The Big 9-0.

Grandma Call is turning 90.

Yep 90.

She really is going to out live us all.

Her birthday is on January 12th, 1743...or something close to that year.  Love you Grandma!

On Saturday, her kids threw her a big surprise birthday party.

I only got one picture.  Well, I had two pictures, but Maycee deleted the one of Kory and Charisse and Boston.  No more camera privileges for Maycee.

Anyway...it was really neat to get some of her family together and celebrate her 90 years.  It was so crazy to me that all of those people there were all because of Grandma Call's life. We were even missing a big chunk of people.  At least half.

Well...Happy Birthday Grandma!

Here's to the next 90 years!

Oh...and PS.  I have to write this story down because my mom has decided that she is way to cool for blogging....

Grandma Call loves to bet.  Normally she's not a really big spender, but I know that Karli has won a few bucks off of her.

Grandma is always dying.  At least that is what she has told everyone for the last 15 to 20 years.  My mother tells her every time that she says that, that she will live longer than anyone else.  A few years ago Mom told her that she was going to live to be 90.  Grandma denied that statement profusely and mom said, "Wanna bet?"

Grandma replied, "I'll bet you a hundred dollars!"

It was set up that if Grandma lived to be 90 she would fork over 100 dollars to my mom and if she died before 90 my mom would put the 100 dollars in her casket.

On Christmas morning Grandma Call strutted in to Mom and Dad's bedroom to tell her of her new gift.

"Melanie!  Come see my new red car!"

Mom, perplexed, looked at my dad for clarification.  Getting none, she followed Grandma out to the living room to see her new car.  My mom looked everywhere, thinking it was a matchbox car.  Finally Grandma pointed to my mom's decorative pine trees.  They were covered with 100 crisp one dollar bills.  On the top was a note from Grandma Call, "Happy 90th!"

Grandma was so proud of herself.

One whole week

Stephen has had the WHOLE last week off.

I love it when Stephen doesn't have to work.

We stayed at my parents' house and got to sleep in.  Mom and Dad got up with the kids every morning.  They put them both in bed with them and watched cartoons.  Maycee will never recoup from the spoilage.

We even got to go on a date one night!  Kind of...Pocatello doesn't stay up very late, so we only got to roam around for an hour or so.  My Dad loved the time he got to spend with Cooper without having him want 'Mom' every second I was within sight distance.

We played so many games that my brain hurts from trying to think to much.  Yes, I am a Richard game player.  I have to think out every possible strategy before I do anything.  Even on the fast games.  I'm really bad at those.  I blame my Dad.

You are also correct in the assumption that I did not take any pictures.  I really should make Stephen in charge of that.  I only take "pretty" pictures.

We also got to meet Jude.

And Asher.  Or Landon.  Or Lexi.  Or Queen Sheba Jr.

This week has been fun.

Christmas Day

Christmas came...and Christmas went.  IT ALL GOES TOO FAST!!!!

Santa Claus came on Christmas Eve at about 9pm.  I love early bed times.  Things are going to get rough when Santa has to come a little later.  ...I have no idea how my parents did it without being caught.  There were years when we wouldn't go to bed until midnight and then would be up, from sheer excitement, at 3am.  That is no joke.

Stocking stuffers are probably my favorite.  This year I begged Stephen to let me "stuff" last.  I had some things that I had also got the kids that he didn't know about.  They were kind of presents for him too.

This is the first thing that Maycee saw and wanted right away.  It was Christmas!  And I conceded.  It was 7am.

Dad's stash.

Mom's stash...yes I got the biggest present of anyone! :) Stephen upgraded my cheap Wal-Mart special sewing machine!!  No offense Mom and Dad...

Maycee's stash.

Cooper's stash.  Don't worry Cooper.  Once you can eat 'good' food your stash will get better.  BUT check out those sweet Batman pj's!

Maycee looks thrilled, doesn't she?  She really was excited about the movies...Stephen was excited about the bluray label.

Yes, Cooper totally got hair clippers for Christmas.  He loves them...Stephen does too. Can't you tell?

I have been SO excited about this gift that I got for Stephen.  I am so impressed with myself.  He played with it as much as possible before we drove to my parents.

Everyone needs a toy to play with on Christmas morning!

We are now residing at my parents' house for the next few days.  Yeah for the holidays and fun people to hang out with!

Christmas Eve

I am SO excited for Christmas.

I feel that I can't even put into words how totally and completely excited I am!   Having Stephen and Maycee and Cooper has only made my love of Christmas grow exponentially.

This has been the perfect Christmas Eve.

We ate grapefruit this morning, and then...

We went sledding.

We had to drive a little bit to find snow, but snow we did find.  We bought a little blow up sled that had absolutely no control, but a lot of 'slickeriness'.

The first run we went down was, what I first thought, a little run, but ended up being really fast.  Maycee was a little nervous, but got over that quickly.  She then said after every run, "By myself!  I want to go by myself!

We finally let her fly solo.

She loved it.

The view was awesome.

Seriously.

It has been an amazing Christmas Eve.

I love Christmas.

Christmas Sunday

Cooper would not smile.  He is normally so smiley, so you get the concerned Cooper.  And you get the crazy Maycee.  She wouldn't hold still.  Cooper is in one spot the whole time while Maycee bounced around him.

 

I like this one...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Feel Good

I love Christmas.

We made treats to take around to friends for Christmas.

We added Maycee's nursery leaders, Brother and Sister Bishop, to our list of people.

