Christmas Festivities

As you can see, Megan's first encounter with Santa at the Ward Christmas Party didn't go so well.

In the "greenroom" on Christmas Eve, waiting for the Nativity play to begin.




Jordan got a lot of dinosaur toys, of course. I was so happy when I even managed to find a Pez dinosaur.



Megan got her most favorite thing, a new little baby to kiss, hug and cuddle.

Sleepy Megan with Grandpa James on Christmas morning

This is a beautiful quilt Marianne made for me. We both cried when I opened it. So much time went into this gift and I am so glad to have this special keepsake that I will treasure forever.

Cousins, Cookies and Crafts!

We got together the other day with the cousins, Grandma Sally and Marianne for some cookie decorating and craft making. The kids had a lot of fun being together and spending time with Marianne. Jordan was more interested in eating the cookies than decorating them. He did decorate one cookie...and then promptly ate it.

These are the ornaments the kids made. My mom had made the same kind for us when we were little so she wanted us to have matching ones for our kids.

Cookie-covered, cousin kisses. I don't think it gets any cuter than that!

Puppets Please!

Earlier this week we went to a marionette puppet show at the library. Jordan loved it and was laughing and smiling the whole time. They had a frog riding a unicycle and Jordan was laughing so hard that everyone else was laughing at him. In fact, we had such a great time that we went to another performance in the afternoon with Alison's kids. Here are some pictures of our fun day...

Christmas Dance

I had a little magical moment the other night that I want to document so I don't forget it. I was listening to Christmas music while I was busily making dinner so I could get everyone fed before my violin student came. When the song, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" came on Jordan came up to me and said very sweetly, "Dance, Mommy?" I swept him up into my arms and he put his head on my shoulder and we danced by the Christmas tree for the whole song. Usually when I dance with Jordan it's always my idea and he tolerates it for just a few seconds and then wants to get down and play, so it was a miracle that he lasted for the whole entire song. The sweetest thing happened when at the end of the song he whispered very quietly, so I could barely hear him, "Merry Christmas Mommy, I love you Mommy"....definitely a moment I don't want to ever forget.

Sunday Afternoon Nap

Christmas is Here!

As you can see, we had a lot of fun decorating our tree tonight. Andrew and I laughed after we put the kids to bed and discovered Jordan had put some of his dinosaurs in the tree. We have learned that nothing is ever complete in this house if there are no dinosaurs involved. We quickly learned to put the glass ornaments up high after Megan managed to break one after only a few minutes. Celebrating Christmas with kids is so fun....feels so magical!

Girl Talk

Whenever Megan gets a phone in her hands she always starts talking jibber jabber. She doesn't like playing with toy phones, it has to be the real thing and once she gets going she just keeps on going. It leaves me wondering what I'm in for when she's a teenager.

He's Growing Up

Jordan is officially out of his crib. We've had the bed in his room for a while but he never wanted to sleep in it. Since he never tried crawling out of his crib I never really pushed the issue. This week my mom brought over a headboard they didn't need anymore and we put it next to Jordan's bed. That night when Andrew put Jordan to bed he showed him the "Special Grandma Shelf" and that's all it took. Jordan wanted out of that crib and near that shelf. In fact, he told Andrew he wanted to sleep ON the shelf. So far it's been working out pretty well, but I have to admit that the 3 AM wake up call the other night when he turned on our light and started yelling in my face, "MOMMY, WAKE UP!" left me second guessing.

Jordan went to his cousin Tyson's birthday party where there was an army theme. It was the first birthday party he'd been to that was just for the kids and I wasn't with him.

When our Ensign came in the mail this month Jordan adopted it as his own. He's been carrying it around and calls it his "Special Book of the Prophets." He likes to look through it at all of the pictures. I figured it's about time that I order the "Friend" for him. Maybe then I can get my magazine back! Big boy bed, potty training, birthday parties....my little boy is growing up!

I got a haircut this week. This is the first time my hair has been above my shoulders. I was a little apprehensive but Andrew talked me into it.

First Love

Megan is completely in love with her daddy. I have come to the realization that I will never win at jumping contests...she goes to him every time. I dry her tears when he leaves the house and watch her squeal with delight when he walks in the door. Yes, I have a full-fledged daddy's girl on my hands....and that makes me happy!

