December 2015

December was such a busy month and we had so much fun.  The boys were so much fun this year.  They are finally old enough that they understand Christmas and Santa Claus.  They were absolutely nuts this whole month because they were so excited for Christmas.  December is so fun because there is always so much to do and my kids are finally old enough that they love it. 

Jacks

Jacks is so funny! He was so excited for Christmas this year.  He got so excited he found a target toy catalog and carried it around with him for weeks.  He circled all the toys he wanted Santa to bring him which ended up being almost the entire catalog.  He loved Christmas lights.  We went on a lot of drives to see Christmas lights. 

Random Facts about Jacks

-Favorite toys: Power rangers, turtles, and batman.

-Favorite tv shows: Scooby-Doo, TMNT, the Lion Guard

-Favorite things to do: Playing with other kids.  He absolutely loves playing with his cousins.  He loves preschool and primary because there are so many kids for him to play with.  He loves to play with Link. 

-Favorite foods: carrots, cucumbers, snap peas, hot dogs, mac and cheese, happy meals

-He won’t take a nap no matter how tired he is.  He hates going to bed at night.  He usually goes to bed about 9:30 and gets up around 7.  We fight him every night at bed he just keeps coming out of his room over and over again or lays in bed and kicks his wall.

-Jacks isn’t very independent he always wants a friend to play with.  It loves to have Link around and always tries to get me and Jordan to play with him.

Jacks had his speech tested through Nebo School District a couple of weeks ago.  They found he was in the bottom 4% for speech.  I took him 6 months ago and he tested into the 12^th percentile.  They had told me that he didn’t quite qualify for speech therapy and that some of his problems might resolve on their own but unfortunately they haven’t.  This time he thankfully qualified for some speech therapy through Nebo School District.  They gave me gave me 2 options.  He could either work one-on-one with a speech therapist once a week for 30 minutes or take a TLC class for an hour once a week.  The speech therapist that tested him recommended the TLC class so that is what we ended up choosing at least for now.  It's an hour a week with other kids and their parents.  I have to go with him and they help teach parents how to help at home.  I'm so happy that he qualified and I'm really excited to get started.  I hope it helps him.

Link

Link is getting so big.  He is still such a little guy but he acts like he's 7.  He is so chatty.  He loves to talk and play with Jacks.  His favorite thing to do is play with Jacks.  He was really excited for Christmas this year.  He didn't understand it quite like Jacks did but he still got so excited though.  He loved all the Christmas activities we did.  

Random facts about Link:

-Favorite toys: TMNT, Batman

-Favorite TV shows: TMNT, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Big Hero 6

-Favorite things to do: Play with Jacks, play with toys,

-Favorite Foods: Candy, happy meals, Apple squeezers, granola bars

-Link is very independent.   He loves to play with Jacks but he is really good at entertaining himself. 

-Link is hit and miss with his naps.  He sometimes takes one sometimes doesn't.  It just depends on the day.  If he has  a nap he usually goes to bed later if he doesn't have a nap he usually gets grumpy around 5 and goes to bed at 7 or 8.  

Link is hilarious.  He loves to run around and play power rangers and turtles.  He is absolutely obsessed with Leo from turtles.  He's so funny he just runs around saying "I'm Leo!  Watch my moves!"  and then he does some crazy moves with his arms and runs around and jumps pretending to fight bad guys.  It's really funny and cute.

Jacks and Link are getting better at playing together.  They like the same thing and they love to play together.  They still fight over toys like crazy but they really like each other and love to be together.  They can be so fun and sweet together.  They run around the house chasing each other like crazy men pretending to be power rangers, ninja turtles, and batman.  They love turtles right now.  Link is always Leo and Jacks is always Mikey.  Jacks absolutely loves metal head.  They absolutely love the turtles tv show and the x-box game.  

Not that much new with Jordan and I.  Jordan has been training for his new job a little and just really busy at work.  Our house is STILL being painting.  There is still so much work left for the stupid painter to do.  I seriously have never been so mad at someone in my entire life this man is just ridiculous.  He says he'll be done soon but I think it'll be a few more weeks.  He said it would take 2 weeks it's now been 3 months!  He's finally made some progress but still has a lot of work to do.  He finished our cabinets but still has a ton of touch up on the walls.  And half of my house is covered in paint.  It's going to take me a month just to clean it.  It's so frustrating.  We waited forever to even put our Christmas tree or any decorations because we were just waiting for him.  I finally gave up hope that he would finish anytime in December and the week before Christmas set up the tree in my basement where he's at least 3/4 way done.  It made me so mad because my boys missed out.  They felt so bad that we didn't have a tree or any decorations.  December was better than November though because at least we had a busy month and had tons of things to keep us bu'sy and out of the house.  I absolutely hate winter as it is and having my house a disaster makes it a millions times worse so if he doesn't finish soon I'm seriously going to lose it.

