Blink and You'll Miss It

*please excuse the awesome picture, someday our kids will be more cooperative... at least that's what people tell me*

We have had a very full/busy/fun Christmas season.
It was great to visit with family and friends and enjoy the break from our everyday routines.
My favorite part of Christmas might have been church on Sunday though, more specifically our Relief Society lesson. Wow. It was from Neil L. Andersen's conference talk Tell Me the Stories of Jesus. What a perfect lesson for the Sunday after Christmas. It was a great opportunity to reflect on the Savior's life, mission, crucifixion and resurrection and ponder what it is that I am supposed to teach my own children about Him. We discussed the significance of His humble birth, how we can teach our children from just a few verses that we don't have to have everything in order to create a purposeful life. It was a great reminder that when the world says more is better, Christ taught and really exemplified the opposite, less really is more.
This Christmas for our family was a good one, probably because we had the means to really say "thank you" to some of the people in our lives who deserve it most, and also "pay it forward" in a few ways that felt way better than receiving any of our own gifts. Last year felt heavy and this year we were able to lift that heaviness from some others, and that is what has made this Christmas so special for Steve and I.
The other thing that made it so great was our kids. Wow. They were so much fun on Christmas morning- they even took off upstairs to go play with a few things in the middle of opening presents, so Steve and I got to open ours in peace!
It was fun to see them so happy and to watch Brynlee get so excited about everything because she saw her big sister so excited. I am all about positive peer pressure!
There's something so special about knowing that at Christmas, we get to enjoy these little slice's of heaven, I'm already looking forward to next Christmas!

Christmas is Almost Here!

Really wanting to post pictures of my decorations/kids/baking etc... curse Kalea and her need to chew things. A new camera cord is probably on it's way to me in the next 24hrs :) Joy...
So Christmas is coming and this year I am SO excited. I am pretty sure that Steve is slightly annoyed at my level of excitement, but I just get SO SO SO excited at this time of the year. This year I have a few reasons
#1: We can actually afford Christmas presents for us and others this year, not that gifts are super important, but it's really nice to not have to worry about money at this time of the year.
#2: Steve let me get my very first and very own beautiful new pre-lit tree and gave up on his dream of a real one- at least for this year :)
#3: I have found an amazing sugar cookie and icing recipe this year, and I gave most of them away! Maintaining weight loss makes me excited too :)
#4: We don't have any newborns/infants this year which means we are getting infinitely more sleep in the days leading up to Christmas- even with the kids teething and/or having colds, and are therefore having a lot more fun!
#5: We are leaving on vacation in T minus 12 days! Is there such a thing as "The 12 Days Before Vacation"? I think there should be, hmmm...
#6: Kalea is really on her way to potty training. She might already be potty trained if it weren't for the hectic-ness of this time of the year and the fact that I have so little motivation to be consistent when I'm running in 10 different directions, but she is doing great to remind me! Ha and of course what is Kalea potty training without a funny story? Our home teachers came over last night and Kalea amused herself by coming up and downstairs a million times- once in a completely new outfit. She was also blowing kisses over her shoulder at the guys on her way up the stairs- evil girl. Anywho, we put a movie on for her so that she would stay out of our stuff and maybe not come up and down the stairs so much. So when the guys left I went upstairs to find her sitting in front of the tv on her potty. She was so proud of herself "Mommy I potty!" and all that jazz... I was proud too, although I was also a little sullen, for this child doesn't ever use the little potty and the bucket that catches urine/feces was downstairs where the little potty used to be. She basically pee'd on the floor, but had a spot to sit while she did it, grrrrrreat :) But yay, she used the little potty!
See, so much to be excited about!

Girlfriends

This weekend we went up to Edmonton to see family and friends. I took my camera because I thought "Oh I will for sure get a picture of all us girls this time"... So I got pictures of 2 of our kids dancing instead. Judging from the joyful expressions, you can only imagine how happy I was to be around "my girls" again. It is weird to think that most of us have known each other since the age Kalea and Avery are now... It was SO fun to see most everyone and their kids and talk about all the craziness that is life now, and reminisce about all the fun we had. So that was my Saturday morning/early afternoon...
Friday night was my night out with Becky, Olivia and Cassie. Holy laugh fest! My abs were aching like I had consistently done a million sit-ups with no break, it hurt SO bad but it felt SO good :P We went out to Tokyo Express pretty much just like we used to before dances or at least once a weekend. I'm sure all the staff were wondering what was wrong with us crazy white girls, but it was such a blast! The best part of the conversation had to be when we were all kind of wondering out loud why we liked certain boys so much? Really, what was so great about so-and-so anyway? LOL It was so SO funny! We also talked about kids of course, and Cassie and I shared the "horror" of life with TWO not just one! Ha, sorry girls!
As a family we enjoyed time with Steve's Oma and Opa Behr, Wilf & Cindy's clan, a little visit with Serena and Jesse et al, and the Liberty Christmas Party, along with Advent at Cam and Cassie's on Sunday night. To say the weekend was jam-packed would be a HUGE understatement. It was fun, but I was exhausted by the end of it.
Our trip up couldn't have come at a better time though, this time of the year always makes me miss those faces that are so much a part of my past and hopefully still a huge part of my future. I am SO thankful for this family of friends that I have and cannot wait for our next "reunion".

3 Hi-lites of the Day

#1: A conversation with myself, because we all know my kids don't/can't really answer me.
"Kalea, why are you naked? Brynlee, why are you naked? Where did your diapers go? Who pooped?" blank stares...."Kalea do you need to go potty? Brynlee why is there poop on your bum? Oh you're the one that pooped" etc...

#2: Kalea "grooming" and thus making my day "interesting".
"Mommy? Mommy? Mom?" "Yes, Kalea" "Mom, here now" up the stairs I go to find my 2 year old in the bathroom doorway holding Daddy's very nice/new/fully charged razor in hand and crying whilst holding her girly parts saying "Mommy? Owwwww, hurt!"

#3: Upon my return from Christmas shopping.
Wow, our house feels super warm tonight, I wonder how the basement feels? I walk downstairs and the basement is more like a furnace room. Hmmm, interesting... I go upstairs to grab something to eat and check the thermostat... "Steeeeeeeeve?" "What?" "Were you aware that the thermostat is set to 32?!?!?" awkward silence "Steeeeeeven?" "Ummmmmmmm, maybe?"

And that boys and girls is the story of my life.