Merry Christmas!

The first part of November I had my local BFF, Krysta, take our family pictures. She is uber talented and  did a killer job. We are not the easiest crew to take pictures of but she did a great job (and we had fun along the way). Afterwards I told her it was painless ...which coming from me, that's a HUGE compliment! I hate getting my picture taken! Here are some of my favorite pictures plus a brief rundown of each kiddo and some of their accomplishments from this past year!

Tony and I saw this picture and both said "wow, we got a lot of kids". Its crazy how when we are  caught up in the day to day madness called our life, we don't realize how many of us there are. Not only are there a lot of kiddos, they are also pretty stinkin' cute kiddos. 

This has to be my favorite picture she took. It is so REAL. It shows the unique personality, and temperaments, my kids each have. Taeya is working hard to help out, Aliya is pouting about something, Kai is fussing and Blake is scheming about what trouble he can get into next!

Kai, 15 months, is the best caboose we could have ever asked for. He is so fun. This day he was ornery so we weren't able to coax a smile out of him. Typically he will smile at anyone. He has one of those gigantic cheeser smiles that lights up his whole face! He loves to flirt with old ladies at the grocery store. He just started to walk and I can tell, he's going to give Blakers a run for his money when it comes to mischievousness. He is already climbing and getting into EVERYTHING! Although he's getting so big (he is only 2 lbs less than Blake), he still love to cuddle. Anytime I get him out of his crib he lays his head on my shoulder and pats my back. Its really sweet! 

Ah Blakers (3). This little boy is so stinkin cute. His cuteness has saved his hiney a lot this past year. He is so curious and often times that curiosity has gotten him into trouble! These past couple months his vocabulary has exploded. He says some of the funniest things. His favorite thing is "just a second" or "in a minute" when he wants to keep playing. He continues to be obsessed with cars, trucks and diggers but has also discovered new loves: trains, tools and sticks. It is rare to find him with out some sort of toy in his hands. Blake goes to school 4 days a week and LOVES it. His teachers say he's great and that the other kids love him.

Aliya (5 1/2) is our big Kindergartner. We've been pleasantly surprised how well she is doing in school. She recently won an award for a story she wrote (I'm not exactly sure how that happened since she really cant write sentences but hers was the best Kindergarten girls story ... I cant wait to see it when school starts back up). She is so much fun. We say she's our bundle of personality wrapped up in butt length

hair. Every teacher she's had comments that all the other kids want to be friends with her. I cant blame them because when she's happy, she is so much fun to be with (fortunately ??, she saves her orneriness for home ... those times aren't so much fun)!

Taeya (8 1/2) continues to be the best firstborn kid we could ask for. She is such a huge help around the house and is so good with her little brothers (sometimes with her little sister too)! She is quite the student and we are so proud of her achievements. She recently competed in her schools spelling bee. They took the top 10 kids from 3rd, 4th & 5th grades and then had them compete. We didn't put much effort into studying because we figured she was competing against older kids, it wasn't very fair. She blew us out of the water and finished in the top 10. She has some terrific friends and loves spending time with them. She just finished soccer and is thinking volleyball maybe the next sport she'll try!

Oh I love this picture! These boys are payback for all the trouble Tony and I caused when we were younger. I get glimpses of the fun these two will have together ... part of me is scared to death but the other part thinks we'll have fun. I just fear the trouble they'll cause together!

True sisters! These two have so much fun together. They are getting to the point where they fight and get bugged by each other but at the end of the day, they are the best of friends. I love watching them play and scheme together!

I love this picture. My men have so much fun together. There is not a day that goes by that these three, and their sisters, do not wrestle or have a pillow fight. I've had so many pillow cases ruined in one of their epic pillow fights. I love how they roar and yell and wrestle yet they love each other so much. Its the sweetest thing to see each night as Tony comes through the door, the kids all yell "Dad" and go running for their hug. Kai lets out a yelp and goes waddling as fast and his little legs will let him! Yep, my boys love me but they adore their Daddy!

I love my girls. Its fun to talk with them about what their futures will be like. It was cute to hear Tae ask if I'll come take care of her when she has a baby. I love that they are at the age where they still want to be with me. 

