Keeping Up With The Wakens

2013 is coming to an end and it seems this year passed by so quickly. Here is a recap of some things that happened this year:

Phill - Phill decided that he no longer wanted to work at the Preschool and decided to go back to school. He originally wanted to major in Microbiology and work in a Hospital. He remained with Mapleton District 1 as a substitute paraprofessional. In May Phill decided he didn't feel like Microbiology was the right path for him, and was trying to find career opportunities and figure out what he wanted to do. He spent the summer working on our back yard and built a garden that he tended to. His Biology classes really helped him with gardening and yard work/landscaping. In August he started his own Landscaping/Yard Work business called A Guy And His Mower. The business took off really well and he had several people he did back yard projects for, he had an entire backyard landscaping job, and clients of whom he mowed and took care of their yards for him. Work was busy for him until mid-November and he is hoping to gain more clients next year and take Landscaping classes.

Jenny - With Phill in school and figuring out his career path I worked full time. I still work at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, and enjoy being a Pediatric Nurse. I worked full time until September when Phill's business took off and was able to go back to part time - I love being part time and being home with the kids more. With Phill's garden we grew pumpkins and Grandma Hull and I canned pumpkins and made 20 jars of pumpkin! I made my first pumpkin pie this year from our garden and it turned out great. I mistakenly made a deep dish pie - not intending too, and came to find that I love deep dish pumpkin pie. I also cooked and entire Thanksgiving dinner this year. I wanted to do a pre-Thanksgiving dinner because we are always at someone else's house and never get left overs. Plus I saw it as something every one should try in their life. We invited my friend Maleah and our friends JP and Maurielle Whalen to try our first Thanksgiving. Our experiece - after being in the fridge, supposedly thawing for 4 days the turkey was still frozen. It took 6 hours to cook! I was so mad because I realized most of the foods need to be baked/cooked in the oven and with the turkey taking so long we really had to try and do our best. I have a little toaster oven from college so we were able to cook some things in that. I tried to make Rhodes rolls but our house was too cold and they wouldn't rise so we made Red Lobster biscuits from a mix I had. Dinner took a while to cook and we didn't eat until 7 pm, but those are the memories right!

Avery - Our little 4 year old has grown so much this year. She took dance classes in the beginning of the year and did so well. In May she had her first recital and did so well in it. Avery also started preschool this year at Riverdale Elementary. She loves it and I love watching her grow. She has homework packets that help her practice her counting and writing. She is really good at writing her name, drawing people - especially our family, writing letters and numbers. She counts and recognizes numbers up to 20 as of right now. She is also very artistic and loves painting, coloring and uses very elaborate colors. She likes rainbows and so everything she creates usually involves every color she can find. She still loves My Little Pony and spent the summer earning money to buy ponies. She also still like Ariel, but right now she is loving Frozen. Her favorite is Elsa and all day long she sings "Let it Go" from the Frozen soundtrack

Phillip - This little man as grown so much this year. He transitioned from his crib - to toddler - to big bed this year. It was very difficult transitioning and getting him to stay in his bed and go to sleep. After 3 months it finally became easier and we wouldn't have to lay next to him or lay on the floor in the hallway for him to stay in his room. Some nights we still have issues with him staying in his room but big improvement throughout the
year. He is also 80% potty trained. He still wears a pull-up at night, and needs help wiping if he goes #2, and every now and then has an accident but we are getting close! My Grandma Hull told me it takes a year to potty train a boy and she is right. Some months were better than others, and in the beginning of December Phillip finally was making through the day without accidents. He had done great peeing in the toilet but pooping was difficult, and he would run to another room to do his business. But as of December he is doing great! His speech is improving - he knows his colors but can not say Orange. He counts to 10, but occasionally forgets 4 and 7. And certain letters he doesn't quite pronounce yet or understand the sound - T,C are the more common ones he struggles with so he says "tar" instead of car. We are working on it. He is our little mischievous man, he sits and figures things out and un-baby proofs everything. We put the child proof door knob on his door and he discovered that if you put your hands in the holes and drop full body weight the child safe door knob will break off - I know! who figures that out! Being the mom of a little 2 year old boy who is too smart for his own good has been a stressful experience to say the least, but we have all made it through this year with no broken bones or trips to the ER!

