The past couple of weeks in pictures:

4 months already!
Laura helping me make thumbprint cookies

Yum! She made the thumbprints and put the jam in all by herself...

Eden is doing awesome with potty training, but without the diaper padding all her pants fall off. Gotta get a few more belts for that girl.

The Mommy Store

For the girls' christmas shopping this year I've combined a few ideas from various sources. One is to have a 'mommy and daddy store'. Instead of taking them to the store and battling the crowds, having to tell them that everything they pick out for Daddy is too expensive, or having them melt down because they really want a toy for themselves, they come to our room set up like a mini store.

There are a few things set up for them to choose from. For example when Laura comes to my store to buy something for Eden I'll have three things set out and the two she doesn't pick will be from mommy and daddy. I try and make a big deal out coming the store, and the girls love picking something out using their hard earned money. Which lead me to...

The other half of the store is the money part. Obviously they don't have paying jobs, and I don't really want to just give them money, so they earn it. I took some of my scrapbook paper and circle punch and made paper pennies. When Laura does her chores, like making her bed, getting dressed quickly, or getting a diaper for Ryan, she gets a circle to put in her jar. When Eden goes to the potty, or likewise helps me, she gets one too. The girls had a great time decorating their jars:

We've been earning circles all month long and the girls are still engaged and interested. Especially because the mommy store is coming around on Monday for FHE. So far Laura's purchased a present for daddy and the two of them combined their money to buy this laughy dino for Ryan. (Maren, he's a new addition to the laughy hippo and bear family).

Even after Christmas I think we're going to continue the mommy store and earn rewards for themselves. Like a new coloring book or a piece of candy or maybe even visiting the zoo. Hey it beats just giving them an allowance!

The girls first time out in the snow this year... what occupied them most of the time: making snow angels and eating the snow. I love being able to let them go in the backyard while Ryan and I stay in the nice warm kitchen and watch out the window. I took this picture from the upstairs bedroom window:)

Three months, and a sweet sweet little guy. Ryan started reaching for toys this week too. I was doing some laundry in the other room and heard some rattling. I wondered if the toy gym had fallen over so I rushed into his room to find his little hands flailing. I grabbed my camera and...

It's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

The snow is finally here. I really like it when it doesn't snow until close to Christmas, the fun of the first real snow of the year combined with the spirit of the season is a great combination. I still am fininshing up my projects, and I hardly have anything wrapped, and that's nice too. So merry christmas season, and a happy snow to everyone!

We spent this last weekend in Idaho, we haven't been up there since Ell's wedding in August, so it was nice to have a change of scenery. Laura had the awesome chance to ride in a real cattle drive with Aunt Lesha. She went with Grandma Rosemary to watch while the cowboys/girls brought the cows across the freeway. Le offered to let Laura ride for a little bit and much to my surprise she got right up, rode for a few miles, and refused to get off! I wish I had been there, but Grandma promises me she'll get me copies of the ones she took. We heard about how Laura rode a horse for the rest of the weekend, and I'm excited for a certain christmas present I already got her: a standing horse, the kind for little kids to ride on:) L and I also got to go to Bailey's 7th birthday doggy party. 13 little girls, or puppies I should say. The only pictures I took this weekend was at the party, Maren didn't have her camera so I filled in. My favorite part was the doggy pinata that Maren had made herself:)

Grandma Martha had a special surprise for Eden when we got there: new Tinkerbell panties! Eden loves them, and has only had a few accidents. She's still working on filling up her potty-chart so she can earn her snap-n-style doll that's sitting up on the fridge. E also spent Friday morning layed out with a nasty stomache bug, but quicly recouped by the afternoon.

Ryan was a sweety the whole time and melted everyone's hearts, especially the Grandmas:)

Brent spent some time doing maintenance on his mom's car, and also got to play hero on Saturday night. The pipes at his mom's house, where Lanna and Scott and their three kids were also staying, froze while we were all in IF getting family pictures. They got home to no water. So Brent got under there with some heaters and a blow dryer. A little while later: running water and happy people!

I spent my spare time, after taking care of sick kids and their general needs, sewing on my mom's serger. I got the girl's nightgowns finished and a few other ho-ho projects done. I also learned a fun little card game called golf, watched two cheesy holiday specials (a weakness of mine) with my honey, and enjoyed letting the girls run around with their cousins.

Did I mention there was a huge snowstorm while we were there?! It was a great eye opener, reminding us that we don't really want to ever move back to Rexburg. When we left town on Sunday it was 6 degrees, when we got home that night it was 28. 28-6=staying in utah. There was even a power outage on Saturday morning while we were trying to get ready for familiy pictures. But I still can't wait to go back after christmas. After all, in a lot of ways, it still feels like home.

Playing catch-up...

These posts are pretty out of order, it really bothers me that Blogger won't let you rearrange the order of your posts, but oh well...anyway, this is what we were doing two weeks ago:

We had a super busy weekend: Sarah came up for the day and we took the girls to the kid's museum. love that place:

Later that night one of my friends who teaches piano lessons and I put on a little recital for families. It didn't turn out quite like I had envisioned, I wanted to make it geared towards little kids but ours were the only little ones who came. Next time I'll try and do it during the summer. Anyway, the girls all loved it and couldn't resist dancing in the back. My sister Sarah took a video and if I can get it to work I'll post it on here.

The next day we were given some tickets to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and Lanna and I made our way downtown to attend. The tickets ended up being on the floor, right side about ten rows back! It was absolutely amazing being that close to the first presidency and the choir and orchestra. I hope some day to play in it. It really got me thinking about the true meaning of christmas and I'm trying to change my focus from the gifts to the experiences we can have as a family.

Since Halloween, ok way before then, basically since I got pregnant with Ryan, so about a year now, I've been really bad about eating healthy. I love sweets. In fact I'm afraid I've grown rather addicted. I have no idea how many bags of Halloween candy I bought to give out only to have the bag 'disappear' within a few days. Kit Kats have especially been my down fall as of late. And, my little pooch around the tummy speaks volumes for my junk food addiction. So I decided to take action...

A whole week of no treats.

No candy, no cake, no cookies, no donuts, not even hot chocolate. Nothing! Except popcorn, because it's way down there on the bad for you list and I've gotta have something to snack on if I'm not going to cave! I started on Monday, and how have I been doing you ask? Actually, awesome. It has been really really hard. Almost as hard as I thought it was going to be. But luckily we haven't had any parties to tempt me, and Brent has only handed me a candy bar a few times. I haven't gone nuts about eating super healthy meals, although I'm trying to be conscious; I bought pitas for the first time this week:) So just a few more days and I'll hopefully have just a little more self-control this holiday season.

Want to try it with me? You've still got a few days left to jump in...

The long march to the potty...

This last monday I went to the store to buy more diapers, the first time that I've had to buy for both Ryan and Eden at the same time. The result: I bought pull-ups instead and immediately came home and started potty-training!

So far Eden's doing really well. We've had our share of accidents, but today, day five, she's been dry all morning! So hurray for Eden, we've started the long trek towards freedom from wipes and diapers.

Decorating the Christmas Tree for Family Home Evening

Well, he made it through another big mountain bike crash with no broken bones. Although he can hardly move his neck. Those guardian angels are still watchin' over him.