A Different kind of Christmas

Christmas this year felt different. Maybe it's because we just moved into our house and are still getting organized so putting up a Christmas tree and decorations felt more chaotic and stressful than festive. Maybe it's because as I unpacked all of our belongings I realized how much junk we have and the last thing I wanted to do is go buy the kids more things they don't need. Maybe it's because now that I'm back working at the hospital I have to work Holidays again and it was my turn to work Christmas Eve and Christmas night. Or maybe it's just because I am becoming more Scrooge-like with each passing year. Regardless of the reason, another Christmas season came and went with me feeling little more than relief that we made it through and it is now over. Even with my lackluster enthusiasm, our family traditions carried us through and made it another memorable holiday season. Some of our traditions included:

-Picking out new ornaments for our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Scott got a semi-truck since he got his new job on the motor carrier team at UP and working with trucking companies, Mason got a football player, Brynn wanted a stuffed animal so we got a Beanie Boo keychain to use as an ornament, Miles got a transformer looking robot ornament, but it broke before we got home so I found an old happy meal transformer toy and tied a string to it to make it a bumblebee ornament, and Ryan got a baby bottle.

-After 26 years, Papa gave each of us the last wooden ornament he will make, a heart. We have known that the time would come when Grandpa could no longer keep up with making over 80 ornaments every year. He's been telling us for several years now "this will probably be the last year", but this year he gave away all of his wood making tools after completing the ornaments so we know he is really done.

-Not only is Papa done making his ornaments, but after dipping thousands of chocolates each year to give to neighbors, family, and friends, Pooky has retired from dipping chocolates. She passed her marble slab and a few other tools along to me after finishing her batch last year. This means so much to me and so it was important to me to carry on her tradition of making chocolates this year. The kids helped me make and dip some carmels, peanut butters, and mints. It wasn't near the assortment Grandma has made over the years, but it was a start.
- Grandma Linda gave us an early Christmas present of an exact replica of the felt advent calendar they had in their home while Scott was growing up. It held a lot of sentimental value for Scott and the kids looked forward to seeing what nativity piece they would pull out of the pocket each day. 

-The kids were ecstatic when Zippy and Bella returned again on December 1st. And this time they brought with them a Reindeer friend. Never have there been more excited kids. The great thing about their reindeer is he can be touched and played with as long as we protect his heart that carries the spirit of Christmas. The kids named him Buddy and he instantly became the most popular thing in our house for the month of December. Zippy and Bella got into all sorts of mischief over the month. 

-We visited Santa Claus just like every other year, but this year was groundbreaking in that we didn't have a single child freak out. Miles asked Santa for "A Optimus Prime fire flame watch", Brynn asked for "My own personal kindle", Mason asked for "a bunch of Philadelphia Eagles stuff", and Ryan didn't bat an eye when I put him on Santa's lap - we'll see how he feels about the big man next year.

- It wouldn't be Christmas without Grandma's Sleepover. This is hands down the kids favorite part of Christmas. This was the first year that everybody lives locally making it much easier to schedule a day early in the Christmas season that worked for everyone. My sweet mom knows that this night has been a real trigger of grief for me the last few years and so this year she planned for us to all meet up at Ellie's grave to start off the night by singing the Hale Classic "I want to be a friend of yours" before the parents took off to dinner. I continue to be so grateful to my family for always being so sensitive and aware of my feelings. The kids enjoyed all their usual fun of getting matching jammies (I died over Ryan's matching under armor outfit), swimming in the hot tub, and playing with cousins. In the past we made the rule that babies under one were picked up by parents after dinner so the night wasn't too crazy for Grandma. With Ryan being the only little one and so many big helpers this year Grandma insisted he spend the night. The adults enjoyed eating at Tsunami followed by laughing our heads off while watching Masterminds at Chris and Kacie's. 

-Of course we decorated gingerbread houses with Grandma Linda.

- This year we decided to have each of the kids use their talents to make homemade gifts for one another. Brynn chose to sew the boys each a towel robe. It took a lot of time and effort, but she was so proud and the boys loved them. Miles used his talent of drawing to make these cool bookmarks for the kids. He was so excited to give them to the kids and they were so appreciative. Mason put together these books on the computer using Chatbooks. He made Brynn a Beanie Boo encyclopedia including 60 beanie boos with their picture, name, birthday, and poem. For Miles he made a Transformers: Robots in Disguise book with the scan code and player profile for 30 of his favorite guys on the ipad game. The kids absolutely love them. The kids also helped me make Scott a quilt out of his old baseball jerseys. It was supposed to be a big surprise, but I think each of them let it slip to Scott in one way or another. At least he was surprised by how it turned out. It took a lot of time to get all these homemade gifts done and other things got skipped over because of it, but it was well worth it to see how much the kids each cared about their gifts for and from each other this year.

