Perspective is Everything!

I just wanted to share this funny little thing with you. I first read this on my mission and it seriously cracked me up. I remember I couldn't stop laughing. One of the sisters I was sharing an apartment with had it. I don't know if I was just really in need of some laughs at the time, but I've never forgotten about this. A couple of years later, I was telling my roommate Shara about it and she said that she had a copy of it and emailed it to me. I just remembered it the other day, so I thought I would share it. Enjoy!

Perspective is everything!

I did not provoke the fight so I feel no remorse for what I was forced to do. We were arguing, and seeing that I was right and he was wrong, he decided to fight to cover for his stupidity. He swung as me first, but being in top of condition, I was able to act quickly and block the punch neatly with my head. Where upon, I jumped to the ground, knocking him down on top of me. Then I placed my ear in his mouth and poked his finger several times with me eyes. His teeth hurt so much from the strength of my ear that he became irate and tried to kick me, but I cleverly blocked the onslaught with my ribs and face. I scrambled to my feet and ran to my car in hopes that I would get away and save this man from my deadly hands. Before I could start the car he pulled me from the still open door… That was the last straw… I lost all control. There would be no mercy. Taking him in my death grip, I pounded him in the knee with my stomach, then hit him two or three times hard in the fist with my teeth. He had had it! I could tell, after that, he didn't even try to pick me up off the ground. He was too chicken.

Christmas!

I know I'm a little behind, but let's talk about Christmas! So, I feel like a horrible parent, but I only took one picture of Anna on Christmas. We did however, film her opening her gifts. Christmas was fun, especially because Anna understood more of what was going on. The morning of Christmas I went to get her from her room and the first thing she said was, "I'm so excited to open presents!" It was so cute. She tore right into her presents and loved them all. My brother was kind enough to buy all his nieces and nephews presents. I've been wanting to get Anna a table and chairs for a while, but just haven't yet, so I let her uncle get her one! She loves it and was so excited to color on it. I made sure to get a gender neutral table, so when Alex gets bigger, he can use it too. I also got Anna her own backpack, so she'll stop stealing Logan's. :)

Anna on Christmas morning with some of her gifts!

I got Anna a really cute Christmas dress last year on clearance at target for like $9! This picture doesn't do justice to how cute she really looked. Unfortunately, her hair looks pretty bad. She loved wearing it. I had a santa suit for Alex, but never got any pictures. :(

I really wanted to make Christmas cookies with Anna and finally got around to it AFTER Christmas. I had made Halloween cookies with Anna a few months ago, so the whole time she kept saying how she wanted to make Halloween cookies. I had to keep telling her they were Christmas cookies, not Halloween. We also got to wear out matching aprons my mom made for us a while ago.

Anna had so much fun pressing the cutters into the dough.

She also discovered how good cookie dough is. I gave her a little bite and she kept wanting more and more.

Dan's parents and brother and sister came out for Alex's baby blessing a few days after Christmas. We left his parents' gifts under the tree and all Anna wanted to do was open them. We had to tell her she had to wait, but she could help open them when they came.

Here she is helping grandpa open his gift.

And helping Grandma open hers, while she holds Alex.

Her Aunt Becky got her this little Pikachu hat. It looks so cute on her!

Grandma and Grandpa got her a little train set, that she love so much!

We made gingerbread houses when everyone was here. I had Anna on my lap and all she wanted to do was eat the candy (surprise, surprise).

We had fun with them while they were here and were glad they could make it out to see us!

Free printable kids art!

I just saw this on my friend's facebook status. There is this cool website offering some freebies today. I can get the Noah's Ark file folder games and Build a Church for FREE! You can too! Go to http://greenjellowithcarrots.com for more details about how you can get this too.

I can't wait to print these for Anna. Maybe now she'll be quiet during Sacrament meeting! :)

A New Resolution!

I've never been one to make New Year's Resolutions and I've never felt bad about it at all. However, while I was working out at the gym last week, the TV's were out of service due to the snow, and I had some time to just think. And I thought of one that I wanted to work on. You ready for it? Not to get mad at my husband! Now, before you start laughing, let me explain a little.

Lately, I'm a little ashamed to admit, it seems that we've been more upset with each other than normal. I love Dan with all my heart. He is a wonderful husband, an excellent father and overall a wonderful man. I couldn't ask for a better person to be my eternal companion. As we all know though, we're human, we make mistakes. We say things we don't mean, we get impatient, frustrated, etc. Things don't always go our ways, our kids get cranky and that can make life more hectic, etc. We've all been there.

