12 of 12 - February 2013

1 - This little guy is just so happy and giggly, in large part thanks to his big brother and sister playing with him, tickling him, singing to him, and doing all manner of craziness to get smiles and laughs out of him.

2 - Lydia went to preschool this morning.  When I made the picture collage, it cut off Miss Tammy's head!  Lydia has a good time there with her teacher and friends.

3 - It's a rain boot kind of day.

4 - Seth can't leave for school without a big goodbye hug from his little sister.  I'm glad they like to do that, and I'll love it for as long as I can.  Having a big brother myself, I know this kind of thing won't last as they get older.  Although now, I wish I lived close enough to go give him a big hug right now!

5 - Bye, school bus!  See you in about 4 hours!

6 - My little sweetie likes to hold my hand on the way back home from the bus stop.

7 - Afternoon nap time.  Peter has taken to sucking his thumb, hence his sleeping 12 hours at night!  I couldn't get a picture of it because he loves to sleep with his face up next to the crib bumper, and I wasn't about to move a sleeping baby just to get a snapshot!  Anyway, who doesn't love a good baby bum photo??

8 - This is a quilt block I made, and it's ready to send on to the next person in a cross-country quilt round robin.  I'll get it back in October, and I'll be surprised with what the other quilters have added to it!

9 - I don't make sugar cookies that often, but Valentines Day is one time that I do.  And I have plenty of little helping hands to make them with me.

10 - Homework time.  Lydia is getting really good at cutting and pasting, and Seth is working on writing sentences using sight words.  He also finished his first chapter book all by himself!

11 - Leftover cake from last night.  This is soo good and really easy.  Just mix 1 chocolate cake mix, 1 cup plain non-fat greek yogurt, and 1 cup water.  Mix it all together and pour it into whatever pan you want, and bake it according to the box instruction.  Just a little sprinkle of powdered sugar, and you have a sweet treat that you won't feel too bad about indulging in.

12 - Sorry, but I just couldn't bring myself to watch the State of the Union address.  I'm confident Mitt Romney would have been able to restore a better economy and a more positive direction for our country.  Alas, we move on, but for now I'm still in political "mourning," so I decided to relax and read an inspiring article written by our would-be POTUS in this month's BYU Magazine.

12 of 12 - January 2013

1 - Peter wakes up happy pretty much every morning.  He's been sleeping from 7 pm until 7 am every night for a week - yay for sleep!

2 - Seth, Lydia and I stayed up late last night finishing this Dowdle puzzle of Pike's Market.  It's been a long time since we did a big one, and it was fun!  I'm amazed that the kids don't really refer to the picture on the box.  They just keep trying different pieces until they find the ones that fit.

3 - This is looking out to our backyard.  It's a frosty cold morning, and it didn't really warm up much over the course of the day.

4 - I look at our yard (this is the front) and dream of what I want to plant and dig up and create this spring and summer.

5 - My new favorite breakfast that I could eat every.single.day.  Steel cut oats with vanilla almond milk - yum!

6 - Peter's been eating solids for a couple of weeks, and he's a champ!  His favorite thing to do is grab the spoon while I'm putting it in his mouth.  Let me do it myself, Mom!

7 - The aftermath of Matt's overnight campout with the Young Men from church.  I love camping, but not in 8-degree temperatures!  He had a great time and learned a few things for when he goes again in February for two nights on Mt. Rainier.  They'll make their own snow caves/igloos to sleep in rather than tents.

8 - My lego kid. He loves taking apart his lego sets, setting all the pieces out on the table, and starting at the beginning of the instruction manual to build it all over again.  While the sets are taken apart, it's funny to see what he puts together.  Anakin Skywalker might be riding on the SUV and using his light saber as a flashlight while they drive into the cave prospecting for gold.  Or the gold digger guy might be the pilot of a crazy Star Wars battlecraft.  Cracks me up!

9 - Lydia loves to help me in the kitchen.  We made twice-baked potatoes, and here she is stirring the turkey bacon using her play oven mitt in case it pops or splatters.

10 - Matt was exhausted but still made time to read with his little girl.

11 - Peter loves loves loves bath time!  He'll thank me later for the strategic placement of the washcloth.  :-)

12 - I finished reading this book for the umpteenth (a word invented by my granny meaning lots and lots and lots) time.  It's a Newberry Medal winner, so even though it's geared more toward kids, I love it because it's a quick read with a good message.  I recommend it to anyone who asks for one.  In the background Matt is finishing up preparations for his talk in church the next day (which, by the way, was SO good).

A Merry Christmas

Christmas 2012 was the first one in our new home and the first one in Washington since we've been married.  We missed seeing our families, but it was kind of nice to not deal with holiday travel.  Can someone invent teleportation please?  Just think about being somewhere and BAM! you're there.  We had a nice little Christmas as a family of five.

