School Registration

Landon will be entering high school this next year and Callahan will be going to middle school. Big changes for both boys. Just dealing with registration (and deciding WHICH schools to go too, so stressful!). I saw this video on a friend's blog and really enjoyed it (I make many little movies on my own, so I can appreciate all the work that must have gone into this). Wouldn't it be fun if the boy's first days at school were anything close to this?

Birthday Boy

OK ... so I'm not sure WHAT Uncle Clay is doing in the photo above ... just singing I guess. On Sunday, we went up to Maga's house for dinner and cake and ice cream for the birthday boy, Callahan Blackham ... I can't believe he's turning TWELVE!

Monday was his actual birthday ... the kids were out of school, as it was President's Day (Happy Birthday to Washington and Lincoln too). To celebrate, we went out for a birthday breakfast. Callahan even got to sit in the front seat of the car ... although Landon was NOT happy about that and was checking the car manual to see if it had an age limit for kids sitting in the front seat.

We went to Virg's for breakfast, it's a family favorite. HUGE pancakes, but Callahan finished his (Landon too) ... Mom, Keaton and the two little boys all shared two others and that was enough.

Why oh why didn't I plan a birthday party for today? It would have been perfect with the kids out of school and everything. It had been a crazy weekend with multiple basketball games (all for the birthday boy) so I guess that is my excuse. I could see Callahan was getting bored on his birthday, so we rounded up a few friends and I dropped them off at NickelMania. They had fun playing games, winning tickets and exchanging them for prizes.

Then of course it was time for a family birthday dinner ... Red Robin ended up being the choice. The kids enjoyed cheese sticks, fries, chicken, and of course a piece of birthday mudd pie and a chocolate malt.

Here's a look back ...

Haircuts

If you are familiar with our family, you know our boys generally don't wear their hair very long. Buzz cuts were the general style. With five boys, that is a LOT of haircuts, so I'm so lucky that Grayson handles this, it saves a lot of time and expense. Of course, as the boys have gotten older, they have gotten a little bit pickier. They want the top left long, and sometimes they insist on going to a salon (or having Aunt Olivia do the cutting).

Through the years, Grayson has cut the kids hair in various places. In the bathroom sink, in the kitchen, in the hallway, outside when the weather is warm enough. The kids are generally pretty good about it, although there has been some shrieking (Landon above, and baby Cooper below). It's probably easier to deal with crying at home than at a salon ...

Grayson cuts his own hair too! He likes it short, short, short! He's even "bic"ed it (shaving with a razor) a few times. I remember we were on a Mexican vacation, and one of the vendors called out to Grayson saying "Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean" ... pretty funny! I tease Grayson sometimes when the stubble on his face is longer than the hair on top of his head! But as I'm completely out of my element when it comes to cutting hair, I'm very grateful to have my Grayson and his haircutting ... buzzing ... skills!

Be My Valentine

Last year I saw this CUTE card idea on a friend's blog ... I thought it was so clever. This year, I saw the idea again and even though I had left it to the last minute, I thought I'd give it a try. I found these funky glasses (with funky fingerprints on the lenses after the first five minutes, and funky glare in the photos, but still ... they are fun ... the boys are fighting over who gets to wear them on the actual holiday). I took pictures of the boys with their arm outstretched (even Landon cooperated! He needed some Valentines for his seminary class). I'm not a big "photoshop" person (I didn't even use photoshop) but I added a border and some text and had them printed up (note to self, do this early and get less expensive mail order rates!). Then we cut a couple slits, insert a sucker, and we're done! The older boys even did the cutting and sucker insertion themselves. Here's a collage of all the cards ... PREsucker ... you have to use your imagination ...

Another note to self ... don't open the bag of suckers too soon... I had a bag of 80 and thought that would be enough ... not so! The kids (and little friends) had helped themselves to the suckers and I had to make another store stop for more. On a side note ... Callahan was eating one on Saturday, he bit into it and ... out came a tooth. On Sunday, he was trying another sucker and ... out came a tooth ... I don't think Callahan should have any more suckers (but I'll keep this in mind next time the dentist says the kids need an extraction and see if we can save ourselves some expense!). OK ... back to VALENTINES ... of course a couple of the kids needed a Valentine box ... here's our quick and easy idea...

Yes ... it's a garbage can (it's new and clean!) So I think we're ready. I'm in charge of the party for Callahan's class tomorrow, but I'm ready for that too ... a gift for Grayson??? Ummmmm ... ok, maybe I'm not quite ready ...

