Monkey Shake

We have so many pictures from Christmas, but I think I'll just wait till we get home on Sunday to organize them and put them up.
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We are going on a little "babymoon" tonight to a local resort. We will only stay one night but it will be the first time I've left K for more than a few hours! I know she'll have a ball at Noni and Papa's house, but it's definitely hard to leave her!
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Here's a little video from T's IPhone of K this morning and her new monkey shake. This was the first time she's done this...she just ran into the middle of the living room, said, "I'm a monkey!" and started shaking it. :)



What a goof ball.

Our Little Angel

K got to be in the church Christmas special this year! The adults actually put on a full length play with a choir and everything, so the kids just got up and did some songs dressed up all cute on Sunday morning.

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At first all she did was suck her thumb.

But then she spotted her fan club: Grandma, Grandpa, Noni, Papa, Daddy, Mommy, and Uncle Sean

And even though she didn't sing a note, I thought she was pretty darn cute! :)

We used the video camera, and I'm sure there is a technical way to do this, but my only answer was to play the video on the tv and then video that with my camera...so this is really poor quality, but here is a glimpse of K's debut. I went up close to take a picture of her...you can tell when she spots me. :)

In other news: we spent the weekend (and part of the week) baking cookies for all the departments that report to Tyson directly, which happens to be nine. We made five different kinds of cookies, and I think they all turned out pretty well. Here they are waiting for the last batch of Russian tea cakes. He took them to work today and said the one in his department only had about five cookies left by the end of the day so I guess they were a hit.

And for the not so positive: it was my turn for the flu I guess. K had it first, then T later that week, and last night it hit me. I think we had a different strain than K did though. She had a high fever for three days. T and I just couldn't keep anything down, no fever. I am feeling a lot better, but definitely not good yet.

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Most of my improvement is due to the fact that I have a wonderful mother who canceled her plans and spent the entire day at my house, taking care of K while I slept, tidying up my messy house, and even making us chicken noodle soup and rolls from scratch! What a mom! We really appreciated it and I think it definitely helped me get better quicker. Thanks mom!

Let It Snow!

The last two winters were the #1 and #2 worst winters since the 1920's and this year we have hardly had any snow at all! I've really been hoping we would at least get a little so we could have a white Christmas and this week it finally arrived.

Unfortunately we didn't get much and about half of it has melted already, but I'm crossing my fingers for a little bit more before Christmas day!

K is constantly asking me if we can go out and "walk in the snow". I really need to bundle her up in her snowsuit and let her go play but I've been too lazy. :) I just grabbed these pictures on the way to the car the other day.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

P.S. Grandma knitted the hat and scarf, aren't they too cute?!?

A Shopping We Will Go

We had a shopping weekend! I'm not really sure why since we've been done with our Christmas shopping for a while now, but maybe it's more fun when you don't actually have a list of things to buy. :) I think the real reason is b/c I have a husband who actually likes to shop...not in a girly way...he just (like me) loves to find a good deal and has fun hanging out with his girls while wandering around stores. :)

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We went shopping on Friday night, Saturday morning, and again last night. That doesn't sound like too big of a deal, but when it takes us 45 min. just to get into town to do shopping, it is a little extravagant. We had a lot of fun though, and it was so nice to spend time together without having to worry about working on the house or doing projects.

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I guess our love for shopping is what prompts K to play "shopping" every day. She gets herself dressed up: gets a purse or bag, gets her dolls in her stroller and takes them shopping. She usually finds a piece of paper, scribbles on it and says, "I go shopping with my list."

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I had to get a picture of this outfit. It was still in her drawer b/c she has never grown into the skirt (as you can see it is hanging down past her little purple undies there) even though it had a onesie with it that she got too tall for long ago. She added the hat, her purse, and a lovely pair of Daddy's white socks (I'm assuming dirty ones b/c I don't think she knows what drawer he keeps them in and probably just found them on the floor).

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What better ensemble to go shopping in?

Hope you are all having fun working on your own lists!

Happy Christmas shopping!

Baby "S"

My mom came over and took some pictures for our Christmas card yesterday. She did such a great job that I wished I could find a card with room for about six pictures, but I was only able to use three so I'll give you a sneak preview of a couple that didn't make the cut.

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I love this one, but I choose to go with a vertical family shot instead.

