Christmas Eve and Christmas

 Zippy was kind enough to stow away in Henry's suitcase and make the trip to Arizona with us. He kept it pretty low key for his last few days but he did manage to paint Henry's nose ala Rudolph. Henry was thrilled by his silliness and happily kept checking himself out in the mirror.

 We have a few Christmas Eve traditions like decorating cookies for Santa. Henry chose these two Santa shaped cookies for Santa insisting on them both being the same.

 We also make name tags to put on our stockings. And Santa uses these to differentiate whose pile is whose. Something Santa did when I was a kid :) Santa also doesn't wrap any of our gifts, the only wrapped gifts are from mom and dad.

We also did the nativity story which Henry calls the "baby Jesus activity." He was given a cute little magnetic storyboard in primary and happily told Nana and Papa the story. 

Because we were going to be traveling for Christmas, Santa was nice and kept his gifts small. We also left the majority of our gifts in GA. And while it looks like small piles, we felt like it was definitely enough. Henry loved all his new Angry Bird characters, sticker books, the Millennium Falcon and all his new action figures. I loved getting new maternity clothing and accessories and a new dutch oven--which was left in GA. Steve got new books and the requested gift cards of his choice.

We have officially entered the phase of the action figure. I love it though because he is so creative with them. They fight, go on missions and are all in a constant state of changing from good to evil and back again.

Henry and Nana playing soccer with his new ball.

The contents of his stocking. The highlights: Angry Bird Star Wars tattoos and gum.

Overall we had a very Merry Christmas with family and were so grateful to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with our loved ones.

Cousins

One of Henry's favorite parts of our trip to Arizona was spending time with his cousins. He has three that are around his age and they had lots of fun running around, playing Star Wars together and just being crazy. Everyday he would ask if they were coming over to play. Luckily they were kind enough to meet up with us often while we were in town.

We also enjoyed being outside in the lovely weather!

eaten: bob's english toffee

One of my favorite holiday desserts is toffee. I love almond roca and anything toffee really. This year I actually remembered to get the recipe for this amazing toffee that Steve's mom makes. It is perfection.

Too bad Steve doesn't like toffee.

But really there is something so satisfying about a crunchy, nutty, savory yet sweet chunk of candy? And this is a cinch to make too!

Bob's English Toffee
(picture of not actual toffee since it was all gone before I remembered to take a pic, pic source)

1 lb butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup pecans, chopped fine
1 12 oz pkg semi sweet chocolate chips


Using a heavy pan and wooden spoon, mix butter and sugar in pan. Cook until creamy brown in color, stirring continually and gently. Stages: butter and sugar separate, become puffy, later turned cream color. When mixture turns cream color, or hard crack stage, remove from stove. Turn out onto greased jelly roll pan. Do not spread with spoon. Tip pan from side to side to spread mixture. Sprinkle with chocolate chips, when melted, spread out over toffee. Sprinkle nuts on top. Let cool. Break apart. You can also add half the nuts to the toffee before spreading on pan.

Mesa Temple Lights

One of the highlights of visiting Arizona at the holidays is going to see the temple lights. Steve and I went when we were engaged and we've gone each year we are in town. I love it! Its the coldest thing we do in Arizona and I purposely packed extra warm clothes for this one night. I have mentioned before how everything is more magical with children but nothing could be more true about christmas lights. Henry walked around with his eyes popping out of his head in pure glee. He kept uttering exclamations like "these lights are so beautiful!" or "i love all these lights!" It really brought me such joy to see his joy. I especially loved this new sculpture of Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus in the reflecting pond.

We ended the night with hot chocolate and donuts provided by Steve's ward.

P.S. I love Henry't hat hair in the picture and his expression says it all.

Lately...

So I have been too busy doing other things to want to sit at the computer and edit our holiday photos. I am putting it off again but in the interest of continuing to document life here, as we get back in the swing of things, I thought I would jot down a few things we have been up to lately.

