SANTA, SANTA, SANTA

Last night was the ward Christmas party, and OF COURSE, Santa was there. Connor had no problem sitting on Santa's lap and telling him just what he wants for Christmas (a Mythbusters kit, air hockey table, or old fashioned sled).
Mylie, on the other hand, has always been afraid of Santa, and had never sat on his lap . . . until last night! I didn't really think she'd do it, especially when we got to the church, and she instantly started crying, saying she couldn't do it, then cried off and on while waiting in line, but when the time came, she mustered her courage and climbed up on his lap so she could tell him that she wanted a barbie house. Afterward, she told me that it actually wasn't scary at all!

I guess to reward her for her bravery, Santa send her a special video message to my email this morning. Click HERE to see it!

P.S. There was no WAY Mariah was sitting on Santa's lap! But with me holding her, we did get close enough to talk to Santa. He asked her what she wanted, and she said, "Toys." She shouldn't be too hard to please!

What I Miss

Sometimes I just miss people and things. I've been feeling that way a bit lately. It doesn't mean that I'm not happy with my life as it is now, because I am. But as memories come to me, I just feel a longing for other good times I've had as well. Here is a short list of what I miss:

Flowers--I suppose my yard is still changing each day and the snow comes, then melts or blows away, and then comes again. And, of course, there are a few more deer droppings each day, too. But I miss the beautiful changes that go on in the summer months.

College Life--I moved away from Laramie about 6 years ago, and I have missed it ever since! This is where I found lasting friendship, got an education, met and married my husband, had my first baby, lived in awesome little dumps also known as cheap apartments, and watched TONS of Cowboy/Cowgirl sporting events! Those were good times.
T.--To respect his privacy, I'll simply refer to this kid as "T". "T" came into our lives 5 years ago, first as a student in Tony's middle school Special Ed. classroom. The very next summer, he did a life skills summer school program on our ranch, spending 60 hours with Tony (and our family) that summer. Soon after that, Tony and I became respite care providers, and his time spent with us increased greatly. He even lived with us for a couple weeks at a time on two different occasions as his family dealt with some trials. We had a bedroom for him, and he was here often. Our entire family grew to love this kid--his tickling, his singing and dancing, his "You're crazy!", and his smile. This summer he moved away unexpectedly and I didn't even get to say goodbye. We hope to see him again sometime, but every time I drive by his house, my eyes fill with tears. We had a lot of good times with "T". Some of my favorite memories with him are going to state basketball, the county fair (a few times), and Lagoon this past summer.Pregnancy--Okay, okay, I know some of you would like to throw something at the computer screen right now (Holly?)--but as the time goes on, I do actually miss the miracle of having a little baby growing inside me. I'm sure it helps that I've had very smooth, sickness-free pregnancies. And as much as I enjoy a flat stomach as well, I'm kinda missing this little bump!
Digital Scrapbooking--I'm about a year and a half behind on this, and it's something I enjoy doing! I need to quit missing it and just get in gear and get on it again!

Sullivan--His birthday is coming up soon, and I've been thinking of him so much lately. I know that two years will be over quickly, but lately it feels like he's already been gone so long and it's been less than 6 months! He's such a good kid, and I really miss him!

Sunny, Sandy Beaches--Luckily, I'll get to enjoy them again in a little over a month! I'm getting so excited!

Good Move

I know this move was long overdue (my mother has been hinting at the need for it for awhile now--"She really is a pretty girl when you can see her eyes."--etc.) and we finally got around to it this week.

Look at my pretty girl before

(I actually put her hair up and out of her eyes this day.)

and after getting my favorite little-girl bob!

She really is a pretty girl when you can see her eyes, Mom!

It's HERE!!!

Christmas time, that is. It's December 1st, and I have all my Christmas decor set up. And I almost enjoyed doing it this year. I'm kind of a scrooge when it comes to setting up the Christmas decorations. It's not that I don't like decorating (see previous post)--it's just that I don't like doing it and then RE-doing it just a month later! But it's up, and I am enjoying it.

Sunday evening we set up the tree. The kids were SOOO excited, and had to put on their Christmas shirts from last year, which were in one of the boxes we brought up. Connor's looks fine, and then it gets progressively worse as you go down in age! Apparently, Mariah has had the biggest growth spurt of the three this past year! They love putting up all our special ornaments one at a time. They're not very evenly spaced, it definitely isn't a pretty tree, but it's our tree, and we love it!

Last night, we were able to get even more into the Christmas spirit by going to the 1st grade Christmas concert. There are 5 first grades, and Connor's was the last class to perform, so the girls were a little impatient waiting. And then we got this:

Their music teacher, Mr. Dobbins, has worked really hard to teach the kids concert etiquette, and part of that is looking at the director and not looking around the auditorium during the performance. Boy did Connor do a good job of that! Mr. Dobbins was directing from the side of the stage over by the piano so that he wouldn't block anybody's view of their child, so we saw a lot of the SIDE of Connor' super-concentrated singing face. It was a cute show!

November (and GIRLS room!)

Every year when November rolls around, I'm so excited about all the time I'm going to have now that both gardening and volleyball seasons are over. So what did I do with November this year??? FILLED it with all sorts of things!

