Minnesota!

My sister, Melissa and her family moved away to Minnesota last year, and we haven't seen them all since then. So, when Jayden decided to be baptized, we decided to go out for it. It ended up being my 5 family members, my mom and Jaimie. We stayed in THE most ghetto hotel ever to exist, but it was cheap! We actually exploded a tire on the way there, but a guy that works for incident management was right behind us and lead us to a Walmart tire center after Jeff got the donut on. We took advantage and had a breakfast break.
While there we went swimming, went to nickelodeon universe at the mall of America (there's a pic of Carson on his first ride, loving the little train), and participated in Jayden's baptism and cupcakes. It was great to be there for that. The girls slept over with their cousins that night. We went to church with them the next day, and then had a nice Sunday dinner and movie before heading back out on the road. (thanks Mary! )
It was quick, but it was lovely to visit and for Carson to meet everyone (he and his cousin Stacey have the same birthday! )
We love and miss you guys!

Valentines day!

We started off Valentines day with our usual heart shaped pancakes with strawberry topping, and this year I threw in heart (ish) shaped bacon! We got the girls a big cookie in a tin, and I made them little stuffed monsters. Grandma Chris came and heart attacked their rooms, leaving decorations, candy and jammies. Grandma Lori gave them pink bears she made for them at build a bear, and of course candy.

After lunch at McDonalds, we took the kids to sleep over with aunt Jaimie and the uncles (plus grandma and grandpa later.) We then headed to check in at anniversary inn, then to our dinner reservation at Faustina's. (it was Jeff's turn to plan) We doubled with my parents there, and they had a yummy prix fixe menu.
Apparently Jeff had ordered a dozen roses to be delivered during dinner, but they never came. He waited and called and waited, and eventually told me and as we were getting in the car, the restaurant called him and said they'd had the roses since before we got there!
Flowers in hand, we headed back to our hotel, where we were in the phantom of the opera room. There was complimentary bubbly and cheesecake, yum! We had a lovely night, recalling all of our past Valentines'and generally reminiscing. The next morning, was the yummiest breakfast, brought to our room.
On a non holiday note, from there we met up with my oldest friend Kate who was in town. We got to tour some rooms and have lunch at moochies. Not to mention ice cream... It's always awesome to see Kate, I'm so glad we've been able to keep in actual touch despite living on opposite sides of the country.

New Beginnings 2013



For our New Beginnings this year (where we welcome the new 12 year olds and explain personal progress,) we went with "The Right Shoes" (since this year's mutual theme is Standing in Holy Places.) It was a pre-written program, and I thought it turned out very cute and a little more stress-free than past years that we did all ourseleves.  Here are a few shots!

 

Our funnest shoes - I'm the peep toe!

Shoe cupcakes!  Freaking adorable.

My mini-shoe collection.

 

I guess I only got pictures of the shoes, not the girls... oops!



Carson Radcliffe Update

I can't believe it, but I have never posted an update about Carson - preposterous!  He is now 5 months old, though I guess I'll start with his 3 month appointment.  At the time, he was 16 lbs 9 oz, which put him in the 85 percentile for weight, but only the 25th for height!  He's one chunky little dude.  Short and chunky.  Maybe he'll catch up - Amie used to measure really short, too, but now is average. Either way, I think we can kiss daddy's NBA dreams goodbye. I think he has moved on to NFL at this point.  At that appointment, I pointed out his crooked neck, and the doc said yes, he has some torticollis (where the neck muscles are uneven - for him, his right side muscles are weaker/shorter) so we have also been doing some stretches to help with that.  We are hoping to avoid physical therapy, but she said his head shape is fine at this point.  Now I just need to be better - I usually do his stretches once a day, but it's supposed to be 5 times/day.
Now, at 5 months, Carson is (loving) eating baby food and only occasionally cereal.  He has begun grabbing at things, and brings everything to his mouth.  He will sit and play contentedly on his own for increasing periods of time (in his jumper, swing, on his playmat, in the Bumbo our friends so gracously loaned us.)  He is generally a very mellow and happy baby, it is so wonderful.  He is pleasant, and just coos, talks and plays with you.  He has had some sick tummy problems lately, which make him a little more difficult.  I am hoping it is just a bug, but I am considering the fact that he might also be lactose intolerant.  We're giving soy milk a shot.
His newest tricks include rolling over and sitting up... a little - they are still in the early stages, but I have photos of both!
Otherwise, he is adorable, amazing and my favorite baby boy ever!

 playing in the Bumbo chair

 

 Rolled over!

 

 Playing so cute

 

 Keeping mommy company while daddy was out of town.

 

Sitting up all by himself!

Funsies!

This is just a cute phone-photo dump.  Enjoy!

 

So Grown Up

My three ones are growing up so fast - each of them requires a little brag sesh.

 

Carson is now eating solid food and looooving it.  We introduced them a month ago, and he has loved every minute.  He's now eating a whole jar of some fruit or veggie in the evening (baby cereal always has a short life here,) plus whatever he can put into his mouth on his own (ie, everything!) This is a good thing, too - dude is drinking us out of house and home! Hopefully this will curb the tide of formula a little bit.

Alisa's big accomplishment lately is, drumroll please...... potty training! It has been a rough road for her, and sometimes it is still a struggle.  She wears a diaper to bed (no prob) but is fully able to recognize when she needs to go and make it to the potty.  About half the time, she is getting her #2's in the toilet, half on the floor... ugh.  Otherwise, she is fine unless she gets engrossed in playing. Still, our double diaper bill is finally taking a hit, so that's another much-needed financial score!

