Christmas Eve in Pictures

Aftyn's hair was done, I promise. She plays hard and quickly demolishes any kind of dainty hairstyle I endeavor.

Can you see her bump on her forehead on the right? Poor kid gave herself a little goose egg.

Being comforted by Daddy

And by Mommy

Closest man to the camera is our bishop. This was hosted at his house.

Our relief society president, here, LOVES Bronwyn.

Reed read the nativity story. Say that 5 times fast. :)

Friends from our ward

This is one of Aftyn's favorite men in our ward, Brother Towne. He earned an early spot in Aftyn's heart by being in charge of the nursery at a relief society activity and it was just my girls and him. Bronwyn is still learning to like men, but Aftyn is THRILLED anytime we see Brother Towne. He thinks she's pretty sweet too. :) We really like him AND he's from Pocatello. Small world, hmm? 

From Our Herd To Yours

                                                                     Merry Christmas!!

Blabbity blah blah blah

Christmas is coming.

I'm excited for it, because I am always

happy for moments in life when you get to celebrate.

I'm not excited to be so far away from family.

I'm excited for my two little girls who will be excited anyway,

 hopefully, since to them Christmas is exciting in and of itself.

I'm not excited because for me Christmas means memories with family.

I realized that tonight, and so Reed and I sat down

and planned out a fun filled family night.

Somehow we haven't had a Christmas themed family fun night yet this season.

I'm sure it will help. I hope it will help. I want it to help.

I wish that Christmas could just be put off

until we had enough money to fly home

and THEN we could celebrate Christmas.

Who's with me?!?  Nobody?  Aw shucks.

Well then, we'll make do and figure out how to finagle

this whole "Christmas on our own" thing.

Wish us luck.

We Just Love These Girls

I've been hugging them a little closer 

and kissing them a little more often this weekend.

Our hearts and prayers go out to the

 Newtown, Connecticut community. 

Especially to the

families of those who lost loved ones on Friday.

No Longer Bitter

I thought I should document that I'm no longer bitter.

Amazingly, in spite of wanting to dig in my heels and just stay home for a pity party,

 I went with 6 ladies from my ward to visit the big NYC.

It did incredible things for my bitterness (that was quickly vanquished

and smothered by the fun and excitement as we drove ourselves there).

And I feel like I've just gained 6 new sisters. (That's 12 for me now. Yikes!)

I'm grateful for those ladies and grateful for my ward and grateful for a Heavenly Father

who knows what I need even when I want a pity party. 

This was the side of the Macy's on 34th street. You know, from the movie "Miracle on 34th Street".

An Honestly Slightly Bitter Post

If I have to read about one more person getting to "go home" to see their family for Christmas on Facebook, I may blow a gasket. I'm completely green with envy. I really miss my family. Thanksgiving was hard, and judging by how I'm feeling on only December the 7th, well, in the next 18 days I'm going to wish approximately 1,256,982 times that I too could go home for Christmas. Thank you. That is all.

 (This all may be coming about because one of my friends is going home to Utah tomorrow with her kids and will be staying for a whole month. And everyone else who's out here for school is also going home for Christmas.)

Only 6 more days until Reed gets out of school and Christmas comes 12 days later. I'll be better when Reed's out of school and around more. He gets a month off between semesters. And yes, only one more semester to go. Remind me of that in a couple weeks when I am ready to hear it. :)

Come Up With Your Own Captions!

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

A Fun Christmas Project

Take an empty egg carton. Cut out the individual egg cups. 

Make 6 cuts around the circular bottom of the cup, so that it looks like this. 

 (Look in the lower right hand corner of the picture below.)

                                                                                                  

                        We then painted ours but we had no white paint so we used light pink. :)

Aftyn LOVED the painting part. It was her first time really painting anything this complex.

                                                                           Her efforts seen here.
                                  So when the paint dries, you can either sew them into
                                    a falling snow pattern with thread (by hand or machine)
                                      or hot glue them into the same pattern using yarn.  
                                  

I used hot glue. It was fast!  I love how pretty they are - I actually REALLY like that they are such a pretty pink.

 

      And here's my awesome homemade wreath that I made at my ward's

     Relief Society wreath  making activity. It smells SO yummy! :) 

    Be impressed. Ha!

Glimpses of Today

Bronwyn has a love of all things sticker - so today we started a sticker chart instead of treats. It's time to detox. :)

A few days ago, Aftyn wanted to make a bed for her puppy, seen here. She insisted on taking it to bed. I think it's imaginative and reminds me of myself when I was little.

Bronwyn and her dolly in the same sleeping pose.

The Holidays and The End of The Semester

Have you ever noticed that sometimes my posts kind of become impersonal?

Behind the scenes, here's why: something about life is hard and I don't want to share it.

Lately, I feel that I haven't been writing from the heart. So here's what's up.

The holidays this year are different. 