The first week was spent cleaning house and potty training Mariah (or at least trying to do so). She did really well that week, and has gotten progressively WORSE! I've about given up on it. I think I'll wait until she actually wants to do it. It's just frustrating because she knows how! Oh well. That weekend, we headed to Rexburg to visit my sister, Violet, and her husband, Austin. We had a great time there. It was a beautiful weekend, and we went to a park, a movie, and a fun place in IF called Blast Off. Vi and Austin also watched the kids at another park while I did a bunch of project shopping at Home Depot. Thanks again, guys!

From Idaho Falls, I headed to Pocatello to watch the Idaho State volleyball team, which my uncle, Chad Teichert, coaches. It was a fun game, and the kids were pretty good about letting me watch most of it. From there, we headed to Cokeville to spend Sunday with my family, then home that night.

Monday I loaded up the girls and we headed back to Pocatello with my sister-in-law, Angela. We went up to watch Chad's practices on Monday and Tuesday to learn some things that will help us in our coaching. We had such a great time, and Chad's wonderful wife, Susie, watched our kids during the practices.

I was home again on Wednesday and Thursday--just long enough to do laundry, clean house, and get ready to head out again on Friday for a weekend in Laramie and Cheyenne, where we visited family and friends and watched the high school state championship football games.

The next day was Mariah's birthday, and I was SO ready to just stay home for awhile--and that's what I've done. And although I haven't left the house much in the last week or so, I have stayed plenty busy working on some super fun projects!

We have had a room in our house that, for the last 5 years, has been the guest/workout/storage/if-you-don't-know-where-to-put-something-put-it-in-there room. I decided that it is time to have the girls share a room, so I emptied it out and created a girls room that I am so excited about! The girls love it, too, but I think I might love it more! Here are the pics:

So, of course, the paint colors look just a little different in all these photos, but basically, the bottom is a bubble-gum pink and the top is a warm yellow (not a NEON yellow like it looks in some of these pictures).

These cute little jacket hooks are one of my favorite things. Mylie painted them as well as some of the other frames in the room and the walls! We had a great time working on it together.

This was a fun and simple project using 1x3 boards, clothespins, spray paint, and scrapbook paper. I was really happy about the way these turned out, and Mylie can't wait to hang up some of her own artwork on the bottom side of these.

I built both of these book shelves using plans from www.ana-white.com They were so simple and turned out so cute! The one above will have three light pink storage baskets that are on their way via UPS. Also the project above for displaying the girls' names was from the ana-white site. I'll have to wait to post my favorite thing I built, however, since it's a Christmas gift. But I'm SO excited. I just want to build all kinds of things now!

And now, I'm ready to finish out November with some relaxing and spending quality time with family! Happy Thanksgiving!

It's hard to believe that my baby is 2!! Mariah is such a fun girl. She's always making us laugh and I just can't get enough of her chubby cheeks and belly. She's starting to talk more, even though I can't understand her half of the time (which, of course, is a major cause of frustration for both of us). We've also been busy this month working on potty training. She is very capable, but not sure she wants to do it EVERY time yet (another cause of frustraion for me). Despite the typical frustrations of having a 2-year-old around, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this little girl!!

Kids say the AWESOMEST things!

Last weekend, my kids said some really awesome things, and I want to document them before I forget.

Friday morning as I was getting Mariah dressed, she patted herself on the tummy and said "Chubby, chubby," with a big smile on her face, so proud of her pot-belly. I thought that was so cute, until later when I was getting in the shower and she pointed at my belly and again said, "Chubby, chubby." Rude!

Later that day, we were at Violet's house looking at all her cute baby clothes for the little girl she is expecting. Mariah was really excited about the cute clothes, and so I tried to explain to her that Violet had a baby in her belly. She looked at Vi's belly and didn't say anything, but I could see the wheels spinning. The next morning as Mariah got in the bath, she patted her belly, and then got an "aha!" look on her face and said, "Baby!" That explains the chub, I guess!

Saturday night, we went to a college volleyball match in Pocatello. After the match, I asked Mylie if watching that college volleyball makes her want to play. She replied that it looked like so much fun and she definitely wants to be a volleyball player. I then asked, "So, do you want to be a libero, setter, or hitter?" She answered, "Libero." Then I asked her why, expecting an answer that had something to do with how great it would be to dig those hard hits. I had to hold in my laugh when she said, "Well, those hitters really sweat a lot, and I don't like to sweat so much." Hahaha!

That same night on the way home, Connor and I were visiting and whenever there was a lull in the conversation, he would say, "What do you want to talk about now, Mom?" We did a few different topics before I asked him, "What are you goals for yourself when you grow up? Do you have any dreams?" He answered quickly and matter-of-factly, "Mom, I've got lots of dreams and they are really good ones. My basketball team is going to win a state championship and I'm going to score 40 points in the championship game. Then I'm going to play college basketball, then go to the NBA for 10 years." Sounds like he's really thought things through. Retiring in your early 30s sounds pretty good to me!

Finally, I have to tell a story about my nephew, since his mom probably won't post it, and I think it beats all the things my kids said this weekend. They were in Idaho Falls, and drove past the temple. He pointed up at the Angel Moroni statue on top and said, "Look! It's Jesus-oroni! Tell it to the world!" What a kid!