December and January Little Things

I think I'm officially the worst person ever at taking pictures.  We have a whopping 5 photos on my phone to show what we did for the entire month of December.  I'm hoping I got a few more on my 'real' camera, but here are the cell phone pics for December and January.

DECEMBER:

Seeing the lights in downtown Fayetteville!  It's not quite temple square, but it's still lots of fun.  We were all bundled up to keep warm in the 50 degree weather!

Christmas morning we drove to Houston to visit my brother and his family...The only time I pulled out my camera was when TJ and another cousin were jumping on the tramp.  Man oh man, do our kids like the tramp.

JANUARY

Grandma and Grandpa came for a quick visit.  With them came lots of surprises including hair chalk and accessories for the girls (compliments of an aunt that likes to spoil).  Hannah opted for pink. Sofia blue.

We finally made it up to Crystal Bridges Museum (my first official trip to Benntonville!!) and spent most of our time in the kids room.  They had fun.

James had orientation for 150ish international students.  We went to a social one night and visited the photo booth.  The picture wasn't too successful, but the girls sure thought the mustache was pretty funny.

James was working on a project (a gate for the business) and it was around 12 degrees outside....so this is what our kitchen looked like for the day.

Just some wrestling with the kids.  Not sure who's winning.  Sofia, maybe?

Sofia taking my fitbit and trying to get in a few extra steps for me.

We made a very quick trip to the Kansas City temple.  This is what it looked like as we were leaving that night to head back home.

Sofia just wanted to do something nice and so she helped me by cleaning a few dishes and the sink....the amount of suds may have added to the fun!

We spent a couple of hours at Lowes picking out a ton of wood.  After a while the kids started playing.  Hannah was serving us up some ice cream from her shop.

This is what $600 of wood looks like.  Not as much as you'd think, right?!  But, it should be enough to build our Queen bed with drawers underneath, TJ's twin bed with drawers, and a coffee table trunk with storage inside.  Here's hoping!!!

Oh BOY

We found out today that baby #4 is going to be a boy!!  And my due date stays at July 1st!

After my Dr appointment I took TJ and Sofia to do a little baby brother shopping.  They each picked out their favorite item.

This morning all 3 of them voted for a baby girl, but none of them seemed too disappointed when they found out it was a boy.  TJ was pretty pleased, although he did inform us he's not going to share with a boy!

2015 Year in Review

We rang in the new year with some sparking cider at about 7 pm on New Year's Eve. (Yeah - we're exciting like that!!!)  We also talked about some of our memories of the past year.  It was really interesting to see what stuck out to the kids.

* an awesome kindergarten teacher for Hannah

* Packing up to move back to Utah

* Unloading all of our stuff and visiting Utah for the summer instead
* the battery dying in our car along with a flat tire in James' bike followed by jump starting the car with a sick Hannah to take James to work on Sofia's birthday

* James rollerblading the 6 miles home with a very heavy battery in his backpack.

* a stolen bike (the day before moving)

* both girls learning to ride their bikes without training wheels

* Moving back to Arkansas

* opening the business

* James getting his first 'real' and permanent (or at least long term) job

* Hannah starting at 2 new schools for 1st grade

* Joy School for Sofia

* Baby # 4 coming

* Mini van!!!

* Going to Houston to visit family

* Hannah loosing lots more teeth

* Hannah's 1st birthday party at age 6

* House shopping

November Little Things

My phone was lost which means I also lost the pictures for the month of November.  Bummer.  Here are the couple I took with our other camera:

James getting ready to bike to his 1st day of work at University of Arkansas.  Let's just ignore the busy background/terrible lighting.

James did the girls hair with the vacuum.  They thought it was pretty awesome!

Thankful Turkey

Here's what was legible from our Thankful Turkey this year:

* family
* health
* baby #4
* food
* school
* opportunities at University of Arkansas
* busy days at the business
* wife & kids
* bike + trails to ride on
* God
* holidays
* cousins
* eternal perspective
* cereal
* INSURANCE!!!
* sleep
* joy school
* TJ's naptime
* Sofia's quiet time
* past experiences
* gospel in our lives

October Little Things

James built a triple bunk bed for the kids.  He had lots of helpers for the project.

The weekend after the business opened up James had the day off.  It was amazing to have a day together and not do any work.  We had lots of fun.  It was our first time biking as a family in months.

Caterpillar collecting...we stopped counting at 50.

Sofia learned to ride her bike without training wheels.  I thought it was going to be a slow and painful process but she picked it right up.  After 2 hours practicing I'd say she has it down!

 The girls were jamming to some music.  Sadly, I think dancing must be genetic.

 

 3 Little Monkeys at the park after school one afternoon.

Why anyone would choose to go down the slide this way - I have no idea?!

We made it to the Kansas City temple on a wet and chilly day - it was a long day.

Spending lots of time at the business!

Train rides down the slide....I love when they are happily playing together.

A very tired lunchtime.

I finished sewing costumes with a day (maybe even 2) to spare!!

September Little Things

Aka phone pictures.

Tj's first nap in a big bed

These little guys (TJ and a friend) playing with a friend's baby.....TJ loves babies

Story time at the library.  There were a bunch of characters there to read their story and they hung around afterwards for pictures.  Yes we waited in line....for every single one of them!

Sofia was pretty intense about coloring a picture of herself for Joy School

We made it to the Oklahoma City temple

Hannah made this sign for their 'Kids Club.'  I couldn't help but laugh at her spelling.


Here's the actual clubhouse

I love to see the kids reading.  Especially when it's quiet and I'm suspecting a little one is getting into trouble but I find him 'reading' a good book.

Naturally, this is what we do with a booster seat.

And TJ is definitely the right size for this swing!

Summer Snippets

Yeah, we're alive.  Barely.  There are a lot of things I'm supposed to be doing right now, but I have quit for today.  I decided I'd rather organize some thoughts and pictures.  I didn't take to many photos with my phone, but here's a quick snapshot of a few things from this summer.

TJ finally fell asleep on our drive back to Utah (after 9 hours in the car)!!

Hannah really wanted to take her sunflower with us.  Somehow she managed to sneak it into the car and it made it all the way to Utah intact.

Washing the car.....and themselves.

She was pretty focused practicing.

The joy of having older cousins.....

Grandma and Grandpa got a new dishwasher....meaning the girls had a fun new box to play with.

What are the chances of these two having matching pajamas?

Some of the cousins outside of the Payson temple while McKenna (the oldest cousin) went through.

The gorgeous view outside of the 'cabin' over the 4th of July.

Why are dirt and water so fun to play with?!?

Waiting for the 24th of July parade to begin.....small towns definitely have the best parades.

Getting a little wet at the splash pad.

They actually slept for a little while on the drive back to Arkansas.  I suppose that's a perk of leaving at 4 am.

 TJ finally fell asleep in this position after a good tantrum.