Desert Star

Last night Jerry and I went with my daughter Kate to see the annual Christmas play at the Desert Star. Jerry's Grandma, Joyce Rasmussen, buys a whole row in the theater for the whole family. That's her Christmas present to everyone. It was great to have Kate come this year, they had an extra ticket, so Kate was able to attend. Normally it is just for the adults, so this was definitely a special treat. For those who don't know what it the Desert Star is, it's a little dinner theater. Kate loved all the root beer and pizza Grandma and Grandpa let her have. I probably wouldn't have given her as much as she drank, but she was sitting by Pa-Pa and Grandma. It was a special occasion so I was to upset. It was a really funny Christmas play. It was so fun to see Kate's face when Santa came out. Kate's face just lit up, she was so excited. It so neat to see the child like wonder in her eyes, sometime I wish I still had that. Jerry and I had a great time as well, the ice cream was great. It was also great to see all of Jerry's extended family again. Thank you Brams!

Keeping the Family Traditions Alive !

Every year around Christmas time we had a tradition of making Sugar Cookies and decorating them with my mom's famous frosting. It's something I've done since I can't even remember. It was so much fun to share this tradition with Kate this year, she was amazed that we just let her go to town and decorate any and all cookies the wanted anyway she wanted to decorate them. At one point she took 4 sprinkle containers and shook it all at the same time on one small cookie. It was so much fun. Everyone loves to roll out the dough and cut the shapes out. The decorating is the best part of all. My sisters couldn't decorate them fast enough. The kept fighting over using the same sprinkles, to funny. I don't know but I think we all eat more then we decorated. Let's just say after an afternoon of sugar cookies and frosting everyone had a pretty good sugar high for the day. It been one of my favorite traditions as a child. It's so much fun to turn up the Christmas music and sing and decorate Cookies all afternoon. It's hard to do it by yourself it a lot of work to roll out, cut and decorate for one person, so I enjoyed it more doing it as a family instead of by myself. I definitely will try to keep this family tradition alive for many years to come.

Visit with Santa

The first thing we did when we got here was go to my parents church party. My kids got to sit on Santa Clause's lap. Kate was smiling with joy she was so excited to tell him what she wanted. She wants a doll that goes pee pee on the potty and a roll over puppy, yeah I don't know. I think she got the idea from one Saturday morning I let her watch the regular Saturday morning cartoons instead of Disney or PBS that's when she saw all the fun commercials. The advertising to kids is crazy. I'm just glad she only asked for two things, that last couple of years she only asks Santa for two things, it kind of cute. You ask her if that's all she wants and she says that's all I want from Santa. Kate did great wasn't shy at all, never has been which has been nice. Caleb well needless to say did really know what was happening other than all the red Santa was wearing caught his eye and the fun candy cane he was given which he would never get to eat. My poor kids, we just got off the plane so I did have a chance to dress them all cute in red like I like to do. Oh well I guess the point is Kate and Caleb got to see Santa. They had a great time talking to Santa!

Twilight the second time around!

An afternoon of Edward,Bella, Popcorn, Peanut M&M's and no kids, what more could you ask for! I had a great chance to go see the movie again with my mom. My sisters were really great, they watch the kids while they took their naps so I could go see the movie in the theater. I originally saw it with my husband and at our local drive-in with the two kids in the back seats. Kate watching her own movie on her DVD player of course. I didn't realize how much I missed the first time I watched it. I guess it was all the crying from Caleb trying to fall asleep and Kate's potty breaks. It was really nice to go see it in an actual theater, I don't get to do that very much anymore. I some times really miss and enjoy gong to see a movie. The movie was definitely better the second time around, maybe because I got to see it without any interruptions. Thanks mom, I had a great time. I am an Edward fan, I have to say for the record. I'm still struggling to read the last book, It hard to find time to sit and read with to active children, and when I get a chance to read I'm so exhausted from the days activities. I don't have the energy to read without fall asleep, I'm dying to find out what happens in the last book. I have to find the time that's all there is to it. I need to know what happens to Bella, it's bugging me. I'm sort of taking my time as well because I don't want the story to end for me yet. So it's a little of not having time and me trying to stretch out the story and trying to make it last longer. I am going to finish it, I will. Once again it was a great time at the movies and I'm glad I got to see it again.

Caleb is 7 months old today!

Caleb is 7 months old today! He weighs 16.5 pounds and I need to double check his height. He has finally started eating baby food now. I nursed him solely for 6 months, it's been a great experience. The doctor suggested since he has reflux that if I could go 6 months just nursing it would give his stomach more time to get adjusted, I think it's helped. He still spits up, but it's slowly improving. Caleb is completely sitting up on his own, and you can tell he really loves it. He still smiles and lifts his one eyebrow at everyone who says hello to him. He is grabbing and holding on to things really well, he puts his Binky back in his mouth all by himself now. He responds to his name when you call him across the room. Caleb loves bath time, he loves kicking his feet and splashing the water with his hands, also loves it when Kate sings to him in the bath. Caleb loves to hear anyone sing him "You are my sunshine", when ever he is upset if you sing him that song he immediately calms down. He loves to grab your face, he has to always be holding your ear, your nose or just your cheek, it gives him great comfort when he is upset. Food wise Caleb hates peas and rice cereal, but loves bananas, and sweet potatoes. We have been really lucky so far, no food allergies yet. I have to be careful introducing new foods to my children, my husband has some allergies in his family I have to watch for. Caleb is such a sweet boy, he is starting to get more of a predictable nap schedule, which is great! He is my traveler, he loves to be out and about, he love to go shopping and hardly ever fusses. He has been really easy going that way, it's been really nice. Kate was not so much of a traveler or shopper. I love his smile, laugh, and his sweet domineer, it's such a blessing to have him in our family. 7 Months WOW!!!! Caleb we love you lots and love to see your learning and growing!

