Post Christmas

After Christmas we were able to go to Prescott for a little bit. We finally checked out the zoo. It is small, but lots of good animals to see up close.

There are also a lot of toys to play on, which were Jackson's favorite (although in this one he looks like he's trying to strike his sister)!

We took one morning and hiked  the Peavine Trail. Brooklyn was so excited not to be in the stroller the whole time!

And Jackson just kept walking. Our children love to be outside. We were lucky it was so warm up there and we weren't in the snow everyday, although some snow would have been nice!

Jackson shared Lightning McQueen with Brooklyn, and helped her ride it. As long as someone did the button for her, she held on and had a blast. Jackson is such a great big brother, most of the time!! He loves to help his sister.

And of course, a trip to the park was a must. This slide is kind of steep, and a little scary. It took us a few minutes, and a trip down with Tia to get Jackson to feel comfortable on this slide, but then we couldn't keep him off of it.

The is our little monkey. Climbing all over the place, and sadly, trying to chew on the floor. Poor girl has teeth coming in like there's no tomorrow. She just had 3 break through in the last few weeks, and has 5 more trying to. 

She is also our fearless child. The slide we had to coax Jackson down., she climbed up, and went down backwards. She loves to slide and swing. We went out to the mall a few times to let the kids play, and she just acted like a big kid. Up and down the slide, mostly backwards on her tummy, but a few times face first. She tried to do that back at the house on the stairs as well! She's going to have a lot of falls in the next few years!!

The one thing we didn't do, and Brooklyn was really upset about, we didn't play any golf! She would try and carry these clubs and bag around the house. Up and down the stairs was really problematic. It was so funny because she wouldn't just carry one, and they are almost as big as she is! We think Bobby trained her and was trying to tell us something!!

Christmas

Santa brought this amazing apron to Bobby! Now there are no excuses for not helping in the kitchen! 

Brooklyn did okay with presents, but mostly just wondered around playing with toys. Mostly the old ones, but a few of the new.

Jackson was too funny. He got exactly what he wanted, which was Spencer, a train from Thomas, but spent most of the time playing with Brooklyn's gifts. He loved her tea set, and made us all yummy drinks! But this year was fun since it was the first year he really got into Santa. We wrote him a letter, and he even drew him a picture we left out with the cookies and milk. 

This picture doesn't show it too well, but these three had Christmas mo-hocks.  Bobby came home one night and decided him and Jax needed them since Bobby was off work for 2 weeks. And what little hair Brooklyn has just naturally spiked for us. So cute. We got lots of comments at church!

We had Christmas dinner with Barry's family. Mikelle's parents and sister, Kristin also joined us.  We even had Mikelle's Grandmother, Grandad and Uncle Rob for a little while. It was a lot of fun, and the sweetest part, was Jackson putting a bow on his head and running around telling everyone he was the best present ever!

Tessa got a fun game for Christmas, and of course after she let Jackson see how it worked, he wanted a turn and so did Trenton. We worked a lot on sharing Christmas night!

Pre-Christmas

To get ready for Christmas, we spent a lot of time in the car looking at Christmas lights. This was Jackson's favorite thing to do. One evening, we went into Scottsdale to the train park to ride the train through the lights. It was crazy crowded, but so worth the wait. There were so many lights and other fun things to do. Mostly Mikelle waited in line while the kids and Bobby did all the fun things!!

Here are Jackson's awesome antlers he made at our ward Christmas party. This year they did a brunch, and everyone came in jammies. It was a great idea and went really well. The one down side was that a little girl got sick in the middle of it, and guess who was sick all the next week? We hate the "choke-up" bug around here. (That's what Jackson calls it).

Grandma Halterman gave Jackson his own gingerbread house to decorate. He loved it. Mikelle helped, but just by putting the frosting where he wanted it. He was very creative, even made a little garden in front, I'm sure just for his Papa!

We took the kids to see Santa, and of course Jackson did great, and Brooklyn freaked out!  But we took them to Arizona Mills, where they had this cool sand castle for Santa's Village. It was real sand. Santa even sat on a sand chair. Too cool, especially for AZ.

This was Christmas Eve day. We went for a hike up South Mountain. The kids loved it, although Brooklyn would have preferred to walk. It was a little steep and rocky though for that. It was a gorgeous day. Unseasonable warm here in Phoenix, that means unseasonably cool for the summer, right?!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we actually hosted our first Thanksgiving! Over all it turned out really well. My pie crusts, not so good, but edible and the pumpkin pie from scratch made up for it, I think! Bobby's dad and sister, Bridgette and her husband Nick, were able to come for about 4 days. It was great. 

