2009

As 2009 has ended, I have been thinking of goals that I could, should, shouldn't make for 2010. I went over the goals that I made for 2009 and I was only able to complete half of them. They weren't all that hard, I just didn't do them. I haven't been able to think of any goods ones yet, but when I figure out what I would like to do, I will write them down for all to see.
2009 was a good year for us. Dan got a new job. We moved to Vegas. We hiked 21 miles in 13 hours. Two of my sisters had babies. My brother got married and had a baby. Dan's brother and his wife are finally expecting a little one. My sister and her family were sealed together forever! We took a vacation to Mexico. I had to do jury duty. We had many good times together and that is really all I can ask for.

Our New Year's Eve wasn't much of a party this year. Dan got pepper sprayed and so he ended up falling asleep at 9:30. You can kinda tell in his eyes!

We did go over to the Roper's early and had some food and played some games and then we came home, so the crazies could go to sleep. I watched a movie and ate some yummy ice cream.
I'm excited for a new year with new things to come . I hope that everyone had a good 2009 has a terrific 2010!

Christmas

Kinda late posting, but better late than never! I haven't had much time to do anything since the fun day.
We were able to go up to Delta for the occasion and I'm so glad that we were able to go. I'm not sure if it will be the last one with them or not, so it was fun to be with family. We got there a little late, so we missed the Christmas Story, but the girls opened their Christmas Eve presents and got pictures with the cousins who were there.



Christmas morning the kids all looked through the things that Santa brought. The twins got bikes and Ty got a sit and spin.



We then opened all our gifts. The kids had a lot of fun and loved all their gifts. Papa was able to sleep through the whole ordeal! Pretty impressive. He did work all night, so I guess it was okay.




Miss Z got a car from Santa and it was by far Ty's favorite present. She was in it more than anyone and would get upset if she couldn't get in it.



The rest of that day we just played, relaxed, watched movies, ate a yummy dinner, and enjoyed each others company.








These are the dresses that the crazies got for Christmas. Aren't they the cutest crazies ever!?!?


Ty has only two words that she uses more than once and they are: Cheese and Papa. She said Papa for the first time while we were in Delta and kept saying it. She was in love with him and only wanted him to hold her and if he put her down she would cry.


We left there on Sunday and came home to another party. Grandma and Grandpa came down and we opened more gifts. And then Monday we had Dinner with everyone and opened a couple more gifts. I didn't get any pics of the excitement so that is a bummer.
It was a really good Christmas and I am so grateful for everything that I have.

I don't know what to say.

This article makes me so completely sad, sick, upset, hurt, mad, etc... I can't believe that people can actually be this way and that we have let our country make stupid laws like this!

Christmas Spirit

Our Sunday School lesson yesterday was basically remembering the true meaning of Christmas. (I have a seventeen month old little crazy and so I wasn't there the whole time.) There was a list on the board:

Gifts
Food
Family
Friends
Decorations
Christ

Then there were columns that said:

Most Excited

Most Important

We were to number them in order in both columns. Mine of course were not in the same order, as I'm sure some of yours aren't. We then discussed why that is. During this discussion is when I left to do my job being the "Hall Monitor", but before I left some people mentioned things like: the stores have Christmas up at Halloween and is too commercialized, we are suppose to be politically correct and therefore, Christ is taken out of Christmas, we love the food and the parties, etc...
I didn't think much about it until later that night when I realized that as a parent I have been the biggest reason why it isn't more about Christ in our home. I have tried to let the girls know the reason that we celebrate Christmas, this morning when I said Christmas is Jesus birthday Jo Jo just laughed at me and told me that it wasn't. And when I tried to tell them that we should give Jesus a gift (of being nice) she almost started crying and told me that she didn't want to give him her presents. I obviously am not doing a very good job! :)
Now the reason that it is my fault of why Christmas isn't more Christ centered is because, I have been the one telling the girls to be nice or Santa isn't coming and that if they aren't nice they will get their presents taken away. Now I'm pretty sure that most parents have threatened their kids with this at one time or another and I don't know about them, but it doesn't really work. Kids will do whatever they want, whether Santa "sees" or not.
Since I've come to this conclusion, I've decided to act differently. Instead of saying that Santa isn't going to bring their presents I tell the girls that Jesus wouldn't want us hurting each other and he really wants us to be nice, to give, and to be happy. There will be no more talk about Santa not coming if they aren't good. It needs to be more about Christ and being friendly, kind, gracious, and giving.
One other thing that I've started and I hope will be a good tradition to help the crazies is that I only buy them three presents. (Of course they will get their stocking and Santa gift, but from Dan and I there will only be three gifts.) The meaning behind the three gifts is that Jesus got three gifts when he was born and so to help us try to remember him more that is what we get. I also hope that it will teach them not to be greedy children and know that it isn't just about them.

