April Events

April was a wonderful month for us!  We were super busy with our new temple open house going on and other things.  Here is what went on in the Bell household this month!  

Rex was just as cute as ever of course.  I found him in Einstein's kennel one day just playing and enjoying himself, not once making a face for the awful stink that accompanies Einstein's kennel.  This month we also got to visit with my side of the family.  Mary came for a whole week to spend her spring break with us.  When she was here the girls painted with her and soaked up any teaching from her they could get (she's an art major!) Rex joined along (top left) and was just as happy as can be painting with his water.  Then Grandma Jani came up to go to Kayley's grandparents day at school.  Jani got to eat breakfast with Kayley and get a tour of her school and classroom.  It was really special for Kayley.  The bottom right picture is of Rex and Ruby going for a walk with Jani, Mary, and the Felkers. 

 As mentioned earlier my side of the family came up for the Open House for the new Kansas City Temple.  They came up over Easter weekend.  Both the Sanders and the Farmington Felker kids were not aware that May May was here so she decided to surprise them when they got to our house.  This was the first time the Sanders had seen our house so I took them on a tour of the house and had Mary jump out of my closet.  The Felker kids were a bit trickier as they've been to our house a number of times.  So we had Mary hide on top of the refrigerator.  It took them a while to actually go into the kitchen, so Edward suggested the kids go into the kitchen to get something to drink since they had been traveling for a while.  They finally saw her but she had covered her face and they couldn't figure out who she was.  They finally figured it out and of course they were all excited to see her and Mary of course was the life of the party for the kids both old and young.  They were all very sad to see her go.

 Here are some pictures of our gathering fun...(top left) Ruby was constantly trying on everyone's shoes...and there were many shoes there for her to try on because there were so many people there, 27 to be exact!  (top right) there was so much fun going on that kids really didn't get much sleep.  Lauren fell asleep literally in the middle of the living room.  Take note of her legs in other pictures...the kids were being very rambunctious around her and she slept through it all!  (bottom left and right) Edward was the target of fun for Cora, Mallory, and Rex for a while and of course was a good sport about it.

 (top left and bottom right) Rex got in on the action of tackling sweet Mallory!  I guess maybe Lucy saw this and decided to try and get reactions from Rex.  This whole weekend Rex avoided Lucy at all costs!  Lucy would go up to Rex and just grab him and scream really loud which would scare the crud out of Rex and he would cry historically and come to us to be comforted...only to turn around to Lucy who would come up to him and rinse and repeat.  It got to where Rex would be running into the room and see Lucy and would immediately run the other way!  Then even at church later that weekend she would just look towards him from the aisle in front of us and he would start hiding his face in our legs.  I couldn't bring myself to videotape it but I really wish I would have as it was really cute/sad all in one.  (top right and bottom left) Mallory entertained us with her elasticity!  That girl can bend in any shape or form!

Here are pictures of my sweet children!  They absolutely LOVED the Temple Open House!  At the beginning of the tour they give out pamphlets of the temple.  As we were walking room to room Kayley would open her pamphlet to the room we were standing in as she listened to the tour guide and follow along in her pamphlet.  Rex wore his booties throughout the whole tour, which surprised me as I thought he'd kick them off immediately.  They were so big on him because of course they were one size fits all and they were absolutely adorable but of course I didn't get a picture.  As soon as we were finished with the tour the kids wanted to go back through.  I explained to them about how it would be dedicated soon by the Prophet and then they would have to be 12 to go through again to do baptisms as a youth.  Kayley immediately said, "can we go as many times as possible to the temple before it's dedicated!"  And then when the dedication came closer she would say she didn't want it to be dedicated because that meant that they couldn't walk through it again.  We did get to go two more times.  Once in hopes of going with Cora's teacher but she wasn't able to make it after all.  Then a third time with one of my friends and her husband and little girl.  That was a lot of fun to of course go through the temple again with the kids and then to be able to catch up with my friend Erica and her sweet family.  

I just love Rex's cheesy grin...it's in every picture of course!

More pics of these sweet kiddos!  They had so much fun!

Family pics in front of our amazing Kansas City Temple!!