As for Tony and I, we're doing great. Tony is staying super busy at work. He is juggling a ton of different projects that often have him traveling but when he's home, he's home. He loves us and enjoys being with  us. He is so good to take me out each weekend. I joke that we are single handedly employing all the neighborhood teens with our date nights! Its nice to know he likes 'courting' me! I'm doing the kid thing which most days I love. There have been a few days when I'm tempted to throw in the towel and get a job just so I can pee alone but those days are rare. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years!

Love,

The Dickamores

Painting w/ Papa

Before we went on our Utah trip Taeya made a list of all the stuff she wanted to do while we were in Utah. One of the top things on her list was to paint with Grandpa Thompson. She remembered doing it before and loved it. This time Aliya got in on the action!

 They have the perfect set up for painting out in Gpa's laundry room: plenty of light, big work surface and floors that clean up easily in case of spilled paint!

They would watch a little bit of a Bob Ross painting show then the girls would go and recreate what they had just watched. Tae did it all by herself and did a fabulous job!

Aliya did terrific too (and loved getting to paint with her big sissy and Grandpa). Definitely one of their favorite memories!

T day

I had posted earlier that we were doing an Alphabet summer. I wasnt the best at taking pictures of each of our days but I did get pics of some. When we made our list of the things we wanted to do on the various days, the kids instantly knew they wanted to go to the temple on T day. Although we have a temple here in Houston, we thought it'd be fun to do T day in Utah and hit the SLC temple. 

 Before we went to Temple Square we took the kids to our favorite old hot-spot: The Training Table. Nothing quite says home like a huge plate of cheese fries. NUMMY! After we ate Tony took the kids for a ride on Utah's light rail system named Trax (notice the other T activities we did? also, notice how Tony's only got 2 kids vs. 4? Aliya threw a royal fit in the restaurant so she didn't get to go for the train ride and Kai, well he just got stuck w/ me)!

 There is no other spot in the world with grounds quite so clean, colorful and pristine as Temple Square. The kids were in heaven with all the grass and flowers!

 Super cute!

I really should have edited this picture to get rid of the drool and even out his skin tone but ah well, this is Kai how he truly is: slobbery and darling!

Childrens Museum

While in Utah we had the chance to go to the Children's Museum with Tony's mom Deb. The kids loved it and had a BLAST! We will definitely hit it again when we make our next journey to Utah (when that will be we have no clue ... we are thinking it'll probably be an every other year type thing)

 Blakers had fun driving around Grandma Debbie. He loved this cuz he could fill up the jeep with gas. 

 I was surprised how much fun Tae had here as well. I figured being a big 8 year old she might think she was too cool but she had just as much fun as the others!

 I don't think there was one station that Aliya didn't run to with a big cheeser on her face ... she really does get pleasure out of simple things!

 Poor horse! With all the horseback riding they'd been doing this UT trip you'd think they'd be bored but not these cowpokes! This is the kind of horse I would agree to getting ... I don't have to feed it, pet it, clean up after it. Plus my allergies did great!

 Blakers loved the water table. He is constantly playing in the sinks at home but here it was okay for him to do it!

 The girls got to be anchorwomen. They loved seeing themselves on TV!

Old Kai Kai even got to get down and play. Notice the nice bruise on his forehead? He got that just before we went to UT. I cant remember who he was playing with but he ended up face planting it into the wrought iron spindles on our staircase. Poor kid! Thanks Gma for sharing a fun day with us!

Thompson Crew

Wow, thats a lot of Grandkids! My parents now have 20 grandkids. Needless to say its a whole lot of chaos when we get together. Unfortunately its not that often so its do-able!

 Here are all the kiddos:
Back row: Landon (13) holding Jaden (3), Jessie (17) holding Kai (1), Colton, Tanner, Matthew, Parker and Keon
Front row: Cheltzie (14), Hannah (9), Brittlyn (10) holding McKelle (2 mos), Taeya (8), Tanaeya (6), Aliya (5), Evan (6), Abby (3), Mason (3) and Blake (almost 3)

 Gma and Gpa with their entire brood.

