Merry Christmas!

We hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas full of fun, family, and the love of Christ in your hearts and homes.

Here Comes Santa Claus

We're enjoying our Christmas holiday in California. We had a visit from Santa on Saturday night and I wanted to post some pictures from the event. Both kids did well although it took going through almost all of the kids before Elizabeth was willing to get up on his lap. Even then it took a large candy cane to fully entice her.

Natalie being cute with Santa

Santa being cute with Natalie

Elizabeth being shy with Santa, although she did manage to get out that she wanted a slinky and a sticker book.

Our family minus Natalie who was already in bed

The kids all piling on Santa (Elizabeth watched timidly; you can see her in the top, left corner)

Elizabeth sharing Santa's lap with Sam, Grandma and Grandpa's new dog

It was a fun night and Elizabeth especially loved spending time playing with her cousins.

Gingerbread Houses

I invited my CTR 5 class over yesterday for a little Christmas party. I was hoping for more of a turnout but we only had three there. They seemed to have a fun time, though, as we made gingerbread houses. Elizabeth woke up from her nap half way through and "helped" me make ours (she actually knocked ours down so much that we ended up with more of a shack than a house). All the kids enjoyed pigging out on candy and hot chocolate. They are really good kids and it was fun to have them over, if a little hectic and crazy.

Here they are making silly faces: Elizabeth, Colby, Alyssa and Ayndria.

Here's a closer shot of our house and Elizabeth enjoying a candy cane.

Here's a picture I took during our big snowstorm of Natalie. She was very intrigued watching the snow come down.
I also wanted to post another FEM (She's been giving me a lot lately). We were driving somewhere the other day and Elizabeth started singing "Away in a Manger". After she finished she said, "there was no crib for his bed, Momma, because the shepherds were laying on it." The ideas that she comes up sometimes are so hilarious and that one got me laughing pretty hard. I explained to her that the reason the baby Jesus didn't have a crib was because there weren't any around and not because shepherds were hogging it. :)

Christmas Questionnaire

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper.

2. Real tree or artificial? Real tree; I love the whole process of picking one out and bringing it home and the smell, of course.

3.When do you put up the tree? Usually the first Monday night of December for Family Home Evening but it varies.

4. When do you take the tree down? When we get tired of it.

5. Do you like eggnog? I have never actually tasted it but I don't really like the idea of eggnog. Maybe I'll taste it one of these days.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? There are a few: my red wagon, my first set of rollerblades, and a trampoline we got as a family.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Two: one we brought back from Africa and a Willow Tree one my mom gave me, I think the first Christmas after we got married.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Our parents.

9. Easiest person to buy for? The girls.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't think of any bad ones.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? We've done both but I prefer mailing real ones.

12 . Favorite Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life, by far. In fact it could be my favorite movie of all time.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? After Thanksgiving.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I remember.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, apple pie, all of the goodies that go on Christmas plates, especially peanut blossoms.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored.

17. Favorite Christmas song? What Child is This.

18. Travel for Christmas or stay home? Both are nice. I'm sure we'll start staying home when our kids are older or it gets harder to travel.

19. Can you name all of Santa's' reindeer? Yes.

20. Angel on the treetop or a star? Star. I want to find a better one in the future.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning; on rare occasions we would open something Christmas Eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Crowds at stores, definitely.

23. What I love most about Christmas? The music, thinking of others and the increased faith in my Savior.

24. Favorite Christmas Tradition? Taking Christmas plates around to people on Christmas Eve.

More Singing

Sorry but I had to post more of Elizabeth singing. I can't get enough of it. This one is "Love at Home". She's acting crazy and expressive in it because we had the camera turned so she could see herself sing. Anyway, here it is:

Also, I had to post another FEM. In order to get Elizabeth to finish her dinner, I frequently have to feed her the food myself with her fork. For some reason, she'll eat almost anything this way even if she hasn't touched it by herself. Anyway, I did this tonight (she finished her spinach salad!) and afterwards she said this: "Thank you for feeding me, mom. You're my best hero." I guess it doesn't take much to be a hero. :)

Christmas, etc.

We got our Christmas decorations up on Monday and then that night went and picked out a tree. There wasn't a lot of great ones to choose from but we're happy with the one we found. This was the best picture I could get to show it lit up.

I also finally finished our stockings. So...here they are. Some of the little pictures didn't turn out as cute as I would have liked but at least they're done and that's one less thing weighing over my head. Warning: they are much less cute when you enlarge the picture. Do so at your own risk :). Halfway through the lettering I also started wondering why on earth we picked such long names for our kids. So, that's something for you expecting mothers to consider. :)

My poor deprived child didn't get to play in the snow until today. She has been asking ever since it snowed and after she got over her cold I didn't really have an excuse. I wasn't sure how to handle it with Natalie so we just went out when she was sleeping. The snow was all hard and crunchy and she didn't last very long but I think she had fun and we got to try out her new snow clothes.