Ok...so these pictures need a preface of there are 26 grandkids on my side of the family.  We took 16 of those 26 on the tour!  We were our own tour group in case you were wondering!!   So we had to try to get a picture of all of them in front of the temple....quite the task to get them all looking and smiling!  We got close!  But of course we had to do a silly picture.  Some of the pictures have a mix of silly faces and smiling faces!!  Crazy cousins!

Then Easter morning was shared with us and the Farmington Felker family, which was fun and different! When the Easter Bunny comes to our house he hides the kids Easter basket, which was new to the Felker kids.  So it was fun to watch all the kids find their baskets...the Easter Bunny had to work really hard to hide all 8 baskets and not to double the hiding spots!  The kids had a blast eating candy for breakfast!  But what are Easter morning and Christmas mornings for!?! 

 Then that afternoon we had even more people at our house...a total of 34 people!!  But I have to admit that I wouldn't have had it any other way!  The older cousins were the ones in charge of hiding the Easter eggs for the little kids and memories of when I was a kid and having Easter egg hunts at Grandma and Grandpa Sargent came flooding back to me!  Sometimes I have to sit back and realize that I'm a parent to such wonderful children and I'm hopefully assisting in making such memories for them with their cousins.    My cousins were some of my best friends as a kid and I absolutely love that we live so close to so many of my siblings and Nick's siblings so that all of our kids can grow up and have these memories!

Here are some more pictures from this month's festivities.  (top left) Cora tried on some make-up with our neighbor.  (bottom left) Rex is ready for summer and wanted to try on his goggles for swimming.  (middle) Rex playing "Dead man, dead man" on the trampoline with the girls.  A game where you close your eyes and run around the trampoline trying to tag someone to be the next one it.  Rex was so stinking cute playing this!  (top right) Sarah so graciously came over to my house after everyone left to help me clean it...isn't she amazing?  It was actually a pretty hot day so we got the sprinkler out and put it under the trampoline for Kayley, Audrey, Cora, and Lauren to play.  They had a blast!  (bottom right) Sterling caught a frog when all the cousins were here and it was quite the hit! 

This month our neighborhood had their neighborhood garage sales.  The girls were so excited to join me. In fact Cora would say to everyone that week before that she was going to go to some garage sales on Saturday.  So we left the boys at home and we did some girl shopping together that morning.  Then the left picture is of Cora's celebration of learning for school.  My camera was not acting very well so I didn't get very many pictures that turned out.  She is in the middle next to her friend Katie.  She sang so loud and did so good.  She has loved every minute of school this year and has grown leaps and bounds!

 And who doesn't like Chick-fil-a milkshakes!?!?  Rex was loving his this day and making some funny faces!  Isn't he cute!?!

Rex loves babies

So I know I'm way behind on my posts....catch-up posts to follow.  I wanted to write this down as it was so cute I didn't want to forget it.  Yesterday at church the kids were fighting as they do often, but what group of siblings don't fight over their toys during church?  Nick was trying to calm Rex down and started distracting him with a new baby in our ward that was sitting only a couple of pews in front of us.  He told him, "that baby is watching you" and he would stop fussing about whatever he was fussing about.  Then later in sacrament he would fuss again and again Nick would just have to say, "that baby is watching you" and even in mid-cry he would stop and pay attention to the baby.  Needless to say he loves babies and always had naturally just as Cora did as a baby and even now.  Then towards the end of sacrament meeting Nick had him sit on his lap so he could get a good view of the baby and Rex kept patting each of us to get our attention to make sure we knew there was a baby up front so he would point to the baby.  So after sacrament meeting was over I took him up to go see the sweet baby.  He was so excited!  So, thanks baby Brielle for helping us keep Rex calm during sacrament.  We are going to have to sit by them every Sunday now!

March Events

March was a fun month for us.  It's always fun to see all the new things the kids get to experience or do.  Here are some pictures from our month.  Below the girls were supposed to just rest quietly in their beds during nap time and apparently they were more tired than they thought and they fell asleep.  And then on the bottom left I just can resist this cute boy in the corner.  I believe in this one he wasn't listening and refused to fold his arms and join us for family prayer.  The bottom right is of Rex on the Sunday before his first big boy haircut.  I had to get a picture of his cute curls and usually they look best on Sunday's because he's recently had a bath! 

