Bleak Family Christmas & Other Activities

Every Christmas the cousins all rotate names of who they give a gift to. So then of course we need to get together and have a party to exchange! This year we held it at our house. We usually do at Nathan and Steph's house because they like to throw parties and are really good at it! But with Stephanie having surgery recently we said we wouldn't mind doing it. We had dinner, played a game with the kiddos, exchanged gifts, then put on a movie for the kids so us adults could have fun! It was a great night!

Miss Emma had a Christmas program at school. It was fun to watch. Just in one year they went from screaming every single song in Kindergarten to singing pretty well in 1st grade :). 

We love our annual Gingerbread houses, Christmas crafts, and Christmas fun!

I also was VERY excited to take Reese on a date to the Nutcracker ballet. Reese is a naturally graceful dancer and wants to be a ballerina someday. She absolutely loved it and was a very fun date! I hope someday I get to sit in the audience and watch her in it!

New Years Sledding at Grandma and Grandpa Bleak's in Bountiful. Bountiful seriously has the BEST hills for sledding. Smaller ones for small kids and huge steep ones for bigger kids. The girls loved going and we loved having Gpa there with us!

Quote Board 2016

I love the things that come out of children's mouths! They are so innocent and say exactly what they mean!

This is some of my favorite quotes from this year:

Feb 2016
Reese called Lucy when she was in my tummy "Baby Bibbles" ALL the time. After Lucy was born I said "here is Baby Bibbles!" Reese said, "No, mom. It was Bibbles when she was in your tummy. Now it's Little Lucy!"

May 2016
Emma and I went to exercise. She rode her bike while I ran/walked. Towards the end, Emma said, "mom you should have rode your bike. Then you wouldn't be so tired from running!"

Reese: "When I grow up I'm going I'm going to be a baby chick!"
Emma: "You can't change into a chick."
Reese: "Yes I can. With my fairy Godmother!"

June 2016
LOTS of whining and protesting about having "rest time" today.
Emma and Reese: "why can't we skip rest time???"
Me: "Because I feel like poo!!!!!" I yelled.
Emma's lips began to curl up and Reese covered her face, both trying not to laugh. Then simultaneously we all burst into laughter. Great choice of words on my part. Especially since we try to teach them not to say things like "poo" all day long :).

Talking about getting ears pierced.
Emma: "But does it hurt??!"
Me: "It's like going to the doctor and getting a pokey in your ear."
Reese: (gasps loud) "I wanna do that!!!"

July 2016
Nora put stickers all up and down her arms. She asked if I would help take them off because "they are too fancy for me!"

Aug 2016
Nora is coloring with markers and just came up to tell me that her marker ran out of batteries so it's not working!

"Mom I want to put this crown on. It's so dazzling!!"
-Nora (age 2)

Sept 2016
Nora: I be the mom, you be the deary!
Me: The deary?
Nora: Ya. "Oh hi deary! Come here deary!"
Me: oh, the sister?
Nora: ya, the deary.

Nora farted.
Me: Whaaaat was that??! (Smiling)
Nora: Me bum!!!!

Oct 2016
Nora: remember when daddy's bead fell off?
Mom: Daddy's bead? What's that?
Nora: no Daddy's bead fell off his face!
Mom: (after thinking for a while) Oh, daddy's beard?
Nora: yeah. His beard fell off his face today!
(Daddy had just shaved his beard last night)

Nov 2016
Nora: "Ahhhh!! Don't step on the hot llama!!" (Lava)

Reese's 5th Birthday!!!

Our Reesie-Roo turned the big 5 on November 29th! She is growing into quite the darling, sensitive, spunky, confident little lady. She loves dressing in anything sparkly, poofy, and girly. She is obsessed with skunks lately and really wants a live one. She is in Mrs. Redd's class and loves going to pre-school! We car pool with our next door neighbor Dean Skoy. Reese is in love with her baby sister Lucy and wants to squeeze, cuddle and carry her everywhere. She doesn't always know her own strength, but can be so sweet and helpful as well. Nora is Reese's best friend and they play SO well together when Emma is at school all day. We love our Reese!!!

