Updates

So I'm finally updating my blog. Here is the latest haircuts. I had to cut Jonah's hair. It was getting way too shaggy and Dan's been bugging me to trim Megan's bangs. Megan requested that I trim her hair to the ballerina's on her pj's (because there were some pieces too long). I'm getting much better at cutting straight bangs and girls hair just straight across. This is only my second time cutting Jonah's hair and I think I did a pretty good job, considering the first time was with my sister's help. She actually did most of it, giving me pointers.

We got a new to us piano last weekend (the one before Valentine's day). It was originally my grandparents and has been passed around the family a little. It sounds good still and as you can tell, my kids have been fully enjoying it. I just love the look on Jonah's face. I've been impressed with Catherine and Megan though. I was worried there would be a lot of pounding and there hasn't been any from them. Catherine sits there and writes songs and Megan likes to run her hands up and down the keys, which sounds "like Tinkerbell's coming." Catherine is begging me for lessons, which we're hoping to start her next fall.

Lastly, here's Megan's birthday party. As you can tell it was a Tinkerbell party and she had lots of fun. I tried to get her to wear her Tinkerbell costume, but she wouldn't.

I was so happy she was ok with just a Tinkerbell candle and flowers on her cake rather than a picture of Tinkerbell. Flowers are so much easier.

California Trip

Last weekend we had to go to California. Dan's uncle passed away and they held his funeral on Saturday. We left Thursday evening and stayed at my parents house. Thankfully my parents were able to watch the kids on Saturday, so we did not have to drive them all around California. They did not know Dan's uncle and they would have been a major headache all day. Instead they played all day at my parents house and had a lot of fun. These pictures are on Friday. Notice all the sunshine. It was about 80 degrees out. My parents have this cute this car the kids love to play in. Jonah doesn't quite have the pedals down. Maybe on our next visit.

The girls were so excited to be able to wear shorts. It did cool down a little in the evening. But it was nice all day. The kids played outside all day. They even got a little pink.

Jonah discovered the slide and loved it. It kept going on it again and again. I think I helped him about 30 times, and he kept wanting to go back. The next day I got a call from my dad saying that he had turned around for a second and Jonah had climbed up the slide all by himself and was down it before my dad could get there. Not surprising.

Tinkerbell

A week ago Megan was looking at a Tinkerbell picture and asked if I could do her hair like Tinkerbells. Sure, I haven't done a bun in years, but it isn't that hard. The first day it had about 20 bobbie pins in it. Since a week ago Sunday, I have done her hair like Tinkerbells at least 5 times. Needless to say, I'm getting better at it.

She does kind of look like Tinkerbell, doesn't she?

Miniature Golf

When Dan was home for a week or so around Christmas, we took the kids Miniature Golfing at an indoor golfing place. None of the kids had ever been before and they were really cute. Dan won, and Megan came in second with only one point less than Dan. Catherine was third and I was last. In my defense though, the second half of the game, when I played the worse, I was also golfing one handed with a baby on my hip.

After the golfing was over we got Dipping Dots. It was part of the package and the kids loved them.

New Year's Eve

This is just a quick post. I'm trying to stay semi-caught up. On New Year's Eve we let Catherine & Megan stay up until Midnight for the first time. Some years we've put them to bed and then woken them up around 11:30 p.m. We had yummy snacks and played games. Poor Megan tried so hard to stay awake, but fell fast asleep about 11:50 p.m. Just 10 minutes to go. We tried to wake her up, but to no avail. She was out. Catherine of course, stayed wide awake until midnight and was even up after I went to bed. She throughly enjoyed being able to stay up late, playing games and enjoying the sparkling cider. She has informed, quite a few times, that on certain nights she never went to sleep. She just laid in her bed until morning. On New Year's Eve, she told me she stayed awake for 6 nights and if she stayed awake that night also, it would be 7. I hate to burst her bubble that she really has slept. She is my child who has always fought going to sleep. Can't miss out on anything.

Christmas Morning

We followed out usual tradition on Dan going downstairs first to make sure all the lights are on and everything's ready to go, then I came down the stairs with all the kids. Jonah immediately saw his new "Mater" car and stayed on it forever. We didn't even try to entice him with other presents to unwrap. This is all he wanted and it kept him happy for at least a little while. (The ironic thing is, a day or two later when we pulled out his sister's little "bike", which is the same, just pink and less buttons to push, he didn't want Mater, he only wanted the other one. Go figure.) He was adorable that morning though and will ride it when the other one isn't around. Megan opening presents in her stocking.

These are a little out of order, but I had to include this present. As Megan opened it, she said, "I wasn't expecting this" then set it aside and told us she didn't want it. It was a Backyardigans toy. Later that morning she told us that Jonah could have it because she didn't expect it and didn't want it. I guess that present from mom and dad didn't go off that well. At least she's honest.

Catherine opening presents from her stocking.

Like most 18 month olds, Jonah took forever opening presents that morning. I think he finished a couple of hours after everyone else. He would open one and insist on playing with it for a while and could not be enticed away from it. Unwrapping presents was not interesting to him, just playing with the ones he knew about. I think the next time we have a kid in this age range at Christmas we should take everything out of its box before it's wrapped up. That way they do not get as frustrated Christmas morning when they can't play with it right away.

Jonah with his new dump truck.

Unlike Jonah, Catherine and Megan were very interested in opening the next present. Some presents barely get looked at before rushing to the next one. It's a good thing mom and dad pace everyone or we wouldn't be able to see the kids as they open it. As a tradition, we pass out one present to everyone and everyone gets to open theirs and show it around. Then we do it again. Eventually we stagger some, because naturally everyone does not get the exact same amount of presents. It makes it nice to actually see what the kids get and the morning doesn't get lost in a bunch of flying paper and bows.

One of Megan's favorite toys is her big Tinkerbell doll Santa brought her. She really made out with the Tinkerbell toys. I still don't know how much Tinkerbell stuff she actually got and she loves it. I made her a Tinkerbell fleece blanket and a flannel nightgown. She got Tinkerbell dolls and pajamas, the movie and a coloring book. There's probably more, but not that I can think of right now. She was in heaven.

Catherine asked for an Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) dress for Christmas which she was so excited about when she unwrapped it, but still has not tried it on (about 1 1/2 weeks later). Now she claims she wanted an Barbie Mariposa dress up dress. I guess you can't please them all the time, especially when they change their mind.

That was our Christmas morning. Dan and I faired well also. Dan got some games, especially an x-box game that I won't leave alone. He's been trying to get me to play x-box for awhile and now that I have started he can't get me to leave it alone. Ok, I'm not that bad, but I could be. I'm so excited for my Adobe Photoshop so I can work on digital scrapbooking. Overall we had a great holiday with Christmas eve and Christmas day and everything else that built up to it.

Christmas Eve

For amount of pictures that might be posted, I think I need to separate Christmas Eve & Day. We had a great party at our house on Christmas Eve. We had almost 30 people there and it was the first time in who knows how long Dan's mom got to spend Christmas Eve with her brothers. We definately had lots of people, lots of food and lots of fun. Dan and Jonah enjoying the evening.

Megan had lots of fun and wore her antlers almost all night.

This is earlier in the day. This is Jonah sampling the eggnog and throughly enjoying it. I must say, we have enjoyed combining some of our traditions we have. Both Dan and my family have had big gatherings Christmas eve with lots of extended family and sandwiches which we've started here in Utah. My Aunt has given me her yummy eggnog recipe, so I don't have to miss that.