Santa ate almost all of his treats and left a nice letter for the kids.

Bleary-eyed but excited early in the morning.

I just love this little cutie.  Seth gave her that hat for Christmas, and she's in her new Christmas kitty jammies and playing with her princess sticker book.

 The annual Christmas stool photos.  The kids are holding one of their favorite gifts, and my how they're growing!  I hope the stool holds up for future Christmases.

Super heroes dry erase activity book.

Cute doll made by Grandma.

Not a new rattle, but he sure loves to grab on and shake that thing.  Hooray for Peter's first Christmas!  He slept through all the gift-opening hooplah and didn't wake up until 8:30.  Somehow I don't think he cared that we didn't wait for him.

Cutie Christmas Kids!

12 of 12 - December

1 - Good morning, sweet baby Peter!

2 - I worked out with my 30 Day Shred DVD for the first time since before I got pregnant with Peter.  It killed me today, but I can't help but be thankful for the body I've been given.  It will adapt and do what I tell it to, it has carried and birthed three beautiful children, and now it's time to show my thanks by taking better care of it.

3 - Teething ring on one arm, and holding his morning bottle with his cute little hands.

4 - Today is 12-12-12, so I made pancakes in the shape of twelves.  The one on the pink plate looks like a seahorse next to a blob, but the kids didn't seem to mind.  Let's just say the rest of the batch of pancakes were the standard circles.

5 - There was a cute puppet show about a snow princess at the library.  One lady did the whole thing with all the different voices...amazing!

6 - Peter at the library...not too sure about all the commotion, but he's comfy and content in his carseat.

7 - Yep, that's a big ol' bottle of vodka...the first one I've ever purchased.  Thanks to the recent vote to privatize alcohol sales in Washington, I shoved it into the bottom of grocery cart instead of going to a liquor store.  I made homemade vanilla extract for Christmas gifts.  Easy to make and SO fragrant and delicious!

8 - Seth and Lydia putting together their alphabet puzzle.

9 - Same as previous picture, but I just love this puzzle and you can almost hear the wheels turning in Lydia's head.  Each letter has a picture, and it's its own little puzzle.  It helps with letter recognition and early reading.

10 - My favorite Christmas decoration.  This nativity set belonged to my grandparents.  It's been around a LONG time, and the only sign of wear is a missing ear on the donkey.  My granny passed away 10 years ago today, so she's especially on my mind and in my heart.

11 - Earlier in the day, I pruned a rose bush in the backyard.  I'm a rose-growing novice, and this is the first bush I've had, so we'll see what happens this summer.

12 - Lydia made this adorable Christmas decoration in preschool.  The tree is her hand prints, and the ornaments are her fingerprints.  I'll love this forever!

2012 Santa Story

The idea was to write a little narrative of our annual visit to Santa every year, but I realized the last time I did this was Lydia's first Christmas!  Time to start up again.  Side note:  Santa's speaking parts are made up by me, not his actual words...just interpreting the photos.  Here's how it went down:

Seth:  I want Star Wars Legos and more Star Wars Legos and maybe some Star Wars Legos.

Santa:  Wow, you really know your Star Wars.  Are you pretending to be Luke Skywalker after he gets his hand chopped off and before he gets his new bionic one?  That's pretty cool.

Seth:  Santa, you're the best.

Santa:  Thanks for being a good boy.

Lydia:  I want a bunny house and Cinderella Legos.

Santa:  You have a tiny voice that I can barely hear, but you sure are cute.

Lydia:  I've been wanting to give you a hug all day.

Santa:  You're a sweetheart and a good little girl.

Seth:  This was fun!

Peter:  Where am I?

Lydia:  Yay!  I got my candy cane!

Seth:  Still smiling, Mom & Dad.  Thanks for bringing me to see Santa!

Peter:  There's something down there that's interesting.

Lydia:  I'm looking at whatever Peter is looking at.  Is it time to eat my candy cane yet?

Seth:  OK, are we almost done with pictures, Mom?  My smiler's getting tired.

Peter:  OK, now there's something over there that's got my attention.

Lydia:  Now I'm smiling at Dad.  Surely, he'll let me eat my candy cane.

Seth:  Yay! We got to see Santa!

Lydia:  Waaa!  Mom said I can't eat my candy cane now because we're going to go get dinner.

Dad:  OK let's all cry on the count of three.  One...two...three...waaaaaa!

Peter:  I'm taking a break from crying.  Wanna tell me why you handed me over to that big, red stranger?

Seth:  Merry Christmas!

Lydia:  Candy cane!  Candy cane!

Dad:  I love this.  No, really.

Peter:  Nope, still haven't forgiven you for this!  Waaaa!

The End