A shower for Hailey

My littlest sister is having a baby! It can't be, but it be. She is expecting a little boy (Skyler Burke Arvish) on March 7. To get her ready for her upcoming adventure, my mom and I threw her a baby shower on Saturday. And as you can see from the above picture, people were very generous. She got loads of gifts! Ready or not he'll be here soon!
At the shower we ate lots of yummy food- grape salad (recommended by my Aunt Faylene), Spinach & chicken pasta salad, bruschetta, cowboy caviar, and little tea sandwiches. Followed with a chocolate fountain for desserts. I know I WAY overate.

There was some socializing.....

.. and some game playing.
We played Baby Rhyme Jeopardy and The Price is Wrong. Then Hailey opened up her pile.



The shower was a great time, and Hailey got many of her needed essentials. Now we're just getting excited to meet the little guy.

Goin' to the Dentist

This week was my week for preschool with the theme- teeth. Perfect! I decided to enlist Dan as today's educator. My first task was to convince him to get out his portable dental chair (given to him by his uncle). It took me awhile to convince him, but I really felt the chair would make it a memorable experience for the kids. Well I'm not sure if the kids will remember, but I definitely won't forget! After about an 1 1/2 hrs. of trying to assemble the chair I went to watch TV- Dan woke me up an hour later :/. At this point I was grateful I didn't push getting the dental lamp out as well (maybe next time ;)). However- now that he has the chair figured out I think next time it will take 15 min. max.

And here we have the finished product. What a cutie sittin' there.

Here is Dan teaching the kiddies about teeth. I was truly impressed with how good he did with the little kids.

Of course they were super impressed with the instruments!

He gave all the kids a ride on the dental chair, and did little exams on each of them. Here we have Paige opening wide (with some assistance of course)! She said my favorite quote of the day "Dad why are you acting like a doctor when your a dentist?" HA!

And this little guy clearly needs no assistance with the mouth opening.
Day 2 goin' to the Dentist- result... SUCCESS! The kids LOVED it!

Finally five!

So sweet little Paige turned the big 5 on Sunday! The birthday adventures began on Saturday at her friend birthday party. She wanted a baby doll birthday party (despite the fact that only one little girl was invited and the rest boys). I tried to persuade her into a gender neutral party theme to no avail. What can I say, she just LOVES baby dolls. In fact she asks for them for EVERY occasion- and typically wants more than one. She always talks about her dolls (by name), and often brings up what she wants to be when she grows up... a mother of course! In fact in a recent recorded interview by cousin Breezy she stated when she grows up she wants to have 22 boys and 22 girls. When asked how they will get anywhere she stated that she would "have 3 mini vans". We'll see how that all holds up, but I can attest to the fact that she must have at least 22 baby dolls. Well the party went very well, the boys came to a princess party last year and a baby doll party this year. We'll have to see what they put up with next year.

At the friend party we had dancing, food, games, and presents.

This is Paige's very best friend. She just loves Kaden- in fact she tells everyone that she plans on marrying him. Well the good news is that for now Kaden loves Paige as much as she loves him. And he clearly knows what she likes, since he gave her this Barbie doll for her birthday.

Then on Sunday morning we did a special breakfast and presents from family.

Here is a special gift (pillowcase) made for Paige by Savannah. She loved it!

And a homemade doll from me... it is now named Jane.
Then in the evening we had a huge family party with dinner, more presents, and cake. Wow was she ever spoiled! She loved everything she was given!

Here she is with a ginormo giraffe from Aunt Hailey. That thing has already caused it's share of fights between Paige and Lydia. Sigh......

Here she is with yet another baby doll complete with grocery cart and it's own food storage (currently scattered throughout the family room) from Grandma and Grandpa Dana. Her name is Shelby.

And here she is blowing out her candles on her baby doll birthday cake (of course!). What a memorable birthday it was, and now I need a nap!

Weekend winter fun!

We decided to make another attempt at taking the kids out cross country skiing/snowshoeing this year. So Saturday we loaded up and headed out to Idaho City. When we got there we definitely didn't worry about there being enough snow....

When we saw this we knew were in for a good time :) After taking about 20 minutes (or more) to get everyone geared up in their snow gear we hit the trail..... kind of...

