Merry Christmas

Here are some pictures from our Christmas morning. For Christmas Eve we stayed home because we didn't want to deal with the roads. We had a fun night of pizza and Christmas movies. Then for Christmas morning I woke up early (not by choice, my body wasn't ready to sleep in the middle of the night. Darn work schedule) so I had breakfast all ready for everyone when they got up. We had our traditional "Good Stuff." Keira hardly ate anything. She was too excited for presents, which she could see from the kitchen table. We had a fun morning of opening presents. Keira opened every single present we got no matter who it was to. Elaina and she each got a rubber ducky and she kept making them kiss. So funny. Elaina was content to just sit and watch. She thinks her sister is pretty fun. We then got ready and went to my mom and dad's brand new house. It was the first time that we had been there and we really liked it. We will love driving there when the snow has melted. :) After spending a couple hours there, we went to Grandma Inman's and played with cousins. That is always really fun. Tomorrow we are going to Rick's parents so Christmas will continue for us for one more day. We hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a Happy New Year!

P.S. Rick was obviously there for Christmas morning but all we got were two pictures of his hands. Whoops!

Family Picture Fun.

My cousin, Tyra, was in Washington a couple weeks ago and volunteered to take our family pictures. She has been doing photography out of her home as a business for a while now and I have admired her pictures so I was excited that she did that for us. We had crazy times with the baby spitting up on everyone one and everything and Keira being more interested in playing with cousin Anabelle (Tyra's almost 2 year old) than getting her pictures taken. We also just made up places in my Aunt Mary's house to take pictures. Tyra has really cool things at her house but did a great job with making things work. Check out her other stuff at www.momentsbytyra.blogspot.com. Oh, there are tons more but these are my favorites of the bunch.

Playing in the Snow

When I got home from work this morning it was snowing pretty good. So I got Keira up and got her all dressed and we went outside. I wanted to play in the snow with her for just a minute before I went to bed. She absolutely loved it and I made her a little "snowman." Rick is going to take her out later but she had fun for a couple minutes with her mom. I made her hot chocolate when we got in, which she has never had before and really liked that too.

Who is Who?

I took a picture of Elaina today playing in her brand new jumperoo her Grandma Marcia got her for Christmas (a little early but we needed it now!). I was wondering how Keira looked at this age so I went through some old pictures and found some pictures of Keira in her exersaucer (which she got too big for and broke which is why we no longer have it). They just happen to be about the same age. I think Keira is about 2 weeks older in that picture than Elaina. They look SOOO much a like. I can't believe it. I just love their chunky cheeks! It will be interesting to continue to watch them both grow and we will see if they change or stay very much the same. Their personalities are worlds apart so hopefully they will be compatible and love to play with each other. So much fun.

Oh, Keira is the top picture, Elaina is the bottom in case you didn't know. :)

Christmas is Coming

Elaina loves to be burritoed for her naps. Still. Do we think she will ever outgrow this? She is dang cute though. Also, she must always have a bink or a finger (or fist) in her mouth at all times! We can usually tell where she is in the house because we hear a sucking sound coming from that room. So funny.
We got our tree up and decorated. This is our first full size tree so I bought a new star and tree skirt. Keira helped pick out the star. When I put the tree up a week ago she knew a star was suppose to go on top. I have no idea how. It must be in a book or something. There is no way she remembers last Christmas and even if she did we didn't have a topper on our little tree. The ornaments have only been up for a day and have already been rearranged and taken off many times. We also are looking for our baby Jesus for our nativity scene that has gone missing. We just love our little kids.

Cute for Halloween

Rick and Keira carved pumpkins a couple days ago. Blogger decided to post the pictures backwards from how I uploaded them so you will enjoy the finished product first. :) We didn't carve pumpkins last year so Keira hadn't really done it before. She loved picking out the seeds and really loves eating them now that I roasted them all up. She is also very proud of her "Keira" pumpkin that my mom got her quite a while ago. We try to display it but she plays with it all the time and we find it all over the house.

Elaina has no idea what is going on but she is such a happy baby. She loves attention and will always have the biggest smile for you if you give her just a minute of your time. Such a sweetie. We are so glad that she is a part of our family and that so far the sisters love each other so much!

Please Read

Please read Netty Jabbers to find out what has happened to our family this week.

