"I can't believe we went to the North Pole!"

With Matt getting older, I feel like I really need to capitalize on these next couple of years with everyone believing in "Christmas magic" so we decided to ride the Polar Express. A local train puts on the event and I've gone before, but not with my own kids so we decided this was the year. It was fun. Unfortunately, Matt was sick. It seems like he always gets sick right before some big event we have planned. He didn't have as much fun as I'd hoped, but we talked him into trying to have fun. Kate, however was in Christmas heaven. She was so excited about everything and really took it all in. She made it worth it. When Santa came in our car, she was SO excited and she couldn't keep it in. It was great to watch. Sara was totally freaked out by Santa, which also made me laugh. Kate also got to hold a sign up for the song 12 Days of Christmas and she thought she was big stuff! She loves to be the center of attention. Matt said several times throughout the night, and still today, "I can't believe we went to the North Pole." It was a fun time together as our family and a great kickoff to the real Christmas season.

Freezing before the train ride.

Getting started on the ride.

Santa reactions.

Helping out during the song and dinner afterwards.

Thanksgiving top ten

I like top ten lists. So I am starting a new tradition of posting in top ten lists. Not every one of course, but let's make things fun here, right?! Jerry's mom and stepdad rented a condo for Thanksgiving and were nice enough to invite us along and we really had a great time. In fact, here's our top ten favorite things...

10. Discovering a part of Utah we'd never been to. It was really pretty.

9. Turkey... warm pumpkin pie with the whipped cream melting into it... need I say more?

8. A scavenger hunt with the kids.

The goody bags.

7. Seeing Matt and Kate get along.

It might be rare, but here's the proof.

6. The "I Spy" dvd I'd saved from a Wendy's kids meal for just such an occasion.

5. Beating Jerry at PIG in basketball. I had no letters by the way! Tetherball was fun too although I wasn't quite as successful.

4. Playing lots and lots of games: Old Maid, Uno, Go Fish

3. Being with family.

Filling our tummies. Mmmm!

2. Riding the Polar Express (see my next post)

And the #1 favorite thing of Thanksgiving was after tucking the kids in one night, Kate came downstairs, I asked her why she was out of bed and her response was "I'm sleepwalking."

We hope you all had a great day and have as much to be thankful for as we do!

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

For Christmas may I please have a bike that fits. Thank you.

Love,

Kate

3rd child syndrome

I have heard so many stories about how the third child is the one breaking all the rules. They're rambunctious, outgoing, aggressive, and the list could go on. It seems that Sara is meeting all those stereotypes, for better or for worse. She's a handful in her own special way. She has no "go-to" toy or food so often I'm left struggling to get her to eat anything without spitting it out at me or throwing it on the floor. Babysitters are a disaster as she just cries the whole time and I can't say, "oh, let her play with that, it's her favorite". Luckily we are much more relaxed as parents and we can laugh at it more. Another curse (or blessing) of later children. Here is a typical dinner:

And so it begins...

We made Christmas official today with letters to Santa. If you google "Santa's address" you can find a website from someone in North Pole, Alaska (it's a real town, I had a friend who lived there) so we sent them there due to Matt's new reading ability. I wanted to make sure it looked authentic in case he looked at the envelope, which he didn't. The trick of it all was to make the list to Santa match the toys already hidden in the basement. :) Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

I didn't apologize

Hey Clark, remember that time I was eight and I made you be my personal slave. I'm sorry. Not really. But look, this is with NO coaching. I promise.

All she needs now is a younger brother and wicker chair!

I enjoyed this...

Matt got invited to a friend's house this afternoon. His friend also lives in our town homes so Matt said he could walk there by himself. I sort of snuck behind him at a distance and at one point he turned around, saw me peeking around the corner of a house and smiled a HUGE grin and waved goodbye. It was so cute. Then he met his friend and he was off without another thought of me. I also enjoyed that I came back home to two girls sleeping peacefully. Woo hoo. I did not enjoy, however, the fact that the dirty bathrooms were glaring at me and the cleaning supplies were already out and calling my name. Oh well, the joy lasted for a brief moment at least!

Finding joy in the journey

I've thought about this post all week long. I'm not quite sure what to say about it. Every other mother or father out there knows what I'm feeling because they too have experienced it. All the time I hear people say to enjoy this time because it goes so fast and other tips of advice that are similar to that. I know it's true. I can see how fast these past 5 years have gone with Matt and now he's in school and next year he'll be in school all day and it really has gone fast and it does cause me a little anxiety as I wonder if I've given him all the tools he needs to find his own success. I believe it goes fast. I can see myself in 20 years saying to another young mom to enjoy it because it goes so fast. I understand and I fear that I won't enjoy it. But understanding it doesn't necessarily make it any easier to live it. I love it when Matt and Kate play together (like right now they are doing a GREAT job playing some store game), but I still get the minute by minute play by play from Matt, and I think "just play. Please play without my input for 5 minutes." And I love how talkative Kate is but as she's is saying "mom" for literally the 1000th time that day I just want to scream! Some days I just need a break, for no reason, and I just can't give them everything they deserve. And it makes me sad and it reminds to enjoy it because when Matt is 15 I'm sure he won't give me any play by play elaboration of his social activities. And when Kate is 15 "mom" is the last person she'll be wanting to talk to and then I probably really will miss these days when my brain is on mom overload. So the whole point of this post is that I read President Monson's talk from the LDS General Conference about... Finding Joy in the Journey and I really want to follow his guidance with all my heart. So I am really going to try to enjoy these years. I really do love my children and I really do love being home with them. It fulfills me in every way imaginable. I am so lucky to be their mother and I want to show them my gratitude for them. Wish me luck all you fellow moms and dads and I hope you'll join me in the journey so we can encourage each other. So all that being said, here are some things we did enjoy this week. The pictures are self explanatory:

But the thing that brought me the most joy this week was leaving them all with a babysitter Saturday night and going out with Jerry!

