Lookin on the bright side.

It's January. It's cold. I miss the sun. But hey........we live in Chicago........and there are benefits to that.

One of those is living near my favorite produce store. Maybe I need to be better supervised in Caputos. Here is a fraction of what I purchased .

MMMM. Fresh pineapple, grapefruit, kiwi, cilantro, 3 different kinds of apples, avacados, bananas, limes, and the makings for fresh salsa.

Not to mention one of my favorite French cheeses for a dollar. A dollar? Has the world gone mad?

Oh yeah, I had a great two days of eating mostly fruit and veggies. It was so delicious. The 3rd day.......not so good. My stomach hurt so bad. Guess I need to pace myself. ha ha.

Oh BTW, I also picked up some of these:

and for some reason my kids thought they had died and gone to heaven. Garrison said "we haven't had peanuts in the shell since we went to the circus!" Well, believe me, the kitchen floor looked like it belonged at the circus when they were done.

Oh well.......it's January. You gotta have fun somehow.

This is for Jace........or Jamison.

Jamison and/or Jace, whoever picked out Macy's Christmas present. You rock. She loves her doggie. She doesn't like to let go of it. When she wants it she walks around the house barking. She hugs it. She LOVES it.

Even when she is getting her diaper changed.

Or when I am trying to dress her.

She doesn't even let food get in the way of holding her doggie.

Thanks kiddos.

35 year old Me

My dad was right (don't let that go to your head or anything Dad). I'm lovin' my 30's.

Could it be that my family spoiled me with my favorites on my birthday?

hmmm. Well, my favorite body splash scent from Bath and Body Works always helps:

and this oh so cute bag that my husband surprised me with:

He bought that for me in September when he was in Mexico. I still can't figure out where his hiding place is.............and he's not sayin'.

Beautiful flowers always make a girl feel special.

And I LOVE this gift from my sister.

Does the fact that no more names will fit on this necklace mean that we are done having kids? Maybe, maybe not. That's really none of your business. (OK, don't be offended, I'm just trying to make Mandi laugh........inside joke).

My brother and sister-in-law gave me this darling apron along with a cookbook. Aparently they have recently tasted my cooking. ha ha! Just kidding.

Rumor has it that my sister-in-law has made my girls some matching aprons for their birthdays. How dang cute is that? Thanks Rach!

So they (whoever the heck "they" are) say that 35 is the new 25. I hope not. I like 35 much better than 25!

Christmas 2009

The good news: I got a new camera (well new to me) and a new lens! Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to me!

The bad news: I don't know what the heck I am doing and my pictures are turning out terrible. This is where I shamelessly beg my sister to come help me learn how to use my camera. PLEASE??? For my birthday. Oh, darn it, I just remembered you already gave me my birthday ..............which I LOVE by the way =)

OK. Back on task.

We had the opportunity to go down the famous Michigan Ave this year to check out all of the Christmas lights and window displays. They really do have some great displays. I really love downtown Chicago. Especially when I check it out from the comfort of our warm van. Wish I had some great pics to share with you but these will have to do.

We actually had our Christmas tree up this year! Yay! We didn't have it up last year because the movers packed up our house on December 10th and 11th and we didn't move into our house here until December 17th. Then we quickly unpacked the house and headed down to North Carolina to party with the Tremaynes. We missed having a Christmas tree! We had only had the ornaments for one year so I forgot what they looked like. It was a nice surprise when we unpacked the ornaments. I love the sparkly ornaments like this one:

They sure do look nice on the tree. Unfortunately, more often than not they ended up in a bunch like this:

Jackson and Macy enjoyed "decorating" the tree all season.

Christmas Eve was a different experience for us this year. This is the first year that we weren't with any extended family. Although we missed the famous Green family party (and some dang good white elephants) it was kind of nice to have a laid back Christmas Eve.

The kiddos baked cookies for Santa, we ate pozole, and watched my favorite version of A Christmas Carol (Scrooge with Albert Finney). I think our favorite part of the evening was "The Quiz". The kids have been talking about, and begging for a sneak peek of "The Quiz" for 2 weeks. Conal and I think up questions about them when they were babies or really little. The kids think it is the biggest crack up ever.