We did some really fun Christmas activities in December.  My boys absolutely loved it!  They were excited for Christmas at the beginning of November.  We tried to do a ton.   We did a lot of cute little Christmas crafts all throughout the month of December.  My mom and my sister put together a little advent calendar for them where they got little presents each day and got to read a little piece of the Rudolf story.  They absolutely loved it.  They begged me everyday to go to grandma's house to get their Rudolf present.

Gingerbread house!  The boys loved the little minions.

We went to Gardner Village to see the elves.  I've been a couple of times to see the witches but never the elves.  Jordan had never even been to Gardner village so it was kind of fun.  The elves were cute but kind of a little bit creepy.  Link and Jacks both fell asleep on way up so they were kind of grumpy most of the time.  They still had some fun though.  

We went to Temple Square right after Gardner Village.  It was really fun but kind of a lot for my boys all in the same day.  They were both tired and crazy.  Link just kind of ran around like a wild man so we didn't really get to see the lights because we were pretty much chasing him the whole time.  It was just a really long day we went to Gardner Village really early and got to Temple Square before it was even dark and walked around the visitors center and by the time the lights were on the boys were just tired.  It was still a lot of fun though.  

I told him to pose for a picture so he found the only tree that didn't have lights on it to grab onto.  Silly Jacks. 

Jordan's Grandpa had  a little get together with all of his extended family at the Orem Senior Center.  It was fun to go to that and see all of Jordan's family.  

We went on the riverboat cruise at CLAS ropes course in Provo.  It was fun but I wasn't overly impressed.  My kids really liked it though because they kept talking about it for a week after.  They played that their batman toy was on the riverboat cruise.  So I guess they liked it.  

We did our yearly FHE on the Christmas Story and they had fun dressing up like different characters from the nativity.  

He really was not in the mood for pictures that night.

Jacks loves crafts right now.  I got a ton of little pre-assembled kits from Hobby Lobby and Michael's for really cheap and Jacks absolutely loved it.  We worked on crafts almost everyday in December. 

Candy Cane Ornaments

He loved this house!  It kept him entertained for an hour assembling it and he still plays with it.

Decorating cookies with Shelley

We went to the Riverwoods and saw Santa.  Jacks was so excited to see Santa.  He stood in line for like 45 minutes just to tell him he wanted a power ranger house.  Jacks usually doesn't do well with lines so I was really impressed with how good he was.  He absolutely loved it.  Poor Link was so excited to see Santa and then he fell asleep on Jordan's shoulder while we were waiting in line.  

Jacks absolutely loved decorating the tree this year.  He had some cute little ornaments he made in preschool and some we just made at home and he was so excited to put them on the tree.  He is seriously at such a cute age right now. 

Christmas Eve

We always spend Christmas eve with Jordan's family.  Jordan's mom always gives us new pajamas and they do a little pajama parade to show off our new matching jammies.  We had a really good dinner of prime rib and then played some cute little games.  After games they kids all opened presents and then we headed home.   

Jacks loved this.  We had a race to see who could dress their kid up like a snow man the fastest.  

Link liked the idea he begged for a turn.  He didn't actually love being dressed up though. 

 Jordan's grandpa was at the party and he had a little gift for all the great grandchildren and told story about when he was younger,

The boys were so excited about their new toys from their cousins and Santa coming the next day that they had a hard time sleeping that night.  It was kind of a battle to get them in bed that night they were just so excited

Christmas

Christmas was so much fun!  The boys woke up around 730.  Jordan was outside shoveling snow when they woke up but they were okay waiting for him to finish.  We opened presents and they were so cute.  They were both screaming about how awesome their presents were.  They were so fun to watch open presents.  They absolutely loved it.  

In the afternoon we went to my parents and just hang out for a while with my family.  The boys got some really nice presents that they absolutely love!  They had a lot of fun.  We made a short visit to Jordan's parents before putting the kids in bed. I picked up Christmas night at work but it wasn't bad because I didn't have to be there until 10 so I didn't miss anything and I get double pay for holidays.  It was a really fun day and my boys were so cute.  Having kids at Christmas is really the best thing in the world. They were so cute this year they absolutely loved it. 

The day after Christmas we went sledding with Jordan's family.  Jordan's parents have a huge hay field behind their house and they hooked sleds up behind a 4 wheeler and pulled the sleds through the hay field.  Jackson absolutely loved it this year.  We've done this in past year and it was fun but Jacks only last 20-30 minutes before he was done and it was kind of a lot of work for such a short time in the snow.  This year he spent an hour and a half out there and absolutely loved it.  By the time he went inside his little shirt sleeve that was hanging out of his coat was frozen stiff!  I felt so bad for the poor kid he was freezing.  Link was so tired that day from all the craziness of Christmas so he was a little grumpy for a lot of the sledding.  He hated sledding but tolerated riding on the 4 wheeler.

