home for the holidays Dec 23-Jan 1

DEC 23: We flew into Dallas and then drove straight to Austin. We found killer plane flights roundtrip from Dallas that we couldn't pass up and my parents were nice enough to let us borrow one of their cars. The kids did well on the plane and then fell asleep in the car. Got there late but ready to start the holidays!

pre-Christmas at home

DEC 23: We had a mini Christmas at home before we left town to celebrate the real thing in Austin. Santa just couldn't figure out quite how to fit some of the bigger toys in his sled to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house so he made an early stop just for us, and no one was complaining. There is a really special feeling that comes when you feel like your kids got just the gift they wanted and they love it as much as you imagined they would.

They got a new kitchen and play food/accessories and Nolan got a rocking horse and car things and also a trike from Grammy and Papa. We opened a few other gifts that were too big to travel and had a lot of fun playing with our new toys. It took Nolan a while to actually get on the horse to ride it. Mostly because it sings this little song and his mouth opens and closes and he was mesmerized by that and kept putting his fingers in his mouth. So he would climb on then when the music would start he'd get off and go to see his mouth.

 
 After presents we went to IHOP for breakfast and the kids loved all the food there, it was probably the best they have eaten at any restaurant. Nolan kept wanting to do "nosy kisses" and who could ever turn that down?!

We definitely had our share of a white Christmas as it had been snowing almost non-stop the past couple days and there was plenty outside. We took RZR rides and played in the snow a little during the day.

Dec 18-22

DEC 18: Caitlin had her in-class Christmas Dance Performance. Santa came to watch them and they did two dance numbers. The first was a tap to "Up on the Housetop" with their candy canes and antlers. Caitlin was spot on and did a great job. Then they each took a turn saying "Merry Christmas Santa my name is__" And Caitlin totally did it. (I was surprised since she's been so shy around Santa, she wasn't feeling as brave later when i tried to take her picture with him.) Then they did a ballet dance in their adorable gigantic stockings. Not many things cuter than a little girl in a gigantic stocking! I guess she didn't love being in there though because she didn't really do the dance until they dropped the stockings and stepped out. Then they sang "We wish you a merry Christmas". I absolutely LOVE watching Caitlin dance. She is such a performer.

That night we went to the Voice Male concert with Matt and Cassie. They are an acapella group which (i think) makes them more exciting to watch because you have to try to pick out who is signing what. It was a fun concert, full of Christmas cheer.

DEC 19: Vivint. Solar had their Christmas party and rented out Provo Beach Resort for a few hours. The kids were in heaven with hot dogs, unlimited games and endless rides on the carousel. So glad to have Paul working at such a great company where he enjoys his job and the people he works with.

DEC 20: Paul and I had a date night with the Hansens and went to a movie and dessert.
DEC 21: Paul went hunting in the morning and helped get Jeff a cow elk. The kids and I played at a friends house and the snow fell all day long.
That night we took the kids to Chick Fila for dinner and the play scape (super high class you know) then came back put the kids to bed and Paul and I watched a Christmas movie by the fire and the Christmas tree.. perfect.
DEC 22: Christmas Sunday: Caitlin said her dress had "sparkly flowers that looked like mints" on it, Nolan's first time to wear a bow tie (the neck constriction is a tricky one, he didn't love it but he left it on) and Paul was in his new navy suit. Obviously calls for a family pic. which called for gummy bears as bribery.

Ugly Sweater Party

DEC 16: Ugly sweater party. We made it a family party this year and everyone got festive! We had food and treats and then a couple activities for the kids. There were Christmas coloring pages and snowmen to decorate. Then we made Christmas trees out of frosting and sprinkles and played "pin the ornament on the tree" (felt tree) I think the kids had a lot of fun. The adults visited and played a few Christmas trivia games at the end. We had a really fun group of people and lots of cute kiddos it was a great way to spend the evening.

Dec 8-15

DEC 8: The kids brought home from church a cute stable picture and stickers to complete it. We had a little family night and talked about the table and all the special people that were there then we sang the primary Nativity Song and as we got to each person they got to add their sticker to the page. They loved it and it was a fun way to concentrate on each one. Caitlin kept calling that camel the "turtle horse".

