Fort Myers Beach, Florida

Fort Myers Beach is a small beach town on the gulf side of the Florida panhandle. I had to look at a map to find out where we were going! The land here starts to break apart into various islands on the coast. We were amazed from the airplane that some homes were on these islands and the only route of transportation to get to and from home was by boat!! I'm sure these people are fearful during hurricane season!! So we stayed on one of the neatest islands on the coast, Estero Island, that had 1 long white sandy beach all the way across the long island. Hotels and beachfront rental homes lined the beach with only 1 street down the entire island. Our hotel was one of these and we could walk out the lobby of our hotel onto white sand. Yes, dreamy!! My favorite thing was to wake up early in the morning (since I'm already trained to just wake up by 6am or so) and go out on our balcony to watch the morning get light. It was so peaceful and quite that I could hear the water and the gentle waves in the distance. Nate and I would go running in the mornings along the waterline or up over the bridge that connected Estero Island to the rest of Florida. In the evening we could watch the sun set from our hotel balcony, a picturesque moment!!

Our hotel courtyard right on the beach

Sunset from our balcony

Sunset closeup from our balcony. Looks like a postcard!!

Florida Vacation Getaway

Nate has a friend who invited us to join them on a last minute vacation getaway to Fort Myer's Beach in Florida. Of course I took Nate's interest in the idea lightly thinking that it would be an impossible feat with three little ones to find someone to care for for several days. But when Nate has an idea that he likes, he will put all his energy into it to make it happen. To my amazement, so it was this time. We found ourselves in Florida, 80 degree sunny weather on sandy white beaches in December. What? It couldn't be!! But yes. It was absolutely everything a true vacation should be. It was wonderful!! We left Cooper with Grandma and Grandpa in Kendallville. He was thrilled to stay at their house for 5 nights! And Jaxton and Kaylee stayed at the Owen's house in Noblesville, Nate's sister, and we flew out of Indianapolis to Fort Myers. Needless to say, the kids were all thrilled for their own little mini vacations, and even Kaylee had a wonderful time, not missing us much at all!! So, it was a lot of fun for everyone, which made it easier for us to leave them. However, we missed them a ton and thought about them almost every moment, thinking how much they would have enjoyed the sand, the waves, the water, the hotel, the talking parrot in our hotel lobby, the waffles at the hotel continental breakfast. It was very strange not having 3 small ones to tote around every where went and hard for me to not have a lot of people and things to take care of all the time. Just me. A weird feeling! It was a great break from the routine of life, as well as a nice time for Nate and I to just spend together and focus on one another without kids, work, housework, and church callings to worry about. We decided that we need to have a getaway like this maybe every 2-3 years at the very least!!

Nate's friend is Brett Stopher and his girl is Kristy Stephens. It was fun getting to know them and hanging out with friends. We are glad they invited us along! The next few posts will show some of the highlights of our vacation getaway!

Cooper's Christmas Party

Cooper's preschool class had a class Christmas party the very next day and I got to help out in his classroom. The kids got to decorate Christmas tree sugar cookies with green frosting, M&M's, and sprinkles. They made an ornament and played a simple Christmas game. It was a lot of fun for me to be in Cooper's classroom and see all the other little friends he has and meet some of the parents. It's hard to send him to school, not knowing the other kids or their parents and just hearing through Cooper about them. I'm not real used to not knowing the people my kids interact with. So, I enjoyed getting to know some of the kids and the moms. Cooper tells me that he "shy at school" and likes "to just be by myself." He is so not shy at home it is strange to realize that he is shy elsewhere. He is confident, but he is much more reserved in public. But it reminds me of myself. I was so not shy at home where I was very comfortable, but in social places, I was very cautious about what I said and did and curious about what people were thinking. So maybe he gets it from me. A quiet confidence. It is fun, though, to hear him talk about the kids in his class and what they do or what they don't do. He knows all their names and its fun to hear him talk about his classmates. He was proud at his class party to tell me their names and to show that he knew who all of them were because I didn't. It was a lot of fun to be involved in his class for a day and spend some one on one time with him.

Sugar Cookies: Cooper's favorite part!

Cooper's Christmas Program

Cooper's preschool class had an evening Christmas program. The kids had been learning and practicing some Christmas songs for the past few months and they got on stage to perform them for all the moms and dads and families. The kids all had a "part." Some were angels, stars, shepherds, and animals. Cooper was an animal and wore a headband with a sheep's head. He was so cute. He told me before the program that he did not want us to yell out his name or clap for him or say "Go Cooper Go!" or anything like that. He made it very very clear that he did not want to stand out at all. He was a bit nervous and he just wanted to blend in I think. He wanted me to tell Grandma and Grandpa the same thing and daddy too. As the classes were walking up to the stage through the audience, we caught a glimpse of our little "sheep" looking more terrified than ever and sobbing as he walked with his class. He went to the stage, looked out at all the people and just sobbed all the more. His teacher brought him near her and held him close as the rest of the kids sang out the songs. All the while Cooper just sobbed. He despised being up there and hated every single moment of the people all watching him. I went up close and motioned to him to see if he wanted to come off stage, but he stayed there. He did not want to come down, I think he wanted to just finish it out. There's the determination I love about Cooper. As the classes were leaving the stage I went and scooped him up. It was his first experience being in front of a large audience, definitely a new thing for him. Regardless, he was awful cute. I love my little Coop!!

