Dress Up

She is in a wonderful dress up phase... constantly changing her clothes and accessorizing with anything she can, even if it IS a pair of mismatched gloves:

 Nothing finishes off the perfect outfit like a pair of gloves!

 Eli gets in on the dress up action too- Hailee loves it!

Hi-YA!

Right now, Bryson loves all things martial arts.  He'll check out books from the library on taekwondo and jiu jitsu and karate and pour over them for hours.  So you can imagine his excitement when his  health and fitness class had a unit on taekwondo taught by a real black belt sensei.  At the end of the 2 weeks, they did a demonstration for the school:

He took it very seriously, of course!

How many pictures does it take?

Seriously.  The more kids, the more difficult it is to get just one decent picture.  It's pure madness...

I made us all matching pj's that we opened Christmas Eve and wanted just one good picture...

The closest to decent:

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Jace's First Christmas

Almost sitting up on his own...

 With support anyway...

 He loves feeling and looking at the lights on the tree...

Such a happy boy!

A little less stressful this time...

It was almost exactly two years ago that we went through a little too much drama over far too long of time period with Dallin and his blood disorder... for almost two months we followed Dallin's h&h because I was so hesitant for him to be transfused!  The first transfusion can be a slippery slope and I just didn't want to have to go there unless we needed to... obviously when he finally got his first transfusion, it was a.b.s.o.l.u.t.e.l.y necessary and I have been so thankful that he was not only able to get it, but that we didn't start needing them frequently.

Fast forward to early this December and Dallin started with the whole 'pale-tired-lethargic' routine (as if it's by choice for him *grin*)  He's such a trooper and really rarely complains, but that makes it a little more difficult because I'm trying to help him recognize when he may be getting more anemic!  After watching him for a week or so, we got his blood drawn.  Of course it was on a Friday- his levels were lower than his norm, but not low enough to necessitate a transfusion.  After worrying about it all weekend, I woke up Monday morning determined that he just needed to be transfused... I didn't want him to have to go through what he did last time or feel sick all winter break (or longer) from school, not did I want to have to stress about it over Christmas either... plus, we'd met our deductible for the year :-$

I was actually kind of surprised when the heme-onc nurse told me that his level on Friday didn't necessarily call for a transfusion!  But when he was re-drawn that day and his h&h was 5.6 and 17% she told us to come on in *grin*

I think Dallin was actually excited... mostly because he knew he'd get a cheeseburger and to play his DS.  He's not hard to please.

We got there around 2pm, but they had to type and cross him, and then it was shift change... the transfusion didn't actually get started until almost 8pm...

And these things take time...

 Which meant a very very late night for us...

When they d/c'd his iv, he woke up and felt so.much.better.  He was still pale, but had energy, even thought it was almost 2 am.  How thankful I am to be able to bring a tired pale sick boy into the hospital and a few hours later have him running and jumping out to the car!

Ya, a little less traumatic than last time for sure *grin*

He's fallen and he can't get up!

I went down to check on the boys last night before I went to bed and found Eli like this:

Fast asleep, not at all bothered by his position... at least he didn't have too far to fall!

Breakfast with Santa

Our Primary had a Christmas breakfast last weekend with a special surprise visitor!  The kids were all very excited... 

Even though Bryson 'knows' I think he still believes-

 He told Santa he wanted a Lego Star Wars X Wing

Dallin still believes... no question!

"a Hot Wheels Track with lots of loops" -way to be specific Dal!

Eli had a very hard time deciding on just one thing...

 but finally told Santa he wanted a Lego Star Wars ship

This little girl was ONLY in it for the candy...

and making sure to hold it far enough away from Santa that he couldn't take it away from her!

I was so surprised she sat on his lap... but then again, candy does speak to her.

And I hope someday Jace forgives me for not getting a solo picture of him and Santa... maybe someday I can photoshop his siblings out of this:

Hey!  Five is a lot of kids to keep track of which ones have had their turn...

So excited about this time of the year... it's just magical, especially with kids.

Unspoken

Dallin and Bryson both had ophthalmology appointments today- the long ones where they have to be dilated.  The best part for them was getting to wear the awesome glasses afterwards, you would have they'd won the lottery *grin*  So after we left the office and were waiting for the elevators, unbeknownst to them, I had my phone out to take a picture of their newfound treasures when Bryson said, "Hey Dallin..." and with that they turned to each other and did this:

 No cues, nothing... they just turned to each other and pulled out their double guns in unison!  It must be some sort of brother thing?  I love it...

5(!?!) Months Old!

This little man has found his feet!  Anytime he finds them without socks on, they are in.his.mouth!

I had to really stretch him out and give him his paci to get this one without his feet in his face!

He reaches for toys and pretty much anything he can get his hands on now, so fun to see the world opening up before him.  He screeches and babbles like crazy, 'talking' to whatever he's found.  I'm about to try some cereal to see if that'll help him sleep through the night... I'm tired *grin*

Our November in Pictures...

Hailee is really into war paint right now...

I can say for sure who did this number on my kitchen floor...

 but I'm pretty sure it's the same little girl who likes to draw on herself.  And yes, it is a permanent marker.

She a.l.w.a.y.s. wants to go to:

We might have a little thumb sucker...

He sure chews and sucks on his thumb and hands a lot, but loves his paci... this was the first time he'd really gotten his thumb in his mouth and sucked...

The boys set up a fort and watched Star Wars over Thanksgiving weekend- 

it was Dallin and Eli (and Hailee's) first time seeing it!

A whole world to explore:

 with his mouth...

She is my shadow.

I got this sampler bag in the mail and she has taken possession of it.  She takes everything out one by one, then puts it all back in one by one as I do my make up... she watches very closely and imitates when she can.  It's so cute.  For the most part, she's kept out of my make up bag thus far... I'm wondering how long that will last!