After sledding we went to my Grandma's annual Christmas party.  We played bunko and the kids ran wild.  Jacks and Link were in heaven with so many kids to play with.  They like the pinata and just running around with my cousin's kids.

New Years

For New Years Eve we just hung out at home and had a little game night with the boys.  Jacks is at a fun age where he likes little games like Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, and Slap Jacks.  We just played a few games then put the kids in bed.  

Jordan and I usually don't stay up until midnight because we're boring and my kids wake up early anyway. After we put the kid in bed we were watching a movie and there was a crazy loud noise just outside our window and something hit our house.  One of our rain gutters broke and fell off the house.  There was just a ton of ice and icicles hanging from it and the weight just broke it.  It fell on the exhaust pipe for our furnace and broke it off.  So that was a great way to start the new year with a couple unexpected home repairs. 

For new years day we mostly just hung out at home during the day and I worked 6 to midnight.       

Novem buuuurrrrrrrr

November was a really hard month for us.  It just kind of seems like when it rains it pours.  We're having our house painted which was suppose to only take 2 weeks but it's been 2 months and it's nowhere near done.  It's been so frustrating because we are basically homeless during the day because I can't have my kids home when they're painting.  We usually just go to my parents house but it's so hard to entertain my kids and find things to do when it's so cold outside.  It's been so cold lately and I'm not a fan of cold or snow it's kind of miserable.

It's just getting really old having my house a construction zone.  Absolutely everything is covered in paint and sheetrock dust.  I seriously can't even handle being home because it's such a mess and they have every part of my house torn apart absolutely nothing is finished.  I never know when they're coming or going or even if they'll show up so we just stay away all day and then come home to a mess. The most frustrating thing about it is that I really want to set up my Christmas tree and decorations.  My boys absolutely love Christmas decorations this year and I feel like they are really missing out because we just have no where to set it because it's just such a mess right now.

In addition to all of that our dishwasher broke and we just can't seem to stay well.  We've had the stomach flu and a few colds.  It's just been a really rough month for us.  Probably the hardest thing has been day light savings time.  Day light savings time is never fun but my kids usually adjust after a week or so.  This time they just still haven't adjusted.  They wake up at 6 in the morning and still go to bed at 8:30 or even later.  We've been trying to put them to bed at 7:30 and they just won't sleep.  It's so frustrating.  Link has been okay with it because he just takes a nap again so he's still happy but Jacks has really struggled.  He's been so grumpy and miserable for the past month.  He rarely sleeps pat 6:30 but still won't go to bed at night and absolutely refuses to take a nap during the day.  He's just kind of grumpy and tired all the time.  I don't even know what to do with him.

Anyway....  I'll stop complaining.  November is suppose to be the month for gratitude.  Things have been rough lately but we have a lot to be grateful for.  My kids are doing great.  Other than a little sickness and tiredness lately they're healthy and getting huge and just adorable.

Jacks

Jacks is so funny.  He is getting so big.  He's still a social little guy and just loves to have friends all the time.  He loves preschool.  He's still struggling a lot with the academic part but he loves the social aspect of it.  He's still really struggling with his letters and counting.  I've been working with him a little at home.  It's just been hard not really having a house and our schedule so crazy to really find the time to sit and work with him as much as he needs.  I'm hoping as soon as the house is done and the holidays are over we can we concentrate on school with him. He's really interested in learning he just has a really hard time remembering things.  

Jacks loves superheros and power rangers right now.  He is so excited for Christmas.  He loves to look at toy ads and circle things that he wants.  He is absolutely obsessed with the Target toy ad right now.  He takes it to bed with him and took it to preschool for show and tell today.  He just loves power ranges and batman.  His favorite toy right now is a batman house.  He absolutely  loves legos.  He still loves Scooby-Doo.  He absolutely loves play doh. He can sit for an hour and play with play doh which is amazing for him.  He loves little crafts.  I bought him a bunch of craft kits at Hobby Lobby and he absolutely loves them.

Jacks still struggles with his speech.  I don't think he speaks as well as other kids his age.  I'm going to take him back in to Nebo School District to have his speech tested.  I really hope he qualifies for speech this time. He was really close last time.  He was 12th percentile and to qualify I think he'd need to be in the 7th.  They told me to bring him back in 6 months so I'm going to try to schedule that really soon.  I feel bad for the poor guy he just has a really hard time saying things.  We've been working on letter sounds and it's so hard for him because he can't even say the letter sounds correctly.  We talked about the L and he says it like a W.  He has a lot of other problems like that.  The other night we were all in the car driving home and Jacks was trying to tell us something and Jordan and I could not understand what he was saying.  It took 15 minutes of him repeating himself and crying because he just absolutely could not communicate what he wanted to before we finally got it.  It made me really sad.  I really hope that I can get him into speech therapy.  I really don't want kids to make fun of him because of his speech.

