Burning Questions: The Fifth Time

Whenever I can't think of much to post, I like to flip things around on you and give you another round of burning questions.  Get excited.

1. When setting up a nativity, do you put the wise men to the left or the right of the baby Jesus? 

2. What day do you take down your Christmas decorations?

3.  This one is a little LDS-geared....sorry.  What is your ideal time for church and why? (Anyone can answer, but as far as I know most churches don't rotate times like we LDS do).

4.  Do you limit your kids' time in front of electronics? (or do you plan to?) How do you go about it?

5.  What time do you go to bed on New Year's Eve?

6. When you went through the phase of not liking your name (come on now, every one's been there) what did you want to change about it/change it to?




1.  I ALWAYS put the wise men on the left side of baby Jesus.  In every one of my 6 nativities.
2. I find myself becoming a bit of a Scrooge with little ones around.  I just want my house back to its "kid-proofed" state.  I would have answered "around New Year's" a few years ago and now I think it will be a day or two after Christmas.  The live tree shedding millions of needles doesn't help.
3. I suppose this is a bit of a trick question for me.  I have yet to find an ideal time.  I think this stems from the fact that there is not a 3-hour stretch of time with young kids when something isn't "off" in the schedule.  That being said, I would choose 8:00a.m. church (I promise I'm not kidding).  As hard as it would be to get out the door, at least naps would still happen with some regularity.
4. I don't currently have a system for Easton, but based on his preference for the TV or a movie to be on (whether he is watching or not), I need to get on this pronto....hence why I am asking. :)
5. I think the latest I have stayed up for the last three years is 11:30 p.m.  I don't care to watch the ball drop (that actually dropped 3 hours prior) and I need my sleep. 
6. I was annoyed with my name in elementary school (I couldn't buy personalized pencils--boo!) and then in junior high I almost convinced my mom (who may remember this very differently) to pay to have the spelling changed to something "more normal."  I believe the deal was I had to wait until I graduated from high school and by then I loved it again.  So I guess I didn't want it changed, just wanted the spelling to be less unique.

Merry Christmas!

May you have a wonderful Christmas weekend filled with the love and spirit of our Savior.

Much love,
Ronnie, KaLee, Easton and Kendree

Let's talk Christmas

What?  You are sick of Christmas talk already?  Well then, time for you to head to another blog (or scroll down in your reader). :)

I think that I take after my mother, in that I want to do things for a reason.  I mean really, just doing something to do it is a little silly, especially for holidays. 

I've written about a few of the Christmas traditions that I grew up with before.  But now that I am the master of my own domain mother of a small family, I find myself struggling with what I want to do. 

Let's begin with gifts.  I know that this is a pretty touchy subject and that every one's situations are different, I do.  That being said, these are the thoughts I have had about it.

• I read about a family where the parents give four gifts each year.  One you want, one you need, one you wear and one you read.  This really appeals to me.  I like that it has structure and gives parents an automatic "to-buy" list.  I also love that something to read is already built in (since I like to always give a book when I can).
• Don't get me wrong.  I love Santa, but I don't like to focus on him so much.  Also, if it comes down to who gives cooler presents, me or Santa--it better be me, because my kids get to see me every day and Santa just shows his face (figuratively) once a year.  Also, I think I want Santa to be pretty budget friendly at our house.  I think that explaining to the kids that daddy is out of a job and Christmas is going to be light (heaven forbid that happen) is a lot easier than trying to explain why Santa can't produce like he has in the past.
• Sibling gifts.  I love, love, love Design Mom's idea of doing homemade gifts for the siblings to give to each other and fully plan on implementing that in the future.  For this year, since my little crafters are a bit too, well, little, mama made the gifts (Easton did pick out the fabric for Kendree's and Kendree was a good girl while I sewed Easton's).  Pictures coming soon.

Now on to the things that you actually do over the holidays.  I find this one particularly hard.  There are soooo many fun ideas.  I also think that whether you live close to extended family plays a huge role in what you do as a family.  If you are also putting in time with extended family, you generally have to limit what you as a smaller family unit can do.  That being said, here are some traditions I'm fairly sure I want to implement.

• Wrap 24 Christmas books and have the kids open one a day until Christmas.  Between board books and actual books I am thisclose to having 24 already, but any that I need to add I'll get from the library.
• Eat what Jesus ate on Christmas Eve.  I love this tradition, and I'll admit part of that is because my family usually has halibut handy and eating fish is an incredibly enjoyable experience with halibut around.
• Act out the nativity.  I think this will be done with extended family while we live close, since it's more fun to actually fill all of the roles in the story. 

