Happy New Years!

Most people wear slippers in addition to other clothing because well, there's no point in having warm feet if the remainder of your body is chilly.

Except for Lauren, that is.


This is what she wanted to wear for bed tonight. Her Birthday suit and Fancy Nancy slippers. Totally makes sense to me ;)


This was a pretty awesome year for our family. And by that I mean, it was much sloooower and more stable. 2005 Justin and I met, 2006 we married, 2007 we had Lauren, 2008 we had Jacob, and 2009? Well, we just stabilized and slowed down enough to appreciate everything in our lives. And I'm thankful for this pace... I like it.

I never do resolutions, mainly because my life has always been pretty hectic and frankly, I never had enough time or energy to make changes. But 2010? I'm ready. I'm ready to make some changes. Here's my list:

1) I am going to actively pursue and follow God's word. I will rejoice and be glad that God has given me each and every day. I will look past the daily grind, and focus on God's purpose. Maybe He wants me to show someone His love that day, or offer words of encouragement to someone in need... whatever it is, I won't be prepared to do so if I'm focusing on me, me, me. And I am so looking forward to seeing where God leads my family and I!

2) I plan on focusing less on the tidiness of our home and more on just playing with our kids. Really, wiping the counters and sweeping for the 19th time that day can wait. Will I remember those crumbs when I'm old and grey? Doubt it.

3) I WILL lose these last 10 lbs. I've been struggling the past few months, and having some blood work done, my Dr. told me I am Hypothyroid. Once my metabolism is in check (after the meds kick in), and I start exercising again tomorrow, the weight will come off. But besides the the goal of just losing weight, I feel better when I'm following a healthy lifestyle. Watching what I eat and exercise are gonna be key for me. I've lost 75 lbs., I can lose the last ten.

4) I need to get back on track with my spending. Because Christmas is my favorite holiday, I spent kind of frivolously in December. And tt's time to get back on track. A budget will be my friend, and therefore, our "eating out" bill will significantly decrease. I'm actually looking forward to that because now I can regularly prepare meals and try out some new recipes! Yay!

That's it; four resolutions. I'm ready!


Hope everyone has a Happy (and warm!) New Years :)

Merry Christmas '09!

(the fireplace doors were opened Christmas morning... Santa came!)

Last Christmas, after Jacob had to take a nap during the gift unwrapping and Lauren had a meltdown due to being overstimulated by mounds of gifts, Justin and I decided that something needed to change. We couldn't (and wouldn't) keep this up, year after year. But besides the meaning of Christmas getting lost in consumerism, we just don't want to raise spoiled kids, who think that they are entitled to the gifts Santa, their parents and family gave to them.

So this year we started a couple new traditions. First, we (and I say that loosely, I mean I) made all of the gifts that were given to friends and family, including calenders, bath sets (body butter, bath salts, body scrub), homemade frames and portraits, coasters, etc. It was really neat to design and create items specifically for certain people :)

In addition, we gave some boundaries to our family in terms of gift giving. Both Lauren and Jacob received three gifts from the Parents/Santa team. And all grandma's were given the same three gifts rule. Three gifts that were specifically selected for them, instead of just buying anything and everything at Walmart to wrap and put under the tree. And you know? It was amazing. No screaming, no meltdowns, no naps... just the four of us opening our small gifts Christmas morning and keeping the meaning of Christmas about Christ. We still "do" Santa and will continue to do so as we believe childhood is a time to experience the whimsy and wonder of it all, but we were sure to explain that Christmas is Jesus' Birthday and that's why we exchanged gifts. And for what 2 year olds can comprehend, I think Lauren understood... or at least that's what we tell ourselves ;)

When we woke that morning, Lauren shouted, "we hafta see if Santa came last night while I was sleeping!" And sure enough, the fireplace doors had been opened (she's checking it out below)


the cookie was eaten and there was even a note!


Lauren picked the note up, and exclaimed, "it says 'Lauren!'. Santa wroted my name!"

:) :) :)

After her heart stopped palpitating from the excitement of Santa's note, we got down to business opening stocking and presents.


I took so many pictures but those were some of my faves. Suffice it to say that we all had a very Merry Christmas... even without the 629 gifts we had last year :) It was all about celebrating Jesus, spending time with our family and enjoying the extended kind too :)

Cookies Eve... err, Christmas Eve!