Aloha

Well ... the absolutely FREEZING temperatures have gone ... it's quite warm now ... around 40 degrees. Keaton's school class had earned a "party" and the theme was a tropical one (Keaton's teacher got married over Christmas break and had a honeymoon in Hawaii ... that may have had something to do with the theme). Keaton went all out, digging out the grass skirt, a couple leis, and of course, the famous coconut bra (I have a picture of Grayson in this same outfit here... sans a shirt ... ooh la la ...) and straw hat. Keaton was a hit and I can almost feel the sunshine!

Superbowl Smorgasbord

We're not really a big "SuperBowl" family ... I mean I guess the game usually does get turned on that fateful day in February, so we can have some idea what everyone will be talking about in the following days, but we're just not big football fans. I think the last couple years Landon has gone to gather with friends ... but we temped him to stay at home this year. Grayson cooks up the BEST steak ... filet mignon wrapped in bacon cooked to perfection. Marinated chicken, creamy mashed potatoes (another Gray specialty) and homemade rolls. Yummy!

After dinner I baked up some sugar cookies in fun football shape. I've been meaning to do this for years now. Now I admit ... we were rooting for the Steelers ... Gray was born back in Pittsburgh so they were the sentimental favorite.

Keaton's Caps

It all started last summer ... Keaton went to a neighborhood garage sale and came home with a baseball cap purchased for a quarter. It was yellow, with Big Bird on it. From then on ... he wore that cap constantly (go check out the pictures on the blog from July and August of last year)! For his birthday in August, he asked for a Cookie Monster hat. That was cap #2 ... and the cap collection had officially begun. He now has several Sesame Street characters (Elmo, Ernie, Oscar, Snuffy) ... Kermit and Animal (who are actually Muppets, but made cameos on the show), then other characters from favorite television series. Whenever he saves up enough money, he wants to purchase a new hat. He got a couple hats for Christmas. Even though the kids can't wear hats at school, he wears his hat TO school (takes it off during school hours) then puts it back on by the time I pick him up. Sometimes on Sunday, when I see him without a hat, I'm a bit taken aback, because it is such an unusual occurrence. Yes ... Keaton is cap crazy!

Blackham Basketball

It's basketball season ... well, with Callahan, it's basketball season ALL year, but it intensifies in the winter months. The other boys participate in Jr. Jazz, Landon is reffing, and Callahan plays on TWO teams. There's church ball too, for Landon and even Gray! But Callahan is the true basketball enthusiast. I started making muvees of his games, and he enjoys them so much that I've been making them of EVERY game. At first, I'd pretty much just focus on Callahan ... if he wasn't in, I'd turn the camera off. I would capture some of the other kids making shots too, and I thought the kids and/or parents would probably enjoy them too. And all the boys on both teams are good friends, so I just started leaving the camera on more (I'd still take small breaks when the OTHER team had the ball). I set up a YouTube account just for Callahan's basketball games, to make it easier to share with teammates (so they wouldn't have to wade though all the family videos too). I hope they enjoy them as much as Callahan and I do. I thought I'd keep a running recap of all his games, with links to the videos here on the blog ...