K loves to give her sister hugs and kisses.

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We have been "finding" shapes wherever we go, ie - a piece of pizza, "It a ti-angle!" So a few days ago she looked at me and said, "Mommy! Your tummy a cir-tle!" :)

We have officially decided on a baby name (the same one I've told a lot of you - ask me if you haven't heard and would like to know!) so here is a picture of "Mommy, Daddy, and Baby S"!

Thanks for taking the cute pictures Mom! Hopefully I'll have my Christmas cards out soon!

P.S. K is all recovered from her bout with the flu and so far T and I are still healthy...it's nice to be back to normal!

A Stick Up

Question: What do you get when you give a book of Christmas stickers to a toddler?

Answer: A sticker covered toddler and dog.

:)

"Uh, a little help here please?"

I am trying to figure out where or when we were exposed to the flu, but on Monday afternoon K got really whiny and before I knew it she had a fever.
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We are on day three and she's still riding the flu roller coaster. She'll be fine one minute: happy and itching to get up and play, and the next minute she'll start whining, want into my lap, and conk out within minutes to wake up with a raging fever again.
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I also learned something very important today. "My tummy's angry" really means, "Watch out I'm gonna lose my breakfast!" At least she's saying something to warn me now, as the first few "episodes" were just a funny look on the face and then a BIG mess followed by, "I spit, Mama".
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Oh the joys of motherhood. Thankfully she is napping right now so I can have a break. On the one hand it's kind of nice when she is sick b/c she gets really cuddly and actually slows down her lighting fast movements for once, but on the other hand it's also nice to have five minutes together without a little person hanging, sitting, or pulling on you. :)
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We're hoping she gets better soon...and that we don't get it too!

New Car and a Happy Birthday!

Our new car is here! T had to go out of town this past week so when he found this car in Salt Lake City he just changed his plane ticket to go there instead of to come home on Friday. We got his Dad a ticket to go down there too and they drove it home Friday evening and Saturday. This car was about $3,000 cheaper coming from Salt Lake than we could have gotten it here. For some reason they are in high demand here.

I absolutely LOVE it! It feels nearly as roomy as a van inside but it drives like a car! It is especially nice and big after my little car. No more climbing into the back of the car just to get K buckled. I just have to stand there and snap her in. The power locks and windows and cruise control are going to be my favorite features, I can already tell. I've never had a car with those things before, but I can definitely get used to them pretty quick. :)

It was also Noni's birthday on Saturday and it was so fun for us all to be able to fit in one car to ride to the restaurant! I got a great picture of K and Noni and Papa during the birthday dinner.

Then it was back to their house for cake...

...and of course presents!

Happy Birthday Noni! And Auntie Heather and Pawpaw too! We hope you all had wonderful birthdays!

Sugar Sugar

Okay, I admit it: we are terrible parents! This would be a picture of our 2 1/2 year old daughter eating a chocolate Christmas-sprinkle covered donut from Krispy Kreme. The reason it is so dark is b/c it was 8:30. P.M. Half an hour past her bedtime and we are in town (45 min. from home) letting her eat a donut that is half the size of her face.

And we know what comes next. The last time we let her eat too much sugar was at our baby shower a few weekends ago. Too much frosting + toddler + the need to get groceries = LOUD singing of "GOD MADE ME, GOD MADE ME, I'M SO HAPPY GOD MADE ME" all the way through the food aisles at Walmart. Thankfully she gets really HAPPY as well as hyper, and is SO funny. Yeah, we really shouldn't let her have sugar anymore...especially at night.

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And for the record, she ate every bite of that gigantic donut. I asked her if she was going to eat it all and T taught her to say, "I'm sure gonna try!"

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And she did.

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P.S. T is out of town this week so we'll be at the Grandparents. And he is making a detour on his flight home to purchase our brand new (well, used) car, so I should have pictures on Sunday! Yippee!

O Christmas Tree

Yesterday was the first Saturday in more months than I can remember that we haven't had to work on our house! We spent the whole day relaxing, decorating for Christmas, watching movies, and just spending time together. It was wonderful! K really got into decorating the tree this year! We started with the star, which she put up all by herself...well, I guess she had a little help from Daddy. :)

She loved getting ornaments out of the box and deciding where to put them. She was very specific about where exactly they should go. She wanted a stuffed Eeyore up high on the tree and about half an hour later I moved it down to the "kid zone". She found it a few minutes later and said, "No Mommy, Eeyore go up dere."