And that is it for the traditions that I know I want to carry on.  I'm still up in the air on whether my kids will open one gift on Christmas Eve.  Maybe I'll do the pajama tradition that so many do, but who knows. 

I'd love to hear what you do at Christmas time that you could never, ever give up in a million years. 

A few pictures

Ronnie's dad returned from a business trip to China and India not too long ago, and sent us LOTS of goodies.  One of them was a Kobe jersey for Ronnie, but Easton immediately claimed it as his own.  He knew that it was for Kobe, and when we asked him how he knew that, he said "the numbers!"  He makes his father so proud.

 And here is our little Kenny-girl.  The only two pictures I actually took on the day she turned 10 months old, so I guess that makes these her "official" ones.

 This is what I normally see when I take out the camera....she is moving as fast as she possibly can to get that fun looking toy out of mama's hands!

Easton's 3rd Birthday Party

Time for picture overload.

First, he gave a birthday present to his mama and took a nap!  This only happens about 1-2 times a week, so the fact that it was on his birthday was a small miracle.  He was even so tired he couldn't make it to his bed.

We had a small celebration on Easton's actual birthday (Friday, the 10th).  We let him choose what he wanted for dinner and he chose Sam's Club.  The kid LOVES their hot dogs and since I usually get him an Icee to go with it, it is the place he always requests nowadays.  So here he is enjoying his meal:

Then, we went back to the house and had a cupcake:

Then, the next day we had my family over for a meal of Easton's favorite foods (pizza, apple juice, string cheese, green (key lime) yogurt, cheetos) and then opened presents. Easton wanted to play with every gift as soon as he knew what it was, but is getting better at moving on and understanding that he'll get to play with them all eventually.  My mom just read that after about 3 presents at this age, they just can't process it and it is almost too much for their heads and I can definitely see that.

Mr. Potato Head!

An indoor bowling set....the immediate hit of the evening (although he has played with everything since then).

 

After presents, we were able to convince him to stop playing for a few seconds so we could sing to him.  He loved blowing out the candle and asked to do it again.  Then he made us sing to him a second time before he would blow it out again. 

 Mama's "bowling cake"

After that, we went to the bowling "store" and bowled for real!  I have learned that at this age, Easton really only has interest in one game of bowling.  The second game he didn't even bowl some of his turns and kept on asking to go home and play with his "colored bowling."  The rest of us had fun though!

Coming back from his turn:

 Grandpa, Adam, Alicia and Kendree:

 Uncle Jord-man entertaining the little guy.

 Adam and Alicia with Sarah this time.

 Grandma (notice Ronnie in the background. I gave him a hard time for being anti social--turns out he was just trying to plan something for my birthday).

And now the traditional shot of the loot:

Kendree - 10 months

My, these last few weeks have been full of milestones!

Let's talk a little bit about our Kenny-bear shall we?

At 10 months, Kendree is:

• Not sleeping through the night, but usually only gets up around 5am for a feeding and then it's back to sleep until 7 or 8 (or 9 if mama really wants to mess up her schedule for the day).
• Not teething as far as we can tell.  She had a wonky sleep schedule about a week ago for a week, but has now settled back to normal and doesn't have a whiff of anything new in her mouth, so who knows!
• Army crawling everywhere.  She only pushes with her right foot as she drags her left one along, but that doesn't slow her down much at all.
• Loves to stop and survey the room from what we call the "Seinfeld pose." It makes me smile every time. [I've been trying to get a picture, but every time I pull out the camera, she starts immediately moving toward me to get it]
• Loving everything we will put in her mouth.  I haven't figured out if she really prefers the vegetables, or if the times I am feeding her veggies she is just hungrier, but she seems to always finish them faster and is more eager for every bite.  Not something to complain about at all.
• In love with her brother and even puts up with "rough" attention as it is better than no attention at all in her mind.
• Starting to show us when she is not in the mood for something [i.e. sitting and playing with toys when she would prefer to be part of the action]
• Taking two naps a day.  Unfortunately, these naps are not really very scheduled and I'll be the first to admit that our comings and goings interfere some.
• Going down for naps by herself [without nursing] but does not like it one bit and lets you know at the top of her lungs for 10-20 minutes depending on the day.
• Saying "mama" and "dada" all of the time now. 
• Clapping basically on demand and anytime I clap while looking at her she joins in within about 10 seconds.
• Working on waving.  She does it, but it usually is about 30 seconds after the person has stopped trying to get her to do it.
• Loving music and will flap her little arms around [especially if mama is filling in for the music leader at church].
• Obsessed with the wrapping paper that seems to be all around these days. 
• Eating three meals a day of baby food with snacks about once a day.  She is also nursing about 4 times a day [she has to keep those girlish rolls].
• Our favorite little sister!  We just love her ever-smiling face!

