Miles' Makeover

I have given Miles several hair trim/cuts over the last year. But he has now reached the age when I turn the haircutting over to a professional. So when his hair started resembling a helmet, I gave Karlie a call and we got him his first real haircut.

      Before

 After

Scott was the unfortunate one who got to be present for the traumatic experience. Miles screamed and cried and yelled despite the many suckers and balls given to him.  Finally Karlie's husband came downstairs dawning the Ipad with Little Einsteins to try and calm the hysterics.  It wasn't Mile's finest hour....and yes I do mean hour... but he made it through and the results are totally worth it. 

It's amazing how a simple haircut has transformed him into a little boy.

Toothless

"First" lost tooth April 4, 2013

A couple weeks ago Mason bit into his sandwich at lunch and complained that it made his tooth feel funny. Upon further investigation we discovered he had his first loose tooth. Although Mason has been missing one of his teeth for the last 5 years (not familiar with the Home Depot mishap? Read story here) he has been waiting for the day when he would "really" loose a tooth.  He wiggled and wiggled and wiggled that tooth every chance he got for the next few days.  It finally got to the point it was so loose and wobbly I couldn't stand it anymore.

 I thought it would be fun to try the classic tie a string to the doorknob and slam it trick. Scott standing back mumbling, "This is a horrible idea. I can't believe you are doing this." really helped calm Mason's nerves...not.  But turns out his tooth was a little too loose and would just bend over and the string would slip right off every time. So I just resorted to a good old washcloth to grab the tooth and yank it out.

 Mason is very proud of his lost tooth.

Sick Sick Winter

When I think back on this winter I immediately get the chills thinking about how cold it was.  We had the coldest January Utah has had since 1946! Poor Mason didn't get to go outside for recess from the time he came back after Christmas break until mid February because it never got warm enough.  It felt like everything was covered in a layer of ice. While driving to and from school (because that's the only time we left the house) the kids loved seeing who could spot the biggest icicle. This wasn't too hard since every house had icicles that were several feet long hanging from the roof.  I have lived in Orem my entire life and have never seen icicles like this before. Being trapped inside by the cold was only compounded by all the sickness that was going around.  After over a year of no sick visits to the Dr for any of our kids we got slammed by sickness over and over again all winter long. Runny noses, coughs, croup, pink eye, pneumonia, stomach bugs, RSV, and throw in some nasty migraines and morning sickness for me.  You name it, we had it at least once. But even with all of the sickness that went through our family we felt very blessed that A: It was never too serious, just annoying and B: Scott avoided almost all of it so he could keep up with his crazy school schedule. 

Poor Brynn had the roughest time of all the kids. I don't know why it is, but her little body is just not as resilient as our boys when it comes to fighting sickness. Back in September she had one bought of croup that landed us in the hospital because her narrow airways just clamped down so tight.    

After a night of steroids and racemic epi treatments we were discharged.  On our way home Scott called me from a family fun fair he had taken the boys to at UVU saying he had entered Brynn in a drawing to win a bike, but she had to be present to win.  They were about to do the drawing so he said we should stop by on our way home just in case her name was drawn. Anyone who has had a child receive racemic epi knows how lousy they feel afterward. Looking back at my sick, lethargic, jammie clad daughter I didn't think it was a very good idea, but it was on the way, so I figured we could pull into the parking lot for a minute.  As soon as we pulled in I got out of the car to hear Brynn's name being called as the winner of the bike. It was a pretty pathetic sight as we drug her up in front of the crowd in her jammies and tried to get her excited about her new bike, but she just sat limply on the bike begging to go home. Parents of the year, I tell you.

A few days later and she was very excited to have a new girl bike and helmet!