Sitting Still for ONE picture

Have you ever had to get a baby, toddler and husband to sit still and smile at the same time for just one little picture? It is impossible. These are the best pictures that I took out of about 10 and there isn't one where they are all looking at the camera or smiling. The baby has an excuse because she doesn't know what is going on but you think my husband could at least look and smile. I was trying to get a picture of the girls with their cute matching big sister, little sister shirts before Elaina grows out of her's. I guess this is the best I will get. They are a cute, if not frustrating, threesome. I really want to get some family pictures done before Christmas but this does not make me feel very confident in the outcome. If someone knows someone that could take pictures of us let me know. I hate going to those studios. I guess I will if I have to though.

P.S. If you haven't yet, check out my new blog Netty Jabbers. The link is over in the list of links. I have been getting some posts up and I try to get a new one up ever couple of days. Thanks for your support in reading my craziness.

Rock Band

If you have been reading this blog from the start you know that our family is a big Guitar Hero fan. Keira loves to dance while we play songs and she even knows all of the songs that are on it. If one comes on the radio or computer she shouts "guitar song, guitar song". Smart girl. Anyway, Rick has been wanting to get Rock Band ever since it came out. I have been saying no because it costs A LOT and I don't want to spend our money on it. I have been playing these games on Search Live Club and you earn points when you play them. You can redeem the points for prizes. I had been saving my points up for a big prize but I hadn't figured out what. One day Rock Band became a prize and Rick started begging that I get it for him. So being the nice wife that I am I redeemed my 25,000 points for Rock Band. It came yesterday and Rick has been dying to play it so we played it this morning. I was on the guitar, he was on the drums. We started playing and Keira grabbed the microphone (which wasn't plugged in) and started singing and dancing. She did it for a bunch of song and cheered when the songs ended. She even knows some of the words and lots of the melodies because we have most of the songs on Itunes. It was so cute but of course we were all playing so I couldn't get a picture. I really wish that I could have recorded it on video. It would have been hilarious. I really wish I had a camcorder. One day.

New Blog

I decided that I wanted to write more about whatever I wanted to other than how cute my kids are (they are darned cute) so I decided to start another blog. This one will be about whatever I want it to be about. Just my opinions or thoughts on whatever topic I choose that day. I didn't want to take away from the family spirit of this blog so I will separate the two ideas. Hopefully someone will read it and comment but I am not expecting much. You can find it at http://nettyjabbers.blogspot.com/ .
P.S. It obviously won't be about how to use the web because I can't get the stupid website to link. Ugh!

2 Months Old

I took these pictures a couple days ago and I couldn't decide which one was cuter so I posted them all. She loves these giraffes. Can't you tell? She blows bubbles and tries her best to swat them, although those darn fists of hers won't always do what she wants. She is so cute. Today was her 2 month check up and she weighs 14 lbs 11 oz and is 23 1/2 inches long. We have another big girl on our hands! She got her shots and Keira screamed louder and longer than she did. That just goes to show what different personalities they already have. Keira is our drama queen and Elaina is totally zen. Not much makes her mad. She is such a good baby.

Sleeping and Painting

Last night Elaina was sleeping on the couch and the dog thought it looked so comfy that she jumped onto the couch and curled up next to her. They slept like this for at least an hour I think. So cute.


I have been promising Keira I would get out her paints that Grandma Marcia gave her for Christmas but I have never had the guts to do it. Finally this morning I needed a distraction for her so I caved. She has been really good so far so hopefully nothing but the paper gets painted but thankfully crayola stuff is usually pretty easy to get out of most anything. For a girl who doesn't really like to get messy she seems to like it. She says she is painting balloons. That is exactly what it looks like to me! (By the way, she is still doing it right now which is why I am typing it like it is happening in the present.) :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. I had such a good day. It actually started on Friday with Rick surprising me with a cake and a card. So nice of him. Of course Keira saw the cake when he came home from work so we had to listen to her all through dinner ask for cake. Of course she had to wait until AFTER dinner to have it but that didn't keep her from asking a million times. Then on my birthday we got up early and went to the Seattle Aquarium. We took four pictures total and these are the only two that looked good. I know we are brilliant picture takers. We kind of forgot because the kids are a bit of a handful for us still. But when will that change? Never. We put Keira on her leash and we had to drag her or she dragged us. It was never really a mutual agreement on where we would go next. Of course if we let her pick we would still be going around in circles right now so we had to encourage other directions. As you can see in the second picture she is running away from us because we are going to the "store" (gift shop). I think that was almost the highlight of her day. We got her "Curious George goes to the Aquarium" and she was absolutely thrilled. That girl loves a good Curious George book.
After the Aquarium Rick and I dropped the girls off at my mom's and went on a date. It is our first one since the baby was born and it was a while before that even that we had one so it was long over due. We went to lunch at TGI Fridays and then did some shopping. I got Keira some cute clothes that she needs for the winter but nothing for myself. I just liked having some time off from being Mom. Then we went back to my parents and my dad cooked us dinner. I had such a great day. Thanks to everyone who made it great.