Sorry if this is all jumbled, but I needed to write down how I was feeling. Since I have started this blog, it has become my journal and I haven't been as good writing about my feelings. I think that I do well in preserving the things that happen on a daily basis with the crazies, but I need to do better at writing my feelings and thoughts down.

I hope that you all have a Merry Christmas and try to keep Christ in your homes!

Our First Snow

For my birthday I received this....


It is from my wonderful and thoughtful sis-in-law, Sarah.


This morning the girls played, for the first time this season, in snow.



SB even tried to make a snowman.


It was a mess.


But they had a blast!


Thanks Sarah. We love it!

New Wednesday

This project has been needing to be done for quite awhile. I just haven't had any days when I feel like doing some major cleaning. Well I made today that day. This is what our desk has looked like for a bit. We have been throwing everything on it.


Now it looks like this.


I feel like I have accomplished something. Oh wait, I just remembered that I took everything from the desk and put it here.


I think I need more space!

The Best New Thing Yet!

Yesterday our new something was very unplanned. The crazies napped! All of them. Of course they had to be in separate rooms, but they were tired enough not to play and just sleep.


SB slept on the couch.


Jo Jo slept in my bed.


And of course this lovely little one slept in her crib, so she couldn't escape. Although, she wouldn't have escaped anyways because she was sound asleep when I put her in there, but still. I like the fact that I have to get her out when she wakes up. She loves the person who gets her out the best. And I love to be loved!

For two glorious hours the house was extremely quite and I was able to get some cleaning, cooking, and relaxing done. Oh my it was wonderful!!!

And while I'm talking about sleeping, wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to fall asleep like this?

Santa

We went to see Santa on Saturday and the twins did so good! I definitely thought that they would cry or not even get close to him, but I was so wrong. When it was our turn they went right up and started to talk with him before they were even on his lap. I helped get them up on his lap and they got a picture.


We then attempted to get Ty to sit on his lap, but she would have none of it. So Santa came up with a great idea and this is the picture that we got.


I love it and Ty was completely happy. After the picture Santa sat back down and talked with the girls for a while. They told him what they wanted and he asked them what their favorite colors were and then stories about how Mrs. Claus' favorite color is purple. He was such a wonderful Santa. I'm sure the other people in line were wishing that we would hurry up. When we were leaving Ty started to laugh and waved bye to Santa. She is so much like the twins (with everything) I sometimes wonder if they should have been triplets.
It was a wonderful experience and I'm happy that we were able to go see him this season.

Are You Serious?

It has come and gone and I still don't know if it has registered.
It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be.
Dan had a way harder time than I did.
I think I should probably have completed more in my life by this point.
I'm already losing my memory, but that could be because of being with kids all the time.
Or it could be that I inherited my mothers brain.
I haven't cut my hair in a seriously long time and my beautiful sister-in-law fixed it up for me.
My nieces and nephew came over and watched the girls.
Dan took me to dinner at Macaroni Grill. It was delicious.
I'm waiting for him to get back from taking the kids home so we can get all cozy and watch a flick or something.
30. I can't believe that I am 30.
Oh well, Happy Birthday to Me!!!!

Everything New

I haven't been posting my something news very well. So I just thought that I would make sure that y'all know that I am still doing them. I've done crafts which I am not posting because they are presents, cooking some good things and some things that don't really work out (I guess I should read the instructions a little bit better), rearranging my bedroom (what do you think? I wish I had some paint and then it would look even better.)



We've been without any TV or movies for full days (whiny kids keep quiet and out of your hair when Backyardigans or Baby Einsteins is on!) We haven't been back to the park, but that is because the kids are sick and it is cold outside. I took pics (with our crappy camera) and edited them as best I could with not a lot to work with for our Christmas cards. I think they look somewhat decent. It has been a long time since Ty has been sick and so we remembered that she loves this...


She loves it. I don't know what that means.


This one means that the crazies are getting along.

It is a good day!