Post Flu Photos

The boys went skiing but the girls built a snowman. We used hot tamales for the eyes and mouth and the red coloring bled down the face of our snowman. He looks a little demonic but it was a fun activity anyway. Ali is very proud of "Frostina" I hope she will eventually give me my gloves, hat and scarf back.

There was a model in a photo on the wall at Orange Leaf balancing her ice cream on her head. Ali had to try to see if she could do that too. This was Ali and my fun day, we were trying to get food back into the girl. She got a slurpee and frozen yogurt....

Byron was so sweet and brought Ali and I flowers the evening we had determined the flu had left our familly. He brought Ali the white roses and me the red ones. We are all so happy to be feeling healthy again. Byron was so cute to bring us flowers. Ali squealed with delight when she saw him come in with the roses.

Everybody likes to be by the fireplace....It is so warm. You always have to scoot the dogs out of the way though to get the prime location.

If you have ever wondered what is going on at the Pollan's house tonight? You see the answer in these three photos. First, Ali will be begging someone to play the Ladybug Game or Sequence. She will play anyone and everyone, will plan many times in a row and generally will squash her opponent. Byron especially looses frequently, or more like consistently. He has beat her only once at the Ladybug Game. The funniest thing is it is a game of chance, the cards come out and you move along, no actual strategy involved so you would think the chances would remain at a 50/50 type scenario. Somehow he manages to loose. You will also find Carter with his face in a book. Lately it is Harry Potter. He has read through five six and is now well into seven in the last couple weeks. The deal was if he read one of the books he could see the movie. He read and watched the first four but now he just wants to see what is going to happen next and hasn't watched movies five or six. He doesn't want to waste two hours when he could be finding out what comes next. He really is so much like me when he gets into a book it is funny, and annoying.
He reads whenever we drive anywhere, on the way to school, on the drive to basketball, if we are going around the corner to church, he has to grab his book. Last night we went to Five Guys to celebrate Byron coming home from work at a decent time. We got there and all of us walked into the restaurant. Byron and I looked around and Carter was still out in the car. We started to order and lucky for him by the time we were nearly done he came strolling in and got his order placed in the nick of time. Then he was whispering to us what had just happened so he wouldn't spoil it for Tyler who is now on book 3.
You will usually find Tyler up to his nose in a project. Removing batteries, taking something apart, leaving little screws all over the house. He is a hands on doer kind of a kid. He also likes to make sure Ali has something to worry about and is either teasing her or telling her what she is allowed or not allowed to do. The good news is though Ali and Ty are getting to be better friends than they have been in the past. Serious competition between those two.

Ali's favorite treat is microwave popcorn. She climbs on up there to program the thing and dances around while she waits for her popcorn to finish. Then she happily shares with the dogs and not so happily shares with her brothers. Popcorn is our dogs favorite treat as well.

This was the only photo of our horrible terrible no good very bad week!!! On Wednesday night Tyler had a basketball game and he played in it but barely. He was lagging behind the team and hardly even concentrating on the action when he was on the court. He didn't even try to shoot any baskets and wasn't trying to get open or really engage in any way. I watched him wondering what was on his mind but didn't say anything. The next morning he threw up and the fun began. Everyone but Byron took a turn being sick with the flu. The photo above is Ali being sick on Sunday. She threw up, danced on her puke bowl for an hour and then threw up again. After that she was down for the count for almost an entire week. It was horrible. She would get as far out as 23 hours and we would think, maybe she's okay and then surprise, more throw up. By the following Sunday, so ten days later we were all better again. Never has there been a more timely purchase of a carpet cleaner than the one I made about a month ago. It came in handy as Ali has not learned the skill of making it to the toilet yet.

This is our Tyler showing off his new bling! Awesome! He has got braces and springs and turbos...it is really quite impressive. He has already knocked off one bracket, it actually only lasted about sixteen hours before he had knocked it off. He has also pulled the wire out of the back hole and uncurled a spring. I think that he has now fidgetted with everything possible we should be good for some smooth sailing for the next couple months. We know how to reinsert the wire, and retwist the spring. The orthodontist had to reglue the bracket but I am becoming quite the assistant thanks to Tyler.