Mostly we just hung out and watched a little football. A nice recharge time for everyone. We did go to the train park in Scottsdale one afternoon, but the camera was MIA, so no good pictures. But it was lots of fun and we plan to go back in the next few weeks to check out the light in the dark!

Jackson  loved all the extra attention and the different people to play with.  I'm not sure what he will do next week after a whole weeks of extra attention. 

Chitwoods Visit!!

Cora loved playing with Brooklyn's toys and Jackson loved playing with Cora. Brooklyn wasn't sure how she felt about it all. She was jealous anytime someone was holding Cora, but she didn't hurt her, so that's good. 

Cora held her own though. She was not to be bullied by her older cousins!

Cora isn't sitting on her own yet, so we had to find places to prop her up . Good thing she liked the ball pool for a few pictures!

Here are the three little monsters. Trying to get a picture of just three of them was next to impossible. But it's pretty good all the same.
It was a fun few days, just relaxing and spending time with family.

Days

Since the weather has been so great, we have been taking full advantage of it by going for walks everyday. Jackson of course prefers his bike, so we let him get some practice in too. He is getting really good, but it still takes about 30 minutes to go around the block! We are trying to get him use to the idea of wearing a helmet, but that doesn't go over too well every time!

Brooklyn has decided she wants to work in construction, so we are putting her to work all over the house! Poor girl is destined to be a tomboy with all the boy toys we have around the house. At least Jackson is mostly good about sharing.

Brooklyn has also decided if Jackson gets suckers, so does she. And she loves them, although the stick is almost as good as the sucker itself apparently!!

And this face, we like to call her crazy face. She just started playing with Grandma Halterman one day while Grandma was feeding her. Not sure where it came from, but it is hilarious! And if you do it back, she will start all over again. Plus, she loves that we are laughing with her, so then she does it some more. This girl loves attention.

Desert Botanical Garden

Jackson loves to get Cultural Passes from the library to check out fun "cultural" spots around Phoenix. And it's a great break from playing with mom all the time! This time Jackson chose the Botanical Garden, and the kids really enjoyed it. Highly recommend to anyone who wants to be outside for a bit, but not at the zoo, again!
Jackson just loves being a big helper. He made sure we went into the "hut" to be in the shade and have a drink.

Love this picture of our happy kids. It was such a great day to go. The weather in Phoenix this time of year is great. 

This picture cracks me up. I wanted a picture of Jackson and a butterfly in the butterfly  pavilion, and he gives me the thinker pose! Not the best picture to see the butterfly, but cute all the same. 

A sweet lady took our picture in the butterfly pavilion. She said  she knew how moms never got to be in pictures and almost grabbed the camera from me. 

Jackson loved anytime he could sit down. I think it was more walking than he was prepared for, but at least he was a trooper and keeps asking when we can go back!

Brooklyn's Duck Birthday!

For Brooklyn's birthday we were going to have it at the park, but it was too windy and cold, so we just went and played a little then came back to our house.  Jackson's favorite part was beating up Uncle Barry!!

Brooklyn loved the swings, and Tessa yelled, "Best day ever" while swinging. Swings really are the best.

Brooklyn was being a little fussy, so grandma tried to help her find her happy face,. She did a little dance, make some silly noises, and Brooklyn put her hand to her face, like she couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. It was soo funny. 

The kids also loved playing with bubbles, especially Alec.

The side-walk chalk was also a big hit, although Jackson thought it was fun to mess everyone's pictures up. He even put dirt on Aunt Kendra's picture.

Brooklyn's cake.

Grandma and Papa helped with the decorations.

And there was lots of yummy duck food to eat. Duck shaped pizza, blue jello with ducks on top, quackers and "duck food" (trail mix).

Brooklyn loved her duck cake.

She thought it tasted good too! But she also thought the plate tasted good, so ... (It was pretty good though).

She loved all her fun gifts, but the bow tasted the best! Oh to be little and amazed by all the little things. It was a great party, although we missed the rest of the family who weren't there. Maybe next year!!

1 Year Old!!

Our little princess in one, already! And keeping with tradition we had to take Brooklyn's picture with daddy and writing on their tummies. Lucky for us she didn't mind getting her picture taken. She is walking all over the place. Still a tad unsteady, but holding her own.

She is slimming down a bit, only 24 pounds 2 ounces,  90% and 31 1/4 inches, 100%.

Overall still very happy, but is trying to cut some top teeth so she can eat like a big kid! Which will be nice since she eats a ton. We gotta keep up her thighs!

She is getting into all sorts of trouble. She loves to climb, on anything, and loves to climb into baskets. And she is a total Drama Queen. She's going to give us a run for our money! But still a blessing to our family.