WAY overdue update

warning, this may be long and boring.

Well, this post is sooooo way overdue. I'm still sick, but not nearly as bad as a month ago. I'm hoping in a couple more weeks, I will be over the yuckies and onto the good trimester of pregnancy.

Unfortunately we didn't do many of our holiday traditions this year. I just couldn't get myself to do them. Oh well. there is always next year, right? The kids didn't seem to notice or care. They were just excited for Santa to come. J and L both had lots of Christmas festivities at school, so that was good. J learned all about how other countries celebrate christmas. Her class made a pinata, played games from other countries, etc. She is missing school and ready to go back. L had Santa come to his class, so he was happy about that.

christmas break has been fun. D has taken off work and has been home. I love it. I wish he could stay home ALL the time. We have had fun parties with D's family as well as my sister and her family. yummy food (that was sometimes eaten by me) and fun family times. It's been nice to sleep in a bit and not worry about going anywhere.

The kids were excited for their presents and enjoyed playing all day Christmas and since. Christmas is fun with little kids that get excited.

Since christmas, we have been cleaning and getting ready for the new year. We haven't picked new years resolutions yet, but it's a tradition in our home, so I'm sure it will happen sometime in the next month. :) D LOVES setting goals.

Well, I just thought I'd let you all know we are still here and alive. Hopefully I'll be feeling better soon and will begin doing fun things again to post about. :)


J being silly in a shower cap

J getting her hair cut

Christmas presents--earings


karaoke machine!!

Nerf Guns. . . ALL RIGHT!!

L showing Z how his present works.

cool present. Thanks Santa

Christmas eve jammies.

Christmas eve jammies. . again. :)

bow give away

So, my friend just started a bow business and they are SOOO super cute. I have to share. She is doing a give away right now, so if you want to have a fun stocking stuffer for your girls, check it out. They really are sooo cute and creative. visit her boutique at:

http://busybutlersboutique.blogspot.com/

Santa

sorry for the lack of posts and pictures. I really have not felt like doing anything fun to take pictures of. . . or posting anything. Hopefully in another month or so I will feel more like posting and picture taking.

We were able to visit my sister over the weekend and go to a party where SANTA was. My kids were super excited. J was typical cautious, L was typical first in line, yelling, "Hi SANTA" from across the room. Z just thought his Beard was cool to touch. :) Yeah, now I don't have to wait in big long lines to see Santa. :)

Although J informed me it wasn't the real Santa and that it was one of his elves helping out. :) o.k. :)

sick. . .

So incase you've been wondering why I haven't posted lately. . . it's because I don't really feel like doing anything except lay on the couch and fight the yuckies!!! (fun huh? Well, my kids think so because they are getting lots of great movie and computer time).

However, we did have a GREAT thanksgiving. I actually didn't start feeling to sick until Saturday, so thanksgiving was actually nice and I could eat my favorites. :) We went to my sister's house for Thanksgiving day. I took pies--banana cream, chocolate, and a pumpkin cake. It was so fun to see my sister and her family. And of course my kids had a blast with their cousins.

The 28th, we headed to Darin's brother's house for the Palmer side dinner. It was fun to see everyone and enjoy another dinner. This time I took rolls. YUM. :) We went to our 2 cousins baptism in the afternoon and then stayed the night at D and S's house, which is always great. :) The kids got some nintendo time in and thought all was great.

Despite that I am not feeling well, I've been trying to count my blessings. I really am grateful for my little family, the country that I live in, the gospel in my life and as my neice said all the pleasant things. :)


walk after thanksgiving dinner. C pushing Z-man



J, Ella, and L eating Thanksgiving dinner


cousin sleep over on the air mattress!!! :)

July 27

not that it's any one's business, but for those of you who MUST know. . . yes, this pregnancy WAS planned. :) :) and we are super excited. :)

phew, the toothfairy remembered to come.

Sooo, J lost her first tooth. She has been so excited that she had a loose tooth and told everyone. Yesterday she could bend it horizontally, so we knew it wouldn't be long. Last night I went to enrichment (a church class) and got a phone call on my way up from J that she had lost her tooth while brushing. :) she was SOOO excited. D helped her put it in an envelope and put it under her pillow. Well, the toothfairy was all snug in her bed when all of the sudden she remembered. . . AHHHH, out she jumped onto the cold floor, found the money stash and quietly tip toed to put the precious dollar under the pillow. :) Our tooth fairly leaves the teeth . . . so J took it to school with her today in a zip lock bag to show her friends. . . umm, o.k. :)

art work

Here is more art work from mostly J and one from L. :-)


This is L's one painting. He likes to paint a lot, but most of the time they don't get preserved.


the next two go together. J made this for me when I was gone to time out for women. First the front and then stapled to it is a not on the back saying she had a fun time at a friends home while I was gone.

Fun scarecrow J made in school.

spiderweb from school

J's painting of a rainbow.

For some reason both J and L are WAY into drawing houses.. . . so here is her version.

I am soooo lucky I get notes like this all the time.

o.k., I know this isn't art work, but I was going through some of my pictures and found this. Those two crack me up. :) They LOVE swimming. :)

here's the proof

Here's the proof that Z-man is really crawling!!!!


I'm not sure if it's because he just had 2 teeth pop through or if it's because he's learned to crawl and get to what he wants, but z-man is sooo much happier these days. . . yeah, for happy babies. :)

Z-MAN IS CRAWLING!!!!

