Vivikins

Vivs, Vivster, Vivikin floor walker, Vivi Kay, Vivi, Vivienne Oh how we love this girl. 

1. What do you like most about yourself? 

Giving people their toys. 

2. What do you think your future job will be? 

Going on walks

3. What do you love to eat? 

Mac and Cheese

4. How do you like to spend your time? 

Play with somebody

5. What are you good at? 

Playing 

6. Who are your best friends and why do you like each other? 

Porter, because I like him so much. (She talks about Porter all the time, cousins are the best)

7. Who is someone you look up to? 

Jack

8. What makes you sad? 

When people hit me. 

9. What is your favorite outfit to wear? 

Minnie Mouse outfit 

10. What makes you really annoyed? 

Ladybugs (We get those awful Asian ladybugs and they annoy me too)

11. What makes you feel proud? 

When people be nice to me. 

12. What makes you happy? 

People play soccer with me. 

13. What do you do when you feel sad? 

Play with my teddy bear or cry on my bed. 

14. What's your favorite thing to do with Mom? 

Clean the dishes

This girl is becoming more independent and doesn't follow me around the house as much...which is sad but not sad at all if that makes any sense. 

15. What's your favorite thing to do with Dad? 

Wash the floor

16. What's your favorite thing to do with Mariah? 

Clean her bedroom (Mariah comes up with fun scenarios that Vivi can do with her toys, making playtime so much more magical.)

17. What's your favorite thing to do with Chet? 

Clean his bike 

18. What's your favorite thing to do with Austin? 

Clean his fan (Vivi likes to say that when she grows up she's going to marry Austin.)

19. What's your favorite thing to do with Eliza? 

Make her bed (Apparently I should be giving her way more cleaning assignments, I didn't realize she was such a fan.) 

Eliza and Vivi have so much fun together. 

20. What's your favorite thing to do with Asa? 

Play (If Vivi is playing with her toys and sees Asa approach she quickly throws her body over her toys so Asa can't take any of them. Someday they will play happily together.)

21. What do you want to be when you grow up? 

A tiger, Elsa, I want to be a girl that has long hair. 

22. What is your favorite color?

Purple and blue and also pink. 

While talking to her Dad: I'm a kitty and you call me "stupid cat". Not that she has heard that from anyone in our house...ahem. In my defense, they can be pretty stupid. 

She loves being a kitty or cheetah or tiger and she gets really into character. We have to reminder her that even if she's a cat, it's not ok to lick people. 

One day when I told Vivi she should ask Eliza if she could wear her dress she said, "She'll say no so let's not ask her." And that is how Vivi gets what she wants. Better to ask forgiveness than permission. Other times she feels really optimistic, "Let's ask him, he'll say yes!" Which makes it that much harder when the answer is no. 

First time she said a prayer by herself: "Dear Heavenly Father, thank thee for Jesus, please bless the cows and the pigs that snort and the elephants. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen." She'll make a great farmer one day, already praying for her livestock. 

"Mom this is my Book of Mornin', I love my Book of Mornin" Her Book of Mormon is actually a small New Testament, but she won't be convinced otherwise. 

For a while she called snoring "sneaking". "Mom, I was sneaking like this." 

There were a few days where Vivi's excuse to not go to bed was because "it will tangle my hand". I never figured out exactly what she meant by that. But it was worth a try to get out of bed. 

One day she brought me a bug and said, "Mom! Look at this baby bug! It said (said in a high voice) save me save me!" Good thing that bug had Vivi to rescue it. 

Vivi started pretending she was going to Africa. She wasn't really sure what she was going to do when she got there, but that never seemed important. 

One day I asked Vivs if she wanted to go upstairs with me and she replied, "Yeah but, I'm dying" in the most forlorn voice. She can be a little dramatic. 

For a while she had an imaginary friend named Strawberry that went on lots of adventures with her. She also would talk about Blueberry at times. And then we realized that Blueberry was our contractor Barry. It blew her mind when she realized that was his actual name. But he is her good friend. She loves to sneak up and "scare" him and Ethan and they do a good job of acting scared. 

She also has a friend in the mirror named Anna, our own little Anne of Green Gables. Her last imaginary friend is Lydia, the Hyde to her Jekyll. "Lydia doesn't try new foods and Lydia doesn't go to bed when her mom tells her too." Good thing Vivi doesn't do that. 

One day Aunt Heather asked Vivi, "What does Eliza say?" Vivi quickly responded with, "No Vivi no!" We all hear that quite frequently. 

One day I was complaining about all the flies in the house and she said, "I'm sorry mom, we'll get you a new house ok?" If only it worked that way. 

