Shangri-la

So, this month has been a busy month!  With the start of the new year we got a new start in a new home.  This was and exciting move as this home is about double the size of our last home.  We are settling in slowly, but surely and it felt like home very quickly.

Trey, chillin in the front room.  He loves to hang out by the fire.  I'm excited to decorate the little cove on top of him.  I think the tv is suppose to go up there, but we have it in the basement.  I wanted a tv free zone in the house.   

Makai enjoying the other half of the front room. 

My huge wall that I had no idea what do with.  I had to laugh that the piano blends into the wall.  I do love the color though so I probably won't change it! There is also a black FAMILY sign on the wall that you can't see in the picture.  I'm thinking of painting it so it stands out more, but that will come with time.

With the new house came a new school for the younger boys.  Trey now has a strange schedule, but has 2 days off a week.  Him and Makai are enjoying some time together again.  Makai's face is NEVER clean, no matter how hard I try, but he's happy--so that's gotta count for something!

My favorite part of the house is the kitchen.  I spend so much time in the kitchen preparing food, it's nice to at least like it!:)

And I had to add a picture of Makai's room.  I was worried that he wouldn't like having a room to himself, but he loves it.  From day one he had no problem at all sleeping by himself.  He even told me, "Mom, I love my new room!!"  Oh, and speaking of Makai--he is officially potty trained.  He decided to potty train the week we were moving.  He's doing great and seems so grown up now.

 

  All, is well.  We are almost done with the basement and then I'll post pictures of it.  We love our new home.  Thanks dad!!

Kyle-10

Yesterday Kyle turned the big 10!  I would say I can't believe he is 10, but I actually can.  He's seemed 10 to me for a while, but maybe that's because he's such a big boy.  His feet are as big as mine, and he weights over 100lbs.  He can easily eat more than me.  Buying clothes for him is no easy task because he has thighs like a football player.  I have to say I love him so much.  He is so kind and thoughtful.  His sweet personality is a blessing in our home.  He is always so grateful for food I make.  He comes home from school and thanks me for the lunch I made him and usually after dinner he's the one that says, "Mom, thanks so much for dinner."  He had a nice birthday and told me about 20 times how wonderful it was. 

He had the idea of going bowling, so we did.  It was pretty fun.  Of course maybe because I won!:)  He chose to go to Nordy's for dinner as that was fun and good.  Then we came home and he got some magnets from Mammy and Grandpop and the game Monopoly with a private lesson to at the Archery place here in town.  He's excited about that.  For his birthday we wanted Lemon Meringue Pie.  It was tasty. 

We love you Kyle. 

Thoughtful Boys

 

Monday Morning I woke up to this sweet gift from the Kyle, Kory and Trey.  I was really impressed by their kindness.  I loved every bite...even the bites I shared with Makai and Trey!  What made me most excited was they even gave me a napkin with a knife and fork.  Thanks boys! 

Yoda

For Christmas we got the boys a Star Wars craft book.  The boys used it today to make a Yoda.  It actually turned out pretty awesome.

It was pretty fun to see Kyle with a needle and thread.  He loves craft projects like this one. 

The finished product.  No too bad for an afternoon project.

Oh, what do you do in the Wintertime...

How do you keep 5 little boys happy during winter break?  Keep them busy!!  Yesterday we went sledding but we went a little to late, so it got cold fast.  After half an hour Makai and Trey were both crying because their hands were cold.  Today we went a little earlier, stayed for several hours and had a blast!! 

This picture cracked us all up because of Kyle's face.  He really was having fun!

Tyler was Makai's protector!  Makai loved going down with him.

Kory and Kyle...crash and burn!  Luckily the ice is right there for them!

Trey was only willing to go down with me at first.  Finally, I promised him hot chocolate if he went down with Tyler and he agreed.

Petroleum Jelly

 

The last shall be first and the first shall be last!!  Apparently Makai wanted to be like Tyler.  When Tyler was a little younger than Makai he got into the bag balm and I couldn't get it out.  Well, tonight while I was talking with our neighbor Makai got into the Petroleum Jelly and coated his hair.  When I saw him my first words were, "Makai...that's not water is it?"  He said, "NOPE"  URRRR. 

I decided to try and google how to remove petroleum jelly from hair.  Well, the first sight said, 'The 14 step process to getting petroleum jelly out of hair.'  I also couldn't help but think...are you kidding me!!?  Since one of the steps called for Whiskey and I don't have that on hand I went to another sight that said to try Corn Starch, Peanut Butter...so we tried that. 

The picture makes him look like a lost boy, but actually I used chunky peanut butter and he'd just eaten a chocolate chip cookie fresh out of the oven.  He was actually quite happy.

After trying a failing with both of them I used my ONE STEP METHOD to getting petroleum jelly out of your hair.

He was so big for his hair cut! I just cut his hair earlier this week and actually was really liking his hair cut, so I was the one crying between the two of us.

He was so curious and just kept saying, "I getting a hair cut mamma".

Of course, I had to get a picture of me with him because I kept my cool the whole time!



And now our youngest son looks like a Chinese Monk! 

The whole experience took me back about 10 years ago when Tyler did the same thing.  What a found most interesting was the difference between the way Tyler and Makai handled the situation.  When Tyler did the same thing he cried for an hour or so.  Makai was totally unfazed by the whole situation.  He just went with it.  Accepted what he did and accepted everything.  I talked to Tyler about it and he said, "Yeah, I don't like to do bad things."  It's so true.  Tyler is a pleaser.  I love that about him.  Apparently Makai doesn't take life as seriously, and I sure love him too!!   

Makai Turns 3!!!