She is very interested in doing things, "All by my-thelf!" right now. :)

She actually did a really good job...the bottom half of the tree is a little overloaded, but it turned out pretty good. :)

This decorating the tree is serious business!

We finished just before lunch and after nap time she woke up and said, "Mommy, I put more Christmas on the tree?"

We let her stay in her pajamas all day and watched the Veggie Tales movie, "Saint Nicholas". It was really cute. Then we had Green Chili Cheese soup to use up some leftover turkey, and ended the evening with a bath and books in Mommy and Daddy's bed. What a wonderful way to spend a Saturday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had such a fun Thanksgiving! We had all of T's family over and also Uncle Sean. Here is the L Family picture 2009! I love cousin E's expression in the family photo...doesn't that expression just shout, "I'm 3!" Too cute. :) K on the other hand only looks mildly interested. Oh well, you can't win 'em all. :)

Our little family of soon to be four. :)

I really didn't get very many pictures. I also didn't really do much in the way of the festivities...no place cards, no decorations...we didn't even use the fine china. We were just working our little fingers to the bone trying to get the house in enough order to have company, but we had just as great of a time without all the "trimmings". The important thing is that we were able to spend the holiday with family.
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I should have got pictures of the house in the few hours it was clean, but after several days with nine adults and three kids under six, clean is something it is not. :) I'll have to fix it up again and get some pictures of the finished remodel.
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The women in the family got up this morning at 3:45 to brave the crowds and get some deals, and we sure did! We had a great time running around to a handful of stores, and I got most of my Christmas shopping wrapped up (no pun intended:) all by 9:00 this morning!
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When we got home T had gotten really creative with the kids and used cookie cutter shapes to cut out blocks of wood on his band saw. Then he let the kids paint them and drilled a hole in them for ornaments! I thought that was a great idea and the kids loved it! Here is what we came back to.

This picture is blurry, but K made a gingerbread man! That maroon was just the first coat. Purple was next and it ended up blue.

Well, that's all the pics I have. I hope you all had a wonderful, happy Thanksgiving!

Couples Bowling Shower

Couples Bowling Shower: those are three words I've never seen together, but put them all together and you have a night of fun! Three of my girlfriends from high school threw us a couples shower! It was so much fun! We didn't have to play diaper games or even do a word find...just bowling, food, presents, and cake! It was really fun and so sweet of them to throw it for us. Here is the cake they got us. It said, "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice, Welcome Baby Girl #2!"

I didn't bowl, since it's a little hard when the belly throws me off balance, but everyone else did really well and K had a ball! Noni helped her get it movin' since her "throw" usually ends up rolling at about 0.2 miles an hour. :)

Then K's friend, Rylan got there and joined in the fun. It was so cute...they wanted to help each other. :)

Great anticipation! How many will it knock down?

Getting overly eager to see what will happen at the end. I'm pretty sure that classifies as a fault. :)

Everybody got us such wonderful presents...it was so sweet!

One of the girls (the same one who does my ultrasounds - she's very talented!) knitted ADORABLE matching hats for K and the baby. Seriously the cutest things EVER! They are hats that look like cupcakes...complete with a cherry on top! I will definitely have to take our girls in for some professional pictures in these! P.S. I love Ry-Ry in this picture...can you find him?

K loved the hat and didn't take it off for the rest of the night. I'm going to have to hide it from her so it doesn't wear out by the time baby gets here. :)

K and two of her boys. :)

Thank you SO much for the wonderful shower, girls! It was great!

I would definitely recommend a couples bowling shower, as Tony the Tiger would say, "They're Grrrrrrrrreat!" Yeah, I have no idea where that came from. :)

You Know You Live In A Small Town When....

Okay, once again, I am having trouble uploading videos. I don't know what the deal is, and I'm not very computer literate, so I'm just hoping it magically fixes itself somehow.

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I also don't have any new pictures b/c we have been working every spare minute to get our house back in order. The walls are painted, about 50% of the trim is up, the wainscoting is all up and just waiting for it's chair rail and base shoe. We are working hard to get things back to normal before we have Thanksgiving next week.