 These pictures are in no particular order, just the month of March.  The top left and bottom right are from one day when Rex was thoroughly enjoying his macaroni and cheese.  He was licking the plate and then he noticed I was taking his picture and he had to do his cute cheesy face.  The top right was of Rex pretending to be sick with his sister, Kayley.  Kayley had a horrible fever during this month and it lasted for at least a week.  It got so high on a Sunday night (Kayley is actually on the other end of the couch but didn't want her picture taken.) but it was so high that night that Nick had to give her a blessing and she actually requested him to give her one, which doesn't happen very often because I think she gets embarrassed receiving priesthood blessings.  But what a blessing it was for Nick to be able to give her a blessing.  She eventually did get better, but it was a long road.  Then the bottom left, Cora actually taught herself how to tie her shoes all by herself!!  Kayley said she coached her a little bit but the funny thing is that Cora taught herself how to do it a completely different way than Kayley knows.  I was very impressed as Kayley only figured out how to tie her shoes about 3 months or so before this.

 The two pictures on the left are of Rex on my birthday this month.  Nick and the kids picked up an iPad for me for my birthday while I was at the movies with Michelle.  They used a ton of packing peanuts so they could trick me by wrapping it in a huge box.  Kayley even had me to do a scavenger hunt to find my package.  She did the hunt all by herself it was really cute.  The middle picture is of Rex to send to the Felker's...they are huge fans of Florida Gators.  The two right pictures are of Rex when he decided to finish off his sister's breakfast after we dropped her off at school.  Every morning he and Kayley eat breakfast together while watching Mickey Mouse.  He gets so excited to eat with her it's cute.

 Rex's new love has become Choo-choo's...really any kind.  The top left and bottom right is of him at the library..we had found a Thomas the train book and he immediately sat down and began looking through the book.  The top right and bottom left are just of Rex outside riding bikes with the girls.  This is one of the girls favorite things to do after school to ride their bikes in the driveway.

 Then in the middle of this month I finally got the gumption to get Rex his first haircut.  I took a picture of him beforehand (bottom left) and then afterwards on the bottom right was of him after his haircut.  And then we got home he started posing left and right for the camera.  Doesn't he look handsome?!?!  I admit I teared up a little bit when the curls started to get buzzed off but then when all was said and done, he just looked so darn cute to me!

 Preston's birthday was also this month.  He had a party at the park (top right of Rex at the park party) and then a party on St. Patrick's Day.  Rex really enjoyed his cake (top left).  The middle is of Garrett, Cora, Kayley and Rex enjoying cheese balls on their deck.  And the bottom picture is of Cora who was wiped out after coming home from the Walker's house.  I woke her up when we got home and took her out of her carseat.  She headed upstairs to go to bed, but fell asleep before she even got into her bed.  It was a fun night!

 Then Kayley got to go on her first field trip for kindergarten.  She had a field trip last year for preschool, but ended up getting sick the day of the field trip so she couldn't go.  She was so excited but also so nervous because it was her first one.  I got to be a parent helper so she was excited I got to go with her.  The kids had a blast and I was super impressed with how well her class behaved and listened to their teacher.  Kayley really has a great teacher this year and it shows with how well the kids listen and enjoy her.

 Here are some pictures of her doing some crafts.  She absolutely loves kaleidoscope because she loves crafts so much!  The top picture she is writing a card that says something about she loves her Mom and that I got to come with her (made me melt!) and then the bottom right is of her and one of her really good friends, Kennedy in her class.  They really get along really well.

 Then with Easter around the corner we headed to Bass Pro for their annual Easter Egg Hunt.  Rex got into it more this year than he did last year.  It was really cute to see him get so excited to pick up an egg.  The eggs were hidden in the hunting department which was great for Nick who got to browse around while the kids hunted.

 Then of course we had to do the Easter Bunny pictures.  As you can tell, Rex didn't like the Easter Bunny too much, but we eventually got him to sit and smile.  Kayley sat with him this year which was a plus because last year she refused to sit with the Easter Bunny for some reason and it really bugged me.  And the middle picture is a horrible picture because it was from my phone but they also had a mechanical bull at Bass Pro this year.  All three kids rode it, even Rex.  I didn't get pictures of the girls riding it because I was video taping them but they all three did great and were so brave.

