The Whole Dang Family at 11 Months Ok.

Jonah is 11-months old, but this isn't all about him.

(Hint: It's always all about him. He is the tiny king of our family and he knows it and we all follow him around with stupid grins on our faces giving into his demanding chubby little finger pointing us anywhere he whimsically wants to go for a second before nonsensically changing his mind. And we laugh about it together in the same conspiratorial way suggesting that we're really in charge, but we just aren't quite sure. But we don't really care.)

Here's the ceremonious monthly photo portraying the fact that the babe does what he wants right now and at that moment the ceremonious monthly photo was NOT what he wanted.

Family stats:

Thomas works, works, works and is good at it. He is also very good at helping me. I won't make an itemized list, because it might make me look bad. :) He is GOOD. Sometimes I wonder if he has enough fun in his life because he is always busy making sure we are provided for and looked after, but he doesn't complain.

I am busy with the usual. Morning means: feed people, boss them around, make lunches, try and read some scriptures, ah! we can't forget family prayer again, don't forget your lunch!, Asher! Run along the side of the road so you don't get hit!, fine Ambrose- you can walk to your class by yourself- ah thanks for the hug buddy...and all that. I take care of what I can during the day while chasing around a baby, I get the big boys after school and it's a race to the finish line with homework/swim lessons/speech, then there's dinner (ugh- why is dinner such a puzzle for me- I am not new at this...), and then bedtime and I LOVE bedtime but not just because it signals the end of a crazy day- bedtime means:

I read a chapter of Harry Potter aloud. Ambrose particularly is captivated and I am too. We are into it people. Totally into it. It is fun.

Then we do prayers. Then we play 10 questions. Usually it's mom and dad asking scripture questions, family facts, silly questions, science or math facts... whatever.

Last night it was ridiculous and every answer was: "jammie jeans"... a phrase Asher used for a while to mean PJ pants. We thought we were hilarious. I believe one question was, "What goes on a sandwich with peanut butter?" Answer: "Jam-mie jeans!" hahahaha

Sorry you had to be there.

Sometimes the boys ask the questions.

Always we end with hugs.

Sometimes we also end with parents losing patience with little boys finding excuses to stay up later.

So that's us right now. The boys are doing well in school and swim lessons. The little one is bossing everyone around. And everyone is happy October is here!

This month we have the fall break play, Jonah's first birthday, ward trunk-or-treat, and Halloween. Oh yeah, and we are starting construction on our house. Fun times ahead!

Jazzy Batman

This picture was randomly waiting for me on the computer today.

It made me want to run over to the school and pick him up and take him out to ice cream and make a bronze sculpture of his face and buy him a pony and write a short story about his sassy ways.

Asher Henry is a delight.

O H A N A

Thomas took these over the last several months. You can tell which child is a more willing participant when the camera comes out! I love them all.

Jonah at 8 months!

A week-or-so ago Jonah turned 8 months!

Here's what Jonah Kimball can do now:

Scoot all over the house! It's a huge pain and awesome all at the same time.

He's acting like he's going to officially crawl very soon.

He got four top teeth all of a sudden earning him the nickname: "chompy"- you must say it with a slight New Orleans accent. So he has six teeth now.

Just this past week he decided he prefers me to anyone and anything. He always loved me most, but he fusses for me now. It's not as flattering as it should be.

He takes two longer naps now instead of three naps.

And while we are here, let's talk about his brothers because they are just as cool and rascally:

Ambrose Carl!

 First let's all have a good laugh at this HILARIOUS spring picture of Ambrose and his Jack Nicholson eyebrows. So so good. And down below is the boy at his 6-year-old check-up.

At the time that photo was taken he was 47lbs and 47 inches tall. Pretty cool!

Ambrose loves his swim lessons.

He tolerates me forcing him to do this reading program over the Summer. It makes me slap my forehead in frustration because he is a great reader. I just need to get him to love it more. Working on that.

He loves to go to the water park and beach, have friends over and go to friends houses, pop popcorn, catch lizards, tease Asher, he comes up with art projects galore (mostly involving robots), his favorite color is green, and he is the snuggliest of all of our kids.

Whenever I ask him if he wants to learn the drums or guitar he says, "BOTH!" like I'm insane for asking.

He is either so amazingly, perfectly cute or an emotional nightmare. Sorry future Ambrose reading this, but it's true. We love you anyway buddy!

He is a little self-righteous at times about rules or church stuff, but I prefer that to rebellion in the long run so I put up with my kid reminding me that we don't do this or that on Sunday...etc. :)

He LOVES to learn as long as I am not making it a daily chore- so that's my challenge as a mom.

He is one of my very best friends.

Now for Asher Henry!

Oh this picture makes me laugh until I cry. The tiny smile, the pointed toes in slippers, the obedient pose... it's just too much.

And here's a day where he came out in the morning fully dressed telling me, "Mom, I a cool guy!"

He is very cool.

His language is EXPLODING! Thomas and I look at each other amazed every few days at what just came out of his mouth. We understand him and he is saying very complex words. It's nothing less than an answer to many, many prayers.

We are keeping him in the same preschool class next year and they will share him with the large class on campus so he can get all types of practice and social experience. I cannot say enough about how good school has been for him and what an answer to prayer it has been! Grateful.

He loves his family, teachers, friends, and baby bear.

He is the best lizard catcher in our family.

At his four-year-old check up a week ago he weighed 35lbs and was 40.5 inches tall.

He just officially learned to swim last week. 

He enjoys the water park, beach, Ruby and Joey's house, quoting silly lines from his favorite shows, dancing, and making presents for everyone.

He eats the same thing everyday and it drives me nuts. (Breakfast: granola, Lunch: PB&honey, Dinner: nothing! :) I force fruits and vegetables on him whenever possible. He will eat plain OnoYo with no topping.)

His favorite color is blue.

He will do any reading or math activities I throw his way. He cheers for it sometimes!

He is stubborn and we are constantly saying, "Asher, be easy to get along with please!"

He is so little and cute and funny and I am in love with him. 

He still gives the best hugs around!

Oh! And May Day from the Thomas camera!

We don't have a lot of pictures of Asher dancing because he is tiny and was blocked by others. :) Oh yeah, and he hardly moved the whole time.







The sweetest face to ever accompany a tall-tall-tall mohawk:

The most bashful, precious cowboy in the wild wild west:

May Day 2013

Remember our first May Day last year? Here it is. Man May Day is so cute.

This year the boys were so excited. Ambrose practiced his "Korean" dance for weeks leading up to the big day... it's that Gangam style song. With MC Hammer mixed in of course. The kids loved it! I am so impressed with all the talented parents who put hours of their time into these programs. It is all volunteer service and that is amazing! The kids feel so cool and special and have a blast. I vow to actually help out next year.

Asher's preschool group did a cute dance in their own cultural costumes so we dressed that haole as a cowboy. Ambrose's grade represented Korea and it was crazy adorable.

I love this community so so much!

Oh my gosh I forgot Ambrose had that giant mohawk. Who is his mother???????

Never a dull moment!

I haven't posted regular, everyday pictures on here in a long time. I was looking through photos on our computer today to find something for church when I noticed a few adventures that happened all within a few weeks of each other. It made me smile at how thrilling it makes our lives seem when sometimes I worry that we spend too much time getting "stuff" done. Truth is- there is always something wildly entertaining going on and always something fun to do when it comes to these boys. I may not always be patient or soft-spoken as we struggle to get homework and housework done in between the exciting adventures, but we get the "to-dos" done quickly and then we skateboard, or make something, or explore our way right on to the fun!