Christmas

We had the blessing of having all my family (minus Tyler who's on his mission) come to our house for Christmas. It was a lot of fun relaxing and being able to spend time together. We had a nice little Christmas Eve program, ate WAY to much every day, played a lot of Wii, sledded, bowled, visited and just enjoyed each others company. Only problem is now that everyone is gone, Brayden has decided our family is WAY to small. He has taken to the habit of continuously informing me I need to have more babies so our family can be bigger. Even tells the neighbors that I'm going to have lots of babies so we can have a big family.
All in all it was a very enjoyable Christmas.
Waiting to get started

Hey Jenson, give me that!

The chorister

A little Fa-la-la-la action

Doing the Nativity story

Hanging with Uncle Ryan

The wonderful heads of the family

The very bounteous bounty

Opening presents with Uncle Jon

Holy Cow! Santa found Junior's wedding ring and put it in his stocking.

Our little soldiers. If you ever want to please these guys give them a costume as a gift.

Kalei didn't know what the heck was going on, but she knew it was fun

Playin the Wii

Playin some more (this occupied the majority of the time)

My Christmas Village with this year's addition. (Junior gives me one each year and I got a bonus from the boys)

Preschool Program

A few days before Christmas, Brayden had his Preschool Christmas Program. He had been so excited about it for weeks and was always singing the songs they'd been practicing. His teacher commented on how much he loved to sing and how she was counting on him because some of the other kids wouldn't sing. Boy did he listen and bring the house down. His two favorites were "Deck The Halls" and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". He liked "Deck the Halls" because they had the audience sing the verse while the kids stood very still with their hands at their sides. When it came to the chorus they'd put their hands in front of them and sing the "Falalala" part. Well Brayden always sang that VERY strongly but when it came to show time he realized the boys behind him were singing/shouting louder then him. He decided to keep up and they were straining trying to get as loud as possible. It was pretty darn funny.

He enjoyed "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" because he thought the idea of me kissing Santa was absolutely hillarious.

They sang several other songs all with actions and props. It was very cute and we all enjoyed it. In fact, Tavita enjoyed it so much he wound up joining Brayden on stage for a good chunk of it. He sat there attempting to participate as if he knew exactly what he was doing.


A highlight was the kids were finally able to meet with Santa. Bonus, he brought Mrs. Claus along for the ride

Just for laughs

Life with a new puppy on top of three kids has been CRAZY. Among the many things neglected has been my blog and the taking of pictures to post on the blog.I just quickly wanted to record a few of the funny things the kids have been saying lately

-A few months ago we took a trip down to Arizona. While there visiting my aunt and uncle, Tavita became OBSESSED with Uncle Rob. He deemed him Uncle Papa because he looks so much like my dad. The first time Tavita saw "Uncle Papa" he thought he was my dad and was pretty disappointed to find out it wasn't. However, after some cool rides in the corvette, scorpion hunting, and an overall good time, Tavita was hooked. It is now a daily routine for Tavita to ask for Uncle Papa, and begs for me to drive him there.

-I took the boys to get their H1N1 vaccines about a month ago. Brayden knew what was coming and was pretty apprehensive. Tavita was relatively clueless and happily volunteered to go first. He jumped when they first pricked him but was fine afterward. Brayden was also pretty tough, cried a little but sat very still for them. In the end they got cool band aids and a sucker. I told Brayden they had to go back for a 2nd shot at Christmas. Brayden looked at me and exclaimed, "But I've been a good boy, why do I get a shot for Christmas."
Tavita was SOLD on the whole shot thing (obviously has a high pain threshold.) He kept asking to back for another shot. In fact I was taking them to Toys R Us to make Christmas lists and Tavita said, "No, I want go get more shot!" It took me over a week to get him to take the band aid off. Even now he'll take my purse and keys and say, "Bye Mommy, I go get shot." STRANGE boy!!!

-While Junior was in Australia we were blessed with a little fury visitor. Poor Tini (Junior's cousin who lives downstairs) is TERRIFIED of rodents and that is were Mr. Mouse decided his home should be. I bought some traps and decided they'd be no problem to set. WRONG! These buggers were sensitive. I tried repeatedly to set them only to have them come snapping down (one time on my finger). Janessa joined the effort to no avail. Every time we'd set one and go to let go Tavita would cringe and shield his eyes "No,no,no, please, no." Finally had to call on our neighbor to set the darn things. One went off after I brought them back home and I was able to set it. It worked though, Mr. Mouse was sent to Mouse Heaven the very next day.
Brayden kept begging to see the mouse. I told him I sent him to a happier place. Brayden replied, "He's happy here, where is there a happier place." Ummmmm....

