Christmas

Christmas Eve Started with Marcella saying "Hey Mom do you remember that Santa Claus called me last year?"

(A little Blurry, but...) She was so excited when he called her again this year!

The girls opened their Christmas Eve presents from Jon. A pillow case.

Their fun presents from Santa. Can you tell that they love books?

Marcella wanted an American Girl doll so bad and she Lucked out and got one. She couldn't stop smiling. She was so excited and happy. She got Marie Grace.

Claire received a slide and continued to go down it for about 2.5 hours. Both girls were in bed and asleep by 6:45 that night. They had so much fun and were so worn out.

This was one of my favorite moments of Christmas. I helped Marcella finish a quiet book that she could give to Claire for Christmas. This was the card she made for her and then she read it to her while Claire opened her present. It is so amazing to see how much fun these girls have together.

Loved all the video chats with family. You guys are the best! Even though a lot of you had technical difficulties, and some may or may not have sounded like robots, we still loved chatting.

Good night!

I turned 30!

I kept going back and forth on what I wanted to do to Celebrate the big 30, and when it came down to it I decided to keep it low key and I had a FABULOUS Birthday. One of my favorites so far--hands down. It started the Friday before (12/16) when we went down to Indianapolis to check out the Lego store. I picked up a sweet set:

Here's Marcella and I ready to dig in Sunday after church. We both decided it would be best to separate all the parts by shape and color, and make a few different groupings...which eventually made Jon quit. (Did I say eventually? He quit before I'd gotten past "sort" in "sorting". Girls and boys just have different ideas of how to put stuff together.)

Only an hour and a half later, they're all sorted and ready to begin putting together (sorting 1600 pieces takes a while!).

It took us two days working off and on to put them all together. It was a fun ongoing project, but I didn't take any pictures of the final product.

On Saturday we had some friends over for a no-kids dinner party. We ate good food and enjoyed chatting. It was so relaxing and wonderful. (Again no picture. ugh)

We spent Monday (my actual birthday) making candy. This has been a big tradition in my family and I have had fun continuing it. It was a perfect way to spend my Birthday.

Just for You Amie!

I made the girls Christmas Dresses this year. These were the best pictures I could get. All the other ones were blurry and yeah, when I said, "picture time," the girls were less than enthusiastic.  December brought another visitor! Amie, I can't believe we didn't take one picture! She was my crafting sidekick and helped me finish a ton of my Christmas projects. Thank you so much for all your help and for the fun. I loved all our laughing, chatting and cinnamon roll making at all hours of the night. Miss you bunches!

12 Days of Christmas (Work in progress)

For the past few years my Mom has done the 12 days of Christmas for the girls. She sends us a big box with 12 presents, and we open one each day. Sometimes they're fun (yay games!) and sometimes they're inspirational (conference talk, anyone?). They have had a lot of fun each year she does it and this year was especially fun for us. Thanks so much mom! We know it takes you a lot of time to come up with 12 ideas, wrap a bunch of gifts, and get it all shipped to us before the 12th of December. I tried to take pictures of each day, but as you can tell I missed a few.

The 1st day we got a little craft--a Christmas countdown advent calendar.

We read a talk and received a board with the word Believe on it.

Hot potato. This has to be the loudest game ever. But Claire loved to play it. We had lots of fun playing, but Jon hid it somewhere to keep himself from breaking it.

Read a talk called, "Look up, Stand up and Cheer up!"

Mickey's Christmas Carol and some popcorn.

Super cute aprons and some ingredients to make coconut balls. We modified them and experimented this year and they were soo yummy.

There was also a puzzle, a book and some money given for going out to ice cream and doing service. Everything was so fun and we loved it. Thank you so much!

November

At the moment I cannot find any pictures from November. I am hoping they didn't get deleted, because I had a bunch of cute ones. But as I am trying to get caught up so I can be a better post-er (ya, is that even a word?) this year, and so I can tell you why I am so excited to be a better blogger (that is propably a better term) I will just let you all know that November was awesome.