 DEC 9: We went to the Cedar Hills holiday party for Family Home Evening and they had some cute crafts and treats which the kids loved. They also had Santa there.... which the kids did not love. Actually Nolan didn't really care but Caitlin was in hysterics as I tried to put her on his lap. I may or may not have rushed it a little. Santa fail. Caitlin LOVES Santa in pictures or books or movies or just talking about him but I guess the real deal was still a little much to handle. Yup:

My parents came into town for the week because Chelsea graduated from Weber on Friday with her bachelor's. Very proud of her for seeing it through amidst being married, working full time and having a baby!

Me and the kiddos got sick this week. At this time of year you feel like it's inevitable. We had a myriad of things going on.. runny nose, cough, sore throat, headache, fever. Everyone in their own variety so we laid low for a few days and enjoyed lots of snuggling and movies. And tylenol.

DEC 14: Paul and I got to go skiing with my dad and Jordan in the morning. We went to Sundance and it was my first time for the season. It was a little colder than I anticipated but other than that it went well. I love skiing with Paul, even though I totally slow him down.

That night we got together with the rest of the family and went to Zoo Lights at Hogle Zoo. It was still freezing but everyone bundled. The lights were fun to look at, all in different animal shapes. Caitlin was a little disappointed by the lack of "real animals" but we did get to see some cute ones indoors. Nolan loved everything. He loved walking around on his own and having us chase him everywhere, he loved pointing at the lights and saying "ligh! ligh!" and also seeing the real animals. We saw some little sand cats and he kept saying "nowm nowm" (=meow) and pacing back and forth in front of the window.  

One fun tradition we are doing this year is reading a Christmas book a day. Every night the kids get to unwrap a book and read it before bed. They really look forward to it and it's been fun to have a variety of books. Caitlin especially is really starting to catch on to the magic of Christmas and the stories about Santa.

DEC 15: Sunday morning I got to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Concert with my preants. It was beautifully done and I just love Christmas music in any form. Special to be there with my parents. Later that night we went up to Ogden for a family party at the Callisters. We had dinner and played with cousins and had a cute gift exchange and also celebrated Grandpa Gottfredson's birthday.

Nolan: a year and a half

This is a boy that I love to love. Nolan is kind of a celebrity in his own rite because he has never been somewhere that people don't just fall in love with him. Oh Nolan Man. This buster boy is such a treat. He is happy and such a cutie I can't even stand it. He is absolutely impossible to stay mad at and never gives me much of a reason to get mad in the first place. Don't get me wrong-- no child is perfect! He is sneaky and very busy and often opinionated but he is also fun and adorable and one little smile from him and you can't help yourself.

Can't believe he is now closer to being 2 than 1, or than a baby! He is growing up way too fast and now that he is 18 months he is really starting to act older too.
-He recently got 4 more teeth which are (I think) his last for awhile. His mouth is pretty full and as always teething was hard for him.
-He is walking, climbing, and running everywhere. Nothing holds him back... not even a boot or a disciplining parent. It seems that he has healed completely from breaking his foot and even when it was broken he never let that slow him down. He is also such a wanderer. He will just walk around and roam and never even looks back. I have nightmares that I will lose him one day because he will simply wander off and find new toys and friends.
-He loves: his family- I can tell when he hasn't had enough male interaction because the moment Paul come in he is all over him and obsessed and wants to wrestle and tickle and be crazy. He loves loves loves his daddy! He also loves his big sissy. Caitlin is a very good big sister and they are buddies. They play together really well and he always wants to be where she is and usually she is the first person he wants to look for in the morning. He also loves his mommy. When it all comes down to it if he is sad or needing something he wants me. And I like it that way.

cars- he loves his "caa"s and makes them say "vroom vroom" everywhere. Sometimes he really gets in the zone and he will drive them around and off of things for a long time. He also has a few trucks that he likes to load up and gives everyone drivers.
horses- he LOVES horsies. He will say "hoyse" whenever he sees one and gets really excited and always looks for them in his books.
music and dancing- he'll get up and hold his own beside his dancing queen sister and he's got his own moves to prove it. He loves music and singing but so far the only song he will sometimes sing along to is "Once there was a snowman" and he raises his arms and says "tall tall tall"
babies- he is obsessed with babies. He loves his little cousin Zoey and is usually very gentle and sweet with them. The other day at the doctor's office I was looking down filling out paperwork and he had gone right over to a baby in her little carseat and had ducked his head in and was saying "hi baby!" Whenever he is around other kids his size or smaller he just walks right up to them and says "hi" and then gets really close and you can tell he wants to touch them or do something but he is not sure what to do so he just puts his face really close to them and has his hands to his side and opens and closes his fists and waits for me to tell him what to do. Usually at this point the other child either runs away or says hi back and if they are open to it Nolan wants to give them a hug. He loves making friends.
looking at books -You have to catch him in the right mood in order for this to last for a long time but he does really like looking at books at being read to. And I will often find him looking at a book himself and pointing to and talking about all the animals or whatever he sees.

