Saying goodbye to Uncle Alan

We have had a most unusual week filled with ups and downs. My uncle Alan died this last week in an avalanche while out snowmobiling. This has been very hard for our family but we feel grateful for the blessing of family and our knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The funeral was amazing- Jeremiah, Bryan, & Jennilyn did a great job honoring their dad. I would post pictures but it appears my dad must have taken all of the good ones. Bryan and his wife Melissa did an excellent job of expressing their feelings on their blog. They also have some good pictures of their dad and of the spot where they recovered his body from the avalanche. I feel so grateful for them and for the strength Alan's family has been to each of us as we are mourning his loss. He will be greatly missed. We love you guys!

Seriously. We have a problem.

This little baby finds joy in the most inconvenient ways. She came up to me all smiles patting her head and feeling so proud of this big mess.







I guess at this point you are wondering why I even bother to have Vaseline in my house with all the incidents I seem to have with it. I just like it. Okay? It works better than chapstick and when we get all dry and chappy, I can rub it on our hands and wala- problem solved.

Sara was in her room hiding- she was the little culprit who climbed on the counter and gave it to Livvy. Stinker! In my defense, I really don't just leave Vaseline lying around anymore. I put it up high. I'm still trying to figure out how Sara got onto my counter. Looks like we need to put it behind lock and key.

Things like this always seem to happen at the most inconvenient times. We had a baby sitter arriving in half an hour. I tried to get some of it out with a paper towel but I was pressed for time and I was like "eh, whatever." Third child. I'm not so concerned anymore. The babysitter arrived and just before we walked out the door I realized the baby looked a little freaky- "Oh, about Livvy...".

I don't know what is up with this kid and her head. Sunday morning she found a jar of putty and emptied that all over her head. And let me tell you, that was just darling...

Don't say I didn't warn you

Since I am an expert on parenting (cough cough), I would like to advise all of you on something I have learned from being the mother of the walking, talking, eating, no-lid-on-cup age group. Many of you haven't had to deal with this yet so let me just save you some grief. ONE pointer. Just one. Never, and I mean Never, utter the phrase - "Be careful not to spill". Not even a variation of the phrase. Nothing. Give em the drink and walk away without a word. The end result of this comment will 8 out of 10 times (I have a running tally) result in a spilled drink. This is a tricky thing to do. Much easier said than done but trust me, you won't regret it. I'm getting pretty good at not saying it but man, when I do- grape juice all over the lap, milk on the floor, water across the counter. It's inevitable. Save yourself the grief my friends.

Doing the dip!

This is Livvy doing what she does best- eating! She loves chips and dip. Actually, she loves the dip more than the chips and that is why these containers of dip made their way to the garbage when she was all done. She is so cute and was seriously in dip heaven. It was the dip-lick-dip-lick with lots of "mmmmm" sounds in between. How can you deny a baby that? She was even more than happy to share- she kept offering me some. I tell you what- this child is the whole package- looks, smarts, manners. All she needs to do is grow some hair and we will have it made!

Dipping-


Licking-


Looking lovingly at her chip and saying "mmmmmmmm".

blog banner befuddlement

I'm sorry if you feel your head is spinning from all my blog make-overs. I was in a rush to get rid of the Christmas banner (because I hated it) and the new one I made basically looked like "welcome spring". Looking outside, it's not spring yet. Nowhere near spring, in fact. So yeah, please enter the snowflakes. Now we are seasonally correct. Except the banner is too big. I don't want to squish it down because then my children will look like aliens. - gasp- And heaven forbid I re-do it. (Can you hear the air slowly eeking out of me in true Napoleon Dynamite form?) It will never end, will it?

And for those of you confused about what I am talking about, here is the first banner I made:

And the second one:

Too cute not to post

Taylor was so cute on Christmas Eve. He was very concerned that we put out some grub for Santa and his reindeer. He counted out all nine carrots (one for Rudolph too). He wanted to put out 5 cookies for Santa because he is 5 years old. Fortunately for Santa and his big belly, mommy had a little more perspective and knew that eating 4 cookies would be pushing it for Santa. He then wrote out Santa on a piece of paper and reindeer on another one, you know, just to keep the confusion to a minimum. And as far as Taylor's name goes, it's only backwards because he wrote it upside down- that's talent for a 5 year old.

Wii wish you a Merry Christmas!

I know, I know, I've been a little late with my updates lately. We've just been too busy festivating.

Anywho, we had a great Christmas! This year I got Dave a Wii and Guitar Hero 3. He had NO idea and I was just dying to see him open them. It's one thing to have surprises for my kids, but my husband- it just about kills me. See that happy face? Do you see it? I love it!


I got a happy surprise too- a new camera- the Canon Digital Rebel. The problem now is finding time to read the manual. Dave also mentioned that I need to take a class. Riiiiiiiight- let me just fit that right on into my schedule. I just had to laugh at my name scrawled across my gifts with a sharpie marker. It made for such a lovely presentation. And no, I'm no complaining.


The highlight of Taylor's Christmas was a Transformer Bumblebee bike. Problem is, it's a bit too cold and snowy outside to ride it and so, I have black tire marks on my hardwood floor. Thanks Santa! It's all good though because he got quite a few other toys and movies to keep him busy until the weather is less freezing. Funny thing about Taylor. He couldn't believe all the loot Santa brought. In his letter to Santa he only asked for 2 things so I think he pretty much thought that was what he would find Christmas morning. Upon finding a huge pile of presents, he said, "Whoa. Santa brought lots and lots of presents. Next year I'm going to ask for more than two things." It made for a good laugh. I guess Santa needs to learn to tone it down before the kids catch on and expect a ton of loot every year.


Sara got her Baby Alive. When people ask her what she has named her baby, she replies in a very matter of fact and annoyed voice- "Her name is Baby Alive". Right. So we go with that. Two things were on Sara's list as well- 1. Baby Alive and 2. A Belle Christmas Dress. I'm not quite sure where she got the second idea. Santa pretty much wrote that one off as "not an option" until a couple days before Christmas when he magically came upon one at Macys. What are the odds? So anyway, all her Christmas dreams were fulfilled and then some.


This is just a lovely picture of Sara in her Christmas Belle Dress holding her Baby Alive. Notice the candy in the mouth. About every picture I took of the kids on Christmas involved candy in the mouth within view of the camera. Lovely.


Livvy just didn't know what in the heck was going on. Her main goal was to retrieve and walk away with any gift Sara opened up. Livvy opened her own gifts at first. After a couple, she started getting help from Taylor and Sara. Toward the end Taylor was her own personal gift opener. I have a feeling this is the last year that will fly. A few things she got- a Cabbage patch newborn, a shopping cart, a vacuum. She loves to push things so the shopping cart and vacuum are just up her alley. And she loves babies. Loves them. Real live babies need to stay clear of her because she attacks upon sight. And by attack I mean LOVES.



Here she is with her puppy- on the run with Sara's gift thrown over her back.


We had such a great day. The best part of the whole day was that we didn't leave our house once. Not for anything. It was nuts! That has never happened to us before. It was low-key and AWESOME!

We made pumpkin waffles with apple cider syrup for breakfast. So good. I will have to post the recipes later. I know what all you family members are thinking- where were the ham waffles? Well, it goes something like this- Dave doesn't like them. And so, since we had no ham and I'm not such a big fan of waffles in general, we took a break this year and tried something new. Add the applewood smoked bacon and we were in heaven.

My parents and Alan and Kristina came over for dinner. We had a Feliz Navidad dinner and pigged out on homemade Cafe Rio Pork salads. So good. It was a perfect day filled with people we love. What more can we ask for on Christmas?