Vivi: Eliza! Get out out of the way! Me: That didn't sound very nice, can you say excuse me please? Vivi (in her sweetest voice): Excuse me please. (And then under her breath) Poopy pants. Which is the worst thing she could call a person; you know you've really disappointed her when she whips that one out. 

"Mom, I want my hair turned and turned and turned." Meaning she wants a french braid. 

She calls germs turtles. "I didn't brush my teeth but the turtles just fell off!"

After she had been running hard in the house: "Something's patting me in my body!" She was talking about her heartbeat. Probably the cutest way I've heard it described. 

One day we were talking about a miracle we had experienced as a family and she said, "That makes our hearts get big!"

One day she came to me and said, "Mom, my heart is attacking me!" 

I came downstairs to see how Tanner's painting project was going. All the kids were telling me what their assignments were and then Vivi proudly piped in with, "And I'm a horrible painter!" 

During our tea party with Grammie, Vivi was speaking in her best British accent: "More sugar and tea please." When I told her the tea was all gone she followed up with, "Just sugar then." 

After picking up Vivi she said, "We don't want Asa to find us." When I asked what happens if he finds us she fiercely declared, "We attack him!" Just a little sibling rivalry going on between those two. 

When she's really proud of herself she'll say, "I'm a good job girl!" 

Vivi struggles with picking on her face. But with the help of "princess gloves" and fun face stickers, she is looking much better. A lot of the older generation ask if she has chicken pox...I felt like I had to tell everyone that she wasn't contagious. 

Here she is sporting some of her favorite face stickers 

She still loves to be naked, especially if she can relax by the fire while doing so. 

We are trying to transition out of naps. Which means she can get real cranky around 4. If we leave her alone too long this is how we find her...and then she's up half the night. Fun times. 

She loves making people laugh

She is the master of funny faces  

I mean, come on...

Vivi wanted a "unikitty" cake and I was not prepared as far as decorations go. Tanner decided he would take over the decor...Let's just say he was humbled. The ears and horn are flat on the top of the cake, but his decor was all edible, I was going to use paper for the ears and horn. We had a good laugh and Vivi didn't seem to mind too much. She wanted a "marshmallow cake" so I did a s'mores one. It wasn't til later that she told me she wanted actual marshmallows all over her cake. Whoops. 

We celebrated her birthday early because Tanner's Mondays are really long and it was a good thing we did because Vivi was sick all day on her birthday. She slept on the couch most of the day, sweet thing. She ended up having an ear infection and started feeling better after she got some medicine. 

The birthday girl

We are so grateful to have Vivi in our family. She is the comedic relief and either leaves us laughing or shaking our heads in disbelief, but that is why we love her. She has an imagination like no other, she loves to be with her family and we're excited to watch her learn and grow this year. 

February

We had quite the February. 

We had to say goodbye to some of our church friends. While we were so sad for them to leave, it was great having so many friends at our house to send them off. 

Mariah made a cake for the party, Chet gave them a going away gift that he had made with his 3D pen, and Eliza drew them a picture of gymnastic kitties. We are really going to miss the Hulets! 

Asa really enjoyed the chocolate frosting rings that I kept giving him while helping Mariah with the cake. 

Terron came up with Heather for a sleepover. The boys had so much fun the short time he was here. They decided to go on a bike ride and about froze and they made sure to teach Terron how to drive the new ATV we got. 

We finally got some more snow which we were all excited about. 

And then it got dangerously cold so there wasn't as much playing in the snow as we hoped for. But they got two days of sledding and thats better than no days of sledding. 

We had our second annual family Valentine's Day party. This year I decided to try chicken parmesan and it was enough work that I won't be adding it to my rotation...but it was good. Everyone worked hard writing letters for each other and we enjoyed reading them together. Tanner started saying "Awwwwwweee" after every card and by the time we read Asa some of his he was finishing it up with his own "Awe". It was pretty cute. 

Mariah made some pretty amazing pop-out cards and Chet made everyone something with his 3-D pen. Austin hand wrote everyone's letters and considering how much he dislikes writing that was a real labor of love. And Eliza was so excited to write all her letters by herself. 

We ended the night with cheesecake. Even Josie got some, as you can see from the chunk falling from Eliza's fork. The timing was too good. 

And after I already made the food I realized I had made most of Tanner's least favorite foods...why did I not think of that before? In my defense I intentionally got angel hair pasta because I knew it was Tanner's favorite pasta (Or the pasta he hates the least?) I blame it on the constant demands on my time... But like the amazing husband he is he ate it and told me how delicious it was. Except for the cheesecake, he ate a sliver...but there were no praises for that. I deserved it. 

Asa and Vivi's new favorite snack is frozen blueberries...and Asa is sporting a black eye in this picture too. 

