Christmas Festivities

Our Christmas this year was so fun and nice. We spent it with just our little family. This is the first year that we didn't go to family at least some point of the holiday. We did miss them though. We started out Christmas Eve making cookies for Santa. That night we had a special Family Home Evening where I attempted to teach the kids about the "true" meaning of Christmas which failed miserably. We watched the 5 minute Nativity story which was almost too long. We ended the night reading The Night Before Christmas and The Nativity Story. Claire had such a hard time falling asleep. I think she got out of bed for something or other about 10 times.

Claire got for Christmas a train set, dollhouse, and the first movie of Cars.

Kate got a cookie monster that talks and you feed him cookies, a zhu zhu pet with accessory and a semi truck with cars (she loves driving cars around the house)

For Christmas dinner we had ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green bean casserole. Great times had by all!

Christmas Tradition

So, I remember ever since I was little I liked to sleep out under the Christmas tree at least one night during the Christmas season. I decided to make this a family tradition. So, every night of the 23rd we will be dragging our mattresses out into the living room next to the Christmas tree. Last night was the first night of this tradition. We made popcorn and watched a movie and fell asleep to the glow of the lights. Kate actually slept in her own crib because at about 10:30 pm she was not settling down and crying deliriously so I decided we would all be much happier if she was in her own crib. Merry Christmas to all!

One Smart Little Cookie

So, our Salmon Library hosts an annual Christmas reading story hour at 7 pm and the kiddies are allowed to wear their pajamas and Santa comes at the end. So, when it was Claire's turn to sit on Santa's knee she hopped on up there and told him she wanted a train set and a dollhouse. She also informed him that she had been a good little girl. She came walking back to me and said, "Mom, I think he is just dressed like Santa, because he came early." She then informed me later as we were driving away, "Mom, I think that Santa lives in Salmon." I was completely shocked that came out of a 3 year old's mouth. She has got it way figured out already. My mother always said that Claire reminds her of the little girl on the movie "Miracle on 34th Street"...now I know why.

The Sweetest Girl

Me: "I have such pretty girls."
Claire: "And you're a pretty mommy and I love you."
Me: "Oh, you are so sweet. Thanks, Claire. I love you too. You are my favorite 3 year old in the whole world."
Claire: "How old are you?"
Me: "29"
Claire: "And you are my favorite 29 year old. And Kate is my favorite 1 year old."

Gingerbread House

Kate pretty much just threw all the little candies all over. I will probably be finding that candy til the 4th of July!

Homemade Fingerpaints

So, off of Pinterest I pinned this Homemade Finger paints recipe. It ended up to be pretty awesome and fun to make and obviously fun to paint with.

3 Tbs Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Cornstarch
2 cups Water

Combine all in saucepan. Heat until warm and paint thickens up. Put into little jars and add food coloring for desired colors.

This picture and the next one are Kate's "cheesy grin"

Ladybug House

In case you are wondering what is on the wall in the background. It is scotch tape. And it has been there for probably a good 3 months.

This is a picture of Claire with our ladybug house. We saw two of them flying around our kitchen table after dinner. I was so shocked to see them alive. I researched how to keep them alive through winter. I told Claire though to not get sad if they died because they probably wouldn't live very long. Anyone have any aphids they want to mail me? We can only hope they will live. At one point she named them Claire and Grace. Now they are Claire and Kate. Original isn't it? I guess it's kinda sweet though when you think about it.

A Day in the Life of Jennifer Judy

I know the last post was about Kate sleeping through the night. This was the night before last.

0230 Woke up with Kate
0630 Woke up with Kate
0745 Woke up to Claire saying, "Change my diaper." Got Kate out of bed. Changed her diaper. Put underwear on Claire.
0800 Made breakfast, Kate tore apart utensil drawer and ate dry cereal, turned on Strawberry Shortcake
0812 Dallin's friends rang doorbell, ran into bedroom to get decent
0850 Finished breakfast, collected eggs, cleaned kitchen
0900 Told kids to be nice, put Claire in timeout, Got ready for the day
1000 Asked Claire to get dressed 6 times, did their hair
1015 Went to library
1120 Lunch
1200 Took Claire to preschool
1225 Kate taking nap, did laundry
1245 Made beds
1255 Dusted
1330 Talked with Dallin
1400 Picked Claire up from preschool
1415 Grocery shopping
1515 Witnessed a wreck in the parking lot
1530 Put groceries away
1600 Felt grateful that Dallin changed Kate's poopy diaper without me asking him
1615 On computer
1630 Picked up Claire's room
1645 Mom being grumpy and Claire put her hand on my arm. This is our signal that I need to calm down because I am loosing it.
1646 Mom smiled and sat down and held Claire and told her I was sorry for being grumpy.
1709 Claire talked with Don on the phone
1730 Dallin cooked dinner, listening to music, kids dancing, fed chickens, cleaned spare room
1800 Ate dinner
1830 Found two ladybugs in our house, building a lady bug home with paper, leaves, food and water
1900 Cleaned kitchen
1908 Said goodbye to Dallin
1915 Watched How to Train a Dragon
1920 Told Claire she can't have any snacks because she didn't eat dinner, Claire cried
2000 Got ready for bed
2020 Read stories
2025 Said prayers
2030 Night Night time
2100 Picked up house
2130 Watched Glee
2330 Went to bed