 This is of the three of them sitting on a horse prior to waiting in line for the mechanical bull.  It was a really fun day for all of us!  This is why Cora loves Bass Pro and of course we all know that Nick loves it!

February Events

February, just like January always seems to be a little on the slow side in activities.  Maybe it's the winter season that always brings on the slow-ness.  Kayley's teacher is amazing so she always sends us pictures of the activities the kids do and I just love it for blog and record keeping purposes!  On Groundhog's Day they made some cute groundhog hats and then went outside to see if they could see their shadow or not.  They had a blast tracing their shadows.  The little girl to the left of Kayley is Kennedy, who has been Kayley's best friend this year.  They are a lot alike and they really get along really well.  Kayley really has had a great year in kindergarten...a great teacher, great kids in her class, and a great school!  Makes me really grateful that we are in this school district!

 Our big excitement for the month of February was going to St. Louis and then to Farmington for Drew's baptism.  We got an amazing deal on a hotel in Chesterfield that had an amazing room with super comfy beds and pillows.  The pool was indoors (a plus) and then to top it off the pool was heated so it was perfect!  Then if that wasn't good enough for us the breakfast was divine...pretty much anything you could think of for breakfast was there.  Cora and Kayley kept saying they wanted to eat breakfast and stay there every time we stayed in a hotel.  And the best part...we got it all for $36 including tax!  The girls always have a blast staying in a hotel especially when they get their own bed to share.  It's cute how they always end up sleeping facing each other!

 Then we headed towards Farmington for Drew's baptism.  We stopped at Maggie Moos to get some ice cream, one of my all-time favorite ice cream places.  We had a hard time finding it and finding our way back to the interstate so we were a little late to Drew's baptism, but luckily they waited for us to start.  Edward baptized Drew and it was funny because the water heater broke on the font so Drew had to be baptized in freezing cold water!!  His face was so funny when he got out of the water.  I wish I had a camera.  Then afterwards the cousins played with each other for hours in the church gym.  Rex kept playing in the tupperware that held the balls.  He was in heaven with tons of balls being thrown around the gym.  Then we all headed to Edward and Stephanie's house who so graciously hosted all 25 or so people...all family!  We had a bet going to see which family would get sick because anytime we all get together, someone has to get sick and then we pass it all around.  Ironically it was Edward and Lucy that were throwing up Sunday morning.  On a plus side I don't think anyone else ended up getting sick if I remember correctly.  It was a great weekend as of course it's always fun to get together with everyone!

 Another excitement for the month was we FINALLY had a snow day!!  I seriously think the school district just gave us a pity snow day because we hadn't had any at this point and the snow was not even that deep or dangerous in my opinion (but I wasn't actually driving in it).  Either way we enjoyed our snow day at home.  The girls were ecstatic to play in the snow as they are both at the age where they will stay out all day and play with one another.  Rex on the other hand typically stays out for a small amount of time.  However this day he actually played with the girls for quite a while, at least long enough for me to get proof in pictures that he was out there.

 I can't remember what Kayley's assignment was for school but she wrote about her loosing her first tooth, which actually happened over a year ago so I was impressed she remembered all the details.  It was cute reading how she spelled everything and how she made sure to show that Dad was crying because he was the one who knocked out her tooth accidentally (Christmas morning 2010).

 I was able to go to both the girls' school valentine's day parties this year, which was so much fun!  This was Cora's first class party as she has only attended preschool for one semester.  She had so much fun in her class and loved having me come.  They had treats, played pin the heart on the bear, and sang songs.  She loves her class and is such a good helper.  This is a picture on the bottom right of her and her friend Katie.  They are the two mentors in their class.  Cora seriously is a great helper to all the kids in her class. She does exactly what the teachers ask her to do immediately when they ask her to do it.  And Kayley seriously does have an amazing teacher as she lets Rex and Cora tag along, which they love to do!  Kayley's classmates of course love playing with them too.

 Then we got together with a group of friends the day after valentine's day to do a church valentine's day party.  It was so much fun.  Cora was actually the only girl her age so I hope she had fun, but struggled to fit in with the boys and what they were playing at times.  There is actually only one other girl in her primary class and she wasn't there.  I think the most fun they had was being able to ice their own cupcakes and then have as much candy as they wanted, especially since we had a lot being the day after valentine's day and we were able to get a lot of candy for half price!

