December Activities part 2

We drove through the Thanksgiving point lights, one of our favorite activities. We have been so many times now we look for the new and different things. I love it! Afterwards we stopped over by the water tower and saw the reindeer (Carson insisted on saying Ho ho ho) and we stopped by to look at the ice sculpture demonstration for a minute.

Heather invited us up to a new outdoor shopping center in Farmington to go Ice skating. I thought it would be a lot of fun and a good laugh for everyone. Grandma was nice enough to stay off the ice and keep McKay full stocked with snacks. I went out with Brynn and Carson (luckily Grandpa came to).
I can still remember the first and only time I went ice skating and I imagined myself gliding across the ice beautifully and being able to do a few easy spins. It could not have been more opposite. It was so hard, I was so not graceful, and hurt everywhere. Brynn kind of took the same mentality. She lasted the least amount of time. She couldn't get her feet in front of her. She clung to the wall as her lifeline. Carson loved it! I was shocked how good he was and how balanced he was for his first time. We stayed on the ice for quite a while. He even ventured away from the wall a few times. It was a lot of fun, and there was a lot of good laughing as well.

 Our friends the Fountaines had invited us to come to a Breakfast with Santa with them, promising it was awesome. It was for sure an amazing Breakfast with santa. The food was good, they had face painting for the kids, Buddy the elf was there, and a sugar cookie station. My kids loved it! We also were able to go in just our family to visit with Santa. My favorite moment had to be when Carson went right up and Santa said "I bet I already know what you want for Christmas, a Michigan shirt." (Notice the Ohio State sweatshirt) Carson said no and Kyle told Santa to "watch it." Carson told Santa he wanted a motor scooter. Brynnley said she wanted Barbies. Neither of them were very chatty with Santa, they said what they wanted and hopped up. Seriously though, check out that Santa. I am pretty sure he is the real leggit one! We will for sure be going back to this Breakfast with Santa, best one ever!

 Wrapping paper tube sword fights are a must around here. Grandma saves them and they have a sword fight every year.

All of us in our Christmas best. (McKay didn't go to church, I just got him dressed for the picture). I think the kids looked adorable. Be sure and check out Kyle's super awesome Christmas tie. Carson really wanted to get him a Christmas tie for Christmas. He went with David one night and picked it out. In case you can't see it has reindeer and a Santa football player. He got LOTS of compliments on it at church and Carson was beaming.

Carson's Christmas Sing in

Carson also had a Christmas sing in at school. I had to go listen to him sing the day they performed it for all of the other kids in the school instead of the parent day. I had a doctor's appointment for McKay so his teacher was nice enough to invite me to come the day of the school performance. She even made sure I had a seat sitting right next to Carson. I was even lucky enough the 1st graders sang first. They sang two songs, one was Christmas lullaby so they sang with a stuffed animal. It was cute and Carson did a great job. He was even lucky enough to have Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa come here him sing on the day of the performance.

Video for the Grandparents

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Christmas Card 2012

Dear family and Friends,

We hope this holiday season finds you well and healthy (We are always hoping everyone is healthy!)

We have had a very busy and eventful year; full of numerous ups and downs. At this time of year we count the many blessings we have and the numerous blessings that have come to us this year.

Carson is now 7 and is in 1^st grade. He is loving his new school and has made lots and lots of new friends. His time is mostly filled with sports and friends, which luckily mostly overlap. This year he has played soccer, basketball, flag football and baseball. He also attended numerous summer camps including BYU football camp and golf camp at Thanksgiving point.

Brynnley is 4 and loves her last year of preschool.  She loves anything Princess and girly, anything at all! She went to Princess Camp this summer and still shows us how to curtsey like a Princess. She tried soccer this year but was not a big fan. She loves ballet and gymnastics and is doing very well with both of them.

McKay is 2 almost 3 (In January) he has had a very busy year. Over 125 doctor and therapy appointments this year! His big doctor appointment for the year was a trip to Seattle to see a geneticist there. WE were happy to receive an official diagnosis for McKay while there. (M-CM syndrome) It was an incredibly helpful appointment and gave us a better idea of what to expect for McKay. McKay also started horse therapy this year. He has not loved it, but we have seen great progress with it. McKay’s big accomplishment for the year was taking his first steps in November. We are hopeful he will be walking next year sometime.

Our family has stayed very busy with all of the kids’ activities and some fun thrown in there. We had a family trip to St. George and Este’s Park Colorado. Both of which were a lot of fun and a lot of family time.

