Merry Christmas!

This is the first Christmas as a parent that I really felt like the kids understood what it was about. We had a couple family nights where we talked about The Nativity, and watched a short film depicting the Saviors birth. Although the kids wanted presents, I feel that they, well, Sarah, really "got" what it was about.

We wanted the kids to appreciate how much they have, even if it isn't much, so we started a new tradition of giving to a charity. We didn't have much to give, but Sarah was happy to give a barbie and some books. Steven saw a train we were trying to give away and wanted to trade something else for it. We chose The Road Home's charity this year, and look forward to doing something like this each year.

After "torturing" Sarah for weeks, the big day finally arrived. This year Santa did a really good job. I told Sarah that sometimes Santa gives us what he thinks we'll like, rather than what we ask for, which made buying gifts easy. When asked what she wanted for Christmas she'd reply "a barbie." When asked what Barbie, she's just say, "Santa will bring me one he knows I'll like." :-) She was thrilled to get a Rapunzel barbie and Pet Vet barbie.

Steven asked Santa for a "biting airplane" and a "lightning airplane." We had actually already bought them as future birthday gifts for him, so this was another easy win for Santa. Steven loved his airplanes so much, that he didn't want to open any of his other gifts. He simply said "no thank you," and played with his planes. Sarah ended up opening most of his gifts.


What do you give the baby who has "everything"? Socks. :-)


And what did Santa bring Mike and me? Mike is getting to use my "basement finishing fund" to take our family to Disneyland in January. I got my much desired waffle maker. YAY!


After celebrating at our house, we joined Mike's parents and siblings for breakfast and more gifts. Steven was in ready to open every ones this time. They are in toy heaven.





I'm sure I believed in Santa when I was younger, but I can't remember ever believing. I think it is sweet, and almost odd how easily children believe that a big man in a red suit enters their house on Christmas Eve and gives them gifts if they were good. Sarah was visiting a friends house a few days before Christmas, and her friend was in trouble for something. Sarah told her that if she apologized, and obeyed her parents, she could be put back on Santa's nice list. (her dad loved it) Steven kept misbehaving and saying he wanted to be on the naughty list. What can do with that?

Although I probably shouldn't, I kind of feel like I'm deceiving them with the Santa beliefs, so I only talk in "maybes". "Maybe Santa will bring you that." "Maybe he comes in the door if we don't have a chimney." etc... I'm just glad it is magical for the kids.

I hope you all had a special Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Each year we trade off holidays with my parents and Mike's. When we're in town, we always enjoy Christmas Eve at Mike's grandparents in Bountiful. The Starley's get together for food, fun and family.

We've started a tradition of giving the kids pj's on Christmas Eve. I was going to sew Sarah's, but that didn't happen, so she got "Tangled" pj's. (she's worn them every day since) The boys got army pj's to celebrate Mike's brother Andy coming home for Christmas from his training.


The only picture I took at the Christmas Eve party was of Adam with Mike's Aunt Mary.


Mike's grandparents are as sweet and kind as grandparents get. They send me a card for my birthday, a gift on mother's day, and a card for Christmas. Although marrying Mike would be enough of a blessing, I'm grateful I get to be a part of his family as well.

My little Nightingale

One of my greatest pleasures as a mother is hearing Sarah sing. I love to hear her little pixie voice sings songs she knows, as well as ones she creates. When I ask her to sing to her brother's she creates sweet lullabies and sings them so softly and sweetly.

Last night was Sarah's Little Learners Preschool performance, and the sweet, soft voice of love was...on vacation. :-)Sarah sat front and center, and YELLED every word of every song throughout the entire program. This might sound bad, but I tried to shush her a few times by putting my finger over my mouth and also mouthing "quieter", but she just smiled, waved, and signed "I love you." I thought it was really cute and sweet, but since her voice drowned out the others, I'm hoping the other parents didn't mind. I stood next to a nice mom who's son was shy the whole time and she told me not to worry about it and be happy it wasn't the other way.

I love my little performer! I have a feeling she will excel in drama and choir. ;-) (we'll have to work on her volume)

The video is ~22 minutes long, but you can get an idea by watching the first song. They learn sign language at her school, so a couple of the end songs are singing/signing. I'm proud of my little nightingale.



Mike just informed me that the teachers kept saying "louder" to the students, so Sarah, being ever obedient as she is, was just listening to them. :-)

Sarah's Dance Recital

Today was Sarah's dance recital, and it was really cute. They dance to Taylor Swift's "Love Story" song, which happened to be one of Sarah's favorites. Her bff Lillian Smith takes dance with her and they "practiced" all the time. There were some shy girls on stage, so it shouldn't be hard to pick out Sarah in front wearing the dark pink skirt and doing some improv. Lillian is right next to her in the light pink skirt.


I think it's cute when she falls and then pops right back up and poses. I also love the cute girl in the middle that covered her face with her arms and stood there the whole time. Her class was for 3-4 yr olds, so some were a "little" nervous. :-)



Next year she and Lillian are going to take ballet, because I want her to learn the fundamentals, but she really enjoyed Pop Rox.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

We have finally put up our tree. We let the kids decorate it this year, and it came out very "creative." While I thought it would be nice to spread out the different colors, they thought it would look best if the colors were lumped together. :-)




If you noticed that only the top half of the tree is lit, one of our cats, and I won't say who, chewed through the cord minutes after it was up.

And, if you'd like a little De Ja Vu, here are some pictures of Diamond in our tree. She likes to swat the ornaments off from the inside.



