Merry Christmas

Christmas was fun this year but a little hurried. It's been a crazy month. I miscarried a baby and had a D&C the day after Kaden's bday. Jesse's grandma passed away the day after his birthday and her funeral was two days after Christmas. I didn't feel like I got to spend enough time with the kids and help them feel the real reason for the season. Good motivation for me to try harder next year. But we still had a very merry christmas...

We made gingerbread houses. We split into teams and did boys vs girls. I don't need to tell you who won :)

Finished products. Girls is on the left.

Tami and her kids joined us for dinner on Christmas Eve. The kids opened the presents they got each other. They all got pillow pets and I could not believe how excited they all were!

After dinner we acted out the nativity which is a tradition from my childhood. It's always my favorite part of Christmas. Jesse makes a good donkey!

Here are the kids modeling their Christmas pajamas.

The kids got Jess a belgian waffle maker. He made us waffles for breakfast. Needless to say, nobody finished theirs!

Here's the calm after the storm.

We went to Malad later that day. All of the cousins got a pillow pet for Christmas. Here they all are sitting on them waiting for more presents.

Jesse and his brother and his dad. They all got those funnel ice scrapers.

Ellie got the Lalaloopsy she was hoping for. She also got a makeup kit and put makeup on all day every day we were there. For some reason she mostly applied it to her chin and nose. What a cutie.

Happy 30th Jesse!

Jess turned 30 years old on the 21st. He actually has been dreading this birthday for the past year. I tried to make the day special to make him forget his old age. He loves to go out for breakfast so we went to Denny's. After work he opened presents then we went to a movie and dinner. (Thanks Tami for watching the kids!) I think his favorite present was the chess set made of marble from Iraq from Nick.

He does have ONE gray hair right above his left ear. He still looks hot to me though! He is always so good to play with the kids and wrestle with Kaden. He is Kameron's favorite person in the world. He follows Jess around all day and dives out of my arms so that Jess will hold him. (Nevermind that mom has been changing his diaper and feeding him all day!) He is so patient with me even when I wake him up at 3am because I had a bad dream. He makes me laugh everyday with his sarcasm and jokes. He would do anything for anyone and does everything for us! Thanks for being you! We love you!

I am a total loser and the only pics I took all day were at Denny's that morning. Here's my handsome boys.

I don't think Ellie ever just smiles for the camera. She's my crazy girl. I look like I just turned 80 in this picture!

Kameron as usual was a pure delight at the restaurant. I'm sure it was because we kept him up all night :)

Happy Birthday Kaden!

Kaden turned 6 on Wednesday! I was realizing the other day how much I depend on him. He is the biggest helper around the house. He does whatever I ask without complaining. He was the perfect child to be the oldest. He's always so cheerful and loves to have fun. He gets so excited for his birthday! He doesn't care about Christmas until his birthday is done.

We went to Craigos pizza for dinner with Tami and kids. Then we went to the Fun Zone which has become quite the birthday tradition around here! Then home for cake and presents.

Kaden as usual wanted vanilla cake with vanilla frosting! I was able to convince him to have the Rainbow chip sparkles this year. That's my boy! Never too adventurous. Doesn't like to try new things.

We sent him balloons at school. When I picked him up all of the kids were circled around him wanting to see his balloons. He loved it. It came with a bag of candy which he didn't even touch. Ellie, however, asked if she could have the whole thing.

He got spoiled with presents! His favorites were his remote control car and his spark scooter. The next morning him and Ellie were arguing about something and he said, "Ellie! You have to be nice to me, I'm 6 now!" Too funny. We love our Kaden!

Catch-up pictures

Since I've been horrible at posting lately I thought I would put up some random pics I found on my iPhone...

I think this is the funniest picture of Kameron! Taken this summer in West Yellowstone.

Family picture at Mesa Falls.

Kaden tackling a Big Judd's burger!

My boys! Kaden is the biggest helper with Kameron.

Spongebob pj's! They love wearing these together.

Kaden thought he was so funny the other night, he insisted I take a picture.

We went to dinner with Keri and Jim. Why does Keri have antlers?

Kameron in his winter hat.

Kaden and Ellie playing in my mom's backyard in the leaves.

