Christmas Fun

Well, we had a great Christmas this year, as you can see by the look on Maggie's face. She loved helping me un-decorate the tree. I spent countless hours (well...minutes) picking up ornaments, trying to get the little wire things back in to the tops of the balls, and trying to find a place to put them on the tree. If I were smart I guess I just wouldn't have decorated the bottom 2', but what fun would that have been for Maggie? See, I just have the best interest of my children at heart.

Before we left for Utah we got together with some friends for a yummy soup dinner and gingerbread house making extravaganza. It was so much fun...Tyler loved decorating his mini-house and the big house for the family. Jacob could really care less. I think his mini-graham cracker house had about one piece of candy on it. He just sat at the table and ate the candy out of the bowls. A child after my own heart....
The boys both had school Christmas programs. Tyler is in the back row on the left, waving. He sang a few songs with his class. He did great, it was fun to watch him. Although I am surprised he didn't have to go to the bathroom while he was up there (inevitably, every time he gets up to sing in sacrament with Primary he has to pee).
Obviously Jacob was very excited about his school program--Santa Claus even came!
Then we went out to Utah. Overall it was a fun time--we got to spend time with family, play in the snow, etc. We met up a couple times with my grandpa. Tyler took right to him. He wanted to hold his hand when we were out walking. It was so sweet. The boys still talk about going to see him. Can you believe he is 91 year old!?!
We don't have any snow clothes for Maggie so she didn't get to venture out into the cold too much. But I did my best to keep her warm and let her play out on the deck. She LOVED it!
Her favorite part was picking up chunks of snow off the deck and eating them. She was very fascinated by the whole snow thing.

And I am sure you can all guess how much the boys loved playing in the snow. Total novelty for my kids (and myself--growing up I always thought you "visited" the snow, no one actually lives in it!) Jacob made plenty of snow angels (and would proceed to ruin them right after). He also enjoyed eating the snow.....maybe my kids are dehydrated?
Tyler had the most fun. He explored everywhere, laid in the snow, face planted himself in the snow (on purpose), etc.
I helped them build a mini-snowman (not only did I not have snow boots, but the snow there is very hard to make a snowman out of). Once again, the boys destroyed it not 2 minutes after this picture--shocking.
One of the favorite activities while we were inside was this little "buggy" stroller. It is for a doll, but Maggie fit just perfectly. The boys would run her around the kitchen and she would laugh and laugh and kick her legs up and down. She had a blast!
Jacob decided to give it a go too--you can see this isn't quite as much an "action" shot.... he kept telling Maggie, "Faster!" She did her best.
Even thought Maggie slept TERRIBLY she had fun playing with all the kids and loved getting so much attention from everyone. She is such an attention hog--If she saw another adult holding a baby she would go up to them and whine until they picked her up--even if she didn't know them! We found she prefers men. She spent the majority of her time at Great Grandpa Swenson's Christmas get-together on Eric's cousin's husband's lap...she had never even laid eyes on him before! Her favorite, though, was Uncle Mat. If he was around, she was on his lap. Little flirt.
We spent an afternoon sledding. What fun!



The most fun was that we didn't have to hike the sleds and ourselves back up the hill--the people we were with had 4-wheelers...lazy man's "sled-lift"!


Christmas morning! Santa came and did a great job. He brought Tyler exactly what he has been asking for for weeks! Good job Santa. The sheer joy on Tyler's face was priceless. He hasn't stopped playing with that toy since the moment he first laid eyes on it.
Maggie opened her gifts, but prefers the boys stuff instead. You can see she isn't too excited about her "Pretty Learning Purse."
Jacob got a Batman and Robin helicopter set and a pirate ship. They battle the Star Wars tank that Tyler got. Jacob also was caught hiding on the stairs eating Christmas candy. When Eric asked him what he was doing he said, "I had to eat it over here because Mommy said I couldn't have any." Duh dad.
We borrowed a coat from some friends, it was a little big and Maggie didn't enjoy wearing it. You can see Jacob in the background NOT putting his shoes on. Classic.
Once again, the favorite buggy. She would put grandma's tupperware in it and push it around. Sleep tight little Rubbermaid!
We had a fun time, and it was nice to see everyone. But I am glad to be home!

ummm....

Last night Jacob asked me if my legs were "spikey" to fight off the bad guys....

I shaved this morning.

Look at that Shiner!

Maggie's new favorite things is bathing in the sink. It all started when she had a BAD (and I mean BAAAAAD) diaper rash. The doctor recommended letting her sit in an oatmeal bath. Well, I sure as all get out wasn't going to fill my bathtub up with oats to clean up so I plugged up the sink and let her sit in there. Boy was it a hit! Don't worry, I cleaned it all and gave her a new washrag to chew on. She loved it and it actually made preparing dinner a little easier!

Next is a sad sad picture....look at that black eye!
It is way worse in person. Poor Magster fell down the stairs on Monday. She literally toppled head over heels like a log. I tried to get to her in time, but obviously was not successful. But, she survived and was back climbing the stairs a few minutes later. And now she has her first battle wound...

