Our Jolly Holidays

We had so much fun this Christmas. The holidays are always fun, but it's true when they say it's more fun being a parent with kids at Christmastime. This was Brooke's 3rd Christmas and was the first time she really got into the spirit of opening presents to see what was inside, rather than just playing with the wrappings!

Christmas morning I woke up to find my present that Blake had hidden away in our crawl space since Thanksgiving. Ever since we moved into our house I've had the perfect spot for a ladder shelf.
Blake had to work Christmas, but was able to stay around long enough to open presents and eat breakfast.

Brooke loved opening her presents. And FYI: Brooke didn't get a box of huggies for Christmas, I just used the box to wrap another gift in.
One of her gifts was a trunk with dress up stuff in it. She immediately wanted to put everything on!My mom got Brooke a little broom and dust pan of her very own. Brooke loves to help me clean, and now she can without us fighting over the broom.
Brooke did lots of cleaning and talking on the phone Christmas day! Here's our little Cinderella cleaning with all of her jewelry on.I asked my friend Sarah to make one of her famous owls for Brooke. Didn't it turn out so stinkin' cute?And I didn't waste any time putting my shelf to good use. Monday morning I took down all of our Christmas decorations, deep cleaned all the rooms, and put the shelf in its new home. Thanks Aunt Nicole for this cute "clothing swap" find! The shirt fits perfectly and is so cute!

Merry Christmas to All!

We've had a fun, spirited holiday season so far and the best part is it isn't even over yet! We're looking forward to Christmas Eve dinner tonight with my mom coming into town and Blake's parents and then the excitement of Christmas morning. We went on our annual Christmas Lights drive last night and it was so fun to hear Brooke in the backseat exclaiming "Oooh! Pretty! Look!" Yesterday morning, H., who watches Brooke for me, had a Christmas party for all the kids. Santa came and despite Brooke's mad look on her face, she actually really liked him and even gave him a hug. She wasn't scared at all! Then all the kids made gingerbread houses and a Christmas ornament. I was glad I got to go and help out.

Brooke's Christmas Crafts:

Brooke has been really good about the tree, which surprised me. She's barely shown any interest in it at all.We've also been having lots of fun with grams...making a club house that Brooke got to color and decorate out of an applicance box.Hope you all have a fun, safe, festive Christmas! Merry Christmas!

Happy Day!

The days prior to Brooke's birthday we kept saying her birthday was coming. Brooke couldn't quite handle that mouthful so to her it was "happy day!" She would walk around the house with a big smile on her face saying "happy day" over and over. On Friday (her actual birthday) she got to bring cupcakes to daycare and got to wear a special bday crown and all the kids sang to her. Her sitter, H., was so cute and gave Brooke a purple dress up skirt (which Brooke wore all weekend), a new book and cute hair clip. We invited grams and pinch over Friday night to give Brooke her present from us. It was a big hit!

This was definitely a little more than we had planned to spend for a 2 year old, but I look at it as an investment. I figure we can use this slide with all our kids, can put it going into the pool in the summer and is the start of our outdoor play yard we hope to put in someday. For now, it's perfect in the play room and will good for Brooke to play on during these long winter months.

Saturday we had a little birthday party with the in-laws, Blake's cousin's family and Zac and his kids. Apparently it is impossible to just get paper plates that say "happy birthday" without some kind of obnoxious cartoon character on them, so I went with tinker bell plates.
Brooke loves kitties, so her cake seemed appropriate. I love this bakery I found. It's the same lady who did Brooke's cake last year. The cake choice was confirmed when I saw Brooke playing with the kitty through the window

Brooke was funny when she tried to blow out her candle. She couldn't get enough air to do it and kept giggling. We had to get cousin Jack to help us out. Sorry for the poor lighting on the video.

Brooke was so different with her cake than last year. She was very proper about it and ate it with a fork.Zac, Jack, and Isabel got Brooke a cute little puppy. When Brooke opened it and felt how soft it was she said "blanky!" The puppy has earned a spot in her crib to sleep with.Ken, Mindy, Josh and Alexia got Brooke a "whack-a-ball" toy. It was a huge hit!
The birthday girl at the end of the night, ready for bed!And Brooke wasn't the only getting presents this weekend. Blake got his dad a new puppy for Christmas! A golden retriever named Lady.