It was our year to spend Christmas Eve with the Hales. My parents decided to shake things up and start doing their own Christmas Eve for just our family instead of joining all my Dad's siblings for the annual Hale Christmas Eve dinner. The night included a piano recital by all of Grandma Nancy's piano students (she teaches all the grandkids that are old enough), a yummy dinner, acting out the nativity (the most successful one we've had in years), and a special gift from Pooky and Papa as they gave each of us one of their Santa Figurines they have collected during their travels all over the world. Mason got South Korea, Brynn got ________, Miles got ________, Ellie got ________ (it means so much to me that they never leave Ellie out of things like this), and Ryan got ___________. After our cousin gift exchange all the families packed up and headed home to do their own Christmas Eve traditions.

This was about the time I had to sneak off to work and so I can't give a very detailed account of what went on the rest of the night. Scott reports that the kids all opened their Christmas Eve gift that was a robe and new slippers. They got in their Jammies and drove home while looking at Christmas lights and stopped by Ellie's grave to wish her a Merry Christmas. When they got home they all made up little beds on the floor of our room and tried to fall asleep. There was a lot of excitement when they heard Santa's sleigh bells outside, but they eventually were able to fall asleep. I have to take his word for all of this since he didn't take a single picture.

In the morning when I came home from work at 7am it was clear that Santa had made it to our house. I was greeted by three very awake and very excited kids (and one sick and tired baby) who had been patiently waiting in our room for me to get home. The kids all lucked out and Santa brought each of them just what they had asked for : Mason a Carson Wentz fat head and mini lego figure, Brynn a Kindle, Miles a watch, and Ryan some clothes - I promise that is exactly what he wanted. We took a break for breakfast and then dove in with the rest of the presents. Like I mentioned before, the highlight for me was seeing how excited the kids were to open each other's gifts and see what everyone made for each other. Early on in the present opening it was clear that poor sick Ryan was ready to go back to bed. So I put him down and we let him have his own little Christmas after he woke up later in the day. When all the other presents were open Mom and Dad pulled out a surprise gift to all the kids from us. I'm not sure what the kids thought it might be, but I know for a fact that none of them were expecting it to be a PS4 with accompanying games and controllers. I still can't believe we actually got it for them. We'll see how much we regret it in a month. By this point I was little more than a walking zombie so I went to bed to get some sleep before I had to return to work that night. Meanwhile Scott and the kids opened and played with all the new electronics.

That evening on my way to work I stopped by Ellie's grave for a minute. It wasn't until later that I realized we never got a picture by Ellie's grave on Christmas and that makes me sad.
All in all it was a wonderful Christmas. The greatest Christmas miracle of all was the fact that Ryan didn't discover he could roll under the Christmas tree and reach the ornaments until after Christmas was over and just in time for me to take down the tree.

Baby Hair

Since the moment he was born, Ryan's hair has by far been his most distinguishable feature.  It is always the first thing people comment on when they see him. Not only are people amazed at how much hair he has but how light it is. I guess because babies with this much hair usually have dark hair. Truthfully, I adore babies with a head full of hair and was secretly hoping Ryan would have hair like Mason and Ellie did. I was thrilled the moment I saw his hair. It's thick like Mason's, only much longer, and the color of Brynn's, and while everything else about him looks like Miles their hair has nothing in common. 
As adorable as Ryan is with his head full of hair, he has already gone through some pretty awkward hair phases in his first 6 months of life. I think (or maybe hope) the worst is over and he has come out of it a pretty handsome guy with great hair. Here is a little timeline to document the phases of Ryan's hair growth.

After his first bath we realized just how much hair he had. My favorite comment made by one of my friends was, "Look at that parted hair, he's ready to go on a mission!"

In a matter of just a few weeks the hairs that hung over his ears started to get unruly and I gave Ryan his first haircut trimming up the sides of his hair. I cut off enough that I was able to keep several locks of his baby hair.

2 weeks old

That's much better.

3 weeks old

His hair is straight, straight, straight, but this is what 80% humidity in Omaha would do to it.

His hair continued to grow....

3 weeks

and grow...

2 months

and grow...

2.5 months

Until I broke down and gave him another haircut, trimming several inches off the top this time. It helped a little...

3 months

...until he got more active and rubbed all the hair off the back and sides of his head. This left a mullet around his neck in the back and what looked like a baby toupe' on top.

It was obvious we needed to do something so we enlisted the help of our neighbor, Jill, who cuts hair. I couldn't bare the thought of him loosing his trademark hair so I gave her the instructions to take off the mullet around his neck, even up the sides, but leave the length on top. He ended up with a haircut that slightly resembled a bowl haircut, but he pulled it off and still looked cute.

3.5 months

and even a little stylish when styled right.

3.5 months

But the hair continued to grow.

4 months

And finally at 4.5 months the ridiculousness of Ryan's hair finally outweighed my emotional attachment to it and we took him back to Jill's for a full haircut this time. 

It looks so much better and I find myself wondering why I didn't do it sooner.

Before/After

Everyone still comments on how much hair he has and he's even blonder now.

6 months

And by the looks of things his hair is still growing and will need another trim before we know it.

Now we'll just have to see if he can hang on to it until he's 30.