hats- I've mentioned this before but he loves hats. This is his form of dress up and he wants to try on hats all the time. He will wear them for awhile too. And he has certain ones that he likes more than others but he loves putting things on his head.

-At 15 months he was behind for the communication portion of his age survey at the doctor. At 18 months he is not behind at all. He says a lot of things and although we don't always understand him right away he is way more determined to communicate and be understood. He only talks when he wants to though. He doesn't usually just repeat things when we tell him to. He does understand a lot and I think he store things for when he wants to use them. He is also amazing at ignoring. We will say something that we know he can hear and understand and he can completely ignore us. Watch out for when he is a teenager!
-He knows a lot of animal noises, and lots of animals, a few body parts, mama, daddy, "tayten" (Caitlin), and "papa" which he seems to use for most grandparents. He also says "baby" and "beeee" for Zoey. He also knows how to fold his arms and say "amen" for prayers. He knows lots of other words too like book, please, thank you, drink, treat, all done, Santa, "ho ho ho", hi, bye bye, nigh nigh, baba, and probably lots of others I'm forgetting.
-He will throw fits. He is kick and scream and writhe around and he is so big and strong it's hard to contain! He doesn't do it too often but it usually comes on if you take away something he wants or take him out of somewhere he wants to be. This age is hard because there is a need for discipline but still a bit of a communication gap.
-He is a morning person. I think he would be an early rise if I let him be but I've pushed back for this long so now he usually will sleep in until 8 AM
-If I got a dollar anytime someone commented on his eyes or cheeks his college tuition would already be paid for. But of course I agree that he does have the most beautiful eyes and the cutest cheeks.
-His hair is getting long again and he totally has a mullett. I keep thinking it will become a cute shag but it isn' growing evenly at all. Just waiting to get anther haircut from Aunt Christine!
-He likes to act like he's sneaking up on people and then say "boo!" or "raar!" and sometimes you even get a "tic tic tic" tickle.
-His 18 month old stats from the doctor: He is plateauing as far as weight but still getting taller!

Nolan's stats from his 18 month check up. He's looking great!

Weight: 28 lbs (90%)

Head: 18.75" (57%)

Length: 34" (93%) (He's grown 2 inches in the past 3 months) 

Nolan had his first time in nursery on the 1st and did great! No surprise there, he is very independent and just went right in and started playing without hesitation.

favorite things party

I'm so lucky to have such wonderful people and examples in my life. I wanted to do a fun girl's night so I decided to throw a "Favorite Things Party" We had dinner and desserts and got to sit and chat and eat and just catch up and have fun. I had each girl bring 4 of their favorite ($5) things to present then we drew names and took turns choosing items to exchange. I love Christmas parties because they require very few extra decorations! My house is already decked out. I did decorate a paper bag for each guest with their name to put their gifts in and then just set the table using all my christmas dishes! People brought fun gifts including: lots of nail things, socks, favorite foods, cooking things, and beauty supplies. We had a good variety and it was fun to pick things out. Mostly it was fun to enjoy a girl's night with some of my nearest and dearest. 

DEC 5: The weather Lately has been FREEZING actually, below freezing. We are talking high of 10 degrees. We got a big snow and it has stayed everywhere. But, the sun has been shining which is nice. Having the sun out makes you feel like you can be out too, just bundled up if you are. I trade babysitting with a neighbor so about once a week we get to have Dalton and Ryder come play (ages 3 and 5) and I knew we needed to get out of the house but stay indoors so we went to the Dinosaur Museum! I felt pretty brave taking 4 kids there by myself but it was fun and they loved it and had a good time. They spent at least 25 minutes digging in the sand for bones at the end.

