Capping Off 2012.

The company I do my blog books through sent me a discount code.  It expires in two days.  So, I need to get in gear and finish 2012 blogging so that I can get my book published.

2012 has been good to us.  I could probably sum up our family activities for the year by saying: Vacations!

Sadly, Nick and I cannot afford a repeat for 2013.  We have decided to limit our excursions to two, for the upcoming year.  With the possibility of an extra driving vacation to Farmington, NM to visit the Sims'.

However, very soon after we made that decision; Nick found out that his Grandpa's health wasn't good.  Nick felt that he ought to take a trip to Florida to see him.  So, Nick and Reagan will be flying to Tampa in January.  They planned their trip to coincide with NZ Kris' trip.

Reagan is thrilled at the prospect of seeing this gorgeous girl again:

Her cousin, Sara! 

Every year has it's ups and downs.  I find myself very fortunate to say that we've had mostly ups!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Rundown.

My whiny, desperate-housewives-esque post has been at the top of my blog for far longer than I intended.


I've moved on from most of the stuff I complained about. Right after that post Reagan did a "180" in her attitude about church. My brother agreed to come over and fix the tub faucet in our bathroom. I found wood pellets, for our pellet stove at nearby Cal-Ranch. I "got things together", and managed to get out a few neighbor Christmas gifts. I pulled myself up by the bootstraps, and decided that I'd try to keep my house clean, all on my own, for the first time in 2.5years. So far, so good. Christmas miracles, I'd say?!

Cohen's still a difficult little guy. But when I took him to the dentist on 12/26; Dr. Curtis pointed out that Cohen was simultaneously cutting 8 teeth at the moment. And I think that'd make anyone crabby. I've been giving him Tylenol to help ease the pain.

Christmas-Time was marvelous for our family.  And that is what this post is going to be all about.

The week prior started off with the Christmas Party at Reagan's preschool.  I was in charge, and I think it went really well.  The entire reason I signed up to do this particular party was because it was on a day when Nick wasn't supposed to go to work until 2PM.  I was thinking I could do the party and wouldn't have to worry about child-care for Cohen and Elsa.  Well, the week before the party, Nick switched shifts, and I was scrambling to find someone to watch my kids.  My Mom came to the rescue!  It was so nice to have my parents in town.

The Saturday before the Preschool party (pictures got out of chronological order), Reagan had her Christmas Dance recital.  Brian and Jenny came to the performance.  Jenny and I sat next to each other and were nearly crying from laughing so hard!  Initially, I was afraid that Reagan wouldn't even participate.  But she squashed my doubts, and then some.  She ran out on stage with the biggest smile on her face, and performed all three of her dance numbers with verve!  We captured her performances with our camcorder, so if you'd like to see them, I can send them to you via email.
Reagan's precociousness ended when she walked off stage.  She didn't want her picture taken. 

Here are a few various pictures of Cohen during the week of Christmas.  Cohen loves to have his picture taken.

One afternoon/evening our family joined my parents, and both of my siblings, and their families; and we went to downtown SLC.  Our first stop was at the Grand America Hotel.  We looked at all of their Christmas-themed windows.  And stopped at the french bakery for shortbread cookies.
Then, Nick, Reagan, and Cohen took the train to Temple Square.  Elsa and I opted to drive the car.  Our plan had been to park at the City Creek Center, and walk over to meet Nick.  But it ended up taking me ages to navigate the city streets, and then find an elusive parking spot at the mall.  My two youngest children were tired, and wanted to go home.  So, Elsa and I missed out on the Christmas lights at Temple Square.
Nick took this picture of Reagan:

And I took this picture of Nick and the kids walking to the train stop.  I loved that he wrapped Cohen up in his coat.

Another night, we went out to Grantsville, and visited with my Grandma.  Surprisingly, we got her to agree to having her picture taken with the great-grandkids.  Grandma doesn't like having her picture taken.  The following are some of the attempts I made at capturing the moment.
Cohen's face, in this one is funny.

 In this one, I got Elsa mid-jump, on the couch.

 This one would have been perfect, if Braedon's head hadn't been in the way of Grandma's smile!

