CHRISTMAS 2007!

We had a GREAT Christmas!!! We enjoyed going to our ward Christmas party on Saturday, where we had a yummy turkey and ham dinner and a visit from the Big Man himself. That was the third time that Carson had sat on Santa's lap and he loved it every time. The last time he sat on Santa's lap he told him he wanted a RAT for Christmas...silly kid, he's definitely not getting that! Christmas Eve dinner we spent with Dan's brother, Eric, and his family. Carson loved playing with his cousins and we had the family tradition dinner of fancy cheese and crackers (and appetizers too!). It was a lot of fun. Carson also got some "Reindeer food" to sprinkle outside our house to attract Santa and his reindeer. We put it out that night and I really didn't expect Carson to remember it. Sure enough, Christmas morning Carson asked to see if Rudolph had eaten his food we left out. Dan and I looked at each other a little panicked and I quickly threw on a robe and swept our front steps :) Carson had a fun morning of opening lots of gifts....thanks everyone! It was a lot of fun! Later that afternoon we went to the Pugs house for dinner. Tami made three courses of the yummiest fondue ever! I wish we could've stayed longer, but it was super fun! Thanks guys! So, it was a fun Christmas...it just keeps getting more and more fun as Carson gets older. Next year Bryn will be able to participate a little more too! Christmas is definitely not about what I get anymore, but definitely all about the kids....and I love it! Merry Christmas!

Here are a bunch of pictures...I can never pick just a few. They are from the ward Christmas party, Christmas morning, and some of Brynlee in the dress I made her.

And we're back!

We got back from UT on Wednesday. We had an AWESOME time there and the kids were great. It was so fun visiting with family and friends. We only wish we could live closer so we could see them more often.

So, my brother Mike thought that Dan looked like an inmate in his yellow shirt and had visitation with his kids. Well, actually that shirt is a traditional shirt from the Philippines that the men wear for weddings. Dan had NO idea that he was going to wear that shirt until the night before the wedding. Dan and his brothers and dad were all wearing them. His dad was wearing a pink one...good color Woody! So, that's why Dan looks so casual at the wedding. It was a fun wedding!

It's nice to be back, but now I'm rushing to get things ready for Christmas. I think Dan and I have decided to just go shopping together and let each other pick something they want....are we totally pathetic????

Fun times in Utah

We're having a great time here in UT. Yesterday was Randy and April's wedding and everything turned out nicely. There was the usual craziness of a family trying to get everything done for the reception, but it all worked out in the end. Randy and April were on their way to Vegas, then on to CA, but we just got a call from them saying their car broke down 3 hours south of SLC. The poor newlyweds. Dan's brother and Dad are now on their way down there to help out. It's pretty sad for them, but will make for a good story later on.

Today we had Brynlee's baby blessing at church. We had most of Dan's family there and a few friends. Bryn was doing pretty good, but starting crying towards the end and Dan "cut it short". We should've known she would make it difficult...she's been feisty from the start. But, she looked beautiful in the dress my mom made. My sister's baby girl, Claire, wore that dress and I borrowed it for Bryn....it was perfect! After we had everyone over for some yummy Taco Soup and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. It was a nice day.

So, here are some pictures. The ones from the wedding show the Christmas dress I made for Bryn and the matching tie for Carson. You can also see my hair in the pictures.

Here we are....

....in UTAH!!! We got here Wednesday night after a pretty darn good plane ride. Carson was active on the plane, but good; and Bryn was great too! I was worried about having to hold her the whole time, but she did awesome eating, sleeping, and just chilling in my lap. Let's see how they do on the way back!

We're staying with Dan's sister's family and they have been so welcoming and fun. They have three kids and lots of pets that Carson is loving! Yesterday I went to get my hair cut. I decided to do it out here b/c it is soo cheap! I hadn't cut it for a really, really long time (b/c I'm lazy and cheap). So, I decided to go all out and donate 10" to Locks of Love and highlight it too. This is the second time I've donated. The other time was a couple months after i had Carson, so maybe this is my new "post-baby" tradition. Anyway, I had my friend's sister cut it and she did an awesome job! She cut it in an A-line style and then put some rich auburn brown highlights in it. I really like it! I'll put some pictures up later.

After the fun hair session, we went back to Dan's parents house. Dan's brother, Randy, is getting married tomorrow and his fiance is soooo nice. This is the first time we've met April and she is just a doll! She is sooo good with Carson and Bryn and just really, really sweet. We're excited to have her join the family.

Well, today we're off to a couple quilt shops (hopefully) and then helping get ready for the wedding reception tomorrow. Fun stuff in Utah!!!!!

We've been Elfed!!!

This is soo much fun...and easy to do!


http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1252150485

Can you believe it???

....I read a book!!!! If you didn't already know, I'm not much of a reader. I don't hate books but I just don't really want to sit down and take time to read one. I always think of everything else I would rather do. But, I made my quota and I read one book this year...and the book was....TWILIGHT! All the teenage girls at church just LOVE (they are totally obsessed) this book! I've been teasing them for months now, but I promised them that I would read it. Well, I read it and I liked it. It was pretty good...for a book, you know. So, they made me apologize (which I did) because I actually liked the book. I may even read the next one...woah, I'm getting a little out of control now.

