April

A park in Kaysville with cousins

 The Wienermobile! (Complete with little whistles)

 A Stake RS activity that I was on the committee for. Jerusha Hess spoke (she co-wrote & directed Napolean Dynamite) and I was in charge of the decorations.

 Yeah! It's spring and we can play outside! We are so excited for warmer weather!!

March

  

We had a Pancake Pajama Movie Party for Emily and her friends in the neighborhood.

  Emily lost her first tooth!

Emily doing her homework - a paper on the signs of spring.

St. Patrick's Day!

Cousin Easter Egg Hunt

Easter! (And evidence of why it's nap time)

February

The snow this year has been crazy. But the kids have absolutely loved it. They play outside as much and as long as I'll let them. 

Eliza wants to join them so bad! (Till she actually feels the snow)

Celebrating Chinese New Year with Grandma & Grandpa Newman and Chris

 I helped a bit for Emily's school Valentine's party. She has such an amazing teacher and such great kids in her class. It was a fun party.

Then we celebrated that night with our usual fancy dinner, love notes, and gifts.

 Cute Eliza. She's growing so fast. We all just love her so much and love it when she'll snuggle with us.

January

Unfortunately our new year didn't start off all that great. You know that horrible flu going around this year? Yup. We got it. Bad. Jeff was sick over Christmas and right as he got over it, Jacob came down with it. Then Emily. Then me. Then Eliza. And somewhere in there Dave & Arline got it too. And this wasn't just sick for a couple of days. It was feel crappy for three days or so, completely out of commission for four days, then feel crappy for another few days as you slowly recovered. And it affected us all differently too - some threw up, some had fevers, some had headaches & dizziness, some got ear infections. But no matter the ailment, we were all miserable. 

Halfway through January we finally felt somewhat normal around here. Just in time for another huge snow storm to hit. The snow this year has been crazy. The kids have loved it and play in it any chance they get. 

 About the only other pictures I took in January:

Hopefully February will be a bit more exciting.

48 Wonderful Whirlwind Hours

Christmas Eve began at 9:00 am with breakfast with my family. Unfortunately Jeff had to work which left me dealing with two impossibly difficult kids. Liza was not happy with anyone or anything and Jacob threw a fit over everything making me wonder why in the world I even bothered leaving the house that day. Spencer finally worked his magic and got Eliza content and a wonderfully patient waitress finally discovered the trick with Jacob was getting him a bowl full of saltine crackers. Who knew? He even had to fill a take out container to bring home. Crazy kid. The afternoon was spent worrying about Eliza and then visiting a neighbor who's an ER Doc - the same one we had to visit last Christmas Eve. His diagnosis - an eye infection. Yeah!
That evening my parents and Chris came over (during a crazy blizzard snow storm) where we ate dinner, played chimes, tied blankets, and watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Then the kids got to open a present from Mom & Dad - new pj's, write a note to Santa, and set out cookies, milk, & carrots, before it was off to bed. (Notice Liza's poor eye)

 The next morning was filled with smiles, glitter, laughter, surprise, more glitter, lots of hand washing, and piles of wrapping paper.

We had a quick jaunt over to my parents to skype with my missionary brother...

... and then returned home for even more presents.

 After a quick bite to eat and an attempt at naps, we headed back to my parents for dinner and gifts.

It was crazy. It was fun. It was magical. It was wonderful. 

Merry Christmas!