Kyle is still working for Cintas and is doing very well at it. He continues to exceed expectations and improve each quarter. I stay very busy just trying to keep everything under control and driving carpool, to activities, and to numerous doctor appointments.

We are thankful this season for all of the wonderful blessing we have and the wonderful support we have from family and friends. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Love, Kyle, Valerie, Carson, Brynnley, & McKay

www.kyleandval.blogspot.com

Brynnley's Christmas Performance

 Brynnley's Preschool class had their Christmas singing program on a different day than the rest of the school. I was not able to go because it was the day of McKay's MRI. We were home from the hospital, but I really like to be around McKay for the following 24 hours after he is sedated because you never know what he is going to do or how he will react. So Kelli and Kyle went and Kyle recorded the whole thing for me.
Brynnley was super excited. She would come every day and tell us about the songs, what she had to bring, and what she was suppose to wear. She had asked the day before if we could curl her hair but ran out of time to put it in curlers the night before. I told Kelli I didn't think she would remember the next morning. But of course she did, so Grandma was nice enough to curl her hair for her.
They sang 3 songs and Brynnley knew the words to every single one of the songs. She also was the only one in her class that knew all of the actions and dance moves. (Maybe we need to get her in a performing group...) She loved it and looked so adorable.

Here she is with a couple of her friends and carpool buddies.

Here is the video, for the Grandparents

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Randall Family Christmas

We had our Randall family Christmas party a little early this year. My sister is due the very beginning of January but could have her baby any day and we didn't want it too close to Christmas day.
I had the idea to Skype with my parents when we got together for the party and have the kids sing them a few Christmas songs. The kids were actually very good about it. They sang Jingle bells and Silent night. It was fun to watch the kids and I know my parents really enjoyed it.
After the kids sang we opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa. The kids were so excited about their gifts. Carson got some Star Wars Legos, Connect 4, and a face sticker book. Brynn got a new Cinderella barbie, a Minnie mouse dress up dress, and a Barbie fridge. McKay was at home sleeping but he got an I tunes gift card. The kids ravaged through the presents pretty quick (no sense of order). Afterwards the adults opened their presents and we opened family gifts. My sister had the great idea of doing a Christmas movie or book for each family. I think it is a wonderful idea and it was fun to get some more Christmas books and a movie.
After the presents were opened the kids scattered to play with their toys, we talked to my parents on Skype, and we ate some yummy treats. It was low key and lots of fun. We had a great time with the family. We missed my parents but it was nice for them to still "be there".

December Activities

Instead of doing a lot of small posts about EVERYTHING we do in December I am going to do two big posts. So here it is...

 We had a Christmas tree FHE. We made ice cream cone Christmas tree's and helped Grandma and Granpa decorate their Christmas tree. They were very patient with the kids who just kept grabbing their fragile and old ornaments to look at them. It was a lot of fun and their tree turned out beautiful!

 We made our traditional gingerbread house. As usual Kyle says he doesn't want to do it, but gets really into it and is the most creative of all of us when it comes to decorating it. Brynn just wanted to eat the candy and frosting, but that is how it has always been!

 The ward put on an AMAZING Polar Express Christmas party. I really have never seen a ward party like that! There was even a conductor and a train ride to the polar express. We also feasted on yummy breakfast. The kids got to see Santa and I am happy to say they both went up there on their own. Even more happy to say that they asked Santa for the things Santa had already bought for them. (Thank heavens!) I was a little skeptical of how they were going to tie the Polar Express into a Christ centered party, but it was amazing. They used the theme of "Believe" and believing in Christ. It was a wonderful party!

 We had a really good nice snow last weekend and the kids couldn't get out the door fast enough. They were so disappointed from last years snow they were really hoping for some good playing snow. We went out and I took pictures. Kyle helped his Dad shovel, threw snowballs at me and then threw me in the snow in my pajamas. A good time was had by all!

 Every year my girlfriends from High school get together for a Christmas party. We have never missed a year! We really don't see each other much through out the year even though we live decently close to each other. So when one of our friends had her baby on the day of our party we decided to go see her and the baby so we wouldn't miss a year. We went to the hospital and then went out to dinner after. It was a lot of fun and I always loving catching up with the girls!

 We made lots of homemade treats for friends, neighbors, and family. These were the treats I made for the kids friends. I found the idea on Pinterest and was so happy they actually turned out. Brynnley about killed me when she said she wanted to take them to her whole class plus her friends and Carson's friends. But we made it!

We have been busy with lots and lots of fun holiday things, there are still more to come!

