And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,

Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?

"It came without ribbons! It came without tags!

"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"

And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!

"Maybe Christmas," he thought "doesn't come from a store.

"Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!"

-"How the Grinch Stole Christmas", Dr. Seuss

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Silent Night! Holy Night!

Son of God, Love's pure light

Radiant beams from Thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord at Thy birth

Jesus, Lord at Thy birth

4 Months

Four months old on Christmas Eve... how wonderful is that?!

We LOVE this sweet girl!!!

Waiting...

We had an absolutely delightful morning!

(Did you sense the sarcasm in that statement?!)

It all startes at the tire place. We left the house as soon as Caroline woke up, just so we could get there first thing. I brought a bottle to feed her and we headed out. My front tire had a slow leak, and the place I bought my tires will repair or replace them at no cost for the the life of the tires, and rotate them for free. I also have a lifetime alignment, so I figured that since we were there I would go ahead and have it all done. He said there was no one in front of me so I shouldn't have to wait for long...

An hour later, he came to me with the 500 other things they want to fix, I passed on that, and he said that my car would be right up. I got the kids all bundled up and ready to go, and waited... for 45 minutes. Apparently, the technician had taken all his time telling me what needed to be done, and hadn't actually done what I came in for. Wonderful!

Then it was off to the courthouse. We are flying to Florida next week, and I realized that I didn't have a birth certificate for Caroline. Let me firat say that it was 18 degrees while I was running all these errands this morning. We parked at the courthouse and went to go in the way I always have (just a few steps from the Rester of Deeds)... they don't let you in that way anymore. Perfect! I was just holding Caroline so I would n't have to carry her seat and Jackson was walking(doddling) along behind me and I realize that the was we have to go in now is up about 5 flights of stairs in the freezing cold and wind. Then we have to go through security, where I have to take off all our coats and hats and get us all through metal detectors, then get on an elevator to get down to the Register of Deeds. Once we got there, it was the first time today that we didn't have to wait. They were wonderful and we were on our way. We were able to leave out the door that we weren't able to come in.

Then we met Amy and her mom, Charlotte, for lunch and that was really nice. Now that its over and I've gotten everything done, its all good, but this morning I was ready to call it quits!

And just because every post can use pictures of sweet, smiley girls, here you go...

I just can't ever get enough!

Christmas Hats

My good friend, Jennie crochets beautifully. SHe made an afghan for Caroline when she was born, and for Christmas she made us the cutest hats.

Caroline looks so cute in hers that I rarely take it off and Jackson LOVES his. The one she made for me is so cute, too. Its purple with a big white flower on it. I need to have Cameron take a picture of me.

Thanks, Jennie!!!

Fist Eater

Caroline has a very bad habbit...

She loves to eat her hand... not just a finger or two, but her entire fist. I'm trying to get her to suck on a pacifier because when it comes time to get ris of it, thats alot easier than cutting her hand off to keep her from sucking it. Every time I put her pacifier in she immediately takes it out and inserts her fist. Its pretty funny, but I'm always fighting with her hands.

Cameron was watching her the other morning while I got ready to go visiting teaching, and when i came out of our room this is how my Caroline looked...

I don't know if you can tell, but the pacifier is taped to her mouth. Ha!

Puke, puke and more puke!

We've had a ittle bit of a sick bug around here.

On Tuesday night, Jackson was up twice and we just put him back to bed both times. He then woke up at 5:30 on Wednesday morning and threw up in our bed. When we went back to his room we realized there was throw-up in his bed and realized that's why he had been up in the night. He ran a fever yesterday (thank goodness for Tylenol) and took a good long nap. He was doing alright and then last night as I was walking out to the door to go to the tanning bed for my 15 minutes of "I'm done being a mama" time I hugged Jackson "bye-bye" and he threw up all over the place. He had just eaten a twizzler and I'm having rouble getting the red out of my carpet. I would have given anything for hard wood floors last night as I was scrubbing puke out of my carpet. He went to bed fine last night and has been just great today! THANK GOODNESS!!!

Today Caroline woke up a fever and has been throwing up, but hopefully since Jackson's only lasted for a day, hers will too!

I know he didn't feel good, but I can't help but love these moments of stillness

Even sick, she's as sweet as usual!

