In the last 24 hours...

In the last 24 hours I have:

• Scrubbed both my bathrooms - Tub, tile, walls, toilet, floors, and baseboards
• Cleaned my kitchen including: my oven and stove, all appliances, my whole pantry, fridge, and freezer, and two junk cupboards and drawers that were totally unorganized. Not to mention the usual sink, counters, sweep and mop.
• Cleaned the high chair and booster chair.
• Deep vacuumed my whole house, moved all the furniture and everything
• Washed all the walls, doors, and baseboards in the whole house
• Scrubbed my banister and railings
• Detailed my kitchen table with special wood cleaner
• Cleaned out my bedroom closet
• Switched out Megan's whole wardrobe from 3-6 months to 6-9 months
• Disinfected all the toys
• Put away all "baby stuff" (swing, bouncer, bottles etc) - and thus re-organized all our baby storage and clothes
• Cleaned and reorganized our storage/my craft room.
• Dusted the whole house - I mean REALLY dusted
• Cleaned the blinds

How could I do all this you ask?

Did I mention that my mom had her annual grandma sleepover party? Oh yea - it was awesome! I had Megan - so I had to stop and take care of her... but one is easy. I feel like a whole new woman!

Still on my to-do list:

• do the 2010 budget
• Make the new 2011 budget
• Make more baby food
• Plan my meals for January - make shopping list - go shopping
• Laundry - including all bedding, rugs, rags, and towels
• Organize the garage (I am going to wait until it gets a little warmer) (I still have all my canning stuff just sitting by the door... oops)
• Start decorating - I am finally ready to tackle this project (only took me 8 months!)

hmm... sounds like I need another 24 hours.

Jason and I were talking about how funny having kids is. When we just had Brock things were still so hard and I never got things done - especially things like the above list. But now that I went from three children to one 8 month old - I feel like wonder woman... like I could tackle to world. Jason kept saying - I can't believe we ever thought this was hard. Funny how that works.

Christmas Weekend

Our Christmas weekend/week after was full of friends and family. We got about an hour with the Bells while they were in town. We will take what ever we can get. Brock was really sad when they left. Apparently we didn't explain the visit very well, he was under the impression that Payton was going to stay with us for a while (like he stayed with Payton in Boise), I guess I am going to have to plan another trip.... shucks! :)



Jason's dad turned the big 6-0 on the 27th - to celebrate Jason's brother and his wife, Jared and Sarah flew in from Alabama. Sarah rocks. Jared is... so - so. :) haha. No really though, I have known the Herbert family for over nine years and have only met Jared a hand full of times - and of those times have only heard him say very few words. Then he married Sarah about 2 years ago - and now they are some of my favorite Herbert's (not that I am picking favorites). I am so glad she is in the family - it is always nice to get a new sister-in-law.

The kids wanted to go play in the snow - and of course none of their parents wanted to, so "cool aunt Sarah" braved the old and tromped around in the snow with the kids.


And, Christmas didn't stop - Jared and Sarah got everyone in the family (7 people) a Wii. Holy moly. We couldn't believe it! I guess there is something to be said for being in your 30's, just married, with no kids, apparently you can spend your money how you want to. Yea for generosity. We spent the next few days trying it out.

Jared loves kids - especially babies. And this little girl loved him.

We spent several days at the Herbert household and even slept over. We had a blast. However, I was eager to get home to my crazy messy post Christmas house. I am a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to post-Christmas. I cannot get my decorations down fast enough. Every year the tree is gone by the 26th and I haven't turned our house lights on since Christmas day. I love it all until about 7:30 pm Christmas night and then it all needs to be gone. I like to get all the new "things" put away and my house back in running order.

My kids are going through withdraws. Brock cried when Jason took the tree out of the living room. And still says everyday, "I don't want our tree to be dead, I love our tree." We have hourly conversations about where Santa is and when he is coming back. Adjusting back to normal life has been rough - the count down for next year is already in full swing.

Christmas Day

We had some excited boys on Christmas morning. They woke up about an hour before Megan - so we let them go down with out her. Santa had set up this huge Marble Run. They were so thrilled - they played with it for a long time before they even realized there were presents under the tree or stockings filled with goodies.


Megan woke up as happy as ever, and after she successfully ruined the boys' marble run (she wants to pull herself up to everything) she enjoyed some time by the tree, rummaging through presents, eating bows, and pulling ornaments down as fast as she could.

