Congrats to the Grads!

We went out to dinner with my parents, Dusty, Josh, and Chloe to celebrate Josh graduating from college. He got a bachelor's in Geography and will be working soon for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.

Trent also graduated from Sac State the same day with a bachelor's in Kinesiology. He will be starting a 12 month accelerated second bachelor's degree and this time next year will have a real job! He didn't want too much fuss over the bachelor's degree since it's really just a means to an end, but I'm proud of him anyway!

Kendra started smiling a few weeks ago.

Then she did a little more....

and now does huge smiling laughs! So funny!

My Shoes Win.

Megan says the funniest things! We were looking for her shoes so she could play outside and after looking for a few minutes she came over to me and said, "Mom, I can't find them anywhere. My shoes playing hide-n-go-seek with me and I can't find 'em anywhere. My shoes win." I was cracking up! I'm not sure if her shoes knew they were playing, but they are hiding so well, we still can't find them!

Christmas Dresses

I LOVE Christmas dresses! Something about the velvet and satin and flouncy skirts and how beautiful my girls feel in them. I just love finding cute dresses and doing their hair for church. We had trouble finding 3 matching dresses in the right sizes, but we came close!

So I Don't Forget

8-8:30am= Drop off Mikayla at school and Megan at playgroup
8:30-10:30am= Errands at Wal-Mart, Michael's, Dollar Store
10:30-12pm= WIC appointment, breastfeeding class
12-1pm= Del Norte employee Christmas lunch
1-2pm= Mikayla's tennis practice
2-6pm= Commute to and from work and tutor Kassidy
6-7pm= Make and eat dinner as a family
7-8pm= Primary presidency meeting
8-10pm= Make school teacher gifts with Kelsey

Somewhere in there I managed to eat meals, feed Kendra a bunch, and use the restroom a couple times... and that's about it. Today was crazy, too crazy. I write this day down so I can remember it when I'm 50 and have no children at home and feel "bored." I don't want to forget how stressed-out and busy I am when I'm older and look back on my life and wonder what I did when I was younger. I want to feel like I'm putting my all into my life and filling it as well as I can. Though somedays, I think I'm filling it to the top and then some. There was not any time today to relax, exercise, or watch tv. Thank heavens everyday is not like today!

Bad Christmas Sweaters!

Our friends threw a fun "Bad Christmas Sweater Pary." I couldn't believe what great sweaters people had, found, or made! I borrowed mine from my mom who uses hers when she plays Mrs. Claus It had ugly Christmas trees and fake peppermints all over it and a furry collar. I cut a tree out of felt and added a bunch of ornaments to adorn Trent's sweater. I also had a ridiculous necklace, jingle bell bracelet, and big bell earrings. Totally fun!

Some of the bad sweaters

and some of the REALLY bad sweaters! It was such a fun idea for a party and such a fun night getting together with friends to eat, talk, do a little karaoke and Rock Band, and just catch up.

Christmas Parties At Church

The girls got to go to a pancake breakfast with Santa. They both sat on his lap and Megan asked for a movie and Mikayla asked for a brown bear with a pink ribbon tied around his neck.

She had to show Santa the ribbon around the neck I guess...

Can you tell I was sitting at the "fun" table at our adult Christmas party?! Funny people I tell ya. :)

I like this pic someone took of me burping Kendra, she's such a snugglebug.

After dinner, several musical numbers were heard, including "O Holy Night" by Trent. He did a great job and even sang the second verse in French which left everyone in awe.

Sneak Peek...

This is the crib bedding I've been working on for Kendra. Her crib is up her new room, walls painted pink, bumper pad and crib skirt done...I'm just needing to finish the quilt.

And another peek--Mikayla got a big girl bed! We moved the girls and us into our new rooms this week!!! Mikayla moved out of the toddler bed into a big girl bed(mine from when I was a girl, my grandma's bed before that). Their room is yet to bed painted, they moved into our old master bedroom. Will post pics when all is done! Finishing touches are being done now and there's not much left but to put pictures on the wall!

All the single ladies, put your hands up! This is how Kendra napped the other day for almost an hour! I kept trying to put her arms down and they flung back up in the air, I'm surprised all the blood didn't rush out of them during the nap.

The girls wanted towels on their heads after a bath like I do. Aw, silly little towel-turban wearin' children. Gotta love 'em.

Baby Playday

A few of us from the ward who had babies this year got together for a baby lunch and playdate. We had yummy food and had fun watching the babies rolling and cooing on the floor. Kendra's the youngest and would you believe this isn't even all the babies born in our ward this year?!