Sleepy Girl

Yesterday I was feeding Caroline before her nap and Jackson was eating lunch in his highchair. He needed to get down so I got up to get him and sat Caroline in the rocker that we were sitting in. When I came back to finish feeding her after cleaning Jackson up, this is what I found...

Silly Boy

The other night Jackson was being goofy at bedtime so I had to snap a picture...

This one was taken at Chick-fil-A. Jackson loves "Chic-na-yay". He was actually being a little naughty and wouldn't come out. This is him laying on one of the landings, and even though I was a little mad at him, he's just too cute!

Presents for Preemies

I am constantly amazed at my friend Amy, and the strength that she has shown through such a difficult time.

She decided to start a foundation in honor of Emma and Josh called "Presents for Preemies" while will give gifts to premature babies in the NICU on holidays when they are not able to be home with their families.

She also wrote a book telling Emma and Joshs story. All the proceeds from that will also go to "Presents for Preemies".

I am so impressed that she has taken her energy and used toward something so positive and something that will touch so many other lives.

To keep up with Amy's story, to buy one of her books, or donate to her foundation, visit her at:

www.myspace.com/amyandryan

These are the 120 tags I made for the bears that Amy already has to deliver to the hospitals. I am so glad that I am able to be apart of such a wonderful cause.

Yum Yum

Just in case you ever wanted to know (and you know who you are), there is a Yum Yum is Wuzzleville...

Thank you, Wow Wow Wubzy for carrying on this delicious tradition. :)

My Very Own Mr. Wonderful

Several years ago, as a gag gift for Christmas, mom gave Cameron a Mr. Wonderful Doll.

You press his hand and he says things like:

"Here, why don't you take the remote. As long as I'm with you, I don't care what we watch."

"We're lost, I think I'll pull over and ask for directions."

"Can't your mother stay another week?"


Jackson has recently discovered the doll and thinks it is hilarious and has turned into my own real life Mr. Wonderful. He now walks around the house saying...

"Can we just cuddle tonight?"

It's Beginning to Look alot like Christmas

... and smell like it too!

When we went over to David and Leda's house the other weekend, I walked in and it smells so good... I walked into the kitchen and discovered Leda's trick...

Simmering on her stovetop was a pot of sliced oranges, cinnamon sticks, cloves and a bay leaf.

So I went home and made my own...



And my whole house smells like Christmas. She told me you can keep adding water and it will last for a couple weeks. It is sooooo Yummy!!!

And speaking of looking like Christmas, we got our Christmas tree this year from the same people we've been getting our tree from since the Christmas I was pregnant with Jackson. They know us when we come on the lot... they have loved watching Jackson grow up and were happy to see our little bundle of pink this year.

Jackson had so much fun running around the lot... he wouldn't stay still long enough for any pictures.

He wasn't so sure about the chain saw trimming the bottom of the tree

Miss Caroline stayed nice and warm in her prety pink bunting

And the finished product; decked out with almost 1,000 pretty white lights...

And my favorite part of our Christmas decorations this year...

I LOVE everything about Christmas and so of course I want my children to as well. This year I found some cheap little Christmas trees so they each have a tree in their room. It might be silly, but its fun!

Jackson loved decorating his tree and won't let us turn it off at night. He sleeps with it on, and every mornignhe tells me about his "krick-kris" tree.

And of course my girl had to have a pink tree with green balls to match her pink as pink as pink bedroom.

Quilt for Caroline

A lady at church just gave me this beautiful baby quilt she made for Caroline... I absolutely love it and Jackson and Caroline love to lay on and watch TV. Yes, Caroline watches TV. If the TV is on and she anywhere in the room she will totally crane her neck around just to sneak a peak.

