2014 New Year's Resolutions wrap-up

I did pretty lousy at my New Year's resolutions this year. It's been a tough year.

1. Be able to do at least one pull-up. I did one! (with the pull-up assist band..but I still did one.)

2. Be better about having family prayer and scripture study and FHE. We did really good at FHE. Emmy LOVES it and asks when it will be Monday again. Family prayer and scripture study was sporadic.

3. Be better about the kids' bedtime routine. I did with Zach's but not with Emmy's.

4. Be better about my own scripture study. Good for most of the year. I had a hard time for a few months in the fall.

5. Eat out less. We did ok at this one. We ate out less, but still probably too much.

6. Be a better mom. I don't feel like I did very good at this one. Emmy really pushes my buttons, and Zach still doesn't sleep well, so I am tired because of him and I get frustrated with Emmy too much. I need to do better. :)

Christmas break

Most of Christmas break one or more of us were sick. We all got the stomach flu and the regular flu during Christmas break. Yuck! It was miserable. But we still managed to do a few fun things.

It was pretty funny watching Zach in the snow for the first time. He didn't know what to do! He refused to put on mittens, but then cried when he tried to touch the snow and his hands were cold. He tromped around in the snow for a few minutes and then went around and knocked the snow off all the bushes.

Emmy was super excited about the snow. She ran around in it, made snow angels, threw it around, rode on the snow shovel, helped Dad shovel the driveway, and had tons of fun.

Zach wasn't too impressed. Matt took the kids sledding though and they had fun.

We played with all the fun new toys they got for Christmas.

A rare moment that they actually played nicely together.

And this was Emmy on New Year's Day. Sick sick sick. :(  We were all like this at one time or another during the break. Yuck!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas this year was so much fun! It's one of those times that having young children is really awesome. I was so excited for Christmas this year. Emmy made sure to put out cookies for Santa and carrots for Rudolf.

On Christmas Eve we went to Matt's parents' house and had some yummy Chinese food and opened lots of presents! The kids were so cute and so excited about every present. Zach actually opened presents for the first time in his life! (He hasn't really been too interested before and Emmy has opened all of his before.) But he was excited about it this time and it was fun to watch.

Here was the scene the kids got to see on Christmas morning.

Zach got a candy cane full of M&Ms in his stocking and was not interested in anything else the rest of the day. He carried around his candy cane and just kept eating those M&Ms all morning.

Emmy was so excited to open her presents and look in her (and everyone else's stockings). She was so cute about every present. She would gasp in excitement and exclaim what the present was. Even for boring things like a toothbrush and underwear!

I loved it so much! In fact, I actually woke up on Christmas morning about 5:30 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep because I was so excited. Emmy finally came in at 6:45. (The one chance I had to sleep til nearly 7 and I just couldn't!)

All Emmy really asked for was a real kitty. Well, I was not about to get her a real kitty, but I did find this cute stuffed one that purrs and pounces and plays with a little toy and stuff. Emmy was beyond excited about her kitty.

She also got a lot of dress ups (that I got on clearance the day after Halloween!)

Zach just eating more candy!

Then on Christmas Day after opening presents, playing with them, and playing in the snow, we went to my parents' house for the rest of the day.

We had such a fun Christmas! And the kids were so spoiled by their grandparents and Santa! Thank you so much everyone for a wonderful Christmas.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Just a few of our Christmas season festivities!

I decided I wanted to do Elf on the Shelf this year. His name was Dash and he sometimes brought notes for the kids reminding them to be good or listing good things they did. He just moved to a different hiding place each night (well, most nights!) and Emmy looked forward to finding him in the morning. He didn't do any tricks or anything...but it was kind of fun to have him around.

I made this Santa for Emmy to glue on cotton balls for a beard one day. As I was drawing it, Emmy said, "That's a ridiculous Santa mom!"

We went to the Festival of Trees. Zach cried the entire time. Emmy liked it for about 10 minutes. I made them stay because I wanted to see all the trees. What a mean mom I am!

We made a gingerbread house.

We also learned about gifts of love and service one night for FHE. We then drew names and played "Secret Santa" for that person throughout the week. Emmy was busy at work making beds, drawing pictures, leaving notes and treats, etc. It was such a hit that we did it for 3 weeks. And Emmy has been sad that we're not doing it anymore.

We made these cute ornaments for Emmy and Zach's teachers. It has sugar in it and snowman parts like a carrot, stick arms, and buttons. Then we put a note on it that said, "Some people are worth melting for". I thought they turned out really cute.

We made sugar cookies and Emmy had a ball using the cookie cutters and then decorating the cookies. She probably ate more frosting and cookie dough than an actual cookie. Oh well!

We gave them to some of her friends and she was so excited to write her friends' names on baggies to give to them. Having a 4-year-old at Christmas time is pretty fun!

Santa Claus is coming to town!

The kids' pictures with Santa (aka their daddy! That's why his face isn't showing). I think they turned out pretty cute.

December happenings

Just some random stuff from December!

Foam rolling!

Emmy had a grinch party at preschool. I actually went to Walmart to buy her a Christmas shirt the night before the party at 9:30 because she didn't have anything red or green to wear. I"m a nice mom!

And I did a grinch hairdo for her.

We had a hot chocolate party with some friends.

We layed around a lot and watched movies.

We had our ward Christmas party and the Primary kids sang some songs. Emmy was so cute up there!

And this was a rare occurance when I actually had to wake Zach up from sleeping. He is such an awful sleeper that I never have to do this.