremy also had to work.  The kids and I were determined to make the best of the day and still have fun, which we were able to do!   We spent the morning watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade, which was a first for my kids.  Braylei and Tayscen both loved all the floats and of course seeing Santa at the very end.  For lunch, we were invited over to our Host Family's house from Braylei's school.  Our Host Family has been guiding us through our transition to Columbus as well as Brookstone, and we have appreciated all of their generosity and help.  The kids had a great time playing with friends, jumping on the trampoline, playing by the lake, and going for a ride on the golf cart.  The food was delicious and the best surprise of all was that Jeremy was able to get off early in the afternoon and spend some time with us!  The kids hadn't seen him in several days, so they were ecstatic!  We all played outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  Jeremy was also able to get off early the next day, so we took all of the kids to see "Tangled" and had a great time!

During Thanksgiving weekend, the kids and I also decorated the tree while Jeremy was at work.  I actually "let go" and allowed the kids to decorate the tree however they wanted.  I simply handed them an ornament and they hung it wherever they thought it looked nice.  All in all, they did a great job and had a great time doing it.  We weren't sure how Brix would be with the tree, but she hasn't even tried to bother it once!  She loves to look at the lights and is content with just doing that.

The older kids also made a Candy Cane Village that weekend too.  They had a great time putting the pieces together and then decorating the shops and scenery.  They worked together really well and we are now proudly displaying it front and center as you enter our home!

The kids are all growing up so fast and time just keeps flying by!  Brix is entering all sorts of fun new stages, including taking her pants off while she naps and standing on her head.  I'm fine with it as long as she keeps the diaper on:)  We are counting down the days until Christmas (and the end of Jeremy's "nasty" rotation) and are just loving being together as a family!

It's That Time of Year Again

I love this time of year!  The leaves are changing colors, the weather is cooling down, autumn is in the air, and best of all Braylei is going to have some nice breaks from school coming up!  I can't wait to have her home during the day so we can just play, and I know Tayscen and Brixlyn feel the same way.  On the flip side, because it is that time of year it also means sickness, sickness, sickness.  Over the last couple of weeks everyone at our house has been sick, some of them multiple times.  Thankfully, everything has been fairly minimal as far as severity goes and we are all (fingers crossed!) on the upswing!

In between everyone being sick, we have managed to have some fun times, of course!  Brixlyn has been busy enjoying her birthday presents and loves being pushed around on her car by her big brother and sister.  Her bottom front tooth has almost come in all the way and she is now cutting her two front top teeth.  She has been such a trooper while her teeth have been coming in and she has hardly fussed at all.  Recently we took Brix in for her 1 year check-up and she finally gained 3 pounds after 6 months of not gaining anything and is now back on the growth curve.  She is now 28 inches long and gaining more confidence in walking.  She still prefers to crawl everywhere, unless she is pushing her walker around, and loves to wave and say "Hi" to anyone that she sees.  She is the happiest, most well behaved baby, and her smile is just contagious!

The weekend after her birthday, we were able to have a party with all the medical residents and their families at our home.  It was really nice to be able to celebrate Brix's 1st Birthday with our home away from home family.  The residents and their families are truly a wonderful support group and we couldn't have asked for a better set of friends in our new home.  The kids all had a great time playing with one another and of course the adults enjoyed eating and socializing:)  I made a whole Cafe Rio menu, complete with homemade guacamole, lime cilantro rice, chipotle ranch dressing, shredded chicken, and of course the rest of the fixings for tacos, burritos, and salad.  For dessert I made whole wheat chocolate cupcakes, which were made with unsweetened chocolate (which Jeremy found out did not taste very good when eaten by the spoonful) and greek yogurt.  Surprisingly, they turned out AWESOME and I didn't feel too bad giving them to my kids.  I also topped each cupcake with a little flag that had a picture of Brix on it from the day she was born and then on the other side a recent picture of her.  They were a big hit!  Jeremy also made the cutest game for the kids to play outside.  He drew 3 different pictures of Brix on a piece of fabric, glued a picture of her head on each one, and then cut a hole to the side of each one so that the kids could do a football toss and it looked like Brix was catching the ball.  I was so proud of Jeremy's creation and still have it in the garage!

Tayscen has been busy working on his preschool concepts, learning his sight words, making Brixlyn laugh, and playing outside every chance that he gets.  He looks forward to gymnastics every week and is doing really well on both the bars and the balance beam.  I have started playing scrabble junior with him, which he loves, but his favorite game right now is Alphabet Go Fish.  He is really good at both of these games and usually ends up beating me! Of course he still loves to play dress up and fight the bad guys, especially when his Dad is home.  Brixlyn adores Tayscen and as soon as she gets up in the morning and from her nap she says, "T,T,T,T" which is her way of asking for Tayscen.  He is such a good big brother and is always looking out for her.

Braylei is still enjoying school, dance, and gymanstics.  Every couple of weeks her school has a day were the kids dress up in different ways, and recently she got to wear her pajamas to school.  This was by far, her favorite day yet!  She keeps asking when she will get to wear her pajamas again and can tell you what kind of pajamas all her friends wore that day.  She still loves to read, dance, sing, and draw.  She is in the process of making pictures for all her friends for the 100 day of school celebration.  On Sunday, she participated in her  second Primary Program and did a FABULOUS job!  She memorized her part, which was the 3rd Article of Faith, and said it all by herself in front of everyone.  Tayscen also memorized her part and goes around the house saying it all the time:)  Braylei is constantly on the look out for people who are doing what is right and has said a few really touching/funny things as of late.

Last week, we had a family home evening about listening to the Holy Ghost.  Braylei came to me afteward and said she was having a problem.  I asked her what it was and she said that bad spirits were telling her not to love her brother anymore.  She broke  into tears and said she didn't want to listen to them and that she did love her brother.  I asked her who she thought the bad thoughts were coming from and she said Satan.  She asked if we could say a prayer so that Heavenly Father and Jesus could help her have good thoughts and so we did.  She is such an example to me of the purest kind of faith there is and she teaches me amazing lessons each and every day.


On Friday, we were playing outside after school and a few high school students walked by on their way home.  Tayscen, being the outgoing, friendly little guy that he is, waved to them.  Unfortunately, they did not wave back.  Braylei said to me, in a voice that was loud enough for the kids to here, "Mom, what bad manners!  They are in high school; they know better!"  I couldn't stop cracking up.

Then, on the way home from school today, Braylei was asking me about different careers she could have when she grows up.  After our discussion about a lot of different options, she declared, "Mom, I want to be a teacher."  I was really touched and excited by this, thinking she was following in my footsteps.  So I asked her why she wanted to be a teacher to which she replied, "Because they tell everyone else what to do and I want to tell everyone what to do!"  Although this wasn't the reply I expected, at least she was honest and made me laugh!