Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2013 Resolution Wrap-up

I really didn't do so well at my resolutions this year. I am deeming 2013 as the year of sheer exhaustion. It has been a rough year. I feel like it's an accomplishment that I kept everyone alive and at least somewhat healthy this year and stayed out of the looney bin (barely). Unfortunately, I didn't accomplish much else. Yes, I know that is pathetic, but it's pretty much all I could do this year.

Anyway, I'm still going to report on my goals.

1. Get in shape. I wouldn't say that I'm necessarily back "in shape", BUT I did get back into the habit of exercising regularly and I ran a half marathon and a triathlon this year. I also started a blog where I documented everything...my struggles and progress.

2. Organize and stay on top of things. Yeah, I wasn't very organized this year.

3. Get our food storage and 72-Hour Kits together. I did get a 72-hour kit of food (not other supplies though) and I did stock up a little more on our food storage. I'd say we probably could survive for a month if needed.

4. Prepare. I feel like I did better at this, but not by much. We started using the nursery manual for FHE, so that at least helped me be better prepared for that.

5. Sleep train Zach and potty train Emmy. Sleep training has been a joke. Zach is not a good sleeper. It's been rough. Potty training Emmy went pretty smoothly though.

6. Spend quality time each day with Emmy and Zach. I really could have done better with this. This goes back to being prepared. I felt like I was so exhausted all the time that I didn't prepare what I needed to in order to do this well.

7. Be on time to church. We did pretty good about this.

8. Smile more. I didn't do a very good job about this one.


Anyway, it wasn't what I wanted, but at least I did make some progress in some areas. Maybe next year will be better as far as my resolutions go.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Christmas

Christmas this year was SO FUN!!!! I must say that holidays with a 3-year-old are fantastic. On Christmas Eve, we went over to my parents' house for our Christmas Eve party and to Skype with my brother, Kyle, who is on a mission in Russia. Emily and Rivers were hilarious. They sang him songs like "O Christmas Tree" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" Emily also made sure to show him the necklace she had just made with her new bead set from Grandma.

It was fun to talk with Kyle, and there were lots of presents and yummy food! Then we went home to get ready for Santa to come. Emily was so excited to put out some cookies for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer.
She insisted on putting them under the tree. :) And she was also super excited to wear her new Dora jammies she got from Grandma.

Santa came! Emily was more excited about seeing what was in her stocking and opening the presents than she was about her new trampoline.

She LOVED opening presents and opened every single present under the tree. Mine, Matt's and Zach's as well as her own. She also opened most of ours at both grandparents. I think she loved opening them way more than what was inside them.

She also giggled about everything that was in her stocking. It was really cute.

The only thing she asked Santa for was a "Dora stool" and candy. She got a Dora tray table thing that sort of looks like a stool.

The whole purpose for this gift was so she could use it in the car on our way to California, but it didn't fit over her carseat. :(

Zach didn't care much about Christmas...he just wanted to eat his toast!



He finally showed some interest in his presents after Emmy "helped" him. This is funny because every year when my brother Scott and I were younger, I had to "help" him find his presents. :)

Then he was very interested in his dump truck. And the box that it came in.

The aftermath. :)

After awhile, Emmy was having fun with her trampoline. And eating chips while jumping on the trampoline. Ha!

Later that afternoon, we went over to Matt's parents' house for dinner and more presents. Michele's oven broke again so we ended up cooking the ham at our house and taking it over. It was such a fun day and we were so spoiled! Thank you to everyone!

Sunday, December 22, 2013

December misc

One day we went to the temple. We came home and found Emmy asleep on the couch. What a tired girl! She never does that!
I made these cute superhero towel capes for my nephews for Christmas (with the help of my friend Caron). I think they are adorable. Matt thinks I am like the aunt on A Christmas Story that gives Ralphie the pink bunny suit. Whatever! I still think they are cute.

One morning I came up from my workout (at 6:30 a.m., mind you) to find Emmy sitting on the couch with a bucket of raisins watching Dora. She has been getting up way too early.
My friend Rebecca suggested we get her a clock that turns green when it's ok to wake up. It has worked miracles so far. The first day she came out before it was green, but hasn't since then. Let's hope it continues to stay that way!

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Lights, grumps, and a baby in a Christmas tree

It's not Christmas without a trip to Temple Square! So we bundled up and went downtown to enjoy the lights.
On our way back to the car, we even saw Santa! He waved at Emmy and she was so excited. Here are the kids under the big red tree at Temple Square.

And Zach stayed warm in his pink coat.

I tried to take some pictures of the kids in their church clothes before church, and this is what I got....what grumps!



