Christmas

Well, Christmas this year was great! Allthough it was a very small Christmas and we were not able to give as much as we would have liked. We feel very blessed because Isaac still has a wonderful job that allows me to be home with my children. Also, we had a lot of fun because our children enjoyed it so much and it was so fun to see their joy. Also, we spent Christmas with my family and it was the first time since high school that all 3 of my brothers and I were all home for the holidays and we were all with our spouses or fiance, so there were a lot of us! But for some reason, I never took pictures of any of the adults, just the kids. I guess I'm just too crazy about them. Next time I will do better about taking pictures of everyone. Anyway Christmas was really a fun time and we feel blessed to be surrounded by family, as we celebrated our Savoirs birth. Here are a few highlights....

It started with trying out the Christmas P.J.'s and the reindeer antlers. Abby didn't like them to much.

She didn't like the "Baby's First Christmas" Hat either.

I did get one good picture. And it reminded me of a picture of Benjamin's first Christmas.

Yep, this is Benjamin on his first Christmas. They are brother & Sister aren't they?

Here's Abby in her Santa Dress

On the 22nd I was a baking fool and made these awesome Cinimon Roll rings. They turned out great!

I had planned on making 6 but after 4 I was exhausted!

The final product!

On the 23rd my mother-in-law came over and we made Tamales! This is a Latin tradition and we love it! She has the best Tamale recipie ever!

Abby doing what she does best, climbing around under the table

Allthough we ate a ton of Tamales, we did give some away too. Here are the cute Tamale packages I made!

After the Tamales were done we opened gifts with my in-laws. This is one is from Mom and Dad, we let them open it early because we didn't want to haul it up to Logan. Benjamin loved ripping the wrapping all the way off and Abby went strait to playing with it.

So I saw this awesome shirt that said "Whatever Santa doesn't bring me Grandma will" I wish I could have bought it because it is sooooo true! Benjamin got this awesome bike (his first) from Tito & Nena

Abby opening her present from Tito & Nena

Christmas Eve started out with a quick visit with my BFF Marie. Kellen and Benjamin were soooo happy to see each other again. Jane was pretty excited as well. ;)

Kellen showing off the little gift Benjamin got him.

Then later on Christmas Eve, Peter and Benjamin built a fort out of the Christmas presents and my mom's quilting sticks. Yes I know that is a lot of presents but when you get all four of my siblings together with spouses and my two step-siblings with spouses and all the grandkids, one gift each adds up to a lot of gifts!

Benjamin really liked the fort

Someone's peeking out a window!

Inside the fort!

Christmas morning, when Benjamin saw that his stocking was full he exclaimed, "Wow! He (Santa) did it!" Yes he did, Benjamin. ;)

"Why do the keep putting this dumb hat on me!"

Again.... "What santa doesn't bring me, Grandma will!" Benjamin got this awesome train. He and his cousin Jonny really loved playing with it.

And our trip to Grandmas for Christmas ended with Benjamin, Isaac and I getting haircuts. Thank you Grandma Rosa for making Christmas so special! We love you!

Ward Christmas Party

Well, unfortunately I only got this one picture. But aren't they cute with Santa?! So yes, our ward Christmas party was on Friday. We had a dinner, a program, Santa, and a Dance! A Dance? That's right! I love Spanish wards. If there's a party, there's a dance! It was fun, the kids had a blast! Here is some video of them dancing. Enjoy!

I'm Loving It!

O.K. so I'm not "loving" the food. All though I don't hate it either. But I am loving the play place. Especially in the winter when I can't take my kids to the park. McDonald's play place is the perfect place to go when Benjamin needs to run and jump and climb. He loves it! It is now one of his favorite places. He has yet to discover Happy Meals, and hopefully he never will. He is Happy just playing in the play place and eating a cheeseburger. Anyway one day I went with my friend Yadira and her kids and our kids loved hanging out with each other! And she brought her camera. So here are some pictures!

"I'm ready for my close up!"

Going in

Climbing up

Can you see me?

At the top!

Aaron comes down the slide!

Benjamin poses at the bottom

Abby had fun as well!

Pre-School

Yep, Benjamin is in Pre-school! I wasn't planning on putting him in Pre-school until next year, but a bunch of my Mommie friends from my Spanish ward got together and started a Co-op Pre-school. And a few of them started bringing their 2 1/2 year olds and so I joined in. It is 2 hours twice a week. Because it is co-op each mom teaches once a month and brings all the supplies for that day. They start with a song and prayer, then have class which consists of story time, the letter of the day, snack, play time, lesson, & craft. Honestly, it's a glorified Play Group. A good 45 minute chunck is just free play. And the best part is that it is all in Spanish! Benjamin just loves it and asks almost every day if it is time to go to the "Escuelita." I also, really enjoy teaching! I think I might have found a new future proffesion. We'll see. One thing I really loved was that the pre-school met above a bookstore which was across the parking lot from my Gym, so on Mondays I either taught or assisted and on Wednesday's I went running. Which was nice because I needed to do something either Tues. or Wed. so that I didn't go 2 days in a row without working out. But unfortunately the fire marshal is being totally un-cooperative and told us we could not meet there. So now we are meeting at one of the mom's home until we figure out another place to meet. But it is still so fun for Benjamin and I'm excited for him to continue and I love it because when all the mom's take turns.... it's free! Yay! Anyway here are some pictures...