2 years, 2 cute

It's hard to believe that this time 2 years ago I woke up having contractions. And by midnight tonight Blake and I were checking into the hospital excited for our new baby to be born. Oh how time has changed things! Brooke is no longer a tiny baby, but a sweet, mishevious, loving, fiesty, curious, smart, beautiful little girl. With the help of my mother in law, we were able to take some new family photos and some 2 year old pics of Brooke. I don't think they turned out too bad, if I do say so myself!

Brooke at 2 years old:

*weighs about 25 pounds now. I don't know her height yet, but she is tall!

*loves music, for us to sing songs together (she knows all the actions to "popcorn popping"), and will come up to us with her hand held out and say "dance" meaning she wants us to dance with her.

*Can answer yes or no when we ask her questions and will say "doing?" for what what are you doing?

*loves animals, espcially cats, dogs, and ducks

* loves to tickle, play games, chase, play peek a boo, color, eat suckers, drink juice, try to feed other people her food, read books, watch baby Einsten DVDs, her blankie that has the powers to make any owie feel better, snuggling with mom & dad and espeically snuggling with her "honey" and pinch (blake's parents) and Uncle Zac. We watched a movie all together last night (Inception!) and Brooke wanted nothing to do with us, she just wanted to go back and forth between honey, pinch and Zac.

*is potty training herself. She asks all the time to use the potty and we go. Her reward is getting a little square of toilet paper and getting to flush if she actually goes and doesn't just sit there. She loves it! I'm toying with the idea of doing a big potty push over Christmas break.

*Love this little munchkin and am so glad she's mine!

Sewing My Head Back On

For some reason, this year more than ever, I feel like I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off these past few weeks. I feel so unorganized. I've made a zillion trips to the post office, have remembered (or not remembered) so many last minute gifts and goodies for parties and have felt like there is no time to get anything done. So here I am, trying to pick myself back up and gear up for another hectic week. The nice thing, however, is that Blake is FINALLY back to working the day shift which means Brooke and I no longer have to sneak around the house keeping quiet during the day and it means that Blake can help me Brooke a lot more. It's been heaven.
Listening to the ipod together... Saturday was a fun, busy day. We went to the Wasatch Front for Blake's grandparents annual Riley Christmas Party. First we stopped by Blake's brother's house for a little craft time with the girls (Blake went to Cabellas). Brooke was happy once she found the play dough and she and cousin Henry had a great time.Henry was chasing Brooke and she hid under the table. The Christmas party is always fun. Good food and a chance to visit with aunts, uncles and cousins we don't get to see very often. All the Riley grandchildren & great-grandchildren put on a navity play. Brooke was an angel, and loved dressing up. Actually being apart of the play was another story... Since Blake had to be back for work the next morning it made for a very long drive that day--almost 6 hours of driving. Other things that are adding to the craziness are some of our other house projects we have going on. Blake has been on a food storage and self-reliance kick lately and wanted to turn a storage room we have off our garage into a food storage room. He insulated, dry walled, mud & taped and painted it. It's not completely done, but is definitely more functional now.
The big shelf in the back we hope to fill with food.A place for our freezer and more shelves for food storage.And some work benches and a place for Blake to hang all his tools.
Along with the self-reliance theme, Blake really wanted to replace our gas fireplace with a wood burning one. I was definitely more reluctant to do this, but the more research we did and people we talked to who have these in their homes, it was worth it. We just got it yesterday and Blake is supposed to be finished installing it today. Hopefully by the time I get home we'll have a cozy fire going! Here are some before and after pics (not the best, but oh well)
Old Gas Fireplace:
New Woodburning Fireplace (still waiting for the pipe to be attached to go out the chimney)
And the craziness won't end with these projects. Brooke's birthday is Friday, followed by a little party for her on Saturday. I was stressed up until earlier this week that her one and only present she's getting wasn't going to arrive in time, but thankfully it came. So now I can relax and just look forward to her day! I think finally all the presents that need to mailed have been sent out, we're done with work & family parties and maybe, just maybe, we can relax and enjoy the rest of the holiday season in peace. Oh, and I need to schedule a much overdue hair appointment. What do you think my chances are of being able to fit one in before Christmas?