A new visitor

 Last year my kids were obsessed with the mini Christmas movie "The Elf on the shelf" and they kept talking about their friends that had elves to watch them. So they started asking in October if they thought we would get a Elf this year. I told them I hoped so. (I scored the last one half price last year the day after Christmas, even better it was a cute girl. She is meant to be a stuffed animal you play with, but I think she is adorable.
We were downstairs in the family room when we heard as knock on our door downstairs. The kids ran to the door to see a package addressed just to them from the North Pole. They ran upstairs to find Daddy and open the package. They were SO excited to see it was an elf.

Santa left instructions that we had to give her a name, we of course had a hard time and Carson wanted to make a list. We couldn't pick just one, so we gave her three names. Sparkle Bell Snowflake. The instructions from Santa clearly said she would be watching and would report to the North Pole. The first day, the kids were amazing. They did anything I asked them and were so good. Of course the novelty has worn off, but they are still being good. Just not as "angelic" as the first day she arrived.

The first night she came back she brought Christmas movies and ornaments for the kids.

Here are a few of the things she has been up to, not all of them. I am so grateful to have millions of ideas from Pinterest. I also just copy my friends on Instagram when their elf does something cute. Copying is great flattery right?

It has been a lot of fun to have the kids wake up and run around and look for the elf. They immediately take us to where she is to show us how silly she is being.

Zoo lights

 It is our family tradition to go to Zoo lights at the Hogle Zoo each year. It is one of my favorite traditions. We love going to the zoo and I love seeing all of the beautiful and creative lights they have. It of course decided to rain the night we went, so we all got a little wet. Although I still think I would take the rain over some of the crazy cold nights we have been on before. McKay was not happy to be out and among so many people. So he spent most of the time crying and "eeee'ing". So we were a little more rushed than we have been before. But we still had a great time. We went with Kyle's parents and Heather and Devin and their kids. We separated from the Smith's when they stopped to see Santa. (We are doing breakfast with Santa so we skipped the line). It was lots of fun to look around and they added lots of fun new lights this year.

 Best family picture available, I consider it a victory we got one at all. Don't mind the fun garbage cans.

 Carson and Digger with the Dragon. Carson looks forward to going all the way up to the top to see the Dragon every year.

A trip to the zoo wouldn't be complete with out a ride on the carousel. Everyone loves it, even McKay!

Weekend with Digger

In the beginning of the school year Carson's amazing wonderful 1st grade teacher said everyone in the class would get the chance to take the class pet home for a weekend. I was relieved to read it was a stuffed dog named Digger. Carson came running out of school on Friday yelling " it's my turn, I got Digger!"  To say he was excited would be an understatement. He couldn't wait to do all of the fun things with him. Luckily enough we were heading to something fun that night, Zoo lights. So he begged to take Digger to zoo lights with us. Carson was very responsible and kept track of him the whole time. He also wanted lots of pictures with Diggger.
When we got home he made sure he had a blanket to put in his carrier to sleep in and he made sure he slept right next to him. It was so adorable.

He loved taking care of him the whole weekend and carried him around and made sure he was taken care of. Carson definitely showed that he is ready for a pet of his own. We have told him that when we move he can get a pet of his own. As long as it is not a snake, I REFUSE to have any snake in my house.
On Tuesday of the next week Carson got a letter in the mail. It was a personalized letter from Digger and Carson's teacher Mrs. Adams. (Above and beyond amazing!) Carson was so excited to get the letter.

O Christmas Tree

So our Christmas tree this year was a bit of a challenge. We wanted to wait until the week after Thanksgiving to get the tree since Thanksgiving was so early this year. We only had one night available during that week to go get the tree. Kyle called me at around 6 pm the night we were suppose to go and said he was stuck in major traffic and wouldn't be home for a while. So we pushed it off to the next night. The kids were so disappointed. So we went the next night, but McKay cried the whole time, so we picked the tree out in 5 minutes. We got it home and it was a little late but the kids really wanted to decorate it that night. So I quickly tried to put the lights on (I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to the lights, taught by my mom.) So it was stressing me out a little to put them on so fast. Not to mention, over half of our lights just died and we had strands with only half lit. So I threw what lights we had still working and some that were not on the tree and told the kids we were ready. They loved getting out all of the ornaments and squealed with excitement for each one. I love the magic of Christmas through kids eyes. The tree was a bit of struggle, the star wouldn't sit straight, we had a strand of lights that died after I got them on the tree. But I was able to fix the star the next morning and magically the lights worked the next day. All that matters is the kids love it. (And I am getting all new lights the day after Christmas!)