He hit it on our couch of all places...must have been the one hard spot. I took this picture to send to our doctor but he just said it wasn't a big deal. I'm grateful for his patience with the texts I send him each time I'm worried about something. We have a great doctor. Asa looked like he had an impressive cat/smokey eye makeup job for a few days. 

We went on a field trip to the Childrens museum and then followed that up with some ice skating. 

These three...trouble I tell ya. In truth they were so helpful keeping an eye on Asa and Vivi. 

Asa had a blast trying everything out and never wanted to leave a room. There were lots of epic meltdowns cut short when he realized there were other cool things to see/do. 

In between the museum and ice skating, Mariah felt like Vivi would really love to do the carousel. So we headed over there. 

After seeing Mariah's face I think she really wanted to do the carousel too. You go girl. 

I forgot our stroller but my good friend lent me hers so Asa could get a nap while the big kids were ice skating. After that we headed to Costco to get a few things and enjoyed Costco pizza on the drive home. I may or may not have found a pizza crust in the back of the van a couple weeks later...

Josie is very helpful with the school work. Mariah had another choir concert and got to sing a group solo. Singing brings her so much joy and it brings me joy watching her sing. We make a great team. 

Chet had his last archery tournament of the normal season and scored high enough to make it to state! He has really enjoyed archery and we're so thankful for all the people who work so hard to make it possible. 

Alice got this picture at church. Asa should be in nursery, and he gets excited to go sometimes, but he hasn't lasted the whole hour yet. Here's hoping it happens soon. 

Tanner decided to improve the picture. The more I look at it, the more funny it is. 

Asa looking all GQ with his sunglasses. 

Tanner's almost done with his epic basement project. The kids are already planning on a sleepover down there. We just have to get healthy before that happens. 

18 Months

It's official, Asa is a big boy, at least in his mind he is. 

He loves to "help" and his siblings are usually patient with him. Also, we cut off the mullet. The curls weren't looking so great so I knew it was time to go, but it still made me sad. 

He loves to run away from me and is getting faster. 

He always wants to be outside, but he isn't a fan of winter clothes. Maybe he just knows he's actually in a girl's snowsuit? 

He did like being towed around on a sled though. 

He loves being with his brothers and they are so good to him. 

His big sisters are pretty great too. Basically, he doesn't run short on love and attention. 

He's in full reorganization mode now and he takes his job of emptying out drawers and cabinets very seriously. 

He really loves markers and I'm just waiting for the day when one gets left out and he can go to town on the walls/furniture. 

He is getting better and better at communicating with sign language. If he is trying to ask for something he doesn't know the sign for, he sometimes starts trying different signs hoping I'll figure out what he is asking for. He uses the "all done" sign any time he doesn't want to be somewhere, car seat, high chair, bed...

He still doesn't talk much but he uses "mom" for when he wants comfort and "dad" for when he wants to do something fun. He also uses "ball" for a lot of things. And his little "de do" is the cutest thing. 

Asa loves to "sing" and makes the funniest facial expressions while he serenades us.  

He still loves to throw things...everything...my least favorite is probably food off his tray when he's done eating so he can call "Dosie!" (yes, he doesn't have any of his siblings' names down but he can say the dog's name). Asa recently discovered the joy of throwing things down the stairs too, so that's been fun. 

He also has figured out how to climb up on chairs and it's only a matter of time before he figures out how to push them over to higher surfaces. Pray for us. 

He's been working on his fake cry lately and has gotten pretty good at it. He holds his breath when he gets mad and I'm just waiting for the day when he passes out. 

He spent thirty minutes in nursery but then decided he should join me in singing time...that way he can help out. Whatever would I do without him?

He thinks it's hilarious when his siblings try to dodge his gaping mouth as he comes in for a bite. We need to work on our poker faces so he realizes it isn't actually funny. 

The boy knows he's adorable...even with the biting and hair pulling. 

How do you not spoil the baby? 

January

New Years day we went back up to Grandma and Grandpa's. Vivi and Eliza enjoyed helping grandma make cookies and the boys played games with Grandpa Crossley. 

Chet was so excited to go to the temple and because his Bishop is his dad, he was able to be ordained a deacon by his dad and grandpa. 

We left his dress clothes at Aunt Boo's house so Grandpa Crossley did a little nip and tucking of clothes and made some of his dress clothes work. 

Chet has been so excited about receiving the Priesthood and serving in the church. We are so grateful for his enthusiastic willingness to go to work for the Lord. 

Grandma did a King's night for us and Eliza wanted to dress up like a wisemen and do a little photo shoot, this is one of her favorite poses of the night. 

