Organized basketball

This February we signed Chamberlain up for his first go at organized basketball.

He played in the 1st and 2nd grade level.  He is the youngest in the league and the best part; Josh was his coach.

So far so good.  

I'm pretty sure he will want to play next year. 

 He and Siri scouting out the competition.

 He is the only one who dribbles the entire time down the court without traveling.

 Goes in for the rebound.

 His cheering section as well as his biggest fans.

Chamberlain said he feels he plays better when Grandma and Grandpa Chamberlain are there. Being the Amazing grandparents they are they have come to many games and Chamberlain has loved it.

Go Hurricane Tigers. 

missing two front teeth

Its official Chamberlain has crossed the two front teeth missing threshold. I always feel this is somewhat a milestone for big boy status. 

He lost the right one first and then the left one a week later.

He would not let us pull his last front tooth, it was hanging on by a thread. He had a traumatic experience at the dentist office once and now he will not let anyone get near his teeth.

Josh and I thought it would be a brilliant idea to youtube old videos of AFV where kids pulled their teeth out in creative ways but I think that only made him more afraid. Then we remembered we had a huge remote control monster truck that both he and Josh got for Christmas 3 years ago. Chamberlain took to the idea. I quickly (while he was excited about this idea) hooked the tooth to some string and then to the truck and let him do it on his own. No luck.  The truck was not strong enough and Chamberlain wasn't brave enough to let it go full force. 

However, the string got stuck on his tooth and we couldn't get it off. Josh gave it a good pull and out it came, screaming and all!
He has now lost 7 of his teeth. 

finding joy in the little things

Josh and I are currently finding joy in parenting when Siri goes to sleep.

She takes awhile to get to sleep. We put her in her room lay her on her bed and before we know it we hear singing, talking and quiet the imaginative party going on in her room. Most nights we remember to lock all the toys in her closet but somehow she finds a few things and has adventures all on her own.

We let her. We never go in and remind her its time for bed. She eventually falls asleep within 15-30 minutes of putting her to bed.  Most of the time she falls asleep in her bed but some of the time its a game for us... Where's Waldo Siri style.

Josh and I find ourselves excited to check on her to see where she may be. Its always a surprise and most of the time we have to take off whatever made up costume she has dressed herself in. We love it and to us this is some of the "Joy" or highlights or parenting.

Passed out with her mittens on. 

We are loving this stage that Siri is in. 

Harrison 7 months

Harrison~

It seems that as soon as you could sit on your own you immediately started to crawl.

I believe its because you still desperately want to play with the big kids!

You have been crawling all around the house for the past 3 weeks and this last week you've decided that crawling is not enough and have already been pulling yourself onto things like the couch and your exersaucer.

Because of this activity you have acquired some big boy bruises on your forehead from taking a few tumbles. 

You are a mover and a shaker for sure. 

You love it when Chamberlain and Siri are playing with their toys on the living room floor you just join right in and mimic everything they do.

I love all the smiles and laughs they can get out of you.

You have been sleeping through the night for an entire month now and I feel like a new person.

You take great naps in the morning and most afternoons when we are home.

You are one happy baby!

You have 4 teeth which have popped through on the bottom and two on the top that are just about to come through.

Lets just say you have been one droolly baby, but again a happy one.

My favorite day, or I should say the day I look forward to the most with you at the moment is Sundays.

Your nap time is when we are at church and most Sundays you just fall asleep and let me hold you all 3 hours. I love it. I wouldn't have it any other way!

 Your favorite thing currently is when I empty out the toys and you like to yell/talk into the empty tub.

You love the echo and deep sound it makes.

Big enough to crawl onto the chair.

my favorite weekend of January

Our favorite weekend in January has come and gone. This year it snowed which I don't remember the last time it snowed this much while we were there.  Being the awesome sister that I am, I took my three kids, plus Shelbie's oldest two kids swimming for the day.  It was easier when Mom, Whitney, and Karly (have I mentioned before how much I miss those girls) showed up.   Did I mention there was a nasty, nasty snow storm?

Shelbie was not able to come swimming with us Friday. She had a Doctors appointment that we hoped would be a quick in and out but turned into an actually quite scary ordeal. Which is another story for a different post. It still makes me teary when I think about it.  Thus is why I took her oldest two with me. I realized that having 5 kids under the age of 6 would be incredibly hard. 

We had a fun time swimming all day in the snow and the pool felt super warm when the big silver dollar size flakes came floating effortlessly down. 

Siri, Chamberlain, Gunnar,  and Jett loved swimming outside in the snow.

Hudson, Lex, baby Bram, and Baby Harrison liked being in the warm pool inside or in the hot tub.

I loved every minute of it. My favorite part was watching how much snow collected on the kids eyelashes outside. It felt like a scene from a story book. 

Then when it was time to head home the roads were too snowy to drive on with 5 kids all by myself. My wonderful parents got me a room for the night and we split the kids up and had a sleep over which they all loved!

What a magical weekend it was.

I'm already looking forward to next year. 

I must state that I did not take as many picture as I would have liked. Since I had two good swimmers, two swimmers who used water wings to stay afloat, and a baby in my arms pretty much the entire time.

The only picture I could get of Hudson. He said it was too cold to swim in the snow.

Also a big Thanks to Tanner for playing with my kids the entire day in the pool.

 

Chamberlain is all Legos

Chamberlain is into Legos.

Santa brought him lots of Legos. He has lost about 5 teeth and his Tooth-fairy money has/is going to more Legos.

I took the kids on our yearly Little America swimming trip and he was such a huge help that his reward was Legos.

Chamberlain loves Legos.

To be honest I love buying legos for Chamberlain.

I love seeing what he builds and where his imagination takes him while he is building and battling his Legos. His favorite Legos are Batman ones although his pride and joy is his Han Solo little figure. I love that everyday when he comes home from school he has snuck a Lego guy or two in his pocket, and whips them out to show me which ones he took.

I will continue to buy Legos for Chamberlain as long as I can and as long as he will keep conjuring up new things to build.

We even moved his desk from his room to the living room under the window (his choice) so that he could play with his Legos while I was cooking, cleaning, playing with the other kids etc... He said that he loved the view from the window... He will sit as his Lego table for hours, building and building.

I love my little Lego boy.

Siri is all girl

Lex gave Siri the perfect gift; a blow dryer and hair set.

Siri has been in heaven doing peoples hair with her blow dryer and scissors.

She also got a stroller and demanded that we put baby Navy in it so she could push her around the house. While Shelbie was getting ready we may have given in to Siri's wishes. 
I am amazed at how different Siri is from Chamberlain. I mean to say that all the girly stuff is just in her. We have't bought many girl toys she has a few dolls and that's about it. This Christmas we went all girly for her and she loved it. Still to this day which is at the end of January she is playing with all her Christmas toys and loving them. Its very rewarding as a parent to see her enjoy the things we thought she might like/love.