giddy anticipation

CHristmas was good last year with a 4 year old and an 18 month old but I have to say that this year topped it. These two little cherubs just fed off each others glee, and the excitment about Santa and presents. Little Sammo was a champ about Santa. He's in on the up and up (isn't a believer) but he played the older sibling like a pro and made it all the more magical for his little sister.

 Opening Christmas jammies

I think I got more reaction to the pajamas than I did on sleepy Christmas morning. I have a hard time peeling these jammies off her, even now.

 They also each got a sleeping bag. I wanted to start a tradition that I grew up with. My siblings and I would all sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve. Passing on the tradition wasn't such a great idea. According to Sam, Sophie wouldn't stop "chatting" and he just wanted to fall asleep. Perhaps we can try again next year.

 Sophie's only request from Santa was "Princess Popcorn". If you are like I was and are asking yourself, "What in the jingle bells is princess popcorn?", you can imagine my elation when on the 23rd, at Walmart, I stumbled upon a popcorn tin with princesses on it. Yay! She looooved her popcorn and still does.

Sammo's request was a "General Grievous Spinning Light Saber that comes with a gun." It seems that his favorite present has been his night vision goggles and remote control car. 

Not Christmas, New Year's or some great news... sorry friends

     Wow ... over a month and no posts ... I suck. Perhaps other things have been sucking the blogginess out of me. BUSY, BUSY, BUSY. Not that you have missed me, but I kind of miss blogging.

Christmas was so great this year, but why the heck did I not wrap a dang present 'til Christmas Eve? Yes, I will post pictures at some point.

   So, no pictures tonight but you do get my thoughts and it won't cost you a penny — lucky you!

It's a new year and this ought to be a good one ... 11 is my lucky number after all. I can't really think of anything in particular that 11 has done for me, but it has always been my favorite. When I was little I loved to see 11's. I liked how 1 always had a buddy ... one that was just like her. A 1 by itself always seemed so lonley because it can only ever be paired by a 0 — a non-number really — or a number bigger and better, and who wants to be constantly outdone?? Not me, and not No. 1  I tell ya'. I was a 6-year-old philosopher I guess ... or just weirdly obsessive compulsive. 

In this year of the 11, I am hoping to learn from the previous year. The good and the not so good.

Here's what I learned in 10 ...

• I still don't like to cook — but I'm going to keep trying
• Facebook is such a time suck ... I sort of hate it
• Sam is a good negotiator/arguer
• I can't get by on five hours of sleep and still be a pleasant person
• I can't will away my baby hunger with logic and and practical thinking.
• I love my job but I'm ready to work from home
• You never know what people deal with from day to day — even the ones who seem to have it all
• That a lot of people mistakenly assume you can't be a good Mormon and a Democrat at the same time 
• My kiddos are only going to get bigger and it's really not the end of the world
• My mother-in-law is so, so helpful and I don't know what I would do without her
• My willpower consistently fails over the lure of chocolate ... I already knew that one
• Typos in my blog posts really don't bother me 
• After nearly nine years of marriage, my husband has never been sexier to me
• I can't do everything I want to do — I spread myself too thin
• I wish all that spreading of myself would actually make me thin but it's done quite the opposite
• The only way to lose weight, unfortunately, is to diet and exercise
• The Gospel makes me so happy
• It takes a long, long time to create the layout of a newspaper
• The BCS (college football) is a completly screwed up system
• It makes me so happy that my kids have boots, gloves and snowpants ... Mom, not that putting socks on hands isn't a super creative solution to keeping hands warm in the snow when gloves can't be purchased
• Steve's grandma was an incredible woman and there is so much I didn't know about her
• I sill love my wedding ring
• Using old-school Mormon slang can make activities like grocery shopping and cleaning the kitchen hilarious ... "They are all out of Pringles!!! That's bull crud!"

Onto '11! so I can learn more things and hopefully how to philosophize like a 27-year-old.

sweet little princess

Did you know that I know all of the words to "Part of Your World"? Yes, it's true and I still sing it in the shower sometimes. When I was little, I wanted to BE Ariel. I even put both legs in the same pant leg so I could have fins, and topped it off with a red skirt on my head  to have her fabulous long hair. You could say that my childhood was slightly affected by Disney. 

My childhood glee has been awakened 

 Sophie has started her own obsession with the Disney princesses. And I finally get to sing Ariels longing ballad to someone other than my shampoo bottle.