The next morning I took the younger four to Jaqui's house again. I asked her last minute if she could watch them and my kids were thrilled to go back to their house. The rest of the family went to the temple with Grandma and Grandpa for baptisms. It was fun to see all the new young men and women doing baptisms for the first time. I even got to see Christian, a friend from Badger Creek with his daughter in the temple. 

Later that day we headed up to Tiesha's house. Timmy came that night too. 

The cousins were excited to go to the Afton temple first thing in the morning for more baptisms. 

I love that they all want to go to the temple as often as they can. 

We spent the rest of the day playing in the snow. Timmy was so sweet pulling Vivi around on a sled. He was getting a little wild and pulled her down a bank and she face planted in the snow, but she just looked up with snow all over her face and started laughing. 

Ezra and Austin worked hard digging tunnels throughout the snow. 

They have the most beautiful views around their house. 

What started out as a tunnel eventually became an epic snow fort.

Tanner helped a lot on their amazing igloo. We're hoping it will stick around all winter. 

I just love when these cousins are able to get together. 

We spent a night at the Harris's house and thoroughly enjoyed their rock wall and basketball court.

It's always a good time when the boys get together. 

We woke up bright and early the next morning to snow. It was tricky getting out of the driveway but after laying down some pine boughs and a little help from Steve and Tanner pushing the van, we were able to get on the road. 

This was how the roads were for the first few hours...not what you would call ideal conditions. And poor Mariah seemed to get the stomach bug. She spent most of the day throwing up. Once we got on I-80 the snow stopped and we had clear roads, but then Tanner missed the exit to gas up and thinking another gas station was closer he kept going. We went on empty for a while and I think it was all of our praying that helped us make it to a gas station. 

Towards evening it began to storm again but instead of snow it was ice. If we didn't keep the air hot and high on the windshield it would immediately ice up. The kids kept complaining about how hot it was in the car, but we just told them to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, or something like that. By yet another miracle we made it to Kearney.

This was the ice on the car...

By the time we went to bed Mariah was feeling better and no one else threw up, yet another miracle. The next morning we slept in and took our time at breakfast, hoping the storm would ease up. But we finally headed out again, this time dealing with icy roads and crazy wind. The kids had fun counting all the semis tipped over...What a fun time! Yippee! I think I aged 10 years but once again we made it through. 

I wish I could have been as calm as Asa on the drive...the icy roads didn't even phase him. 

We decided to take a break in Omaha and went to the Winter Quarters Visitors' Center to stretch our legs. The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful. We are so grateful for all the prayers made in our behalf during our travels. So many people reached out to make sure we were doing ok. 

Tanner took the older three to a high school basketball game and Eliza and I had a little hot chocolate party. 

Asa and baby Eliza decided to swap shoes one day. 

Chet had more archery tournaments. 

And my parents made it to our house. They have been on a mission in Botswana for two years so we were so excited to see them. Grandpa got to watch Chet shoot in a tournament and he had a personal best. Then Grandma and Grandpa were able to watch Austin and Chet play some basketball. 

Both teams were quite the ballers. It was fun watching them play. 

Brittany and Baydon's family came up Sunday night and Asa had so much fun playing with Elsie. He really was intrigued with how Elsie put anything he gave her into her mouth. You could see the wheels turning in Asa's head and then he leaned down and put his forehead right in front of her mouth. He was so tickled when she gave him a big ol' wide mouthed kiss. 

Grammie treated us to a tea party, complete with etiquette training and more sugar than we ever need. 

Papa Ralph made sure to take them to Snack Shack a couple times for ice cream. 

We had a warm day so Heather and I took the littles on a walk through the timber. Eliza was our fearless leader, showing us the best trails to get through the thorn bushes and pointing out all the moss she saw. Asa was thrilled to be outside. 

Later in the week, Tanner fixed up our bikes and we were able to go on a little ride. 

Friday morning Grammie, Heather, Mariah and I went on her Christmas shopping spree. If you ever want to go clothes shopping but don't want to have to dig through clothes, take my mom and Heather with you. They kept a steady stream of clothes coming for Mariah to try on. She has a few new outfits that she is excited to wear. 

After that we met up with the rest of the family to tour the capitol building. 

It is such an amazing old building so if you live in the area you should check it out! 

Tanner recreated the dome picture. 

And since we love shushing our children we decided we should check out the amazing library. Asa loved carrying around all the different garbage cans he found. Maybe he has a future profession as a janitor? 

We had dinner at Costco and Papa Ralph bought everyone their own personal ice cream. Best day ever! I drove home with the littles and the rest went to a hockey game to finish out the night. 

We have loved having my parents here and were sad to say goodbye, but we know there are a lot more people anxiously waiting to see them.