• Here is Henry with his Christmas present he made for us at preschool. I love that since we sent Henry to a religious preschool, he was able to learn about Jesus for Christmas. I'm so glad I had Henry practice painting with his feet at home so he could make this. 
• This last week we have had freezing cold weather like 7 degrees. It was so cold they canceled school in our district and Henry and I had the morning off from preschool and seminary. Freezing cold weather makes you surprisingly sluggish. We barely rallied through the rest of the week. Seminary was painful trekking out in frigid temps in a hat, scarf, gloves and barely button-able snow coat. Thankfully I have been able to adjust back to my normal routine of falling asleep somewhere around 10:00. Sadly, the cold weather has thwarted all my best intentions to take down our Christmas light before it is too far into 2014. Maybe tomorrow!
• Henry is now the official biggest boy in his big boy twin bed! We ordered his mattress and bed frame through Amazon and were impressed with speedy delivery on both. Thanks Gramma and Grandpa for this wonderful Christmas present. The first three nights he didn't want to sleep in a new corner of his room but now he is doing much better and sleeping through the night again. Thankfully its been a relatively smooth transition. 
• Our apartment complex got a recycling dumpster. This is such a huge deal to me and will make my life that much easier. Way to go Carriage House!
• I have successfully gone through all of Henry's old baby items, cataloged what is in storage and what we need. (Please do not send us any blankets! Holy Cow, I think I counted at least 24.) I also found a large stash of girl's clothing I had bought at yard sales before we knew Henry was a boy. I was delighted to see I have great taste! I also have quite a few items from Henry's infancy that will work for this next kid with a few alterations and feminine details added. Why not use all those things we have been storing for four years? 
• I have also almost completed the new baby quilt. I am in love with it and just need to trim threads and bind it. Here is a sneak peek! 
  
• Speaking of sewing, I have been getting all sorts of fun projects completed and of course, adding even more to my list. Do you know that it is going to be so fun sewing for a girl? And it is even fun sewing for my pregnant self. There may or may not have been a black and gold cheetah sequined skirt in the mix this past week. More detailed posts with pics coming soon. 
• Henry has had difficulties being dropped off places lately. He doesn't want to go into preschool or primary. Well one of our preschool teachers came up with the perfect plan to help him. He was crying and whining in an effort to get me to stay. Well Miss Jody just holds him and he cries while I leave and then he is fine 30 seconds later. Stinker. So we did this all week and today he went into primary all by himself. Hooray! I honestly don't mind him crying, I just feel bad for those he is left with--luckily Miss Jody is strong and doesn't care. 
• On the plus side, Henry has now mastered drinking from a cup without a lid and can buckle himself into his car seat all by himself unless he is wearing a bulky coat. The cup drinking is so cute as when he drinks milk he is left with an adorable milk mustache. 
• And on a comical note, I have been given a second calling as our ward chorister. Yikes. If you know me, I don't know much about music but I can keep the beat most of the time. What I lack in knowledge I definitely make up for in confidence. I have to say it is nice to sit up on the stand alone for the first half of church, its relaxing and I can watch everyone in the ward without being obvious. 

 And here is the new layout of the kids room as per your request, Andrea. I also will note that I haven't done anything by way of decorating, this is just furniture rearrangement. The crib is now storage and next to the door for easy nighttime access.

 I emptied the bottom half of this bookcase to provide some much needed hanging storage and a shelf for games and puzzles. I also scored this new filing cabinet for $4 to better organize.

 Wall of toys and kitchen.

 Henry's bed in far corner. I thought it better to keep him as far away from the crib as possible. We also haven't sorted out official bedding yet but he did want black sheets--his favorite color! I want to do something in black, white and gray with a slight hint of Angry Bird Star Wars because I know it would make him so happy. But I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Its a mess! I can't wait to finish us decorating with some new pictures and a new dresser for Henry. 

Overall life continues to be good. I am going to come up with some type of routine so that I will actually work on my shop instead of just sewing up tiny little clothing. The initial excitement will soon wear away, I am sure and then we can get back on track. 

oh baby baby: not fat, pregnant

Here we are at 22 weeks and my dress over maternity jeans again. Man I am lazy. But not really since I am continuing to blog with selfies.