Sleep Lady Challenge: Night 5

Okay people, Kate totally slept through the night last night!!!!!!! It only took her about 10 minutes to fall asleep and she did not wake up again until 0650!!! I better knock on wood; I don't want to jinx myself.

Sleep Lady Challenge: Night 4

So, apparently Kate slept fine at Diana and Shane's house. So, once again...they are awesome parents and I suck. :)

Last night was the first night at a new station. I now sit by the door. She had a harder time going to sleep last night. It took about 15 minutes...which I think is normal. She did wake up at 0230 and at 0630, but went to sleep again within 5 minutes.

Sleep Lady Challenge: Night 3

So, last night was the best night we have had so far. She went to bed within five minutes and didn't get up again until 0500. She then went to sleep again within 5 minutes and woke up at 0800. Maybe there is something to this process after all.

Thanksgiving and onto Christmas and Rollers

So, Thanksgiving was a huge success. We went to Dallin's family. The food was so delicious and the company was great too. Thanks so much Grandma and Grandpa Judy! Every year at Thanksgiving I am reminded of my special blessings that I hold dear to my heart such as family, my kids, Dallin, health and strength, every day that I get to have with my family, and Jesus Christ. I am indeed a very blessed woman.

Soon after Thanksgiving, like the day after, we put up our Christmas decorations. Something funny that Claire said that day. The one argument that Dallin and I got into that day was over Christmas lights. He wanted to fix the broken strand...I wanted to go buy new ones. When Dallin walked outside for something Claire said, "Aaahh...Daddy is wearing me out!" I thought that was pretty funny. I smiled and said, "Me too."

Isn't her hair getting so long!

I just got these sponge rollers for Claire. I remember my mom putting them in my hair. I felt a little nostalgia as I was rolling them into her hair.

Sleep Lady Challenge: Night 2

Kate went to sleep in 5 minutes. Big difference from night 1. She only got up once during the night and it was later...at 0430. But she was wide awake at that time. I stayed sitting by her crib for a good 40 minutes! Finally I gave up and went back to bed. She did too eventually. The whole time I was sitting by her she was crawling from one end of the crib to the other, babbling/talking, making funny noises and laughing at herself, and jumping in the crib. She was wired.

Sleep Lady Challenge: Night 1

So, my precious little Kate is still not sleeping through the night! And in case you forgot how old she is, she will be 17 months in about 2 weeks. That's right. She is knocking on the door of 1 1/2 years. Where have I failed? Some moms have their children sleeping through the night by 3 months old! I am a failure. I have deprived my baby of self soothing and have given her negative associations, such as a bottle, to get her to go to sleep, even at 0300. The phrase sleeping like a baby...not so much in our house.

I got desperate and bought this book:









According to Amazon reviewers it was almost 5 stars. Apparently I am not the only failure as a parent out there. Her system is basically this: You sit by your child's crib as they are falling asleep until they are asleep. You do this for 3 days. Then you gradually move away from the crib. Each station you spend three days/nights there until your precious one falls asleep, until you eventually cannot be seen by your baby anymore. You do this at nap time, bedtime, and middle of night time. Last night was night 1 for me. I sat by her crib for about 30 minutes. The first 15 minutes she kept standing up and leaning over to me. Then, during the night I got up at 0300 and sat by her crib for about 10 minutes. And again at 0645, which didn't really work because I think she was just up for the day. Keep in mind that anything before 0700 is still night time for me. Anything before that is just way too early to get up. She did not have a bottle at all though. So, succes for night 1. I will keep you posted on the other nights. Hopefully this book produces bright eyes and not bags under my eyes.