2015 in Review

2015 was a good year. It was a very challenging year, but we have learned a lot and been blessed greatly. Nothing really big happened, except for watching my little kids grow up a little more (where did my babies go?).

P1 is growing up fast. We tackled potty training this year, and he is good about it most of the time. His favorite color has changed from orange to blue.

 

P2 seems like a whole new person! She has changed a lot in these last 12 months. Walking, talking, and hair long enough for pig tails!

 My health has improved a lot over this last year. Dealing with ulcerative colitis has been one of the most difficult things I have done. But amazing family and friends have helped me through it. And I have felt the Spirit guiding me and comforting me through out this year. It took a whole year to get here, but I am finally in a really good place! Yay!

Happy New Year!!!

18 Months

Our silly little goose of a girl is 18 months old! Yay for nursery age! P1 and P2 shared one week in Nursery, and next week P1 will move on to Sunbeams.

Stats:

Weight: 23 lbs (56th percentile)

Height: 32.5 inches (72nd percentile)

She loves taking selfies and can't wait to have her own phone:

She loves to pretend cook with her brother:

She loves to color with her brother:

She loves babies, and likes to rock them and kiss them. She can also say "Baby". 

 She finally lets me put her hair up! She likes to do what Mommy does. She wants to use my chapstick, and my lotion. She likes to watch me do my make-up, and she always wants me to brush her checks with my brush. She loves to brush her teeth. She loves shoes, clothes, and the color pink. Definitely the opposite of me as a child!

She loves loves loves to read. If you sit down for half a second, she will grab a book and come sit on your lap before you can get up! She is also very cuddly, and likes to be held.

She adores her big brother, and loves to play with him. He is a good sport, and usually enjoys playing with her too.

She got a beautiful new coat from her grandma, and she never wants to take it off! She is still our professional pouter, and if looks could kill, her's would!

 

We love our sweet, energetic, and dramatic little girl!

Christmas Day

My family came over Christmas Day and we exchanged presents. It was like a second visit from Santa! Our living room was buried in toys and wrapping paper!

We gave my dad and brothers Japanese hand puzzles, so they spent most of their time trying to solve them.

The kids got some plastic food to play in their kitchen with:

Grandma gave the kids some cute aprons to wear for all their pretend cooking!

  P1 loved the dinosaurs his aunt gave him! He wanted to play with them the whole time! She also gave them some neat books called "The Little Boy (or Girl) that Lost His (or Her) Name". It's a cute book that takes the child on an adventure to discover their name, and all the characters they meet give them a letter that spells out their name.

My brother gave the kids a lot of great books. P1 loves "Harold and the Purple Crayon". We've already read it more times than I can remember. The kids got cute clothes from Grandma. P2 wanted to wear everything. She got an adorable coat that she never wants to take off. I got a bunch of holiday dish towels and table runners from my mom. When I opened them, P2 saw the fabric and wanted to wear them!

P1 was funny when we were opening presents. He would be excited getting the wrapping paper off, but then he would be disappointed and say "It's just a box".

This year I made Nativity stocking holdings. I liked how they came out. And yes, there are 5 of them, and no, it is not an announcement.

This year, the Church did #ASaviorIsBorn campaign. I really enjoyed all the uplifting Christmas videos that were added to YouTube.

My mom gave us a 25 Days of Christ ornament set at the beginning of the month. The kids really enjoyed doing the ornament each day. Each was a symbol of a different event in Christ's life. P2 would always run and grab our gospel art book so that we could look at the picture that went with the story. My mother-in-law sent the kids the Fisher Price Nativity Set at the beginning of the month, and they really enjoyed playing with that. We also have a Fisher Price advent calendar that they enjoyed. It didn't work well as a countdown, since they would always just take all the people and animals off. And I think we lost one of the wisemen. I keep waiting for him to turn up, but it appears he got really lost on his journey.

We are so grateful for the birth of our Savior. He is our source of hope, peace, and joy during all the ups and downs of life. We love this time of year when we can celebrate His birth. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Morning

Our letters to Santa must have made it to the North Pole, because their wishes for a train and ducks came true! 

Santa set up an awesome Lego train set in our living room:

Complete with Lego ducks and a Lego dinosaur!

P1 was very excited to see what Santa brought, we had a hard time convincing him to go potty first, and then wait for his sister.

He liked the trains, and really enjoyed the dinosaur!

P2 wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she found her ducks:

 

Our stockings were full of goodies, Star Wars Hotwheel cars, and new crayons for the kids. P1 claims that the best thing from Santa was the goldfish crackers, and the second best thing was the new crayons. (Take note Santa!)

 

Christmas Eve

Last year the kids got a BluTrack racetrack for their cars. Our tradition is to add to it every year, and to only keep it out for a week or so. Then it hides with all the Christmas stuff until next year. This year we added some ramps so we could make some good loops! The kids have enjoyed racing (and crashing) their cars down the track!

We had Christmas Eve dinner with my family. Afterwards we did a little Christmas program where we read Luke 2 and sang some Christmas songs. We had yummy apple dumplings for dessert. Grandma bought some fun games for the kids to play: Hungry Hippos and a Dr. Seuss Matching game. The kids really like Hungry Hippos! It was getting late, so we let the kids open one present from Grandma and Grandpa, and decided to do the rest the next day.

The both got some great books! And wanted Grandma to read it to them immediately!

P2 was being pushy, so P1 let his uncle read the book to him.

And Grandpa did his traditional reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas." But alas, I did not get a picture! We went home and got the kids in bed so that Santa could come!