Everyday Adventures

Rockwell and Tessa think it is so funny when Damon climbs all over them.

Tessa has still been making some awesome choices on her outfits. She really wanted both of these flowers in her hair one day. My siblings used to make fun of me for the bows my mom would put in my hair. They would always say I looked like I was about to take flight. I chuckled every time I looked at her that day thinking about that. 

We've been able to play with Brig, McKay, and Richmond a lot lately. They all have fun together. 

It's been pretty warm lately, so the kids have gotten to play outside a lot, which I'm always grateful for in the winter.

Damon is still such a snuggly baby. Paul was planning on hanging the Christmas lights on our house on Saturday. And then he started playing with Damon and decided the lights could wait! :) I absolutely love this picture.

Tessa really wanted to put Prickles in a diaper one day. She wrapped him up in it and carried him around like that.

I did a few crafts with Rockwell and Tessa this week. We painted Christmas ornaments and made some pipe cleaner Christmas trees.

This is how I get to go to the bathroom or get ready for the day. Damon plays with the cute baby in the mirror.

We've had a few sightings of Paul this week, and the first thing the kids want to do is wrestle with him.

He finished his classes for this semester on Wednesday. This has been a very, very tough semester. He got 1 hour of sleep Sunday night and 0 hours of sleep Tuesday night trying to finish his finals so he can put these classes behind him and move on with his life. I found this on our calendar. It's a good insight into how Paul feels about one of his professors.

Damon is a great eater and is enjoying trying new solids.

Al and Keith and their kids moved in with us Tuesday night. Wyatt got to stay and play with us while Al and Keith loaded the moving truck and got everything into their storage shed. He thought it was fun to take a spelling test with Rockwell.

It's been fun to have them stay here. Rockwell and Tessa are absolutely loving having 'Wytatt and Howlee' live at our house!

Christmas Pictures

It was a rough time trying to get Christmas pictures this year. They just plain didn't turn out like I was hoping. Oh well. I learned some things and will hopefully get some better ones next year. 

At least the cuteness of the kids in the pictures makes up for not getting perfect shots. :)

Great Grandpa Clark

Great Grandpa Clark passed away on November 19th. We went to his funeral last Wednesday. He was very loved by his family, and it was nice to hear stories about him from his children and brother. 

He wasn't a warm and fuzzy man very often, but he still let his family know he loved them in his own way. He was very good with electronics and loved serving LDS missions all over the world. His wife passed away about 25 years ago. In his final days here, he didn't want a tv or radio or anything in his room with him. His daughter asked him what he does with all that time and no entertainment. He said he just thinks about her mom. His kids are quite certain that as soon as he passed to the other side, he ran to see her again and didn't look back. I'm sure that was a very sweet reunion!

It's always nice to gather with family and loved ones on occasions like these. We wish we lived closer to this part of our family and could see them more often.

Life Lately

Tessa really wanted her nails painted today, so we did some Christmas colors on both our nails.

 Rockwell was practicing gymnastics last night and Tessa let me teach her how to do a bridge. She got pretty close to getting her head off the floor.

This was too cute to happen upon!

Tessa wanted to start doing chores this week with Rockwell. She put the clean silverware away and helped fold her laundry and put it away.

Rockwell was excited to set up his "Polar Express" train.

Cute sleeping kids!

Tessa always wants to do homework with Rockwell. She draws in her notebook and asks me to help her write letters.

It was so fun to have Paul home over Thanksgiving break. Tessa seems to be past her Mom-Only phase, and even said she only wanted Dad to change her stinky diaper last weekend (which hasn't happened in months!). I did not argue with that. :)

 There's a good chance Damon will do the Mowgli crawl like Rockwell did. He is up on his feet and hands a lot these days.

Tessa loves her My Little Pony jacket she got from Grandma and Grandpa Ham for her birthday. When she puts the pony eyes down, she says we can't call her Tessa, only Rainbow Dash.

She is really loving to hold Damon now. She tells me all day long how much she loves Damon and he is SO cute!

This picture is not the clearest, but this is my life right here. I'm feeding Damon a bottle, Tessa was playing on top of my legs pretending it was her bed, and Rockwell was going back and forth under my legs in the tunnel. Personal space? What's that?! And I am constantly doing at least 3 things at the same time. Feeding Damon, while pretending I'm sleeping with Tessa, and listening to Rockwell tell me about his day at school. And the crazy thing is I wouldn't choose to do anything else!

I was trying to clean one day, and I left all three kids playing in Damon's room. After a bit I could hear Damon starting to fuss and Rockwell came in the bathroom to tell me Damon wanted me. I finished with what I was cleaning real quick and went in the room to find Damon totally happy and Tessa reading books to him. She was so cute telling him detailed stories to go along with the pictures. I actually got to finish cleaning because she read him a big stack of books.

 Grandpa Barth stayed with us one night last weekend.

Al and Hallee came by to drop off some clothes for when they move in. They brought another birthday present for Tessa. She has loved playing with her new crowns and high heels! She even made a "horse princess." :)

This kid is just too cute! I think he's getting two more teeth on the bottom, but he still just smiles and laughs all day long.

 Tessa made "princess stairs" the other day and had me watch her walk down them over and over. I thought that was pretty creative.

There are very few times I capture Tessa's real smile in a picture. I absolutely love her real smile and get so excited when I actually catch it. 

Rockwell and Tessa played so well together the whole Thanksgiving break. That sure made for a nice weekend!

 They were so excited to wake up to more snow Saturday morning. They had a good time playing in it and making "snowberry soup" in the bucket.