Link

Link is adorable and so funny.  He is such a little chatter box he never stops talking.  He is so funny and so smart!  Link is such a sassy little thing.  He has a serious attitude I can't believe some of the stuff that little guy says.  He's so small that it doesn't seem like he should talk like he does. He loves to play with Jacks.  He doesn't really like big groups of people of strangers. He loves power rangers.  Jacks and Link love to chase each other around playing power ranges.  Link like TMNT and is obsessed with Leo.  He knows his colors by ninja turtles.  He doesn't know the word blue he just calls it Leo.  It's adorable but most people don't really get it.  Link is really good at playing by himself and can be really independent at times.

One of Link's favorite people is my grandma.  They are both little chatterboxes.  Several members of my extended family have seen and heard weird thing at my grandma's house so we always joke that her house is haunted.  Link really likes ghosts and loves to go on ghost hunts at my grandma's house.  He wanders around her house searching for ghosts.  He talks to my grandma about her ghost telling her funny things like it doesn't have feet, it hides under her bed and it takes his toys.  It's really cute and very entertaining to listen to.  

Link has been having a really hard time sleeping lately.  He wakes up almost every night in the middle of the night. He's been better about taking naps just because he's been getting up so early with daylight savings time and getting up at night.  I think he's been having nightmares that wake him up.  Maybe it's all this talk of ghost at great grandma's.  I don't know but it's really frustrating and starting to wear on all of us.    

Jacks and Link are both so excited for Christmas.   They seriously can't wait.  One of their favorite things to do  is drive around and look at Christmas lights.  This season is going to be so much fun.  I have so many activities planned.  It just keeps getting better the older my cute kiddos gets.  I made them a little advent calendar with a Christmas activity to do everyday and they've loved it so far.  

Link loves trains right now.  He is absolutely obsessed with the Dairy Keen in Heber.  It's his favorite place to go.

Link loves my grandma.  They're both so chatty that they have the funniest little conversations. 

Jordan

Jordan just found out that he got a new job!  He's going to be the treasurer for Spanish Fork City.  He's really excited!  It's  a job that he's wanted for a while and he's really excited to start.  He doesn't actually start the job until February.  The guy that has the job now is being promoted to another position in February so it works well for Jordan because he has a lot time to train for the new job.  He's really excited and it's a little bit of a pay raise which will be nice with me probably cutting my work hours in April.  

Jordan has been playing basketball in a city rec league.  He loves it. Th e boys and I haven't been able to go to many of his games because they've just been kind of late and it's really hard for my kids to stay up that late.  

Jordan has been doing great we were talking about how hard last year at this time was for him.  Last October he had jaw surgery and he was just absolutely miserable at this time.  We're so grateful that he's doing well and doesn't have to go through that again.  He couldn't eat for 2 months.  Last Thanksgiving he couldn't eat anything but mashed potatoes.  I think the holidays this year will be really fun.  

Me

I've been doing alright.  I'm still just working once a week and occasionally picking up randomly.  It's been really nice staying home with the boys but still earning some extra money.  My job isn't physically strenuous at all so it's been pretty easy to work being pregnant.  Staying up all night is the only hard thing it takes me a lot longer to catch up on my sleep than it used to.

I've been feeling alright just really really tired all the time and still getting bad headaches pretty much everyday.  We found out we're having another boy!  Honestly Jordan and I were kind of disappointed at first, we were really hoping for a girl this time.  The more I think about it though the more excited I get.  Having another boy will be a lot of fun.  My boys will like having another brother.  We don't have to buy a single thing which will be really nice and save us tons of money.  I already have cloths for every season in every size from Jacks and Link.  We're still having a little trouble picking  a name.  I like the name Emmett, Jordan likes Joseph, Jacks likes Metalhead, and Pipe, and Link likes Leo, Mikey, Donny, and Raph.  So some real contenders there especially coming from the boys.  Names are so hard to pick.  The poor kid will be stuck with it forever so you have to pick a good one!  

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Jordan's parent's for dinner.  His whole family was there and the boys had a lot of fun with their cousins.  Jacks absolutely loves playing with his cousins.  They didn't eat a single thing but they really enjoy just playing together. 

After we spent most of the day with Jordan's family we went to my aunts house at night for a few hours and just played games and the boys played with some of my cousins kids. 

It was a really fun day and a good opportunity to reflect on what we're grateful for.  We've been really blessed and I'm trying not to forget that even though things have been so frustrating lately.