Through Kendal's eyes

Just by reading the side bar full of Kendal's doings you know she is at such a fun age. The side bar is just a sampling of what Kendal says and does. She is at such a funny age where she questions everything, wants to know about everything, and is gaining independence everyday.
Kendal is enjoying sunbeams. She is one out of two sunbeams (the other boy comes irregularly), so her class is combined with the next older age. I felt like it might be hard for her to be with kids who know more, and can do more than her; but she doesn't mind a bit. Back when Casey and i taught primary we would look at the antsy sunbeams and wonder how Kendal would be as one. Since I'm the primary chorister i get to see first hand how she is. Just as i expected Kendal doesn't sit still very well for lessons (today i think i saw her in her seat for 2 minutes). At one point in the lesson she was hopping along to what the leader was saying. I try my best to keep her in her seat, but she's an active kid, and it's hard transitioning from nursery to classes. Kendal is good though at giving answers and likes to sing along to the simpler songs that i sing with the children.
At home Kendal likes to be doing things. She likes to play games throughout the day, be crafty (paint, color, play dough, etc.), get read to, pull out too many toys, and get in her brothers face. She's starting to get better at self directed play and has a sweet imagination. On the days she doesn't nap (which is about every other day lately) i hear her in her room talking with her animals / dolls, she also reads to them, and plays with random toys in her room until she gets bored on her own.
Kendal is very involved with Peter. She wants to love him, talk to him, and make him laugh all day long. Sometimes she can be a little much, and Pete doesn't appreciate the in the face attention, but i know she means well. We keep having to remind her of Peters limitations; such as he can't eat everything we can, or get hugged to tight, and he hurts easier than we do. She doesn't always listen either; sometimes i turn around from doing dishes and she's trying to put a spoonful of her food into Peter's mouth.
Kendal is not shy. Casey and i don't consider ourselves to be extroverts in anyway; so i find it interesting how social Kendal is with people. Kendal will talk to anyone and everyone when we are out and about. She'll talk to complete strangers without hesitation (this scares me, and I'm trying to teach her stranger danger without taking away her social ease with people). Whether it be the store, a basketball game, or church Kendal can find people to chat with, bug, and befriend. She'll especially go up to anyone with their phone out, or tablet wanting to see what their doing, and possibly play a game with them.
Kendal has loved her camera from Christmas. She takes pictures and videos almost every day. I've deleted countless pictures, but sometimes a few show up that make me smile.

I apologize for the quality. The camera she got has no flash; and again these were taken by a 3 yr old : )

 Kendal's beloved duckie

 She had a ton of her feet, this one is the clearest

Peter is doing awesome. Aside from his in-your-face sister bugging him sometimes, he's a pretty good baby. Pete is in love with food. Anything he can eat he will eat. No teeth yet, but judging by his excess drool and chomping down on everything we think teeth will pop out in the next month or so.  Pete is not quite scooting yet. He's starting to get frustrated when things are out of reach, so he rocks and rolls until he gets to where he wants. He babbles a lot. He mostly says bababa, and when he's crying he'll say mamama. We're working with him on Dada though. Pete loves to observe. I don't have to take much to entertain Peter at a basketball game because he spends the whole time watching the game or making faces with people nearby. He constantly watches Kendal and what she's doing. When we go somewhere new or different he spends a long time turning his head every which way so that he can take in what's around him. He's a decent sleeper, but has the occasional night where i feel like we get up a few too many times. (I really want to sleep train Peter, but it's been hard where he shares a room with Kendal, and nap / bed times just don't mesh with their different schedules) He does occasionally go down on his own, but for the most part we're still having to get him to sleep.

I love these two little ones. It's not always easy with these two, but it only takes a few minutes of reflection to remind me of how much i love them and how blessed we are.