DEC 7: We got to have a fun snow day. It snowed that night before and morning so there was plenty of fresh powder. We had friends over and drove around the RZR, pulled a sled behind it and the boys built a (fairly unsuccessful) jump. Caitlin loved sledding and Nolan unfortunately took a really long nap and missed out on the snow. Then we had lots of hot chocolate and warmed by the fire. That night we had a fun date night with the Hansens.

Christmas Elves

DEC 5: The Christmas Elves came! The evening before we read a cute little story called "The Littlest Elf" about Ollie the Elf and how he spreads Christmas cheer. And what do you know the very next morning Ollie had come to give us some cheer! He left slippers and pjs for both the kids and a play nativity set and a letter from Santa.


The Nativity set has been one of my favorite things so far. Both kids love playing with it and we tell the story of Jesus' birth multiple times a day.

December 1-7

Christmastime is here! And it'll go by in a flash (especially when Thanksgiving isn't until Nov. 28th). I wasted no time in getting my Christmas decorations up and starting off our Christmas festivities.

Have to have some that are ok for the kids to get to... because they will! Although my kids have done pretty well so far. Nolan has gotten into the tree a few times, hence the sparsity and non-breakable ornaments towards the bottom!

 
DEC 2: For Family Home Evening we went to thanksgiving point and had dinner, visited a couple of Santa's reindeer, and then drove through their lights. The kids loved it all, even though the lights were pretty short but that made it a perfect week night activity.

neither here nor there

November instagrams:

joys of motherhood: november

-Caitlin continues to say the funniest things, and I really have no idea where she gets most of it. This month she has said and used correctly: otherwise, or else, perhaps, super, I suppose, and interesting.
Others phrases that she likes to use but often uses incorrectly: "I'm in a sticky situation", "I'm very disappointed", and "That's very impressive!"

-Nolan continues his daily shenanigans (it's really no wonder he barely made it past being one without an accident). He is completely fearless.

-The other day I was vacuuming with the big central vac when all of a sudden Nolan walks out pushing the Dyson! He wanted in on the vacuuming in a big way. We keep in a a little closet thing that has a drop down to get it out in a corner of the laundry room so I was actually very shocked and impressed he was able to get it out on his own!

-One night when Paul was out of town Cassie and I got together to make some Christmas decorations. We told her we were going to do some CRAFTS. She was talking to Paul and said "Yah Cassie is coming over and her and Mommy are gonna do some CRAPS" haha I was cracking up.

-Caitlin likes to do "performances" for us. She either dances or sings, and usually it becomes a combination of the two. She asked if she could sing us one of her very own songs. She proceeded to sing this song "When I was born (sweetly) ... I SHOOK MY BUM! (shouting)" then carried on the bum shaking and singing other lyrics like "When i was a little girl I lived in my castle..." and "These are my treasures" (taking about a little bucket of random toys she was carrying) Like I said.. I don't know where she gets this stuff.
-The other day in the store the clerk askedCaitlin:
"How old are you?"
C: I'm three
"And how old is your brother?"

C: Seven cents
-Nolan loves minnie I think more than Mickey. He totally has a crush.
-Nolan is obsessed with socks. Either putting them on or taking them off, whichever is available at the moment. Lately he has wanted socks over his pajamas.

-Nolan is also obsessed with hats. He loves wearing them and often walks into our closet and demands for us get down Paul's hats for him. And he has specific ones he likes. And he lets you know if the option you're giving him is not the one he wants.
-Nolan often wants to go see the "vroom vroom" when he's in the garage. He runs over and climbs inside and pretends to drive until I get freezing and drag him inside kicking and screaming.
-I've had to tape the garbage shut a few times this month because Nolan will open it and find food in there and eat it, so gross.

-Potentially embarrassing moment: The girl at the drive-thru had those big gauge earrings and a nose ring and Caitlin giggles and says "look at her silly earring!" She didn't hear.

-And sometimes you just gotta cuddle up and watch a show. And doing that with Daddy is pretty much the best ever. (Notice how Caitlin totally matches any emotion shown on the TV)

-I would say Nolan is all boy. But he also wants to do whatever his sister does. So this creates some interesting dichotomy in his life. For example: Naked, pushing a lawnmower while wearing Cinderella high heels. And he couldn't have been happier about it.