Merry Early Christmas to Us!

My parents and our gift to ourselves this Christmas was an Xbox 360 Kinect. We love it! It is somewhat like a Wii, but there are no controllers. There is a scanner that reads your body to move your avatar. We have been dancing, jumping and sweating up a storm!

Taylor only has one more class, next Wednesday is the final, and then a whole month off! We are so looking forward to a break. No class! No homework! No Studying! He is also applying for a new position at work. It is highly competative, so we'll see where God wants us next!

We are so excited for Christmas. Katie loves seeing Santa everywhere. She also loves Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. She likes to sing, "then one froggy Christmas Steve!" We are also trying to impart the true reason for Christmas, Christ. She loves playing with her nativity. We are also planning a Happy Birthday Jesus party for Christmas Eve. Seeing the magic of Christmas through her eyes makes it so much more exciting for me!

Taylor took two days off this past week to finish writing a paper and celebrate my birthday. We had a super-exciting day. We cleaned the house. Paid bills. And got the car fixed. Not very celebratory, I know, but those were things weighing on my that I was so thankful to get off my list! It was a great day spent with my family, laughing and relaxing.

Christmas cards are out the door and mailed! I loved the cards I got this year. I was able to combine the Christmas card, letter, and family pictures!

We just watched the Prince of Persia last night. Taylor and I loved it. We love Disney adventure movies. It was similar to Pirates and National Treasure. 2 of our favorites. I also got Eclipse and watched it again. Still loved it. Can't wait to watch it again:) The one part I hated was when Bella and Edward are talking about marriage waiting to have sex. And Bella, scoffingly makes fun of Edward for wanting to wait. Telling him that that idea is ancient. That is my biggest bone to pick with the Twilight books. They are marketed for teenage girls and though the books tend to take a better line on waiting until marriage, they also present a very unrealistic view of relationships and love. Off my soapbox.

Should probably see what Levi is pulling out of the desk drawers.

Merry Christmas!

Facebook as a form of fellowship

Facebook as a form of fellowship

Wow. Nailed it for me. Not the only area of struggle for me, but definitely a fore-runner. I will be checking out the extra link to this post, but for now I am logging off!

Sick.

Levi is sick. Runny - Goopy - Crying for mom in the middle of the night sick.

I saved $102 and change on photo-cards from shutterfly - SICK!

I am going to do Jillian Michaels 30 minute shred on the advanced level right now.
Probably will get sick.

Been a while.

The past two weeks or so have really flown by. I want to update on the fall list, the 30-days of discipline and some new pics!

Since I wrote the first fall post we have almost completed everything on it! We watched the balloons take off, made potato soup, made fall crowns with leaves we got on a leaf hunt with play group, went hiking in the mountains and saw some great fall color, watched the Broncos with some awesome guac., went to see Cavalia (loved it!), saw Harry Potter 7 (LOVED it!), definitely made progress on the grocery budget (haven't hit half but our stockpile is growing and I have saved a lot of money) and visited the apple orchard.

We skipped pumpkin carving this year. Taylor was gone hunting and it just didn't happen. I don't think either kid would really have enjoyed it so I don't mind that we skipped it. We will be making lefse this week for Thanksgiving! I totally forgot about Montagues...maybe this coming weekend or for my birthday? It might get moved to the "winter list." I'm not sure if we will be making a second turkey this year. There isn't room in our fridge for one right now so we'll see if that happens. I definitely started out not working out, and have since finished a lot stronger... which leads to the 30 days update.

The past week or so has been hard. I have been tired and grumpy. So have the kids. I have missed a few days of discipline. I still find if I push through it I feel better for having done it, but that doesn't make it easier. The waking up has been a wash. Either the kids are up before 6, making me getting up early not at all due to discipline, or I just haven't done it. We ordered a new alarm clock for Katie that glows when she is allowed to get out of bed so maybe that will help! I have been better about bible study, probably the best of all the disciplines. I can tell it is making a difference. I asked Taylor to pray that I would be able to be encouraged throughout the day and not give in to negative thinking and it has been easier for me to choose my attitude. Working out has been ok, but my first week momentum is definitely waning. I have been loving pilates and can tell I am getting stronger which is encouraging. The 15 pickup has happened about half the time. I don't know what will happen in the next week as we have lots of family in town, Taylor's school, Thanksgivng and Black Friday:) I am not giving up or relaxing what I want to do, but it is definitely not going to be perfect. I am ok with that. I am recognizing a need for realistic expectations and some grace for myself. And on to the pics of my cute fam!

Katie loves dressing herself and this coat is one of her favs. Lots of buttons for her to do up.

Matching hats for Mommy and Katie. Dorky, I know. But I really don't care and Katie loves it. This is one of her good faces from this photo shoot.
Feeding her brother. Levi adores her and Katie likes him. She loves to "mommy" him. Poor boy.