The only thing my boys asked for were guns. I have not yet totally decided how I feel about guns. I go back and forth on a daily (hourly) basis. After a few weeks of thinking about it - I decided not to get them guns -and thought maybe next year they will be old enough for Nerf guns, and that made me feel better about the whole situation.

Well, this year we decided to have a family shopping night - each of the kids were supposed to by presents for each other and mom and dad. It was a lot of fun, and they were very specific and thoughtful about what they bought everyone. I got hair clips, dad got a toothbrush, Megan got bath toys, and (totally separate from each other) the boys got each other guns. I couldn't believe it. I knew Noah got that for Brock (I was the one shopping with him) - but I had no idea Brock got one for Noah. They are both water guns (but they don't know that). When I asked them to grab their favorite present for a picture - they both grabbed their dollar-store guns. (And a tie-snake I made them). Sometimes I have to throw my hands up in the air and know that I at least tried.

They both got a Thomas the Tank engine in their stockings. I don't think it has left Noah's hands for days (you can see it in the above picture too)- he drives that thing all around the house.

Megan got a bunny - this is her "stuffed animal" - each kid gets one that they sleep with and love - this is now hers. We are having trouble coming up with a name for it though. Jason wants it to be a boy bunny - but I think she should get to have a girl bunny - she gets very few things that are girlish - her night time bunny should be one of them.

This picture and their gifts really represent their favorite gifts. Thomas, bunny, and gun.

Then I made a fabulous (if I do say so myself) brunch for my little family. We also had sparkling cider and oven-puffed pancakes. It was delightful.

Jason's mom made an AMAZING train table for the boys for Christmas. It is in 6 separate cubes that all fit together. That way I can take it apart when they are done with the train table thing. All the cubes have tubs for drawers. It has changed our whole life. My parents got the boys a whole train set to go on top of the train table.... and we are in business. Noah stands at this train table - putting his Thomas around the track for literally HOURS. Normally in the morning the first thing the boys want to do is watch their shows - but now they just want to play with their train table. We did not turn on the TV once on Tuesday or Wednesday.

My sister Ashley spoiled us - she got Megan her first dolls (she loves to take them in and out of their bassinet) and the boys got the cutest file-folder books. And she got us a TON of cute church board books and coloring books. She is the best aunt (it rocks having a sister who is single, with no kids, and works full time - she has all the freedom in the world)!

I dyed my hair again (trying to fix it) - this is seconds after I dyed it - it is not that dark anymore.

Then we went to my mom's for Christmas dinner with the Thomas' (basically our second family)

Best family Christmas shot.

Megan and Sam (they are about 3 months apart)

More Megan shots - she was apparently the star of Christmas.

I think this is the cutest picture EVER!! I could eat her!

Megan with her grandma (My mom is the one that bought her the Christmas jammies)

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with the Herbert's down in Mapleton this year. Debbie always puts on a great "show" for us - always lots of good food, sweets, and activities. The kids made and decorated sugar cookies.

And had a lot of ice cream cones - a must have at grandma Herbert's!

This is Aaron - Our Nephew, they live up in Idaho - but we got them for Christmas - so fun!

Did I mention the good food? The turkey was picturesque!

We mostly hung around the house and watched a few movies.

Little kids in their Christmas jammies under a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve eating a candy cane... what could be more Christmassy?

More Christmas Stuff

For Family Night this week we made a ginger bread house (well, graham cracker house). Brock was really into it this year... Noah was really into eating. I was unsure if I wanted to buy a kit or try to do it myself. I was afraid I would end up spending twice as much on candy than the kits, and I was worried my frosting wouldn't be gluey enough. I researched the frosting and found a great recipe - royal frosting, or something like that. Then I went to Winco and bought the candy from the bins, all the candy only cost me $2.25 - and I got WAY to much. The most expensive thing were the Graham Crackers, I am always surprised at how much they are. All in all the whole thing probably cost us $5.

Best family shot... and yes, I dyed my hair, that will be a whole post after the holidays.

Something that makes me smile...

Driving up to my home after Christmas shopping to Christmas lights and a tree in the window. I am all smiles!