And last, but not least, one day I found one of Emily's babies in the Christmas tree. Ha!


Friday, December 20, 2013

Preschool Christmas Party

I got to host the last preschool before Christmas so we had a fun little party. We made these giant gingerbread men. While I was getting out the candy and frosting, the girls were dancing around their cookies. It was hilarious!

They had a great time eating all the candy and frosting. :)



And trying to eat their giant cookies!


We also painted ornaments as a present for their parents. It was fun! And yes, Emily was still in her pjs. I've accepted the fact that my child looks like a ragamuffin 90% of the time. It's too much of a battle sometimes to make her wear cute stuff and let me do her hair.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Santa

We had our ward Christmas party last week and Santa came! I about died when Emmy said she wanted to go see him. She is so shy and clingy and never wants to do anything. So we waited in line and when it was her turn, she jumped right up on his lap and told him what she wanted for Christmas. I was shocked beyond belief!

She was also very excited about her treat she got from Santa. The other shock of all shockers was that the Primary kids sang a few songs at the party and Emmy asked if she could go sing with them. She wanted her dad to come with her and she had to sit on his lap, but she went! And she looked so stinkin cute sitting up there with all the kids. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that. Oh well.

And Zach was very intrigued by his treat from Santa. Give a baby a shiny, crinkly wrapper and they will be entertained for 20 minutes!


What a fun day!

Mr. Zach

So a couple of weeks ago when it got really cold and the temps were in the single digits, I realized that Zach didn't have a coat. Well, I had to run some errands so I found Emmy's old one and put Zach in it. I couldn't stop laughing at him wearing a pink coat. I went to Costco and ran into my parents' neighbor and she said, "Oh your girls are so adorable!" Ha! That made me laugh even more. Poor Zach.

He is getting into everything these days. He makes his rounds every day and empties all the cupboards and drawers that are within his reach. He also loves to entertain himself with the roll of toilet paper and the blind cords. Seriously he giggles every time he plays with those blinds. It's hilarious.

He is doing a little better at sleeping. As in he mostly sleeps through the night now, but wakes up so stinkin' early. At least it's getting better.

I sure do love that little boy.

Festival of Trees

We've been having lots of fun this month doing Christmas activities. Emily has been busily making and painting ornaments, helping me make cranberry bread, wrapping presents, and making Christmas cards and lists for Santa.

We were able to go to the festival of trees earlier this month. I love seeing all the fun trees. Emily wanted me to take her picture in front of this one. (Don't know why!)

One of my favorites was the Nemo tree. It had an aquarium in the middle of the tree! So clever!

And I liked the colors on this one.

Emily mostly liked the trees, but Zach was a little stinker and fussed the whole time.

Emily likes writing letters to Santa and telling him what everyone wants. It's really quite funny the things she comes up with. Like in this one she said that Zach wanted a teddy bear and a Christmas ornament.

We also called Santa on the phone. Emmy kept smiling as she listened to Santa's message. Christmastime with a 3-year-old is pretty fun!

Snow!

We've gotten a couple of pretty big snowstorms over the past few weeks. Emmy has had a ball playing in the snow while I get my workout shoveling the driveway!

One time she did not want to come inside for lunch. She insisted on eating it in the snow. So we had a snow picnic! What a silly!
And her daddy taught her how to eat snow.




I taught her how to make snow angels too. She always wakes up every morning and looks out the window to see if it's snowing!

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Merry Christmas!

Click on the picture to read our Christmas card!

Monday, December 2, 2013

Christmas preparations

My whole life I have had a real Christmas tree. And I planned to keep it that way for the rest of my life. I love real trees! Until the past couple of years I just couldn't justify spending $40 every year on a Christmas tree. So last year I decided that we were going to bite the bullet and get a fake one. But I was going to wait til after Christmas and get one on clearance so it would be cheap. It was a great idea! Except I went right after Christmas and there were NONE left! Plan backfired!

So this year, I sent Matt out on black Friday to get one. And he got a good deal. And now we have a fake Christmas tree. I'm still kind of lamenting the fact that it's not real, but I'm getting used to it. And I'm feeling good about my financial decision.

Emily had a ball decorating it. She put all the ornaments in the same spot. Ha!


We also got out all the other decorations and have had fun "arranging" them daily. Ha!

And Emily is always rearranging the ornaments on the tree and here she is showing her puppy the Christmas tree. It was so cute.


I think it turned out nice for a fake tree. Now I just need to get some pine-scented candles or something to make it smell like Christmas!

Zach hasn't gotten into it yet...let's hope it stays that way!