Sunbeam

I can't believe Jack is a Sunbeam!  He looks so grown up sitting up on the front row in Primary.  His teachers are Brother and Sister Murdock, and they're great.  I'm always surprised by how much he absorbs from Primary.  He learned about prayer this week, and every night since at family prayer he has made sure to bow his head.  The thing is that it's not that Steve and I haven't ever taught him this, he's really receptive to what he learns in Primary.  I'm so grateful for good Primary teachers.  He has been a little teary a few times when we've dropped him off in sharing time.  It surprises me since he never cried one time when I left him in Nursery.  Not even when I first started leaving him.  It's definitely a little bit of a transition to leave playtime and snack time behind.  I'm sure proud of my Sunbeam!

12 Month Well Check

Steve sent me this picture the other night while I was at work.  I don't think they miss me too much on Thursday  nights.  I know I've never given her a whole bowl of popcorn.  Ella continues to be a joy to be around.  She has been walking a little bit now and then for a month or so, but the past week she has started walking all the time.  It's a cute waddle walk that I love.  She is understanding so much of what I say these days.  She loves trying to put her shoes on and when she is wearing anything pretty.  She wears my hair bands around her wrists like bracelets and feels so fancy in them.  She still is a big eater and loves mealtime.  Especially if she can sit on Dad's lap and share his food.  We sure love her!  She is so much fun!

Here's is the latest picture of Ella from her well check.  She had another ear infection and the doctor said if her ears don't look better at her next appointment she will need ear tubes.  We're trying our best to keep her really healthy for the remainder of the winter.  Here are her stats:  17lbs 4ounces (<5th percentile), 29 inches tall (30th percentile), head 17 1/2 inches (20th percentile).  She's still a tiny thing but the doctor's not worried about her at all.  He just thinks she's petite.

A New Year

Happy 2013!  We kicked off the new year with some sledding up in Honeyville.  It was absolutely freezing, but still fun to get out and enjoy the snow.

We loved having Steve around during the holidays.  The kids loved spending some extra time with him and getting out to do a few fun things.  We spent an afternoon at discovery gateway to enjoy our last bit of time through the holidays with him before reality kicked back in.

He pressed the button that turned the sound on and he literally thought he started the helicopter.

Ella is such a daddy's girl lately.  I don't blame her, he's pretty fun!

Christmas at the Crawfords

My cute kids in their Christmas Sunday best.

We were going to be late for 9 o'clock church so we opted out of a group shot.

Love those cute faces!

That afternoon we had a surprise visitor show up at our door.  We were so lucky to have Santa come visit us at our house.  He must have known that Jack has a slack mom and that I have not once taken my 3 1/2 year old to see Santa.  Last year Steve took him, but I was at home with my brand new baby so I missed it.  I was so glad to get to see Jack with Santa.  He absolutely loved it and was not scared one bit!

He's a multi-talented Santa and also made Jack a Rudolph balloon animal.

Waiting for Christmas is hard to do.  We made a tootsie roll count down calendar to try and cut down on the "is it Christmas today" questions.

Christmas morning was so much fun!  The kids slept until 8:30 which was wonderful.  They were so excited and loved the things Santa brought for them.  Ella knew something fun was going on, but couldn't quite figure out what it was.  In typical 1 year old style, she played with the boxes more than anything else.

For Jack it was a long anticipated event.  He loved unwrapping and opened almost every present.  Yes, even if it wasn't for him.  He got a castle with a dragon that he has loved.  He also got a laptop, gloves, a telling time book, underwear, a book of "why".  Ella got a teddy bear, a learning house, a cute lambie, a new toothbrush, and a sippy cup.

Bingham Christmas

Between the busyness of the holidays, and the sickness that plagued our home during January, I'm behind on blogging!  Here's my feeble attempt to catch up.  We had a great holiday season.  On the Bingham side, the entire family was around.  It was fun to have several occasions to get together.

 All 24 of us rode front runner down to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights.  As usual, it was so busy there, but still fun see the pretty lights.  Jack loved the nativity and Ella just loved being cozy in the stroller.  Here's our best attempt at a great family picture :)

Ella and Maggie cozy as can be in their strollers.

The next night we had a family party in Honeyville and Grandpa and Grandma's house.  We exchanged some gifts and had a yummy ham dinner.  We also played a few games.  Basically just until we had most of the little kids crying.  Playing games where not everyone wins is a hard concept for 3 year olds to swallow.

Minute to win it M&M game.  Lets just say no one wanted to eat those after the game was finished.

Christmas Eve we topped off the festivities with our traditional game of bowling.  Jack was pretty into it this year, and loved playing the karaoke machine and getting a drink at the bowling alley.  I can't remember his final score, but I do know that he chose a green bowling ball (his favorite color) and kept tabs on it the entire game.

Ella loved crawling around and trying her best to crawl out into the bowling lanes.  She loved all the attention from her cousins, especially her 6 year old cousin Maisie that was here visiting from Indiana.

 

Ella, Maggie, Grandpa and Grandma.  Ella and Maggie are 4 months apart to the day.