Sometimes a hat provides great darkness when napping.  She was conked out under there!

Her first visit with Santa.  She wasn't really smiley, but didn't scream either.

 Attacking the bows at Easton's birthday party.

And now, a video of the army crawling:

Another year

I think one of the more disappointing things about growing up is how your birthday changes. 

I'm not one to mourn the process of getting older, in fact in most cases I think getting older is the bomb-diggety.  That being said, birthdays are just never the same after you leave your parent's house.

The "magic" of getting another year older is gone.  Instead of a day that stands out in your head, it is a pretty great day where you do just about what you do every other day (sans making dinner of course, I'm not crazy!).  The kids still have needs to be filled, errands still need to be run, the house has to be [sort of] kept up, etc.

When I was growing up, you woke up to signs all over the house [saying things like "Happy Birthday KaLee! and Look who is 28!], you chose the dinner that you wanted and you didn't have to do any chores [it may have been the only day all year that I didn't have to make my bed].  Then you had cake and ice cream and opened presents, you know, the standard stuff.  One of my all-time favorite birthdays was my Golden birthday, when I turned 16 on the 16th (everyone has one).  My parents gave me 16 gifts.  They continue that tradition with all of their children.  I have to say that when Erica turns 28 on the 28th, she'll win in the present department.

What birthday traditions did/do you have at your house?

Easton - 3 years old

At three, Easton is full of energy (really, what 3 year old do you know that isn't).  He continues to love Disney-Pixar movies and is in love with numbers and letters.  Now that he can recognize and identify all 26 letters and number 0-13, we are working on numbers above 13 and the sounds of the letters.  So far, he is the best at "S" sssssssssss!  I'm also trying to get him to identify words that start with certain letters.  This has led to him yelling out "Look, E is for Easton!" when we see signs with Es on them.  He knows that K is for Kenny and M is for mama as well.  He is constantly amazing me with all he knows and wants to learn.

I have to say that although I think I will forever mourn the "nap time" that is no longer consistent, I do love the independence that he is showing.  I love that he will get up at night and come find me if he needs something and doesn't just sit and cry in his bed.  I love that he wants to help and enjoys doing his "jobs." Just this week I started him emptying the silverware from the dishwasher and he LOVES it. 

We continue to work on being nice to his sister.  He gets frustrated that he doesn't know how to play with her yet.  He does love the attention she gives him and once she starts laughing will do anything to keep her going. 

Easton is still not potty trained.  In fact, he still doesn't seem ready to me, but I think it's time to jump in and see if he will catch on quickly or not.  He is ready to go into Sunbeams at church in January and as of now, is the only one that is not potty trained.  In his defense, he does have the second to the latest birthday in the year as well.

We love our bubbers and are so glad he's ours!

Although he will never admit to needing naps, sometimes he just can't hold on any longer.  I loved that he conked out this day (in his Woody gear) with his feet in the air.

 A picture taken during nursery.  Classic Easton smile.

 The face I normally get when I ask him to smile.

 We took him bowling for the first time in Utah during Thanksgiving.  He was in HEAVEN.  He loved every minute.

The post that proves I love my sister

I am cursed with late-project-inspiration.  It's a technical term.  I always find the coolest projects after I should have been done with them.  Such is the case with my sister's Christmas project.

Design Mom linked to this calendar and I knew I HAD to make it.  Then, Thanksgiving happened, and life happened and I finally got it in the mail on Friday, December 3rd. (nothing like getting a present after it's useful-ness has already begun, right?)

 I made a few changes to the pattern (flipped the rod pocket forward instead of back and did binding around the outside instead of ric rac).

 I am so in love with the fabric I found for the back (at Hobby Lobby) I was looking for any excuse for it to show.  Hopefully Erc likes it just as well. :)

This may just have to go on my "projects-that-I-have-made-that-don't-have-something-I-kinda-want-to-tweak" list.  It's a list of about three items.

Now to get started on the one for my own family.  I think we better bet on a 2011 completion date.

He is 3 people, THREE!

1st birthday: December 10, 2008

2nd birthday: December 10, 2009

 3 years old: December 2010

I can't imagine life without this little guy.  He is constantly amazing me.  I love his dark, dark, DARK, brown eyes, quick smile and happy heart.  I love the kindness he shows to all around him (except maybe in nursery).  I love his smart brain, healthy body, and hilarious mannerisms.  I love the big boy he is becoming.  I love the cuddles he still gives.  I love that he was the first to make me a mother.  I love that he is my guinea pig and doesn't even know how clueless I am at this motherhood stuff.  I love that he loves me, and everyone around him right back.