Lastly, is my farewell to my nice Christmas tree. Growing up my family always had the tackiest Christmas tree--ornaments were mostly homemade, a little cheesy and strung helter -skelter. Bust the reason is that my mom allowed my sister and I to decorate it ourselves, and all those crazy looking ornaments meant something to us. So when I got old enough to have my own tree, I decided I wanted a very nice-looking, fancy tree. So that is what I have had since I have been married. Oh, the boys bring home ornaments they make at school but we find other places to hang them. But this year, as I was setting up my tree, I realized what a lame-o I am. I was actually decorating the tree myself while the kids and Eric were in the other room--I think I win the boring mom award for that (I didn't tell them they couldn't help--they didn't want to, no doubt because those boring fancy ornaments did not interest them in the slightest). So I have decided once and for all to bring back the fun of putting up and decorating the tree. I will bid farewell to my beautiful tree this year and starting next year I will begin a collection of tacky sentimental tree decorations. I may even get some silver tinsel to put on it. Because I remember my fondest memories of Christmas was getting to decorate the tree how I wanted, and putting each ornament up, thinking of how I got it or what it meant to me. My mom was great to let us do that. So farewell fancy Christmas, I am joining the "Kid Tree" clan, and I know it will lead to many more happy memories. Goodbye tree, see you when our youngest moves out!

Getting our just deserts....

As I posted a while ago, there is dry lake bed near us with some sand dunes around it. We go exploring there every so often and the kids love it. They find all kinds of garbage, uh, I mean, treasure to collect. As you can see above, the lake bed area is a huge expanse of flatness. Out more in the middle there isn't even any brush and the ground is cracked and dry. Surrounding it are a bunch of small dunes.
The boys have a blast running up and down them, digging around searching for something cool.
Although it is tricky to climb up--one foot up, two feet down....
Maggie didn't have much freedom here as every time she caught hold of some sand she tried to eat it. This is about the extent of her sand contact...
Some of the "treasure" tyler dug up. Tyler believes they are from a big war because they have bullet holes (people practice shooting out here for fun sometimes...)

Of course, after it is all over there is more sand in their clothes and shoes (and hence my car) than we left at the dunes! I did my friend's toes last week--nothing extravagant but cute nonetheless.
For my last "incident" I will start by saying that Sundays are a very busy, hectic day for our house. Eric is gone at meetings from 9 a.m. to noon, then we have church from 1-4, then Eric stays after for meetings until about 5:30. I am crazy trying make Primary run smoothly, and have morning branch council meetings ever other week. Don't get me wrong, I love to serve, but it is just a busy day. As I was getting some things ready to go, I hear a crash in the laundry room--Tyler had tried to get some Jelly Belly's off of a shelf, knocked the shelf down and an entire bottle of balsamic vinegar crashed all over the floor. Now this was no regular size bottle--this was a COSTCO size bottle--enormous.
It was WAY worse than the picture--it was very thick, splashed all over the walls, garbage can, anything surrounding it, and as you can see about half of it went UNDERNEATH the washer and dryer! Ugh! Our laundry room is tiny so you can't just push things aside--I had to move the dryer out of the room, rearrange things, and on and on. It took me 2 hours to get it all cleaned up! I didn't realize how sticky it would get--my shoes kept sticking to the floor. I almost suffocated to death on the fumes. I sopped it up with a sponge for a while, then used paper towels, then hand scrubbed it all with cleaner, then finally mopped the floor twice. But I managed to get it done. And the silver lining is that I found 2 rogue socks that had snuck behind the washer. Of course they were black with vinegar...

Random Extras

I was goofing around on my toes the other day. I wanted something semi-mellow since I've had crazy bright stuff lately, and this is what I ended up with. Turned out pretty fun!So a friend decided she wanted it in bright colors. Looks cute that way too. Plus it is actually pretty easy to paint.
Next random item. I've posted before about Tyler and his Lego building prowess. Well, the other day he come downstairs with some "monster" he had created. Pretty clever, if you ask me. Left to right: robot head sword hands, two headed strongman, long-necked 4-legged speed freak, and no head ninja sticks man. Wouldn't want to run into these guys in a dark alley.
Random item #3. Maggie loves pizza. So much so that she even hugs the plate.
Now who could have made this mess?
Guess who! Everyday, 10 times a day, I clean up the above and USED to have to clean up a ton of book pulled off our bookshelf. But then I got smart with the books. The bottom 2 shelves are now jam packed between the sides. Ha! I foiled Maggie's plans! She can't get them out anymore.
I thought I was so smart until she just found another place to "explore." A more dangerous one. Ugh. Maybe I will loosen up those books after all.
She thinks she is so sneaky... She gave me this look like, "Oh man, I can't believe you found me before I had a change to sample the Palmolive!" I guess I will have to be on my toes once again.

Birthday Bash

So there are a million pictures, but Maggie wanted to give you a play by play of her first birthday....

Did you know it's my birthday today?
I am one year old!
First my present from Auntie Carrie...what nice wrapping!
Wait mom, we have to wait for daddy! (She actually did put the package down and go to the door to wait for Eric to come in from the garage.)
C'mon dad, hurry up!
First up....yeah! Paper! (None of these were posed by the way.)
There must be something better in here....
There is! Baby Legs! So cute! (Once again, not posed!)
Oh look, TWO!
I'm taking off with these before Tyler and Jake can get them!
What? More presents? I am luckiest girl ever!
Here dad, let me help you open it.
DAD! HURRY UP! (See, I do cry sometimes.)
Okay, all better. Look how cool!
Time for dessert! Mom, I can see my cupcake over there....
Give it to me!
Uh, wait, maybe I'm not so sure I want it now. There is a flaming ball of fire on top. Well, let me try to touch it!
Good job, Dad, for blowing it out before I burned my finger!
Like any child, I must first pull out the candle and suck off the frosting.
Say, this is pretty good stuff!
Here mom, come try this! I've got some already mushed up in my hand for you!
The frosting is my favorite.
This piece looks pretty big....BUT...
This piece looks BIGGER!
All done! Oh what a beautiful morning! I love birthdays...can we do this again tomorrow?