Athena

Athena has become a crazy climber! She will climb up onto chairs then up anything else that is near that chair. It is dangerous. She can't climb up onto couches by herself, thank goodness, unless there is something for her to step on first. But if you put her on the couch int he tv room she will climb up on the wall shelf which wraps around almost the entire room. She tries crawling along that and getting the things we have placed up there to keep away from her.
If she is on the tv room couch she will go from there onto the armchair and then onto the fireplace. Not safe!

I loved when she learned to go up and down the stairs alone. I loved when she become really mobile through walking. But learning to climb up everything...NOT loving it.

She has loved climbing the boys' bunkbed ladder to get onto the bed for many months now. We've had to remove the ladder every morning and put it back every night for her safety. Often we forget and when we realize Athena has disappeared from sight we can guess right where she is...on the ladder!

We have to keep the bathroom door closed or she will be in there pulling everything out of drawers, trying to get in the toilet or tub. Or her favorite, standing on the little stool to grab the toothbrushes or toothpaste from the sink. The problem is that it's only a three legged stool and she doesn't balance very well on it so she falls often.

Not only is she always finding trouble but she loves doing what she knows she should not. It's a game to her. So this may be normal for toddlers but she is so cute about it...she has her normal laugh and her diabolical laugh. Her "haha...I'm being a Stinker" laugh. If I catch her doing something she knows she shouldn't she will do her diabolical laugh. If I catch her and say "You Stinker!" She likes it even more and does her laugh. It's adorable.
I tried to video tape it the other day by allowing her to get onto the fireplace but she didn't laugh or react as she usually does. Maybe she knew I was allowing it. I will try again when she's sincerely being a stinker.

She's a pretty little girl when her hair is done so. The problem is she is learning how to prevent me from being able to do her hair. I use to have to be quick and get her hair tied or clipped before she tried squirming away. Now she won't even give me a moment to try. As soon as I go to her with a comb or anything she begins throwing her body around in an ever successful attempt to prevent her hair being done. She wants it loose and free. I understand. But it makes her look like a boy.

Lachoneus loves making Athena smile and laugh. She is her entertainer and she loves it. Sometimes she will start laughing before he even begins trying. He just makes her happy.

Tiberias is becoming a big boy. He too wants to make Athena laugh. He has started making attempts to cheer her up when she needs it or at random times.

Athena is 1 year and 2 weeks old. Luke is 6 and a half. Ty is 4 and a half.
We love our children!

Sterling's 30th

Sterling turned 30! For his 30th we celebrated for 3 days! 

His birthday was on Monday but we started celebrating on Saturday.

Saturday morning Luke, Ster and I took a group of women from our ward rock wall climbing. It was a lot of fun. Then as a family we went to a birthday lunch at Fuji (a Tepanyaki place). It was a ton of fun!

Sunday we had a family party because Sterling would be at work when Luke would be home on Monday. We gave Sterling a special designed shirt just for him for this occassion and a cozy new bath robe. We ate birthday chocolate chip cookies that afternoon.

 

Monday Luke went to school and the rest of us hung out at home. We ate more cookies. :)

February

 Sometimes I take phone pics during preschool. Usually during Martha's lessons at her house. 

Here are the kids with an exploding volcano. We learned Vv for volcano and valentines. That was fun!

CJ showed us his violin and how to hold it. 

He even played a few notes and let the other kids pluck the strings.

 

Another day at preschool we learned about Kk and rectangles. They made king crowns...well, Julia made her's a queen's. They made rectangle monster pillows with pocket mouths.

 I kept doing portraits of Athena, trying to figure out the best way to do her hair. Also trying to get her to give me a great smile. I was never satisfied so I kept trying.

 I  love this one...but it wasn't a portrait shoot...just random playing.

 I do love the portraits we got for Valentine's though! Finally!

 She looks like she's ready for a fight. Probably is...because I would give her a toy to make her smile then take it away for the shot.

 

Now this face might be scary but honestly...it's how she looks when she is laughing and having fun. Scrunched face happy.

 Yay...all three kids together!

 The boys did silly Valentine pictures this year to send to their cousins.

 

Ty has been anxiously waiting for Summer and heat to come so we can go swimming. So for President's day we spent the snowy cold day swimming at Watiki. It's so fun! Lazy river, kids water playground with water slides, big kid play pool, grown ups waters slides and hot tub.

5 hours the boys played there! Mom and Athena made it 4 hours. The boys had the best day ever! They did not get tired of it. They did get tired however...by the 5th hour.

It took a while for Athena to get use to how noise it was. With the water sounds and all the many people who were there. But she loved it! After a few hours she was getting herself in and out of and playing on the steps of the hot tub, and jumping to mom in the pool or trying to get in the pool herself.

January

In January Sterling reenlisted in the Air Force. No cool bonus. Just commitment to another 4 years of military service. I am glad we are military. We are financial secure.

 Athena attended the ceremony with me.

I made a cake for all those who joined us at this event.

Here are some pictures of our silly girl...

 Athena's Birthday! I was still trying to figure out her hair. It's long enough to be in her face and cover her eyes but not long in the back. So she was silly on her birthday.

 Her first birthday cake! Frozen!

 Mouth full of cake

 She looooves being outside! We get some freezing and snowy days but we get some warm sunny ones as well. Obviously this was a warm day.

 On a freezing day we went to the city's Western roadshow event. The boys loved some tractors that were on display in the building.

 The third boy in this photo is Ty's best friend Eli. Eli lives 5 minutes drive from us. He comes to our preschool and his mom is my best friend too.

 Petting zoo