ROLY-POLY

Monday December 19th

Ok, so he's not quite a roly-poly yet, but Powell did roll over for the first time a few days ago!

1...

2...

 3...

Go!

And that's how it's done, folks

SWEET TREATS

We love that part of Christmas is sharing homemade goodies with friends and neighbors. This year we made mini loaves of Amish Friendship Bread for our friends, neighbors, colleagues and ward members, and some Hot Cocoa Cookies (a new family favorite) for our garbage/recycling men and the mailman. It was much easier than last year's multi-cookie bags, and seemed to be a big hit. We may have found our family's annual holiday treat!

Merry Christmas!

MONDAY NIGHT MUSINGS

Tuesday December 13th - Monday December 19th

- I discovered that Mattie can count to 15 all by herself

- Apparently CJ has developed an association of going poop with the bathroom fan on and I'm not sure he can go without it. I'm basing this on the fact that while we were on our road trip to Utah for Thanksgiving, we had made a pit stop and CJ had to go. I went in there with him, and he insisted that I turn on the fan before he would go...but there was no fan (I know, gross). So I then proceeded to make my own fan noises (basically just blowing really hard) and I guess it was good enough for CJ because then he went. What a silly kid! :)

- Powell is such a good baby, I can't get over it! I know parents aren't supposed to have favorites, but he is definitely my favorite right now. Ask me in a 18 months and my kids will probably all be on the same pedestal again, but for now, he's got the most of my heart :)

- Why do my kids love to be naked? When we're at home, they run around in their underwear half of the time. And with Mattie still working on getting #2 down, she's naked from the waste down a lot of the time too. They especially like to strip down before sleeping, but I can understand wanting to sleep in just undies. Anyway, I usually don't think much of it. But every once in a while I notice that my kids never have pants on in candid pictures at our house. Or even worse, sometimes people drop by unexpectedly, like our neighbors that we've never met before, and Mattie is running around with no undies on! Uh, kind of embarrassing!

- I've decided I'm not a fan of our wood floors. Yeah, they look nice, but I hate how loud they are! Every time the kids drop a toy - or more realistically, throw a toy - the loud clatter that follows sends chills up my spine and irritates the heck out of me. And poor Powell probably doesn't get as much tummy time as he should because we haven't made the huge financial commitment that is buying a large area rug yet and I'm not going to lie him down on a hard floor. And our couches are getting trashed because we spend the majority of our time in the great room and our kids are constantly climbing all over them and eating on them, etc, because we don't have a floor that they can really play and relax on. However, it's great for spills and messes, so I guess I should focus on that instead, right?

- CJ is so into Christmas this year. I often catch him several times a day making up a song about Christmas and singing it to himself. The singing part he does all year round, but the Christmas songs are new :)

- Mattie is very aware that Christmas is Jesus' birthday. She is the first one to answer almost every time whenever we ask why we celebrate Christmas. We're really hoping that it will stick all season long.

Happy Monday!

POWELL - 3 MONTHS OLD

11/20 CJ took this pic of Powell

11/24 Powell's first Thanksgiving

11/28 Powell's first time in the Bumbo chair

11/30

12/5

12/5

12/7

12/9

12/9

12/12 Santa's happy helper

12/14 Thought we'd try the Bumbo in the bathtub...learned that if you don't put it in the tub before filling it with water, it just floats

12/14

12/14

12/15

12/17

Three months old

 - 11/16 He weighed 13.1 lbs
 - 11/26 He was blessed by Daddy in Utah over Thanksgiving weekend
 - 12/2 Spent his first night without Mommy and Daddy (Gramma and Papa came over to stay the night while Mommy and Daddy celebrated their anniversary)
 - 12/6 He had his 2 month check-up (despite being 2 1/2 mo old) and weighed 14.1 lbs, was 25 inches long, and his head was 16 inches. Besides getting 3 shots and an oral immunization, he was given a prescription of hydrocortisone for eczema. The poor guy has it worse than CJ ever did; it's on his face, slightly on his shoulders and knees and thighs, and is worst on his elbows. The prescription really cleared up his face, and is helping a lot with his elbows
- 12/14 He almost rolled over! He was on his belly when Mommy went into other room to get the camera. When she came back, he was on his right side!
- He crinkles his nose when he smiles really big
- He sleeps through the night, usually waking up between 6-7 AM for a feeding and going back to sleep for another hour or two
- He is super wiggly and always wants to be sitting up/forward
- If he is awake and in his car seat, he does not like the cover on - he likes to be able to see what's going on around him, especially his siblings in the car
- He smiles at Mattie and CJ all the time
- He really only cries when he's hungry or tired
- He loves to have his diaper off; if he's fussing and we start to change his diaper he always stops :)
- He hates getting dressed though (mainly just the clothes going over his head)
- He has started sucking on his hand; we'll hear a loud smacking noise and look over and he's trying to put his whole fist in his mouth!
- His eyes are definitely blue
- He has started noticing his body - looking at his fists, grabbing and holding on to his thighs, etc
- He loves to be held, more than CJ and Mattie ever did
- He smiles when he's about to eat
- In fact, he smiles all the time - all you have to do is look at him and he'll smile (it's the best!)

He makes us so happy!!

MERRY CHRISTMAVERSARY

December 15th was our 6 year anniversary! We celebrated a couple weeks early at the Cave B Inn, but Bryce decided to surprise Paige (which he doesn't get away with very often) on their actual anniversary with this:

The new iPhone 4s!