We had MORE visitors! Miriam and Jack came to see us. As my parents were driving to Chicago to make their flight I was heading down to Indy to pick up Mim and Jack! I had such a fun time with Miriam here. (If you find cheap flights again let me know and I can try to come see you!) I think they basically froze, even though we were loving the 60 degree weather. We had fun catching up on Downton Abbey and "experimenting" with some crafts.  I loved having company and someone to chat with. Thanks for coming Mim.

Then came Thanksgiving. This year we had a small one again, but we weren't alone. The Hartwells joined us and we had a feast. Then I headed out for Shopping and put up all the decorations for Christmas. I sure love the Holiday Season.

All in all I LOVED November!

October

A couple weeks after the McCanns left we had more visitors. My Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa Dougal came.

1. Marcella had a Birthday party with her friends a week before they came. She had a Bug party and had a lot of fun.
2. I started making bread and one morning I came down and saw this. Jon and I both new it was Marcella (she is the one who LOVES the crust on bread and will usually eat that and not the middle) We started teasing he and telling her that a little mouse must have been hungry and eaten some of our bread.
3. Getting ready to start carving pumpkins.
4. Grandpa helping Marcella
5. Our masterpieces. I will let you guess whose is who's.
6. Ward Trunk r treat. Go UTES!
7. Reading books with Deidra
8. Playing games with Grandma
9. Trick or Treating
10. Grandma and Grandpa Dougal
11. Mom and Dad
12. me. I got called to be in the Stake YW's. A little overwhelming, but exciting too.

All in all we had a nice relaxing time with my family here. Jon and Claire got sick, which was no fun. But I enjoyed having them here and I miss them all dearly. Come back anytime. We love you!

Marcella's 6th Birthday

Marcella was one lucky Girl this year and she got to celebrate her Birthday in a HOTEL! She turned 6 and loves being 6. The McCann Clan was here over her Birthday and so we decided to take a trip up to Chicago and stay a couple nights. Thanks guys it was awesome! Greg was working in Ohio and had a layover in Chicago. He was able to stay for a day and help us celebrate as well. It was awesome.

The first night we were there we walked down to Navy Pier. We rode the Farris Wheel (well worth it, you could see the whole city). Then we headed out to dinner and actually sat down to eat at 11 pm. Both girls ate a little and then fell asleep. They were so tired.

Monday morning Marcella woke up to her head board decorated. She was pretty smiley the whole day. We went out to breakfast and then headed to the Lego store and the American Girl store. Both were a must. She had some money and in the end chose to get some legos. Then we went over to the Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower) and went up to the top. Marcella thought it was amazing and talks about it all the time. I was surprised when she said that it was something she wanted to do, but I am glad she had fun.

Then we headed back to the hotel for naps/lunch/PRESENTS! The rest of the day is a little bit of a blur to me, but I know that she had doughnuts instead of b-day cake and rice for dinner again @ 10 pm or soo... these kids were troopers! We also headed to the Bean and got a few pictures there and they got to play in the water fountains and went swimming back at the hotel. Looking at that picture of them in their swim suits makes me shiver. All in all we had a fabulous time and thanks to the McCanns for planning such a fun trip. You guys are the best!

Mcann's came to vist!

They experienced a Jon and Kanien Date to Vons and poor Finn got scared to death by the Boiler Maker Express.

We went to the Columbian park zoo, Claire was a little scared of the caterpillar...

They have an awesome spot where you san watch the river Otters.

We sure love you guys! And Miss you! Come back!

Memories

Starting right to left
1. Jon's Birthday
2. Marcella and I headed out to Utah early and got to ride on the airplane. Claire and Jon drove out a week later.
3. We had a nice Sunday dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Wallin
4. Impromptu tea party
5. Practicing in the hot tub
6 & 7. Headed up the canyon
8. Fun visits with Friends
9. Naps in the sand (can you tell she is burried?)
10. Family fun at Pine View Thanks again guys!
11. Baby Finn, the whole reason I went out early with Marcella, and I didn't get a picture of this cute little guy until he was about 2 weeks old!
12, 13 & 14. Celebrating the girls B-days a little early with my family.
15. Headed to the Zoo with David and Rosalee and boys.
16. A favorite from the cabin trip. Every picture I have of Isaac chopping wood, he has his eyes closed! ahhh watch out!
17. For some reason it chopped M's head off, but she did get a new sweatshirt while we were there.
18. Little Claire chillin' by the fire
19. Grandma Katherine helping us make Apple struedle. yum. Thanks
20.All the kids at the Cabin
21. Cousins!
22. Great Friends
23. Relaxed in the McCanns new backyard.
24. New hat
25 & 26 Good-bye to Grandma
27. Found a little friend that made his home in our tomatoes
28 and 29. Our tomato harvest, well a part of it at least.
30. School starting
31. Painting... couldn't make up my mind.
32. Helping with dishes
33. Little Marcella fell off her scooter and got banged up...did I mention this was the day before school pictures?!
34. Claire got croupe again during conference weekend so we spent a nice weekend isolated at our house.
35. Playing in the rain!