-Brayden has been learning new songs for his preschool Christmas program. He got in the car one day saying, "Mommy I learned a really funny song today about you kissing Santa." For days after he kept asking me to kiss Santa when we saw him. Finally I said, "I think the song is talking about a mommy kissing Santa because the daddy was dressed up as Santa." His reply, "No Mommy, Daddy is at work, you get to kiss the real Santa!"

-We had a FHE lesson on the different symbols of Christmas. Now every time Brayden says a prayer he has to include, "Thank thee for the star so we can remember the birth of baby Jesus." We can't pass a star without him telling us the start is to remind us of when Jesus was born. It's really cute.

-Janessa helped the boys wrap some Christmas presents for me and Brayden was really excited about the surprise. Tavita was always carrying the presents around begging to open them. Brayden would dutifully take them away and put them back under the tree. One day we wrapped a present in a gift bag for Brayden to take to a birthday party. Soon after we realized one of the presents to me was missing. We were searching everywhere. I went to pick Brayden up from the party and he came running to the door, "Jaxon opened your present." Apparently Tavita had slipped the present into the bag with Jaxon's present. He opened it and kind of stared like, "umm, okay." (it was a figurine for my Christmas village). Apparently Brayden gave him a bit of the what-for for opening my present. He was pretty disappointed the surprise was ruined.

We had a VERY nasty slush storm on Sunday. It was like walking through a Slurpee 2-3 inches deep on the driveway. We were trying to get ready out the door for church, Tavita took one step out the door and said, "Mommy, lets go to Hawaii and go to the pool." Pool is his catch phrase for any sort of swimming. At that moment, I couldn't have agreed with him more.

Gingerbread House

Junior is the 11 year-old scout leader at church and one of the many blessings of this calling is we get hit up for A LOT of fundraisers. Through one of the fundraisers we wound up with a gingerbread house kit. Last night for Family Home Evening we decided to put it to use. The boys had been begging for MONTHS to make one and were so excited we finally did it. The initial start was not a pretty sight. We had burned pieces that were breaking off as we took them off the cookie sheet. I figured since they were to hard for anyone to want to eat anyway, we might as well take a hot glue gun to the sucker. We used hot glue to put the house together then used frosting to make it look pretty and stick all the candy and what not on. In the end we had a great result and the boys love it. They wanted to dig in to it right away, actually they didn't wait for it to be completed. There was a lot of licking of frosting and sneaking of candy going on during construction.
The initial construction with the hot glue

Brayden deciding what he wants to put on top of his peppermint stick. He help frost half the house, Tavita the other then they did the yard.

The final product

The boys with their masterpiece and me sneezing

Snow and more

Much to Brayden's great delight we finally got a real snowstorm from Sun-Tues. It snowed A LOT and Brayden couldn't have been happier, he was so worried there'd be no snow for Christmas. Thanks to FREEZING single digit temps the snow has been here all week and the boys have been loving being able to play in it. Their favorite game is for me to stick them in the tobogan and race around our street (which is now a nice sheet of ice/snow). The boys would do it all day but I poop out after awhile, it hurts to run in the cold).
Here are a few pics of the boys when the snow was first falling
Farmer Brayden. This kid LOVES the snow. We got home and he was wearing a checkered shirt. He decided that coupled with the snow bibs made him look like a farmer. He stuck on his "Farmers Hat" and just sat out there letting the snow fall on him forever.

Janessa teaching Tavita how to make snow angels with the help of Bowzer

Again, Brayden just laying in the snow enjoying it. Man are we opposites

We are all set for Christmas. The only picture I have of us decorating is us putting the star on the tree. We went and got the tree for Family Night but by the time we got home it was too late to decorate. The boys had been so excited to put the star up we decided to do that before bed then finished decorating the next day.

Bowzer and Kalie are the BEST of friends. Wherever she is, he is usually curled up at her feet, between her legs or something of that sort.


I love this picture of Kalei having a "conversation" with her Daddy

I gave Bowzer a bath the other day which he HATED. The boys felt so sorry for him they covered him with their special blankets and Tavita even contributed his binky. Look closely he is there under all the blankets.

The blueberry queen!