I think the problem with us was going through the transition of having two kids now. Plus, Anna wasn't napping anymore, and would get so incredibly cranky. Alex would be crying and our nerves would be shot and unfortunately, we would take it out on each other. Of course, later we would apologize and get on with our lives, but there's always that part of you that wishes it had never happened. And it just seemed to be happening more and more frequently.

So, as I was working out, I decided that would be my resolution-be more patient and not get mad at Dan. Later that day, I told him about it and asked him for his help. I told him I didn't like that we were getting so mad and frustrated with each other lately, and that I had made this resolution and would he like to do it with me. He agreed and I love what he said next, "Let's not make it a New Year's Resolution, but rather just a resolution." This is so much better because it's more of a permanent change, rather than something to work on for a few months and then forget about.

That was on Wednesday and it's really amazing the change that took place after that. There were plenty of times to get mad at each other, but since I had mentally decided not to get mad, it was like it wasn't even an option for me anymore. It's kind of hard to explain, but I just felt more patient and changed how I would normally act in a situation. I felt happier towards Dan as well. I felt like I was joking more with him and being happier around him, which in turn, had a positive effect on him. I asked him a few days after we made this decision if he noticed a change in me and he said yes. I asked him if he felt better too and he said yes.

Now, I do not have a perfect marriage and I'm not trying to say I do and that suddenly the skies are always sunny, birds are always chirping and life is just bliss. However, our relationship is better and I know it will continue to be better as we keep with our resolution and make a concentrated effort to get along better and not get mad at each other. This in turn, will make our home a happier place.

Dan and I on our honeymoon.

We took a cruise to Mexico

Progress Report

A little update about Alex. He is now 7 weeks old and is so cute! He is such a big baby. I look at him and can't believe how big he is! He seriously looks like a 3 month old. At his one month appointment, he weighed 12 lbs 10 oz. He gained 4 lbs in a month!!! The battery on our scale needs to be replaced, so I don't know how much he weighs now, but I would guess it's probably 14 lbs, if not more. He's just la little chunk!

He started to smile a week or so ago. It's still sporadic, but so adorable! I love it. He also coos all the time and it's so sweet. I just love my little boy. The best news is he slept through the night last night! Let's hope this is his new pattern. For the past couple of weeks he's only been waking up once a night. So I actually feel like a normal person, don't have to take naps during the day and feel back in the swing of things. It's been nice.

One of my biggest regrets with Anna was her not being able to take a bottle of pumped milk. I tried too late with her and I spent a year being attached to her. I swore with the next baby, it would be different. When Alex was 2 weeks old, we gave him a bottle of pumped milk and he took it no problem. Then, I don't know what happened, but suddenly 3 weeks went by, then 4, and I realized he hadn't had a bottle in a while. We tried and he wouldn't really take it. I could have kicked myself for not being more diligent with that. So today, Dan gave him some pumped milk in a bottle and he didn't really like it, but he ended up eating it all! Woo-hoo! So my goal is to pump every day (even though I hate doing it) and give him a bottle every day, so he gets used to it. The past week we've had some stressful times when I've fed him, then left to run some errands. He apparently was still hungry and would cry. Poor Dan would try and get him back to sleep, comfort him, etc to no avail and would finally have to call me to get my booty home asap. So needless to say, we need to get him used to a bottle NOW.

He also is doing better in his car seat. Before, the instant we put him in it, he would cry. Then we get in the car and unless we're in motion, he would cry. Needless to say, stoplights were my nemesis. There have now been times when I've left him in his car seat and he was okay for like 5 minutes or so. A miracle! :)

We just love our little guy so much!

O Christmas Tree!

It's an exciting time of year! Time to put up the Christmas tree! This is the first time in our almost 4 years of marriage that we'll be having Christmas at our house and hence our very first Christmas tree!

Our very first Christmas together, we were engaged. The Christmas after that we went to Italy. Then the two Christmases after that, we've gone to Utah. Since Alex is so little, we decided to stay home this year. The thought of driving 10+ hours in a car with a 2 month old, who hates his car seat, doesn't sound very appealing. Then, having to stop and nurse, etc. It's just easier to stay home.

I'm actually kind of glad that we'll be home this year. As much fun as it is to go somewhere and be with family, I'm looking forward to being in our own home and starting our own family traditions and kind of doing our own family thing. It will be kind of weird not to have family around on Christmas Day and stuff, but Dan's family is coming out a few days later. We'll have our family fun then.

