I find that I take my phone out more than my camera, especially in the winter, but I'm glad that I have random photos that capture our life. Here is January at a glance in phone pics aka Instagrammys:
Right before school started after the holidays we got together with a few friends from the good ol' highschool days. Crazy how many kids we have between 6 of us, I can't even imagine how big it would be with all the old crew!! Might have to try and plan something just to see ;)
James loves to snuggle with Austin.
James is now a Sunbeam at church. The lasts few weeks he's had a hard time going as he's decided he does NOT want to be a Sunbeam. He wants to go back to nursery haha. In all fairness he had the BEST nursery leaders!
Alivia went in to see the orthodontist before she went in to have a couple teeth removed at the dentist. Thankfully they think we can hold off for awhile, but sadly she will need to have some work done eventually. Better to get it done once rather than several times (speaking from experience!)
Our first Activity Days activity after Christmas break was a fantastic aerobics class. 30+ kids in 1/3 of the gym was tough, but we managed and the girls had a blast. I wanted to join in so bad!
Every now and then we get rainbows on the front halls in the house. James loves touching them and trying to climb the rainbow. And yes, he dresses himself and I've given up.
It's hard to believe how big this munchkin is getting. Look at those long legs. He still likes to sleep in our bed and for now I'll let it slide.
Hijacked phone with wonderful selfies during sacrament meeting...
Me and my little man. I don't know what I'll do when he starts school. Thankfully I've got another full year with him and then I can start to worry about it.
Found this great mirror for the front entry. James is a "great" shopper...
Maybe I should call this post an Ode to James instead as it seems most of my photos are of him. We had an early morning and missed breakfast which of course means a Tim Horton's pit stop.
I'm finally working to get rooms looking finished in the house. Only been a year. I feel like I had to live with it first, but now I'm tired of bare walls! I'm trying to decide whether to keep this headboard set and find dressers that coordinate to go on either side OR to go to what I originally wanted with a tufted headboard and find 2 vintage looking dressers for the sides... Hmmm... Still can't decide!
Anyone else slowly pinning less on Pinterest? I feel like I'm seeing the same old stuff repeated over and over. So NOW I'm trying to make the recipes that I've pinned to see if they're worth keeping. Well, I have to say that this mexi-quinoa salad was definitely worth keeping. It doesn't look pretty (nothing like what it looks like in the pin) but it was delicious and even most of my kids enjoyed it!
Came home one night to find these boys crashed out on the couch. Austin is a great babysitter. James loves him!
James likes to sleep attached to me. I usually find an arm wrapped around my neck or tightly around my arm.
We may or may not have done our Costco shopping in our pjs...
Needless to say this gorilla in my back seat has been terrifying me the last few days. I keep meaning to take all those silly golf clubs out of the van, but forget all too often and this little treasure is there to great me every time I go in.
How is it that 3 year olds know how to use the remote control, turn on Netflix and find they're favorite show?? They need to start teaching some of the adults!
With Dave and Ashley moving to Australia we needed to have one last adults only dinner and what a perfect time to celebrate dad's birthday at the same time. We hit Brigg's downtown and I think almost all 11 of us ordered a burger haha. Why mess with a good thing, right?
We have this fantastic little pond beside our house, and our neighbors and the kids have been awesome keeping it clear over the winter. It has been measured out so it's NHL size! The neighbors on occasion even set up lights and have a fire pit going. Pretty sweet. True Canadians right here!
Ella and Alivia babysat Summer and Lucy while we were at church activities. These girls are so cute and we're going to miss them!
Yes I answered the door like this - Jimmy's hoodie, tights, crazy hair and crazy socks. Oh well.
We spent the last several weekends watching Austin's basketball tournaments. Sometimes it's really hard to watch, and I may lose my voice after most games, but it's still fun. It's been the first year where I've been able to go frequently. Taking all the kids when they were little was just too stressful, but now they're pretty good about watching or if they don't want to come the older girls will babysit. We've got such great ages right now.
James thought he was funny pretending to sleep on a bench at the school.
We had dinner and cake on Sunday for my dad's birthday. Got a taste of what it'll be like without Dave and Ash there - it's weird.
Austin shaved for the first time. Ahhhhh I have a kid old enough to shave! I'm not ready for all this. Kids, would you just listen to me and stop growing up!
Poor James has spent the last week with a horrible cough. He's been miserable, but has come out with some pretty funny things. After dropping the kids off at school he throws his hands in the air and says "mom, can we just go?? Are you serious???" I'm not sure what he meant but it was quite funny. Then I thought it'd be nice to get out of the house and we went for McD's. I bought him a happy meal and he said "did you get me a happy meal???" to which I replied I did. Then with the most ecstatic voice "FINALLY!!" hahha
I'm tired of the constant MESS around the house and this isn't even that bad! Everywhere I look it's STUFF. I'm in the purging mood and am so tempted to get rid of everything. Minimalist. Doesn't that sound nice? In all fairness we really don't have a ton of stuff. It's more that I'm tired of cleaning up after 7 people every. single. day. I need to work harder at teaching the kids how to clean up after themselves and how to see a mess and just tidy it up, doesn't matter who did it! When asked to help clean they all throw their hands in the air and say "it wasn't me!!". Well, guess what kiddos, it wasn't me either! So it's either a ghost, Voldemort (that was Will's favorite person to blame things on for awhile there) OR it's a lot of people thinking "mom will do it". Maybe I should go on strike... I should just stop doing all the things I do in a day and they can figure it out. In theory it sounds nice, but in reality it just means more work for me (and Jimmy). OH the joy haha
