Holiday Happenings

We have had a jam-packed week with lots of fun Christmas things. Once a month we get together with my brothers and their families, and my mom and dad for a combined Family Home Evening. This month we hosted and we painted ornaments for the activity. The girls each painted two, and they could've kept right on going, they were having such a good time. Here's the end product:We had cousins over one night and we loaded all 6 kids (4 and under) in our van and took them to see the drive-through lights. I really should've taken a photo of all the kids and their seats, it was a sight to behold. The kids had a great time and were so excited to see all the lights. They also got to see a real live reindeer. It doesn't get much better than that.

Saturday night we gave my parents an early Christmas present - My brothers and I took them out to Market Street Grill (oh, so yummy) and Desert Star's Christmas show (with spouses, of course). It was such a fun night!

For FHE last night, we went to Temple Square to see the lights. It was a perfect night - not too cold. Grandma and Grandpa came along with us too.
I know, it's a drinking fountain, but look at all the lights reflecting off of it! I thought it looked so cool!

I'm not sure exactly how I did this...

Oh, my Ellie. She looks everywhere but at the camera.

Deck the Halls and All that Jazz

So, as stated previously, we got a new (fake) Christmas tree this year. Here she is in all of her merry lit-up beauty:She needs a skirt real bad, and I could make one, but just not feeling the oomph to do it. Oh, and a star too, but all things in good time, right?

We had a grand time decorating her, but I didn't take any photos...it was late and I just didn't. Ellie reminds us just about every day that we do not have any lights on the outside of our house like our neighbor's do. I don't think she's been pleased with any of our excuses. We've been keeping it simple this year - most of the decorations are still in their boxes.

Kids make Christmas time magical. It is so much fun watching them get so excited and we are looking forward to many fun Christmas activities in the weeks to come. Mr. E had his 9 month checkup (even though he's almost 10 months now) a few days ago. He is 19 lbs. 8 oz. (29%) and 27.25 inches long (9.7%). Short, just like mom and dad. Anyone surprised?

My girls dress themselves, if you couldn't guess. And did you notice Maren's hair? Honestly, I kind of miss the layeredness that it naturally grew out in... oh well. She looks more grown up with her hair that is "like a bob" (have you ever seen the hairstylist Nick on "What Not to Wear?") and it is still cute.

Giving Thanks

We had a wonderful week. I didn't get many photos. I took my camera to family events, but didn't take a single photo. I was more enjoying family and delicious food and not so worried about documenting the event, I guess. I did take these of some pie making:

Maren enjoyed licking the beater after I made the filling of our French Silk pie. And who wouldn't? I really need to post the recipe, because it is SO good.

Here is a rundown of our week: Nick took Wednesday off. We went to see "Tangled" (super cute). In the afternoon we had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with Nick's extended family.

Thursday morning we ran the Turkey Trot. It was COLD and I was tempted to stay in my warm bed, but we went and I was glad I did. It hurts to run on frozen toes, by the way. About three-fourths of the way through, I was pulling off my layers because I was overheating. It was great fun to actually run with Nick, as that never happens these days. Many thanks to Grandpa who stayed with the kids. That afternoon we enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at my parent's house. All 40 of us that were there.

The rest of our weekend was spent shopping (not the crazy stay up all night kind), decorating our pretty new Christmas tree (goodbye sad-looking Charlie Brown tree, thanks for the many years of faithful service) and just plain spending family time together. It was so nice.

Oh, and my kids get up way too early in the morning. I got up with them all weekend long while Nick slept in. How rude is that? Well actually, I earned myself the honor. On Nov. 8, Nick and I started a little competition - whoever lost the most weight before Thanksgiving would get to sleep in while the other would get up with the kids. Kind of funny that it is extra sleep that motivates us. Well, guess who lost? The point of the exercise (no pun intended) was to lose weight, which we did - I lost 6 lbs., and Nick lost 6.7 (actually, if you go by percentages, I won, but that wasn't included in the fine print). I made it back to my pre-pregnancy weight! Hurray! I can't say that I am still there. No, the holiday was not kind and we'll be getting back into it starting today, but we are still a couple pounds ahead. We are thinking of starting another go before Christmas. What should our prize be this time? And you should all know that my Nicolas felt incredibly guilty and I had to 'force' him to stay in bed to claim his prize.