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So, the other day when Carson woke up from his nap, Dan went to get him. Carson was so excited to see Dan and then asked "Where's mommy?". Dan said..."where do you think?" Carson's reply......"mommy sewing." Do you think I sew too much if that's what his answer was...smart kid. Here are a few pictures....

Crazy spiky hair
Tummy Time with Daddy

Happy girl!!!!

A Tribute To Myreon

This is my neighbor Myreon. He is a pretty cool kid and helped us out when we had Bryn. He is over right now and wanted a post all about him. "yes i did lol" So...here you go Myreon....Thanks for being a great neighbor!

Leg Warmers

I've seen these little leg warmers for babies before and recently saw them at a craft fair, so I thought I would try making some. They only took about 10 minutes to make and are super cute! Guess what they are made out of? A pair of socks! Just cut the foot off and make a cuff and voila...leggings! I'm still not sure exactly the point of them, but they sure are cute! Here's Bryn sporting her new pair.

Thanksgiving 2007!

We just got back from a great trip to Rochester! We started our trip bright and early on Wednesday morning. The kids did wonderful in the car and we got there around 2pm. After a little time hanging out we went to Wegmans to get some ingredients for the next day. After that trip to Wegmans, we had been to 3 Wegmans in 3 different states all in the same day! That night we made some cranberry ice cubes (I don't know if we can really say we "made" those), a seven layer jello (well, 6 layers since Carson spilled one...oops!), and an egg nog pie...yum!!! The next day was full of cooking, family, and football (this was Dan mostly). We had our family, my brother's family, and my parents for our dinner. My mom did a wonderful job with the main dishes and it was a delicious meal. Afterwards we played a game all together and that was really fun. Friday morning my mom, Crystal, and I went to the day after Thanksgiving sale at Joann Fabrics at 6:30AM. None of us had ever been shopping on black Friday, but it was totally worth it!! The flannel was 99cents/yard and tons of other stuff was 50% off. I got lots of flannel (not like I need any more) and some other fun things. It was pretty fun to see all the crazy "fabric-goers" with stacks and stacks of bolts in their carts. I thought they were out of control, but I quickly became one of them. It was really fun! Later that day, Alison and Nick came over and we had a great time catching up. Alison is expecting her first baby at the beginning of January and she looks great! They are going to be great parents. We went to Wegmans for dinner and continued to enjoy our time together. Saturday morning we went to breakfast with Jill. She always spoils us and not only brought gifts for the kids, but also bought us breakfast...Jill, you're out-of-control! After breakfast my mom and I went to a craft fair at the fair grounds. It was fun to have some time together with my mom. Then later that evening Jill came back over to hang out and show us her wedding pictures. Her pictures were gorgeous!! Then this morning we woke up bright and early again and headed back to MD. The kids did amazing in the car again! I can honestly say that neither kid cried at all on the trip up and back...it was AWESOME!!!! We had a great time visiting with our family and friends and wish we could have stayed longer. We were also able to get some really good pictures of the kids while we were there...thanks dad! Here are a few....

And which of these do you like best? Black and White or Color?

Happy Turkey Day!

We had a great thanksgiving today!!! Our trip up to Rochester was great too! The kids did awesome and we only had to stop once to eat lunch and feed the baby. Today we stuffed ourselves and enjoyed time with family. My brother Mike and his wife, Crystal, and family were here and Carson LOVED playing with his cousins. Brynlee pretty much slept all day, even with all the crazy kids running around and "playing" with her while she slept. My dad also got some really good pictures of Bryn too...I'm so excited about them...I'll post them later. My mom did an awesome job with all the food and Crystal's homemade salsa was sooooo scrumptious! Dan and I tried a new recipe for triple layer eggnog pie and it was yummy!!! After dinner we even played a game all together. We played my new favorite board game...WHOONU! It was a great thanksgiving day! I'm very thankful for my family.

Alice in Wonderland!

Last night we went to a high school play for one of my young women at church (and one of Dan's seminary students). It was Alice in Wonderland and we brought the whole family. We weren't too sure how Carson would do, but he actually did really well. He watched the first half and the second half he watched too, but was a little more noisy and wanted to keep talking and pointing out the different people on stage. I was happily surprised at how well he did. Brynlee did well too and only fussed a little near the end. It was fun to see a high school play.

On a different note, I'm getting super excited to go up to NY to my parents house for Thanksgiving. We have gone up there every year since we've been married and it's been great! It will be nice to have a little vacation. Hopefully the kids do well in the car and while we are there. Carson has had a few really, REALLY good melt downs lately, so hopefully he won't be doing that while we're up there. He also has been super cute lately too. I had some friends over thursday night for card-swap and he was such a little ladies man. He wanted to show the "girls" everything, it was really cute. He always wants to be the center of attention...silly guy. Brynlee has also been pretty good lately. She has slept better this week and has had a 6 hour stretch of sleeping most of the nights this week. I can handle that, I just need to get her to go to sleep earlier now. She is getting so big too and has been awake more during the day. I'm still awaiting some cute smiles though! Here are some pictures...

