Happy Birthday, Aynsley!

Aynsley turned two a couple of weeks ago, so we had to celebrate! I can't necessarily say that the time has flown by and "I can't believe she is already two"...I don't say that in a mean way, but in some ways it seems like she should have been two a long time ago. I guess it helps having a brother who is just ten months older than you are. She really seems to have caught up to Jaxson developmentally in a lot of ways, so it seems like they are more like twins.

Anyway...Aynsley has liked "Finding Nemo" for the past several months, so we decided to have "Nemo" inspired party. I wanted to keep it somewhat low-key, but we did plan an underwater themed menu (submarine sandwiches, "seaweed" (aka salad), "seashells" (pasta salad), etc). We also borrowed a huge blow-up swimming pool from Mike's mom, thinking that the kids would have fun swimming and playing in the water, while the adults mingled outside. Unfortunately, it started to rain as soon as all of our guests started raining. Between the rain and thunder, nobody dared to venture outside, so we had to squeeze into our house.

Aynsley was excited to see her presents, but once she opened the first one or two, she was done. She was just happy to try and play with what she had already opened and didn't seem to care that she still had more. Jaxson was more than willing to help her out and proceeded to open up most of her presents. Unfortunately, he ended up being quite upset when he was told that the gifts were for Aynsley and that he couldn't keep the toys away from her. He was not happy to learn that his birthday is not for a few more months!

Next up was cake and icecream. I tried out a new recipe for Aynsley's cake, and it turned out good, which was a relief! We had cupcakes for the rest of the kids (didn't take any pictures) and let each of them blow out their own candle.

Right after we finished up with cake and icecream, the weather seemed to clear up a little bit and a few kids decided to go outside and swim. Aynsley insisted on wearing her sunglasses when she went out to play. Despite the weather, the party was still a success! We are so glad that we have such great family to come celebrate with us.

December Recap

I hate having to do recap style posts, but let's be honest, I have really sucked at blogging lately. December was a crazy busy month in our household, so sadly the blog has been terribly neglected. The two biggest events were Christmas festivities in general (duh), but also my sister getting married!

Making their debut as Mr. and Mrs. 

Beth and her husband, Mike, finally tied the knot after four years of dating! This was definitely a long time coming, but I know that they couldn't be happier. It was so fun to reflect back on my own wedding day and remember all of the excitement and emotions that were part of the day.

Beth lived with us for about 18 months, so we had the opportunity to get to know her husband even more. They seem to genuinely make each other really happy, so it is exciting to have another member in the family!

The Swain Siblings, plus our new addition: Kristin, me, Mike, Beth, David, and Khemia.

We did have a little bit of drama for the wedding. Jaxson and Aynsley were diagnosed with croup just two days before the wedding. Our pediatrician advised us not to take the kids out, as it seemed they would probably be getting worse before they got better. It seemed like their illnesses were pretty mild and they were getting better earlier than expected, so we decided to take them out anyway. Khemia watched them during the temple ceremony, and they seemed to be doing pretty well. Once we went outside for pictures, everything changed. I think a big part of the problem was the fact that the wedding was right during their naps and it was FREEZING cold. Both kids were miserable, kicking, screaming, etc. We ended up being in one picture before we decided that enough was enough, and Mike took the kids home for naps. I stayed behind to be in more of the family pictures, but it was kind of sad to not have the rest of my family there with me.

Beth had asked Mike to help out with the sound equipment during her reception, so he had to leave early to help get everything set up. I was kind of nervous when the kids woke up from their naps, and there was one point when I honestly thought I was going to miss my own sister's wedding reception because of the kids. Fortunately, they started to perk up and so I decided we would try the reception and see how it went. They ended up doing great! I think that they loved the party atmosphere and being able to move around and explore. Poor Beth, Jaxson kept trying to get her to hold him at every opportunity. She was a good sport and kept saying she didn't mind, but I would be willing to bet that there were a few people wondering if Beth already had a kid. 

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This Christmas season seemed especially busy. Between work events, family parties, and everything else, it seemed like there was something going on every night. As nice as it was to be able to see everyone, it has been nice to slow down a little bit and enjoy time with just our own family. 

Our Christmas Eve/Christmas Day was really nice, and actually ended up not being quite as busy as years past. 

We spent the night at Mike's mom's house on Christmas Eve. We ate a delicious dinner, played games, and watched a movie. She had a pinata for the kids, which Jaxson thought was so much fun. I think that Jaxson and Aynsley were still a little young to really understand what was going on, but they knew that something was up. On Christmas morning, the kids had a lot of fun opening up their gifts. They both were able to do pretty well on their own, so this was the first Christmas where it wasn't Mike and me doing all of the unwrapping for them. After breakfast, we headed home just in time for the kids to take their naps. I was SO glad that we were able to get their naps in...both kids were getting pretty cranky by this point, so I know we wouldn't have survived the day otherwise. 

Aynsley, Mike, and Jaxson on Christmas morning. 

Look what Santa brought...a kitchen!

After naps, Mike's dad and his wife came over to visit for a little bit before we headed down to my parent's house. We ended the day with dinner and gifts with my family. Nearly all of our extended family lives out of town, but we had a few family members who were able to come in for Beth's wedding and stay for Christmas. It made it so nice to have everyone there, especially since I think that the last time we were all together for Christmas like that was when I was in elementary school.

Also, my sister Khemia got a special Christmas present that arrived a few days late...her mission call! She is going to the London, England South Mission and reports to the England MTC on April 4th! We are so excited and proud of her, but will definitely miss having her around as our live-in nanny. :)

Big Days

Jaxson has had a lot of big days lately!

Two weeks ago, we were able to finalize his adoption. It felt so good to make everything "official" and know that he is legally ours, even though he has always been part of our family. Everything went really well...it was such a smooth process. We were so fortunate to have Mike's grandpa represent us as our attorney, which made it seem even more special.

This is us with the Judge after the adoption was finalized. The Judge made a point of saying that he had to hold Jaxson since "there is a rule saying any newly adopted babies have to be held by the judge during photos". I think it is just because Jaxson is so cute!

We have had to wait to bless and seal Jaxson until after his adoption was finalized, so we were able to have his blessing day yesterday. This was something I have really been looking forward to, and it was such a special time. We were able to have some family and friends come up to our ward, and we really appreciated everyone's support. We are so luck to have such great people in our lives! Mike did such a great job, and Jaxson did better than I was expecting. He is so wiggly and is always trying to get down and crawl, but Mike said he did pretty good being held...he just wouldn't keep his head still.

We are so fortunate to have Jaxson in our family...we couldn't imagine life without him!