Vacations - This year Phill and I celebrated our 6th Wedding Anniversary and took the kids to Salt Lake City. We stayed with Amber and Jesse in American Fork, UT and they watched the kids for us while Phill and I went through the Salt Lake Temple with was a dream come true for me. We had a fun time, the kids got car sick on the way home and so we ended up stopping in Fruita, CO and spent the night in a hotel. It was the kids first time in a hotel and they were very excited. I also flew to Salt Lake City with my mom and Grandma Hull and spent a weekend with them out there for Amber's baby shower. Then a week before Christmas we drove back out to American Fork for the baby blessing, and we stayed in Lehi, UT. The kids made it through the whole drive with no vomiting! Thank you Dramamine! With the Toth family all together we had an early Christmas and exchange gifts between family members and then had a Christmas dinner at my cousin Calah's house.

Births and Deaths - Amber and Jesse had a baby girl named Ryann on November 5th who we were able to meet when we went out for her baby blessing. On December 17th Great-Grandpa Waken passed away after a traumatic fall. His funeral service was held on December 27th and it was a very nice service. Phill is still having a hard time with it. Megan and Brandon moved into Grandpa's house to help take care of Uncle Sammy and everyone is still mourning and trying to get use to the different transitions. December 30th also marks the 1 year from when Great-Grandma Waken passed away.

Holidays - Valentine's Day we all got fun boxes of chocolate. Memorial Day we went camping with Phill's family at Rocky Mtn National Park. Independence Day we celebrated with a BBQ at our house with both families and then walked to the fire work show at the Thornton Rec Center.
Halloween this year we went as themed characters. I was Cruella De-Vil and Phillip was a Dalmatian puppy. Avery was Ariel and Phill was Prince Eric. We had a lot of fun with our costumes this year. Thanksgiving we had our pre-Thanksgiving dinner with friends and then on Thanksgiving day went to dinner at my Grandma Hull - I now understand why my grandma has 3 ovens in her house. Christmas we had a a pre-Christmas in Utah and then Christmas morning we opened gifts at home, went to my parents house to talk to Kyle -who will be home in 6 months from his mission in Fresno, CA. Then went to Phill's parents house for Christmas Dinner. We also spent Christmas Eve at the Waken's house this year and Phill's Dad read the Christmas Story from the Bible and The Night Before Christmas.

Avery is now 4 and I can't believe that she's been in our lives for 4 years now!
Avery is still our little helper and her new thing she likes to do is help with the dishes. Her and Phillip like to play in the soap bubbles and pour water back and forth. They make a big watery mess but at least their practicing doing dishes right! She is also a protective big sister and although sometimes she has differences with her brother she is always looking out for him. When he's sick she will sing songs to him, and when he cries at night when we're putting him to bed she tells me, "Mom, when Phillip cries I will bring toys for him so he will be happy because I'm a good girl."
She is still full of sass and is Little Miss Independent. Her vocabulary is always growing and sometimes the things she says seems very grown-up. She is working on her writing skills and so far
can spell A, v, e of her name. She is working on r and y. She's also good at x, o, t, u.
Drawing wise she is drawing people now which is a cute head with hair and little tiny body. She also likes to color and paint and is a big fan of Color Wonder.
Avery likes:
 Food - Cucumbers, occasionally tomatoes, cereal, pea pods, macaroni and cheese, and grilled cheese sandwiches.
 TV/Movies - Super Why, Wreck-It-Ralph, Horseland, and she is still really in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
 Toys - She has quite the collection of ponies from My Little Pony, she still likes Princesses and her current favorite right now is Ariel.
She loves to be outside riding her scooter, jumping on the trampoline, and riding her Dora tricycle.
She is now a Sunbeam in Primary and loves going to Primary. She really likes her teacher Sister Amanda Jones who moved up with her from Nursery which has been a great transition for Avery and all of the kids in her class.