Festival of Trees

It has been a few years since we have been to Festival of Tree's and I love going. I found a babysitter for McKay and took the kids and Grandma and met Heather and her kids there. I actually checked the kids out of school about a half hour early so we could beat some of the rush. You would have thought it was Christmas day. They were so excited to get checked out early. I forgot how fun it is to get checked out! We hit the little kids activity area first because there was no one there. The kids had lots of fun. Carson was inside a giant bubble, Brynn got her fingernails painted and a wand, they got tattoos and much more. So much fun!

Afterwards we walked around the gingerbread houses and then the Christmas treee's. Brynn loved anything with Nutcrackers on it, anything super pink, and the fairy gingerbread house. She also just wanted to sit and watch all the dancer's. She was pretty bummed when we actually went to go walk around the tree's becasue she wanted to watch the dancer's.

Carson thought all of the gingerbread houses were super cool and said he got some ideas for ours. He also was lucky enough to have his best friend Cohen come with us. They had fun running around together and showing each other the super cool tree's.

The kids didn't last too long looking at the tree's. Carson said at one point he couldn't walk any farther or his legs would fall off. So in an effort to not have his legs fall off we left without looking at all the trees. (There are a lot of them!) It was a lot of fun and the kids had a good time.

Thanksgiving Ford Style

 We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty nice to just wake up and be lazy and then take a shower when we wanted to and still be able to help around the kitchen and not have to worry about going anywhere and packing everything up. Living with your In laws can definitely have some perks! Kyle went Thanksgiving morning and played his yearly game of Turkey bowl. Every year I am terrified he is going to get injured. (He has broken fingers, and had his ankle stepped on.) Luckily no injuries this year! We spent the morning helping Kelli and David in the kitchen where we could then we all sat on the couch and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. It is one of my favorite things to do, I love it. My kids do like it, but don't share the love I do for it yet. Someday!

 When I was little I loved helping my mom set the table. I use to love watching Martha Stewart when I was little and marvel at her creativity. I saw one time she set a beautiful table scape and had beautiful place cards. I immediately begged my mom to let me make some place cards. From then on I made them for any occasion I could. I loved making them and assigning where everyone sat. I knew Carson would love to do something like this. (I see more of me in him as he gets older, but still lots and lots of Kyle!) So I gave him the special assignment of using his best handwriting and putting the stickers on. Grandma already had the super cute turkey's to put them in. He was so excited to do it and decide where everyone was sitting.

 We had our dinner at around 1. I requested we do it while McKay was napping. He really does not like eating time and it usually turns into lots of throwing of food and then he is done. So I thought it might be better for everyone to have him sleeping during dinner. We had a delicious meal, so incredibly yummy! I love all the wonderful Thanksgiving food. I love hearing what everyone is thankful for on Thanksgiving day (I cry every year with out fail). I love just being with family.
Brynn was so excited when she found out the turkey had a leg she could eat. She loves when we get chicken and she can eat the leg. She was insistent that she had to have it. She picked it up for a picture and held it up to her mouth and then said she didn't want it. I think it was a little too big!

 After we cleaned up dinner the kids played and watched a movie, Devin was nice enough to take Carson to the park with Tyler, McKay napped, and most the men napped. It was nice and relaxing. Such a perfect Thanksgiving! It was full of fun, laughter, good food, playing with cousins, and just good family time.

Accomplishing the impossible

Let me take you back a few years. McKay was about 5 months old. We had only been out of the NICU for about a couple of months. We were instructed when we left the NICU that it would be a good idea for McKay to be followed by the Neonatal follow up clinic. Normally it is for much more premie babies, but because McKay had so much going on they thought it would greatly benefit him. (Which it has! We have found numerous things at this clinic that we have been able to follow up because of it). So it was our first real big doctor appointment after we had left the NICU. I went by myself because they said it would be a few hours and it was first thing in the morning. I told Kyle I should be able to handle it. The first doctor they had us go to was the Neurologist. I was anxious to talk to her since McKay did have such a large head, I had so many questions. (At the time we had no idea why, or what was really going on with McKay and his large head). The doctor came in and had me put him on the exam table. She then siletnlty looked him over, poked and prodded and did all the things doctor's do. After she was done I sat down with McKay in my arms. The very first thing she said to me was "I'm not really sure if he will be able to walk, maybe. But not very likely." I immediately lost all the color in my face and had an enormous pit in my stomach. No one up to this point had said anything about McKay not walking. We had heard numerous other things, he might stay on oxygen, might need a feeding tube, and had a brain bleed. I tried to play it off like I had heard it before and that it was okay. She continued on with everything else she had to say and then asked if I had any questions. My mind was a total blank, nothing. Just the image of my beautiful baby staying in my arms forever. I continued on the rest of the day with the rest of his appointments, going through most of them in a haze. We heard lots more "problems" and bad news that day. It was an incredibly overwhelming day. I called Kyle when I left and bawled on the phone, "she said he might not walk". I was so overcome with so many different emotions.

