Saturday at the Office

One weekend at the end of February, TJ had a last minute urgent project for work that pretty much took him all weekend. On Saturday night, we got takeout from Chili’s and brought him dinner. It was pretty much the best idea I’ve ever had and should do it more often because the kids were able to run around, we didn’t have to wait in a long line at Chili’s, and I was able to get out of the house with the kids (I was going crazy!). Sidenote: TJ’s project turned out great! I’m so proud of him!

Puzzling

In December, I started getting a hankering to puzzle. I’ve never puzzled, or had the urge to puzzle. I mean, I’ve done little kid ones, but nothing hard. I think I saw a friend post one online and it just looked fun. So I found one on clearance after Christmas and went to work on it in January. I listened to Serial and a few other podcasts while doing it and a second puzzle, it was so much fun. I’ve got a new one I’m in the middle of but had to take it a part a bit to get it out of my kitchen. But now that I’m writing about it, I think I’m gonna get back to it tonight! It just is fun to have a new hobby and something to do other than watch TV at the end of the night!

Oh, and PS-I glued the top one together and hung it up in my basement!

A Weekend with the Kids

In January, TJ went out of town for a weekend to go pick up a car in Arizona. We kept busy but kept it simple since it was cold and I was in the middle of a puzzle (haha!). The kids were so cute! One evening I took them over to Harmon’s (just the nice grocery store) and we actually ate dinner there because they have a really nice upstairs area with tables and chairs and live music that night. Plus they got to ride in the car cart, so… as Michael Scott says, “Win, Win, Win.”

Hiatus

The other night I was puzzling, my new-found hobby, and I realized I hadn’t blogged for a really long time! I still haven’t written about my trip to Kentucky, my dad visiting, anything about January, or even a reflection on 2016! So much journaling to do. I will start working on those posts soon! Just know we are doing well and that the break of posts has just been because we’ve been staying busy! Winter is surprisingly speeding by, we’ve had tons of snow and LOVE it, I’m in the middle of doing 21 day fix extreme again, we got a second car (!), and we are spending lots of time at home as a little family trying to be creative with our time!

Lately

We have really had such great couple of weeks. They’ve been simple, but filled with fun and our little family. Here is everything else we’ve been up to!

Eva had her dance recital. Look at that cutie!

We had neighbors over and made homemade Christmas pizzas!

We drove around several nights to different neighborhoods to find the best lights!

Lots of trips to the library, Finn’s favorite place. He loves returning our books (and trying to return all the other books at the library) into the dropbox.

One day it was in the high 40s, so we visited the farm again. That place never gets old!

Christmas shopping at the outlets with these cuties!

Church with this boy is a CIRCUS!

Eva’s Christmas Program

Eva had a Christmas party and presentation at school on Monday. Then they decorated cookies, made reindeer food packets, and got to visit with Santa! We love Eva’s school and teacher, it’s been such a great year so far!

On Wednesday, they had a PJ and movie day, look at my little elf!

Christmas with Vivint

TJ had his work party last Friday at the Vivint Hanger and it was such a blast! We got there late because we didn’t figure we’d want to be there the whole time since it was Casino night. Turns out, we could have been there all night long, we had such a good time. We pretty much just played blackjack the whole time, and definitely didn’t do well… good thing it was all fake money! I’m so grateful for TJ’s job… that he loves it so much and that they treat him so well.

Christmas with the MoTab

My friend Eliesa had two extra Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s Christmas Concert a few weeks ago and I was lucky enough to get them! I took my friend Hannah since TJ was too busy with work to come. We were a little late because of the parking situation (lesson learned… just plan on parking in ANY lot other than City Creek during Christmas) which was disappointing because we had to sit farther away, but we still had a great time and loved the concert. The song they end the concert on each year is Angels from the Realms of Glory. They bring out the bells and the whole cast from the night, usually bringing me to tears. It definitely was a great way to spend the evening to get in the Spirit of Christmas!

Life at Home

Between the kids getting sick and TJ taking the car to work quite often, we have been at home a lot recently. It actually has grown on me. As you know, I’m definitely the type of person who loves to get out everyday and go on new adventures with the kids as much as possible, so at first it seemed so hard to be stuck at home ALL.DAY.LONG. The days still seem long at times, but with play dates, lots of crafts, and a little creativity, we are getting used to it!