She knew she was getting a new phone for Christmas. In fact, an iPhone 4 is supposed to be all she is getting. Anyway, because Paige knew what she was getting, Bryce wanted to surprise her in some way, so he gave it to her early on their anniversary, which was totally unexpected (in fact, no gift was expected at all because we had already celebrated...and spent plenty). He had it shipped to his work, and then shortly before coming home that evening, he turned it on and activated it. Meanwhile, Paige was getting very frustrated with her phone when she discovered it wasn't working. When Bryce got home she had a scowl on her face and began to complain about her cheap go-phone again. Then she asked Bryce to call her phone so she could see if it would work. This worked perfectly for his plan, so of course, he complied. And suddenly his pocket started to ring. Paige was so focused on her cheap-o phone she didn't even realize what was going on. It took several seconds after Bryce pulled the phone out of his pocket for Paige to catch on, and then her scowl turned to a giant smile, followed by jumping and laughing and hugs and kisses. It was a fantastic surprise! (to fully understand the magnitude of how happy Paige was to have a new phone, you would have had to deal with her $15 call-dropping-gravelly-connecting-text-message-hiding-no-good phone for the last 6+ months) And surprise #2 was that Bryce didn't get the 4, like we had talked about, but went all out and got her the new 4s! Fancy schmancy!

Oh, what did Paige get Bryce, you ask? Well, she wasn't going to get him anything because, again, we had spent enough spending the night at Cave B Inn. But when she saw this on sale, she couldn't pass it up:

Especially since she gave him a watch for their first anniversary, but it broke a couple of years ago and he's been watch-less ever since. This is definitely an upgrade and Bryce loves it!

So 1 mortgage, 2 degrees, 3 kids, 4 cities (in two states), 5 moves and 6 years later and we're happier than ever. Let's not kid ourselves, things are harder than ever, but that's probably why we're happier too. December 15th, 2005 - the best day of our lives!

And incidentally, here's the first pic Paige took with her new phone:

 

(seriously, what a hottie!!)

CHRISTMAS PREPARATIONS

We've been trying to get ready for Christmas around here by:

...setting up the Christmas tree (and playing in the box :)

...getting gifts for those we love

(CJ not only picked out all these gifts himself, but paid for them with his own money, and then decorated each gift himself and placed it under the tree)

 

...hanging up lights

(so our house can look like this)

...wrapping gifts with adorable company!

LEAVENWORTH LIGHTS

Saturday December 3rd

So it's sort of become our tradition to head out to Leavenworth the first Saturday in December for their annual tree-lighting ceremony. Last year we went with Paige's mom and it was crazy snowing! This year we went with Bryce's parents and it was pretty dry and really cold, but still totally worth it!

Mattie and Bryce, and Greg and CJ waiting for the lights to come on

The lights turning on!

Papa and CJ met Father Christmas

And so did Mattie, and Powell, and Daddy

After dinner at a Thai restaurant and some hot chocolate, Bryce and his dad headed back for the cars while his mom and Paige stayed with the kids, so CJ played with Gramma on the snow (which was actually ice)

(Thank you, Sheila, for sending us pics from your phone. Bummer that our camera died before we even got there)

Love the Leavenworth Lights!

6 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Friday December 2nd - Saturday December 3rd

After our extravagant 5 year anniversary last year to Vegas, Paige didn't expect anything but dinner out this year. But Bryce surprised her with a night at the exclusive Cave B Inn! One of the best venues to go to concerts in the state of Washington is at The Gorge. And where do the A-listers and celebrities/musicians stay when they come to The Gorge? Cave B Inn! Normally we couldn't afford something swanky like this, but Bryce found an awesome deal on Living Social and couldn't pass it up. Thanks to Bryce's parents' generosity and willingness to come over and stay the night with our kids, we got to celebrate our 6 year anniversary in style! 

Our Cliff House. Yes, we said house. We had our own little place. And that fireplace by the bed was amazing!

Heels = getting a little dressed up for dinner

The restaurant at Cave B was incredible! Some of the best food we've ever had!

Ok, when you go to a nice hotel/inn and they put out plush robes, it's like a rule that you have to lounge around in them (and when it's for your anniversary, it's a rule that you have to have a kissing pic :)

These are what the Cliff Houses look like

That's the Inn where the restaurant is and apparently a penthouse-type room is at the top 

The view from the patio of our Cliff House (the pics don't even begin to do it justice)

Happy  6 year anniversary!

DECEMBER 1ST

Chocolate advent calendars are a tradition in Paige's family that has gone on for decades. Now that Paige is all grown up, her mom carries on the tradition with her grandkids. After Thanksgiving, Grandma Forsgren sent us home with 3 advent calendars wrapped in wrapping paper so the kids didn't know what it was, they just knew they got to open something on December 1st. CJ was about to burst during those few days between getting home from Utah and Thursday, December 1st. And as soon as they opened them, CJ knew exactly what they were!

But there was something else on December 1st besides chocolate advent calendars...our home had a new friend! Meet Elf the elf (the kids named him). He's from Santa's workshop and he's here to help Santa know if the kids are being naughty or nice. He can't talk to kids, but he talks to Mommy and Daddy all the time. CJ and Mattie can talk to him though, but they can't touch him. Mommy and Daddy keep telling them to tell Elf what they want for Christmas so he can tell Santa, but they get shy around Elf. Every morning Elf is in a new spot and CJ and Mattie enjoy trying to find him in the morning. Elf has already had an injury and had to go home to see Santa early one day (he fell off the top of the microwave), but don't worry, good ol' Elf was back the next morning...in a new spot.

CJ and Mattie meeting Elf for the first time

And we had to get a picture of the kids in their adorable caps their Aunt Gaby made for them. It's a long story, but Mattie's hat was accidentally thrown away at a restaurant in Salt Lake City on our way to Temple Square, but we were lucky enough to find it - in the trash...well, in the gift bag in the trash - on our way home. They sure look cute! Thank you, Aunt Gaby!!