Christmas & New Year 2011

Our Christmas started out with an evening with Santa at the ward Christmas party earlier in the month. Esther and Henry both refused to sit on Santa's lap and Ainsley couldn't take her eyes of his beard.
Michael's parents joined us this year for Christmas, it is always a joy to have family around for the holidays.
Christmas Morning. Michael had one request on Christmas morning and that was to have breakfast before we started opening presents. We didn't let Henry and Esther see that there were presents until after we had breakfast. That is why Henry is dressed, he wanted to get dressed after breakfast because that is what we normally do. Santa brought a play house for inside since the backyard is still not finished. Henry thought he was getting a car because he helped me wrap his cousin Spencer's present, which was a remote control car. Maybe next year.

Esther and Henry love books so they got several books for Christmas. We had to take away the books in order to open more presents.I didn't take a whole lot of pictures and so many of the ones I took are blurry because no one would hold still with all the excitement. Ainsley didn't care much for the presents she just wanted to eat all the wrapping paper. We kept taking paper away from her but somehow she kept getting some. I finally had to put her down for her nap because she was throwing up paper. We spent the rest of the day with Michael's family eating wonderful food and playing dance revolution on the wii.


New Years Eve Arizona Style
We started our New Years Eve celebrations at the park. It was 78 degrees and beautiful.
After the park we came home and danced

And of course Ainsley had to eat the noise maker

I think Daddy was tired before the party began
After dancing we had a wonderful dinner together( not really, the food was wonderful but if you have had dinner with our kids it usually consists of whining about not liking what we are eating.)
After the whining we did FIREWORKS. There are firework stands everywhere for New Years Eve, one would think it was the 4th of July. Notice we are wearing only jackets.

Michael wanted to get the big box of fireworks but from past experience we decided to get the small box. Henry hates fireworks, he hates anything loud. Yes he is crying in the picture. After the first fountain he was crying to "please take me home Mom". I told him we are home but if he wanted to go inside by himself he could; and he did. Ainsley is not in the picture because she crashed at 6:30 right before the fireworks. Our New Years Eve ended with banana splits at 7:30 and Esther and Henry in bed by 8pm. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year. May this year be even better than the last with more trips to the zoo, a back yard finished, and no morning naps.

I leave this post with a few pictures of Christmas light in our neighborhood.

Thanksgiving 2011

I thought I better blog about Thanksgiving before Christmas gets here. We spent Thanksgiving in Saint George with Michael's parents. We braved the 7 1/2 hour drive but it was worth it. This was our attempt at family pictures. Some turned out bad....and some turned out better than expected.

We had a screaming time
With a trip to the Temple
And an afternoon of swimming with Grandpa


It was a great trip with much needed rest and relaxation.

What a Month

This last month was a busy one. My parents came for a visit at the beginning of October, we love it when they come. My dad and Michael went to work redoing some shelves in our pantry while my mom and I talked up a storm, well as least my mom did. I lost my voice the entire time they were here and it was not fun as all but that didn't stop us from having fun. We took the kids to an aquarium. Esther and Henry had so much fun it was hard to get them to take a nap when we got home. I wish I had taken more pictures but I did get a cute video, it is at the end of all the pictures.
After my parents left we had planned on potty training Henry. That makes potty training 2 kids in one year. Henry pick out his own underwear, potty stickers, potty seat, and treats. We made a count down chain to the potty day and talked and talked about going on the toilet. We even practiced running to the toilet the weekend before we got started. Michael had the 17th, 18th and 19th off so that gave us three days to get Henry potty trained.
Monday we spent the day in the kitchen so we wouldn't have any accidents on the carpet. He drank and drank and drake a ton of juice and then it started coming out. He had 10 accidents between 9am-noon. My kitchen floor was getting very clean but Henry kept forgetting to tell us he needed to go potty. I would say "Henry tell Mommy when you need to go potty" he would say "OK" and then pee on the floor. The next morning we have a little talk. I had purchased a couple of match box cars for when he would poo in the toilet but that was not the issue; he had no problem going poo in the toilet it was the pee. I made him a deal. I would give him a car at the end of the day if he did not pee on the floor. He had one accident later that day and did not get the car and that was the ticket. The next day no accidents and he started telling me when he needed to go. He received 4 cars total and has not had an accident since. He loves his new underwear and I love not having 2 kids in diapers.
We had a great Halloween this year. Henry was supposed to go as a lion but wouldn't wear the costume so a quick trip to the fabric store to make a cape. Esther was the cutest witch ever and Ainsley was a fish. It was definitely a new experience trick or treating in shorts and sandals. Here in Arizona everyone sits out on their porch or in the driveway and hands out candy. It is like having a big block party.
The weather was perfect around 75-80 degrees. We went trick or treating for about an hour and have enough candy to feed a small army. Henry and Esther keep asking when we are going trick-or-treating again.



October has come and gone and I feel like Ainsley does here in this picture. I hope November is a little less busy. I am sure it won't be since we are trying to get the yard done by Christmas, the garage needs to be organized, I want to paint the kitchen, and of course all the normal day to day stuff that goes on with a 3yr old, 2yr old, and a 9th month old running around. But I am looking forward to cooler weather and more time spent outside.


Here is a video of Esther and Henry at the aquarium

Tug-A-War

Cool Tricks Cool Tricks

Our Utah vacation

This last August we spent two weeks in Utah visiting family and friends. Our first stop was Grandma and Grandpa in Saint George.

Since Michael's parents were unable to come to our house for Esther's birthday we had a birthday celebration at their house. Don't you love the grin; I think she was just happy to be out of the car.


While in Saint George we went swimming at the city center.




After a couple of days in Saint George we drove to Fairview Utah to spend time with my family.

After a fun filled weekend camping with my family we drove to Lehi to stay with my sister Carrie


Esther and Henry had fun playing on the swings with their cousins Roxie and Peter. This is Esther and Peter on the swings.
Esther discovered dressing up with her cousin Roxie. She is wearing two tutus'
Of course we had to see Heather and her family while we were in Utah. It is always fun to get together.

And of course a good run around with uncle Thomas and Aunt Laura

Ainsley with Aunt Laura

We didn't forget to get some reading in.
Our trip wouldn't be complete without a visit with Debbi, Monica, and Meslissa. We love you guys.

We had a great time in Utah and enjoyed visiting with everyone. We hope to see you all next year or come visit us if you want to make it sooner.

Swim Lessons take 2

As you can see there has been much improvement. Esther and Henry just completed 4 weeks of swim lessons and did great(once the crying stopped). They cried the whole first week but after that they started to get a hang of things. Swim lessons were Mon-Thur for 30min. They can't totally swim on their own yet but that will come with age. They are totally comfortable around the pool and I am more comfortable swimming with them. It is so much more fun to go swimming with Esther and Henry because they love the water and have a great time practicing what they learned. We still watch them like a hawk when they are around the pool or in the water. We will continue swim lessons next year.

Blackmail

I am sure when Henry and Esther are in their teens we will use these videos to embarrass them or threaten to embarrass them. I just love the 2 and 3 year old meltdowns.

Some cute pictures

Ainsley looking cute. It is hard to believe she is going to be 6months on the 19th.

We had a flat tire on the mini van so we had to move the car seats to the Camry so Esther and Henry could get to swim lessons. Then the car seats were moved inside for day till we put them back in the mini van. Here is Henry and Ainsley(who is sitting in Esther's car seat) watching TV together.