At another point in the week we opted to have a last-minute visit from Santa, so my kids could see him.  I did ALL of my Christmas shopping online this year.  Heaven knows I don't need to expose my kids to more germs, than they are already subjected to.  Elsa brings home enough germs from church nursery-class as it is!  Taking them out in public isn't a #1 priority. 
So, this year, Nick's brother, Nate, agreed to "play" Santa.  We invited a few neighbors over too.  It was great.  And all of the reactions from my kids were predictable.

Cohen Cried.  Classic!

Elsa was apprehensive.  But had no problem taking candy from Santa.

And Reagan was thrilled to see him!  Although, it was at this point that she pulled a fast-one on Mom and Dad.  For months she's been asking for the 2009 Holiday Barbie (because that one has a pink dress).  I spent a lot of time searching on eBay for said gift.  I finally found one for a reasonable price, a month before Christmas, and I bought it.  Then, when Reagan spoke to Santa she told him that she wanted the big pink pony (it's actually a stuffed Unicorn), that she saw at the grocery store.

Fortunately, for Reagan... My parents had not completed their shopping for my kids.  They "saved the day", and purchased the pink pony for Reagan.  And one for Elsa too.

On Christmas Eve we had Nick's parents, and two brothers over.  We dined on take-out Indian Food.  Well, all of us except Nick's brother, Brian.  He brought up a steak, and grilled it; so that he wouldn't have to eat Indian Food.
The kids opened their presents from Nick's family, and the usual Christmas Eve present from Mom & Dad, Pajamas.
Reagan and Elsa also got slippers.

Elsa still has her love of Hats.  As gifts, she received several hats from different people.  She's been wearing them non-stop.

 Cohen, again, hammed-it-up for the camera.

These are the only pictures I have of Cohen in his Christmas PJ's.  Shortly after they were taken he had a diaper blow-out, and in to the hamper they went.

Christmas morning!  My kids slept in until 8:30AM.   Elsa was so pleased with herself, at being able to get through the shrink-wrap and box, to her solid-chocolate Santa.  She didn't eat all of it at that exact moment.  No.  She waited until the following day, and then stealthily snuck it off of the counter while I wasn't looking and put it away in one sitting.

 Here's Reagan with her Holiday Barbie.  She loved it!  She also got some Barbie horses.

Santa brought Elsa an Aqua Doodle.

We had a relaxing morning.  The kids played with their toys, we had doughnuts and juice for breakfast.  It was perfect. 

At 1PM we headed to my parents house for food and more presents.  Notice Reagan laying on her new pink pony?  Her face exuded pure joy when she opened the box with the pony, and realized what it was!
Oh, and also notice that in this picture, and the ones prior, Elsa is donning jackets.  She got a Dora jacket from Nick and I, and as soon as she opened it on Christmas morning she insisted on putting it on.  She also got a Dora t-shirt, so she put the t-shirt on over her jammies, and the jacket on over that.
At my parents house she got a new winter coat (for next year) and wanted to wear that too.

I love my unique children.  And husband.  It was a great day.  Nick made his terribly fattening, but-so-delicious-it's-justifiable mashed potatoes.  And I made rolls.  We had ham, and all the trimmings.  We stayed at my parent's house and watched Brave.  Everyone went home happy.

Issues.

Where to begin?

I know I don't have a large group of readers these days.  But for those of you that still read my blog, maybe you can help?

So, my most pressing problem is Reagan's behavior at church.  She despises it.  That's all there is too it.  For the first eight months of the calendar year she was fine with attending church.  Now, all of the sudden she hates it.  Once she starts crying in her primary class, her actions only escalate.  She hyperventilates.  There's no calming her down. 
This week I received a phone call from a member of the primary presidency, asking what I thought they should do about Reagan's outbursts, because "they are becoming a problem".  Not only did I want to crawl in to a hole to hide my embarrassment, but I also had no suggestions???

Reagan never acts like that at Pre-School, or in dance class.  I don't know what, specifically, about church sends her in to such an extreme downward sprial?!

Her teachers at church are very sweet people.  And she hasn't had problems with any of her church classmates.  I'm at a loss.  Help!

