The Coombs Family

This year we did something different, and boy did our kids think we were terrible. We decided this year was about experiences and not physical gifts. We told the kids that we would let Santa still bring them a gift, but mom and dad were not going to traditionally wrap gifts and have things under the tree this year. We told grandparents and family, please do not buy our kids gifts. You can send them tickets or passes or books but nothing else. And everyone actually paid attention! This was one of the best Christmas days we can remember. It was so much fun telling the kids what we had scheduled for them to do and have trips to look forward to. We also had a scavenger hunt on Christmas day after they opened Santa gifts. We told them that we had to build another shop for a water storage tank for the new house. We told them it had to be high off the ground so that gravity would help the water get to our new house. We just built a huge shed for this a few months back and have water tanks, ...

 Ronin had a nerf gun war party at the church this year. We set up tables, bought a bunch of nerf bullets, and invited lots of kids to come run around the church gym and play war. He is starting to show he is left handed more each day and he loves to shoot his guns left handed and use his right eye for the sites. It's hilarious because he can't shoot anything. Ronin is quick to do anything that he sees an older kid do. He desperately wants to hang out with all of Calvin's friends. He is really social and has a lot of friends already. He is really active and has the energy that Shelby did at this age. He wants to run around and play and help us work. Of all my kids, he is the first one to offer to help us do chores. He will grab a shovel, help clean up yard chores, he unloads the dishwasher every time, and he doesn't mind hard work. He is very coordinated and doesn't fall or crash very easily. He appears to be our tallest kid at this age and he hopes to outgrow every...

Ronin decided this year that he does not like going to preschool anymore. He is so upset that he doesn't get to go to kindergarten with the big kids. So every morning he has school he is unbearable, but we did get him to school each time. I decided he needed some incentive to go, and after looking online a local gymnastics center started ninja school for kids. He is hooked and now, he doesn't complain about going to school. I didn't know how long we would do it, but it's been two months now and he has already learned a lot of really cool moves. Ronin can do cartwheels, hand stands, head stands, he jumps all over the couch doing flips into pillows, and it's hilarious. He has so much fun that my big kids think it looks like fun and want to join.

Calvin has been playing flag football for three years now. He plays both spring and fall ball with different clubs. This kid and his terrible eye sight has definitely had some upfront trials to overcome. His depth perception is really bad and so catching the ball has been extremely difficult for him. But over this last season, he has been working so hard and gets better every single game. He loves to play safety, he loves to rush the quarterback and pull the flag. He chases down every man for the flag, even if it's not his guy. He will outrun most of the guys on both teams, and is quite the sprinter. He has been exploding with energy during the games. I love that he is getting more competitive and is pushing himself. He has dreams of being in the NFL, obviously that's a reality that we encourage as parents.

Shelby Lu had a cat birthday to celebrate turning 11 this year. She has made new friends in our ward out here and decided she did want to have a party. We went to the movies to watch some animated yeti kid show that the girls all thought was adorable. Then we headed back to my house for a taco dinner, cat cake, and games. Shelby is turning out to be an amazing artist. She draws on everything, to point that she gets in trouble at school. But we've been able to make some agreements with her teacher to be sure she can draw on the back of assignments if she has finished the complete assignment. She loves to draw pokemon animals most of all, but she will draw almost anything she is asked to. Shelby loves her cats, she now has four. We had two for the last five years, hobbes and lulu. They moved here with us and have been in the shop out front of the house. They are suppose to stop the mice but they mostly just kill bats. We got two new cats when our friend got married and needed to ...

We promised our kids a trip after we sold our house and we just got back from Legoland. We were there for four days and the kids loved every minute of it. We stayed in the Lego Hotel and they were in heaven as soon as we saw the outside. Inside was a huge play area, and every corner had something fun for the kids to do. We played at the park and went to all the rides and events. The kids were able to take a robotics course, we watched two different 4D movies, we rode the rides all day every day. The water park was fun but it was kind of cold and we get to play in the water a lot at home. They still loved the water but walking from the different areas around was quite chilly. The best rollercoaster was by far the race cars. The kids must have gone on this with us at least 6 times when we were there. It was the fastest and they all loved it. The most engaging ride was the Ninjago ride, where it's like a game. You try and shoot things and we did this one probably close to ten ti...

Calvin got to celebrate his 9th birthday in Legoland with the family. But when he got back from the trip, he really wanted to still have his friend over for a party. We got a birthday package at Legoland, so he got some gifts, a cake, they sang to him, and he got some special buttons and a fast pass for the day. When we got home we invited over three of his close friends on his football team. They were super nice and even got him presents with one day notice. He felt spoiled and the boys played and had fun for hours. Calvin is very social. He always wants a play date. He loves to be surrounded with friends and if he is anywhere where there are other kids, he will get to know their name and hang out with them. He is a really nice kid and never fights with any friends, just his brother. Calvin is really good at math. His teacher decided to give a king size candy bar to anyone who passed all the fluency tests and Calvin dominated all of them really fast. He really wanted that candy ...

This last week I took off to Dallas Texas with two girlfriends to go on a girls trip. The same girls I went with to NYC last year, we decided to try something low key and totally new. None of us had been to Texas and the play Hamilton was going to be there the same time we were able to go on our trip. We booked the trip, met up once to talk about places to go and mostly places to eat, and never thought too much about it. It ended up being exactly what I needed right now. Just a low key trip where we could sleep in a little, stay up all night laughing, get lots of shopping in, eat things like cupcakes and hamburgers and fries for breakfast. We had a blast. Some of my highlights below. The best pie EVER at Emporium Pies! And our waitress was so adorable, Stacy had all the Southern Charm! Started it off with pedicures, then a 90 minute massages a few days later Amazing shopping, best cupcakes ever, and we may have tried almost every flavor.... Cute little garden area th...

Caleb and I got to celebrate being married 15 years this year. We went up to Portland and stayed at a mini White House bed and breakfast. The house was adorable and very charming. Our room and bathroom were beautiful and the breakfast was amazing. We stayed in North East Portland and went to dinner and dessert and ate way too much food. The next day Caleb taught a class in Portland and I went to catch up with an old friend. It was a short trip but super relaxing and just what we needed.