The month of January has been fun and crazy. Sped by way too fast but we are all looking anxiously forward to the month of February. Byron and I have a fun trip planned, the third semester of school will be over, the house may be getting a fresh coat of paint and newly stained cabinets (fingers crossed on that one) and the twin baby boy cousins will be born. It is going to be an awesome February!!!

My favorite kid quote of late was when Tyler asked Ali why she just couldn't be more quiet. Ali actually thought for a second and then replied, "Ty, being quiet is just not my thing." Ladies and gentlemen, that about sums it up! I will say though, Ali was way to quiet for the week she was sick. By Saturday night's bath she was looking really thin and still just laying weakly in the water not splashing or singing. I was so grateful when we woke up to her boysterous laughing and singing on Sunday morning. She actually ate more than two bites of cereal at breakfast too. She has made a quick recovery this week and things are back to normal. "Mom, I'm hungry" is again a common phrase spoken ten minutes after dinner. We are more consciously grateful for our collective health this week than we have been in a while.

The Nutcracker

So for some reason I can't get my computer to load the pictures from the Nutcracker but Ali and I went for a Mom and daughter date to the Nutcracker a few days before Christmas. It started out rocky because Ali wanted to wear a dress with no sleeves. We recently had a member of our stake presidency come in and give a talk about modest dress and morality, etc. Then a few weeks later a member of the bishopric came in and gave a lesson very similar but the end result was that I decided it was time to crack down on not only myself but also Ali. So we went through her wardrobe and donated any dresses that are not "modest" I know she is a little girl but you have to start sometime. We kept a few really nice dresses that can be worn with blouses underneath. So, she put on one of these sleeveless dress and said she didn't want anything under it. So we tossed the dress in the donate pile and had to come up with another outfit. To be honest I am glad we are fighting this out now and not when she is twelve because I don't know if I could win later.

So, she looks all poutty in the photos which you can't see because she was pouting over her outfit. Once the ballet started though she was enthrawled. She loved it!!! Fully entertained. She had to go to the bathroom right near the end so we snuck out with all our stuff. When we finished she said is it still going? When she found out it was we had to sneak back in for the last three minutes or so. It was darling to see her laugh and have such a fun time at the ballet. She really loved when the big lady with the hoop skirt pulls up her dress and the children run out from under it.

Her first ballet performance is in the spring and she can't wait to be on the stage dancing for everyone. Her ballet studio is performing Cinderella and Ali's class is dancing as the mice who make Cinderella's dress. Their part is so cute. I can't wait to see it on the stage.

So our Mommy daughter date was a success in the end though it nearly got cancelled before it even began. After the ballet we did some last minute Christmas shopping and she picked out really thoughtful presents for her brothers. She got Carter a bike lock and Tyler duct tape. They both loved their presents.

It was a fun afternoon. The boys went with Byron to see a movie.

January- Snow Falls and braces!!!

We spent a few days up at the new Utah History Museum over the break. The kids had fun exploring and enjoying the new museum. It really is a cool place if you haven't had a chance to go yet you should.

Ty gets braces!!!!

Tyler has entered the world of braces! He was excited and nervous yesterday when the doctor announced, "he's not going to make it." Then Dr. Feller chuckled and said if you were at any other doctor you would be very concerned if I said that. We all had a good laugh but the truth was his teeth were not going to make it another six weeks, the braces had to go on right away. So he slapped them on there. The photo below is Tyler checking out the new shiny smile. I will have to take a better one where you can actually see his braces. So far he is doing well with them. He has a lot of hardware in his mouth right now though. Expander, these blue things that keeps his teeth from touching and now braces across the top front row. Pretty impressive. Carter is jealous that Ty is getting his braces first. You would think he would be happy not to have them but his time will come, as soon as his baby teeth finish their last act.

So it is January and we FINALLY got a little snow in Utah. It has made my embrace winter pledge much easier as last week I went walking on the golf course three times with the dogs my sister and 50 degree weather. We even ran into some golfers. Loving this winter!!! Now there is snow and it feels like it should have been feeling for the last two months. I am not going to pretend I have missed the snowy days, not even on Christmas.