Christmas with the Mikel Family

This is it...these are all the pictures I have. On the 19th we had a Christmas party at our house. Mom and Dad came, along with Josh and Jess. This is the new bike Lila got from Mimi and Bear. However, this is not her riding it that night. This is the next day before church, wearing the new outfit Mok got her and looking adorable.

She loves her bike. My favorite thing is when Sunny rides it and Lila climbs on the back and holds on tight. They ride circles around the house and have so much fun.

Sunny got an Easy Bake Oven. (Her dream has come true!!) It is actually pretty cute and the food is pretty good. She was making a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting in this picture.

Aunt Jess made adorable headbands for the girls. I couldn't resist trying Lila's on Griffin. He makes a pretty cute little girl...hahaha.

4 Months Old

I thought it would be cute to put Griffin under the tree for a picture. He was obviously not on board with that plan. I'll post more of this photo shoot later, but he never did cooperate. Good thing I think these are pretty cute anyway.

Today we took him to the Doctor for his 4 month old check up. He is actually 4 months and 3 weeks(ish). Here are his latest stats:

Weight: 15 lbs 3 oz -- 40th %
Height: 25 3/4 inches -- 65th %
Head: 16 inches -- 7th%

So, he is growing well (much bigger than Lila and Sunny, and about the same size as Jackson was). Still a peanut head, but I think his big ears make it look a little bigger :)

I posted some of his newest accomplishments the other day but here they are again:

rolling
sitting

laughing and smiling lots
great sleeping and eating
pretty darn adorable all around!

It is looking like poor Griffin has a milk protein allergy/intolerance like Lila. Hopefully he will outgrow it sooner rather than later, although Lila's is still going strong now :( He also has a cold right now. If he doesn't get better after the weekend he'll have to take some antibiotics which I'm not thrilled about, but I bet he'll get better on his own first.

The doctor just wants to be careful of RSV. He told me several times to be very careful and keep him away from crowds, church, and kids (other than our own b/c we can't really help that). He said that 4 months to around a year is dangerous b/c babies can put stuff in their mouths and chew on their hands and can get germs more easily than a newborn. He also said people are more vigilant with newborns and not older babies.

So, as if I wasn't paranoid enough about sickness he has made me even more nervous. If I could put my kids in a bubble all winter I would, but since I can't --anyone with germs better stay far, far, away.

Temple Square

Last night we went to Temple Square with Mimi and Bear to see all the Christmas lights. It was a good idea in theory, but in reality it didn't go so well.

#1. If your kids are all usually in bed by 6:00, you probably shouldn't leave your house to go somewhere at 5:30.

#2. If you make it up to Salt Lake in pretty good time, even with heavy traffic, don't think you are out of the woods. You will still have to park.

#3. Parking was HORRIFIC! We drove around for 30 minutes trying to park with 3 tired kids and a screaming baby.

#4. Don't bring a jogging stroller. It doesn't fit through most doorways and people are just plain rude and won't let you through a crowd on the sidewalk.

But, other than that it went well. The kids were most thrilled with the hot chocolate and cookies. Mimi says "Maybe we'll do it again in 5 years!" I'm with her on that one.

I think Lila actually enjoyed the whole experience the most. She is so adventurous and is always up for anything. She had a ball riding on Bear's shoulders.

Ryan took this and I think it is beautiful.

Breakfast With Santa 2009

Every year our old ward has a breakfast with Santa for their Christmas party. I have loved going to it for the past 4 years and am glad that we were able to go this year also. It is such a wonderful ward and neighborhood, and we love everyone there so much. It really felt like going home and I loved visiting with all my friends that I don't see too often anymore.

I have pictures of the kids with Santa every year (and if I was more organized I would find them all and post them) and I love to see how much the they have grown.

In 2006, Sunny was 2 and cried and I ended up on Santa's lap with her. In 2007, Jackson wanted nothing to do with Santa and it is quite possible they were both crying. In 2008 we added baby Lila to the picture and this year we have added baby Griffin. I love watching my family double in size. Santa is running out of room on his lap.

Jackson has asked Santa for a light-saber. (Check)
Sunny asked for a flute. (Check)
Lila wants something Dora (Check)
Griffin doesn't care (Check)

We can't wait until next years party, and who knows, maybe one day we'll add baby number 5 to the picture!!! (It definitely won't be next Christmas though)

p.s. Thanks for the pictures Julie :)

1st Grade Christmas Program

Horrible picture...I know! I don't know why they are so dark, I tried everything, must've been the lighting on the stage. Jax is on the top row in the middle. He has on a white shirt w/blue sleeves.

Mom and Sunny were there.

So were me and Griffin.

No pictures, but Daddy, Lila, and Nana came too!