More cute photos:
Mr. E has learned to pull himself up and was feeling incredibly proud of himself:

He's started making this funky scrunched-face grin that makes me laugh:

Oh, my Maren. She's a silly girl. This photo was taken just a little bit before she got her first real haircut. I evened up all the scraggly ends. Keep an eye out for photos.

Just Life

I had to laugh the other day when Maren went running into the potty wearing only this: That is a Cinderella dress up shoe. Kids are so funny. She is doing awesome with the potty training thing. She'll stay dry all day when she's wearing underwear. I can't take any credit at all - she's pretty much done it all on her own. No complaints there.

And my first-born is doing awesome with school. She does a few worksheets a couple times a week, and I'm so impressed with her progress. She's writing her letters and numbers like a pro and is sounding out words, and is just pretty smart. And can I just say that I haven't once regretted not sending her to a preschool? I love having her home and I'm enjoying having all my kids at home with me one more year before sending her to kindergarten next year. I love it.

Maren loves 'school' too.
And my Mr. Bug. As of yesterday, he is a crawling boy! Congrats, Son! He's a cutie patootie.

The highlight of our week was having a cousin over to spend the night. The girls LOVED having Kaden around to entertain them.

Kaden and Ellie were dancing, and I know this photo has terrible lighting and such, but check out these moves!

This Mid of November

Not too much exciting to report on...just life happening around here. We are grateful for normal days. I've been busy working on Christmas projects, and the normal routines of trying to keep a house livable with three little munchkins. It's all fun.

Last night, we had the cousins over for awhile. I love their smiling faces, but three of them just couldn't pull their eyes away from the movie they were watching. Cute kids. Mr. E with his cousin, Z. Could we get any more excited, here?
One of my Christmas projects: Everett's stocking.

And the full set:

Check out Mr. E's new trick:

Maybe he'll just skip crawling altogether.

Oh, and have you visited my photo blog lately? You should. I've been out taking family photos, and they look great. If I do say so, myself. :)

9 Months

My baby has now been 'out' for as long as he was 'in'. Crazy. You should all know that a few days after my last post, his first little tooth broke through, and he was a much happier boy. A second is soon to follow. Something so small causing so much trouble (I'm speaking of the tooth, not my cherub). Don't you just want to nibble on those cheeks?He looks like he's half grown up in this photo.
Don't let his position fool ya. He's not crawling yet. But he is oh-so-close, and man, he wants to be.

Frazzled

More about my frazzled state in a moment... First, the rest of our Halloween:I took a photo of Ellie's hair because it turned out cute, and don't know if either of us will have the patience to do it again anytime soon.Halloween happened to be a rainy day. Windy, too, which put a little damper on our trick-or-treating plans. We did make it out, but opted to go in the car. Not as much fun, but results were the same: lots of candy. Our first stop was Grandma and Grandpa's. After a round of knocking on doors, we came back to make some homemade donuts. We invited our friends and Nick's brother's family to join us. I meant to take pictures, really I did, but I guess I was too busy stuffing my face and chatting with friends (or maybe just too tired? You be the judge.) They were Yummy. Yep, that's with a capitol 'Y'. They were that good.I've pulled out the dollhouse. Ellie got the accessories for Christmas a couple years ago, and after she pulled apart some of the furniture I put it away with a promise that I'd pull it out again someday. Well, what the hay! Now is as good as time as any. I'm in love with the small little details:And, it's kept the girls occupied for hours. That in and of itself is priceless in my book. I'm lovin' this photo of Maren:

High heels, look of concentration on her face, crazy hair, and a new addition: underwear. So, we (okay, it's all me) aren't quite ready to tackle the entire potty-training thing, but we've been practicing on and off. We all did a celebration dance when she pooped in the potty over the weekend. That's big stuff when you're two.

Okay, so now for the promised 'frazzled' edition: I'm going crazy. Our house has been on the market now for three months, and it's about fried me to a crisp. Seriously. I've been so stressed, and I'll admit, ornery lately (my poor sweet husband and children). We've been getting a ton of traffic lately, which is great and all, but man oh man. It's insane. It takes me several hours to clean the house, and then I pretty much corral the poor children into a corner with only me to keep them entertained until the agent and buyers show, usually a one to two hour time frame. All of this boils down to me being a not-so-patient mother. My children deserve a reward. Really.

Oh, and while we're ranting here...my darling third child. He's cute and all, but he must be taking ornery lessons from his mother. He wants to be held ALL the time. If I put him down, he's crying. I sure hope he's teething or something, cause I want a light at the end of this tunnel.

I need a vacation.