They remind me that last Christmas we were stressed

and excited and trying to get ready to move across the country and decide lots of things.

We said goodbye to our life in Idaho last year.

That's still a very sad thought for me.

I miss living around family, but I appreciate it in a way I probably didn't use to.

Also, we're currently surviving "The End of The Semester". 

A rather bleak place at times depending on what I'm trying to shoulder on my own.

Currently shouldering potty training on my own. 

Some days I'm good, some days not so good.

We're starting our 3rd week and I'm starting to remember 

a whole lot of what it was like with Aftyn.

We're going to make it out, and in about 3 weeks potty training 

AND T.E.o.T.S. will both be better.

We're just hanging on with as much hope as we can muster day by day.

And that's the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Oh yeah, and I'm in charge of our Relief Society Christmas Musical Program 

that is this week.

I'm a little stressed about that as well. 

That will turn out just fine as well. 

I'm sure.

This is me charming the socks off of you. I'm guessing around the age of 8.

Post Script: I turned my comments back on. Because it's nice to hear from you all. :)

What We Did For Thanksgiving

I have to write this down for posterity. Skip it if you like. I want this recorded so I can remember.

We were invited to a family in our ward's Thanksgiving feast. It was delicious!

 Following in my mothers foosteps, I offered to bring the rolls made from her recipe.

They were delicious!

The food was great, our hosts youngest daughter was such a sweet little friend to Aftyn and

Bronwyn and both girls wore themselves out on the trampoline.

As we were preparing to go home, the wife suggested we use her phone and computer to set

up a Skype session to call my parents. Me being me, I didn't want to be a bother, but she insisted.

So I called my dad, got his screen name, and within a few minutes it was a small family reunion.

It was so good to see my parents. I'm thankful for that time I had to sit and talk with my parents.

It was really what I needed. I have missed them.  We were over at their house for about 6 hours.

We watched "The Avengers" amongst all the chaos of playing and eating and kids napping.

Truly a nice relaxed family Thanksgiving.

We came home tonight and decorated and put up

our Christmas tree.  After the kids were in bed and I sat on the couch trying to bask in the light

coming off of the tree, I realized that this tree that had followed us across the US to our new home

in Massachusetts looked a little forlorn in our "cold" apartment. Hopefully its warmth will return

tomorrow when I move it over by the window. Something about a Christmas tree in the corner of a

room near a window where others might catch a glimpse of its sparkly lights.  And then I'll put up

a picture, with my two very excited girls in front of their favorite new attraction. :)

I've lost My Iron-Will

I just figured out about 3 days ago that my iron levels are low.

Which would explain why I've had less energy than normal.

And felt mildly depressed.

Luckily, it's not as bad as it has been.

While I'm waiting for my iron levels to return to normal,

 I'll just be eating junk food and probably putting on a few of the pounds

that I've recently lost. It's all worth it though.

When my iron levels get back to normal  I'm hoping to have the will to exercise again.

Maybe.

Every Time I look in the mirror . . . . .

A Few Thoughts

Reed has about 3 more weeks until school is out!

Woohoo!  One more semester to go!!

I'm not sure it was the wisest choice for me to start potty training Bronwyn

at a time I know will be so busy for Reed. He has been gone so much the

last week and a half. In the morning, the thought of the whole day

ahead of me seems interminably long.

Thankfully, Bronwyn takes a nap for a couple of hours

and I get a much needed break while she does. 

I'm trying to reflect on the positives of how

quickly this time will go that I'm having to literally stay by

Bronwyn's side and help her with this change in her life.

It will be a blink of an eye.

I'm grateful for Thanksgiving  to look forward to next week.

 I'm so excited to start working on Christmas crafts with my girls

and putting up our Christmas tree and decorations.

I'm not sure what all managed to come with us

from Idaho so I guess we'll have a bit of a surprise this coming Friday

when we break it all out.

Bronwyn is going to be so excited.

Aftyn is going to be even MORE excited.

I can't wait!

                                 Sad, but there are no Christmas pictures from last year. What a bummer!
                                   We'll have to make up for it this year. :)

Potty Training - Down in the Trenches -- Read at your own risk! -- You Have Been Warned!

Call me crazy but I like to potty train my kids young.

Potty training young saves money on diapers and I feel like it

keeps my kids learning and growing and maturing in new ways.

Bronwyn turned 18 months this week AND started potty training on Monday. 

That would make today day 4.

I have to tell you all how impressed I have been with her today ! 

 Bronwyn is the potty-going pro, as of tonight.

She is also having her struggles just so you know and as you might imagine.

But that doesn't deter from the fact that tonight she went with Reed and Aftyn to go pick us up a $5 Little Caesar's pizza and was gone for about 20 minutes.

We sat down and ate the pizza, which took approximately another 10 minutes.

 She seemed to be full so I pulled her down from the table, took off all her clothes from the waist down and sent her off to sit on to her little toilet to see if she had any potties.