 

And, lastly, Amelie earned her alphabet crown at Challenger School!  This means that she can say the alphabet, recognize/name all the letters and the sounds they make and she even knows what the vowels and consonants are.  I am so proud of her!  It is restricted to words that actually follow all the rules (which in English isn't many) but, essentially, she can read! She knows how to blend and is good at it. (Now, she'll just need to learn the million exceptions...)

I have the best kids - I'm one proud mama bear!

Mal-Mal's Dashing Little Man

Jaimie and I threw our sis Mal a baby shower. Jaimie picked the theme "Dashing Little Man" and we had mustaches and bowties galore!  We had it at The Chocolate, a dessert cafe in West Jordan.  We got the desserts from there, (nummy!) and had an amazing savory spread, too. We played guess the belly size, name that 'stache, who has the poop? and filled out advice cards.

 Favor boxes, advice cards and a mustache banner!

 

 Hostesses!

 

 Mama of Honor (and bowtie banner!)

 

 Sisters!

 

We had a great turnout, and everyone loved the venue. I thought it was a good party. Now, I need to get my hands on one of the thousand group pictures we took... Love you Mal! Now, come on, Liam!

Alisa turns 3!

The Lisie Bear recently had her third birthday party, and we decided to go with a Team UmiZoomi party (this is her favorite TV show, they have mighty math powers.) They had most of the stuff available for printing on the NickJr website, which made it all more convenient than usual for me.  I don't usually like to go with an all-character, all-bought party, but this way, I still personalized it a bit for her, and she loved it all anyway.

 Super Shapes! Sandwiches

 

 Pattern Power Fruit Skewers

 

 Geo's Shape Splitters (really, it's a lightsaber...)

 

 Umi Car cake

 

On her actual bday, we were watching the super bowl with Jeff's family, so we brought a cake and sang at half time.

Some of Alisa's current favorites/tricks/developments include dance class, singing, playing dolls (a LOT!) snuggling, Team UmiZoomi and now a whole new dimension of fit-throwing.  She can be very loud and very mischevious, but it is also the very sweetest thing in the world when she says "thank you, mommy" in the little girl voice of hers, which she does quite a bit. Love her to death!  She teaches me a lot about life, love and acceptance, and I am lucky to be her mommy!

New Year's Eve 12-13

This year, we started off the night by having dinner with the Radcliffe's at Famous Dave's (yum!)  We intended to go to Zoo lights after that, but our girls were very sick, so we skipped that and went to hang out at my in-laws' for the night.  We had many lovely snacks, played Phase 10 Twist, made lotsa noise, and only had one or two kid-sleeping-casualties.

On New Year's Day, my family wanted to have a big dinner, so we went early(ish) and I tried out my new donut maker for breakfast - pumpkin donuts.  We hung out there for a lazy day until the fancy dinner (we had Duck a l'Orange - so nom nom nawesome!)

Look how adorable

For New Year's resolutions, I simply have two general thoughts: First, the simple life, and second, discipline - in all areas.  I know they're kinda vague, but I have actually made some progress on both this year, maybe for that reason.

Finally... this is the year I turn thirty.  Waaaaaaahhhh. That is all.

Christmas 2012!

It seems I was so busy/having so much fun for the actual Christmas festivities that I didn't take any pictures!  We started out Christmas Eve early with a trip to Ogden to visit with my extended family (they always meet at noon so we can get together without interfering with other plans.)  Actually, Jeff got called in to work at the last (7am) minute, but just for a few hours and was off just in time to go with.  We had soups and sandwiches, played our usual game of white elephant BINGO, and generally visited.  I guess there was also a pinata, too, but we left at a very specific time because it was Jeff's family's year for Eve festivities.
From there, we went to Grantsville to have Eve with the extended Poynor family.  We had ham and salads/hors d'oeuvres dinner, exchanged many lovely gifts, played the left right game, etc. From there, we went to Chris' house to exchange family gifts since we could not all get together at the same time the next day.  That was a fun exchange.
From THERE, we went to my mom's house to sleep over so we wouldn't have to wake up super early the next morning to drive down.  The girls were up with Christmas movies suuuuuuper late, but Jeff and I (i.e. Carson) were actually the first ones up suuuuuuuuper early (like, before 6!) The girls especially enjoyed seeing the remnants of cookies, milk and reindeer carrots they left for Santa. We opened gifts (Santa brought their Cuddluppets to grandma's,) had a great breakfast and then lazed about with our new gifts until our awesome Christmas prime rib dinner (complete with goblets and bubbly.) Some highlights were my mixer and griddle, some sweet games and Jeff's hard drive filled with TV and movies.  The girls loved their Cuddleuppets, various dolls and a castle tent. My favorites for Carson were a playmat that my mom made, a rockin' music station and a onesie he got that says "Dude! Your wife keeps checking me out!" Late in the afternoon, we headed to our house to finish off the gifts.  (At that point, I was reminded how I need a much bigger house.)
We were incredibly blessed this year, as we always are. I love, love, love the holidays, and all the time we get to spend with family.  They went by so quickly this year!  Can't wait for the next ones! :)

 My pretty stack from MalMal.

 

 My first Christmas!

 

 Apparently the forward-facing camera on my phone is of horrible quality.  But these are the only glimpses of our Christmas outfits.