It really was mostly like how this picture is. Every few minutes the kids wanted to switch from skis to snowshoes, or Lydia would want in and out of the sled, or one of the kids would take a spill. Then right when we thought all was well, Savannah had to go to the bathroom of course! She let me know that "next time" she won't wear the backpack with the water bladder. So Savannah and I quickly headed back to the parking lot (and outhouse) while the others slowly made their way back. Let's just say we were grateful to have Grandma and Grandpa Malan with us. Considering that we were making this trip with 4 small children, we really had a great time. My kids truly just loved every minute of it.

This time around Abe was happy to ride on Dan's shoulders. Note: The sore on Abe's face was from a brawl in the playroom with Lydia- she won, he wasn't in a position get her with his teeth (his only defense).

Paige giving the snowshoes a try with Grandma Malan.

Paige with Grandpa Malan.

This is the first year Lydia tried snow shoes. They didn't stay on too long, they were a little too wide making her trip a bit, but she was a sport and loved the snow as evidenced by the next picture.


Back at the car Savannah and Lydia had Dan set them up on this 5 foot embankment. They had fun throwing snowballs.... until Lydia dove off. Thank goodness for soft fluffy snow. Oh what memories....

Abram is 1!!

I cannot believe my little boy is now 1 year old! When he was born he cried so much the first 12 weeks I thought we were in for a long year, but he soon turned into the happiest baby ever. He is surely the giggliest baby boy. We LOVE having this little guy in our home.


Yes he does have an extremely long tongue. He loves to stick it out and laugh and laugh.

He says your typical baby things "momma, dadda, uh-oh, boo, and cracker???" Yes about a month ago when I was getting him a snack I asked if he wanted a cracker. When he responded cracker back, I was shocked. So he has since repeated it multiple times when he would like a goldfish cracker. I got this footage with my camera.

Here he is with an attempt to blow out his single candle. I made him this dump truck cake- I thought it turned out pretty cute.

I made him a separate smaller dump truck. I wanted to see what a mess he could make with a smash cake. I was a little surprised that he just picked off and ate 2 pretzel sticks and 1 mini doughnut. The truck remained surprisingly whole.

I was totally amazed at how long he kept his party hat on. He must have kept it on for over an hour.

Here he is with his homemade gift from mom. A button eyed croc- it is almost as long as he is, and of course he loves it.

This is little mister just after opening a few presents.

A new Year

For our New Year celebration we decided to go with Grandma and Grandpa Malan to the great outdoors and do some cross country skiing and snow shoeing with the kids. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and we only lasted in the freezing wind for about 30 minutes. Maybe next time. We came back to our house and played some games, ate, and still rang in the new year (a little early at 9pm :) )with lots of noise.

Christmas Festivities part 2

Oh this was my favorite Christmas ever! We had such a fun time as a family as well as spending time with family. I'm really sad it's over.... On Christmas Eve we had a party at our house with my family. It was fun to have my sister Rilieanne and her family in town and also to have Breanna here. We ate lots of food, played games, had a birthday party for Denali, and Dan and Savannah played some Christmas music on the piano.

Chloe helping Lydia play some Christmas bingo.

Savannah and Breanna with their party hats on!

Dan and Savannah playing Christmas music for everyone.

On Christmas we spent the morning together opening (and playing) with presents.

You can see how excited Dan is as he gets a pair of sleeper jammies (with the feet of course). He was extremely disappointed when they were too small:( Hopefully we'll be able to find another pair in the right size.

Here is Sav's with her goods from Santa. Her favorite present I guess the BSU jersey!? Of course the Didj was a close 2nd.

Abe with his stuff. His favorite was his little walker. He goes bananas with it, I wish that meant no more pushing the stools around the kitchen- I can't be that lucky. Stools will continue to be scattered throughout the day in the kitchen.

Paige loved her Bitty Baby. It was one of the few things she asked for, and it was a hit.

Lydia loved her Dora stuff as well as her Snap n Style dolls. She loves to keep them in coordinating outfits and hats.

Then we went out to Dan's family's home. It was great to see his brother Jim and his family and also eat some yummy food (and of course more presents :)).

My cute newest nephew- Nolan. What an adorable boy! And a perfectly mild child as well.

And here is Uncle Jimmy holding Mr. Abe.

After that we went to my family's home. The kids were able to play with their cousins and new toys and visit Grandma and Grandpa Dana (and of course more yummy food:))

Here Abe is tinkering on the piano (his favorite thing to do) with cousin Chloe.

And here is Abe with uncle Nate. Check out that kids tongue! He absolutely loved his uncle. Wish they lived closer.