2013

 

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. This year has gone by so quickly.

 

2013 in a nutshell

 

Zoey: turned 2

learned to dance

learned to sing

discovered chocolate chip cookies

loves Curious George and Team Umizoomi

 

Zackary: turned 4

finished one year of speech therapy

enjoyed his first year of primary as a sunbeam

started preschool

loves nutella

played minecraft for days

loves minions

 

Mia: turned 6

graduated from kindergarten and started 1st grade

loves stuffed animals and my little pony

eats too much candy

likes to wear her hair in a crown braid

loves art class

 

Max: turned 8

got baptized

loves scouts

started 3rd grade

read every Diary of a Whimpy Kid book

loves movie night

got his yellow belt in karate

 

Jessica: turned 30

went gluten-free

celebrated 10 years of marriage

enjoys strength training

loves Netflix

redecorated the bedroom

learned to make the very best pie crust

 

Ty: timeless/ageless

climbed a mountain

worked hard at everything, everyday

loves bacon

tested countless recipes

played hours of minecraft.....just to entertain the kids of course

 

It was a great year. I guess I am ready for another one!

The Best Laid Plans

It seems we have encountered a series of unfortunate events at our house.

1. Thursday....I had a migraine. I was thrown very behind schedule on everything.

2. Friday....My brother, who has been staying with us for the Christmas holiday, came down with the flu. Ty's brother in Utah apparently had the same thing.

3. We discussed possibly delaying/cancelling our trip to Utah.

4. Saturday.....we decided to go ahead and go to Utah. What the heck.

5. As we loaded into the car Zackary threw up for the first time.

6. We talked about not going to Utah.

7. We decided to try to go to Utah again. Surely it was a fluke.

8. We made it to Calimesa and Zack threw up again.

9. I looked at Ty and he turned the car around.

10. We are home now and I am making us some cinnamon swirl bread, which is not so unfortunate.

Utah is too cold anyway.

A Few Things

1. I woke up yesterday morning to a migraine headache! It was only the third I have ever had and it completely took me out. Thank goodness my brothers were here, because I was passed out in my bedroom for about 6 hours and the kids needed some looking after!

2. I woke up this morning without a migraine and I am very thankful :)

3. We are leaving for Utah tomorrow morning. I am not looking forward to the drive. I am not looking forward to the cold! I am scared of snow. (I do love a good opportunity to wear boots however!)

4. 2013 is almost over.

I don't think I have the energy for resolutions this year. I think I will just organize my house instead.....

(I like this idea!)

5. I have spent the past 3 months making and baking every kind of sweet and delectable treat imaginable. It has been a delightful sugary mess, but I guess in January that should slow down a bit!! Back to green smoothies......made with spinach not kale. I have decided that in 2014 I am not eating kale. I ate it in 2013 and tried to enjoy it, but seriously, it is gross. It is disgusting......end of story.

Happy Friday!!

Christmas

Christmas Eve was a party!

The evening was very full. My whole family came over for food and lots of games.

The kids got new pajamas and Despicable Me 2.

We tried very hard to get everyone into bed quickly, because we were exhausted and still had plenty to do.

 Luckily we had my brothers to help put everything together.

I don't know what we will do if it is ever just Ty and I alone to do all of the work on Christmas Eve!

 This morning was pretty calm at first. The kids weren't up unusually early and I was all ready when they did wake up.

There was much rejoicing over happy gifts.

The kids were pleased. Ty did really well this year. I am very happy too!

After presents I made hot chocolate to drink with chocottone (aka...panettone made with chocolate chunks in place of dried fruit. Ty ate it at Christmas time while serving his mission in Peru.)

Next we loaded into the car for a quick drive into the mountains for lunch at my parent's house.

 Mia was sporting her new pink headphones. She was listening to music from the "Frozen" soundtrack.

I just love it.

We have enjoyed a really wonderful Christmas.

Christmas Eve

 This little girl is looking more grown up all the time!

She is very excited for tomorrow morning.

We started our day at Victoria Gardens. Upon our arrival we realized that Zac had made the trip without any shoes so we made a quick stop at Stride-Rite. Luckily the iron man (extra wide style) was on sale....so now Zac got an early Christmas present!

Next we stopped in for a visit with Santa. The kids all got candy canes and Santa told them all to be sure and be in bed early. I will remind them of that later!

Ty took everyone to the apple store and I wandered through William-Sonoma. I took Mia shopping at Justice. I thought she would love it and she did!