Halloween

This past weekend was a lot of fun with all of the fun Halloween festivities. We carved pumpkins, went to the trunk or treat at the church, went trick or treating and went to a party at Alison's house.

It was also a very stressful weekend at our house because our computer crashed earlier in the week, which wouldn't be such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that Andrew is taking a web-enhanced course for school. He's been struggling to get caught up and meet the deadlines for his assignments. He only got 2 hours of sleep last night and 4 the night before. Luckily, he managed to get caught up and doesn't have school or work tomorrow so he can now get caught up with his sleep too. Here are some pictures from the weekend:

I walked into my bedroom and found that Jordan had made a little bed on top of our dirty clothes. Such a funny little boy! He told me he was nice and cozy and stayed there for quite a while.

Megan was afraid of Halloween costumes this year. If I put anything on her she would just start crying and screaming, so we just had her wear this cute Halloween outfit from Grandma Erin.

Jordan wanted to wear his costume when we went to the store on Halloween. It was a good thing because they were having a costume contest and here Jordan is enjoying the cookie he received for participating.

Jordan loved going trick or treating this year. In fact, the past couple of days he keeps asking me if we can go again.

Potty Training and Honey Buckets!

Jordan is pretty much potty trained and that makes us very happy. There are some moments, however, when it is much more difficult not having him in diapers. Today we had one of those moments. I took the kids to the park today because it was actually not raining for once and Andrew was sleeping because he's been working night shift this weekend. We were there for a little while and Jordan had to go potty. We rushed to the Honey Bucket and Jordan was TERRIFIED, as any little kid would be sitting in a Honey Bucket for the very first time. He kept saying, "No Thank you, No Thank you!" The problem with this particular Honey Bucket, other than that it was extremely stinky and disgusting, was that the door wouldn't latch and it opened right up onto the road. I had Megan with me too and because Jordan was upset and wanted out of there, so did she. Once we were all in there, then one of them would open the door and go running out and while I was bringing them back, the other one would then come out too. This happened several times and throughout this whole episode there was a little old lady across the street raking her leaves, just smiling at the whole situation. I really didn't find anything humorous at the moment and it was all very stressful. Eventually Jordan did calm down and I managed to get him up on the seat, hold him so he wouldn't fall in, all while holding Megan who was very wiggly.

Hopefully Jordan's next encounter with a Honey Bucket will go much better!!!

Update

I realized today that it's been a while since I last updated . That's partly due to the fact that last week I was in Utah with Marianne and this week has been very crazy with not a lot of extra time on my hands. Andrew just left to work a night shift tonight and the kids just went down to bed so I figured I'd take advantage of this time to update my blog.

Last Thursday I flew to Utah to spend some time with Marianne. I was supposed to be going to help her during chemo but she had a cold so the doctor let her take a week off. We had a nice, relaxing weekend together playing lots of games, watching movies, eating good food and laughing so hard at times that we were crying...and of course, there were some tearful moments as there always is lately when we get together. She kept apologizing that she didn't have anything fun planned and I just kept telling her that it didn't matter... any time spent with her is precious time and it really doesn't matter what we're doing, I always have a great time when I'm with her.

Andrew's back in the crazy school mode again after having the summer off. He doesn't have much free time between work, school and his calling as Scoutmaster. The finish line is in sight and that's what keeps him going. Only 2 more quarters!

Here are some cute pictures of the kids:

All I have to say about this is, "Like father, like son!"

Jordan is completely obsessed with dinosaurs right now. He wears dinosaur pajamas, reads dinosaur books, watches dinosaur movies and plays with dinosaur toys. At dinner he likes to eat his "dinosaur food" and before bed we brush his "dinosaur teeth." Every prayer consists of "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for dinosaurs".... and then he continues to name them each of them. His nursery teacher bought extra dinosaurs for the nursery just because she knew he would love them and at our house, Old McDonald no longer has cows, sheep and pigs, but triceratops, stegosaurus and iguanodons...try coming up with noises for those animals. You can imagine his delight when I was going through a box of his old clothes and found this pair of dinosaur pajamas and then his dismay when he realized that they didn't fit him anymore. He was satisfied when I put them on Megan and so was she. She had a look of delight on her face and loved the attention and smiles she was getting from her brother.

One of my violin students made this airplane for Jordan in her shop class. Such a spoiled little boy....loved by so many people!!!