Miles' 5th Birthday

Miles is turning 5 and he wanted to celebrate Transformer style this year! After seeing pictures of Mason's Transformer Party, Miles knew he wanted to have the same transformer costumes for him and his friends to wear and an autobot cake. Since the idea of hosting a party inside at our new and still unsettled house kind of stressed me out I decided to continue with my year of paying to have the party somewhere else. We decided that Blaster Tag would be the perfect place to have a transformer party. Blaster Tag is an indoor nerf arena (fancy way of saying a big room full of barricades and nerf guns for everyone). We had each of the kids choose a transformer costume that divided them into the blue team and the yellow team. 85% of the kids had an absolute blast and were in Nerf heaven, but there were a few little ones who didn't think this was such a fun idea after all and chose to sit outside and watch through the windows. Miles loved every second of it! 

Front L-R: Kendall, Colson, Miles, Grady, Camden Embley, Andrew Naperski, Braxton Clayson.
Back L-R: Daniel Glahn, Mason, Maggie Glahn, Brynn, Nash, Andrew, Chase.

5-year-old Miles

• Got a new Uh-oh this year (or rather stole a blanket Grandma got for Ryan). He is still completely addicted to it and walks around the house with it sucking his thumb.
• Enjoys learning and loves going to preschool. He knows all of his letters and is excited to be learning how to read. He can count to 100 and knows basic addition. 
• Still has amazing fine motor skills and writes and colors beautifully.
• His love for transformers has continued to grow as he has graduated from Rescue Bots to real transformers.
• Is very social and his friendships and family relationship are very important to him.
• He gets notoriously grumpy in the afternoon when he gets tired. It is a total Dr. Jeckyl/ Mr. Hyde situation.
• Can be bribed to do anything with a quarter.
• Still has the craziest cowlicks in his hair making it so he always has crazy little boy hair.
• Got new glasses this year because his eyelashes are so long they were constantly rubbing on his lenses and scratching them and making them dirty. He had to get glasses with a special nose piece that makes them sit further away from his face.
• My years of lazy parenting have caught up with us and he is completely addicted to playing electronics and wants to do it all the time. 
• Adores his cousins Andrew and Chase.
• Continues to be super athletic. Was a rockstar on his baseball and soccer teams, plays football with Mason all the time, and can't wait to play basketball this year. 
• Loves surprises. Will hold things behind his back to build suspense for as long as possible before revealing his big surprise. Gets very upset if anyone spoils a surprise.

New School - take 2

After a month of shuttling the kids back and forth to school in Orem, we all agreed it was time to make the switch to our neighborhood school, Legacy Elementary. So starting the day after Thanksgiving Break, Brynn and Mason became the newest Legacy Lions. Mason will be in Mrs. Clow's 4th grade class and Brynn is in Mrs. Luck's second grade class. They are both super excited about being on the AM track and going to school from 8am - 2:15pm (1:15 on early out days). Now we'll just see if we can get them out of bed and to school on time (I'm pretty sure we were 1/5 last week - oops)
Having gone to the same schools with the same peer group my entire life I can not even imagine having to start over at a new school, let alone twice in the same year. I am amazed at their ability to adapt. This is Mason's 4th elementary school and Brynn's 3rd. It hasn't been easy and it there are definitely been some bumps along the way, but I am so proud of these two. We are crossing all our fingers and toes that we can have a great rest of the year at Legacy.

Go Cougars

One of the many things we are excited about being back in Utah for is the opportunity to attend BYU sporting events. Scott took each of the kiddos to a sporting event of their choice this fall and each one of them had an absolute blast cheering on the cougars in a sport they love, spending time with their Dad, and eating a Cougar Tail. Scott was even nice enough to take me to a football game, and yes, I even got a cougar tail.
First up was Brynn. She wanted to go see a women's soccer game. BYU womens' soccer was having a great season and was ranked which made for an exciting game. They ended up winning 4-0. It was a cold cold evening so they had to bundle up and get some hot chocolate. Brynn loved watching the high level of soccer but most of all having some good 1:1 time with Dad.

Cougar tail time

Next up was Mason. It's no surprise he chose to go to a football game. My parents are so generous to share their season tickets with Chris, Brandon, and Scott. Scott and Mason got the tickets for the Homecoming game against Mississippi State. Not only did they get tickets to the game, but Grandpa Val was able to take them down on the field with all the alumni before the game. Being on the actual field was a dream come true for Mason. Just when he thought life couldn't get any better he was able to meet head coach, Kalani Sitake and one of his favorite players of all time - Bronson Kaufusi. Never have you seen a happier boy!

Last but not least it was Miles' turn. He was so excited to go to a basketball game with Scott that he dreamed about it the night before. He was counting down the minutes until the game, that started at 7 pm, all day long. His enthusiasm didn't waiver the entire game. He was on the edge of his seat following every single play. His favorite part was when BYU did an alley oop. Scott said that it was one of the funnest games he's ever been to because Miles was so into the game. I think these two have a lot of basketball games together in their future!

Basketball + Cougar Tail = Happy Miles

We look forward to making more memories of BYU athletics in the future.