I love Christmas lights and was thinking about how I wanted to decorate my house for Christmas as soon as we bought it. I had decided I wanted the big outside lights that are red and white (turns out or neighbors have those - so I would change to red, white,and green - so we are not matchy matchy).

Then Jason lost his job (s), and several new housey things got cut back (I didn't plant any tulip bulbs in the fall, our sprinkler system never got fixed, and we never purchased that AC), and of course, Christmas lights (it was the responsible thing to do.) Then I found these isicle lights on KSL for $3!! Heck ya! I would have never picked them - but they will totally do for now. They make me very happy - and so does my wonderful husband who put them up AFTER the big snow storm. Yea for true love!

A first

At 3:00 I heard talking coming from the boys room. It is unusual for that time of day because when Brock wakes up from his nap he just comes out and Noah sleeps for another hour or so. I went in their room to see what was going on. They were both just sitting up in their beds talking. I asked what was going on - Brock said,

"We were just talking about Santa coming to our house tomorrow."

I felt like they were so old at that moment. I wish I could have heard the conversation.

Temple Square

We hit temple square last weekend. I loved the way we did it this year. Last year we went too close to Christmas and it was snowing and late! So this year I was determined to be more organized. We left our house at 4:30, got there at 5:00 - we got a great parking spot, the lights weren't on yet - so we went into the visitor center to see the Christus and the Nativity show thing - by the time we were outside the lights were on, it was beautiful and not too crowded yet. We took our time, walked around, had a good snowball fight and were home in time for dinner. It was a fun, fun evening.

We were at the Nativity show thing and Jason looked over at me and said, "you look hot." haha - In my winter gear and a baby attached to me - that is love. I told him that was going on my blog. That was the highlight of my night.

Megan rode in my Moby wrap, inside my coat. She LOVED it. She smiled and laughed and kicked her feet the whole time. She loved the lights, all the people, and the fact that every person that passed her smiled at her.

Noah is a child after my own heart. He loves Christmas lights. We spend several evenings a week driving around looking at lights. I am planning on doing a post about this. But in case I don't get to it - he is freaking cute! He says, "ooh, look at this, ooh, pretty" - to every house, even the one with one strand of lights. He navigates where we go, "go down there", "turn here". I love it. That covered it pretty well, maybe it doesn't need a whole post.
So needless to say he had a great time.

Brock is kindof in complaining mode these days. He is always cold, or tired, or something hurts. But when he forgets to complain he always has a great time.

We stopped at Burger King on the way home and treated the boys to some milk shakes. I love great family evenings.

Jungle Jim's

Warning - there is a major picture overload. I should have made a colleague - but I wasn't in the mood.

We went to Jungle Jims with our friends the Curren's and the Millars. The Millars are friend's of ours from Provo who moved to Arizona. They were in town for Christmas so we got together one afternoon. The kids had a great time - as you will see in pictures. It is nice when your kids reach an age where they can just go play by themselves.

Rachel, Andrew, Addie, Brock and Noah. This ride goes FAST - too fast for me. I couldn't believe Brock and Noah went on it by themselves.

Bumper cars were the hit! We did it like 3 times in a row. They were all pretty good at driving their own cars - except Noah. They all thought running into each other was hilarious!

I like Jungle Jim's because they let you ride on all the rides with your kids - and you don't have to pay! Although I am not one for the rides - I used to like stuff like that, but now they just make me feel sick.

Megan had a good'ole time in her stroller and crawling around.

Jess and Cara - we can't wait for Cara to be sitting and crawling!

Although Noah is definitely old enough to do all the rides by himself - both Brock and Noah just wanted to ride together on every ride. I think that is so cute - they would almost always rather be together than apart.

Andrew and Rachel

Brock and Noah

and in the back is Addie and Chase (both the Millar's)

Megan took her nap

My kids are at great stages right now. Brock and Noah are old enough to play by themselves, but still like to include me and like to have me "follow them around". And Megan just crawls around below my feet. I remember going to play places like McDonald or Kangaroo Zoo and seeing moms sit and read a book while their kids went and played. I could never quite decide if I was jealous of her or pitied her. I have always wanted to be the mom to PLAY with my kids. But there is definitely something to be said for letting your kids go play while you take a break. I think the key is just to embrace the stage you are at. Time will surly come when my kids don't need/want me around - and I can have all the time for reading in the world. But for now I still love to get in the McDonald's playground tunnels with them and play a little hide and seek.