The End of June

1. Jon and I Celebrated our 9th anniversary at some podunk drive through burger joint, which wasn't very good, and then had great laughs about all of our anniversaries. Our life rocks!
2. Father's Day presents..any guess what Jon's favorite thing is?
3. Marcella making us enchiladas for dinner. yum.
4. This is little Claire, after we caught her in the downstairs bathroom, going to town with a blue sharpie. It was everywhere, the floor had about a million circles, her legs and arms were covered. We decided to try this stuff that I had gotten (9 years ago) to help clean my wedding dress. Everything just wiped right up, it was such a relief. I swear I had just put her in her pj's and she was only gone for a minute!
5. This was after we went upstairs to go to bed and say prayers, and Claire decided to show us another surprise. She totally lifted up her shirt and said "uh-oh, no, no Claire."
6. Claire praying for forgiveness. ;)
7. Something went wrong with our computer and someone in our house was a little excited to get this package in the mail.
8. Soaked in another day of fun at the beach.
9. Claire and I sporting our sweet  hats.
10. Reading at the beach, couldn't think of anything better.
11. Happy 4th of July.
12. Not sure if either girl liked the big fireworks. Claire just buried her head into Jon's chest while he covered her ears and Marcella looked like this about the whole time. Still had loads of fun.

Kristin

1. Summer Nights and sidewalk chalk. I wish you could have seen it, the whole driveway was a work of art, an hour later, if that, huge thunder and a down pour. So sad.
2. This is what Jon did most of the summer, cooked fabulous breakfasts, lunches and dinners, oh why did school have to start again?
3. Kristin, need I say more. The girls were so happy to have her come. Claire still when she sees someone with her hair will smile and yell Kristin!
4. Fair Oaks Farm, how high can you jump?
5. Impromptu trip to the beach. Best idea ever. The sand was amazing, and even though we had to go to a few stores for clothes, swimsuits and overnight stuff we had a blast.
6. Being buried in the sand. Claire kept saying, nite nite.
7. ohhh, family picture
8. Did I mention we went to the beach 2 days in a row? yep sure did.
9. I think Marcella had the most fun. She is now old enough to enjoy the water and the beach. Plus having Daddy and Kristin to tag along with makes for a great day.
10. Kristin, please come back. We miss you.
11. Because of Kristin I have photos like this one, that just screams SUMMER! Thank you for taking so many pictures. I love them all.
12. Bonus we got lots of fun candid family pic as well. Kristin, you are the BEST!

Triathlon in June

1. I saw at the YMCA that they were having a triathlon for kids I knew Marcella would love it. We signed her up and when we came home she had to do a trial run around our park. It was pretty cute. This is right before she went down to the pool to do her 50 meter swim.
2.We were surprised to see some friends from the ward competing as well.
3. Marcella's Biggest cheer leader. I will try to upload a video, it was awesome.
4. On your Mark. Get Set.
5. Go.
6. This is what happens when you take a long time getting into the pool.... splashed in the face a ton.
7.Hoping out and getting ready for the 1/2 mile bike race. (I didn't get any pictures as I had to run and get Claire in the car and drive to the place where they were going to end the bike and start the run.
8. Catching air... during her 1/4 mile run.
9. Almost to the finish line and still smiling.
10. Finished.
11. The real reason for wanting to do it. "So I get a medal at the end? Yes I totally want to do it." :)
12. Way to go Marcella. We are so happy you are willing to try things that are hard. You are the best!