I LOVE WEGMANS!!!

What is Wegmans you may be asking yourself??? If you don't know, please allow me to tell you...or better yet, I'd be happy to go there with you sometime! Wegmans is the BEST grocery store EVER!!! I like to call it the Disneyland of grocery stores. Wegmans actually originated in my hometown, Rochester, NY. I grew up with Wegmans...it is the best! They have the best produce, bulk candy, customer service, etc. I have a special place in my heart for Wegmans! They are even on the Fortune 100 list. They actually have some Wegmans down where we live now. They have two in VA and one in MD with a few more in the works. The Wegmans down here are HUGE. They all have two levels and one of them even has three levels with a underground parking garage. They are super fancy with a fancy upstairs eating area. Dan and I love to go there on a "date" to get pizza and wings. Today we went with Mary and Randy and their kids. I hope they liked it as much as we do. It's hard to explain to someone that we drive 45 minutes to go to lunch at a grocery store! We had a great time today though. We had yummy pizza and wings and then wandered around the store looking at everything. It was a fun day! Thanks guys for going with us, we hope you had fun too!

I hate CROUP!

...It's just plain annoying! Carson had croup last night and we ended up taking him to the ER. He had a rough night on Friday and was doing slightly better throughout the day on Saturday, but we decided to take him Saturday night to the ER so we didn't have another terrible night. They gave him a steroid and three breathing treatments. Carson was sooo good for the first couple hours, then lost it the last hour. I think he was just extremely exhausted by that point. But, he improved slightly and we got some medicine to take home and he had a much better night last night. He is still really active, but it's always hard to see your little guy sick. Bryn had a little runny nose, but fortunately nothing too bad. I just hate having sick kids...you know what I mean?

Just stuff

I'm happy to say that Brynlee slept much better last night. After I wrote my last email, I noticed she was congested, so maybe that was the problem. Last night though, she slept from about 11pm (it's still really hard to get her to GO to sleep at night) until 4:15am, and then went right back to sleep and is still sleeping now. Now, that I can totally do...let's see if she can keep that up. I don't mean to complain so much, she is actually a great baby during the day and is getting so big. We've had a few smiles here and there, but I can't wait for when she smiles all the time. She really is a pretty little girl, if I do say so myself :)

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On Monday we had an actual Family Home Evening. Our activity was decorating sugar cookies. It was a lot of fun and Carson loved it. Although, for some reason he didn't really want to EAT the cookie...weird! I, on the other hand, ate about 3 that night and 4 more in the morning for breakfast. I may not have eaten a lot when I was pregnant, but I sure am making up for it now!!

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This past Saturday Tami and I did a craft fair in VA. It was our most successful one yet! I even sold a quilt that I had made that very week...I haven't had any quilts for sale before. I had Bryn with me the whole day and she did great! She was our perfect little mascot as she modeled the headbands and carseat blanket for us. One lady actually thought she was a real doll! Brynlee was sleeping peacefully, but maybe that lady needed to put her glasses on. It was funny. I really enjoy doing the craft fairs. Of course I love to sew the stuff we sell, but it is so much fun to just sit and chat with Tami. We have another one this Saturday at Hammond Elementary School in Laurel (8110 Alladin Dr., Laurel, MD 20723)....feel free to stop by if you're in the area!

I should be...

...SLEEPING! Why am I awake at 1:45am?? I should be curled up under my covers, but some cute little baby girl has a different idea. I have no idea why this baby does not want to sleep at night. She is a completely different baby at night than she is during the day. During the day she eats well, stays awake some, and sleeps a ton. We try to keep her awake for a good amount of time during the day, but that can be really difficult with her. But, once nighttime rolls around, she is wide awake! She isn't always necessarily crying, but sometimes she is. So far, tonight has been a bad night. After feeding her at 9pm, we got her asleep in our room by 10pm. We hopped in to bed, said goodnight, and she was awake by 10:15...arghh! Then I tried putting her pacifier in her mouth over and over again and it calms her down, but then she spits it out and starts crying again. So, at 10:45, I made her a bottle and she ate all 4oz....this is after I just fed her at 9! That didn't make her fall asleep, so from 11pm till now, 1:50, we've been rocking her, giving her her pacifier and now I'm downstairs and she's in the swing. She will "sleep" for a few minutes at a time, but then just wakes right back up. She is REALLY trying our patience and I'm having to dig deep to be a loving mother...at least during the night. Does ANYONE have any suggestions to help me with this baby???? I just feel so bad b/c now Dan will only get 3 hours of sleep! I won't get much more, but I don't have to go to work and pay attention in a class like Dan does. So, if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them. She is just so confusing, I don't know what to do for her. I wish she was as good at night as she is during the day. Hopefully I can go to sleep soon too...wish me luck :)

Lot's of pictures

We've had a great last couple of weeks. We had fun visiting the Temple, going to a pumpkin patch, and of course HALLOWEEN!! Here are a ton of pictures of our fun.....