A Gift for the Kids

We didn't want the kids to feel left out on my birthday so we gave them a couple of little gifts.

Another year older...

I had a great birthday this year! It started out with breakfast in bed, then I laid in bed watching Hallmark movies for a while (I wasn't feeling great due to a cold), my mom came later and gave me a pedicure!, after that Mike and I went to Powell to the movies. We saw Country Strong--I wouldn't really recommend it; it was a lot darker than I expected. When we got home, I was totally surprised by a birthday dinner with friends and family! I seriously had no idea that was coming! My mom did so much--we had barbecued flank steak and chicken, rolls, salad, baked potatoes, and deviled eggs! It was so yummy! She also made a cute layered chocolate/white cake! I received some nice gifts and really enjoyed visiting with everyone.

Wilson turns 2!

Wilson turned 2 on January 8th! We had a construction themed party for him complete with hoagie sandwiches, chips, juice boxes and dirt cake! I had planned on putting the dirt cake in the back of his new tonka truck, but it didn't work out that way. He loved opening his presents and was pretty territorial about them. He was very concerned that the other kids were going to take them! We sure love this little guy!

At 2 Wilson:
*Weighs 27.7 lbs and is about 34 inches tall (25-50th%)
*Wears size 4 diapers (though he can fit in as small as 2s), size 18 month clothes, and size 5-6 shoes
*Still doesn't talk a lot---he's vocal, but not very verbal. We are working on getting him to use his words!
*Likes to play with his cars and trucks
*is loving being wrapped up in a blanket
*loves to make messes
*loves to do anything that his sister is doing--especially dressing up
*doesn't really like to wear his pants; he usually takes them off at some point during the day
*sleeping better through the night, but not every night...
*still loves his binky...we will be working on this soon...I think I'm not ready yet :)

One of my favorite things about Wilson is that when you pick him up, he often puts his little arm around your neck and will run his fingers through your hair. It is really sweet.

Crazy Kids

Unfortunately, this happens quite regularly...

Wilson's makeover--look at those bronze hands!

Here's the reason behind Wilson's new look...I was just in the living room having a meeting...I thought he was in my room watching a movie! It took quite a bit of scrubbing to get all of the makeup out of the grout!

It is so dry that every time Whitney sits on the couch this happens!

Christmas Morning

Christmas Tree

Playing with their first gifts--a kitchen for Whitney and a basketball hoop for Wilson.

Wilson asking Grandpa to open his gift. He took every present that needed opened to Grandpa.

Whitney opening the Belle dress that Grandma K. made for her. She also made her Cinderella and Snow White dresses. Grandpa made her a little mirrored storage stand with hooks for hanging her dresses and box at the bottom for shoes and accessories!

We were all so excited that we actually had to wake the kids up this year! My parents and brother came out around 7 and we got the kids up around 7:30 to start opening presents. They were a little hesitant at first, but then got the hang of things! Wilson loved tearing open the presents! It was really fun to watch them open each present and then stop to play with them. Wilson got lots of cars and Whitney got lots of dress ups. They were spoiled as usual!

After opening presents, we had the family over again around 10 for our annual Christmas brunch. We had monkey bread, eggs, bacon and some leftover ham from Christmas Eve. We were all spoiled again by my mother-in-law!

Later that evening we went to my mother-in-law's for a finger-food dinner and to get our secret Santa gifts ready. We decided not to shop for the adults in the family and donate to a family in need instead.

Christmas Eve

Dining Table

The kids (minus little Ethan) with Santa. Notice just how far away Whitney is...she didn't want anything to do with Santa this year--except for taking a candy cane!

Uncle with Santa

Wilson digging into his fishpond present

Grandpa fishing

We hosted the Christmas Eve celebration at our house this year. We had 12 adults and 5 kids! We started the evening off with dinner of roast, salad, baked potatoes, and rolls. For dessert we had a chocolate cake & pudding trifle with add-ins like toffee bits, hershey kisses & hugs. After dinner, we had the fishpond--a tradition in my mother-in-law's family carried over from Norway. We were then surprised by a visit from Santa! To end the evening, Mike shared a Christmas talk from President Monson about the Spirit of Christmas really being the Spirit of Christ. After everyone left, Whitney and I whipped together some sugar cookies and set them out for Santa with chocolate milk!

Dance Recital

"Take me out to the Ballgame"

Whitney and her good friend Marissa

We had our dance recital on December 21st! It made for kind of a crazy week, but Whitney loved being up on the stage at the Hyart. I am still teaching; I teach Whitney's class and two other classes--2-3rd graders and 3-5th graders. This will probably be the last year I have her in my own class; it's just too hard to listen to Mom! She sure looks cute in her costume and she loves to dance all the time! Our theme was "Seasons" and Whitney got to dance to "Take me out to the Ballgame" and "I put the Zing in Spring". They did a great job!

Little Trees

Wilson with his tree--I think he looks like such a big boy in this picture!

Last year I gave Whitney a little tree that I had and bought a bunch of pink decorations for it; she was more interested in playing with the ornaments last year than keeping the tree decorated, but she was totally into it this year. So, this year I got Wilson a tree too and some little blue and silver ornaments. Amazingly, the two trees stayed completely decorated and the kids didn't bother them at all!

Christmas Outfits

This is the best picture I got of my kids in their Christmas outfits. They were more excited about the candy from their nursery teachers than smiling for the camera.

I saw this dress last year, but could never find it in Whitney's size, so when I saw it online this year I ordered (like back in October). My mom and I found the little suit for Wilson at Penney's when we were shopping the day after Thanksgiving. He looks really cute in it, but it's a 24 month and the pants were huge, but we rolled them up and made it work for church for the week before Christmas.

Graham Cracker Houses

I was watching our friends kids one evening and decided that we would make little graham cracker houses. So, just to make it more interesting, I invited our nieces and nephew over too. We had 8 (8 and under!) little people working on them at once!

Unfortunately, I lack architectural ability, and so our graham cracker houses turned into graham cracker boxes.

Fortunately, the kids really didn't care and were more interested in the bowls of candy and the frosting. Everyone was happy and they actually sat at the counter for quite a while working!

I'll have to work on my skills for next year!!