Nick in Basketball

Nick is on the 8th grade b-ball team and works hard! He's had some playing time this season, but not a lot. Last night he got to start for the first time (along with some other boys) and he ended up scoring 17 pts! Good job Nick! It worked out this time that I was the only parent to go and took advantage of the opportunity to bring the camera and get his bball photos for the year.

Jamie in January

"Guy Smiley"--he smiles ALL the time! Every time (other than when he is starving or exhausted) somebody looks at him or talks to him, they get this reward:


Uh Oh on the thumb. . .who knows where this will lead but he doesn't like the binky very much (we have to hold it in his mouth if he uses it) and he loves his hands. If he's like Nick, he will be sucking his thumb. Oh well, he can do anything he wants.

Lots of people comment or ask about a baby with older kids. Believe me, it is dang fun! But these next two photos show how special it is to see the children that you love showing love to the baby you love! Nick, Carter and Mallory are so wonderful with the baby--they all love him in their own ways. Nick has never declined an opportunity to hold or take care of him, Carter always plays with him (sometimes we have to remind Carter that Jamie is not an action figure and please Carter could you please stop trying to position his arms in ways that he can't bend?), but Mallory has a special mothering touch that is literally beautiful to watch. She can hold him in "just that way" and calm him down. He's starting to reach for her--he doesn't even do that for his mother!



Ok, baby invention of the decade: BUMBO chairs! They are like a little "lap"--soft, cushiony and supportive. If you don't have one or have never seen one, they are awesome! They sort of "hold" the baby and give them support to let them sit 2-3 months before they are developmentally able to on their own, plus they are a great chair when they are older babies. I knew these existed before we got it (Michael has them at the center and recommends them for babies with special needs for sitting and balance) and planned on getting one soon but I could see that he seemed to want to be in a sitting position so I was anxious to try it out earlier (he was a little over 3 months). He loves it! He doesn't last a long time, but when he goes in at first, you can sort of sense that he is proud of himself and likes the independence until he just gets too tired. Plus, he looks halarious in it. (Great baby gift for anyone who is going to be attending a shower soon!) No, I am not a BUMBO chair spokesperson--just love to pass on recommendations of things I love.

Sledding with Cousins

On Jan. 2nd, at the Orem Cemetary, we went sledding with the Peterson cousins. Here are the photos:

Christmas Morning

We had Christmas at our house and stayed home all day. Christmas Eve day, Santa asked us to help him with a project upstairs in Nick's room, so nobody was allowed upstairs all day and all night. So, the kids had to sleep in the basement in the extra beds on sleeping bags. They slept in until 8am (Probably because it was so dark down there.) I think everyone was happy with their stuff--Mallory and Carter with their Ipods and earphones, and Nick was thrilled with his new room! They got games that they played most of the day. They also played on the new sled. I made a nice turkey dinner that night, which was a little more work than I had imagined--it always is. Stress relieving, but disappointing that night, we realized the weather was going to be too much to travel to Provo/Orem to see our families the next day, so we postponed the trip until New Year's Day. (By the way, that was very fun! It was like having two Christmas's) Enjoy the slideshow!

Jamie at 3 months

Jamie, just being cute and doing new things. He pretty much always smiles when you talk and smile at him, holds his head up, regards his hands and plays with toys. He's such a good baby--content when his needs are met and sleeps through the night!

Maeser 5th Grade Christmas Concert

Another great concert with the recorders--it's amazing how well they have taught the kids! They sound great! They got to perform for their own school and parents, then the next day, traveled to several different schools around Vernal and Roosevelt.


Recorders in action

Mallory and her good friend Lindsey

She looked darling in her sparkly Christmas dress!

Thanksgiving

We went to my brother Bruce's cabin in Heber and spent the weekend with their family and my parents. Dinner was great and we sat around playing games, watching movies, talking and laughing. One little problem: Bruce's cabin is up several extremely steep hills and we had our van--it snowed the first night! We were stuck! Even 4-wheel drives were sliding around. Michael tried to get down and park at the Timberlakes lot before it snowed again but he was sliding all over the road--he found a driveway of someone else's cabin after realizing that this was not going to work. Bruce chained up and took Michael and my Dad to the tire store (which was lined up with other Timberlakes residents and visitors) to get chains for their vehicles. They worked great--I guess I just didn't realize how effective those are or we would have bought them the first year we moved to Vernal. Traveling over Strawberry and Daniels in snow can get pretty bad--I can think of a few times where chains would have really helped. $75 to get a family safely down the hill seemed like nothing. Anyway, it was a fun weekend with LOTS OF PHOTOS! Aimee and Bruce have a beautiful cabin and were extremely generous and accomodating. Funniest moment (other than Bruce's re-cap of the Utah-BYU game) was when Bruce played the part of Nacho Libre when he says, "When you are a man, you sometimes wear stretchy pants in your room." Had to be there. . .We also headed down to AF to buy shoes and stopped by Grandma Peterson's for a visit. FUN THANKSGIVING!