1-10

Alright. I'm struggling to think of a creative post today so bear with me at my useless creativity.

1- 1 year down as a Bishop's wife on February 14th....

2- I just made these two Valentine topiaries. I think they're sooo cute. I don't have too many Valentine decorations...yet...just like to buy them post-holiday so I can get good deals :) But this little project wasn't el cheapo. ha ha. But sure darn cute. If you wanna make some yourself, go HERE.

3- 3 kids at the table. We just put out the blue toddler/booster seat a few days ago on one of the chairs at our table. And have been giving Kate (trying to) regular food...but ground up because she refuses to have anything to do with baby food.

Speaking of 3 kids. I've been thinking about how much Charlotte had for a head of hair compared to Jack and Kate. And what each looked like at 9 months old (Kate's current age). I didn't remember very well because I was BLOWN away! ha ha. So cute!

Look at that mop!

Um, I only posted this because of the two pig tails!

Kate and her two pigtails. Having fun in Jack's crib too!

Love her boy hair too! And it's still dark :)

4- Kate now has 4 teeth! And about to be put into size 4 diapers. She fits size 3 but she's so tall she ends up having explosions all over her clothes and self.

5- Just bought the girl's cute curtains (pink with sequins and flowers!) on clearance for 5.37 each! And we'll be putting them up for our FHE activity tonight. Woo hoo!

6- 6 cabinets to buy to put in our bookshelves and fireplace project. Want that tax return to come soon so we can get started!

7- Kids are generally in bed or we're on their way to bedtime at 7pm. Well, we TRY to have them to bed at that time. Obviously some days are more crazy than others and can't but generally if nothing is going on then that's the bedtime! It's SOOO nice to have an evening to yourself. And the kids don't wake up too early. Charlotte's awake no earlier than 7-7:15am! (I really hope I didn't just jinx myself...)

8- Jack will start preschool in August (8th month...if I'm not making sense!). Can't believe he'll be that old. We are putting him in an excellent preschool that will pretty much guarantee (also depends on the parent too) he'll be reading before kindergarten. That was one of the biggest things we wanted. Reading is so important. If anyone has tips on how we can accomplish this with Charlotte, I want her to not be behind when she goes to Kindergarten this year.

9- Our 9th anniversary will be on February 9th! Can't believe how time flies.

10- Wade and I were in classes together 10 years ago at BYU. And it will be 10 years since we went on our archaeology dig down in Southern Utah in May/June. Holy moly. That's just incredible to me.

Working hard Wade. Working hard... :)

I'm in there...

Back to real life...

Well, Charlotte's been eagerly wanting to go back to school since the start of the holidays. I love how she loves it. She learns so much and is doing so well!! So here she is waiting for the school "bus" to come!

Back to the bribes--er I mean charts in full force! Seriously. It's da baayst.

Kate and her teething :(

Jack and his building!

It was a great holiday break but getting back to routine is just as nice :)

New Years

Well, we had about 5 or 6 days to recuperate before our good friends, The Tippets, arrived. It was our 4th annual New Years get together! The Tippets and us usually go to one of our houses and stays 2 or 3 days to eat and to celebrate New Years. Our other good friends, The Wyatts, usually come and celebrate for a bit too. But this year wasn't meant to be. Mainly cause I'm a momo and didn't remember to say anything and then when I realized, it was too late. But thankfully they have family close by and some came from out of town so I only feel a little bit like a dufus. I'm sorry guys. Please forgive me!

The kids played together, we ate like fat piggys --had our usual New Years eve party with Mexican Bread dip and Maori bread....what a combo! Of course had other yummy things too!! And our usual cardiac arrest breakfast: eggs, french toast, bacon, and hash browns with OJ. Watched Nacho Libre, rang in the New Year with bubbly...after midnight since I was comforting Kate who just woke up! But we had a lot of fun. So much so, we didn't take any pictures. but I'll leave this post with this guy

Nacho.

From this movie:

It's da baaayst.

"Ok. Orphans! Listen to Ignacio. I know it is fun to wrestle. A nice piledrive to the face... or a punch to the face... but you cannot do it. Because, it is in the Bible not to wrestle your neighbour. "

"Beneath the clothes, we find a man... and beneath the man, we find his... nucleus."

