Camping

We love hiking, and camping.  For a while I gave up, thinking I'd have to wait a while for the kids to get older, because the last time we went it was one disaster after another.  We forgot important things, kids kept getting hurt...but we miss it too much, so we decided we're making it happen much more this year.  We decided to get a cabin for this first time spending the night up there, since it's January and all.  It ended up being a really nice weekend, but it did get chilly at night.  

We had lots of fun, and only one very minor injury, when Cason slipped in the snow/ice near the top of the trail and scratched his knee a bit.  Nothing big though. 

We had a nice hike.

Paige gets a little cranky about hiking because she really prefers rock climbing, and her mom's a coward. 

Haha!

It helps when we take lots of breaks for drinks and snacks.  

(I love this hand on the hip pose Neely does all the time lately)

We also set little goals for them.  I told them to each look for a hiking stick that we could bring home and decorate for them to use on all our hikes from now on.

 Neely likes to hike, but her hands were cold for this picture.  Ha!

Gia loved the hike too, but when we got back to the cabin and Jess started dinner, she got in our bed and didn't leave.  When she did eventually get up, she limped around for a while until her muscles warmed back up.  Poor girl is getting old.

 While Jess grilled up some fajitas the kids climbed rocks, fought a bit over the best rocks, and who was queen and who was servant.  Ha.  

Reed is a natural, he loves being out there.

They all had so much fun and are really good campers.

 

 

We saw lots of deer, 4 does and two of their babies, and even 3 different bucks came up to the campsites.

Reed got so excited every time, pointing and doing this cute "Uh, uh, uh" sound.  After the first few sightings he caught on that the kids were all yelling "DEER!" to each other, so he started saying it.  Sometimes he pronounced it really well, other times it was more of a "Dur!  Dur!"  :)

 Our dinner was delicious, although the kids didn't seem too into it.  

Then of course we had a campfire.  

They roasted marshmallows.  Paige thought this was a reasonable number to toast at once.

 

 They loved the bunk beds.  They made ME nervous though.  Paige was on top, and she doesn't move much in her sleep, but there was no railing at all and a stone floor.  So I made Jess line the chairs up under it with all our bags and coats for padding just in case.  Ha. 

 

It was a great trip, other than Jess getting a stomach bug and being up almost all night.  He finally threw up at like 5 am and was okay after that.  Still got up and made us all breakfast and even went rock climbing with the big kids for a while. 

A Big Little Man

Reed is SO BIG.  I don't get it.  

He's still easily our most active child.  He's not hyper, but he's always busy.  He always has some mission.  Opening cupboards, rearranging pots and pans and tupperware, climbing the hearth to scare me, building his little "forts" behind the back cushions on the couch, hiding in his little spots(behind the rocking chair in his room and between the dresser and the foot of the bunkbed in the big kids' room) and waiting perfectly still and quiet, until we find him.  He just grins at us once he's found.

He knows how to relax though, too.

He has the best sense of humor, and makes the funniest mature faces while he laughs along with us, pretending to understand what we find funny.

He is SO good at pretend play already.  He makes fantastic explosion and fighting sounds, and likes to make stuffed animals bark at Gia.  He'll lie down with a couple of toy dragons and fly them around, roaring, and then slam together with some of his explosion sound effects.

Even though he's busy, he's also really sweet and cuddly.  Especially when someone first comes over, he'll go up to them to be picked up, and just cuddle for a really long time.  It's so sweet.

If his siblings are mad or sad, he automatically starts fake crying too.  Except for Neely.  Lately any time she's mad at us she goes and sits down somewhere to cry or pout.  He always goes and sits down too, and backs himself in next to her and then leans way over across her lap to stare into her eyes from a couple of inches away.  Makes her laugh every time, and forget she was ever upset.

 

Speaking of backing in, that's another thing he does.  If someone is sitting down and he feels like being close, he'll back in to their legs and just lean against them.  It reminds me of Gia, actually.  That's a rottweiler thing that she especially loves to do.  Maybe she taught Reed.

He loves my lemon water, and begs for "mow-uh".  He CHUGS it, and gets frustrated when I make him stop long enough to catch his breath between gulps.  Ha!

He loves his siblings, and always wants to be a part of what they're doing.  

 

If they aren't paying attention to him he starts pestering them until they play with him.  He has the cutest mischievous smile when he's doing this.  He can hardly contain it, and kind of sucks his lips in.  It's hilarious.  The most recent one I noticed was when Paige was trying to get ready to play a game on Jess's phone.  Reed brought over a cup and kept putting it on her face.

 

In the mornings, Neely often wakes up before she's ready to really be up, so she'll come get in bed and cuddle me.  One morning Reed woke up a little, saw her, moved over to cuddle on her and went back to sleep.  She loved it.

 

He and Neely have really bonded, with the big kids gone at school.  It's sweet to watch.  She calls him "My Reedy" sometimes.  :)  He's still small enough that she doesn't get mad at him yet.  

 

We love those little curls on the back of his head, but since my mom was coming to visit last week, and it's tradition for her to give them their first haircut, she gave him a trim while she was here.  Sorry Grama!  I love those curls, but if we waited for mom's next visit, he'd have a mullet to his mid-back by the time she came back. 

 

 I'm excited to see what color his hair will be, since it looks lighter like the girls right now, and if the curls stay.

As of this last Sunday, he has 11 teeth.  He says several words-"hello" when he pretends to be on the phone, "hi"-usually when he first enters a room and waves at us, "Googuh(good girl)" meaning Gia, "no", "mow-uh(more)", "deer", "aww"(when something is cute), "wolf", "ball", "bye", "Bubble(Neely's baby mermaid doll), "book", and "Boo" when playing peekaboo.  

He LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba, except in the Nature episode when the giant butterfly takes Toodie for a ride, flying around.  He thinks that's scary, and gets pretty upset with the butterfly.

He's another angel baby, and makes everything better. 

Christmas Break

It was a very good Christmas this year.  It was a nice, relaxing morning with the kids.  We kept the gifts a bit more modest this year, and followed the "want, need, wear, read" rule.  I liked it.  They seemed happy about it too.  

 

We tried to start early this year, so the kids had time to put some thought into making gifts for other people.  It was a good Christmas season. 

Unfortunately we started getting sick, and Jess had time home from work, which we spent taking care of sick people.  Most of the kids felt okay, just had awful coughs.  Reed got pretty sick though.  He had a couple days of having a fever and just feeling pretty bad and not sleeping well for several nights.  He had an ear infection AND I felt two new teeth this morning.  So he had a rough few days.  Poor boy. 

I didn't mind the "just us at home" part though.  We had planned to rent a cabin in the Hualapais during Jess's break, so that didn't work out.  We just relaxed at home.

 We watched shows and movies together, played games..

  ....Cason learned to draw Pikachu.  I was pretty impressed by this.

On Wednesday we got the most snow we've had in quite a long time. 

 

 

The kids loved it.  They aren't used to it of course so they took lots of breaks to warm up, between playing in the snow.

Reed wasn't sure about it at first, but he really wasn't feeling good either.

 He was much more himself the next day, and there was still plenty of snow to enjoy, plus some icicles.

  He was a much bigger fan this time.  He stayed out in it much longer than the bigger kids, in fact.

 

Neely, Cason, and I started a snowman.  Paige had already gone inside to warm up, and soon Cason went in too, because his hands were getting frostbitten.  Neely lasted about ten minutes. Then I worked alone until Reed came to help a bit.  :)