 These are just a few other pictures from this month.  Rex was on a kick of clementines, which I loved because he is such a picky eater sometimes that I was glad his kick was on something healthy!  And he even got tons of vitamin C for during the winter months!  Here is on the upper left picture peeling his own clementine all by himself.  The bottom left is because he has two older sisters who love to dress him like a girl!  The middle picture was the girls wearing some hats they had both made at school.  Then the two pictures on the right was of Rex in the corner.  I know I'm an awful parent taking his picture in the corner, but he's just so darn cute, right?!  And the bottom right is actually taken by Nick when he took him out during sacrament meeting...it was a bad Sunday that day!

January Events

January has come and gone but not without a little bit of fun in our house! So all during Christmas break my friend Jessica and I kept trying to get together to let our kids play with no success. Then of all times we randomly texted each other one Saturday morning to see if we could meet at the mall play place and of course the random time worked for both of us! So much for planning ahead, right?! So we met at the mall to let the kids play, then headed to the pet store to let the kids see the dogs, and then hit the candy bins where everyone got to pick one kind of candy to eat. It was way to short of a play-date, but the kids still had fun and that's what matters! Then of course of all places....the very next week there was a shooting at the mall we had gone to. Pretty crazy but we were both very glad it wasn't the time we were there!

Then in the middle of the month my Aunt Kim from Laredo, Texas was dropping her daughter Mariah off in Idaho for school and on her way back home she stopped at our house for a visit. We got to go to Fritz's for dinner with Andrew and Sarah. Fritz's used to be one of Aunt Kim's favorite places to eat when she used to live in Kansas City. This was the second time we had taken Rex but when he last went he was a nursing infant so he of course didn't remember it. He was so ecstatic to see all the "d00-doo's" (Choo-Choo's). He would point to them very excitedly and say "doo-doo!" every time he saw them. It was cute! It was a great time to catch up with Aunt Kim and for my kids to get to know her a little bit better too. We hadn't seen her since the family reunion in July 2011 and even then there was so many family there they hadn't met before that they probably didn't remember her too much except that she was the one that gave them Mexican coins.
This winter, was not very wintery at all with very little snow. So the couple of days it did snow, my kids were super excited! Here are some pictures of the girls playing in a dusting we had one day. When the girls woke up for school that day they were so bummed they had to go to school so I promised them that as long as the snow was still there they could play in it as soon as they got home from school. I was crossing my fingers all day long as I knew this would probably be one of our only snows for the winter. The most of the snow was on the trampoline so they spent most of their time on it throwing snowballs at each other and making snow angels. No snowmen this time around as there wasn't really enough to make one. I got one quick picture of Rex on the deck because he lasted only 5 minutes in the snow after I spent about 20 minutes trying to get his snow gear on him.
Then one day I just played a little bit with my camera and my cute kids. Rex was very excited to show me his cheetos or cheese puffs...not really sure what he was eating, but it was cheesy!
And of course the girls had to participate too as they love their Rex!
And here are a couple of pictures from either my phone or Nick's phone of Rex and Kayley.

Top left is of Rex at Tractor Supply Co. with Nick. We'd love to get him a cowboy hat someday. Top Right is one of my favorite Sunday outfits he wore this past winter. He just looked so grown up in it.

Middle picture is of Kayley and Rex at Kayley's "Pastries with Parents" breakfast at her school. I wasn't planning on attending this event because our mornings are kind of crazy trying to get Cora and Kayley both to school since their schools start at 8 and then not until 8:40am. But when we were coming home from dropping off Cora I felt bad not going and mentioned it to Kayley and of course she was dying to go. So I've never seen her get her hair done or her lunch made so quickly and we were off. Rex had a blast and I felt bad for those cleaning up after us...it was rather messy!

Bottom left is of Rex eating a cupcake I brought home from Young Women New Beginnings. He of course loved it!

Bottom right is Daddy's dreams coming true. This was at a Mexican restaurant with Michelle and Kendall. It was just a video game (that's not Daddy's dream by the way!) but Rex trying to shoot the gun. It was cute!