Santa's Lap

We went back to mall to sit on Santa's lap the week before Christmas. We got all dressed up in red and green and Kaylee in her black and red outfit with red flower headband, all ready for a her first photo with Santa! We waited in line for almost an hour as other kids took their time with the jolly old man in the red suit. However, Santa has been so commercialized, that to my very disappointment, when it was our turn, I was not allowed to take a simple photo with my own camera. Instead, I was required to purchase an $19 professional 5x7 photo. No, no, no!! I am just too cheap! So we didn't get any pictures with Santa this year. The boys did get to sit on his lap and remind him that they wanted a bike. They had giant smiles and a coloring book in hand when they hopped off his lap. Because of the "no camera rule," I didn't bother putting Kaylee on an odd looking stranger's lap just to sit there with no photo! So next year will be her big year to see Santa. Isn't Santa supposed to bring joy and cheer to the Christmas season? Or just profits...? I'm not sure anymore!! However, for the boy's memories and Christmas joys, the experience for them was well worth it.

Letters to Santa

We braved the mall on probably one of the busiest shopping days of the season. Normally I never go to the mall with 3 kids even when its not the busiest shopping season, so this was a brave move!! But, a very necessary one! Santa's mailbox was set up in Macy's and the boys have not seen him yet. The boys decided to sit down and write him a letter to tell him what they wanted for Christmas. With some coaxing, they decided that a bike would be a pretty cool gift from Santa's sleigh. So they both chose to write "BIKE" on their letter. Jaxton was sure to write the word "PLEASE" on his too. Kaylee sat in her stroller enjoying the "people watching" as dozens and dozens of all sorts of people passed her every which way. She was mesmerized by the commotion around her!!

As they finished their letter, they put their name on it and slid it into Santa's mailbox. They were confused why there were two slots. Two mailboxes? If the bottom one went to the North Pole, then where did the letters in the top slot go? I reassured them that the top slot was just for taller kids and that all the letters would fall into the bottom of the mailbox and get shipped off to the North Pole together. Satisfied.

Gingerbread Creations

We had the chance to visit the Fort Wayne Gingerbread Festival. People from all over the city had created gingerbread creations. Some were houses, some were barns and farms, churches, baseball stadiums, themes from movies like shrek or nursery rhyme themes. They all were so incredible. So the boys created their own gingerbread houses. Jaxton used white frosting, and Cooper used chocolate.

Bubble Fun

Who would have thought that milk could make that many bubbles!! The boy's figured that one out! I almost made them stop blowing bubbles and "making a mess," but it looked like so much fun and so neat that I just let them go!!

Grandma & Grandpa Visit

Grandma & Grandpa from Utah were able to come visit for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was wonderful to have them here. The kids absolutely loved being around them and enjoying the extra love. We spent one evening roasting marshmellows with them outside again, to Cooper's delight! The boys did lots of arts and crafts with Grandma, did some shopping together, and just spent some good quality time playing with Grandma & Grandpa! Kaylee had no fear of the grandparents she hasn't seen very much. She loved their presence. It was a great visit and we love them so very much!! They were able to stay and help get our house ready for Thanksgiving. We got to decorate, plan the menu, and cook together. What a great time to be together with family! We love you Grandma & Grandpa!

Preschool Thanksgiving Program

Jaxton was in a Preschool Thanksgiving Program at his preschool, Creative Play School. He was able to invite 2 guests to his feast and program. He chose to invite Grandma from Utah and his mom. Grandma and Grandpa from Utah were here visiting for Thanksgiving. So he felt honored to have Grandma come to his program. He knew all his songs and sang proudly on stage with his Indian hat on. What a great Thanksgiving feast!!

Birthday Dragon Training

Jaxton has been into the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" and was set on having a dragon themed party! It turned out quite well and I think everyone had a great time learning how to fight and conquer dragons!!

Jax painted herbal tea over his white invitations to make them look old and feel stiff. When they were dry, we burnt the edges with matches. Then we mailed them off!! On the day of the party, all the kids got their own round shield to paint however they wanted. These were the same shape of shields that the vikings in the movie held. They also each got a viking hat to wear, made out of regular party hats, cardboard, and tin foil. So right off the bat, they were all VIKINGS!!

But, these vikings needed to learn how to fight dragons!! That's what they were here for, right? So they had to go through some extensive training courses. We had an obstacle course they had to conquer, with a balance beam, climbing over, under, and all around to get their energy up!

