Chillin'

I dont know why I found this picture so funny. Maybe its the pose, maybe its the rolls but either way I love it. Its such a grown man position yet such a little boy.

I'm not sure why he was so serious but I think shots like these are fun because this is how Kai looks a lot of the time -- perfectly content and at ease with the world. I only hope he will continue to be such a terrific kid!

Sugar Cookies

One of our annual traditions is to make Sugar Cookies for Santa. Growing up my mom would always make dozens upon dozens of cookies and I loved "helping" her roll and cut them out then decorate them. I do it with my kiddos and although I curse the entire time, I do love the memories. This year Taeya was big enough to help me frost all the cookies so Blake and Aliya could decorate them with sprinkles etc. She did a great job.

Aliya got 'creative' with her decorating. Near the end she thought it would be fun to toss the sprinkles into the air to decorate the cookies. Needless to say mommy was having none of it!

Old Blakers, lets just say ate way more sprinkles than got on the cookies. I tried to hold out any cookie he decorated but I fear a few may have been passed around to neighbors as gifts. Good thing none of my neighbors check this blog (at least I hope none of them do - if you do, I'm sorry)!

Bubbles n bubbles n bubbles

My kiddos, like all all other children, love bubble baths. They have so much fun covering themselves with loads of bubbles. Having just been through Christmas season Blake loves it when one of his sisters pretends to be Santa. When he imitates Santa he does this 'hu hu hu HOOO' noise.

The girl COVERED herself in green stamps. You can just see a few of them from the backs of her hands but they were covered. Why is it she knows not to color on herself yet she thinks stamps are fine?

For some reasons when soap is in bubble form it doesnt bother his eyes. He was covered in bubbles and loved it!

Fire Trucks

I think I've posted before how much Blakers LOVES trucks. Any kind of truck or construction vehicle - dump truck, tow truck, digger, bull dozer, ambulance fire truck etc. I was excited when we were invited to a fund raiser for a local fire company. I knew Blake would be so psyched.

This is a picture of Blake watching the fire trucks drive by. Up till this point he had only seen pictures of fire trucks, never one in real life. This picture makes him look a little timid or scared but really he was just in complete awe over these huge, super cool trucks.

The girls came along. They were more excited about all the free stuff they got.

Not only did he get to sit in a fire truck, he also got to eat a sucker. That in a little boy world is like winning the lottery!

In addition to the fire trucks they also had a life flight helicopter come and land on a nearby field. I though Blakers would love that too but nope, he's checking out the trucks. For me the helicopter brought back so many memories of Tony's life flight ride 11 years ago ... wow, crazy to believe its been that long ago but I am so thankful he's healthy and well! I sure love my little (okay big) family and all the joy and happiness they bring to me!

Multi-tasking

I was taking the older three kids somewhere and this was what I saw when we left ... now thats love! Not only was he tending Kai but he was also weeding!

Huge tree

Having lived in AZ the past couple years, I forgot how big some trees can grow. I saw the biggest tree I have ever seen before in my life at Tae's soccer practice. This picture does it no justice but this sucker is huge and gorgeous!

Surrounding the monstrous tree is a fun old school play ground. There is this steep, long slide that the kiddos love. This picture is hilarious because Aliya's jacket is snagged at the top of the slide. Luckily Taeya was there to rescue her ... I had too much fun laughing at her!

Blakers was a funniest home video waiting to happen. It was super fast and so to slow himself down, he'd skid his feet along the side. Luckily I have fast hands because I caught him half a dozen times as he'd flip over and start to fall off the slide.

He did eat it off the smaller slide. It was a good two feet drop from where the slide ended to the dirt. How he got a face full is beyond me.
Yep, sand tastes yucky!

Kai's trick

Tony has done this 'trick' with each one of our kiddos. The first couple times its a bit scary but after a day or two, they are professionals. It goes a little something like this (BTW-ignore Tony's messy hair and scruffiness, and my messy house, it was Christmas. Nuttin' got done on Christmas!)

They start out a little wobbly
Then Kai gets his balance
Then he breaks out into a huge ol' grin and giggles which causes him to lose his balance and the trick begins again. I sure love this little guy (and the big guy)!

In case you were wondering ...

I've decided Kai is my odd child. He is a terrific baby that's been sleeping through the night for over a month. He's easy going, rarely cries and when he does cry, its more of a growling yell than anything. I've never had a really easy going baby nor have I ever had a good sleeper. I figure since I've been blessed with him having so many good traits, he's got to have a few bad ones too right? Well, he's got reflux but as long as he's on his meds he's terrific so that really doesn't count. His only other 'fault' is a pain in the hiney! Little dude is one thrushy kid. My other kids never had thrush. This kid is a walking yeast factory. I have no idea why we are not compatible but its getting old. We were both on a prescription med for almost three weeks with no results so my Ped broke out the old medicine and it works wonders. Only side effect is this:

Bright purple mouth. His face is stained, his clothes get stained as do mine, sheets are ruined, towels are purple ... its a mess. I am now so immune to it that I rarely remember my baby looks like he was sucking on a purple marker. I think this is his third or fourth round of Gentian Violet (old school antiseptic that works wonders). He does terrific for a couple weeks then the thrush comes back then we're back to this purple-people-eater face.

I figured I needed to document this cute time in his life. I think its cute but then again I think most things this little imp does is pretty cute! BTW- check out those chins!

