The Coombs Family

Christmas is finally here! I don't know if I have ever been as excited to count down to Christmas as I have been this year. Maybe it's the impending birth of this little boy that I've been growing, but I am just as excited as the kids to mark every day off the calendar. Christmas Eve we had the Coombs over for Christmas. They are usually in Utah but Eric just had a shoulder replacement so he was not traveling. It was really cool having them here and celebrating. We ate lots of food and then we opened gifts and read books. The Coombs are known for their thoughtful gifts. They always ask what the kids want and go out of their way to get a perfect gift. This year was no exception! Shelby got a nutcracker and a full ballet costume. She was in heaven and put on an amazing dance party for us! Calvin got a really cool grader that he has not stopped playing with. All the parts on it move and he dumps out all sorts of stuff just so he can push it around. When he opened t...

This Christmas was a little harder to get out and do stuff with the kids since I'm 9 months pregnant. But we still managed to squeeze in a lot of fun. We started with the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving weekend. This year we found an amazing tree and it was snowing (barely) when we picked the tree. We went with Rhoda's family and they hauled it to our house for us. Then we decorated it and Rhoda's kids did all the decorating of my entire house this year. I practically sat on the couch and barked out orders of where I wanted stuff to go. The house goes up so much faster with all the helpers around. The day after the tree went up and was decorated, Caleb went to friends house late at night to watch a TV show that he loves. It's about zombies, which is not my favorite thing ever, so he watches it with friends. Everyone was in bed and then I heard the loudest, glass shattering, crash ever! Our tree totally fell over. The stand was apparently too small. Now we know! O...

Shelby has been planning her birthday party for months now, and about three days before her party we went to pick out her cake. She wanted to have a ballerina party with a cake that showed her doing ballet with her face. So after calling around to a bunch of bakeries we found one. We show up, and she sees a Frozen cake and balloons and changes her mind. She decides it has to be Frozen now. Lucky for her, I do everything last minute, so we rolled with it. Five stores later we had what we needed for her party. She invited her own friends this time and it was the first party we didn't make it all adults and family members. We had her party at Get Air and she had lots of great friends and family show up. Shelby has grown up so much this past year. She loves to draw, practice letters, read words, do math problems on the shower door, and dance. If there is one thing she doesn't do, it's hold still very long. She will dance in the middle of church, in a store, in the car, and ...

Last year Calvin went to school two days a week and he was in Shelby's class with her. This year we decided to enroll him in 5 days a week and he doesn't even go to the same school as her. Her school was full and so he is going to Lee Elementary which is nearby. They start 10 minutes apart and end 10 minutes apart, which is just enough time to get them there on time. Calvin's class started a week after Shelby's and every day he was so sad that she got to go to school and he didn't. It was a painful week for the poor kid. We took him to go do special things, but it didn't make it better because he loves school. His teacher is Ms. Hanna and his class is only 18 kids. He runs into school every morning and doesn't look back. The very first day he did ask me to stay, but when I told him I had to leave he was fine with it. For being a shy kid, he's getting very independent. Now both kids are so tired every night. They both sleep very well and always talk...

Who knew that the most exciting thing about starting school is riding the bus? Shelby was so excited. She made friends at the bus stop and when we came home from school she couldn't stop talking about the bus. They played music on the way home. Glad she loves it.

Calvin had to have his circumcision re-done. Not fun! We knew after he was just two days post-op the first time that it had to be fixed. The doctor recommends waiting until they are 4 years old, and guess who just turned four? Yup, fix it time. Calvin is very afraid of the doctor. It has to do with all his medical issues as a child and he is always afraid to go. He won't let the doctors look at him or touch him for any appointment. We usually take Shelby with us and Shelby pretends that all the appointments are for her and she goes along with our trick. Usually, eventually, we can get Calvin to cooperate, but it's painful. Everything from getting his weight, to looking into his ears. So when it came time for surgery, I didn't give him any notice. He would have freaked out for days, so I told him the morning of. Shelby knew what he was going in for and she was very worried about him. I left her behind because it took so long and I didn't want her to sit in the waitin...

Shelby started Kinder this week. She is in love! She has been asking about school all summer. We have a calendar that she marks off every day and counts the days until she can go. She ran right in, made friends, and didn't need me to stick around. She is so independent and so social, it's amazing. She was excited to show me everything in her class, but then was ready to learn! Trying to get a normal smile was impossible. She's  always striking a pose. First day in school. She found a picture on the wall that she thinks she looks like and wanted her picture taken with it. Cheese! She found her table and chair. Day two.  Calvin had to come check out the new school for Shelby. He can't wait to join her.

I just love my little family. My kids are pretty funny when it comes to pictures. Shelby won't get out of the way of the camera, and Calvin refuses to be in any picture at all. So we have a million pictures of Shelby and just a few of Calvin. I love the pictures and love the photographer we used this time too. I just love people who truly have an artistic eye, understand lighting and color, and don't have cheesy poses. I can't wait to use her again. Andrea Child is the photographer we used, and I definitely recommend her to others.