Cora Started School

One new thing that we've adjusted to is Cora starting school! Last year (actually last semester) she was in speech. She started speech in August and only going twice a week she was dismissed from speech at the beginning of December. It was very impressive how quickly she figured out how to correct her talking mistakes. She's one smart girl! So she is now a mentor in her class. She absolutely loves school. She has Mrs. Hall this year and loves her as a teacher. She talks all the time about all the things she does in school and all the friends she is making. It is a little bit stressful in the mornings now with both her and Kayley getting ready and taking them to school as Cora goes at 8 and Kayley doesn't go until 8:30. However, it's worth it because of all the things she is learning and all the fun she is having while at school. Here she is posing with her backpack on. She was ecstatic that she now gets to wear a backpack to school and I think she looks pretty darn cute!

Then of course Kayley wanted to pose with her. Kayley still loves school and is excited she can now share school stories with Cora.
Then here she is sitting down in line waiting to go to her classroom. It was really cute when I was taking her, you could tell she was nervous. She willingly received a blessing from her Daddy the night before and had so many questions before going to bed about school. Then the tradition that we have and continue to have now that Cora is in school is for the girls to say a prayer in the car on their way to school. She also willingly said her prayer that morning. Then I walked her into the building (in my PJ's by the way, all complete with my house shoes one - you can actually see my house shoe at the bottom of the picture! Yes, I really love her!) And then when she sat down, I took her picture then gave her a hug, I really thought she was going to choke me her hug was so tight. She didn't cry though and I was very proud of her for not crying! And of course when I dropped her off, she had a blast and wanted to go back the next day!

2011 New Year's Eve

This I think has been the first New Years Eve in about 3 years that Nick wasn't on call. However, I think I'd rather him be on call for that holiday than Christmas or Thanksgiving any year. So we were able to get together with the Walkers to celebrate. Michelle and I had debated constantly about if we keep our kids up to midnight or celebrate early. My girls love to watch the ball drop on TV, so we decided to celebrate at 11pm with the East Coast. Either way, the kids had a blast! We tried to incorporate every single tradition we could think of it seemed! Growing up I used to stay up till midnight and then go outside and bang pots and pans. I never watched the ball drop until I think I was in High School, but we do that tradition now with our kids. The other tradition that I've started with my kids is to drink the sparkling grape juice on new years. I wish I could drink that every day I love it so much and now Cora is the same as me! Michelle and Kendall bought a bunch of noise makers for the kids to use at midnight. And then Michelle and Nick growing up would blow up balloons and then their Aunt Lorraine would tie this special tie putting the balloons in a sheet and at midnight she would pull the string and the balloons would go flying to the ground and the tradition is that the kids pop the balloons....so can you see that our kids were a bit confused as to what tradition to do first because they all have to be done at midnight!! :) It was pretty comical watching us adults throw pots and pans to them, tell them to sound their noise makers, give them their special drinks, and then tell them to pop their balloons all at once! Then we blew the balloons up too small that they couldn't even pop them! In fact, I'm typing this post up at the end of January and two of our balloons are still blown up and laying around a house! Oh and did I also mention that this is all at 11pm so when they were banging pots and pans on the front porch yelling Happy New Years, Michelle's neighbors probably thought we were insane! It was lots of fun to be had for all!

Here are some pictures of them waiting to do all their traditions! Kayley wanted a picture of her throwing a balloon into the air!! She's so funny!

Oh...and did I mention I love these boys!?!?! I was able to get some cute pictures of the two of them! 2011 was a great year and brought lots of great things and new beginnings for us with our family, but we are very excited for 2012 and the other new things we get to experience together as a family!

Felker Get Together

Also during Christmas Break all my family (that is local anyway) met at my Mom's house for a visit. Sarah and I rode together as both Andrew and Nick had to work and weren't able to join us. It was great to let the kids ride together and help entertain each other during the drive since we just went for the day so it involved a lot of driving. But the cousins had a blast playing together. The weather was so nice (as it's been all winter) to where the kids were able to go outside and run around. Sarah got in the action of the freeze tag game. It's always fun to see the cousins get together.

