Valentine's Day recap

We had some money left on a Target giftcard, and Jon had the brilliant idea of getting Rowan blocks for his Valentine's gift.  He loves them.

 Sunday we made sugar cookies- mostly because mom couldn't wait until Tuesday to make them.

 Finished up Rowan's Valentines late Monday night.  

 Made a real quick gift for his teachers.  Just some Hershey kisses in a festive cup.

 Picked Rowan up from preschool- he's been packing his box around ever since.  He doesn't want half of the candy-but he loves showing me the "Cars" Valentines he got.  

 When Rowan and I got home, daddy was there for lunch.  He surprised me with a pretty rose and chocolates.  What a nice guy.  He couldn't find a vase so he was standing there holding the rose in a BSU  cup.

I had left him Valentines on the door, which he was suppose to see that morning when he left for work since his car was parked outside, but he still went out through the garage- probably because he forgot he was parked outside.  Next year I will know to put Valentines on both the front and garage door.  Anyways, he saw them when he was home for lunch.

Flowers and chocolate.  I really wasn't expecting anything- and I was OK with that- but it was a nice surprise.

Later that night I took Rowan on a little mommy son date.  We went to Arctic Circle for ice-cream- and to play, of course.  We treated Miles to a haircut on Valentine's Day.  Aren't we nice?

Hope you all had a good one!  Love you all.

Christmas 2012.

As soon as Rowan woke up and saw the presents he wanted to open them, but he was a good boy and waited until daddy was out of bed and ready to join us.

 Then right before we were actually ready to begin opening gifts he posed nicely on the stairs for me so I could get a picture of him in his new pj's.  He picked them out this year.

 After he opened a gift he would want to play with it.  We had to coax him into coming back and opening more.  A couple of the first things he opened were cheap puzzles from the $1 store, and he quite enjoyed them!  Doesn't take much to please this kid.

 He likes to play catch, so we thought he might like one of those over the door hoops.  He likes it, but unfortunately they're so high up that he really only likes to play with it when we are there and willing to pick him up so he can make a basket.  

 For breakfast I made monkey bread, and he nibbled on that while dad got his hoop ready.

 I was trying to take a picture of daddy, but Rowan decided to do this instead.

 It took me forever to convince him to open his stocking.  He finally did once he realized there was candy in it.  

 Rowan has also been into our games lately.  We didn't want him losing all the pieces to our games, so we bought him one of his own.

 Me and my baby.  Don't mind me in my ugly morning glory.

 Grandpa Norton made him a catapult.  Him and daddy had fun testing it out.

 My dad sent us a nice handyman light, and BSU glasses.

 The aftermath.

There were more gifts, but Jon and I really didn't take too many pictures of us.  It's too fun to capture the joy of a three year old.  Apparently everyone knows what I love, cause I got lots of kitchen stuff.  I can't wait to use all my new gadgets and gizmos.  Jon got a lot of things he needed, but never wanted to spend the money on himself.  Things like church shoes, a nice winter coat, and pants.  Rowan got a lot of fun things including an art easel.  He's been playing with his remote control car from China a lot too.  We got a super warm and comfy blanket which I have utilized a lot already.  It was a wonderful Christmas.  We got spoiled by our wonderful families and had a really nice three day weekend together.  Can't believe another Christmas has come and gone.  Time seems to be flying by!

Christmas Eve 2011

OK, so apparently I only post on this blog when a holiday comes around!  I swear, I'll be better about posting here regularly once 2011 is over and I am done with my "picture a day" blog.  For now, here are some Christmas posts!

 Every Christmas Eve we get together with Jon's family and do three things without fail.  Have soup in bread bowls for dinner, play find the blanched almond in the Danish pudding, and perform the story of the birth of Christ.  It's all fun, and I really look forward to it every year.  It was great being able to celebrate Christmas with Craig and Carol again.  Since Erica and her family weren't going to be around for long on Christmas day, we had the cousins and couple's exchange their gifts on Christmas Eve.  Here is a picture of all the cousins before they opened their gifts.  Like Rowan's expression?

 Rowan had Kate.  We got her a cute pink dress with ruffles, and made her a stuffed toy.  She seemed to like both, so hey, success!   For a couple we had Aaron and Erica.  Aaron needed long sleeved casual shirts, so we got him three, one of which is exactly like one Wade has.  Jon also liked it, and it was on sale, so he got one too!  Erica wanted a cupcake holder and/or chunky jewelry.  We made that happen.  