Now back to last week. McKay had his first Physical therapy appointment since leaving Now I can therapy. I was pretty nervous about the appointment. While I had noticed that Mckay had improved his strength greatly I was pretty concerned. He no longer would even get near his walker let alone use it. And he would no longer walk holding our hands. He immediately sat down and cried if we tried to get him to walk. I was getting pretty worried the intense Physical therapy program had not been good idea. I told my PT all about everything and my concerns. She was concerned as well. We tried a few things with no luck. I had told her that at therapy they had been using a bench to get him to stand up from that. So we decided to use the bench, have the bubble guppies on the I pad and have some smarties sitting below the ipad to see if we could get any movement. Miraculously McKay stood right up from sitting on the bench and took 3 steps to the ipad. Shouts, and claps and excitement then followed! He did it probably 3 more times and I had Brynnley go grab Grandma so we could show her. The Physical therapist wanted to test how far he could go so we moved it farther. Each time he just stood right up and took steps to it. Amazing! Luckily I grabbed my phone to video so I could show Kyle what had happened. It was an amazing day. I just couldn't stop hugging McKay and telling him proud I was of him. McKay taking steps!

I am happy to report things have only gotten better! McKay (when he, and only he feels like it) can get him self standing in the middle of the room. He also will take a few steps every once in a while on his own. It is still so crazy to me. Every time I see him do it I literally catch my breath. It is so foreign to me to see him such and upright position and in the middle of the room. We of course clap every time he does it and he loves the attention he gets from it! I tell people he is "stepping", I think we are still a long ways off from walking. But I am so incredibly happy with his progress.

Since McKay has started doing this it has brought up a lot of emotions in me. I am so happy and so excited for him. I am so proud of him, I know it has to be incredibly hard to lift that huge head. (Doctors compare it to us trying to lift a giant pumpkin as our head). McKay has once again shown me that he will do things on his own time. Not when everyone says he is ready. It is a good reminder, as I know we will constantly need to be reminded of this. McKay is such a special spirit and I don't know his plan. It of course drives me, one of the biggest planners of them all, crazy. But I know it is a lesson in patience, love and long suffering. We are thrilled with McKay's progress. We are so thankful to all of the doctors, and numerous therapists who have helped him get to this point.

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Halloween

 We filled our Halloween day with lots and lots of fun activities! The morning started with a costume parade at Carson's school. We had prime seats and were able to see him pass us twice. He was Peter Pan this year. Still not sure where he got the idea for that, maybe because his best friend was Peter pan last year and maybe because he had a sword.
After the parade Brynn and McKay and I headed out to Cintas. We went tick or treating at Kyle's work and went around to see everyone. Everyone had lots of candy for the kids and of course thought they were the cutest ever!
We then headed home for a little bit; to get lunch and get McKay down for his nap. I then took Brynn to school and went to the afternoon costume parade. It was just the preschoolers and kindergartners so it was much shorter parade. Brynn was so excited, she was a BYU cheerleader. Her big accessories was her official BYU pom pom's. Straight from the real BYU cheerleaders hands! She walked around the whole parade with her arms up shaking her pom poms. I also helped at Brynn's class Halloween party where we made spider hats.
We came home and Heather and her kids were here. So the kids immediately went into playing. We fed the kids some mummy dogs for dinner and got everyone in their costumes to head down to the trunk or treat around the park.

 I think they all look cute! McKay was the old man from up (more info and pictures to come). I think they all looked so cute together.
They of course ran around the park and gathered as much candy as they could. Afterwards Brynn was so excited to just pass out candy. We came back and the adults ate yummy chili for dinner and then we got McKay down to bed. I took Carson and Brynn to our old neighborhood to go trick or treating with their friends. It was fun to go do the the "traditional" trick or treating and to see some old friends.
It was a great Halloween, lots of fun, lots of craziness and lots and lots of candy!