It's so handy to have a camera on my iPhone. Tons of moments I would have otherwise missed.

Girls Weekend

This last weekend my sister Erin turned 30. To celebrate all of us sisters and my mom had a shopping trip in Park City/Salt Lake. It was so much fun! Jess was super nice and watched the kids for two full days.

Me and my mom. I love that lady!

Here's Erin Casey and Keri (left to right.) All of my sisters are so amazing to me. They always just love me for who I am.

These two pictures are a total inside joke that runs in the family. To sum it up we like to laugh at silly things, which is why I love my sisters. Thanks for the awesome weekend girls! Can't wait til I turn 30! Vegas baby!

Halloween 2010

Better late than never. Here's the Wakley Family Halloween 2010:

Kaden was Optimus Prime, Kameron a duck and Ellie a Princess.

He sure hated this costume! Kept him warm though.

Here's Ellie the Princess for trick-or-treating.

Here's Ellie the Mouse for her preschool party.

And Ellie the Angel for the ward carnival. Good thing she hasn't grown in two years, all of her old costumes still fit!

We made Halloween sugar cookies with Mary's BEST EVER sugar cookie recipe.

Jess dressed up as a princess for the ward party! Ellie was so discusted that dad was wearing makeup. He won the award for the nuttiest costume. Even dressed as a girl sweetheart, you still look good! :)

First day of school

I'll admit I was looking forward to school starting again. It's nice to have a schedule and a little more quiet at the house. Ellie is going to preschool this year and Kaden started Kindergarten.

Ellie loves school. She came down the stairs on her first day with her backpack asking if it was time for school yet. She didn't even look back, just ran inside and hung up her coat.
Kaden was also pretty excited. But when I picked him up on the first day he buried his face in my leg and bawled. He HATES it. Every time he has to go he cries and cries. Hopefully it gets better. They are doing all-day kindergarten so maybe the day is just too long for him. Who knows. Poor guy. Any suggestions?

San Diego 2010

The more we go to San Diego, the harder it is to leave each time. I'm getting pretty attached. We always have a blast. There's something about the ocean that makes you always want to go back...

Here are the kids on the plane. It's always such chaos getting through the airport with three suitcases, three kids and three carseats!

We got to San Diego on Tuesday which was my birthday. I got to pick where we had dinner so I chose Alfonso's in La Jolla. We've been there before and I love their soup and tortillas!

La Jolla is so pretty! After dinner we walked around the shops and watched seals swimming in the cove.

While Jess goes to meetings all day we lay around the beach. The kids played here for hours!

My sweet baby Kameron. Always gives a smile!

Here's Jess with the kids riding the waves. We had gorgeous weather!

Kameron was content to crawl around in the sand and would have stayed there forever. I was surprised, he didn't even try to put the sand in his mouth.

Since it's been eternity since I posted, this is the first picture of Kameron crawling. He started crawling at seven mos old. He crawls like this though, on his hands and feet. It's pretty cute. He already pulls himself up to a stand on furniture. I think he'll be walking pretty soon...

The kids' favorite part is always Seaworld. This year they had a new dolphin show which was pretty cool.

Kaden wanted to sit in the soak zone at the Shamu show. We got pretty wet. Ellie cried. So did Kameron.

We got wet again at the dolphins and at the dog/cat show. Ellie cried every time. So did Kameron.

Kaden LOVES to ride his bike so Saturday morning we rented some beach cruisers and went for a bike ride on the beach. Jess and Kaden were on a tandem bike and I pulled the trailer with Kameron and Ellie in it.

That afternoon we went to the pier. This statue is next to the USS Midway. It was huge.

We love eating sea food, but only when it's fresh. That's one of my favorite parts about going to the coast. It was cool to watch the boats and the seals in the water during lunch.

Next we took the ferry over to Coronado. It's another small touristy town place. I like the lady smiling at the camera behind us! :)

We went to a cupcake shop in Coronado and Kaden and Ellie each picked one. Their choices are so typical of their personalities: Kaden - vanilla on vanilla and Ellie - chocolate on chocolate! Kaden is very cautious and predictable. Ellie's wild and ready for adventure!

Our new camera does a panoramic shot. Kinda cool.

I found this handsome guy on the pier. He's a keeper!