12x12 May and 1st part of June

1.Summer has officially begun. Claire decided it would be more fun having your towels in the swimming pool with you, and really who needs a swim suit?
2. I can now say I have ran a half marathon. Go figure it had to be the HOTTEST and Humidiest (is that a word?) day on the planet. Good thing I had Heather (speedy) and Cyndi (amazing mentor) you gals are the best!
3.Our supporters.
4. Grandma Katherine, Grandpa Wallin and uncle Greg came to visit. (they actually came before I ran, but really who is keeping track of the order of events?)
5. We headed down to Kentucky for a couple days. had a great time exploring and just being with the fam. We had a lot of fun walking around and getting lots of exercise.;)
6.They beat Greg through the Cheese maze at Fair Oaks Farm, you think they were a little excited?!
7. Who would have guessed that on that trip the whole family would end up jumping on a giant bubble. Mom and Dad I am impressed!
8. Took a little hike through the Clegg gardens. It is a neat place and I often wonder why I don't go with the girls more often.
9. I don't think my fridge has ever been so full. :)
10.Somewhere in the midst of everything Claire got switched into a bed. As you can tell she still would fall off. I was scared to give up the crib, but she was so good with just staying on it when I put her there. Now... not so much. Now after we tuck her in she takes her pillow and blanket and falls asleep right in front of her door.
11. it was one of those nights where I thought oh ya I need to put Marcella to bed, it is 10! When i went to find her this is what I found. She told me she got us some snacks for when we do our reading. It is a little hard to see, but there is a piece of broccoli, a mushroom, a chocolate turtle, a peeled carrot and 2 pretzels. What a sweetheart.
12.I love walking into rooms and seeing things like this. It helps me wish I could slow down time.

Copy Cat

Yes. I will admit I am copying you, but hey I was thinking about how to document the summer and I thought, man she is a genius (you know who you are) and it will be a perfect way to display our summer without all the boring dialouge. Let's face it you all just want to see the pictures. Am I right? So here goes. 12x12 of our garden this year. (Click on picture to see a bigger view.)

1. Our backyard is massive and bare. So we started to the right of the porch and worked our way around. Killing lots of not so luscious grass until we could do this...
2. Built 2, 12' x 4' boxes and 2, 4'x4' boxes then had fun filling and mixing the dirt
3. Ta da. Doesn't it look lovely?
4. We grew all of the tomatoes and peppers from seed . some Cinderella pumpkins and squash
5. Marcella had a box for all her flowers she started from seed this past winter.
6. the flower garden begins. If I only knew how crowded it would get. I think my petunias grew at least a foot or so and decided to take over the whole flower bed. 
7. Our Cinderella pumpkins, yellow Zucchini and butternut squash.
8. We planted a Japanese long Cucumber (A-Maz-ing! only the yummiest cucumber I have ever eaten.)
9. Then we went to Utah for a month and left our poor garden to fend for itself. When we got back we had a friend... I mean rascal living with our tomatoes. (which by the way they do eat, even though we were told they don't like them.
10. I can't imagine how many tomatoes we would have gotten if we would have stayed home. I was amazed at how much we got and are still getting.
11. Yellow tomato. (Sorry can't remember the name) This are so super yummy, and the best is they escaped the few pickers that came to grab some tomatoes while we were gone, because they thought they weren't ripe yet. Didn't mind a bit, because they are delicious.
12. Costo Luto Genovese. This tomato has amazing flavor, that made our no-cook sauce and pasta un perfecto!
And in a nutshell, there is our garden this year. Ciao!

because it makes me smile

 

First Day of School

Marcella and Claire started school this week. Marcella's first day was yesterday. She walks to school , something her teacher said she's never had a student do before. We'll see how much walking she does when the snow starts to fall, but at least for now it will be nice.

Claire's first day was today. She's being bussed to a school around 8 miles from our house. Claire loves buses. She didn't really understand she'd be riding the bus until it pulled up.

She had absolutely no problems getting on. She practically ran up the steps.

It's fun to watch them go to school, but a little unnerving that this will be their life for the next bazillion years. Hopefully neither of them will be in school as long as I've been there, though.