Holy COW, Z-man is already crawling. Did I just bring him home from the hospital??? seriously. On Sunday, I noticed he was starting to scoot a bit more than normal and yesterday, he just up and started crawling. . . . ZOIKS. time to bring the vaccuum out and the cupboard locks!! :)

first snow and family night

Today was our first snow. . . . o.k. so it was a 'skiff', but the kids had a BLAST. They got all bundled up in the coats, hats, gloves, scarves, (I cannot tell you how long it takes to get everyone ready to go outside!) seconds after they went outside, the door bell rang. . . were they done???

no, just wanting the garage door open. SECONDS after that, the door bell rang (not sure why they can't just come in.) and they wanted to know if riding bikes in the snow was a good idea. . seeing how L just got stitches from a bike accident we decided against it.

THEN to the back yard they went where the REAL snow was. (the slight amount that built up on the trampoline). and the snowball making began.

Soon after this, L came in needing to go to the bathroom. . . off come the gloves, the hat, the coat, the scarves, . . . go potty,. . . back on goes the coat, the gloves, the scarve, the hat. . back out the play. Next J wanted to show me her snowball, so in comes the snowball. . . out goes the snowball. HA HA. It was fun though. :)

Happy first snow of the year. Kids always make the smallest things exciting. Where do we lose that excitement along the way?

Tonight was family home evening. J wanted to give the lesson and did a great job. She gave us a lesson on how Heavenly Father created us. She asked each of us how Heavenly Father created us. L said with arms, and legs, and tummies. . . J said, "yes, but HOW?" L replied, "magically. . . . . in our house." So there you go. :) They are a funny pair.

Not for the faint of heart

This is our recent urgant care visit. L was VROOMING down the sidewalk on his bike and hit something (he said it was a rock, but I didn't see a rock.) that flipped him over his handle bars and onto the side walk. chin first. :) poor guy, huh? He did not like getting shots in his chin to numb the area for stitches, and screamed bloody murder. After it was all done, however, he was super excited to go get ice cream. I was paying the co-pay and he decided he would venture to the other side of the reception area, stand on a chair and wave to me. He was so excited he could climb high enough that he could see. He waved with great excitement and said, "hi, mom. I can see you." All the nurses gasped and were trying to get him down (as did I after this experience), . . . I'm thinking it won't be our last 'stitch' visit. :)

book fair

Tonight we had fun at the elementary book fair. They combine the book fair with some other activities that I took the kids to.

First we watched the jump roping group perform. They actually had to try out for this group (seriously. . . elementary) because there were so many that wanted to be in it. (Not sure why they can't have more, but whatever??)

Next we listened to gregory the terrible eater. It was about a goat and his eating habits. :) My kids love listening to stories. However, I guess it helps when the story book is the size of mount everest.

At first the kids didn't want to get their face painted, but eventually wanted to. after face painting they jump roped, but I was helping Logan so I didn't get pictures. :)Ummm, ya, I think L was getting tired by this time. . . or maybe just tired of pictures. :)


these were taken a few days ago, but I wanted to post them. This is my smiley boy, z-man. How can you not smile when you see that???

Have I ever posted how much I LOVE L's hair??? I love that it's red and that it has some curl to it. when he was a baby the back was SOOO curly until we cut it. :( Anyway, I took a picture the other day after we did our hair for the day. Handsome Man. It's hard to tell in these pictures, but I love it.

silly faces

When J goes to school, Z-man is asleep, and it's just L and I around, I become the play date. so along with our normal story time, alphabet time, car racing time, today we had fun taking pictures of silly faces to send to grandma and Papa. (see below)

I don't get a hole lot done on those days, but that's o.k. I'm glad I have a bit of time to spend with L. He is such a crack up. He makes me laugh alot. He is soo people aware it cracks me up. I love/scares me that he opens the door on Mon. Morning to tell the garbage man his mommy sais he can't come out. That he starts random conversations with random people at random stores.

Lately we've been reading dora and the deep sea. He is convinced that it is a submarinechine(cross between a submarine and machine) that she rides in to go into the deep sea to save the treasure chest.

silly boy!! :)

$1.93? Are you kidding?

We are totally loving the gas prices. Here it is $1.93 today. :-)

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

I was sung to about 20 bazillion times today and loved it. I think the kids enjoyed my birthday just as much as I did. I had a great day today. D took the older two with him while he ran erronds, ate lunch, etc, etc and I was able to have a quiet day to do whatever I wanted. Z-man slept for most of the time we were home. I did some scrapbooking in the morning, went shopping (with only one child by the way), and came home and made my birthday cake. I know it sounds funny, but I look forward to making my own cake each year. I love to try new cakes each year and it's fun for me to create something new. this year, I made an ice cream cake. It was pretty fun. :) After D and the kids came home, we played soccer and watched some football. . . I really love watching college football. It was a great day.

Here are some pictures of the cake and presents, but they aren't in the right order. . . sorry.


Me blowing out my candles

Everyone excited about CAKE!!

ooohh, candles

Heavy, Heavy, hang over. . . . TRADITION. . . Tradition.

More hang over!!

J's present that she made me. It hooks to my hair so I can wear it all day and make faces out the whole. . . . I am SOOOO lucky!!
Hug for L's present. He made me a GREAT picture. :)

This is a gift bag at our house that gets used over and over again. It's my favorite one. :)

My mom sends me these slipper/socks periodically and I love them. They are so warm and stay on my feet. :) She always knows when to send a new pair. :) thanks MOM and DAD

More Heavy, Heavy, Hang over. . . . L hit me hard on this one. . . he had FUN. Normally hitting is not allowed, so he takes advantage of the time it is allowed. . . who came up with this tradition anyway??? LOL

Just look at the sly grin on his face. . . yup, he's excited.

Birthdays always makek me reflect on where I am in life for some reason. I'm so grateful for all the things that are in my life, especially D and my kids. they love and support me through my faults and challenges. It also makes me think of all the things I want to change about myself and who I want to be. So, I've made some goals and hopefully next November, I can report on the progress. :)