December (2012)

As always December was a busy month. So here are the highlights....

My family sent a box full of popcorn balls for us at the beginning of the month which is a tradition my Grandma Brown did for us when I was growing up so it was fun to have my mom pass it on for at least one Christmas to my kids

The first weekend in December we were invited to a friends house to make gingerbread houses. We had a fun time using up our leftover halloween candy.

I had bought a groupon in September for a corn maze which was good until December and I kept waiting for it to cool down so we could go one weekend and it just never did. So we decided to go anyways before it expired. Luckily they had lots of other things to play on because sweating in the middle of a corn field was our least favorite part. We had a fun time doing something different for the weekend.

I know I have lots of pictures of the girls putting puzzles together but it just never gets old for me seeing them do it.

For some reason Hailey also had a science experiment to do in the middle of December as well. She mixed differnt vitamins with water to see if vitamins would help plants grow better. We actually learned that Vitamin B can help a plant sprout and grow in the beginning and Vitamin D was not good for plants at all.

CHRISTMAS

Christmas morning we all slept in a little but it turns out Charlie, Brynley and I were hanging out in our bedroom waiting for Hailey and Aubrey to wake up and Hailey and Aubrey were in their room waiting for us to wake up. When I finally decided to go see if they were awake I found them coloring together waiting patiently

Santa Gifts

Stockings

I had the girls make eachother gifts this year so that they could get into the real spirit of Christmas. I had fun making stuff with them and they really loved giving eachother stuff they had worked hard on.

Hailey made Brynley some file folder games

Hailey make Aubrey felt donuts

Aubrey made Hailey some flower headbands

Aubrey made Brynley finger puppets

That night we got together with Brian, Mich'ele, Lilly, Delilla, Grandma and Grandpa Pahulu and Kalo for Christmas dinner and gifts from Grandma

Since we had more kids this year we decided to try and act out the Nativity

One of our family gifts this year...a cotton candy maker. We had fun over Christmas break making lots of cotton candy.

November

I know it's February but still trying to catch up here. At least I haven't given up :)
Aubrey's preschool had a little farm day at their school and Brynley and I attended. Brynley insisted on doing everything that Aubrey did so there were a couple fits like when she didn't get a turn on the train but overall it was an enjoyable time.
                                             There was pony petting

                                                    A train ride

                                                     Bean snipping

                                                   cow milking

                                                    egg finding

A horse race

Pumpkin finding

and some dancing

Almost a week before thanksgiving Charlie's grandfather passed away. He had been suffering and it wasn't unexpected but it is always sad when a loved leaves us. Most of Charlie's siblings were able to come into town and we were able to spend time with them. Saane and her family and Shiblon decided to stay for thanksgiving since the funeral was the same week as thanksgiving. Unfortunately we didn't make it to Thanksgiving because I was feeling sick that day. I spent the morning in bed watching the parade and sleeping. Charlie made us our traditional thanksgiving breakfast without my help and we all ate breakfast in bed. After my nap I was feeling much better but wasn't up to getting ready and being around people. Charlie had prepared the night before and grabbed some things for us to make our own Thanksgiving dinner just in case I wasn't up to going. So, we all pitched in to make our small but yummy thanksgiving dinner.
                          This is where we spent most of the day

                           Hailey made the green bean casserole

Aubrey peeled the potatoes for mashed potatoes

                     Brynley did her own thing and wandered around

                Charlie made the turkey and bought a pie for dessert

Here we are enjoying our feast that came together pretty quickly. I usually only like to post pictures of me at my best but I was not dressed for the day because I had been laying around for most of it. Afterwards we watched the debut of Sophia the First and had some pumpkin pie in bed. Even though it wasn't our usual thanksgiving we still had fun together. ( I always enjoy a day when I can lay around without feeling guilty as well)

Two days after Thanksgiving was Aubrey's birthday. Since family was still in town we were able to celebrate it with them. Cousin Lia spent the night so the girls were able to start it off with a little sleep over. We went to Chic Fil A for breakfast and in the afternoon we met everyone at Chuck e cheese. After Chuck e Cheese we had pizza at out house and Aunt Saane had games for the kids to play. We ended the evening with presents and birthday cake.

October

We started October off with a farm trip with lots of friends. It's turned into an annual thing and was our second time going. It didn't rain this time and the kids were a little braver this year and we had an enjoyable time.

 

This was the only animal Brynley was brave enough to interact with but I'm sure in a couple years she will be as brave as her older sisters.

In the middle of October we celebrated my birthday. It seems once you hit thirty the years start flying by and I have already turned 33, I think...I have trouble remembering anymore.

Grandma Pahulu came over and watched the kids so Charlie and I could do an overnight date. Before we left we celebrated with some cake. The more kids we have had the lazier we have become with our dates but we sure love them. We got take out and went to our room to eat in bed and watch a movie. We then slept in and did a little clothes shopping in the afternoon. I recently joined the gym so I mainly got gym clothes for myself. Brynley ended up being sick and poor grandma had to get up in the wee hours with her. She had a fever so it sounded like she layed around and slept a lot. We returned in the evening to her and soon after she threw up. The following day the other two also had fevers and threw up. The kids always find a way to pay us back for leaving them as reality comes crashing down on us.

And of course October always ends with Halloween. We had a last minute visit from our Fort Meyers cousins and they came to our Ward Halloween party with us which was fun. The next day we went up to say our Goodbye's to Grandpa Coyle who was suffering from Lukemia. The kids were able to sing to him and we were able to hug him and tell him we love him one last time.

On Halloween night we were able to have Grandma, Kalo, Uncle Brian and cousins Lilly and Delilla come trick or treating with us which made it more fun then going alone. I left the trick or treating party to go help Charlie pass out candy since we had plenty of adults only to be called back to do potty break runs. The kids returned after a couple of hours with their loot and fun was had by all.

September Continued

Since I last posted things have changed and I am struggling to figure out how to get my pictures loaded so it may take me even longer then planned to catch up.
After my sisters visited we celebrated Brynley's 2nd birthday.
We started the day with donuts and fruit for breakfast

Then we headed to an indoor kid area to play the morning away

We then headed home for lunch and nap time. Unfortunately the birthday girl didn't want to nap very long so we decided to watch some TV so we could continue resting for a bit. After the rest period we opened a few presents. She got a little train track to play with.

 Some ice cream

 and Hailey got her a Dora book which she opened and started reading to her sisters

We then headed to Chick-fil-a for dinner and more playing
The next day we had the family birthday dinner and once again Kalo and Grandma made a fabulous cake.

Overall I'd say she had a pretty good birthday for a 2 year old.

 

We also had my parents come for a visit at the end of September and as always we had a fantastic time with them. The kids love spending time with their grandparents.