January Little Things

January was a fairly slow month for us and you will never hear me complain about that!  Here are a few things worthy of remembering this month:

 

- I went to WalMart one day and came home to this:

Lily had clearly been unsupervised while I was gone. She was so proud of her new tattoos so I let her keep them until the next day. 

- If you come to our house at lunchtime during the week, this is what you will see:

Lily asks for a picnic every single day and since she is the only one home with me in the afternoon, I always say "yes"! She loves to watch Octonauts while she eats and it sometimes takes her an hour to finish her lunch.  I know I still have another year, but I sure am going to miss her when she goes to kindergarten. 

 

- I made the mistake of telling Lily that we are going to the beach in June.  The very next day, she insisted that she go ahead and pack her backpack for the trip.  I tried to tell her that the trip was five months away, but no matter what I said, she still insisted that she needed to pack her bag.  I finally gave in and she not only got packed, she carried her backpack around the rest of the day!  I just love that girl!

- These two girls love each other so much!  I'm not sure why Eden is wearing her skirt on her head, but this picture was taken right after I agreed to let them sleep together in Lily's room.  They had been begging and begging me all day and were so excited when I finally said yes!

- We decided to go on a family outing one Saturday night.  I needed to take something back to the mall so we stopped to eat at Abuelo's beforehand.  I'm not going to lie, the dinner was pretty much a disaster.  I think I took each kid to the bathroom at least twice and ended up eating cold food.  The dinner might have not gone well, but the girls enjoyed watching them make homemade tortillas while we waited for our table.  (And notice that Lily has her baby doll in her arms!  She is so into baby dolls right now and is always playing mommy at home. It's so sweet to watch her love on them!)

- Eden has always been a good reader for her age, but she has really blossomed over the past few months with her word knowledge and fluency.  There are times when I listen to her read and think "how on earth does she know that word?".  I teach kids to read every day but it still amazes me to watch one of my own kids learn to read.  It is by far my most favorite milestone I have experienced as a parent up to this point.  I am so proud of her and can't wait to watch her reading develop more and more over the next few months.

And that does it for January!  Bring on the much busier month of February!

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2015! 

I love the start of a new year!  The hustle and bustle of the holidays are over and a whole new year lies ahead of you.  Time to plan and think about what the next twelve months will hold for you and your family. 

A few weeks ago, our pastor was talking about relationships.  He said that the best way to form or strengthen a relationships with someone is to step into their shoes.  Show interest in the things they like.  Get involved in the things that they are involved in.  I knew as he was talking that this is what I wanted to work on in 2015. 

There are so many times that the kids ask me to come play with them and I say "not right now" or "in a little bit" due to needing to get some work done around the house or due to the fact that I don't always love sitting and playing for more than a few minutes.  But the fact is, I NEED to take the time to sit and step into their shoes.  I need to build towers with LEGOs, put a puzzle together, play another game of Uno, or "feed" a baby doll because that's what is important to my kids right now.  I know that the more I take time out of my day to step into their shoes and spend time with them, the stronger our relationships will be. There will always be another load of laundry to start, another meal to plan or another sticky floor to clean.  But these precious kids will only be little once.  The past eight years have flown by and time is not slowing down.  I'm pretty sure I will not look back in a few years and think, "If only I had spent more time cleaning this house!". 

So there you have it! My goal for 2015 is to "step into their shoes" as often as possible.  I know it's something I will never look back on and regret!

-------------------------------------------------------------

New Year's Eve looked a little bit different for us this year.  My mom offered to have a cousin sleepover at her house which meant Cory and I were free to do whatever we wanted. And because we are such an exciting couple, that meant dinner (at Fresco's), a movie (Mockingjay) and being in bed by 10:00!

The kids, on the other hand, partied the night away!  Granna had a very fun evening planned out for them that included a new activity every half hour until "midnight" (their 9pm bedtime!).  She let them make a banner to decorate for New Year's and even had fun accessories for them to wear. 

They played games, sang songs, danced and watched movies as they rang in the new year!

I'm looking forward to 2015!  We have some fun family trips planned for this year that I'm already excited about!  Cory is starting a new MS treatment that I'm hopeful will bring him some stability with his progression.  And I'm excited about all the wonderful memories that we are going to make with our family that I don't even know about yet!  Happy New Year!  I hope yours will be as wonderful as ours!

Santa is Everywhere!

I took Lily down to the eye clinic two days before Christmas to pick up her new glasses and guess who was there to help her?!?!?

She did not know what to think about Santa adjusting her new glasses!  I guess Santa is always watching!

Family Pictures 2014

Back in October we had family pictures made again.  I almost didn't have them done this year but Lily and Parker have both changed so much since last year because they both got glasses so I decided to go ahead and do them.  I am so glad I did- they turned out great!  Kim did another great job capturing our family and I was so pleased with the results! 

Christmas 2014

After Grandma and Papa left, the kids got everything ready for Santa and his reindeer.  They each picked a cookie to leave Santa, Eden got the carrots for the reindeer and Parker poured the milk. 

They convinced me to let them all three sleep in Lily's room but that didn't last long!  Parker got tired of the girls talking so he went back to his own bed and Eden developed a really bad cough so I took her back to her bed and slept with her most of the night.

The kids slept until 6:45 which is actually a little later than I was expecting.  They couldn't wait to see what Santa had brought them!

Lily got exactly what she asked for- Diaper Surprise and a new doll stroller.  Parker got the new bike he had asked for and Eden got a karaoke machine.  She tells us every day that she wants to be a singer girl when she grows up so Santa must have thought this would be a perfect gift!

My plan was to let them open their stockings, eat breakfast, and then open presents.  But they were just too excited so we postponed breakfast and went straight to presents after the stockings!

Eden and Parker got Lily a Hello Kitty doll too!  Now she has two that she can push around in her stroller.

 The kids got Cory his annual Spider-Man ornament for his Spider-Man Christmas tree.

 More books for Parker!  So thankful he loves to read!

 Barbie cars for the girls

And a new watch for me!  My watch died about two months ago so I'm excited I won't have to use my cell phone to tell time anymore!

This was the first Christmas that we didn't have anywhere to go after our family Christmas and it was so nice to relax and not feel rushed.  After a leisurely breakfast, the kids got to start playing with their toys and Cory and I got to sit and enjoy watching them play. 

 

We did drive over to Emily and Jon's for dinner on Christmas night.  Emily and Jon surprised Addison, Aubrey, and Ryan by finishing out their upstairs bonus room/playroom so we went over to play with them for a few hours in their new room.

 

Another great Christmas had come and gone!  I always feel so blessed this time of year and am so thankful for my family and the time I get to spend with them during the holidays!  I hope you and your family had a very Merry Christmas too!

Christmas with Grandma and Papa

We enjoyed celebrating with Grandma and Papa on Christmas Eve this year. 

The kids were so excited about opening presents and did not want to wait until after dinner so we compromised and let them open their stockings before dinner.   The girls loved their Hello Kitty dolls and Parker loved his new Lego Movie pajama pants.

They played Connect Four while I finished getting dinner ready and then we enjoyed a great meal with ham (courtesy of Dr. Ranelle), scalloped potatoes, green beans, fruit salad and pretzel rolls. 

After dinner, the kids finally got to open their presents!  Eden and Lily loved their new Elsa doll and Parker had fun learning how to transform his helicopter into a dinosaur.

We had a great Christmas Eve with Grandma and Papa.  We are so blessed that both sets of grandparents live close and that we get to spend quality time with them at every holiday.