Jackson Man

Since my last post was devoted to my girl, I thought I could also brag on Jackson for a minute... He is such a special boy. I know he's mine, but I think he is just wonderful. He is so funny and makes me laugh every day. He wants to learn so much and I love seeing him learn new things. He remembers everything and he says and does things that I don't know where he learned them from. I can't believe how big he is... he's going to be three before we know it.

pretending to be night-night in Caroline's seat

this is him on Thanksgiving Sunday... he looked so cute, but of course, would not let me take a picture

being silly in Caroline's swing

We have ventured into the world of baby food with Miss Caroline. Jackson loves getting out all her little bowls and spoons and setting up dinner. "Mama, eat dinner"

3 Months (and-a-half by now)

My sweet Caroline turned 3 months old just before the whole internet fiasco. It feels like Christmas every morning when I go to get her out of bed. She fills our days with such fun and sweetness. She is starting to roll over, and gets so excited whenever she sees anybody... especially her daddy. She loves to laugh and sing back to us when we sing to her. She is growing so fast and I can't believe its already been 3 months.

The dress she wore on Thanksgiving Sunday from Autie Kimmy... isn't it adorable?!

Taking a quick snooze

This is the closest I got to smile the day she turned 3 months old

She LOVES her daddy!

This wig is on the "Build-a-Bear" bunny that Grandma Howard gave Caroline when she was born... it fits her head perfectly

First Things First...

I have been dying to post a couple of videos, so why not start there...


We have recently put away the baby swing and have brought out the bigger swing. Of course Jackson had to get in a nd try it out. Rather than playing the music that goes with the swing, Jackson will get in and sing to himself... its really cute. We were trying to get a video of him singing, and instead this is what we got...

make sure your speakers are turned up

I laugh and laugh every time... it never gets old to me. I wish his little chair hadn't been in the way. Could you hear him say "I crashed"?

The funnier part was when we let Jackson watch this video...

Hilarious!!!

Re-connected...

After almost two weeks of no internet we are finally back online. It is amazing how disconnected from the world I feel, not to mention that I have so much I need to blog about and so many blogs to read. I will try to get it all done as soon as possible. I'm also having to sort through my 200+ emails. See you soon!

Ever had one of those days?!

Our Thanksgiving Trip

I will forewarn you that this post contains LOTS of pictures... Some of the spacing is really funky, me and blogger don't always get along when it comes to spacing... sorry

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We headed down to Mom's house where we spent part of the weekend with her and David and Leda. We had a great time!

Unfortunately, our day started at 4:45 am when Jackson decided that he just needed to be awake. It meant that we were up and ready to go...(with Jackson not wanting to have his picture taken... who wouldn't want to have there picture taken before 7:00 in the morning?!)

And Caroline was till snoozing away.

She woke up and we left for Nany's house. With NO traffic on the road we made good time and started our Thanksgiving festivities.

No doubt, Miss Caroline was dressed for the ocassion. Because of the colors in her outfit, without a bow in her hair you couldn't tell if she was a boy or a girl.

She loves all the attention she gets from everyone

Before we ate dinner we watched an old video about the first Thanksgiving. Jackson had fun helping "Uncle Dadip" set up the VCR so we could watch the tape.

Jackson loves taking walks on his Nanay's sidewalk, so we spent some time doing that before dinner, also. He is such a big boy!

Then came dinner...and dessert.

We ate, and ate, and ate, and ate. And then ate some more. We had ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, corn, green beans, stuffing, jello salad and rolls. And the desserts went on and on... blackberry cobbler and ice cream, pumpkin cheesecake, brownies, cookies, popcorn treats, scotcheroos and BYU mint brownies. I never went to BYU but these brownies made me want to!

Speaking of eating... here is a video of Caroline with her first taste of Jell-o salad...

Isn't that cute?!

And Jackson eating the frosting off his sugar cookie

After dinner we made a 'thankful turkey'. We all wrote down what we are thankful for on feathers and made our turkey. It kind of looks like a peacock, but still cute. Thanks for the idea, Leda!

We decided to take some family pictures since we were all in our pretty matching colors for the holiday...

Did you notice how in both sets of pictures, Jackson is messing with Caroline in the first one? He loves his baby sister!

Friday morning came VERY early once again and Jackon had fun looking at Nanay's tree while everyone elase was still sleeping...

Being "soff" wih the ornaments

Mom collects nutcrackers and over the last several years her sisters have gotten her the characters from "Wizard of Oz" Jackson loved getting down and looking at them and learning all their names. He kept calling the tin man a robot. He liked the witch most of all! (I wonder if he has been over-exposed to "Wicked" and realizes that she's not so bad after all. :) )

We had a wonderful time, but its always nice to get home and watch cartoons !