Maycee and I went to the door with our treat and knocked.  Sister Bishop answered the door and we handed her the treat.  She invited us in and we chatted for a minute.  I thanked Sister Bishop profusely for her and her husband being such awesome nursery leaders.  They have been working really well with Maycee in trying to stop her from pushing the other kids.

Sister Bishop said that she really enjoyed Maycee in nursery.

I told her that I was frustrated with her not getting along with the other kids.

Sister Bishop responded, "The reason Maycee has a hard time with them is because she has a lot higher IQ than any of the other kids. They cannot play with her the way that Maycee wants them too.  We really try to help her do things that are on her level.  She loves to play with clay and make snakes.  Last time she even built a snowman.  She's really smart!"

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I was dumbfounded.  I didn't even know what to say.  I was so proud of my little Maycee!  I'm also very grateful to have a couple of nursery leaders that could see the potential in my daughter and help her to spread her wings.

We really do need other people to help us parent.

I've been so focused on her bullying that I haven't tried to figure out why it is happening.

Heavenly Father has given me people to help me out.

Christmas Lights

Christmas is getting so much more fun!  Maycee is beginning to notice the celebration of the holiday and it just makes me all the more giddy.

My parents started a tradition a few years ago.  Just before Christmas we all get together to go see the Christmas lights on Temple Square.  I was really excited to take Maycee because of her new excitement for Christmas lights.  Whenever we are driving around town at night and we see Christmas lights she yells at the top of her lungs, "CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!!"  It's so cute.

We started our Salt Lake adventure at Famous Dave's.

Look at the awesome pictures that I got.

After Dave's we headed over the Temple Square.  Maycee got to see Aunt Karli.  She's kind of Maycee's favorite person.

That night we went swimming in the hotel pool.  Maycee was looking forward to that pool for a whole week.  Grandma told her about our trip and that was what she asked about everyday until we actually got the the pool.  That pool was SO cold!  Maycee was freezing her tail off in there, but every time she got out she wanted to go back in.  She was shivering the entire time.  She loves the water.  Summer time will come soon enough, Maycee!

The next day my parents took us to see A Christmas Carol at the Hale Center Theatre.  It was really awesome to watch their special effects that they did on the stage floor.

My camera was forgotten about in my bag after Temple Square, so I don't have any more pictures.  I really need to get that thing more handy.

It was really fun to see everyone and to get an afternoon away from the kiddos.  My Uncle Keoki and Aunt Christy watched them while we went to the show.  They are awesome!

Week 3

We are now beginning week 3 of the first big mommy event that I have been dreading since the day Maycee was born.

Potty Training.

It is not fun.

For any of us.

Week 1 began on December 3.  I had to psych myself out for it.  I had previously tried to start potty training a month before that and I totally was not ready.  I was a little stressed out over numerous things and so after three hours of underwear and 4 accidents, the diapers came back out.  When I started this time, I was in it for the long haul.

The long haul has been a lot longer than I anticipated.

On Day 1, Krystal volunteered to watch Cooper all day, so I could focus on Maycee.  That gave me confidence.  It didn't click for Maycee, however.

On Day 2, I called my mom and freaked out, like any normal person would do.  At least any normal Kami person.  Let me give to you the pep talk that my mom gave me:

"You need to chill out.  Relax.  Maycee is not going to get this toilet thing on day 3.  She's not even going to get it on day 5, or day 8!  But.  One day, she going to get it.  And it's going to click!"

I hope that you are thinking the exact same thing that I was thinking....that was a crappy pep talk.

I love you mom.

Well, here we are on day 15.  Maycee still doesn't get it.  That's a lie.  She now has me trained.  We rarely have accidents, but that is because of our numerous potty practices.  Now I have to get her to understand that it is her job to recognize that she can tell when she has to go pee or poop.  My goal was Christmas.

Is Christmas.

Hopefully it's logical.

Kids

Maycee is obsessed with the camera.  She just wants to take pictures of herself and Cooper, just so that she can look at them.

She's just so stinkin' cute though!

And yes, that is my dirty laundry behind Cooper.

Cooper is getting SO big!

His personality is definitely starting to show through.  He is funny.  He loves to scrunch up his nose, squint his eyes, stick out his tongue and then blow in and out through his nose as hard as he can. It's so funny!  I really need to get a good picture of it.

Cooper also loves to thoroughly examine things.  Most babies, at this age, examines things by putting it in their mouths.  Not Cooper.  The only thing that goes in his mouth is food.  Everything else he holds in his hands and turns them over and over, just examining it with his eyes.  It is really interesting to watch.

I love my kiddos!

Movember

I know....I am seriously behind.

Let's just say that I have taken on too many projects over Christmas time.

In November, Stephen decided to participate in Movember at work.  For those of you who have no idea what this is, just know that it is an excuse for men not to shave and call it "for a cause".

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By the end of the month Stephen had himself a "full on" beard.  He even kind of cheated half way through the month and trimmed it.  He's been itching it like crazy.  The intent of the facial hair was to actually get a mustache.  His beard was grown and then on the last day we found an awesome mustache that Stephen could create with his facial hair.

These pictures are the "before" shots.

Maycee wanted to join in on the fun and so mass chaos ensued.

It was a little difficult to get all of them to look at me and look happy.

It only partially happened.

And now....

For the awesomeness that you have all been waiting for!

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keep scrolling...

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Seriously.

As ridiculous as this looks, he totally pulled it off.