I'm hesitant to mention it so as to jinx myself in some way but we are currently in the process of potty training Elizabeth and things are going fairly well. She has still had accidents but not too many. We are implementing a carefully regimented program of candy bribery. Hopefully her teeth won't be rotten by the end of this. What I've been impressed with is that we've gone out the last couple of days and she has stayed dry and gone potty wherever we've been. Her hardest time seems to be in the evening so we'll have to work on that. Today we went to the McDonald's playland and she stopped playing and went while we were there so to reward her we picked up "Ratatouille" from the red box. As much as I've dreaded potty training, I suppose I'll make it out of this alive and hopefully mentally intact. :)

She's 1!

It's hard to believe that my little baby Natalie is 1 now. This past year has gone by so fast. She had a rough start with her prematurity and then RSV that landed her back in the hospital but she worked and ate hard and its been basically smooth sailing ever since. When I first saw her I just remember thinking that she was such a pretty baby. I loved her little, slightly upturned nose (I still don't know where that came from). She was such an easy baby and Joe and I started thinking that she was going to be our calm, easygoing child. Well, we soon discovered that Natalie is actually quite stubborn and determined. Maybe more so than Elizabeth. She is very driven and hates to be deterred from her course or to have something taken away from her. We love our little determined girl and know that this quality will serve her well throughout her life. Natalie has brought so much joy into our lives. I especially love that she is a mama's girl since Elizabeth was always a daddy's girl. I love when she says "mama" and reaches out to me. Happy Birthday Natalie!

Natalie enjoyed her cake but loved her ice cream. We've ruined her already! (That black stuff on her face is the black icing, by the way)

Natalie got some fun presents, which Elizabeth was more than willing to help her open and then play with. :)

The biggest hit was a set of fake keys that I picked out for her. She's even still playing with them two days after so that's a good sign.

I also wanted to post some video of Natalie that's been a long time coming. The first one is Natalie playing peek-a-boo and the second is of her tickling herself.

Events of the Week

This past week was another challenging one. On Monday night, we started noticing Natalie had a lot of gunk in her eyes. By the next day, she had full blown pink eye. Of course, around Wednesday night Elizabeth had a bad case of it herself, probably worse than Natalie's. Joe also ended up getting it, too, but I was lucky enough to avoid it. This, in combination with the fact that we've all had cough/colds as well and that Joe was very busy in school made it a difficult week. The only time the kids and I got out of the house was to see the doctor. It's been frustrating to be through our second round of sickness before December. I would just like to wake up in the morning feeling healthy again. I was strengthened a lot this week, though. I specifically remember one moment in particular where Natalie had refused to sleep and was cranky and not wanting anything I was giving her and sure to wake up Elizabeth from her nap with her screaming. I just wanted to lay down and take a nap. It was one of those moments where you think "I don't know if I can handle this." Somehow, very soon after this, Natalie calmed down and I realized that night that the rest of the day had gone pretty well. What a blessing! I'm so thankful for the little blessings during the day and I want to try to record these more and follow President Eyring's example.

Anyway, things seem to be turning around, especially for Natalie. She was very happy today which was a good thing since today is her first birthday! We are going to celebrate tomorrow since today was very busy. Joe had school stuff all morning and then he had to go to our ward Christmas party tonight since he was both singing in a musical number and the narrator for the reading of the Christmas story. I was sad that I didn't get to go watch him and see the party. It was a "Night in Bethlehem" complete with authentic costumes, food, etc., from the time period when Jesus was born. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Joe but he looked pretty good considering his costume was made up of things we could find in our house. Joe came home right after his part was done to avoid contaminating others. Anyway, that is why our daughter's birthday celebration will be delayed a day this year. I will devote my next post to Natalie's birthday.

We had a lot of sweet moments this past week, too. One day, Joe surprised me with this beautiful purple rose. What a wonderful husband I have! It's so nice to know that you are appreciated and loved, especially when you feel sick and gross and completely out of patience. I'm so thankful for Joe and how he's always so thoughtful and loving.


The next day, Elizabeth was talking about the flower and I said, "That was nice of Daddy, wasn't it?" She said "Yeah...that was a good choice" :). Can you tell we use that phrase a lot in our house?

We also made some brownies one day and Elizabeth thoroughly enjoyed cleaning up afterwards.

She looks like she belongs in a Zorro movie and the whisk is her sword.
"Just call me Lizzie de la Vega!"

We also awoke this morning to a winter wonderland! This is the view from our front door. The snow came down pretty much the whole day so hopefully it will stick around. Elizabeth was sad she couldn't go play in it today but we did manage to get some snow for her to eat which is the main reason she wants to go outside anyway :). Hopefully she'll feel well enough on Monday.

I also need to say...Go Cougars! They are now undefeated in conference play for two straight seasons. If only they could get things going a little earlier in the season. It's not looking like a BCS bowl is in the future this year but next year for sure!