January Newsletter & Slideshow

Slideshow:

https://goo.gl/photos/aiK7VSAem81UwDxp8

Newsletter:

Hamilton Newsletter

January 2017

FAMILY:  HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017!! We had both fabulous and tragic times this month. Heidi was able to go with her sisters and have a retreat in SLC to celebrate Cindy turning 40 (see Heidi's section for more details) and we were able to have a wonderful Potts retreat here down south that included a trip to Tonaquint Park, golfing for the boys, ice skating, movie watching, swimming, playing games, Discovery Park, singing at a care center, going to glitter mountain, and lots of eating and visiting. The tragic part came at the end of the month when we learned that both Burton's 1-month-old daughter, Krinn, and Uncle Richard passed away :(   Also this month, we fed the missionaries, went to an SUU gymnastics meet (we won!), cheered Daken on at his basketball game, and Jason took the 3 older girls skiing.

JASON:  Jason's sinuses still plagued him until he finally went into the doctor & got some antibiotics. They seem to be a lot better now. He was so good to watch ALL FIVE girls (including a breastfeeding baby) so Heidi could go to SLC and have her girls weekend with her sisters to celebrate Cindy's 40th. He also took time off to be a part of the annual Potts retreat. Thank you!!! Jason enjoyed seeing his family at Daken's basketball game, and later that day he got to go to an SUU basketball game with Carl Petersen & had a good time.

HEIDI:  Heidi made her 2017 new year resolutions and helped the girls to come up with some, too (even Oaklyn & Noelle :) ), so she hopes to accomplish a lot this year. Heidi thoroughly enjoyed the girls weekend with all her sisters. Some of the fun things they did: Kidnap Cindy (complete with a blindfold and disguised voices), watching the play Indiana Bones at the Deseret Star Theater, having a "welcome to 40" ceremony, complete with candles, a book with 40 memories, and an "old hag bag," getting Cindy at makeover at Nordstrom, eating lunch at the Olive Garden, napping, getting pedicures, eating out at a yummy Japenese place, playing the LOL game, watching "the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" (we had to watch this, as we are now the sisterhood of the traveling old hag bag), eating a yummy ebbelskiver breakfast made by Trisha, and going to mom's church on Sunday. It was a fantastic weekend & wonderful memories. She did a lot of pumping of milk, so she was also glad to get back to Oaklyn and the rest of her beautiful family. She even came home to a clean house and a candy bar poster!! She felt so loved & appreciated :) She also enjoyed the Potts retreat, especially getting to see her new nephew Max and spending time with family. Heidi got a run in with her dad in St. George that was nice, and read The Nightingale & The Scarlet Thread - both very good books. Heidi lost her wallet for a couple weeks - so thankful she found it! One funny (in hindsight) thing that happened this month. McKinley had put the plastic lid to the blender IN the blender & mom didn't see it, so she whipped up a yummy drink in the morning (wondering why the pineapple pieces were so hard to blend). Don't worry - not too many gulps happened before dad noticed some chunks of plastic in his drink :)

McKINLEY:
-McKinley continues to do well in the cello. She's decided to stick with it in middle school, instead of trying out a new instrument. We are proud of her & know she'll do great. Another instrument she's been playing around with is daddy's guitar. Since the string got fixed on it, she's had fun figuring out the strings. Definitely a musical natural!
-McKinley's school is putting on Seussical! McKinley was in a Cedar City Children's Musical Theater production of it a couple years ago, so she was already familiar with it. She auditioned with one of the Seussical songs she knew and a few lines from the Mulberry Street book. She got the part of Mrs. Mayor! We are so proud of her & can't wait to see her perform in April.
-McKinley's 5th Grade Science Fair was this month and worked hard at it! She decided she wanted to do it about DNA, so she chose some questions (like, what color are your eyes, do you have dimples, etc) to ask on a Google forms document (she put it together all herself) & she wanted to find out what percentage of people had dominant vs. recessive traits. Her project was called "You look good in those Genes!" and she got 1st place!! Way to go McKinley!! Grandpa even came up to see her. She now gets to go to the SUU Science Fair at the end of March :)
-She got to go to her BFFs birthday party at the aquatic center at the end of the month and had a great time!
-She gets a free skiing pass this year since she's in 5th grade. She had fun skiing, but says it's not really her thing.  

IRELAND:
-Ireland was so cute and made a whole book about a dandelion for Noelle. It was really well illustrated, written & read  - it was super-sweet!
-Ireland had fun using her fairy garden she got for Christmas. She planted the seeds & it was so fun to watch them grow!! Unfortunately, it got dropped a couple times, so it didn't flourish as much, but we are excited to re-plant it with some flowers this spring. She really loves the fairy that came with it & plays with it a lot :)
-Ireland lost her math book for a couple weeks this month & got a little behind :(
-Ireland started a new gymnastics session this month & has been having fun & doing great. She got a 9-second rope climb, too - way to go Ireland!!!
-Ireland gave an awesome FHE lesson this month. It was about the Plan of Salvation & she cut out a bunch of fishes & we fished for them with a magnet & on the back of the fish was a scripture about the Plan of Salvation.
-Ireland lost her lower left canine tooth this month!
-Ireland had a lot of fun skiing with dad. He says she needs to try the harder hills next time!