Happy Birthday Bubbers!  We love you!

One thing I do to keep my sanity...

alternately titled: My kids don't die because...

I burn my DVDs.

That's right, if you open any kid-related DVD case on our shelf, you'll find my kid-like friendly writing staring back at you.

I've found it basically impossible to keep Easton from touching the DVDs and since I like to pretend that I am smarter than him, I decided to see what I could do about it.

I found a program online (www.dvdfab.com) that does the conversion/compression stuff for you.  When I first found it, you could do everything you needed to do with their free trial, and it was awesome.  Then, they up and got smarter than me and now you do have to pay for the service.  But really? $25 a year is worth it to save hundreds of dollars in DVDs.  After you have that program, you just need to have a DVD-burning capable computer and DVD-burning software (we have Nero).

And then, WAH-LAH!  Kid-proof DVDs.  It will make you sleep easier at night, I promise.

Notes:
*In the DVDFab program you have the option of burning the entire disc or just the main movie.  I recommend burning just the main movie.  Not only does your kid not really care about all of those extra features, but if you do just put the main movie on the DVD, you don't have to wait around to press the play button, the DVD just starts playing.  It is the greatest thing ever.
*If you remember, unselect the subtitles option when you burn your DVDs.  For whatever reason, the default on the burned DVDs is to have the subtitles on the screen and while Easton doesn't seem to care, it drives me batty if I ever sit down to watch a movie with him. [you can turn them off, but the default is that they are there].
*Because I only burn DVDs that I own and I only burn one copy at a time [if one has worn out (ahem, Incredibles) I break the unusable kid DVD in half and burn a new kid copy] this is legal. 

Cards for the Masses

Seriously, if you can't find even one card that you like at Shutterfly, well, you must not be one of the masses. :)

Most recently, I used Shutterfly to create a wall calendar for my mother-in-law for Christmas (don't worry, she knows it is coming).  I was blown away by the ease of the program, the many, MANY calendar designs and how quickly they arrived after they were ordered.  Heck, with the current promotion of up to 30% off calendars they were cheaper than any other personalized calendar I've made.  [I used the Fresh and Fun template--I know you were dying to know].

But, then I started browsing their card section.  Mercy me!  I just can't (and still haven't) decide what I want to do for Christmas. 

Do I go traditional and do a folded card? [love the richness those provide]  I prefer a religious theme if at all possible and love these three options.

Or, do I save myself the trouble of writing a letter and do this awesome top ten design? Seriously, this one is genius since the thought of writing a letter every year is almost too much for my Christmas/birthday/holiday loaded brain.

Thanks to Shutterfly's blog promotion, I can choose 50 free cards and while it won't make my decision ANY easier, at least my pocketbook won't be lighter. :)

So seriously, take a look at what they have to offer--the only thing you may do is get caught up looking at the gorgeous-ness!

Welcome to the family!

A little over a week ago, my brother popped the question to this sweet girl right here:

We couldn't be more excited for them!

Welcome Alicia--we're so excited you are here to stay.  I personally am holding out hope that somewhere, a few years down the road, we could maybe, just maybe get a tow-head baby in this family.

I'm serious about the few years down the road bit.

Relief Society Meeting

[Warning: this post is heavy in LDS speak]

Friend Jen asked me what a Relief Society Meeting about blogging was all about. So, here we go!

First, I should say that I had no part in the planning of this meeting, I just attended and thought we went over some helpful things.

The Relief Society presidency had a screen and projector set up in the church.  We first learned all about the new Family Search Website and even went through an example of how to submit a name, pull names for temple work, etc.  I found this to be really helpful.  I had never logged onto the site (shame on me, I know) and loved seeing what I needed to gather/do (essentially nothing by the way) to get started.

Next, we talked about blogging.  Let's face it, blogging in the LDS community is like BBQ in Texas.  Everyone does it.  The first thing we did was to walk through how to find someone's blog.  A seemingly mindless activity, but several of the, shall we say "more experienced" women were SOOOO excited about this part. 

Then, we went through how to set up a blog, which I think was very helpful to a different group of women and finally we talked about what you can do with a blog, how a blog can be a great source of how those that you know learn about the church, your family, your beliefs, etc. 

This was the part that made me wake up a little bit.  I tend to leave that stuff off of my blog on purpose.  I feel like when General Conference rolls around, EVERYONE is talking about their favorite talks, etc. and you don't need another blog talking about the same thing.  However, there are people who read my blog that don't read any other blogs that would reference that same event and it is a part of my life, so I should share it.