Then we played "Viking Says," a spoof off of Simon Says. The Viking, also known as Nate, had the dragon warriors copy him in various dragon fighting moves! The last game we played involved the kids' painted shields. We dropped empty plastic eggs (Dragon eggs) at the kids from the balcony and they had to use their shields to protect themselves. They loved it!!

Finally, they were ready to fight a real, green dragon filled with sugary fierceness!! We made a homemade dragon pinata out of a brown grocery paper bag filled with candy and goodies, rolled and stapled shut. More crumpled brown bag pieces were added with duct tape to create the shape of a dragon's body. We covered the body with fringed tissue paper in rows all the way down his body on both sides, then added tissue paper feet, eyes, and mouth with fire coming out. We punched a skewer stick through his sides and made cardboard covered with tissue paper wings for him. The kids got to fight the fierce dragon with a sword! You can see that Jaxton made his wing fall off!!

Next came presents, and then cake! How to make a dragon cake? Any idea in the whole world can be found online!! I found this idea and it worked out great!! Next time though, I'll use something edible so we can eat the dragon!! We just molded a dragon shape out of tin foil and used some hot glue to add feet to him. We covered him with frosting and added cardstock wings. Waalaaa! There we have "Toothless," the main character of the movie "How to Train Your Dragon."

We now have 9 experienced dragon fighters in town. If ever anyone sees a dragon in Fort Wayne, Indiana, they know who to call! Happy Birthday Jax Man!

Happy Birthday Jaxton

Jaxton Turns 5!! Happy Birthday Jax!! I can't believe you are five today! Here are some fun things about Jaxton at 5 years old:

1. Jaxton's favorite cereal is caught between honey cheerios and kix!

2. Jaxton's favorite activity is building with some special snapping blocks. Every day he is building a new spaceship or a city for his little vibrating bugs.

3. Jaxton is learning how to read and is picking it up very fast. He is on lesson number 50 in the book "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." He amazes me at how fast he is learning how to read!!

4. Jaxton is a white belt in Tae Kwon Do. He loves Tae Kwon Do! He is very good at it as well with strong movements.

5. Jaxton loves babies. I wonder why! His little sister has taught him how to play with and interact with babies and every time he sees another baby, he gravitates towards them and talks baby talk and plays gently with them. He has a soft spot for babies and has told me that we need to have 2 more girl babies and then 2 more boy babies in our family......hmmmm

6. Jaxton is a performer! He loves to make people laugh and loves to be silly. He has no fear of being in front of others, on a stage, or in a classroom, or in a group of friends. He has confidence in performing.

7. Jaxton's favorite sport is still soccer. Since its fall and almost winter, he will wait till springtime to play, and he asks often when soccer will start up again. He really is a great kicker!

8. Jaxton's closest friends these days are Kye Stump and Gabe Gregory.

9. Jaxton loves to eat! He can eat sooo much for 1 meal. He is hardly picky and tries most anything placed in front of him. I can always count on him to eat mom's dinners!!

10. Jaxton is a sweetheart. His heart is just so good. He is always concerned about the feelings of others. When he is at fault, and knows it, he wants to make it right. He is honest and good all around. Just a sweet boy. We love you very very much, Jaxton!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Daddy is Thirty-One!! Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!! Daddy has been golfing lately. He decided one day that he wanted to be a golfer and got invited by a friend to go golfing together. Well, he couldn't go golfing empty handed. So he went out and purchased himself his own golfing gear, complete with a stand for his equipment!! Golfing is expensive though, so for his birthday, we got him a gift certificate to go golfing next season! Hopefully that equipment gets put to good use! He also has been wanting "eggies," a little kitchen gadget that cooks eggs so you don't have to peel hard boiled eggs. We'll see if they work as well as they say they do on TV!

Since BYU football has been playing very well this season, with Jimmer of course, we decided to combine a BYU football party and birthday party in one! It was a fun gathering. I think the birthday boy had a good time!! Happy Birthday Nate!

Fun in the Fall

Autumn is by far the most beautiful season of the year in Indiana. It is so colorful! The humidity of the summer is gone, and the weather is fresh and brisk and not too cold yet. It's absolutely perfect! Since we don't have many leaves on our grass, we gathered some from the edges of our backyard that fell from the trees in the woods and made our own pile to jump in, something the boys have been wanting to do, but we haven't since we don't have any trees in our grassy backyard. We had a lot of fun in the leaves, even Kaylee girl!

Halloween Bonfire

After Trick-Or-Treating, we headed back home to start up a bonfire and roast some marshmellows, one of Cooper's most favorite things to do!! We spent the evening with some of the kids best friends, Coby, Kye, and Cameron stump, with their parents Summer & Blair. Cooper had at least 4 or 5 smores and could have eaten even more if we didn't stop him! What a fun Halloween to remember!!