We sat amongst about 1000 parents and kids. (This was only first grade and it was packed).

Video coming soon, but I'm warning you it is not good either. In any case, the program was adorable. They danced and sang and Jax had a ball. Can't wait for Sunny to do it next year!

Lots of Random Pictures

These are all the left over pictures I have on my camera from the last few weeks. I figured I'd just post them in one random group. I'll try to caption them for the sake of genealogy.

So, first is Lila looking so cute. She is 2o months in this pictures. For a while she was doing this weird smile all the time. It is pretty funny looking. Luckily she is not doing it anymore.

For some reason she thought she looked really cute that day and kept asking me to take her picture. She is really at a fun age right now. She is such an easy child (Maybe she is making up for being such a hard baby!) and we love having her around. She is always trying to make us laugh. She is always talking and has just recently started using full sentences. I wish everyone could hear how she talks around the house, but alas, she ONLY talks at home. She clams right up as soon as anyone else is around. Some of her sentences this months are:

What are you doing? (Repeat over and over and over)
Mimi and Bear buy me this! (Said about her new jammies)
Sunny broke the dishwasher. (Lila actually tore part of the button off the dishwasher)
I love my bunny. (A long story that hopefully I'll write someday)
When Daddy come home from work? Daddy still at work? (She loves her Daddy)

That's enough for now, as the list could be endless. She is so smart, and I am loving every minute home with her.

Holding Griffin. He was smiling, but I couldn't catch it at the right time. She was watching Dora.

Griff's first Mohawk! Bad picture of him, but you can kinda see the cool hair. It's actually pretty long and I'm thinking about cutting it pretty soon.

And, Griffin turned 4 months old a couple weeks ago. He doesn't go to the Doctor until Friday, so I'll post all his stats then, but here is the latest and greatest about him:

Sleeps from 6 p.m. (sometimes 5) until about 7 a.m.
Still grouchy overall, but has a lot more fun moments during the day
Awesome hair (as referenced by the picture)
Rolls from tummy to back ( been doing that for about 2 weeks)
Rolled from back to tummy, but only once, so it might have been an accident
Can sit up for a few minutes at a time
Loves to talk and loves, loves, loves, his siblings
Oh wait, and he loves ME the most!!!

I know I have a ton of pictures of the kids holding little G, but it just looks so cute every time! Sunny is still such a great helper. She helps change, feed, dress, rock, and cuddle him. I know I've said it before, but I don't know what I'd do without her. I've taken to calling her "Little Mama" and it is so true.

Basically, Jax's world has been revolving around football season. He is officially obsessed. This was him catching a pass. He knows all about the game and is really fun to watch them with. He is such a mini-Ryan. (If you notice in every picture and every time you see him that he is wearing those camo pants and that BYU hoodie, you would be right. That is his favorite outfit and he wears it day after day. Don't worry, I wash it at night...well at least every two nights!)

Ryan up on the roof doing Christmas lights. Scared me to death, I totally thought he was going to fall.

He did a great job and I love how the lights turned out. However, it was a major pain in the butt b/c the clips didn't fit on right and so it took forever to get the lights straight.

The girls were playing something. Not sure what though. If you look closely you'll notice they both have an apron on backward, a hat, and bags strung all over them. And, Lila has Jackson's Transformer shoes on. Whatever it was, they were having a great time.

See Lila with the weird smile again! I love that my girls (and all the kids) have so much fun and love to play and spend time together. Little moments like this happen everyday and I'm glad that I captured at least some of them in pictures.

Christmas Decorating 2009

Before we left for our vacation the kids and I decorated the house for Christmas. Sunny was definitely the director of the whole event, with Lila as her second in command. Jackson didn't seem to care as much about it this year as he did last year. (I'm pretty sure that is because the only thing he cares about is FOOTBALL --thanks to Ryan for that).

I'll have to find a picture like this from last year to compare, but they have all grown so much. Especially Lila, who was 9 months then.

It is such a blessing to have children who not only love each other more than I could've imagined, but to have children who truly are each others best friend. These two are pretty much joined at the hip, and I love it!

Sunny's took this picture of the tree.

At our house Christmas decorations are only allowed in one room, otherwise I feel like Christmas "threw-up" all over our house. My kids think that is hilarious, and love to point out houses with "Christmas throw-up". I've tried to tell them it's not appropriate to say that to people, but that haven't quite gotten it. Please don't be offended if they say it to you, it's all in good fun.

Ryan and I got the lights put up and the outside decorated on Saturday, but I haven't uploaded the pictures yet. I'm sure we were a sight to see with Ryan up on the roof and me yelling at him the whole time to be careful and get the stupid lights on straight. We are officially ready for December.