Do you like Igloos?

Ever since seeing this milk jug igloo on pinterest  http://www.squidoo.com/milk-jug-igloo I knew it would save me from my typical quarantined-to-the-house-due-to-sickness filled winter :)  So I bribed the neighborhood into giving me their milk jugs and over 200 later (& a bunch of hot glue) we came up with this: Ta-Da

My sister, Annie, moved out of the guest room just in time for us to use it :) 

It's not as big or ornate as the one from pinterest, but the kids love it none-the-less!

 Emmett especially loves throwing small objects through the cracks and running in and out of it!
Aaron is my "Duck Guard" keeping the igloo safe!  Fun, fun!

Wow, she's 5!

With Elina getting Pneumonia again, it solidified my decision to celebrate half-birthdays in the summer when the weather is nice and the kids aren't sick :)  Luckily she'd had 3 days of antibiotics so after blowing out her candles (she chose cookies again!  Easy for me...no decorating :) and opening the play dough we forgot to give her at Christmas, we were able to sneak over to Maggie Moos!!  Wow, can we say BLUE ice cream :)  The kids loved it!  Happy Birthday!

Here's 10 things we love about Elina:
1. Her excitement to show us the notes she's sounded out and written all by herself!
2. That her favorite bedtime story is the "body book" (ie. bones, lungs, muscles, etc)
3. When she hides everytime Daddy comes home then yells "come find me" from her hiding spot.
4. How she loves to wake up early and eat breakfast with Daddy.  She gets soo dissapointed if he leaves befores she's up.
5. Watching her learn new things...she's a little sponge that soaks in anything new.
6. That she'll pick to play with dinosaurs, frogs and lizards over dolls, "kitchen" and princesses.  When she does play dress-up...it's usually as "Toothless" the dragon!
7. How she can never get enough of Daddy's "Crush" stories.
8. That she wants to be a volleyball player when she grows up! (that or a gymnist)
9. Singing her favorite good-night song, "Mother, Tell Me The Story"
10. How sweet, gentle, loving and affectionate she is!

Happy, Congrats & Good-Bye

Breaking the long-held tradition of celebrating New Years in Orem, my Aunt Joy invited all to Enoch instead. In doing so, we also got to see my brother, Darren, join the ranks of "Eagle Scout" and my Sister, Annie of "Sister Missionary". I have to say, it was the shortest Court of Honor I've ever heard of. We started 10 minutes late at 7:10pm and said amen to the closing prayer at 7:25pm! That's what I call short, sweet and to the point! (We found out later that because of the holiday, the main speaker forgot to come.)

Our brilliant New Years Eve plan to get the kids to fall asleep consisted of letting the kids watch the most boring movie possible (Fantasia 1) while lying on pillows and blankets in a dimly lit room failed miserably.  Even through their complaints of boredom, they were still wide awake at 11:00pm.  At least it kept them occupied so Bryce and I could fit a few games in with my family & cousins!

The rest of the week flew by with an awesome farewell talk by Annie then driving up North to drop Annie off at the MTC.  We enjoyed  a January picnic at the park in our t-shirts, gave hugs all around then a lone car whisked her off to the MTC.  To her embarrassment, my Bro.'s & Sister, Carrie, who dropped her off drove away cheering and shouting, "Hurrah for Israel" out the window! Fun Times :)

Christmas is here again!

We celebrated Christmas with our own little family before the big "get togethers".  We couldn't have picked a more perfect day. We started with a breakfast of yummy orange pull apart rolls, omelets and pomegranates. We then dressed up and acted out the Nativity Story, in which Aaron insisted on being a Dog :) Keeping the gifts simple this year we gave something fun, something to eat, something to wear, something to read, and tried to keep the emphasis on the Savior and His gift to us!

It’s funny because we put some trix type cereal in the stockings as a little treat. Later in the day, Bryce had the box out. Elina took one look and said, “Where did we get that cereal??.....Daddy, if you were going to pretend to be Santa, you should have dressed up with a red coat and black boots or something!!” Oops :)
That afternoon, we enjoyed “A Christmas Carol” acted by children 5-18yrs old. Our kids stayed entertained the entire time! The night ended with our ward Christmas Party in which Daddy carried the tenor part while lip singing to White Christmas with the Bishopric! Very funny! All in all, we had such a fun, jovial yet peaceful day to remember the birth of our Savior.
When I asked Aaron what he liked best about this Christmas, he said, "making the gingerbread train".  They couldn't wait until Christmas so they could eat it!!  Two other traditions we started this year was a service count down chain (each day we served someone before taking a link off) and picking a nativity figure each night and reading it's accompanying scripture.  We finished with the Baby Jesus on Christmas Eve. 

While visiting Grandma and Grandpa Caine's, we held a "holiday birthday celebration" for all the Nov.-Jan. birthdays.  True to tradition, for Emmett's first birthday, we gave him a box of tissues and let him pull out the entire contents.  He took the task very seriously and had a great time :)
Here's 10 things we love about Emmett:
1. His amazing ability to communicate...by using hand gestures facial expressions and babbles, we always know exactly what he wants!
2. His enthusiasm for learning new things. Whenever he accomplishes a new task, he laughs and looks extremely proud of himself...especially when he learned to climb onto the table and try to jump!
3. When I walk in after a nap and he stands up and smiles instead of crying :)
4. His gentle, easy-going nature!
5. His love of animals. His spoke his first word this Christmas...Dog! That's his word for all animals and he runs for any in sight!
6. That he will dig through the entire box of ornaments to find the one that looks like a ball....by far his favorite toy!
7. His contagious baby-belly laugh....especially when Aaron squishes his tummy!
8. That he is starting to actually eat the food instead of spitting it in one's face!
9. That he can "hold his own" with his older siblings. He'll be right in the middle of their wrestling and be laughing. Too bad he's learned to sit on / squish anyone smaller then him :)
10. His darling smile that melts my heart and brightens my day!
  

Christmas at the Caine's was filled with laughter, sweets, good food, more good food, late night games after the kids fell asleep, decorating, playing with cousins and all the pleasant things that come when family gets together.  Elina attached herself to Jeremy's girlfriend, Yun Joo and "shadowed" her the entire time.  She cried and cried when we couldn't bring her on the airplane with us!  Emmett discovered his new favorite thing...dogs.  He'd pull on Chaio's ears, tail, fur and even stuck his finger in her mouth when she yawned!  Aaron loved it when Jeremy & Yun Joo would swing him on the enormous stuffed bear, and also playing with his new basketball!  It was definitely a fun-filled month!