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So in light of all that I have nothing interesting to say...except a little small town humor.

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You know you live in a small town when: you are eating dinner and notice that a car stops in front of your house to talk to some people walking down the road.

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In the middle of the road.

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And you live on one of the "busier" streets.

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Despite that, the people are able to talk for approximately 18 minutes before going on their merry way without ever being interrupted by another car needing through.

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And you know both the people in the car and the people who were going for the walk. :)

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We love small town life!

Farewell Sweet Blueberry

We sold my little car this weekend! It was my high-school graduation present from my parents, and it has been a wonderful little car! It is physically impossible to get a toddler seat and an infant seat in the back of it. To conform to the legal laws the infant seat can only be in the middle and the toddler seat cannot fit next to it if we still want to be able to close the door...kind of a necessity.

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We actually only had a sign up in the car for less than a week. Some of our friends have a son who is a senior in high school and his truck broke down the same night after T had told the guy's mom we were selling our car. I really didn't think it would sell that quickly, but we were praying that it would, so I don't know why I didn't. :)

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In college one of my friends named my car, Blueberry. I tried to get on board and even called it Blueberry for a while, but I'm just not that cool I guess b/c I quickly reverted back to just calling it my car.

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However, I will miss sweet Blueberry. She was a good car. She's been with me for the last 9 years, so it was a little sad to say goodbye. I never thought I'd be sad to get rid of a car, but it's funny how attached you are to something after spending so much time in it. So for sentiments sake I will post a picture of her in all her shiny goodness. She looks pretty darn good for being nearly 10 years old! :)

I apparently do not clean her out very regularly b/c I found this in the glove box: the menu from T and my's favorite restaurant EVER, (from college - and we've been graduated five years already!). If you can call it a restaurant. It was this hole in the wall place in the heart of ghetto-town Phoenix and we never actually ate there, just ordered take out. I was always afraid to go pick it up by myself, but it was seriously the best Chinese food I've ever had, and the price was incredible. Can you see that down there? $3.25 for a "large" which was one of those Styrofoam take out boxes FULL of food. T couldn't even eat a whole box in one sitting. So for three dollars and twenty five cents we could have both lunch and dinner. It was amazing! I definitely miss it.

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Seeing the menu brought back those good old days when worrying about what we were going to do on Friday night was our biggest concern...not paying bills and trying to decide what school to send our children to. That was definitely a simpler time with so many fun memories that I wouldn't trade for anything...of course I wouldn't trade this season in our lives for anything either. :)

The other funny thing I found was the itinerary from our honeymoon! That was a long trip! It took us an entire day to get to Antigua. It was a great trip, but I think if we ever do another tropical vacation we'll choose something a little closer to home!

Okay, well thanks for letting me reminisce a little bit. Now we just need to find another car before the baby comes! T is working on it. We'll keep you posted.

Monkey Around

I've been looking for a fun bathroom set for a long time for the upstairs bathroom, but since I rarely go up there I forget about it quite easily. Once I realized that Thanksgiving was rapidly closing in, I figured I'd better hurry up and get something done (we're having T's family over for the holiday). I found a cute monkey set at Target and since I call K my little "monkey" I thought it was just about right. Grandma painted the walls/ceiling/trim all by herself in ONE day! Then I did touch ups and added polka dots for the next three days. My mom came over to help me b/c they took a long time. They were a pain, but it turned out pretty cute. I wanted something fun since it will be K's bathroom if we could ever get her room done. :) So here are the before and afters.

The rug was my favorite thing. So cute!

The paint in there before was...interesting...a yucky off white for three of the walls, dark gray for the fourth, and the back of the door was a nasty yellowish.

And now it is bright blue with polka dots! The monkey is supposed to be the trash can, but I thought it was too cute for trash so I am using it as a extra toilet paper holder, and I bought a bamboo garbage can.

Before

And after! I love the accessories that came with the set. The little bananas on the soap pump swing around, and so does the monkey hanging off the toothbrush holder.

Here is the lovely mustard yellow door before.

And now it is just a off white/tan color. I can see I need to put an extra polka dot in there to the left of the towel. :)

And that is that! Thanks, Grandma and Noni, for helping us with our "Mon-tey baf-room!" We're sure to have a swinging good time getting ready in the future. :)