Sophie has decided she loves Rapunzel. We decided to go see "Tangled" the day after Thanksgiving, which also happened to be her half birthday so we made a big deal about it. She even wore her dress she earned for going number 2 in the potty. 

This is her best "being a princess"

I have to be honest, I ridiculousy got a little emotional watching my little girl enjoy this movie so much. She just sat captivated with a little grin on her face the whole time.

I can't really blame her it was a pretty great one.

She fell asleep on the car ride home, And she amazingly stayed asleep on my shoulder. I couldn't resist a little snuggle nap with my little princess.

This is Halloween

I really love this holiday. It's really the only one that we have that doesn't require a sense of reverence or remembrence to go along with the fun... it's just fun. The idea of dressing up and going door to door to all your neighbors and getting a bucket-full of candy is GENIUS!! Sam's school had the usual Halloween parade parents were invited. I think Sammy thought that everyone was there for him. He had the little politician/beauty queen wave down. We put Soph in Sam's old Colts jersey which she thoght was fantastic. She even got to wear the eye paint, or "eyeballs" as she called it. 

TOUCHDOWN!!

Sophie went as Shirley Temple for the actual Halloween night. She loves to play in it and always asks to wear her "temple dress"

Sam was Austin Collie. He looked so stinking cute. 

pro Sophie pics

I had just one pretty picture to look at for a week or so from Sophie's photo shoot I did with Liz Anderson. I do know that a week is not long to wait for the rest of your photos but I was so so anxious to get my hands on the rest of them. with all that anticipation, you'd think I would have been a little disappointed but 'twas not so. Isn't she pretty?? So, I'm a biased Mama... What mama isn't? is it egocentric to be so proud of a little break-off of yourself? This little two year old is my sunshine and my stormy day. She is such a creative amazing little being with so much ability and thought and curiosity to her.

Soph is getting into the silly and fantastic two year old stage of saying crazy things... Love that. After playing a game of tackle the mom with S and S, we were all out of breath and Sophie, with especially exaggerated breathlessness said, "I'n out of shape"

On Sunday, I got her ready for church and was doing my usual oohing and ahhing over how pretty her dress was and how nice she looked. Then it was my turn the get ready. I was in my room and I had just put on a pair of brown tights and hadn't quite gotten to the skirt. She came in and said, "Oh, mama, I love you brown legs... and you brown bum is sooo beau-ful!"

She has been doing this funny thing where she likes to whisper in my ear, whatever random thing that pops into her head, when she finishes her thought she then blows in my ear. I have wondered where she learned this and why she does this. After a week or so of careful observation and hypothesis, I finally just asked her why she does it. :) She said she just likes to "whistle" in my ear. I hope she never learns that it's "whisper" and never stops the sweet little puff of air that follows her telling me a secret. Or stops telling me her secrets for that matter.

money man

Sammo literally nickel and dimed his way up to 100 bucks. He has been saving since the beginning of the summer and he finally made it! In the beginning he was convinced that it was best to have an abundance of pennies, it looked like more money of course. As time went on, he realized the tediousness of counting pennies and was introduced to the amazing gold dollar coin. He wanted as many as he could because he thought it looked like pirate treasure. His little coin collection grew and he would write down his running total on every free piece of paper he could find. Each time we went to the store and he spotted toys that he wanted, he would always put it away like a sweet, good natured miser. When he finally put that last 5 cents in his piggy bank, you would have thought it was his birthday, Christmas morning and y2k all over again. He could not contain his elation and had little tears in his eyes. We went down to the bank to change his money once again into a 100 dollar bill. 

It's been about a week now and he still hasn't spent it, but he has clutched it, and stared at it and told everyone he can think of about it. So far, he doesn't have any real idea of what he wants to buy, but he knows he likes having money and has a new goal... 200. He did mention tonight that he thinks he wants to save up for a trampoline. :) what do you think he should buy?

Photo shoot with Sophie

It is so nice to have talented friends. Liz has done it again. We did a photo shoot of just the Sophster the other day. She woke up incredibly cranky and after a text from Liz saying she was worried that the day was too bright, I wondered if we ought to just bag it and try again another day. I'm so so glad I didn't. After I bribed Sophie with "lips" (flavored chap stick), she wasn't just an angel, she was a little model. Liz captured her perfectly — as well as found some great lighting. Here is a sneak peek. I can't wait to see the rest. We did a couple of little dress-up type shots. The little aviator hat was made by my cousin Carolyn.