Mid-Winter Break

For mid-winter break this year we went to an indoor pool with the Sutton's, Seamon's, Lawson's and Matthew's ! It was going great until Ethan had to be rescued by the lifeguard but he ended up staying close after that so we had a great time!

This was Preston's first time in the water and he LOVED it!

 

 We also went to the Serpenterium to visit all the snakes, crocodiles

Tess touched the snake!

Valentine's Day

I am Ethan's room mom so we put together his Valentine's Party!

 

 We had a photo booth.

 Preston is sporting the heart hat craft.

 Ethan's classmates.

 Ethan's evil minion Valentine box.

We stopped by Cole's party for a few minutes. He was busily eating all of his candy.

Cole Basketball

Cole played basketball again this winter and Matt was his coach again. Cole was great and stealing the ball and making a quick pass to his hoop.

Christmas Break and New Year's Eve

For Christmas Break we took a trip out to the Aquarium.

 

 

 

 Our favorite octopus!

 Then we went to the carousel at the mall. As it was after Christmas no one was there and we got to ride it several times in a row!

The kids got some silly string at a Christmas Party so we thought we would let them use it New Year's Eve. They decided it would be a good idea to spray the bathroom mirror and I agreed!

 Success!

 I could barely get Ethan to stay for the picture because he didn't like the smell!

Christmas Day

The kids woke up early and we had a great day. This has to be one of my favorite Christmas's to date. Everyone was happy and we just enjoyed spending the day together.

 

 Tess got a Hello Kitty.

 Ethan got some HexBugs.

 Cole got the night vision nerf football.

 Preston got a turtle toy.

 All is done and unwrapped!

 Ethan's loot. He also got Skylander's Swapforce.

 Cole got a new bike!

 

Tess

Tess got a baby cradle. 

 Preston got a neft gun. It is never too early right?

 We had steak for dinner which was fabulous! It was easy to make, everyone liked it and it gave us more time to hang out!

We popped our crackers!

Christmas Day selfie.

We played lots of games that day including our new game Sorry.

Christmas Eve

 We spent our Christmas Eve at the Trussel home with our friends. We read and the kids acted out the Nativity. The boys were shepherd's in pirate robes and Preston was supposed to be baby Jesus but he was having a rough day and cried through most of it! Tess wouldn't participate this year...

 Santa came and we were excited for the kids to wake up.

Christmas Activities

 Our December activities this year were low key but of course did our Gingerbread House.

We also went to our Ward Christmas Party which was loads of fun!

 Preston turned six months so we tried to take his picture with the Santa hat but he didn't love the idea!

Back Problems

Every time I have a baby I struggle with my back. I had been nursing my back and had to spend a few days laying down to try and help it. Apparently I didn't do it enough because I completely threw it out the first part of December. I was on the couch and couldn't move. Ethan helped me with Preston and I called Matt and he was able to come home and help me. I made it up to bed and thought I would be better in the morning. The next day I was in terrible pain and couldn't move. I would almost pass out every time I got up because of the pain. I was supposed to have foot surgery that week but we had to postpone it because I wasn't mobile enough to then lose mobility of my foot! I had an MRI and learned it was a bulging disc. I started PT to try and help the problem.

Throughout the week several friends came over to help me with the kids. Cole and Ethan were very helpful with Preston and Tess and they all learned to be a little more independent. The following Monday Anna and Ron came to help for a few days and were able to stay until I had my foot surgery that Thursday when Matt was able to stay and help. It took me another couple of days to get mobile from the foot surgery and I slowly started to recover!

This all took place in the middle of the Christmas festivities so I missed most of the fun parties this year. We all learned to be a little bit more patient and realized that I spent most of my day picking up things as the floor was completely covered everyday without me continuing that practice! It has been a slow recovery but things are going much better.