Pink is the Color of the Day

It seems like every piece of clothing around here has pink on it. At least for the kids. It is actually one of my least favorite colors but on my little girls it is pretty cute. Today Keira found the hat that Elaina wore in the hospital. She insisted that Elaina wear it. It is pretty cute. I actually had some charged batteries for the camera so I took some pictures. These kids are so cute! Elaina was actually smiling for the camera and Keira was happy to cuddle with her. I don't know why but Keira likes to touch her nose or eye in pictures these days. I tell her to take her hand away from her face but this just makes her more determined to do it. Weirdo!

Big Girl Bed Continued

I just want to report that after almost a week of refusing to sleep in her bed, Keira has finally been sleeping in her big girl bed for 3 nights! We kept trying to put her in bed and she would scream "crib, crib!" until we would give in and put her in her crib. I don't know what finally changed her mind but she finally took a nap in it on Saturday and from then on didn't mind sleeping in it. We took the crib out of her room yesterday so now she is in it for good. She was a little upset that we took it out at first but after one minor fit she hasn't said much about it. I put Elaina down for a nap in the crib and Keira was so proud that she was sleeping in it and wanted to be held up so she could watch Elaina sleep. So cute. We are just glad to get the rooms organized and move on to our next big milestone: Potty training. Heaven help us!

Hubby Tag

1. Where did you meet? He moved to Orting in 8th grade and I think that we officially met in Band class.
2. How long did you date before you got married? a little over a year
3. How long have you been married? 5 years in January.
4. What does he do that surprises you? He surprised me with a bag of treats after Elaina was born. Very important for a girl who hasn't eaten sugar in 2 months!
5. What is your favorite feature of his? His height. I always wanted a tall husband
6. What is your favorite quality of his? His patience with my bossiness
7. Does he have a nickname for you? Nettypoo
8. What is his favorite color? Orange and Black
9. What is his favorite food? Hamburgers and Pizza
10. What is his favorite sport? He doesn't really have one
11. When and where was your first kiss? In his truck in front of his parents house on January 3, 2003 (yes, we got married on the 1 year anniversary of our first kiss. We have never told anyone that until now).
12. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Right now we are really into watching the entire series of Star Trek Voyager. We just started Season 5.
13. Do you have any children? 2 cute girls
14. Does he have a hidden talent? He is an excellent listener.
15. How old is he? Almost 25
16. Who said "I love you" first? He did
17. What is his favorite type of music? Alternative or rock
18. What do you admire most about him? He was never very excited about having kids but he has become the best dad ever and they have him wrapped around their little fingers. :)
19. Do you think he will read this? Yes
20. I tag: Anyone else who wants to play

Big Girl Bed

My mom and dad gave us their bunk beds for Keira and eventually Elaina. Keira is so excited to have a bed. She hasn't slept in it yet because I hadn't made it up last night when it was time for bed. So I made it up this morning and she was playing and playing in it. Can't you tell she is excited? She loved her brand new comforter with all of the cute lady bugs and butterflies. Hopefully the transition will be a good one because I am freaking out over loosing control at night. Anyone have any good tips for the transition?

Baby Blessing Day

Today was Elaina's blessing day. Rick gave her a really nice blessing even though he was so nervous. It is so great to see how much he has grown in the gospel since I met him. I am really lucky to have him. :) Keira loved having her grandparents, great grandma and cousins at Sacrament meeting. Thanks to all who came. We had a great dinner with Rick and my parents. It was a really nice day.

Monkeys Have to Eat Too!

Rick is going to kill me for posting this picture. He wasn't even that thrilled that I took it. I had to though. I was laughing so hard. Keira made him wrap up George and then feed him just like we do with Elaina. Burp cloth and all. She loves to feed all of her dolls and stuffed animals then she wipes off their mouths with the burp cloth . It is so cute. Monkey see, monkey do. ;)

Fun in the Sun

We went to Rick's company BBQ on Saturday and of course didn't bring our camera. However, thanks to MySpace, someone at Rick's work did take some pictures of our cute kids so I downloaded them. Keira had so much fun on the big toy they had there (too bad we didn't get any pictures of that). They also had a chicken that they were waiting to poop on someone's square to win a prize. I guess kind of like Cow Pie Bingo only a chicken is smaller and easier to control? As you can see, Elaina was thrilled to be there as well. She pretty much ate and slept the whole time. Which is pretty much all she does anywhere these days. We are taking advantage of it while it lasts.