So, look for a few more "thoughtful" posts from me in the future.  It's time to gear up.

Easton Dances to Step in Time

I Love You

But where do I put...

I enjoy blogging.  From the time I first heard about blogs (in the fall of 2006), I knew it was for me.

Unleash my writing...check.

A place to tell my funny stories...check.

The ability to entertain more than just those that have the pleasure of being in the same room as me...check.

Connecting with friends and family far and wide...check.

Journaling...check.

Sharing my opinion...double check.

After having Easton, I was hesitant to have this little blog of mine become a "mommy blog" (not that there is anything wrong with that) so I created a blog just for him.  Fast forward to having Kendree and I created the Little Ones blog so I could brag shamelessly and you could go there if you chose to do so.

I feel like I share my funny moments, update you on the family and generally entertain (at least that is the goal). 

The one thing that seems to be lacking is the serious stuff.  You know, my thoughts on things that are a little more important than what to buy your expecting friend, or the burning questions that never seem to end.

After a Relief Society meeting this week on blogging, I was again reminded that I can share the more serious thoughts and parts of my life.  I just can't decide how to go about it.  Should I start another blog with more of a "sharing journal" feel, or just throw those posts onto this here blog?

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Kendree - 9 months

My, my, how our little Kenny bear is growing!  Let's take a look at all she is up to.

• She is 50th percentile on all the charts.  19 pounds and 28 inches long.  No wonder she is so heavy in the car seat. (it should also be said that she weighs more now than her brother did at 15 months)
• She is not sleeping through the night anymore.  Ronnie and I have conflicting view on whether the baby monitor should be on in our room at night.  If he turns it on, then I get up with her 2-3 times a night.  If I leave it off, I only hear her once. (see why I want it off?).  I really believe she is just "readjusting herself those other two times I hear her on the monitor.  I'm not going to push sleeping through the night until she is done nursing at one year.  I learned my lesson with Easton.
• She loves all foods.  Fruit, vegetable, she doesn't care.  I'm excited to see how she likes meats now that she is 9 months old.  She eats three regular food meals a day and I'm going to start having her schedule be such that she is eating when we eat.
• She really likes to feed herself.  Right now that is pretty much just puffs, as her mom wasn't willing to put up with the mess of other things, but I think I can convince her mom that a little mess is okay and branch out to broader self-feeding.
• Kendree is not crawling yet, but is getting up on all fours and rocking, so we're expecting it soon.  She also does this funny "plank" position that you'll see below in the video.
• She doesn't have any teeth, in fact, not even a single sign of any teeth.  I'm loving that part and she can keep those little chompers to herself as long as she would like.
• She is going through a phase were she prefers to be on her belly or back on the floor and not sitting up.  I think it is because it saves her one step in getting around everywhere, but it is pretty funny to watch her arch her little back so you don't put her in a sitting position.
• She babbles and screeches all of the time--it's getting harder to act like I'm in a professional environment when I have conference calls for work. :)
• She continues to idolize her big brother and even if he is being a little rough, revels in any attention he will give her.
• Kendree is wearing 12 month clothes almost exclusively (there are just a few 9 month outfits that mama continues to put you in because she loves them so much--but they are days away from being too small) and would fit in a size 3 shoe if she did not have the crazy fat foot thing that Easton has as well (fat from the bottom to the top of her foot--if you were looking when she was standing up) and if she would not curl her toes down really hard every time you try to put a shoe on.  The Target brand version of the Robeez are the only things I can get to stay on.
• She can get to anything she wants between rolling and a kind of army crawl thing (push up on hands and lurch forward) and has the longest reach I have seen in a long time.  When I think I've put something a safe distance away, I never have!
• Is still a little stranger shy, but is beginning to warm back up more quickly.
• She is starting to not like the headbands and hats I have her wear.  They come off almost as quickly as I can put them on.
• Takes two naps a day (totaling 3+ hours)
• We finally had to retire the swing this week as she would only last about 15 minutes in it and it isn't worth my floor space for that amount of time. :)  She does continue to enjoy the stand-up bouncer thing.

Enough with the talking already--on to the pictures!

The only two "official" shots I have of Kenny girl on the day she turned 9 months.

Hanging out with daddy.

Letting big brother hold me (he has to get those "holding times" in while he can still hold her--she's catching up to him fast)

Hanging out in the bouncer.

And now a video of the plank position.

Brother and Sister

It's a love/hate relationship. Lucky for us, it's mostly love.