Here are some of the things on my mind and body in the past couple of weeks:

• I love finally getting to the point when you can feel the firmness of your uterus in pregnancy. Instead of squishy flab, there is something hard inside there. I can feel it as I lean against the kitchen counter, lay on my stomach and even just standing. To me there is nothing better than a smooth and firm obviously pregnant belly. No more sucking in, no more weird lines from elastic waistlines in your soft waist, no more wanting to say "No, I haven't gained 13 pounds. I am pregnant!"
• Speaking of bellies against counters, I now religiously wear an apron doing anything in the kitchen. My stomach has become stain central. And most of the time I don't even notice because of all the new angles. I guess I have a habit of standing too close to the counter. I also have to be careful while ironing...
• I plan on doing a whole post about awesome maternity clothing but for now I am excited to say that my shopping adventures in Arizona have tripled my wardrobe. I lucked out at the Gap the day after Christmas. I found four dresses and two long sleeved shirts for $35 total, all their sale stuff was 50% off. I think I scared the sales associate with my enthusiasm. Well, seriously there are only two places to buy maternity clothing in Athens. I also had great success at DI and H&M. Its a lot more fun to be growing if you look cute. 
• We found out we were having a girl right before we left for Arizona and I didn't really have a lot of time to process everything. Well that changed as soon as I took a solo trip to Joann Fabrics. Suddenly I remember the frustration of shopping for fabrics when I was pregnant with Henry. With boys, you are so limited. With girls, the sky is the limit. Any fabric can work for a girl. I literally was drooling as I walked up and down each aisle looking at every bolt. Tiny dresses. New quilts. A new cover for the swing. A sweet blessing gown. All rushed through my mind. Its going to be a lot of fun to lend my creative hand to this kid. 
• I actually even already started and pieced the whole top and back of her quilt. Since Henry brought us stacks of blankets, we don't really need many more. But I wanted her to have her own special quilt. I am using the same pattern I used for Henry's quilt but am making it in red and white. I love it and can't wait to show you. 
• Since Henry is so old and capable of understanding what a new baby means, we have been really adamant about sharing this whole experience with him. He came to the ultrasound with us. He talks to the baby in my belly and I have him feel her move (actually he can't feel it yet but I pretend by making my tummy moves when he puts his hand on it). He understands that the baby is going to come and sleep in his old crib, his new big boy bed came this week. He has helped me sort through clothes and he even said just today "Our baby is going to be so cute." He is such a sweet little boy I really want him to feel the excitement of becoming a big brother. I'm so glad he is old enough to participate and help us get ready. 
• One idea I had for him was to have Henry buy the baby a special present to bring to the hospital. We're going to let him choose something all on his own and that way it can be just from him. I know a lot of people have the baby bring a present for their older siblings but since Henry loves giving presents I thought this would be just his thing.
• When we were in Arizona, Steve and I snuck out for late night date. We went and saw the Hobbit at 9:45 pm. I know, its the latest I have stayed up and been out in probably years. Well the baby loved it! I don't know if it was the Diet Coke, the popcorn and m&m's or the loudness of the film but she was bouncing around the entire time. Maybe she is going to love some of my favorite things!
• Oh and I did something to help me keep track of how far along I am. Its so hard to remember so I just marked on my calendar what each week was. So much easier for my mind! 
• I have also been nesting like crazy. Since we have been back we have completely rearranged Henry's room to make room for his new twin bed, I have sorted through most of my craft supplies, I have purged boxes of things to Goodwill and I have even installed a new shelf in our kitchen cupboard to expand our storage space. I love this feeling of not caring if I throw things away, I hope it lasts for a few more weeks. Next up, organizing all our photos! 

Happy pregnancy! 

New Year: 2014!

 We just got back from a fun trip to visit family in Arizona. I have lots of blogging to do and lots of pictures to sort and lots of other things going on. So for now, I am keeping it simple. Picture above is Henry with his three similarly aged cousins eating pizza at Nana and Papa's house.

We were lucky enough to spend the holidays with Steve's parents this year. We enjoyed beautiful balmy weather, tons of retail adventures, lots of baked goods and almost too much relaxing. I am not a relaxer. So when we touched down in Georgia, I already had a zillion things on my to do list. Literally I was jotting down this mammoth list while vacationing. I know I am crazy but it makes me happy. I think my frantic energy stresses Steve out. Maybe I should calm down.

This new year is bringing lots of fun dejunking--my goodwill pile is HUGE-lots of projects to complete for the baby and lots of exciting changes for my business. Lots and lots and lots. Its going to be a great year.

And to surprise you all, despite my growing to do list my only New Year's resolution is to have the baby. Ta da! Easy as pie! No stress there.

My secret is most of my projects should be done before the baby comes and that isn't really a new year' thing. I have five months and lots of fun things to do. And in my experience, keeping busy is the only way to survive pregnancy. Especially the dreaded third trimester.

So stay tuned! I'll be back soon posting pictures, projects and pregnancy shots.