So the first order of business is to put up the tree. We put it up on Saturday and kept telling Anna that we were going to put up the tree, put lights on it, then add ornaments. It was kind of a busy morning, but we finally got around to putting it up. We have a fake tree this year. This is the first time I've had a fake tree. Growing up we always had a real tree. However, last year in Utah, we found one on clearance after Christmas. We figured after a few years, we would save money in the long run. I used to be opposed to fake trees, but now I'm fine. I really like ours.

Dan and Anna opening the box with the tree.

We got the first part of it set up. This was actually really boring for Anna, because she couldn't really help. And it didn't look like a tree, so it wasn't anything exciting yet.

Last year, I bought a whole bunch of ball ornaments on clearance and at the thrift store. We had a lot to put up. Here, the tree is decorated, mostly. Anna found a little flower in the Christmas decorations and wanted to put it in her hair.

Anna was so cute when we started putting the balls on. She realized she couldn't actually hang the hooks very well, so she just handed the balls to us. Then she figured out how to open the boxes with them and kept saying, "I'm going to open this for you, okay?" And then kept handing us the balls at an exuberant rate. :)

Here is our finished tree!

We still need to add a star. I'm working on it, folks. :)

It's always so hard to take a picture of a tree and make it look good. They always look so much better in real life. The whole decoration is kind of haphazard. I had the balls and the candle sticks (that my mom made a few years ago), and a few days later added the poinsettias. I like it overall, but I think it would be different if I actually had a plan from the beginning. :)

I did make a Christmas tree skirt. I was thinking of buying fabric, when I remembered I still had a lot left from our duvet cover. I used that and it actually doesn't look too bad and is kind of Christmasy. We have some ornament balls that have swirls on them as well, so it all matches. I need to sew a border on it, but that might just have to wait till next year. This was a simple project, but took me forever to actually get it done. Every time I started, I'd have to stop and do something with one of my sweet, cute, children. :)

It will be a lot of fun to see Anna on Christmas morning when there are presents under the tree and she'll get to open them. We're trying to teach her about Jesus and that he's the reason for Christmas. I think she kind of gets it. I think our next family activity will be making Christmas cookies!

Autumn pictures and other things...

Ever since moving into our house, we like to do an Autumn photoshoot with the leaves. This year Anna has truly appreciated the leaves. The first year, she was only 4 months and didn't know what was going on. Last year, she didn't understand how fun they are, but this year she LOVES them!

Dan raked all the leaves around her.

Let's just relax here for a minute.

Where did Anna go?

So cute with just her little face poking out.

We have a new addition this year-Alex!

It's hard to get a good one of him. :)

We tried to get one of both our kids and they all turned out awful! It was kind of funny. This is the best one of the lot.

Here are some more pictures of stuff that's been happening around these parts.

I changed Anna's diaper and lately she's been funny about putting her pants on herself. So I just left her in her room and let her do her own thing. Well, she comes out a minute late and says, "I put on my pants!" I look at her and say good job and am very proud of her. Until I look a little closer and realize they were on backwards and not pulled up all the way! It made me laugh.

Anna loves her little drawing toy. She plays with it constantly. Well, one day I see she drew something that actually looks like something. So I ask her what it is and she says flowers! I wasn't sure if it was a fluke or not, but the next day I'm sitting next to her and I see her draw them herself. She's only 2 and drawing flowers already! Do I have a genius daughter or what? :)

Anna loves being a big sister. She loves her little brother Alex. She always wants to give him kisses or hugs, or hold him, etc. The other morning, I went to get her and the first thing she said was, "I want to see baby Alex!"

My two silly little kids.

Anna also LOVES coloring. She can't get enough of it. She goes through coloring books in no time. Her Grandma Phelan sent us a package and some coloring books for Anna. She wasted no time in grabbing them and starting to color them. When my mom was here, she bought her a ton of coloring books to give to her for Christmas.

So, overall things have been going pretty well. Dan had a week off for Thanksgiving and that was so nice. I got to sleep in a lot and catch up on my sleep. For Thanksgiving, it was just us. I didn't take any pictures (oops). We smoked our turkey and it was so good! I made homemade pumpkin pie. I bought a pumpkin at the store for 45 cents, on clearance after Halloween. I cleaned the pumpkin out, cut it up, and baked it to soften it. Then scraped the stuff out and put it in the food processor and made pumpkin puree. I used that for the pie and it turned out so good. It was delicious! After dinner we watched the Muppets Christmas Carol. WE thought Anna would like it, but after a while she lost interest and we had to keep getting her to try and watch it.