Fruit snacks and a fun 80's do.

Trying to show him how to use a spoon. Didn't work. He loves mushing around with his hands.

He has started pulling up on everything. He can stand unsupported for a short while. He loves "running away" from Mommy. He starts giggling then stops to wait for me because when he can't stand the excitement anymore.

It's hard to see small, but I think they look so much alike in this picture. I love these kids so much!Wonder who they look like.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We might be in for some snow tonight! Woohoo! I am super-excited. Katie wants to go sledding, but I don't think we will get that much.

On my to-do list today is "plan for December gifts and cards." Now, we still need to take our holiday pictures, but that isn't going to stop me from browsing through all sorts of options. This year Shutterfly is offering 50 free cards if you blog about their products. I'm willing to try something different from Snapfish or Walmart this year with a promotion like that!

I love getting Christmas cards as much as I do sending them. We hang the cards we get on our fridge all year. I have a scrapbook just for the Christmas cards we send out each year.

I love seeing the different styles of cards that I have chosen over the years. Here are a few of my favorites this year. And how fun are these story cards! Especially since I am such a poor mom and never sent a birth announcement out for Levi!

On an unrelated note...We started pre-school today at our house. It has been fabulous. Not only do I feel like a rockin' mom, which is in turn motivating me more around the house. But Katie, has also had so much fun. I think we are off to the store later to stock up on some glitter paper, to make sand-paper letters and numbers, and maybe do some holiday shopping... If the kiddos can hold it together!

update.

So, it has been one week since I made the "Discipline Declaration." I think that putting it out there was really what I needed to get my butt in gear.

Taylor left to go hunting on Thursday and didn't get home until late Saturday night. I didn't officially have to start getting up early until Monday. So far, so good. I have woken up at 6 the past 3 days and tried to do bible-study. It has been a little challenging because Katie feels that 5:45 is a good time for her to be up and join us. We are working on sending her back to her room. Even if she doesn't sleep, she needs to play or read in her room. We are having not so great results with that. I am thinking of investing in one of those picture alarm clocks and teaching her that she isn't allowed up until the sun shows. I am dreading the coming time-change!!!

I have worked out everyday to a variety of awesome and not so awesome work-out videos that I am getting off Net-flix. Day one I swear had 45 minutes of jumping. Yesterday, I kept telling Taylor not to look up from his homework because I was flopping around on the floor like a dying seal. Not pretty. Jillian's 30 Day Shred Medium Level owns me! I feel really great about working out and now need to curb my crazy Halloween candy addiction. Also, on Halloween I didn't do a true work-out but counted trick-or-treating and baby-carrying as good for the day.

I have sat down to a quiet time with the Lord everyday so far! He is really meeting me and I feel closer to God than I have in awhile. I have rotated between morning and nighttime study. I feel like I can focus better at night, but love starting my day out with a word from God. I might just flip around for awhile. I finally finished the New Testament and then have read Esther, Job and some Psalms and Proverbs. I loved that in Proverbs 31 it says the wife, "knows the value of her work." I have been trying to remind myself of this when the days of laundry, boogers, tantrums and dog-hair start to swamp me.

I have picked up for 15 minutes every night. This one makes me so grouchy, until I start doing it. Then 15 minutes seem to fly by and I wish I had been cleaning longer! The mornings feel so much better starting out with a semi-clean house!

In other news, I am gearing up to start a pre-school program with Katie. I am super excited about it. A friend from play-group recommended it to me and I love it. It has everything set up for you. For free. Including printables! I just have to get the books from the library and print out/collect the right materials the week before. Check it out.

And just for kicks. A confession of my guilty pleasure of the week. Besides Halloween candy, of course. I am reading Twilight. Again. And, not just again like this is the 2nd time. This is like the 10th time. I am not exaggerating. That might be an under-estimate. I find more and more to dislike the more I read the books, but the first one is really the worst, and I have to get through it to get to the next 3!

Halloween

I love Halloween. Free candy. Costumes. Friendly neighborhood comraderie:) We went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with one of my good friends and her kiddos. We had been practicing all month with Katie how to knock on the door, say "trick or treat" and then say "thank you." She did really well. She had no problem choosing which candy she wanted and often would try to take more. The other toddler with us tried to walk inside all the houses. We rotated pushing two double strollers, holding babies and walking up and down stairs with toddlers. We had a great (and exhausting) time. We only went to a block and a half of houses, but that was more than enough!

Katie's haul. We only ended up passing out candy to 3 kids since we went out ourselves and then hit the grandparents' houses. So, needless to say, there is a lot of candy at our house. Not good for the diet!

Levi trying to grab candy and Katie pulling it away as fast as she can.

2nd year going with our good friends. Pumpkin - skunk - tiger - unicorn!