I am tempted to make a comment about not a single one of my kids taking a cute picture here but that wouldn't be nice and my mom always taught me if I cant say anything nice, I shouldn't say anything at all. But it is pretty funny! Go ahead, make your own snarky comment!

 These 4 were all born in the same year. Jaden, Mason, Blake and Abby. Jaden is the oldest with Blakers being the youngest. They are going to cause major problems when they get older! I guess this is why you rarely see cute pictures of a group of 3 year olds ... it just doesn't happen!

 Gma and her girls

Gpa and his guys ... again with the Dickamore kids causing problems. Mercy, you'd think they'd be used to their mom taking their picture. Ah well! We sure do miss our cousins and wish we were closer!

Sad day!

Blake was sick one day when we were in Utah during the summer. He had woken up during the night with a fever. I didn't take his temp but knew he had a fever so gave him some meds and he went back to sleep. He woke up the next morning hot so I re medicated him. Later that morning he took a little nap then woke up again hot. He refused to take medicine so as I was over at the sink trying to figure out a way to bribe him into taking the Motrin I hear my mom calmly say "Tami, he's seizing". WHAT? I go hauling over to where he was in their rocking chair to see what I could do. My mom rocks. She was trying to keep him protected and walk me through what was happening (she was a nurse). All the while the girls are nearby watching TV and they had no clue what was happening!

There is no better place I could have been for him to have seized. I've never had a kid who has seizured before. Once it was done we took his temp them worked at getting it to drop. When his temp finally dropped he did great. Poor kid was pretty sleepy and lethargic for a while but luckily it never happened again. I am a lot more worried when he gets a fever now (he's now 30% more likely to have another seizure if he spikes a fever). Sad day but I am just thankful I had parents there to keep me calm and more importantly keep Blakers safe. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Baby Blues!

Nope, no baby depression here. Just gorgeous blue eyes coming to us from Kai! When Blake was about the age I blogged about a picture with my 3 kiddos and talked about their gorgeous eyes. Each of my kids, with the exception of Aliya, have gorgeous blue eyes. Aliya has stunning hazel/green eyes. We're not quite sure how she got those eyes since 2 blue eyed parents are not genetically supposed to be able to make a brown/hazel eyed kid but some how we did (I promise, she's ours)!

Kai was playing around with Blakes hat one day and he was too cute to pass up!

Love you little drool monkey. Your eyes have saved you from getting into trouble a couple times already ... the girls are going to love you!

Stabbed!

 Betcha thougth this post was going to somehow be related to Blake and his mischeviousness but nope, just Taeya. All summer long she'd been harrassing us by asking when she could get her ears pierced. Finally the end of August Tony gave in and said "lets do it". Tae was so excited!

I think the waiting part in the store was the hardest thing for Tae (I've never seen her cuddle w/ her sister like this before or since)!

 The holes are drawn, still time to back out now!  Poor girl had to listen to narrative by her Dad throughout the whole procedure. Luckily she knew what she wanted and stuck with it!

Gun ready ... GULP!

Being the slacker Mom I am, I didnt get an after shot. Ah well, you'll be able to see them in some future posts. These are the cutest pics anyways!

Crazy rain!

 I love the rainstorms we get here in the summer! They are fast and boy do they ever dump the water! Tony is a good Daddy that lets them go play in it ... I on the other hand just think about all the wet clothes I'll have to wash in addition to the wet bodies I will have to bathe afterwards. Thank Heavens for Dads or else my kids would just be watching from inside!

 This is Kai's first rain experience. I am usually mean and keep him with me. Tony thought he'd have fun and he was right! He loved it!

Buds

 I love seeing this. Anything that my boys do together, without fighting, makes me happy! Although Blakers can totally walk up the stairs, he thinks its hilarious to crawl up the stairs with Kai.

 Blake stops for a short laugh break ...

 Then they are off again! I love their little bums, I love that they wear the same size, I love that I am too lazy in the morning to stick back on their bottom jammies, I love that they love each other and have fun together! Oh, and I LOVE that Kai still has his fat, squishy thighs ... I may just love those the most!