So as you can tell, I've been quoting Nacho Libre lately. You must watch it. It's clean and fantasteec!

Christmas dinner.

Wade loves to cook. I always feel so bad when he cooks on Sundays or other days to try new recipes out or whatever because I just feel like a l. Of course, he wanted something different this year for Christmas dinner. Didn't feel like a turkey and the ham is always too big! So this year was a New York roast. Smiths had a deal. It was priced at 45 dollars and we got it for just around 15 bucks. WOWSERS! And it was SOOO good. It was just amazing!! I wish I could have it more often but it's just way too expensive.

An herb-crusted roast. If that's the right word.

It wasn't white...it's our camera.

Mmmm. So good. We had the New York Roast, roasted potatoes and Kumara (sweet potato), rolls, peas, broccoli with cheese sauce and bubbly.

Jack's smile is so priceless in this photo. Makes me happy!!

Both kids were SO excited about Christmas dinner. Well, they were excited about everything that day! Even if we didn't end up having time to go to a movie :)

Christmas Morning

Look what Santa brought! Man, he is GOOD! Yeah! ha ha.

He even made an awesome lolly/candy trail from their bedroom to their stockings. When Charlotte woke up and noticed the snickers on the ground, she was so giddy. She followed the trail and went straight to a stocking. We woke Jack up and showed him the lollies. He loved it.

They're checking out the loot Santa brought.

They were fascinated at the note Santa left for them. He thanked them for the cookies and milk. And he told them that Rudolph was so hungry he went into the fridge to grab a carrot. Good thing because we forgot to set one out for him! What a smart smart Santa.

She's SO happy now that her tooth broke through :)

Ma and Grandpa gave these Gingerbread boy, girl and giraffe to the kids. We set them out with their stockings so they could have big cuddles with them. Thank you so much, Ma and Grandpa!!

It was such a great morning. We started about 8:25am and it took about 40 minutes to open the gifts. For awhile, we just let the kids open theirs (taking a turn each). And it was so fun to see their faces. They loved all the presents we gave them, Santa gave them and what their Grandparents gave them.

Jack's first present he opened. What is it?!

It's a Cars plate!

What's Charlotte's first gift?

A wooden train. She was asking for a train for Christmas!

Kate enjoyed the wrapping and the boxes and could care less about what she got!

She's opening her big gift for Christmas.

A "lap top!"

Jack's big gift for Christmas.

A workbench! This kid plays with this and the tools every day. Constantly!

Of course, Charlotte gets in the action too :)

The kids mainly got clothes, 4 or 5 toys they've been wanting and dvds. Wade and I kept it simple and we gave each other some dvds and smelly fruity soaps. I got Wade a new blade for his saw and he got me a gift card to Old Navy for Jeans. So that was fun!

For breakfast, Wade made our traditional Croissant, Ham, Cheese and Tomato sandwiches with OJ. And the kids just kept playing with their toys!

My parents gave the kids their ornaments and a few little things like stickers and candy and we got some dvds and of course the annual family history item. This year it was 3 videos that were taken when my grandmother got married in 193something?? mom, when?? And a few more journal pages. Thank you mom and dad!!

And Wade's parents were kind enough to give us a gift card to use at either Walmart or Sam's Club and the cute stuffed gingerbread people and giraffe for the kids. And we used the gift card towards a purchase of a Wii bundle :) It's been SO much fun to play and to exercise on!

Thank you Ma and Grandpa!

Christmas Eve

Well, after we had our nice Christmas Eve Party, we continued on with our fun tradition of setting out cookies for Santa--which we made earlier that day-- and milk. We wrote him a note to enjoy the cookies and milk we left out!

Then the kids opened their present of pajamas

We then got dressed in our new jammies!

We then read the "shortened" version of "The Night Before Christmas" and then the extra short version of the Savior's birth. Hopefully we can get them to sit through the stories much more next year :)

and then we added a new tradition of a Christmas movie to unwrap!

We gave the kids Mickey's Christmas Carol and watched it on the projector downstairs (Wade has been bringing that home every year from school during the break!). Oh that was THE BEST! The kids were SO excited for Santa to come!!!