The Rest of December

In no particular order....

We had Christmas a few days early with Steve's parents since they were heading to Texas.

Jack was excited about his new book from Grandpa and Grandma

Steve and I got new satin pillowcases!  Photo credit to Jack haha :)  This was one of Ella's last days with her binkie!  Poor baby!

Christmas morning excitement!  Santa came!

Jack got his "Mike the Knight" castle he asked Santa for.  When he opened it he exclaimed, "I can't believe it really came true this year."

Ella got a new baby which was an instant favorite.

Grandpa winning Ella over by giving her some treats at cousin Larsen's homecoming.

She's not so sure about her new cousin, or his cow hoof cup.

The kids decorating cookies to leave for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Ella didn't want to sit on Santa's lap when we went to meet him at this Christmas tree lot, but she did like looking at the camels.

Snow day!  Ella loved all of our December snow storms this year!

Daddy and Ella at Zoo Lights on Christmas Eve.  We usually have done extended family stuff on Christmas Eve, but this year it was just the four of us.  It was cold, but we took hot cocoa in a thermos and had a blast.

Grandpa Boyd and Grandma Mary got our family a fish tank for Christmas.  We had 4 die in the first week (thanks to our rocking New Years Eve party) but have since kept 3 alive for over a month.  Go us :)  The kids looooove them!

Jack and Tyce shoveling our steps during a snowstorm.  Thanks boys!

Christmas morning snapshot before digging into the presents.  We sure love these two and recognize them as our biggest blessing in life!

Ella is 2

I am way behind on blogging!  I am going to blame it on a super busy December, immediately followed by terrible pregnancy nausea starting January 1st.  Here is my feeble attempt to catch up...

I can't believe my baby is two!  She has been such a blessing and a joy to our family.  She and Jack are best friends, partners in crime, and at times, each others worst nightmare.  She is talking so much and has so much personality.  Steve tells me that I'm going to need to help him say no to her when she's older.  When she sees her Dad in the morning she says, "Dad I miss you."  She still loves her babies.  She takes very good care of them.  She also loves babies in general.  Anytime we see one she tells me how cute it is.  She loves to sing and can sing the ABC song, I am a Child of God, I love to see the Temple, almost every word, just to name a few.  Her other favorite songs are "Buckaroo" and "Horsey, Horsey".  She can also count to 10 (from playing a lot of hide and seek with her brother).  She is very independent!  She loves to put her own clothes on, her own shoes, etc.  She is obsessed with the potty and likes going number 1 and 2 in the potty, although mom is not quite ready to potty train her yet.  She absolutely loves nursery!  She loves to spot helicopters, but is still super scared of the garbage truck. 

Here are Ella's 2 year old stats:  She weighed 21lbs (1st percentile-that's their way of saying she's not on the growth chart while trying not to cause concern)  height- 33.25 inches (34th percentile).  We think she is just perfect! 

She loved her birthday cupcakes! 

The birthday song is another one of her favorites.  She would sing it to herself for a long time after her birthday.

Once she got a taste of present opening, I had to put the Christmas presents that were under the tree away.  She could not help herself.

She loves this purse.  She packs it full of goodies when we are going somewhere.

She also LOVES this stroller.  It is so cute.  It collapses and is really easy to push on the carpet.  She puts a blanket over top like moms do in the grocery store and tells me her baby is sleeping.

Even Ella can ride in it!  Sort of :)

Christmas Fun

They both loved decorating the tree this year.

Jack did most of it himself while Ella was napping.

But he saved a few for his sister to do after she woke up.

Our  neighborhood did a bonfire, fundraiser for a family in need in place of doing neighbor gifts this year.  We went and participated, but didn't linger too long.  It was pretty cold, even with the fires.

We rode front runner downtown with the Bingham family to see the Christmas lights.  It was fun and so beautiful with the snow, but oh was it cold!  The train was delayed on the way home so we ended up waiting outside for it for about 30 minutes.  The kids were little icicles by the time we got on the train.  The fun still outweighed the cold, though.

I've never seen Jack do this before, but he could not resist stopping to catch some snowflakes in his mouth.  Kids are the cutest!

Mom and Ella waiting for the train.  This girl was such a good sport.  I took her boots off on the train to check them out, and her feet were sooo cold. 

Scarred

Ella had a slip and fall accident the middle of  November.  I was at work and got a call from Steve.  I was surprised since he never calls me at work.  I wasn't sure he even knew the number.  He told me that Ella had fallen and hit the railing and split her head open.  I was able to leave work and meet up with them to take Ella to Instacare.  I had a hard time deciding if we should take her up to Primary Children's to have a plastic surgeon close it, but I remember when I worked up there that people would wait hours for a consult at times and I just didn't have it in me to wait.  The Pediatrician was able to use dermabond to close it, which I think was a good choice since a few days after she bumped it hard again.  I know it would have opened back up if she had facial stitches that have to be removed after just a few days.  She'll have a scar for sure, but it's healing up nicely.  It just gives her character!

Steve said the worst part was that it was bleeding so much and all going right in her eye.

Here she is with the numbing cream on.  She was not a fan of this part.  I was debating getting rid of her binkie around this time (which we have since done) but I'm really glad she had it for this night.  It sure helped her relax.

All better!  I still can't believe that she got a head gash before her wild big brother.  Who would have guessed?

Halloween

Ella was not afraid to get her hands dirty carving pumpkins

Jack, on the other hand, still won't touch the "gooey".  He saw a picture of himself carving a pumpkin when he was 2 years old and he had a sucker, so now he thinks it's a tradition.  He insisted on having a sucker while he carved.

The finished product!

Photo credit to Jack for this one.  We're centered and everything!

My cute little ladybug!  All creative credit goes to my friend Jess on this one.  She made this for her daughter a few years ago.

Jack wanted to be Optimus Prime from his favorite cartoon "Rescue Bots".  In retrospect I should have ordered up a size, but his little wedgie bum was actually pretty cute.

Checking out the loot!  Jack and his friend Charlie were die hard trick-or-treaters.  They were gone for a couple of hours and even had to have a potty break on an electrical box.  Thanks for that Dad (insert sarcasm).

Ella didn't get as much candy in her brief debut, but Jack was a good sharer and she loved answering the door with me at home.

Soccer

We signed Jack up for soccer this fall.  While I don't think he has a career in professional soccer in his future, he had a lot of fun.  It was fun to see him make friends with his teammates, and how much he improved throughout the season.  His coaches were two of the moms, and they were super positive with the boys.  Jack has a competitive nature, so that part was right up his alley.  The more we would yell encouragement from the side lines, the more he would dig in and run, with a super intense look on his face.  Too funny!  The great news is, he has 8 more games coming up this spring. 

You better believe this was an amazing in bounds kick!

Jack and his buddies Harper and Miles

These kids required constant instruction.  In this picture I think everyone on both teams were standing out of bounds.

To Jack, the game objective was not to score a goal, he saw it more as a foot race.

Dinosaur Park

 So, I haven't blogged in a few months, which leaves quite a bit of catching up to do.  We'll see how I can manage...  The beginning of October, my sister Heather and I decided winter was on it's way and we should take advantage of the warm weather.  We took the kids to the Ogden Dinosaur Park, and they had a great time.

Ella didn't get the "scared face" memo.

Jack and Brody.  These two are pretty good buddies.

Ella riding her first dinosaur.  She went up the tree trunk pictured behind her and down the slide all by herself, which I thought was pretty brave.  I was scared I was going to have to go in after her for the rescue.

Heather is such a fun Aunt!

This boy enjoys life so much!  Especially when we are anywhere but home.  He loves to be out seeing the world!