Temple square lights 2012

Utah Tradition.  Have to go see the lights at Temple Square.  December is always crazy and finding a free night to drive down and worry about parking is always hard to come by. This year it took us until 4 days before Christmas to fit it in! But we had a good time. Temperatures were freezing, so we tried to bundle up, seems like there are never enough layers for little ones though and I think they still froze.   We thought the girls would like the experience of taking the train down, so we planned a frontrunner/trax trip.  It turns out the neatness factor quickly faded as it took us an hour to get downtown and we had to be out in the cold.  On the way home we walked for a while then had to wait for the late train to get there, our girls were freezing.  So we chalked it up to “an experience” and won’t be trying that anytime soon.  We went to the food court and accidently ran into the Curtis family.  Anna and Maddie were excited about that especially since our friends couldn’t end up making it.  They played in the Dinosaur play land for a while until it was time to go.  The rest of the night it was just us four, which was nice to have our own family time when there are so many other events going on.  I love our girls, the lights were beautiful and it was a great memory!

Whiney girl…

A little bribery Doesn’t hurt. Right?

Christmas Cookies

I was busy this Christmas trying to make some fun cookies for neighbors. I have been wanting to practice my royal icing skills. I have to say I love it, but I don’t know how people do these all the time! They are time consuming and too yummy not to eat more than my fair share! I Loved creating something fun and unique. I learned a lot, especially to make sure my water is fully mixed when I add more or they turn out drying with swirls like my Gingerbread man.

Christmas Cuties

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my girlies! I love that I can dress them to match, and even more I love when I get hand me downs from my awesome sister and nieces.  I love these Christmas dresses and the girls looked so pretty with their hair all done, I had to snap a few photos. Anna was being such a ham.

A photo shoot of sorts…

I keep wanting to get some good photos of my girls and keep putting it off. One day perhaps….

We went downtown to the “Dinosaur Mall” as Anna so lovingly calls it, aka City Creek Center and their Dinosaur play land in the food court, to meet cousins, Aunties and Grandma for Maddie and Lily’s birthdays.  We had a great time.  Even got a picture of all the Grandkids with Santa. Priceless.  On our way out we went to look out over the bridge and Auntie Natalie snapped a few photos on her “fancy” (that is what I call any phone other than mine dinosaur phone) phone. It took a little bribery (a sucker from Auntie), but they turned out pretty cute! We even used some on our Christmas card.  I’m thankful they had their hair curled and almost were matching.  Thanks Nat!

 

Voting Day

Some days outfits come together and work well, other days they don’t and my girls end up looking like “rag a muffins.” Today was a good day. Anna went to preschool and I was off to the voting booth, not really a big day, but wanted to be more presentable.  I wanted to put MJ in her new steal of a deal red pants, ($3), and then saw the blue sweater.  It worked for voting day, right?  She looked pretty cute with her hair curled and red, white and Blue ribbon. I wish it was enough to get Romney re-elected….

This was Maddie’s response to the announcement of the re-election….
Okay she really was in bed by then, but I’m sure many felt this way when Romney lost. ):

Anna's best quote about the election...
"Mom, wouldn't Jesus make a great President? REALLY Great President? But he can't be, because he is our Savior!" I just love this girl and her heavenly insight. (:

Bedtime

I am probably going to jinx myself, but I had to mention that these days bedtime had been MUCH easier, especially in the Maddie department. If you know anything about Maddie you would know that she is very STRONGWILLED! VERY! Cute as ever, but determined to get her way.  When it came to bed time we fought and fought. Sometimes she would cry until she would throw up. literally.  It was awful.  She used a bottle of warm milk to calm down and loved cuddling with her blanket, but did NOT want to be left alone. It drove me crazy.  Then she woke up many time s night!

With all of Dave and my trips this year I felt AWFUL leaving her, not only for her separation problems, but mostly for the caretakers and their sanity. She faired well, and they did too. FINALLY when we returned from New York we let her fall asleep with Anna for a few nights, since that seemed to help, then we moved her to her room.  She woke up in the middle of the night screaming.  I put a nightlight in and the middle of the night wakefulness stopped.  Then we got into more of a routine.  Teeth, Prayer, Book with Anna, to our own beds (a Maddie book there), song and goodbye. When I used to sing to her at night she would fight and scream, now she ASKS for Chi-goh (I am a Child of God) or Jesus (Jesus wants me for Sunbeam… thanks to Auntie Holly for that one).   She simply says Night-Night, sometimes asks “sleep?”  Yes I respond, “Goodnight.” Then she says “Dank do Mama!” (thank you) and my heart melts. Typically that’s it for the night, sometimes she needs some more milk, if she didn’t eat well, but then she’s out. I recently FINALLY converted her to a sippy. I know she is almost 2 and a bottle is bad for her, but now that you know how hard bedtime was, you’ll understand.  Now we need to convert to no milk, but I kinda like the routine for now.

Some pictures I captured of bedtime…