One late afternoon, Finn was napping, so I took Eva outside and we played in the snow together. She found ice pieces and could have played with them all night long-she pretended they were pieces of a castle. It’s so fun to see her creative mind at work.

I searched long and hard for a new winter coat. I had several specifications. It needed to be in my budget and if it was too much, it had to be PERFECT. It needed a hood, needed to go to my knees, needed to cinch at the waist so I don’t look like a balloon, needed to be warm and soft, and needed to be a gray (or something other than black). I seriously went to about fifty stores and didn’t find one that I loved. Columbia had one but it was over my budget and wasn’t the warmest kind they had, so I just couldn’t let myself spend so much money! I was SO incredibly frustrated and figured I’d just wear my old Hollister coat I’ve had for nearly ten years for another season. Then I went to Target, you know… where I go 80 times a week, and lo and behold… I found this coat and it was on sale for $40! It’s not quite as warm as I had hoped, since I wanted a down one, but for $40, I can just wear a fleece underneath if I really need to. I love it! Here’s a photo with my sidekick, she loves jumping around in that big Target bag!

My kids started playing together this month a lot and I LOVE IT! They are so cute. This is why people have more kids!

I took this on the night before Eva turned five. I told her it would be the last day she would ever be four years old. She and I almost started crying! She said she would miss being four. I’ll miss you being four too, Eva Kay!

We went to music class for the first time in a long time last week. Finn didn’t sit still at all, but really did enjoy being with all those kids and dancing along to the music.

Here’s my cutie on his motorcycle, his ultimate favorite toy. He’s started standing on the seat, and tries to let go. What a daredevil. Eva was never like that! Boys… #amiright?!

We made a felt tree to stick on the wall with felt ornaments for the kids to play with. Finn’s idea of “playing” with the ornaments is ripping everything down. One day we were really bored and so we made clothes out of paper bags, colored them, and then did a fashion show. It was so funny!

Here’s my cute girl all ready to play in the snow!

She has always loved making snow angels. This is the face of pure joy!

N O V E M B E R

November was BUSY. I don’t even know where it went or what we did, but I know it went fast. I worked a lot for my dad and had a bunch of other projects going on so I didn’t blog much at all, so here’s my attempt to catch up! Here are some clips from the month that need documenting.

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Eva learned how to “do the splits.”img_0329

These two started playing together a lot this month. Finn simply adores Eva and Eva loves all the attention. img_0324

Finn got a new haircut, and once again looks like a big boy!img_0323

We went to the museum with friends one afternoon. It’s crazy how Finn now can play in most of the areas. His favorite game: putting things into things, aka balls into holes, stuff in the garbage, food into his mouth.img_0322

Finn sat in the little ball place at the end of the ramp for a while… it was so cute.
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Here’s Doc McEva. She used to want to be a vet when she gets old but now she wants to be a TAP DANCER! Dream big, girl!img_0320

My old young women’s president released a book and so we went to her book signing! img_0319

I let the kids get in the special cart at Harmon’s. Needless to say, Eva was thrilled. Finn also loved it, but was too distracted by the wheel to take a picture.
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November was unseasonably warm! We went to the farm several times. Finn loves the goat just like me!img_0317-2

Here’s my almost-five-year-old on the big horse! Finn rode his first pony that day too, but mid-ride, decided he was done.img_0314

One day, Finn had a terrible diaper rash, which was his first (Eva had them all the time as a baby but Finn has never had them). He finally stopped crying when I let him walk around the house naked.img_0313

This was from the same day. He was in such pain from the diaper rash, he wouldn’t nap. But he eventually fell asleep on me, which was pretty much the best.img_0305

We went on lots of walks around the neighborhood, pushing this boy around in the bike.img_0304

He loves that thing! img_0302

Our ham, always trying to make us laugh!img_0300

We checked out the new play area at the mall. He was so proud of himself, getting to climb and sit up on that rock!img_0301

We went to the mall with our buddies and the girls loved sitting in the chairs and pretending this was their fort. Cute girlies!img_0299

I put Finn in TJ’s old outfit. Unfortunately, it’s a bit small now, but he still looked adorable.
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My little monster!