Mom's Visit and my Christmas Present

So after Christmas this year, my Mom decided to come up to stay a night with us and then a night with Andrew and his family so she could play with the grandkids and see their new toys from Santa Claus. My kids had a blast playing with her! They loved showing her their new toys from Santa Claus and loved teaching Grandma Jani about how to play "Don't Eat Pete!" I also decided to take on a painting job while Mom was here to paint my laundry room. So it was great to have Mom there to play tag team with the kids while I painted during the day. As soon as Mom got to our house, the girls played "Don't Eat Pete" with her for at least an hour, if not longer. Since I was doing the laundry room, the kitchen table was a mess so they had to play the game on my bed so Rex wouldn't eat all the candy so it was hilarious hearing them play and get so excited to teach Jani how to play. Then I finally got the laundry room finished right before Nick got home from work, which meant I was wiped out and in no mood to cook dinner so we all went to eat at Pizza Hut. Kayley got to use a couple of her book-it pizzas, so the girls loved getting their own pizzas. Then the next day Jani got up and we took some pictures before she headed to the Felker's house. Here the kids are posing with some of their presents from Santa Claus, well the girls are..Rex is posing with his breakfast!

Then we tried to get a picture with Mom and a picture with the kids and myself, but Rex was not cooperating very well. And the one picture he did cooperate on, I forgot to turn the flash on!! Oh well...it was fun to have Mom over and let the kids have one on one time with her.
Then here is my Christmas present....right after Christmas my dryer went out. It happened before only about 2 months ago at most and Nick replaced the heating element, but that of course was a rather big job. Since it went out again we decided to try our luck in getting a new washer and dryer. We found this almost nearly new front load set on craigslist and it was actually the brand we had researched and everything. So I decided to decorate my laundry room. The closet was plain jane before with just white walls that were icky and needed to be painted anyway. I forgot to take a picture with the old washer and dryer in here, but imagine the old almond very old type of washer/dryer!
And my dreams come true...I never thought I'd own such a nice washer and dryer set!! Seriously!! I still love to do laundry and it's been over a month since we got them! The picture doesn't do the color justice in my opinion, but it's hard to get a good shot of it because it's in the closet. I just love it!

Jumping Jax

So Christmas break has probably been my favorite part of the school year so far! Don't get me wrong, Kayley loves school. She has a great teacher and she has a great group of kids in her class and she gets along really well with them. I seriously couldn't ask for a better kindergarten experience for her. However, I still would just love to have her home with me everyday! So during Christmas break I wanted to try and get together with as much family and friends as I could but also take it easy and just enjoy the time I had with Kayley at home from school. So Michelle and I had planned a playdate. Our original plan was to just play at our house, but Michelle called that morning with the idea of going to Overland Park and try out their Jumping Jax. Michelle of course had a coupon so of course we were game! We also got to ride together thanks to Michelle doing all the footwork of getting enough carseats in her van. I think that was the best part for the kids! So Jumping Jax is an indoor place with a bunch of large bouncy houses. They actually had a zipline thing from a clubhouse. It was really cute to watch the kids try it. Kayley and Ashlyn didn't want much to do with it but we were glad they at least tried it once. Kayley even tried it twice but both times she would just jump off the edge and fall to the mat instead of holding onto the bar. Cora on the other hand I had to remind her to let go of the bar when she was at the end of the zipline. She was cute and I was very impressed with her ability to do the whole thing!

Then of course had to get pictures of each of the kids going down the big slides! Garrett even ventured into some of the biggest ones...thanks to Michelle's help!! I was the picture taker so I didn't have to take Rex up the biggest one and I was very glad for that...it's a workout just to get yourself up there, it's tricky getting your feet to stay on the inflatable pegs to be used as steps and to hold onto the ropes at the same time all while trying to lift an 18 month up the steps too....not very fun! Needless to say I had to get a picture of Garrett on the huge slide because I knew that would be the only time he'd make it up there!
This is where we tried to keep Rex and Garrett as much as possible..in the small bouncy areas. However this was even difficult as a daycare also decided to come the same day. Let me say...some of those kids really tried my patience!! Poor little Rex and Garrett got bumped around a time or two by some older kids who really just had no awareness of them being smaller. In fact, one time I took Rex and Garrett by myself up a slide while Michelle took pictures and some kids were trying to pass me and the two boys while I was trying to get them up the aforementioned difficult ladder of the slide. I had to pretty much bump my booty in their face to get them to stop from cutting in front of me while I tried to get the two 18 month and 20 month boys up to the top! I was a bit peeved! Needless to say the kids had a blast and it's as always, fun to get together!