Avery also has been taking dance classes. She is in a Creative Dance class that just introduces dance for 3-4 year olds but she loves it and is the cutest dancer/ballerina. It is really great for her and is teaching her structure and obedience. She definately likes to dance to her own drum but her teacher, Mrs. Karen is wonderful with her and within a couple weeks Avery improved tremendously. Most importantly Avery really enjoys it.
Avery has also been paying attention to modesty and lets me know when people or Princesses like Ariel are not dressed modestly.
Now at 4 years old Avery weighs 32.8 lbs (25%) and is 38 inches tall (25%).
 We sure love our little miss Avery!

Phillip just turned 2 years old!

Phillip is still our sweet boy and is very caring. If he finds something that is yours he'll run right to you to give it to you. Every now and then there is sharing issues but for being 2 he is actually a pretty good sharer.
He loves to explore and is really smart. He has figured out how to undo child-protection, like the
outlet covers - he knows how to take those out and tries to plug things in. We always have to keep a close eye on him. Christmas was especially difficult because he loved to plug in the Christmas tree.
Since he's 2, we started just introducing potty training and having him practice going in the potty seat. He's gone a couple times so we are excited but still a long way to go.
Phillip's likes:
  Food - Phillip is a meat and potato boy. He loves mashed potatoes and is not too keen of fruits and vegetables but we keep trying. He likes oatmeal - especially Maple and Brown Sugar, and cereal -
usually Cheerios. He also loves toast and eggs. He is still a little texture funny so we have to
keep giving him the same food a couple of times and then he takes it and loves it.
  Toys - He still loves Cars, Monster Trucks, and likes to take bigger cars and run with them around the house. Or he will sit at the table and quietly play with cars. For his birthday Great-Grandma Hull gave him a Thomas the Train set and a couple trains to go with it and he loves trains! and likes to make train sounds. He also likes animals and making animal sounds. He also has an interest in Spider-man. He's never seen Spider-man, but during the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade their was a Spider-man balloon and Phillip was so excited and dragged Phill from another room into the family room to show him the giant balloon. Since then we've gotten him a few Spider-man things and it's cute to see him get excited and say "Spid-man"
  Books - he us to read books and we are working on numbers and colors. I know he can count to 3 on his own and then he repeats what we say for the other numbers. Colors he can say green, blue, pink, and red. He likes to look at the pictures in the kid style Book of Mormon.
 TV/Movies - Phillip really enjoys watching the animated Mr. Bean tv series. He thinks he's so funny and it's so cute to hear him laugh. He also just became interested in Super Hero Squad which is the superheros like Capt. America, Hulk, Thor, Iron-Man is cartoon style for kids. He likes Aladdin and the scene when Aladdin and Abu are in the Cave of Wonders and they meet Carpet is his favorite part and he laughs in hysterics over it.
Phillip is also beginning to talk more and put sentences together. The first sentence he said was, "Hurry Mom to the potty." We tell him that if he starts to grunt to hurry and run to the potty so it was cute to hear him say it too.
He loves to play with Avery and he calls her, "Ah-lie" still can't quite get the "V" sound. And he is still our cuddle bug and insists on sitting on our lap if we are watching TV together as a family.
He loves to run around outside, play at parks and go down the slides by himself, he is learning to jump with both legs. He likes to sing songs which is either Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or ABC's, the tune is the same and he does more humming than actual singing. He loves music and likes to sway to the music or dance and jump around. But if he listen's to a song for a while he picks up on the notes and hums it. He is also our little helper and likes to help Dad outside, and help with the dishes


At 2 years Phillip weighs 25.6 lbs (25%) and 34 inches tall (50%).
We love our Phillip Jamekins!