A tornado has come to town!

So Christmas is over (well mostly).  Gray and Clara had the best Christmas!  They were given so many presents.  They obviously have a lot of people who love them and want to spoil them.  I am glad that they had such a great Christmas, but now the fun of trying to organize all the stuff has hit.  They have a playroom, but it is oddly shaped and so that isn't helping the problem.  Then on top of that it is sloped.  It used to be a back porch that was converted into a sun room.  I know a couple people who have liked the 3x3 cubby things they sell at Target so we got 1 of those and hopefully it will be put together tonight.  If anyone has any other suggestions I would love for you to share.

I am behind on sharing pictures of my sweet little loves so here is a quick picture dump.

Posing to show off the bow I made her

And from above

Snacking while I get ready to make the Gingerbread House

 

NOT touching the icing

Decorating

Reading a book while we construct

More decorating

He told me the blue one was his foot

Mr. Silly

Best Cousins!

After the hat

Wearing Tristen's hat - ain't she adorable!

Playing "together" with their MobiGos

G with presents from Chris and me and C

C with presents from G and me and hubby

They each got pj's from each other

Chris with his new white t's

G with his dump truck and front loader

C with her little people set

Dad with his new TV (I forgot to get a pic with my new KindleFire)

Christmas morning trying on her jeans Santa brought her

I didn't get pic of Santa stuff still set up :( Here is part of C's

More of C's (I forgot to take any of G's)

C loving on her dada

Such a daddy's girl

Thrilled to be in his lap

G trying on the jeans Santa brought him

The closest thing I got to taking a picture of G's Santa.  This was not until much later in the day once we had moved the table to the play room.

Favorite Friday!

My favorite time of year - Christmas!

I love, love, love Christmas!  I grew up with some very specific traditions around Christmas time and I always loved that part of it.  Now that I am all grown up (whether I want to be or not) I am trying to have some traditions for my kiddos to cherish.  Some of the traditions are the same ones I had growing up.  After all if I loved them maybe they will also. 

• One such tradition is always opening presents between family members on Christmas Eve.  This may seem silly to others.  Why does it matter when the presents are opened?  To me there are several reasons to do this.  1.  It spreads out the fun of Christmas.  2.  It makes both sets of presents special.  If Santa's presents were received the same time as those from mom and dad then the chances are G and C would not even know which ones came from who.  Of course, at their current ages this isn't such a big concern, but traditions are best when they start early (in my opinion).  3.  This way we can start another tradition.  G and C always get Christmas pj's as a present they open Christmas Eve.  

• Another tradition is that Santa sets up the presents unwrapped instead of wrapped.  I can remember coming out into the living room growing up and seeing the pile of presents that was mine and immediately seeing something that made me thrilled.  I know that some might like their child(ren) having to wait on that excitement until they rip the paper off, but to me the waiting part has already taken place at that point and it should be about nothing but pure ecstasy.

• Another tradition I HOPE we can have our children start that I did growing up is that each Christmas all 3 of us kiddos would get up and all come out to the living room together.  But before we could head out there we would get our beds made up (we never made our beds the rest of the year), brushed our teeth, and made sure everything was perfect.  Also we did this all at like 5 in the morning.  I have no idea why we did this, but it was something all of us wanted to do each year.  In this case the reason behind it is not important, just the fact that it felt right to us and made us feel like Christmas morning was really there.  I remember once my sister was married and out of the house it felt so strange to not have her there with us going to see what Santa had left us.  One change that I hope G and C will have over us is that I hope they will come out in their Chrismas pj's from the night before.  We always got completely dressed before coming out.

• One tradition we are doing that I did not do growing up is the Elf on the Shelf.  I know everyone knows about this tradition so I don't think I will go into it.  I will say, however, that so far our elf - Wiggles - has not had a positive effect on Gray (and obviously not Clara).  He doesn't get it yet and I wish I had waited 1 more year.

• Another tradition that we didn't always do growing up, but did happen most years.  I want G and C to always wake up in their own home on Christmas morning.  This is due to several reasons.  1. To me home is important.  That is where the kids will feel most, well at home.  At home they are free to completely be themselves.  2.  (Selfish reason) I do not want to share the special memories/time of Christmas morning with anyone else.  I love both sides of our family dearly, but I want Christmas morning to be just about the 4 of us.  3.  (Lazy reason) I do NOT want to haul Santa presents to another location and then haul them back home again!

I know that we will come up with more traditions as time goes, but for now I think that covers it.  For those that are worried about poor hubby in all this.  As I was typing this up I realized it was all about what I wanted and asked him if there were any traditions he wanted to have for Christmas that he had growing up and he said, "hrm....presents."  hehe  

Me

So I don't usually do posts about me, but I guess it is okay to post about myself every now and then :) 

I am proud to say I am doing pretty good on my weight.  I am not, however, doing so good in shape.  I started walking on the treadmill yesterday.  I am hoping to lose some around my belly.  We will see how it goes. 

Other then being a mom I am also a Tastefully Simple Independent Consultant.  I signed up to be a consultant not long before Clara was born.  I didn't really get started until January due to Clara's birth.  At my first party, the host decided to also sign up to be a consultant.  So I moved into leadership.  I now have 2 active consultants and another one who will hopefully be active soon.  I LOVE both my jobs - stay at home mom and TS consultant!  I am so blessed to be able to do both!

