March 21 we went to Willow Park, Tayla remembers going there with Jared and Christie. It was a gorgeous day! We really couldn't resist taking a break from the home remodel and going out to play.... Lizzy on the playground, she wanted image after image taken, I finally said "NO!"

The girls have ballerina slippers that grandpa got them. I hadn't noticed that is what she picked to wear to the park. They were adorably big...

Looking at the animals...

Tayla's smile....

Lizzy and Esther striking poses...

Bob played ball with the boys. Cris is at the bat...

Malachi gets a hit.

Paige on the cell phone.

I call this a 'sunshine smile.

Tayla and Esther were playing on the slide. Esther was trying to pull Tayla up, in the end the went down together.

They were laughing so hard!

Lizzy hanging around...

Tayla is doing very well at school. She can now say her phone number and recognizes numbers 1-10. Can write numbers 1-5, 2,3,4, she writes backwards. It is too cute. She should be prepared for Kindergarten. She still sticks very close to me. I think that in a year or two she will not be so clingy. Esther is excelling in reading and words that she hasn't learned she spells phonetically. Like: I Luv yew. She is very loving and loves to give kisses. I am so happy to have a child who may excel in school without me having to push, push, push... Malachi and Elijah are going to try baseball this summer. It should give them a good hobby for their summer vacation.

The home is coming along, we have put so much work into it... I will not know what to do with all my time after it's done. Well until next time, good night.

Life is busy, and I appologize that I have let so much time go by... We are all well. Tayla has really injoyed pre-school and we are working on counting to 20. She gets to 12 ok but misses 14, 17, 18 often. We count while walking to and from school, this distracts her from her "legs being tired." I know that by my counting to 20 a million times that she will suddenly get it... She likes church but wants me to walk her to her class after sharing time is over, she comes over to me lots and I threaten to take her to her dad if she doesn't stay in her seat, Just one more hug and kiss she will say... Her and Esther can play so well together at times and then suddenly crying and telling on the other occurs. Tonight before we read bed time stories I explained to them that I didn't want to hear it again. That if Tayla does something to Esther then Esther has to tell me about it and if Esther does something to Tayla then Esther has to tell me. I also told them that I want to hear more "Esther let me play with her doll" or "Tayla gave me a hug." I am not expecting miracles, but hoping for some improvement.
Esther is in the top reading group in her class, she is picking up on reading so well, I am so grateful to her because I needed some success after the struggle of my boys... She loves her teacher and is making friends, her best friend is a boy named Tanner, gonna have to keep an eye on this one...
Malachi is into swimming this month. He wants to head to the community indoor pool as often as he can, which is just weekends, although he still whines everyday to be able to go... He is a great kid, still into the hair and clothes. It has been a hard school year for him academically. He has a girl in his class that he likes also...
Elijah is finally getting things together, I still have to keep after him, but he is doing much better. He gave a talk today in Sacrament Meeting, he wrote it himself, I did coach him, but he did it himself. He did a great job and didn't look nervous...
Scott works long hours and so we see less of him. We had a family date on Friday, took the kids to dinner. We try to do that once a month.
I am busy with the house, we are remodling and the kitchen is in chaos. We have moved cabnits and counters around, tore down a wall to open it up to the living room, and this last weekend removed the carpet and remaining linolium to put down a wood floor. Hopefully the new formica will arrive this week and I will continue to paint...
Life is good....
I will try to post some photos soon...
Jana

This is my brother Kim and his family. They live in Washington, Fort Lewis. This spring Kim is suppose to deploy to Iraq. They came for Christmas, so of course you have to do pictures...

I love these! They are a great looking family... We took a lot of photos, I chose these because they look good of each person, and also they show so much the personalities of them. Logan is adorable, the whole family fell in love with him and it was so fun to have a baby in the house for a few weeks. Will is so much like his dad, free spirited and a killer smile, I love his eyes. You can't even see them when he smiles. Shay is such a little lady, and now she is talking. She didn't say much when they moved, she is in pre-school and growing so much. Asami is a treasure, we are glad that in all the dumb things he did as a kid he chose a wife well. We love her so much and have told Kim many times that if anything happened between the two of them ( we don't foresee this, but we just had to tell him so he knows where we stand) that we are going to keep her!

Just this year I have started a new tradition. I decorate the kid's rooms while they sleep on their birthday. It is so fun and the other older kids who are still awake help. Elijah's birthday was the day before and being so close after Christmas (29th) and he was staying in his cousins room, I forgot... I felt so bad about it. But the next night I almost forgot Esthers (30th) and ran to wal-mart at 11 PM to buy stuff. I thought at one point that she was going to wake up, but didn't.

They are so angelic when they are asleep...

The good thing about the holidays is all the family that visits. Here is her cake with her cousins...

All these pretty girls....

Christmas morning dawns early, but not too bad about 7:30 is when the natives stir. We force the kids to wait gift opening until after breakfast. They go nuts!!! We have a huge breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage, grits (we have a southern grandma and grew up on them.) and juice. We spend a few moments clearing the food away and then converge around the tree. The dad's pass out the gifts. We try to keep it one at a time so the grown-ups can see what the kids get, but soon they are getting restless and it is a free for all. Days later I am still discovering what they got because I loose track of who is opening what.

This is my Father, Carvel and his grandson, Logan.

Reston opening gifts...

Malachi and Elijah

Cris got a football!!!

My brother Kim and his son Will.

Esther being a ballarina.

Lizzy with a new stuffed animal.

Paige in the morning

Tayla and her Stocking.

Scott and I

Coco's being carried by Malachi.

Will wrestling with Coco's

This is what their room looks like a lot of the time. It is a little more crazy because Chistmas just got dropped in there, we have organized it a little more now, but we still get days like this when the cousins come to play.

Will and Shay were absorbed in a movie.

Joy and Paige in their new clothes.

This is what Christmas can do to you. Tayla climbed in the Nativity and fell asleep.
Christmas is such a wonderful time, full of traditions and family time. We hope that the true meaning of the Season doesn't escape the kids. But just being together and spending the time to create good memorise is always worth the time...

Hope your season was great also!