V is for Viking Victory

Casey's JV Basketball team pulled out their first win of the season today! The game was against Glenns Ferry and the final score was 54 to 43. It was a hard fought game. The boys had to pull out their A game, and their hard work played off. It's been a tough season so far. The JV team is full of some very novice players, and at times Casey feels like he just repeats himself over and over about running their players, boxing out, etc. Tonight was his third JV game this week (then you add in 3 varsity games he assisted in). January is full of games. Thankfully a lot of the games this month are home games so the kids and I can go cheer on Casey and his team.
Casey says coaching is stressful with long hours, but it's been fun.
It's been a bit hard not having Casey around a lot lately. His practice times vary every week, and he's had mostly away games so far; taking him away on weekends till 2 in the morning sometimes. The kids and I are missing Casey. Kendal has meltdowns every so often because her daddy isn't home at night, she hasn't seen him for a day or so, or she can't go with him to practice or away games. We are proud of Casey and all of the hard work he is putting in with coaching, teaching, church, and with us.
Congrats Casey on your win; I hope your team keeps up the good work they showed today!

Holiday recap

It was fun this year to see how much Kendal enjoyed Christmas. She learned all about Santa and how we celebrate Jesus' birthday on Christmas. We put up the tree the first weekend in December. Kendal loved putting on her ornaments and has loved playing with them since. We have also had our advent calendar and  narrated nativity ornament that Kendal has loved. Our ward Christmas party was the first week of December. As primary Chorister i was supposed to teach a couple of songs to the kids for the program. At the ward party i ended up being put in charge of the program. It wasn't much, but the primary kids did well. Kendal takes after Casey with her love for Christmas music. We played Christmas music a lot (It reminded me of my Papa). Kendal learned the whole Rodolph song this year, and still remembers Jingle Bells from last year. We went to see the tree lighting at City Hall and attended a Christmas program at the High School. Kendal spent the whole Children's portion of the program dancing. (Casey's students told him the following day that they enjoyed Kendal's dancing) We were all excited for the holidays because that meant a break from school for Casey and an escape from Challis.

Friday the 21st we made Our way to Raft River to spend Christmas with Casey's family. We haven't been all together for a few months. Friday night we had almost everyone there; on Saturday the rest joined us and we were all together for the next couple of days. It was a busy / active house for a couple of days, but so so much fun. We made cookies, went shooting, played games, exchanged gifts, ate good food, and just enjoyed some good family time together. Since Keegan's birth last month we now have eight grand babies in the family. (Kendal is the oldest at 3 years). Kendal loves her cousins. David, and Bryker are her play buddies. I think David got a little weary of kendal, but all in all they enjoyed each other. Becca, Jaxson, and Hunter did their own thing, and  Pete and Keegan got loves from everyone. It was crazy trying to get  the kids to nap and Saturday night was interesting with all of us there. I love the fact that the cousins are so close in age. It makes visits so much fun. The only downer to the whole vacation was that Casey was sick, and shared his cold with the family. There were a few days where Casey was just miserable and unfortunately others were too.

 Christmas day it was just us and Casey's parents (Cody came later after he had worked a Christmas shift at Sunshine Terrace). Kendal was up around seven excited tho see the goodies Santa brought. We started opening presents and Peter threw up on his gifts (So much for good memories from his first Christmas : /). The poor guy spent the rest of the day feverish, sad, and sleeping. Kendal got a camera from Santa, a dress up Minnie Mouse from us, and a few other things. We spent the rest of Christmas taking it easy, playing, and eating sweets.

The day after Christmas we ate lunch with Rhett, Aria, and their two sweet girls. Because we didn't feel all that well we didn't get see much of them, but it was nice to catch up with each other.

Peter had a doctors appointment Friday so we headed to Logan to spend New Years weekend with my family.

( Peter is now just over 15 pounds, he is 26 inches tall)

Friday we got to see my whole family. Kendal had fun with Campbell and her aunts uncles and grandparent's. Friday night was the Loosle extended family party. We were fewer in numbers but it was nice to see my family that could come. New year's Eve took us to my brothers house. We played games (including our annual bingo : ) and stuffed our faces with goodies. Kendal stayed up way to late but had fun.

Besides being sick it was a great holiday break. We had so much fun with family and were spoiled with gifts, food, and family time. We're back in Challis finishing up the break. Casey has practice and a game this weekend, we'll put away Christmas, and have some more down time for a few days.