Bryce had Rowan.  Rowan got some fun puzzle books from him.  

 Megan and Patrick had me and Jon.  I had my eye a donut pan after seeing these.  Megan got me two!  A normal size one, and a mini one.  Now I need to find or make a reason to use them!  Pretty sure one of   us will be having a donuts for dessert at our birthday party in 2012.

 Jon has to wear polos to work, so Megan got him two nice ones.  Hopefully Jon has enough now for every day of the week, and wont bug me about doing laundry more often!  

 After gifts we had dinner.  Always yummy and very filling.  

 Then we moved on to the nativity.  Here is Megan and Jon dressed up as shepherds.

 Here is Julie, me, and Erica as the angels.  Julie is from China (duh) and gave Craig and Carol Chinese lessons while they were there.  She's a new convert to the church, and will be attending BYU Hawaii.  She came early to spend some time with Craig and Carol, and spend the holidays with us.  She is a really sweet girl.  We enjoyed having her around for the festivities.  Her English is great!

 Me and Jon.

 Group shot of us all in our attire.  Grandma was our audience.

 Carol's butterball of a tree on the left, and ours on the right.  We got all the gifts wrapped and put under the tree after we got home on Christmas Eve- and of course after Rowan had gone to bed.

 Grandma got the almond in the Danish pudding this year.  Normally you try to hide it so people will keep eating pudding, but grandma announced that she had the almond.  It was pretty funny.

It had been a long day, and Rowan fell asleep in the car on the way home.  He wasn't in the best of moods opening his Christmas Eve pj's.  He even refused to wear his top.  Oh well, I got it on him the next morning before we started unwrapping gifts.

He was over tired and very grumpy.  Getting him back to sleep was a pain, but he eventually passed out, making it possible for Santa to come.

Preschool.

We haven't done preschool in a long time. With Valentine's Day around the corner I thought it would be fun if we made Valentine's Bags for the boys. You know, like you did in elementary school. Anyways, we'll probably get together later in the month to make some Valentines to put in the bags. I also thought it would be fun for me and Jon to make one each too, that way we can write each other love notes throughout the month and put them in the bag. Fun huh? Good in theory. Will it actually happen? Possibly. I mean, the bags might get made, I'm telling Jon it's for FHE, but whether or not Jon will actually remember to write me love notes, that is where it'll get hairy. I'll remember to do it for him, but Jon is a bit on the flighty side, so, we'll see.

THE Christmas post.

We had a great Christmas, and I am so happy my mom was able to spend it with us. She flew in on Thursday the 23rd and left Monday the 27th. Of course it went by too quickly, but we had lots of fun and stayed busy.

Of course it wouldn't be Christmas without lots of yummy food. Christmas morning we had pancakes, eggs, and bacon. For dinner it was ham, twice baked potatoes, and broccoli salad. And plenty of junk in between! My mom made us the cute pillow with the manger scene hand stitched on it. Love it.

She also made us marshmallow guns. The family that plays together, stays together! I made mom a calendar. I also got her the book The Hunger Games, but found out she had already purchased it for herself, so I took it back and got her These is My Words.

Rowan got a firetruck and a track with battery operated cars. He's been having a lot of fun with both. He's all boy. Trucks, trains, cars- anything with wheels and he is in heaven.

Christmas Eve we headed into SLC after Jon got off work. We ate at Buca Di Beppo and then went and saw lights at temple square. It was really cold, so we didn't stay too long, but I am glad we went. It just wouldn't feel like Christmas if we missed seeing the lights.

After getting home from seeing the lights we opened our Christmas Eve pj's. Rowan actually opened all the packages. Good practice for the Christmas day! We gave Rowan pj's last year, but this year I thought it would be fun for all of us to get some. I think we'll continue to do it. Pj's is something I never buy for myself or Jon, so getting a new pair once a year sounds good to me! A side note, I think the last new pair of pj's I got before this was on Valentine's Day the first year Jon and I were married. He got me a cute flannel set with lips on them.

I am always sad when Christmas is over, but I know another year will pass in no time and Christmas will be here again, and I will find myself saying, "I can't believe it is almost Christmas!" Jon's parents will be around for Christmas 2011, so that will be nice. (They've been in China the past two) Of course I look forward to the next time my mom and I get to spend a holiday together. Hopefully another 5 years don't pass before we make it happen again! (I love you mom! Thanks so much for making it such a special Christmas!)