This year we went to the aquarium during Thanksgiving break so Daddy would already have work off. Then on her actual birthday she got to watch TV on the counter while coloring (two of her favorite things), then we went to Chuck E Cheese for dinner (she's been wanting to go there for months and I've been trying to NOT go there for months :)) and then went home and had a donut cake for dessert (Reese is not a fan of cake or ice cream). Her favorite gifts she got was a poofy, lacy dress and a stuffed platypus. We sure love her and how she is confident in who she is!

Another gift she was wanting was a "rock with diamonds in it" (a geode). So she got her own geodes that she could break open.

Thanksgiving Week

Well, this year Thanksgiving didn't turn out exactly as planned. I was so excited for Kristen to come and be able to spend lots of time with her....and then I got sick. I had strep and was really sick the first part of the week. Luckily though I got on an antibiotic on Tuesday so by Thursday we could still go to my Mom and Dad's in Bountiful and join everyone on Thanksgiving day! Unfortunately, Steph was still recovering from surgery so their family wasn't able to come be with us. We had Andrew's family there with us so we ended up having 18 adults and 15 children under 8! CRAZY but fun!

The day after Thanksgiving we were going to go to the zoo for Reese's bday, but it was pretty cold so we went to the Aquarium instead. Then we saw Moana in the theaters. Good times! The Saturday was the day Finn was sealed to Kristen and Andrew so I am glad I was sick for the beginning of the week. 

This was the week before Thanksgiving. Cade and I offered to watch the 3 boys for Nathan and Steph while she had surgery on her right side. She has been in chronic pain for over 6 years now and we are praying that this surgery and the same surgery on the left side will help increase her ability to enjoy life being a mom and doing things she wants to do. I can't imagine what she has been through over these amount of years, but she is an amazing person!

Anyway, this picture was great...7 kids 8 and under :). We actually had a great day and the kids all loved being with each other.

Miss Emma Turns 7!

My sweet Emma is 7 years old! She is such a joy to have in our family. Time really is going by fast and Emma reminds me of that every birthday she has! 

Emma is in 1st grade and lives for friends and being social. She has many many friends and loves to meet people wherever we go. She is full of ideas of how to create, how to make life fun and how to involve other people. Emma lives for FUN and if things aren't fun, then it's not very easy getting her to do it :)- AKA homework, chores, reading. BUT if she is allowed to be creative and make those chores fun, then she will get them done! She is getting better at reading and is on level K right now. Emma loves to sing, dance, make crafts, color, play with baby Lucy and play with Dean, Autumn, Braxton, Kirby, Brooke and Adam (all in our cut-de-sac). She is SUCH a good helper at home and always helps me when I need it. We love our Emma!

On her birthday, I went and picked her up from school and took her to lunch just she and I (oh, and Lucy of course). I loved that one-on-one time. This year, it was a "family" year so she chose to go horse back riding for her family activity. So after Dad got off work, we met him at Pizza Pie Cafe, then went horse-back riding, then after baths had ice cream Sundae's (her choice). It was a great day and I hope she felt special!

Kristen and Andrew Adopt and Get Sealed to Finn!!!

On September 21st, Finn became an official part of Kristen and Andrew's family! It has been an extremely long, stressful and often HARD road, but Finn Burton Van Noy is now blessed to be in their family and they are forever blessed because of him.

And the Saturday after Thanksgiving, our whole family and Andrew's whole family were able to go to the Draper, Utah temple and witness Finn being sealed to his parent's. Kristen was in tears the entire time- and same with a lot of us. The spirit was EXTREMELY strong and it was one of the neatest ordinances I have had the opportunity of being a part of. Kristen and Andrew sure have endured a lot the past few years, but to see their joy and happiness now it incredible. I sure love them!

At the Draper Temple, Nov. 26, 2016-