This and That

We've been having a little bee problem at our house. The bees have made a nest in the roof above our back porch. We bought some spray and Andrew went out there one night to spray the nest and get rid of them. He is allergic to bees, and even though I told him that bees don't fly at night and that he would be fine, he insisted on protecting himself from head to toe. When I asked him what was up with the belt he said it was to prevent the bees from flying up his jacket. He also gave me a fly swatter and told me that it was to get the bees off of him when he came inside. Surprise, surprise....he didn't see any bees. No, not even one.

I wish I had gotten a video of this, but the picture was all I got. Megan picked up one of her favorite books, "The Teddy Bear's Picnic," and plopped herself down on Jordan's lap. He then proceeded to read it to her, well actually sing because that's how I read it to him. It was very cute and by the time I made it back with the camera they were finished.

We took this picture while we were watching General Conference. The kids actually did pretty good, but I do have to say it was wonderful when they both went down for naps at 1:00 on Sunday afternoon, just in time for the last session to start. The next morning, Jordan came downstairs, got out the swing and said, "Mommy, watch the prophet?"

A Day at the Beach

On Saturday, Andrew and Adam took Jordan and Luke to Ocean Shores to fly Adam's new kites. They had a lot of fun and all came home covered in sand. Adam's kite was so big that when a big gust of wind would come it would drag them through the sand...which really doesn't sound all that fun to me.

Megan and I had a nice relaxing day together. We went to lunch at Taco Del Mar where we "shared" a burrito and went shopping. By the end of the day I could tell she was missing Jordan because she just wasn't herself. When he walked through the door she started laughing and kept on hugging him. Here are some pictures from their fun day. Enjoy!

Latest Pictures

This week Andrew celebrated his 30th birthday. I say a week because the festivities have lasted through the whole week. On Sunday we had his family over for pizza and cake. On Monday was his actual birthday and we had a little party with just our family before he left for work. On Tuesday we celebrated by using the Papa Murphy's gift card that my parents had gotten him for his birthday and Thursday we had pizza again when we went out to an Italian restaurant with a gift card his parents had gotten him for his birthday. It was definitely a week of pizza- a sure sign that Andrew's birthday had arrived!

Andrew snapped this picture as I was topping Megan off before we headed out the door to church.

Megan has a fascination with Jordan's hair. She is always trying to rub it and grab it and usually he doesn't go for that at all. During their bath the other night he let her wash his hair. She was in absolute heaven. Maybe I have a little hairdresser on my hands.

Every night before Jordan goes to bed the very last book he always wants to read is, "Dinosaur Roar!" In fact, we've read it so many times that he now has it memorized. Tonight as I was putting Megan in her bed Jordan ran into her room with the book. At first I thought he wanted me to read it to him but he opened it and started reading it to Megan. He read it perfectly from start to finish, said "Goodnight Megan Rose, I love you Megan Rose," and patted her little head. It's moments like this that melt my heart and make me so happy to be a mom to my precious little angels.

Marianne's Make-A-Wish

When Marianne received her prognosis back in June I was talking to her on the phone and asked her, "Marianne, what do you want your Make-A-Wish to be?" Out of all the things she could have chosen to do and all the places she could have gone, what she wished for did not surprise me at all because it's probably what my wish would have been too. Her wish was to spend some time at the cabin with all of her siblings, their spouses and Mom and Dad.

This past weekend we made her wish come true and had a blast doing it. The weather wasn't the greatest but it really didn't matter because we were together and that's what it was all about. We played games, went on horseback rides, the girls went to breakfast at Whistlin' Jack (a tradition we've had as long as I can remember) we laughed, we cried and just enjoyed being together.

The highlight of the trip was we had a campfire on Friday night and shared our favorite memories of the cabin and our testimonies with each other. It was a tear-filled, spiritual night where many special words were spoken that I will always remember. We then watched a video that Jared had made of Marianne's life. We had to hook the projector and laptop up to the generator because of the lack of electricity at the cabin. At the very end of the video there was a touching song, "Please Remember," by LeAnn Rimes. It got us all crying and then the generator ran out of gas. We all just started laughing and took a brief intermission to fill up the generator and dry our eyes.

Thanks for the fun time everyone, thank you to Grandma Erin and Auntie Sarah for taking such great care of the kids while we were away, and thanks to Marianne for having such a fun Make-A-Wish that brought us all together.