One other noteworthy experience with Brynn happened in December. In late November the kids and I all got hit with a pretty nasty cough. I'm the worst mom ever and never take my kids to the doctor unless I know there is something they can do for it (i.e. ear infections, strep throat, or croup that require medication). There is nothing more annoying then going and getting a pat on the back as they say it's a virus and you'll just have to wait it out, and let's be honest, it's always a virus. Mason was over it in a couple of days, Miles in a week, and me in a couple weeks.  Brynn, however, just kept coughing and coughing for over 3 weeks.  Everyone else had gotten over it on their own, so I figured she just needed more time. She would have these coughing fits at night after she went to sleep where she would get coughing so hard she would often times throw up.  So one night I woke up at 4am to Brynn sobbing downstairs. I figured she had been having a coughing fit again so I ran down to find her standing next to her bed with blood smeared all over her face.  I couldn't quite figure out what had happened and she was too hysterical to tell me so I figured it must have been a bloody nose.  I took her up and bathed her and cuddled with her until she settled down. After she was asleep I walked into the downstairs bathroom to soak her jammies and found bloody vomit all over the bathroom. I took her to the doctor and he felt like it was most likely a Mallory Weiss tear. He was very concerned about her cough and actually thought she had pertussis. After all the tests it turned out to only be pneumonia. A couple days on some heavy duty antibiotics and she was like a new girl!

Brynn has always had serious anxiety when it comes to the doctor, but thanks to her new found favorite TV show, Doc McStuffins, Brynn was quite the trooper through her many doctor/hospital experiences this year.  She even says she wants to be a nurse like Mommy and loves to take care of her stuffed animals.

All of the sickness has cleared up and we have been healthy for several months now! Wahoo!!

But it was definitely one cold and sick winter to remember.

Wanna be a Balla

Mason is loving how every year there are more and more opportunities for him to participate in sports. First soccer, then t-ball, and now basketball.  He is not quite old enough for Jr. Jazz yet, but he was able to participate in a Little Hoopsters camp throughout the month of January. This was his first time being exposed to a lot of the skills in basketball and we were really impressed with how much he improved week to week.  On the final day they played a "real" game.  I wouldn't go as far as to say Mason was the MVP or anything, but  he did play really good defense by getting low in a defensive stance with his arms out and shuffling side to side.  It was clear he has watched plenty of basketball with Scott because he understood how the game is supposed to flow and did a good job mimicking what he's seen. The highlight for him was when he made a basket during the game. As always, it was fun to watch him learn and his confidence grow.

Here are some of the boys from our neighborhood that did the camp with Mason.

Jack Akin, Cache McCann, Mac Christiansen, and Mason

When Scott and I went on a date to a Jazz game for his 30th birthday Mason was Super Jealous. He couldn't believe we were going to a Jazz game without him.  So a few weeks later Scott, Mason, and Grandpa Mike had their very own Murray boys trip to a Jazz Game.  Mason got to pick the game and he chose the game against the Grizzlies, because he loves Grizzly Bears.

They went down next to the court during warm ups so Mason could see his favorite player, Randy Foye, up close.

 Then they hiked up to their seats on the very top row :)

 Mason was really into the game, but when asked what his favorite part of the night was he didn't have to think twice before saying his kids meal that came in a Jazz Lunch box.  When the concession worker gave Mason his meal in the lunch box Mason broke out in a celebratory dance singing "oh yeah, oh yeah!"

 I think he had a pretty good time with his Dad and Grandpa, too.

Scott blew it and didn't take any pictures with Grandpa Mike. Way to go, Scott.

 Mason does not, however, win the title of the Murray with the most passion for basketball.  That goes hands down to Miles.  This kid is OBSESSED with basketball.  I don't know how else to put it.  Anybody who has been around Miles for more than 2 minutes has heard his incessant yelling of "ball, ball, ball" and if there is a round object in sight then he will do everything in his power to get his hands on it so he can pass and shoot. 

 He learned most of his moves from watching Mason's Little Hoopsters Camp.  After the first day when they were practicing shooting he adopted his classic shooting stance where he squats down low then springs up while shooting. Just like the big boys did it.

Don't even try to tell him he is not one of the big boys. He is ready to play.



Just a Blur

I don't remember where I was or what I was doing that night, I just remember coming home late to find Scott and the kids with soccer socks tucked into their PJs playing flag football.

 I remember thinking how I wanted to remember this night and the happy shouts and laughter that filled our house. I wanted to capture Scott, the super dad, in action.

 I wanted to capture my boy's pure elation when it was his turn to catch the ball.

Unfortunately, like my memory, most of the pictures are just a blur.

I feel like life is flying by and I can hardly keep up with it.  At the end of the day this blog has taken a back seat to more important things in my life.  But as my memory continues to blur what is behind me I find so much joy in re-reading posts of everyday moments we've had over the years.  I'm recommitting right now to not let this crazy, hectic, but priceless part of our lives pass undocumented. I'm turning over a new leaf.  So blurry pictures or not, here come the posts!