My house is frustrating.  My kitchen floor is still a mess.  There is a lot of construction going on directly across the street from us.  There have been several days when they've been excavating, or landscaping; that it literally feels like someone is picking up my home and dropping it forcefully to the ground.  Now (because of the construction) there are bricks on the front of my abode that have cracked in half.  I called our insurance, and they told me that brick damage wasn't covered in my policy.  Now, the bathtub/shower in our basement won't dispense hot water!  Cold water comes out just fine.  But no hot.  I can't afford to hire a plumber to fix it, and I think that's what it might take to repair it.
I'm open to suggestion.  Just realize that Nick and I are not handy when it comes to home maintenance.  Thus, the reason my kitchen floor is in such bad shape (we tried to tile it ourselves).

Oh, and Home Depot decided to only carry wood pellets for pellet stoves (the primary way we heat our basement) at two stores in all of UT this year.  Does anyone know someplace in Davis County that we can go to buy wood pellets?

Elsa is an angel, but I cannot figure out how to get her to learn her colors?  No matter what I try, nothing sticks.  She isn't stupid.  She can count to 20, and recognizes her numbers.  She also recognizes all of the uppercase, and some of the lowercase letters of the alphabet.  She speaks very well.  The list goes on and on.  However, the only color she consistently gets right is White.
Nick thinks it is funny.  His helpful suggestion was that maybe she had "cones in her eyes, but no rods; or vice versa".
I didn't think girls could be color blind?  But maybe they can?
Should I even be worrying about this?

While I am venting.  I want to say that Cohen is the most difficult child of my three.  He gave up his morning nap two months ago, and that was hard.  The girls didn't give up napping twice-a-day until they were 16-18 months old.  Even though Cohen can crawl, he wants me to carry him all of the time.  He follows me around the house all day long, whining to be picked up.  I never thought I'd say it, but I wish he'd venture away from me and get in to stuff.  I think dealing with naughty behavior, and cleaning up messes would be easier than accidentally stepping on the crying baby under my feet, several times a day.
He doesn't like being bathed.  Popping either of the girls in the tub always (and still) solved nearly every problem.  Too bad I can't put Reagan in the bathtub at church.  ha ha. 
He makes babysitters miserable.  Already, he's scared off three (yes, THREE!) neighborhood babysitters.
He fights sleep at naptime and bedtime.
But at least, he is now sleeping through the night.  It only took a year of misery to get there.
My friend, Lindsay, told me that the first year of your baby's life is the hardest, but that it gets easier as each month passes.  I found this to be true with the girls.  Reagan was a difficult baby, and obviously, parenting her is no cake-walk.  But there are times that she gives me a break.  With Cohen I keep waiting for him to get easier, I certainly need the reprieve!  Maybe after his molars come in?

My AMAZING-no-one-can-compare, cleaning girl is moving to Arizona in two weeks.  I am torn about what to do?  Morgan (the girl that cleans for me) is the best at what she does.  I've tried other people, that charge the same amount, or more; and they just don't do as good of a job as she does.  It's a problem.  A real problem.

In the past two weeks I had to prepare treats to take to Reagan's preschool class, and directly after that I had to do Reagan's birthday celebration at preschool (since her b-day is in July, they celebrate it sometime during the school year).  Now I'm furiously putting things together for her Christmas party.

I don't think I'm going to do any formal "neighbor gifts" this year.  It's just too much.Even if I find a way to do thoughtful dollar gifts for everyone around us, that will still add up to over $60!  I hope people don't notice?  Our budget is tight right now.  In the past month-ish, I think we've had to put over $2K in to vehicle expenses, and my car still needs new tires- in the worst way.  I've been dumping all of the extra money on to Nick's student loans, we have a goal to have them paid off by February.  We're on track to make it, but only as long as I account for every penny we put out between now and then.  Being frugal is very difficult for me.

Nick and I desperately need a night away. Just the two of us. Our marriage needs it. But we don't have the cash to pay a babysitter to stay over night, and hotels are so pricey this time of year.  Now, I'm not trying to solicit for a babysitter.  I am well aware of how good I have things.  This is simply a brain dump, and slight temper tantrum.