I can't believe it is Christmas Eve! It has been a wonderful season.

Merry Christmas!

Cookie decorating

We were supposed to have a big cookie baking/decorating extravaganza with my mom and sister in law today, but that didn't work out so it was just the kids and I and one last batch of gingerbread cookies.

I told the kids this would be our last batch until next year.

We have had a lot of fun making all of our Christmas goodies and treats.

I think I am ready for Christmas now.

Week's End

 It has been a very busy week!

It was my week to drive the carpool so Zac and I spent a lot of time in the car entertaining ourselves.

 It was loads of fun, but I am very excited about 3 weeks of not driving the carpool following this one....Too bad we have to drive to Utah.

 Zoey discovered pockets.

 I took the kids to Starbucks for cakepops and hot chocolate.

 I ended up losing my keys and we were at Starbucks much longer than originally planned, but all ended well.

Max, Mia, and I built gingerbread houses out of graham crackers at the library.

 Ty watched the younger kids so that I could just take the older 2, and let me just say.....it was so relaxing.

 Max put his house together all by himself.

 He did a great job.

 Both Max and Mia were extremely sugar high following this activity.

Mia brought home a tiny container of bubbles for Zoey.

 It was received with much joy.

 Christmas bubbles are the best.

Yay weekend!!!!!

Today's Schedule

Drive carpool

Drop off older kids at elementary school

Drop off Zackary at preschool

IEP meeting with Zackary's speech language pathologist

Grocery store for kid's Christmas celebration needs

Home

Make hot chocolate truffles for Christmas Eve

Test hot chocolate truffles :)

Pick up Zackary

Lunch

Pick up Max and Carpool home

Pick up Mia from art class

Dress Zack for Christmas program

Drop Zack off for Christmas program

Drop off Max at scouts

Celebrate Zackary's performance success

Pick up Max from scouts

Showers/Baths????

Dinner????

Bedtime????

We are right in the middle now. Hopefully we can make it to the end.

(3 more school days until Christmas break!)

Life Lately

1. All 3 older children have been busy getting ready for school Christmas programs. Zackary's program is on Tuesday night, followed by Mia's on Wednesday night, and then Max will finish us off on Thursday night. It will be a busy week!

2. Zoey does not have an official program to participate in, but she does love to sing Christmas carols! We were able to go caroling on Monday night this week. It was freezing cold and windy but Zoey still sang her little heart out. I just love that about her!

3. 2 weeks left until Christmas. I have lots of wrapping left to do and still a  little shopping.

4. Our credit card number was stolen for the 4th time over the weekend. It was cancelled right away and we did not lose the money, but it is so annoying! Most of our bills are automatically withdrawn so every time this happens we have to contact everyone everywhere and change everything. I sure do wish we lived in a more honest world!

5. I have made more batches of gingerbread men this year than ever before. Suddenly they are my family's favorite cookie and I figure we had better take advantage of the season while we can.

6. Ty will be enjoying an 11 mile hike this Saturday. I hope he survives.

7. I will be at home eating gingerbread men.

Have a lovely Wednesday!

Christmas Season Temple Trip

 We took the kids to the Redlands temple for a little visit.

It is a beautiful temple!

 We came to see the nativity and talk about Christmas.

 It was cold.

We asked the kids who these people were.

 We talked about Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. 

I love sharing these special moments with my children. 

Then we explored the grounds....

 I love how it looks like Mia and Zack are about to jump into the fountain.

They would never do a thing like that.

 The flower gardens still had blooms even despite it being December and very cold. (Not Salt Lake cold, but cold enough for us!)

 After our temple trip we did a little Christmas shopping and went out for a fun dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Max and Mia love orange chicken, Zackary loves egg rolls, and all 4 kids enjoy chow mein :)

It was a great night!

Christmas time is so fun!

Happy December!!!

Thanksgiving break/week was lovely.

Today it was back to school and all of the craziness!

I made a brown butter pecan pie for Thanksgiving dessert. It was delicious and gone quickly. Last night Ty was asking for some. We decided it was best just to make another pie.

We have been listening to Christmas music. THIS song is a favorite :)

It happens occasionally that I run out of peanut butter. It is strange and unfortunate, especially because today I want a big mug of THIS....

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate from sweet Remedy

I kicked off the holiday movie watching with The Holiday.

It is one of my favorite movies any time, but a must watch at holiday time :)

Have a great week!