Benjamin started the week before Halloween, so he got to participate in the Halloween party. Here is his paper pumpkin craft.

After the party the kids went on a fieldtrip to a Dentist office. Here is his buddy Aaron brushing the dragon's teeth.

Benjamin trying out the chair

All the kids in the lobby for a pic.

Here is a turtle he made on the day he learned about Turtles!

Opening song

Abby likes Pre-school too!

Here he is with his buddy Dillon showing there turkey's

He was pretty proud of his turkey

Here they are acting out the Nativity. "Mary & Joseph & Baby Jesus"

Wise Men, Sheperds, Mary, Joseph, & Angel

I love this, when we started snapping photos, Benjamin totally stood out in front to make sure he was in the picture.

Grateful

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. However because I cooked so much and was so busy, I forgot to take pictures. Oh well. We had Thanksgiving at my house and we shared it with my wonderful In-laws. Then on Saturday we went to Logan to spend Sat & Sun with my family. It's so fun now that my brother's are all married or engaged, there's so many of us around the kitchen table now. My mom prepared a great Sunday (Thanksgiving) meal. So to celebrate Thanksgiving I wanted to list a few things I am grateful for.

I am grateful for....

Family. My beautiful children, my wonderful husband, my sweat Mother (who always seems to know when I need her help), & my darling in-laws, who have always showed so much love towards me.

My Savior Jesus Christ and his restored church on the earth today. There is so much peace and hope that comes with knowing about the plan of salvation and my role in that plan.

Health. I have healthy children, I'm healthy enough to raise them, and Isaac is healthy enough to go out and provide for us.

Isaac's job. So many people are continuing to get layed off in these hard economic times and Isaac still has his job and it pays the bills an enables me to be home with my kids.

Motherhood. I know I all ready said I was grateful for my children. But how grateful I am that I can have children and have chosen to have children. You may know what life is all about, but you don't really GET IT, until you have children. What a wonderful experience motherhood is.

Food. There are a lot of people out there who don't have it, and I do.

American citizenship and all the freedoms this wonderful country has to offer.

Music and all the talented people who create it.

Friends, new and old. What a blessing good friends and friendships are.

You! yes you, I am grateful that you care enough about me to read my blog. Thanks!

My Heavenly Father who gives me all these reasons and things to be grateful for. He is the source of all the good in my life.

Well, there is so much more to be grateful for but I don't want my posts to be tooo long. ;) I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember that gratitude is a key component to happiness.

9 Months and WALKING!

I know I just did the post about all her milestones in her 8th month.... but today Abby turned 9 months AND... took her first steps. So she is officially "walky-talky." It was at Isaac's parents house. I was walking her around and she was holding on to just one of my fingers, when all of a sudden she let go and walked strait to her daddy! Then we flipped her around and she walked to me. And of course I did not have my camera. But luckily when we got home she still wanted to do it. So here's the video. Enjoy!

8 Month Milestones

Abby is 8 months and will be 9 months on the 15th! I usually only do baby posts for 3, 6, 12 months. But I had to post for this one because she hit so many milestones! This, the 8th month, she started crawling. She also started standing on her own and cruising! She also got her first two teeth. And... she said her first word! She actually has been saying it for about 3 weeks now and she now says 3 words. So guess what her first word was??? ELMO! Blast that Elmo! But she now says Mama & Dada, so that is good. But Elmo is deffinately her favorite word and she says it all the time! At the end is some super cute video of her saying it. We had Elmo on the T.V. and that is why she is saying it.

Here's a picture where you can kind of see her new 2 front teeth

Also, a quick update on Benjamin is that he does soooo well with her. He doesn't get jeleous at all ( and I know this is not normal) and he worries about her and always is checking on her to make sure she is o.k. and they even play together now. And when that happens I feel soooo glad that I had them so close together! That is the reason I had them so close together, so they could play together and give me a few moments of time to do my own things. It is wonderful! So... below are some pictures of the kids that my friend took when we had the kids at the park on a beautiful Indian Summer day. We always have fun together because her kids are the same age as my kids.

Abby with her "eskimo" sweater. She loves the swings

Samantha

Benjamin loves the swings

His Best Buddie Aaron

On the Slide

Boys will be Boys