A purple birthday

Today was Sara's first birthday so we had a purple party: purple clothes, purple balloons, purple cake, purple wrapping paper. It was fun. She is a real sweetheart! Taryn and her kids came to celebrate with us. We had a great time teaching Sara to open presents and eat cake. Well, the eating cake she didn't need to be taught so much!

Dear Sara,

The moment I held you for the first time, I felt a wave of gratitude come over me. That feeling has never left. You truly bring me so much joy. As a baby you were so sweet. As soon as we got you on Zantac, which helped your stomach, you were rarely upset. I loved holding you. You were such a good sleeper, especially for a newborn and I truly felt that the transition of you into our family was a smooth one. As you've grown we've enjoyed watching your personality develop. You have this determination that I can't quite explain with words. But whatever you want, you find a way to get it. You climb up, over, around things if I hide a toy that you are determined to have. If you want to be upset, there are no toys, games or songs that will cheer you up. Lately, you are understanding when you get in trouble. You throw food off your high chair, look right us, and when we say, "no" you put on your priceless pouty face. I've never seen a bottom lip stick out that far! You've been saying "da-da" for everything that you like to see: a dog, a baby, our house, daddy... But today you dropped a toy and said, "uh-uh". And this evening as we were cleaning up from the party, Matt was a holding a new toy and you took your first real step to him to play with it! Your brother and sister love you so much. In your beds at night I hear Kate getting out of her bed and going to your crib. Oftentimes, you are both still awake long after we've tucked you in. Matt chooses to play with you and you love his attention. He knows how to be soft with you and you are willing to let him hug you, hold you and pick you up. We are a lucky family to have you with us. I feel so grateful for the joy you have brought us and I look forward to many more years of learning with you. Thank you Sara, for you love and patience with us. We love you! I love you!

Love, Mom

Snow play

We woke up this morning to our first real snowfall. I have to admit, even I was a little excited to peek out the window this morning. Some days I miss living in Colorado, but today I felt like if I can't be raising my family in Colorado, then Utah is a great second. I love Utah snow. The ski resorts got a whole bunch and it makes me happy! I love running in rain and snow. Today was a fun run. It reminded me of Ricks. This picture doesn't do the snow justice, and I look like a leperchaun, but that's ok.

Starting at 7:00 the kids were asking to play in the snow. Somewhat surprising for Kate since pretty much all the past winters she's hated the snow. I think it's the snow gear that makes it so hard to move. I was happy to see her enjoy it. Maybe we'll take her sledding with us this year!

It was fun to make a snowman. This snow was perfect snowman making snow.

This picture would make more sense if I'd been able to photograph Kate mid super-man dive on top of the snow man. Yes she belly flopped the snow man and thought she was pretty funny. Matt was sad because he wanted to show dad. Sorry bud, that's what you get when you have pink power ranger for a sister!

A date with Kate

I know many of you have heard me complain about Kate not sleeping through the night. We have tried a lot of things. And it has gotten better. Of course, we had some really bad nights so it doesn't take much to get better than it was. I made a deal with her that if she slept through the night for 10 nights then we could go to Cookie Cutters to get her haircut. It took us 6 weeks, but she did it! And by the end she started to understand the concept and would get really excited when she woke up in the morning and realized she hadn't gotten up in the night. Friday night was her last night of sleeping through the night so on Saturday when Matt had a birthday part, we had our own date. It was so fun. I'm very proud of her and didn't even mind when she got up last night!


Our contract.


The pink car at Cookie Cutters. She watched Barbie Fairytopia and loved every minute of it. It was so worth it to be with her!




Then we went to the park and she got to choose what to do which means swing, swing and swing. This is our favorite park around. We had a great time together. I love you, Kate!

Nightmare on My Street

Here are our favorite things about Halloween yesterday.

Kelly: Hearing the song Nightmare on My Street by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Jay and I used to know all his songs. I still know Parents Just Don't Understand. So fun to hear that song again. And also dressing Sara in her 12 month size bee costume that was NOT 12 month size. It was so small for her. But she was a trooper as long as I held her.

Jerry: Stealing the kids candy when they weren't looking.

Matt: School parade and trick or treating.

Kate: Trick or treating.

Sara: Getting out of my horrible costume even though mom said I was adorable and I know that I am!

The gang before trick or treating.

Officer Matt holding his favorite candy piece.

Get me out of this thing. I can't move!

Kate is dressed as a ballerina, Nastia, fairy princess, Mariposa, Sleeping Beauty. She changed her mind every five minutes.

Summer in October

This past week was just beautiful weather. One day Matt and Abby spent a lot of time outside playing. As I came out to take pictures I overheard a conversation about marriage. Abby: Saying something about marriage.

Matt: No we can't get married. We know each other. You have to marry somebody you don't know.

A minute later...

Matt: Yeah, we can get married cuz we're best friends huh.

Letting the woman do all the work. Way to go buddy.

Burying each other.

Kate joining in.

Sara wanting to join in.