Cora Belle

She may weigh more than Kimball and is bigger than 97% of other kids her age, but she'll always be my baby. I had to get a picture of her sleeping with her bum in the air, I don't even remember the last time she did that.

Cora is still my feisty, strong willed, smart, and super helpful girl. She loves her dance class and is excited for Kindergarten next year. I, on the other hand, am not so anxious for her to go to school. It's been her and I for so long, I'm going to miss her! But at least I have Ezra to keep me company now. She still loves anything pink and purple, loves food and helping to cook, loves to play hide and seek, and loves to read books. Oh, and her favorite princess is Rapunzel. 

Cora Turned 5!!

The View Out of our Front Living Room

Art Project

Kimball had several days off of school so we made these projects for their bedrooms. We glued on flowers for Cora and cars for Kimball around a mirror. They loved it!

Grandma and Grandpa Cox Visit

We were SO incredibly blessed that the Lord has been mindful and watchful over Johnny. A week after I got home from vacation for the summer, John had several heart attacks. Doctors couldn't figure out what was making the platelets high in his blood and he was sent down to the hospital in UT. They both spent 39 consecutive days (or maybe it was 40) in the hospital trying to get John healthy enough to go home. We had several family fasts and lots of praying. Lance and I felt really bad that we don't live closer so we could help take care of their house and yard but are thankful for Lance's siblings to step in and make sure everything was taken care of.

A few weeks after John was finally able to go home they drove up to visit us for a week. We were so anxious to see them after this dramatic ordeal and are grateful for the Lord's blessings in his regard. My favorite day was sunday afternoon. Grandma gave Kimball his first piano lesson and then she just played and played while the kids and I danced and sang. It was the best and so heart warming!

Ezra Baby

 This little one has very expressive eyebrows and some pretty great expressions.

 He's also into EVERYTHING! And destroys my lipsticks.

 His latest "say cheese" face.

And his first hair cut. He just sat as still as a statue for the whole 15 minutes, I was so impressed.

He always perches himself on the couch like this, waving good bye to Kimball out the window each morning, and anxiously awaiting his return from school. It melts my heart!

Ezra is so mild and chill. He's super playful, always happy, hates getting new teeth (only one more tooth to come in and we're done with teething!), and LOVES animals. Whether they're soft and squishy plush animals, real ones that he sees outside, or in print or photos; he always makes the same sound and wants to cuddle up. He's a late talker, only says uh-oh and Da Da but he gets his point across every other way. Oh boy do I love this baby!!!

First Grade

I don't know why but this drawing cracked me up. Kimball is loving first grade!

He looks so much more grown up just in the last two months, I can't believe it. He loves to play games with mom and dad and is a super reader. His teacher said he should be at a 3 when they start first grade and at an 18 when they finish first grade; Kimball is currently reading at a 24. He loves to play jokes and make people laugh. He's also recently had a streak of fits in epic proportions. I mean he'll kick and scream and bawl for a good 2 hours sometimes, it is so ridiculous and unreal. It's always over very trivial things like not wanting to put away his coat and backpack - which would take literally 20 seconds - but no, he'd rather throw a 2 hour fit. I keep working on it with him but its so hard and I've even broke down a few times because I simply don't know what to do about it.

A few weeks ago he came home with a special note from his teacher thanking him for cleaning up. When I asked Kimball about it he said, "Well, it was the end of the day and nobody was cleaning up. I knew if I didn't do it then Ms. Shulkin or the custodian would have to clean and I didn't want that. So I just did it by myself." That warmed my heart, what a sweet boy!

New Backpack for Kindergarten

Happy Halloween!

Happy 7th Birthday, Kimball!

This cake ended up being a flop. I tried making a Swiss meringue frosting but had to substitute margarine for butter which altered how the frosting set up. Oh well. The taste was good and at least I shaped the number 7 well.....or so I thought until I showed Kimball his cake and he said, "Oh cool, a check mark!" I'll do better next year.

Mom & Christine's Visit

***I've been really behind the last few months with my journal, something about moving into this house and I just can't seem to find time to get onto the computer. The house and the kids take up too much of my time. Here goes, trying to catch up!***

Mom and Christine came to visit at the beginning of October. I warned them that I was going to put them to work in the yard because I needed their expertise in labeling and designing my front yard. It is all SO overgrown you just couldn't see what was what. We spent one full day outside planting bulbs and then another two partial days raking, pulling up flowers, trimming bushes, piling up pine needles, etc. It was such a big job! I'm so grateful for their help, now I can actually see the FOUR tiers in the front and all the beautiful rock! I'm anxious to see what it looks like in the spring.

We also went shopping to the local toy store to get a jump start on Christmas shopping and we had a few girl afternoons looking into some antique shops. One morning we went to the Finch Arboretum (I've never been before) which has a huge variety of trees and rocks. The unfortunate thing is that it is literally sandwiched right between the interstate and Sunset Highway. So the traffic noise is pretty darn loud but it was so pretty and the kids had a great time exploring. We ended that afternoon with a fun picnic there.

We had to go to Walter's farm to pick pumpkins and apples, play in the pea pit and huge slide, and devour some mini pumpkin donuts. Yum! This is probably Christine's last visit here for a while as Zander will start school next year so I'm very glad she made the long drive up to visit us!