Can Somebody Slow The Month Down!

I can't believe it's already the 9th of December!! I only have a handful of gifts for the girls under the tree and have yet to make the many I want to and haven't shipped any to Canada. I started back to work doing both jobs, and what with the house remodel, new baby, and life in general... there is NO way I'll be ready in time for Christmas! Aaauughghh!! What do I do?! I seriously need several more weeks!

Report Card Time...

(This pic is not from today, but another day before heading off to Kindergarten)

Today, Trent and I went to our first of many parent-teacher conferences. I am so proud of my girl! She got a great report card and is doing really well in school. Her teacher had nothing but good to say about her and we couldn't be happier to hear it. We went out for ice cream afterward to celebrate a great report card and look forward to many more! Keep up the good work Mikayla!

It Won't Be Like This For Long...

This song seems to be my mantra lately. I sing the chorus in my head while nursing at 3am or changing the 10th diaper of the day, or while making dinner with one hand because I'm holding Kendra with the other. The funny thing though, is that I don't sing it wishing it would all go away, but relishing what little time I have with her as a baby. It all goes way too fast. This newborn phase just does not last long enough for me. I look at my 5 1/2 yr. old and can't believe how quickly she grew from a tiny sweet-smelling bundle to my big kindergartener.

It really does help me to remember these words. I find it much easier not to complain about the lack of sleep and to just enjoy every moment I get to spend with my baby girl, knowing it won't be like this for long...

(Here are some of my favorite lines from the song by Darius Rucker)

He didn't have to wake up
He'd been up all night
Layin’ there in bed listenin’
To his new born baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and says
It's gonna be OK

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon we'll look back laughin’
At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So baby just hold on
‘Cause it won't be like this for long

He lays down there beside her
‘Til her eyes are finally closed
And just watchin’ her it breaks his heart
Cause he already knows

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah, this phase is gonna fly by
So, he's tryin’ to hold on

‘Cause it won’t be like this for long

It won’t be like this for long

The walls have been mudded, taped, and sanded.

I even got in on the action hammering the floor down.The difference between me and the guys--I make this look good! :)

After all the sanding was done, my dad and Dusty textured all the walls.

Then came the painting! This is our master bedroom. All the painting is now done and carpet just got installed yesterday. So exciting!!

Altered Board Book

I made a counting book for Megan for Christmas. I cut the binding off a board book from the thrift store and took the pages apart. I mod podged each page and added decorative paper and numbers and then mod podged the top of each page to seal it.
Each page has a number, the number in word form, a corresponding number of objects, and the same number of ribbons to touch.

This is one of my favorite pages. I used up some scraps and the Cricut made it easy to make all the shapes/objects.

I'm really happy with the finished product, but it took way more time than I was expecting. After it was all assembled, I had Trent drill a hole through all the pages and I added book rings on the side. Should be a nice addition to our bag of things to do at church or just to read at home.

So In Love...

with this sweet little girl. Little Miss Kendra is such a little doll. She is so good running errands in the car, getting too many hugs and kisses from sisters, being held in one arm while I cook dinner, nursing wherever we are be it home or Target, sleeping in the living room until her bedroom is done, and learning to live life in a crazy, loud, busy home.

She really is a joy to have in our lives and is turning out to be quite a good mix, personality-wise, of both the other girls.

I just love staring at her and smelling her and wishing she would stay this size far much longer than she will. That is the one part I don't like about babies--that they don't stay small long enough.

She loves her baths and doesn't like being taken out of them.

You know, in between having kids I kinda forgot how much time a baby takes. My house is a wreck, I'm feeling stressed trying to get simple errands run and Mikayla to school on time, I find it an accomplishment to get a shower before noon, and find that I spend many hours on the couch nursing not able to do much else at the same time. It really is a labor of love to be a Mom.

It's Christmas Time!

For Family Home Evening on Monday night, we made cookies, cranked up the Christmas music, the girls put on new Christmas pjs that I got on Black Friday, and we decorated the tree. So much fun!
And yes, I did go and brave the crowds at Wal-Mart on Black Friday for the first time ever. Shocking. Literally. I have NEVER seen or imagined lines like that! I fed Kendra at 4:30am last Friday and since I was awake I decided I may as well go check out the early sales that started at 5am. I was happy to walk out with some great deals including the girl's jammies that I got for $3 each! Yes, I was stoked. :)

Our reindeer self-portrait. The girls loved dancing around with the antlers on.

And this is how Kendra spent her first Christmas of tree decorating--snoozing away looking cute as ever.