I believe I am far more sensitive than I usual lately.  But in my personal life, I feel like I've been put through the "emotional wringer" the past month.  It's not secret that I've struggled with relations with Nick's family.  I think it may have calmed down now.  We cut off the relationship with the most difficult person/people.  And we are mending things with Nick's parents.
But I'm still frazzled.  All of the stress has really gotten to me.

On the bright side, though.... I lost all of the weight I gained while on vacation to Seattle, and then some.  I know the root cause is because I've been dealing with so much anxiety.  Since June 1st I've lost 26 pounds, and since October 8th I'm down 14 pounds.
I guess every storm cloud does have a silver lining.

Christmas is Coming.

We've been out and about during the month of December.

To start things off, we took the kids to the Festival of Trees (in UT, this benefits Primary Children's Hospital).

The only things the girls wanted to do was play with the bubble machine.

Reagan's hair is getting so long!  Every day I have to figure out a way to pull the hair away from her face, because she still has that chunk of "bang" (that she cut herself) in the front.  I cannot bring myself to cut her hair so that it is all one length.  So, I have to get creative.

Reagan's favorite tree was the upside-down one that was turned in to an ice cream cone.  I didn't get a great picture of it.  We are still primarily using out iPhones to take pictures.  I don't plan on taking steps to remedy that any time soon. 

The first Saturday in December we went out to Grantsville to the Imlay family Christmas party.  Nick dressed the kids, because I was making sugar cookie bars that morning.  I found the recipe on Pintrest.  In hindsight, I should ALWAYS do a trial run of things I find on Pintrest; before I plan on serving them to anyone.  The cookies were horrible!
I put them on plates anyway, and discreetly put them on the table at the family gathering.  Hoping that no one would notice I brought them.  At one point, I noticed my sister eating one of the cookie bars.  I sidled over to her and said, "I made those".  She said, "they're not very good".  It didn't hurt my feelings, because I knew they didn't turn out well.
Then, one of my Aunts went to the dessert table, and held one of the plates of my cookie bars up, and started asking who made them?  There went my anonymity.
I owned up to making them.  My Aunt wasn't being mean, she just wanted to know if any milk products went in to making the cookies, because she has a kid with lactose intolerance.
At the end of the party only three of my cookie bars had been eaten.
Stupid Pintrest, and stupid me.

Other than the cookie debacle...  We had a good time.
Here's Reagan doing her attempt at whistling.  She puts one finger in her mouth, and makes a high-pitched shrieking noise.  It's not whistling.  But it is funny.

Cohen and Braedon.  They're six weeks apart in age.  Heather finally has a baby that is normal sized.   Braedon is a little bruiser.

I told Elsa to smile, and this is what I got.  The second one turned out a lot better.

It may not be a true Christmas activity, but our 1st trip to the SLC Trader Joe's was like Christmas to us!  We are so excited to have a Trader Joe's withing driving distance.  No more packing an empty bag, when we go on vacation, so that we can fill it with Trader Joe goodies! 

Other Christmas news: we had dinner and made Christmas cookies with my friend, Michele, and her family.  And we attended the Christmas Party that our church put on.
I also found time to dress Cohen up in an awesome new winter hat.

In years past, I've always had my Christmas shopping done well in advance.  This year, I am WAY behind.  And, of course, the kids and I are all in the middle of fighting nasty colds.  Queen with David Bowie's song: Under Pressure is currently the theme song of my life!  And finalizing the gift list is only one of the things on my plate.  I'm also in charge of Reagan's pre-school Christmas party, and I have to get Reagan through her dance recital this weekend.

Wish me luck.  I'll need it to be able to pull everything off, and have some Christmas spirit left over.

Family Christmas Pictures 2012

It's that time again.  Time for family pictures.  The lighting wasn't ideal, but I'll take the good pictures that we got.  After all, there's no way I'd ever be able to convince Nick to do re-takes.  I'm lucky I can get him to sit for family pictures once a year.  Which actually makes no sense to me?  Because Nick is very handsome and photogenic...

Whithout further ado: here is my fun family in 2012.

Here's Cohen! 1 year old.

Korie took Cohen's one-year-old pictures.  They are amazing.  Too many good ones to chose from.  Here are the ones I am most in love with!