The start of Christmas festivities

I'm hoping that instead of just spending all of my time preparing for Christmas, which is what I usually do, I can create some memories for us. I am not super crafty and am still at work so I just found a few simple activities that were cheap and that we could do together. We have also been watching fantastic little movie clips from the Mormon Channel which have really helped us bring the Christmas spirit into our home. I have been pleasantly surprised to see that the kids, especially Jayda, love these movies and beg for more.

On Sunday we sat down together and created these paper Christmas trees with gold glitter stars and talked about the special star up in the sky when Jesus was born. The kids like to have us twirl the fan around and watch the trees spin like a mobile.

The kids also got to open their first present which was new Christmas pjs. We wanted them to have them long enough to enjoy them before Christmas came. Luckily they were a hit.

Monday night for family night we invited our next door neighbor and her 3 girls over to decorate gingerbread men. Bentley and Bryce's man is on the left with as much candy as they could possibly fit and Jayda's is on the right. I put the icing on for her and she did the rest. 

Last but not least, what would Christmas be without a 6 foot icicle in your nightly bath?

Off the grid

A few things have happened lately which have/will kind of take me off the grid... Bryce and I both got rid of our Instagram and Facebook accounts. This was something we felt like will help us to be more present in our relationships at home and not something that we felt like was helping us to be better people. Both of these apps were fun, but became more of a time waster than a real benefit in our lives so out it goes! A little winter cleaning I guess.

The other more important thing is that I quit my job. Wait, let me say it again...
I    QUIT    MY     JOB!!!
I am going to be a full-time mom to our two little monkeys now. My last day at work will be the 20th of December. As absolutely scared as I am, I know this is a necessary step for our family and the right thing to do at this time.

I plan on writing much more in our family blog (this one) so that we can have a better record of the ups and downs I'm sure will come and the fun things that we do together. This will also be a way for people to follow a bit of what is going on with us if they want to. This way we won't go completely off the map.

2013 Family pictures

For the 4th time in a row, we used Ashley Schoenfeld from Miles of Memories Photography to do our family pictures. This is absolutely my favorite set of pictures we have ever done. She did a fabulous job of capture our personality and some of my favorite things I love about our kids.

 This is a classic Bentley look. His face just says trouble all over it, but at the same time shows how incredibly sweet he is as well.

 This one captures Jayda's sweet, curious nature. She loved picking up leaves as we walked through the park and had this one in her hand when she was asked to lay in the leaves for this pic.

I am so proud of our sweet kids. They were freezing cold and physically shaking by the end of this photo shoot, but they were very good to do what we asked of them and smile. We are so lucky to have their sweet spirits in our home and grateful for all of the tender memories they give us.

Halloween Spooktacular

This costume is Jayda's Friday class. She was invited to join a performing group which performs once a month in this costume and I was worried it would be a bit too much for her, but it has just left her wanting more. She is always so disappointed when her performance is over and is asking when her next one is.

 

 This costume is for her regular Wednesday class. They danced to "Dem Bones" and it was adorable.

Lots of Halloween

Our Halloween/October activities were kicked off by visiting our neighbor's pumpkin patch with Jayda's play group. She has a play group every Tuesday with 4 other kids her age that are mostly in her Sunbeams class. They played on the tractor, picked a pumpkin and went for a hay ride as well.

This is Milo Jackson. He likes to sing in Jayda's ear and tickle her.

 Gabbie, Jayda, Ike and Milo. Ryker is driving the tractor and did not make it into this pic.

 Nanny and Papa came over to help us carve pumpkins as is tradition.

Jayda picked a cat of course and Bentley picked an Owl. They thought it was really cool to see them all lit up.

 For play group at Gabbie's house they made Halloween houses. Jayda was very proud of it and Bentley was happy to be in the picture.

 Jayda chose to be Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, a Disney Jr show. Bentley saw this Lion costume at TJ Maxx and did not take it off for the rest of the day.

 Face painting at the ward Halloween carnival.

This is one of her very best friends, Drew. Drew tells his mom that he loves Jayda and that he is going to kiss her. At the primary program he kept a close eye on Jayda and made sure to get in between Milo and Jayda any chance he could. I think there is a little competition going on between the two boys.

 The pre-school they go to had a costume parade that went through the hospital and they played games and had a party as well and then they got to come to my work for another party.

Our first stop on Halloween every year is always to Grandma and Grandpa "Neers". The kids love them so much and it is fun to be able to show my granparents their costumes.

 We went out trick or treating for about and hour with Nanny because Papa was out of town. The kids amazed me because they weren't afraid of any of the scary decorations. They actually thought they were funny.

Jayda also had her Spooktacular performance at the rec center. Her first dance was a skeleton dance and the second was her Little Leapers dance. Unfortunately I only have video of the skeleton dance, but she did great. Her dancing has improved a ton since last year and she is loving it even more.

It was a very busy and fun month. It made me sad when it was all over. These things go by so quickly.

All aboard the potty train

This little bear began his potty training journey the week of conference. It has been much more of a journey than it ever was with Jayda but we have still been extremely impressed with how well he has done. He picked out "choo choos" and Mickey Mouse underwear and within the first few days he understood that peeing in his pants was not fun and did not have any accidents in his pants. He can make it through most nights and all naps dry. Poop, however, is a whole different animal. Up until a few days ago he had pooped in his pants every single time other than twice which were both during sacrament. We are talking up to 4 times a day! This kid is regular.

I bought him some dollar store toys and let him sit on the potty chair instead of just the regular seat for security and then I leave the room and he is good to go. This seems to be the answer for him. The last step is to figure out how to get him to get out of bed in the morning instead of just laying there and peeing. This doesn't happen every morning, but way more often than we would like.

We are really proud of him. It is fun to watch how smart he really is and how quickly he can catch onto things. Potty training is a sucky part of parenting, but we are very proud of these two for how well they have done with it.