the fam

It's been a while since I updated about the five individuals that make up this family, so here goes...

Miles. Ah, Miles. Ooooooohhhhh Miles. This kid started his existence in 2012 like a lamb but ended it a lion. His first 4 months of life he was the calmest, happiest, easiest baby. Then something happened, or better, clicked. He realized he could move, and with 2 older brothers running around, there was little else he wanted to do. He had zero interest in crawling because hey, who wants to crawl when you can walk? He finally started crawling at 8 months. Two days later he scaled two flights of stairs when I wasn't looking. Two weeks later he was pulling himself up on things and letting go and taking 4 or 5 steps. Two months later he quit crawling completely and became a frankenbaby (arms out in front to steady himself) and now he runs around with his brothers everywhere, playing cars, superheroes, whatever they're doing, so is he. Except when they play board games, then they refer to him as Wreck-it Ralph. He is extremely determined to get what he wants and if you won't let him, he'll scream at you. When he was younger, we got comments all the time about how he was the happiest baby ever. He's still happy, but definitely can get worked up now in his determination to get what he wants. He's definitely a happy kid though and laughs a lot. His personality reminds me more of Easton. Caden is a more happy-go-lucky, easily distracted, imaginative fellow, but Miles is like Easton in that he is very aware of what's going on. His baldness and small size (5-10% percentile) make him look younger, but that kid knows what's up. I tell him to do things and he does them. He gets upset and we tell him to stop yelling and he does. Even when he was a little 8-month-old, he'd stand up in the night in his crib and talk to me and I'd tell him he needed to lay down and he would immediately obey. That's how Easton was, he took everything in and once he finally started talking I was amazed at what he knew. I think Miles got those genes. My mom says he reminds her so much of me when I was a baby, and I completely agree with her. He loves to dance, is obsessed with basketballs and cars, laughs his head off anytime he sees family pictures or family home videos, is a mini-daredevil who loves slides and any ride at disneyland, could be swimming all day and be happy, getting a little picky about what he eats, searches every bathroom several times a day to see if any toilet lids have been left up so he can start splashing, is madly in love with his stuffed monkey and lion, will not watch one second of TV unless it's Lawrence Welk (and then he's glued), is attached to his mama, and comes walking up with his arms spread wide whenever we come home from somewhere so we can get a welcome home hug. We love that little crazy thing.

Caden is still quite the goofball. He loves to make everyone laugh. He recently got to meet Lightning McQueen in real life (more on that later) and is still just as obsessed with Cars. All he wanted for Christmas was a "black light up kachow" for his brother (meaning a mcqueen car with black back windows and world grand prix labels instead of rusteze). He is so excited to be in primary, but sad to leave his beloved nursery. If he has two cars, he can play by himself for hours. He loves preschool and his buddies. He also loves playing with his brothers. It's fun to watch him play with Miles. Easton plays with him like he's taking care of a baby, Caden plays with him like they're friends. I'm so excited for them to play more as they get bigger. We love him more every day.

Easton is a goofball as well. He just turned 5 and is soooooo excited to go to kindergarten this fall. He loves making new friends and immediately finds someone new to play with whenever we go to the park. His best friend is still his brother though and if we ever go to preschool and Caden is sick and can't come, Easton will inevitably say, "I miss Caden, I wish he could come" within the first three minutes of leaving the house. He still eats whatever we give him and requested chicken cordon bleu for his birthday dinner. He reads everything. He's been able to go to preschool with me since just after he turned three so he picked up reading fast and loved learning so much that he now reads everything he can, from his scriptures at night to every sign we pass when we're driving. He's definitely my child, I don't have too many talents but if reading were considered a talent, it would be on my list. He also still dreams of being a byu basketball and football player and loves playing catch with his dad.  We love being his parents and hearing the crazy things that come out of his and Caden's mouth every day.

I spent most of 2012 doing a whooooole lotta this so when he started walking on his own after 4 months of bending over to hold his hand, I was pretty ecstatic, despite the new challenges I knew it would bring. I still teach preschool twice a week and LOVE my class this year. I celebrated 5 years of marriage to the greatest guy ever last spring and I am a firm believer that things get better with age. We've never been as happy or as close as we are now and he truly is my best friend. My "one word" for 2012 was "enjoy" seeing as I was going to have 3 kids 4 and under running around, and having a word totally worked. I don't wish Miles would return to babyhood because I enjoyed every second of it. I constantly reminded myself to just enjoy everything and a lot of things fell to the side as I continued to enjoy my family more and more. I ran a half marathon right before I got pregnant with Miles and planned to train for a full this year, but three kids definitely takes up more time than two (and a busy baby more than... ten?), and so my racing goals are going to be on the shelf for later days when I don't have three toddlers to enjoy. Or when I figure out how to train without taking hours away from my little amigos during the day and my hubba hubba hunky hubby at night. Until then my runs will consist of toting the ninos a few miles in the jogging stroller to the park or to our "secret paths" and dance parties around the living room. 

Jonathan is ALMOST DONE with school. Graduation is coming and it's bittersweet. Yes a paycheck is a great thing, but so is a 6-week winter break and no school on fridays. This last year has been a little piece of heaven and "billing hours" is starting to sound like a swear word. Luckily, he'd like to work at a smaller firm that doesn't require as much time in the office so he can spend more time with his princess and three little knights. I think he's a pretty smart guy. He also loves him some church ball and watching byu games with his 3 ft tall homies. We are all pretty big fans of this incredible dad and count ourselves lucky to have such a chipper man heading our home.

Here's another shot of that cute smile, because baby smiles are the best ever.