This is another reason why I love this kid ... he's so fat and squishy it makes me happy. I love chunky babies. I love their rolls and dimples, I love that they don't look like they will break, I love that they seem happier than other kids. This doesn't show nearly how fat he is. His thighs make me smile every time I see them. They are roll, on top of roll, on top of roll of cute, chubby fat! Yea!

Christmas Card

This is the Christmas card we mailed out this year. I think this just might be the first year I've ever got cards out. I know in the past I've bought the cards but I don't think they've ever been mailed. I figured we could cover Kai's birth and our recent move all in a Christmas card.

Wow, what a year 2009 has been! It’s been a fun, chaotic year and I am ready for 2010. We started out the year by finding out we’d be getting a new addition to our family. Kai (a Finnish name meaning power) was born September 2, 2009. He is an awesome baby. Luckily he is very easy going and a pretty happy baby. Tony and I have both commented that we’ve never had a baby who loves to talk as much as that kid. If he catches your eye he starts to coo and jibber jabber, and his frequent ear-to-ear smiles are so contagious.

Our other major event for 2009 is that we moved to Houston, Texas. Its sad to admit but each of our four kids have been born in a different state. Taeya=Utah, Aliya=Idaho, Blake=Arizona and Kai=Texas. Tony changed companies and jobs so we relocated to Houston in the middle of July. I’m sure many of you are placing bets on how long it will take before we move again, but we are hoping to be here for a while.

Taeya (7 ½) is in the second grade and is so stinking smart. Tae loves to read and write. She is currently obsessed with the Little House on the Prairie series as well as C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books. She played both Soccer and T-ball this year and has decided that T-ball is her sport. It is fun to watch her personality and sense of style come out. She’s got the little skater girl look down pat.

Aliya (almost 5) is in Pre-K at a nearby Presbyterian Preschool. She loves her friends and comes home ready to share all that she learns. To keep her busy, we enrolled her in an extra class called Science Fun. Each week she brings home a fun new project that they discussed in class. Her ultimate favorite was getting a pet worm (until the next day when her Dad asked if he could use the worm to go fishing).

Blake (2) is a riot. He loves to climb, run and jump. I am amazed at the items he uses to get where he wants to climb (i.e. toaster, laundry basket, toilet paper roll). He loves all things dealing with trucks. In the car he shouts out any moving vehicle he sees. If you are unlucky enough to talk to me while I’m driving you ar guaranteed to hear me repeat “truck, van, bus, digger” etc. He’ll keep shouting until I acknowledge that yes, he saw a digger.

Tony and I are just trying to keep up with the heathens. We are excited to get settled in Houston and finally put down some roots. We love our house and are excited to put time and effort into making it ours. Tony took a corporate position with Triumph Healthcare. He travels more than either of us would like but things seem to be going very well. I am adjusting to being a Mom of four. Our kids can be a handful and some days if they weren’t so dang cute we would have sold them off.

Although we are horrible at staying in touch, we think of you often and appreciate the love and support shown to us throughout the years

Love, Tony, Tami, Taeya, Aliya, Blake and Kai!

Christmas '09

On Christmas Eve after the kids open their Jammie's from Santa's Elves, they get to open a present from whomever they want. The kiddos picked to open it from Papa Bruce and Grandma Nette Nette. As you can tell from Blakers face he was psyched to get a picture of him on a bulldozer on a pillow. He's been carrying it around saying "sleep, sleep".

The girls were also excited to open a present. All day long I had to endure "when can we open a present" and "is it time yet to open one yet?". I love the excitement that having kids brings to the holidays (I say that sincerely)!Kai was content to sit in my lap and watch all the chaos.

Blake's presents consisted mostly of TRUCKS. Little dude loves anything that moves and makes noise! He was the first one of up on Christmas morning and once he saw the presents, it was all over. He immediately tried to open them up. Once I knew there was no holding him off, we went and woke up Daddy and the girls. He woke them up by yelling 'presents'. I don't think he comprehends the whole Santa thing but he knows presents!

We stopped opening after about an hour to eat breakfast. The entire month when anyone would ask Tae what she wanted she'd reply "an iPod". When she opened these earphones she was certain she'd be getting an iPod. Imagine her surprise when:

... Aliya got a MP3 player before her. She was certain there had been a mistake and that it was intended for her. She immediately looked at the wrapping paper trying to find the T intended for Taeya but to her surprise, she saw:

... and A for Aliya. Luckily for her there were still some presents left under the tree. She was super excited to find:

... an iPod. Little stink has a way cooler iPod than I do. No fair but as I constantly tell my kiddos: life is not fair!

Blake got a workbench that Tony had as much fun playing with as Blake. Later in the day, Tony was in the office helping the girls upload some songs when Blakers took his 'mammer' to the keyboard and busted one of the keys. Again there is no doubt he is all boy. He's been carrying around his 'mammer' and 'driver' all day fixing things!

Throughout Christmas Day Blakers would go from one toy to the next. He loved racing cars down this track then using a 'dozer to push his cars around then carrying all the toys in his new carrying case. Its amazing how resourceful this imp is. He cant open the case with his hands so he uses his teeth to pull it apart.

Tony kept saying poor Kai got the shaft. Little dude got a couple outfits and that was about it. He looks okay with the situation right?This is just a cute pic (I have no idea why it is like this). I love their silly faces. If you look closely you can see Aliyas lovely makeup job. Her favorite gift was a Castle shape makeup set. She is going to have hot pink eyebrows for a long time I am afraid! That girl loves her makeup!