And, here is Mosey the first year we had her. I know you're all jealous you don't have cats that do this. Since I love all of you, I will allow two of my blog readers to each take a cat. Yes, you read right. Free cats! :-) (I can only dream)

Hello Snow

On Thursday we finally made it outside to play in the snow. Our friends the Smith's came over to go sledding in front of our house. Sarah and Lillian lasted about 10 minutes and then went in to play princesses. Steven and Malcolm stayed sled for quite a while. Steven is such a boy and loved to fall off the sled and stick his head in the snow.




Mosey likes the cool air and hung out with us the whole time.

Happy 5th Birthday Sarah!

I keep putting off blogging until I have time, but that time never seems to come. Please excuse my rushing through this blog about one of the most important people in my life.

Sarah is now officially five years old. No, not ten, fifteen or twenty, five. :-) At her five year appointment she weighed 36 lbs (23%) and is 41 3/4 inches (35%).

We let Sarah decide what she wanted to do for a party this year, and she opted to go swimming in Oregon rather than have a party in Utah. Her birthday's have always been kind of big, so we were happy for a small one. Swimming was a big hit! My parents are very active, so they headed off ahead of Mike and me so the kids could have more time to play while I attended to Adam. Not only did Mike go on their rope swing, but my young at heart mother went a couple times as well. She loves be a "cool grandma" and always succeeds. :-)





My parents gave her an American Doll that looks like her, so we gave her a matching ballet outfit for her and the doll.



After we got home we gave her a "big girl" bike complete with a seat for her doll.


We also celebrated with Mike's parents, and Sarah got not one, but two cameras. She asked for a homemade flower cake, and made it with me.


Steven wanted to make sure it tasted ok. :-)




Since turning five Sarah has noticed some big changes in herself. Here are some of the things she has brought to our attention.
- She is now able to jump higher
- Her toes are bigger
- Her hair is longer
- Her head is bigger
- Her brain is bigger
- When Mike told her she's smart she replied, "It's probably because I'm five"

She has been letting everyone in ear shot know she's bigger, but is a young fiver year old, so she isn't going to kindergarten until next year. She thought at first that she'd start attending right away.

It seems like such a short time ago that she left heaven to come to us. I feel so lucky and honored to be her mom. She is so special. I love to hear her tell stories. Her little mind is a wonder to me and I love to listen to things from her imagination and hear her describe her drawings. Although she changes her future vocation weekly, I know the sky is the limit and I feel lucky I get to watch her grow. I'm so thankful for my little princess.

Thanksgiving in Oregon

We were lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving with my parents in Oregon. We didn't rest very much :-) but had a lot of fun.

Ever since my parents moved to Oregon, Mike has wanted to attend a Blazers/Jazz game, but since the Jazz only play there twice a year, it hasn't happened yet...until this year. We had to tweak our plans, but were able to attend the game on the evening we arrived. Sarah had a fever, so my mom happily stayed home with her and Adam. The best part of the game was that we won. :-)





Before the game I went to visit my friends Melinda and Corinne. It was Melinda's wedding reception, which she'd invited me to, but was nice enough to excuse my absence and let me hang out at their hotel while they got ready instead.


Steven, being the boy he is, found a shoe horn and turned it into a gun.


Then he shot Mike. :-)


We also went swimming, but that is on Sarah's b-day blog. As well as the details of her new beloved American Girl doll.

The largest portion of our time was spent remodeling my parents guest bathroom. We didn't intend on painting, taking off the shower doors and putting up a rod, changing the light fixture, changing the faucets, putting in new toilets in two bathrooms and buying two different sets of towels/rugs, neither of which my mom liked, it just happened. I'm happy to report that what started out as the ugliest home bathroom ever is now quite nice. Just so I don't embarrass my mom, they inherited the ugly bathroom when they bought it, not because they caused it. :-)

My mom also found great enjoyment in feeding Adam his first veggies. She found that if she laid him on the floor and just shoveled it in, he'd eat it up. After a couple massive diapers we told her to cut back just a little.



And, last, but certainly not least, I love these pictures of Adam.

Happy 4 Months Adam!!!

Wow, four months have already passed. This has been an exciting month for Adam. Here are some highlights.

At his Dr's appointment he weighed 12 lbs 15.9 oz (14%) and was 25 3/4 In (80%). At his last appointment he was 50% for weight, but the Dr. said he'll probably just be tall and skinny like his dad and not to worry.

He is a smiley baby and is really ticklish on his ribs. He laughs out loud when he's tickled and it is really adorable.



He's a thumb sucker. He'll still take a binki, but has found his thumb, and likes it. I was a thumb sucker, and it drove my grandma nuts. How do you get a child to stop sucking their thumb when the time comes? Hmmm...


We've started to let him cry himself to sleep, and he's done pretty well. Most nights he sleeps from 9 PM- 5AM and then from 5-8AM. He still has an occasional 3:30 AM waking when we just let him cry, so Steven is sleeping in Sarah's room for the time being.

He started eating rice cereal a few days ago, and although it's a bit messy, he's catching on quickly. He looks like he's loving it, doesn't he? :-)


I took this picture while I was holding him a couple nights ago.


This little guy has been such a blessing to us, and we're all so grateful to have him in our family. We love you Adam Jett!

Happy Halloween Part II

Oops! Well, it's a little late to post this, but here are some of the pictures.

Saturday morning we went to Lynette's work for their trunk-or-treat. We skipped 1/3 of the cars and the kids buckets were still filled to the brim.



In the afternoon we went to our neighborhood Halloween party. Steven was an instant pro at the Doughnut eating contest and ate 7-9.




Later in the day we went to the Whitney's annual Halloween party. The kids went trick-or-treating for a few minutes, but it was raining and they already had a ton of candy from the trunk or treat in the morning.