We had a great Christmas Eve! After doing sort of our normal morning routine (as normal as it can get for Christmas Eve with daddy home!), we all took naps in the afternoon. Um, yeah, it start much better than that. After waking up from 3 hour naps (!), we got ready and headed to church. After an amazingly awesome service, we headed home and hosted a family Christmas Eve party, complete with tamales, rice, chips and salsa, and all the fixin's for a tasty Mexican meal. (I know I know, you see the irony in Justin and I hosting a dinner with spicy food?!?)


Anyways, along with the meal came cookies... lots and lots of homemade cookies. And those are the pictures I'm gonna post tonight because lets face it, we all like to see kids with frosting smeared on their faces, no?


They may be called Brownies, but they sure do love themselves some cookies!

After all the cookies were annihilated eaten by a couple cookie mongers, we set out the remnants for Santa. Lauren picked the cookie (she chose the green one, as to not give up her precious pink!! ones) and she only gave him one, I might add. She's not the least bit stingy or anything :) We also set out a cup of milk. And as we're setting it down on the table (closest to the chimney so that Santa would see it right away), my family notso subtly pointed out that we needed a cookie plate, not just a regular ole' plate. Who knew? So a cookie plate is on the list of 'must haves' before next Christmas :)


When everything was set out according to her standards, she was set to go to bed...


after announcing that "Santa is coming tonight!"

And sure enough, he did!! :)

Jakey Jake at 18 months

It's been awhile since I did an update on Jacob. I'm sure it has something to do with the whole "second child" syndrome, but really, he's SO dang busy that it's hard to get any decent pictures of him!

Luckily I captured a few today by bribing him with chocolate extra books at nap time, and it sorta worked. The good pictures are kind of scattered in this post, but here's some proof that this boy is non-stop active:


Anyways, here are some Jacob faves:

Favorite toys to play with:
His moose (it is still attached to him at allll times!)
His Elmo music CD player
Books (he "reads" to himself)
Those musical Christmas cards
His Thomas the Train
His cars and the ramps that go with:



Favorite things to do:
Jump on the bed with his sister
Look for airplanes
Play at the park/library/play area
Go for walks around the block
Steal whatever toy his sister is playing with
Stack blocks and let them crash
Eat snacks (he says "numa numa" indicating he wants something)
Watch Elmo
Be chased around the house
Hide toys under blankets and "find them"

Favorite things to eat:
ANY kind of fruit
Yogurt
Cheeseburgers
Pancakes
Whole wheat crackers
Chicken, bean and rice burritos
Nutrigrain Bars

Words he says:
Hi, Bye bye, "Nooooo!!!", "I did it!", sissy, mommy, dada, nana, yes, Tessa, kitty, hot, juice, cheese, cookie, sorry, two, bath, all gone, car, airplane, choo choo, toot, diaper, shoes, socks, book, Elmo, on, off.

He is SO full of personality. He recently learned the word "NO!!!", and he loves using it now. Everything is "no!" these days. He's quite determined, and very strong-willed. But he can be very sweet and cuddly too, offering up kisses and saying "sowwy" when he hits.

One of my games to play with him happens in his crib. I lay him down, cover him up and he looks at me and opens his mouth huge like this:


Then I do the same thing and he smiles from ear to ear like this:


Ahhh, my little man. I just adore him.

Brownies do Disney!

The Hubster, myself and Brownies headed to Disneyland last Tuesday. It was Lauren's second time, and Jakey's first.

As we're standing in line to get Season Passes (I know, my cheap frugal husband wanting to get passes for our family!), Lauren starts talking about the rides she's gonna ride on. She initially said she wanted to ride on a "biiiig roller coaster!" but once she saw the "mewwy-go-wound", she decided that would do ;)

So that was our first stop!


And like last time, she loved it!


Jacob was a bit apprehensive at first,


but once the ride began, he was allll smiles!


After the carousel, we rode on Mr. Toads Wild Ride. This was as close to a roller coaster as we could find for Lauren. And the lil' daredevil that she is, she wasn't the least bit fazed by the scary scenes. She totally enjoyed it!


We then went onto Dumbo, where even Jacob enjoyed himself! He loved it when we went up really high and then dropped suddenly.... he's got my thrill-seeker genes :)


After Dumbo, we headed to some sort of train ride, where Jacob proceeded to serenade the whole caboose by chanting "chooo choooo" over and over again :)




After playing in Toon Town for what seemed like 2 days a couple hours, Jacob was done. With no nap allllll day long, he was exhausted and getting pretty cranky. So Lauren and the Hubster went to visit Mickey Mouse while Jakey and I took it easy and people watched.


And speaking of exhausted,


check him out:


Poor little guy!

We had a really fun day... so much so that we're thinking of using our passes, spending the day at Disneyland and then checking out downtown Disney at night.... alone!