Superleague ... The Utes

• Game One: At Franklin Covey (9:00) 12082010. What a great game! Callahan was on fire with several great shots. I was so glad Dad was there to see it. It was a challenging but fun game, we won by three points. Video Link.
• Game Two: Bennion (7:00) 12152010. This was a "messy" game ... so many fouls! Hunter fouled out. It was a fairly easy win. Video Link.
• Game Three: Bennion (6:00) 01052011. Our first loss. We were ahead the entire game, until the last few seconds. They made a three to put them up by one. This same team did this last year too (won by a three pointer in the final seconds). I definitely think we could have easily won, there were a lot of missed shots. Hopefully we'll get another rematch.Video Link.
• Game Four: Bennion (9:00) 01122011. I'm beginning to think all the games at Bennion are foul heavy ... maybe it's the refs? This game was neck and neck the entire time. Tied at the half, the other team was ahead as the third quarter ended. Tons of foul shots in the final minute of the game. Bo Hunter had his best game yet. We won by three points. It was Chase's birthday, U cookies given afterwards. Video Link.
• Game Five: West High (8:00) 01192011. Thanks to Stockton's family for letting Callahan and I hitch a ride. This was a small gym ... a bit claustrophobic, not a lot of seating (or good spots to video from). The opposing team had a female coach AND a couple of girls on the team. They kept it even for the first few minutes, then our team pulled ahead for a pretty easy win. Video Link.
• Game Six: Bennion (9:00) 01262011. We were missing Hunter (home sick) and due to camera complications, I missed a couple of baskets (if you study the video to get team stats ... trust me, Callahan DOES! Add at least four points for Cody and two for Bo). Easy win. Video Link.
• Game Seven: Bennion (7:00) 02022011. First of a double header. This was a fun game, a long open pass to Michael, TWO three pointers by Callahan and a crazy behind the back shot by Bo were just a few of the highlights. Win one for the night. Video Link.
• Game Eight: Bennion (8:00) 02022011. Second of a double header ... are back to back games a good or a bad thing? Are the boys tired ... or warmed up? The Stallions had a pretty good record coming into this game, and they had a couple HUGE kids, so we were a bit apprehensive. But our team pulled ahead early and stayed ahead the whole game. The other team's players did display good sportsmanship, often helping our guys up after a foul or what not. There were a few fouls ... the other team got into foul trouble giving us some extra free throws, and Crosby fouled out. Video Link.
• Game Nine: Granite Park Junior (6:00) 02092011: We had heard this team was small, but fast, and that they liked to press. It was a nice challenging game, very fast moving. Our team had SO many turnovers! Our team was ahead the entire time, holding on for the win. Everyone on the team scored. We were missing Stockton today. Clay and Courtney and the kids came to cheer on cousin Callahan. Video Link.
• Game Ten: Franklin Covey (8:00) 02162011: We had to fight the weather (snowstorm) to get to the game. The power had been out, but was back on for our game. Franklin Covey is a nice set-up, with with two games side-by-side, there are a LOT of ref whistles going on. This was Michael's game, with 14 points (I missed getting one of his baskets on film). The other team tied it up for the first quarter, but then our boys pulled ahead and kept the lead for the rest of the game. Video Link.
• Tournament Game 1: Franklin Covey (9:00) 02232011: We were playing the team we played in Game6, and were again able to get the win. Callahan had a good game, FOUR three pointers (one didn't count unfortunately). We were missing Cody out with an arm injury. Video Link.

Gene Fullmer Junior Jazz: Games at CopperHills High School.

• Game One: (12182010 6:00) Great game for Callahan. He got 13 points, as did Stockton (with three THREE pointers). The other team was good but it was a pretty easy win for our team). Video Link.
• Game Two: (01082011 4:00) Another good game and an easy win. Jared had a GREAT game. Callahan had 11 points and 9 assists, close to a double double. Video Link.
• Game Three: (01152011 4:00) Callahan had been looking forward to this game as the other team had three good friends on it. Mason (formerly on Klint's team), Cole (from the neighborhood) and Hunter (had been on Amber's team and is currently on the Superleague team). Those three were the best players on that team. Callahan had a good game with 20 points and six assists. He did hurt a knee going up for a layup and there was a kid on the other team that was too physical with fouls. Our team was ahead at the start, but the other team did catch up enough to make things a little nervous near the end. Video Link.
• Game Four: (01222011 4:00) This team played man-to-man defense, and that had our team a bit worried. They even held a white board practice before the game ... but it was a pretty easy win for our team. Missing Joey this week and last, as he's out with an injury. Video Link.
• Game Five: (01292011 6:00) Joey's back! Our team started off a little slow, lots of missed shots. I know Callahan didn't get his usual Friday night practice in (he was at the Jazz game) but the team did warm up and get into their usual groove for a runaway win. Video Link.
• Game Six: (02052011 3:00) Missing Stockton today. Everyone on the team got multiple baskets today. The team remains undefeated. Video Link.
• Game Seven: (02122011 3:00) A change in venue today ... the game was at West Jordan Middle School. The kids actually preferred this, as it's a full court unlike the previous games at Copperhills. Late start, as the game before went over by 20 minutes! Landon was there working, and although he disclosed that Callahan was his brother, they still had him ref the game. Did he call in Callahan's favor, or was he extra hard on him? I don't know ... it was an easy win. Championship game next week. Video Link.
• Game Eight/Championship Game: (02192011 5:00) Facing the team we played in Game1. They were a good team and kept it fairly close ... a little too close in the final minutes. But our boys did get the lead early and held onto it the entire game. Callahan was on fire (19 points) and the boys have another 1st place championship! Video Link.