B is for Bowzer

I have so many things to be playing catch up on but thought I'd post about this first. Santa came early to the Shum house this year and dropped off a new member of our family. "Bowzer", lovingly named by Brayden is a little 8 week black lab that we're all quickly falling in love with.
We've been looking at getting the kids a dog for Christmas but I came across Bowzer online and couldn't pass him up. Rather than try to hide him for 8 weeks and deprive him of attention and valuable training time we decided that it'd be best if Santa made a special trip to our house.
The boys woke up Saturday morning to Bowzer sitting at the bottom of the stairs with a big bow around his neck. Santa had helped himself to some cookies and milk and left a note explaining he had gotten the boys letters (in which they had asked for a puppy). Santa told him he was so excited to get the letters because he had a puppy up at the North Pole that he knew the boys would love. The puppy was so excited to join the family, he couldn't wait for Christmas. Santa made a special trip all the way from the North Pole just so the puppy could join our family.
When the boys came downstairs they were beside themselves with excitement. The kept laughing and running around. After a little bit the novelty kind of wore off. Bowzer was pretty overwhelmed by all the newness and kids so was acting up quite a bit and nipping (in a playful way) and the boys were disappointed that he didn't know how to fetch and kept biting at their ankles. After everyone, including Bowzer, took a long nap and a lot of work on training, things went much more smoothly. I explained to the boys that Bowzer was just a baby and needed to learn things. I told them it was important to teach Bowzer they were the boss and work with him and soon they'll be best buddies. The rest of the day Brayden went around telling everyone, "This is Bowzer, he was kind of mean but now we're best buddies." Both Brayden and Tavita love walking around the yard with him on a leash and playing with him (until Bowzer get too wound up and starts using his teeth to play). Kalei and Bowzer are way too cute to watch. It's interesting to see how much more gentle he is with her than the boys. If she's in the room he always wants to be near her and Kalei just sits there and babbles and laughs at him. They can entertain each other for a long time.
We've only had him for two days but he already knows that he's only allowed on the middle floor (where there is no carpet) and won't go up or down the stairs. If we go, he just sits there and stares at us with his big puppy eyes. He rings a bell whenever he needs to go out to use the bathroom. He's getting good at sitting, waiting til we tell him to eat, taking food gently, and staying. For a puppy he doesn't chew too bad and is always quick to stop when we reprimand him and give him one of his chewies. He's getting better at not biting while he plays but we still need to work on it. He rarely will nip at Junior and I. He nips at the boys quite a bit when they start chasing and wrestling but he's improving fast. For some reason he has it out for Janessa and is ALWAYS nipping at her, even if she's just walking by. It's always in play but funny how he guns for her.
We're loving having him and are adjusting more and more. Junior may say differently since he's on potty duty at night every 2-3 hours. I've offered to trade him but he doesn't think he's able to nurse Kalei for some reason. We're just so excited to watch him grow with our kids.

The boys coming down the stairs

Tavita's first interaction

Brayden's first interaction

Family Picture

Yes, he is actually eating the food. For the first half of Saturday, I was constantly chasing him away from the food dish, taking bones out of his mouth etc. He kept saying, "No Mommy, I'm a woof"

The new "Best Buddies"

6-months and all is well...

Here's a shout out to little Miss Lei has made it through the first half of her first year of life. To start with here are her stats:

Weight: 17 lbs 2 oz (75-90%)
Height: 27 3/8 in (95%)
Head: 16.4 cm (off the charts, yep she's a Shum alright!)

A few facts about Kalei:
-She sits completely unassisted and loves to reach around as she does so
-She can steamroll/scoot to whatever she has her mind set on
-Her favorite food is frozen blueberries (I put them in those netted teether things). If she's ever upset, put those in her hand and she's instantly content
-Other foods she's had: poi, rice, applesauce, banana, green bean, mango, cream of wheat, carrots, potato, mixed cereal). Still haven't given her any real baby food, just not much a fan of them.
- She has a heart-melting laugh and no one can make her laugh harder than Brayden. He can get her absolutely rolling.
-She loves to ride around in her sling so she can watch everything I do.
-She's very social and does not like to feel left out of ANYTHING
-At one point she was an incredible sleeper, went down at 7 and slept until 5:30. Now she wakes up A LOT but we'll give her the benefit of having a minor ear infection and Daddy being gone. It'll be interesting to see how she's doing in a few days when Junior gets back and the anitbiotics do their thing.
It truly has been such a joy to have Kalei in our lives. She is a VERY smiley and happy baby. It doesn't take much to get a huge grin from this little girl. She loves life and loves to explore the world around her. I just love this stage when they have this wide-eyed wonderment at everything they come in contact with.
We love you Lei Lei!!!