I hope to be able to update soon with a promotion for TS and also with some improvement in my mid section.

Clara

Okay so I thought posting about what Gray has been up to was hard, but I am pretty sure catching up the blog on Clara is far harder, but here goes!
She is getting to be less and less of a baby!  She is now 13 months old going on 13 years old.  She started walking a couple weeks before her 1st birthday and now acts as though she was never not able to walk.  She is very much a climber and is basically all around good with things that involvement.  She can say mama, dada, and bye-bye (her favorite),very plainly  She also says booh (book), dah (dog), duh (done), and uh (up).  She may have some more, but that is what I can think of currently.  She also signs milk, water, food, more, dog, and waves bye-bye.  She LOVES books!  She, however, is just now letting me read to her, and not always still.  She has for a while now been able to sit and "read" a book all by herself for a fairly long stretch of time. It is so sweet to see her sitting there with her book turning the pages and pointing at this or that on the page before turning to the next page.  Since I haven't read to her a whole lot (like I said she just started letting me) I think this shows she is very observant to have picked up pointing at stuff on the pages so quickly.  She also has shown her intelligence by really showing us she knows what we are saying. 
Several examples include:

• I can say let's go to your room and change your diaper and she walks to her room.
• Tonight I upset her and she said dada (that is what it sounded like through the cries) and I asked if she was going to go tell daddy on me.  She shook her head, climbed out of my lap and walked to Gray's room where Chris was.
• The other day Chris was trying to work and Clara had gone in there and he told her to go to the play room.  She looked at him with a funny look and then turned and went to the playroom.  
• Recently she was crying about being hungry and so as I am getting her food together Chris asked her if she was ready to eat and she went and laid down on the floor where he tends to take off her clothes before she eats. 

Sure do wish I could get my almost 3 year old to listen as well as she does :)  She doesn't talk a whole lot, but she sure does seem to understand most everything, including the word, "no."  She often falls on the floor crying when she is told no.  I don't mean when I yell at her I really do mean when I SAY no to her.  It is so funny.

Most of the time people comment on how happy of a little girl she is!  I almost always respond with, "until she isn't."  This is SO true.  She is the happiest little girl EVER until she isn't and then she lets you know about it!

A year of Clara:

January 2011 She looks like she is at an odd angle because she was still wearing her brace

February 2011 Smiling girl!

March 2011 Once she could roll over there was no keeping her on her back

April 2011 Easter weekend

May 2011 6 Months Pics!

July 2011 Standing (while holding on)

August 2011 This girl loves her some food!

September 2011 What a sweet face!

October 2011 She is absolutely loving her early birthday present!

November 2011 Little Bit is 1!

December 2011 Sporting the bow I made her

Gray

Gray is the most amazing little boy.  He is extremely intelligent, funny, and so stinkin' cute!  Don't get me wrong he can drive me absolutely bonkers, but I wouldn't trade him for anything.  He is currently in the "why" phase.  Oh MY goodness, am I ready for that phase to be OVER!  I will literally be answering one why and he will look at me and say, "why?"  I am certain he is not the first nor the last child to do this, but WOW....just WOW.

On another note, he has been very busy the last few months.  He has been in Kindermusik on Saturdays since August (I think).  Then he joined Soccertots a month or so ago.  He was going to that on Wednesdays.  Both Kindermusik and Soccertots are currently on Christmas break.  On top of those we are now in 2 different play groups.  The first of which we have been in since June and the second we just joined in November.  Most days we also find time for a little "preschool."  I don't have him in formal preschool, but he wanted me to teach him to read.  HE actually asked me if he could learn to read (whatever book he was holding) all by himself.  So I said I would start teaching him.  We are taking it slowly for the time being.  We do a letter, number, color, shape, and sight word each week.  Then we are also working on phonics.  I bought a book Teach Your child to Read in Just 10 Minutes a Day.  So far I have not gotten into using the book too much, but I have started planning a little how to use it.  Along with our letter for each week Gray learns a bible verse.  I know this is not for everyone, but I love that Gray is learning verses.  He has an amazing memory and I figure it is a good thing to practice using it.  We use this book for the weekly verses.  I also am using a lot from this blog.  I honestly have been struggling with thinking about when Gray is 5.  He just picks up on stuff SO fast and is such a clown that I worry when he goes to school that he will be bored and cut up.  I actually stopped working with him on stuff for a while due to this, but then I thought about it and even if I don't teach him anything he will still spend a lot of time bored.  So I have decided to teach him now since he enjoys learning and cross the school bridge when we get to it.  I have thought about homeschooling and it is still a possibility, but I am trying to just not worry about it for the time being.

Since I haven't been good about posting anything, much less pictures and it IS December here is a year in review of Gray.

January 2011 Painting with Apples

February 2011 Eating some of his 2nd Birthday Cake!

April 2011 Easter Weekend at Aunt Lisa's

 

May 2011 Posing for Professional Photos

                                             

July 2011 Being Mr. Silly

August 2011 Gray is 2 1/2!

September 2011 Just Chillin'

October 2011 Playing in the water table in OCTOBER

November 2011 Checking out his new scissors

      

  In less than 1 year's time he has matured SO much!  I love my Booger Bear more than I can ever say!