Snowy Sunday!

We had a really good Sunday. Caleb was actually good and not so fussy this time, I was actually able to listen to some of the lessons at church. The lessons were about loving one another and having hope and faith. It was very uplifting. Kate loved nursery, she ran in and never looked back. I'm worried when she moves to the older class, they call the sunbeams,because they don't have toys and snacks. I hope she loves it just as much. When we get back to BAMA she will be a sunbeam, my little girl is getting so big. I had to pull her away from the blocks today, she loves all the different toys at Grandma Mott's church. I spent the rest of the day catching up on my laundry for the week, I only brought a weeks worth for each person, except for Caleb because he spits up a lot still. We end up watching the Survivor finally together, it was fun to watch with my family, Jerry's isn't much into that show, so it was nice to be able to talked about what we thought and to see the final results. We ended the night with Kate, Aunt Amy ,and Aunt Karrie having a sleep over in the t.v. room and watching Polar Express. We also got to see it snow some more, Kate just can't get enough of it, who can blame her, she hardly ever get to see it where we live. It's supposed to snow all week, yeah for us visiting, not so good for those who live here permanently. I've got almost all my shopping done for Christmas, except for my so hard to shop for Husband, and some of his family. It was a great Snowy Sunday!

Good Friends and Family

Today the kids and I head out to Eagle Mountain and visited my sister as well my good friend Jenny Gillette. It was a great day filled with good conversation and some good old catching up. I had a great time having lunch at Jenny's while the kids played together. It was so wonderful to meet Jenny's two cute kids Hunter and Gage. It seems like yesterday the two of us were in collage going to Ricks, and now we both have two kids, time just flies by so fast.It was also great to see her husband Jared, we were friends in High School, I introduced them to each other. It's fun to talk High school memories with Jared and College ones with Jenny. I am so grateful the Lord has sent me such good friends in my life. There are many friends you don't keep up with after you move on to new stages in life, but not my friend Jenny. I am glad we have stayed in touch. It's great that we could absent in each others lives for years and just pick up talking like we've never been apart. Thanks Jenny for such a wonderful time and most of all your friendship. It was also a lot of fun to visit my sister at her house. I had a great time just having some good girl talk. Sometimes being a stay at home mom you don't to talk to many adults, just your little kids, so it's really been nice to catch up with all my sisters and see what they have been up to. I didn't realize it until I got home that Caleb was sleeping each time I took the pictures, so he isn't in any of them, sorry everyone. It was really a great day.

Traveling to Utah!

Well, on Saturday we travel on the Plane to Utah to visit family. Anyone who knows me knows I was super anxious to travel with two kid on my own. We made plans for me to come out two weeks early and then Jerry would come out later. We will travel home together as a family. So I just had to do two planes and I was there. I was pleasantly surprised when the kids did really well. The first flight was from Dothan, AL to Atlanta, GA it's only about 30 Min's, the kids where really excited and love flying in the plane. We has the perfect amount of time to get to our next plane and we even had bathroom breaks and eat pizza for lunch. Kate wanted pizza thank goodness they had it. She really did well eating, she can be picky sometimes. They even had a family bathroom in Atlanta so I just rolled the stroller right in and I was able to take care of everyone and myself with out the frustration of others being around. Thank goodness for family style bathrooms. The next flight went really good for the most part. This plane was set up with three seats across then the isle and then another three seats. I thought when I made the reservation sitting in the two inside seat would be the best, so we would bother anyone, well I forgot about my three year old tiny bladder. She had to get up 3 times, the third time the lady sitting next to us was so upset with us waking her us, she said, do you mind if we trade and I sit by the window so you can get out as much as you need. Note to self, reserve the outer two seats instead. I should have know she was not going to like sitting by us, because as you mom's that travel all know I got The look. You know the look of, I have to sit by this lady and her two small children look. I know you all know what I am talking about. Well, my kids did great after that they sleep for 2 hours and 45 Min's, which it's a 4 hour flight. The lady sitting next to us must have felt my frustration and how bad I felt for waking her up, she started to offer Kate snacks and let her put her feet up when she took her nap. Others after the flight said my kids travel really well. That's always good to hear for me as a mom that is so worried about bothering others. I guess I can't complain to much the people in front of us had three children and one got sick and threw up everywhere. She cried the whole time. So I am truly grateful that the kids were good. I also want to mention I said a lot of prayers for this trip to go well and that I would be at peace and not be all anxious inside. It truly helped a great deal and I am thankful for the Lord's help in making my trip go smoothly. I was worried about Caleb, because he is officially teething right now, he did really well. So we are here really enjoying being at my mom's house. We went to church on Sunday with my mom and then yesterday, I got almost all my Christmas shopping done except one or two people. I got some great deals as well. I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season. Kate got here wish it snowed yesterday!!!

Merry Christmas

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LIke Mother-Like Daughter

Kate did the cutiest thing today. I was busy doing dishes and she comes to ask me to tie my exercise band behind her back in a bow. Then I turn around and Kate says mom I have to put my baby in here, I have to get it in the right spot. She tied it just like the one I carry Caleb in all by herself. I was so impress she made it look just like the one I use. Kate is more observant than I give her credit sometimes. She walked all over the house with her baby, which she calls big sister. It was so cute, I'm glad I had the camera near by to catch her in the action.