The pull-up she had worn was 95% dry and that little stinker sat right down on her toilet
  and went potty! ! !  And she had a fairly full bladder!


Unless you too have potty trained you may not appreciate all that this means.
1. She held her potty. 
2. She made it come out on command.
3. She was really happy while doing it and was so proud of herself when she finished!

I never really recorded much about Aftyn potty training, and well, the only thing I seem to remember is Aftyn calling anything done in her toilet "patoot toot".  :)  Cute!

Bronwyn just cares about the treats afterward. "Teat! teat! teat! teat!"  Is all I hear once I have acknowledged my excitement and happiness that she went potty. :D  And heck she's so proud of herself.  And after a few minutes as she's wandering around entertaining herself until I make her go sit on the toilet again, I remind her that potty goes in the toilet and then she has to walk over to her toilet and tap the lid twice to show me that she's heard me. :D Oh she makes me laugh.

Life Today

Bronwyn's First Official Day of Nursery

Oh our little girly. She wants so much to be a big girl like Aftyn. She can take off her own pants and diaper. She takes off her own shoes and socks. Takes off her own coat. Wields a spoon over her cereal in the morning like a 2 year old. She just craves independence and big-kiddedness.   :)

Today Reed dropped her off at Nursery, stayed for 2 minutes and then left to go to Sunday school. Her teachers said she fussed for a little bit and then toddled off and played with all the other kids. When I went to pick her up, she was sitting at the big table with all the other kids eating her animal crackers, kicking her little feet happily under her chair. When she saw me, she didn't even cry, she just got a big smile on her face and quickly got down off her chair to come to me. You could tell she felt like such a big girl.
(Mind you, last week Reed stayed with her for the first hour to get her used to nursery and then had to leave for the 2nd hour. She cried when he left and then cried when I stuck my head in to grab something and cried when I came to pick her up later. So don't think she never cried. I am just impressed with how quickly she's decided to like nursery!)

I asked her a few times today if she had so much fun playing with toys at the church with her friends and each time she gave me a little smile as if she was busy thinking and remembering it all again. Oh she makes me laugh! She is the youngest one in our nursery with no other kids her age coming in for a few months but she doesn't seem to mind that. She has already sought out the only other little girl in there and likes to play and interact with her in AND out of nursery. She is such a social little thing.

And just because this post needs a picture, here you go:

Where has my baby gone?

Your Friday Funnies

It should be illegal to look this cute. Outfit provided by Grandma Bishop who clearly had some insight into how dang cute this little bubble shirt would look on this girly.

Here are a few of the funny shenanigans of our girls lately.
 *** warning warning warning - bathroom things are discussed in the next paragraph !!! ****
  Bronwyn is getting prepped for potty training starting next week. In preparation, we bought her her own little potty chair. She loves it and is so excited about it. Even Aftyn is excited about it for her! :)  Just to warm her up to the idea of using it I ask her on occasion if she needs to go potty to which she nods her head enthusiastically and we toddle off so she can sit excitedly for about a minute and pretend to go potty. She hasn't gone yet, but that doesn't mean she won't. Anyhoo, the funny came in yesterday as she sat excitedly kicking her heels on the chair as she sat there, and then looked up equally excited at the toilet. paper. The TOILET PAPER?!? Who gets excited about that????  Evidently the answer to that is Bronwyn. I asked her " Do you want toilet paper?" to which she nodded VERY enthusiastically with a big smile on her face. Oh she makes me laugh. After popping off the toilet a few times and then peering in to see that she hadn't gone potty, we didn't have to utilize the toilet paper, so I guess she still has that to look forward to. Ha!! And she didn't even throw a fit or anything about it, thank heavens, so from watching Aftyn she must know you have to go potty before you get to use it. :)  Sorry if this is tmi.

Both of these pictures are of Aftyn being a cat, her favorite animal to act out.

Grinning like a cheshire cat. :)

Aftyn likes to be a cat lately, or any animal that she may recently have seen on Kratts Animal Adventures. She loves that show, which surprises me but I'm glad she has such an interest in those kinds of things. She really likes to learn about them. Besides trying to act out a few animals, she is constantly asking me crazy animal questions like "do dogs talk mommy?" and "do monkeys wear hats?" and other such silly questions. She asks these questions with just a hint of silliness so I know she already knows the answers but maybe she doesn't since she's asking me the question? Only her little brain knows.

Bronwyn has been a little smoocher lately. She has really good kissy lips. Here's what she looks like when she plants one on you frequently throughout the day.

And for your viewing pleasure what with Halloween behind us and all, here's what happens when you yell "Chocolate!" at my house with two girls totally enthralled with a movie.

Seriously, this is genuinely her reaction!  Is that not the funniest thing ever?!? (Those are her excited faces.  :))




 And if you need to hear a little something to make you laugh, here's a little Smothers Brothers skit that always makes me laugh.  It's about chocolate.