KEZIA:
-One night, in the middle of the night, Kezia came in just almost screaming, saying her ear hurt so bad & she was in so much pain. The ibprofin helped, but mom took her into the doctor the next day. He said she had a super bad ear infection, one of the most painful kind, and we got her started on antibiotics that day. Mom wanted to keep her home, but she REALLY didn't want to miss the Spanish activity at school, where they bring their shoe and get a treat, so she did end up going.
-Kezia's class did a fun 100 days of school activity. She brought in 100 almonds (which mom helped to crack since a lot of them were still in shells), and she dressed up like an old lady. Mom put curlers in her hair, a scarf, and drew lines on her face. She looked really cute :)
-Kezia finally went on her earned date with daddy :) they watched a dog movie in the theater and went to Arctic Circle for desert afterward. She even dressed up! And so daddy did, too :)
-One night, Kezia insisted on making dinner & she made grilled cheese sandwiches and homemade tomato soup with hardly any help from mom! Great job Kezi!
-Kezia went skiing for the first time this month! Daddy said she struggled at the beginning to learn the basics, but she really got the hang of it by the middle of the day & was going down the runs great!!                                             

LINK: - We love and miss our baby boy so much. This month, mom had a lady from our ward that wanted to hear his story. She came over & mom got out Link's book & she got to tell his amazing story & gush over all his handsome pictures. It was a sweet gift. We know he watches over our family and know that he welcomed his 2nd cousin, Krinn, into heaven this month <3 p="">

NOELLE:
-Noelle continues to need a LOT of supervision - she is still constantly spilling water, cereal, food, etc, making toilet messes, and coloring on things other than paper :(
-One day Noelle was outside playing & she wanted to come in. She said "There's crows out there and they're cawking at me!"
-Starting the VERY first day of 2017, Noelle's binky got "accidentally" ripped off. :( She went through a few days where she asked for it and was sad, but she's now been binky-free for over a month!! Yay Noelle!!
-Noelle's vocabulary is great, but in the past couple months, she's also gotten so good at expressing both her feelings and talking about events and memories, like she's been talking about Christmas a lot. She will say "hey - I got that for Christmas!" (although, she tends to say that about anything that she wants that someone else has) :)
-Noelle likes to turn off and on the lights and fans lately.
- One day Noelle said "Mom - Sydney is naked!"
-The day that Kezia made grilled cheese sandwiches, when daddy came home, she exclaimed "Daddy - come on in and get some homemade food!"
-Oaklyn had one of Noelle's cars and, of course, put it in her mouth. Then, when Noelle wasn't looking, she dropped it. Noelle got upset and said "Oaklyn ate it all gone!!"
-Noelle is pretty good at getting mom diapers & wipes!!
-She is starting to go to the potty! She has gone a few times & we've even got to call Rachel from Signing Time. Way to go Noelle!
-Mom had gotten some Veggie straws and Noelle wanted some. She said "Mom! - I want some Veggie Tales!"
-One of Noelle's favorite things to do for mommy & Noelle time is to play with "Cookie monster sand" It's moon sand that you can "feed" to Cookie Monster. Unfortunately, she dumped it all on the ground & we had to throw it away :(
-One night as we were putting Noelle to bed, mom asked daddy if he knew where her d-o-g-g-i-e was. Noelle said "GG is at her house with her doggie!" :)
-Noelle still HATES to have her hair and teeth brushed. Every day it's a battle!

 OAKLYN:
-Oaklyn loves to grab her toes!
-One of the cutest things Oaklyn does is flap her arms like crazy when she's excited! :)
-She is now quite the distracted nurser. She will eat for a few minutes & then look around and come back for a second and turn away. She's apparently under the assumption that mom is a snack bar.
-Oaklyn was pretty sick this month :( She had a lot of congestion, coughing & runny nose. She could hardly breathe - and she was bad for a week or so, got better for a week, and then she got bad again :( Mom took her to the doctor, but he said she just had a cold. We did the humidifier, vapor rub on her chest and feet, and lots of booger-sucking, but she still struggled. It was kind of a sad cry-it-out time for a while because she couldn't suck on her binky for comfort and she could barely eat, too :( We're glad she's feeling better, and she does tend to do better sleeping without her binky now!
-Oaklyn did well while mom was gone for the weekend with her sisters. She took the baby food great & was even holding her own bottle!
-Oaklyn does this think where she lifts up her legs & smacks them back down hard. she does it a lot at night and when she's excited. She's actually started moving by kicking her legs down and pushing against her heels!
-Mom thought Oaklyn was better, but just had a runny nose. She got to the gym daycare, set Oaklyn down in her carseat and Oaklyn proceeded to start puking. And puking. And puking. It just kept coming. Mom decided maybe it was best not to go to the gym daycare that day :-/
-Oaklyn is getting so good at sitting up! We can even leave her for a while as long as there's some pillows behind her just in case. It's been fun to see her in a new position - she loves it.
-Oaklyn was quite the attraction at McKinley's science fair. So many kids came up and said how cute she was & they wanted to touch her. Mom said Oaklyn was her science fair project :)
-Oaklyn is definitely talking more, too! She sure sounds like she's trying to say some words!
-It was fun to see Oaklyn & Max together. They are only 6 weeks apart, but Max looks HUGE compared to Oaklyn! 
-Oaklyn is still waking up 2-3 times a night. Hope that changes soon!
-Oaklyn is just at such a fun age. She is seriously so adorable and we all can't get enough of her!!