The kids got to open a couple of presents. One being the traditional Christmas Eve pajamas. We even got Jackson to sit still for the picture this year.

Can't say the same for Macy.

Still can't believe I found matching pj's for 5 kids. Probably won't happen again!

CHRISTMAS MORNING:

Our kids let us sleep in until 7:30 (yes, 7:30 is sleeping in for us. Conal and I both get up before 6 am ). We were pleasantly surprised.

Our kids really are at a fun age for Christmas. Jackson really got into present opening this year.

Garrison was very animated as well.

My favorite reaction though is when Hailey found what Santa left her in the basement. She screamed when she saw her new playhouse.

How many kids can fit in one playhouse anyway???

Macy wasn't sure what to think of all of the excitement over the playhouse.

We missed being with family this year. However, it sure was nice not to have to be anywhere on Christmas or Christmas Eve. This Christmas the the laziest most laid back Christmas I've ever had. We didn't even get out of our pajamas. We really need more days like that!

Happy New Year!

ooooo Daddy is tricky

I hate balloons. Yes, I am that big of a party pooper. First of all, I hate when they pop. My ears just can't take the loud sound. Plus, I embarrassingly jump everytime.

The worst part though is that inevitably, the balloons end up here:

or here in the skylight:

(Our ceilings go up to the second floor) and and the kids end up bawling about it.

Ooooo boy. Hailey and Alexia were SO upset that they couldn't get their balloons back. Alexia even tried jumping on a stool to get hers.

Well, lucky for these girls, Grandpa and Daddy are creative. Conal got out this bad boy:

and blew the balloon over to Grandpa who was waiting in the loft.

Ta da! We did get all 3 of them down.........but with one casuality.

Then of course the leaf blower turned out to be fun all on its own:

Thanksgiving, and finding our roots

Grandma and Grandpa came out for Thanksgiving and Garrison's baptism. It's a good thing they made it. Garrison had been talking about it since they left in September!

Well, I have to admit it. I took the lazy-man's way out (again!) this year. We went out to eat for Thanksgiving. When I don't have a 3 year old climbing the stove and table when I'm cooking, an 8, 6 and 4 year old running through the kitchen, and a 1 year old clinging to my leg, spending 4 hours in the kitchen will actually be enjoyable instead of torture! This way I didn't have to cook OR clean. I just got to enjoy with the fam.

After Thanksgiving dinner we headed out to a nearby cemetery. I know, its a weird Thanksgiving activity. However, we recently found out that Conal's great great grandfather and great great great grandfather used to live here in Plainfield. Not just the Chicago area which is huge. Plainfield. We were shocked. His great great great grandfather apparently built the first frame house in the Chicago area and is buried a couple of miles away from our home.

Isn't that crazy? Since we received our orders to move here we found out that my great grandmother served her mission here in the early 1900's and Conal's great great grandfather lived here for a while. Conal's great great grandfather, Ezra T. Clark founded the city of Farmington. The next time you are in Farmington, go to the city park and check out the monument.

My great great great grandfather used to live in Nauvoo and crossed the plains to Utah. I wonder if our ancestors are sitting up in Heaven thinking "What are they doing? We LEFT Illinois for Utah and they went BACK!" ha ha.

A Day to Remember

The morning of Garrison's baptism I was telling him that I was proud of him for deciding to be baptized and he said to me "Well what am I supposed to do mom, follow Satan and be a bad kid?!?!? " Oh man, he said it so funny I about fell over laughing. Good point Garrison!

I have a hard time putting my motherly feelings into words (sniffle, sniffle). Really I just can't do it justice. Maybe these pictures will help a little:

Two of my favorite guys:

The guest of honor:

Friends, family, and good food:A newly baptized member there to support the newest baptized members:

Grandpa to give an awesome talk on baptism. Thanks Dad! Love ya!

(although I don't have any pictures of him AT the baptism since he kindly took over camera duties for a busy mommy!):

Grandma in town to make the girls hair beautiful:

And Jackson to keep it interesting:

This is pretty much what his face looked like when he saw Garrison and Conal in the baptismal font. He yelled "Hey! Garrison.........and Daddy.........in the WATER!"

I also have to mention that my second son had to use the restroom, not once but thrice during the service (and he let everyone know....loudly). Maybe I should leave out the fact that while I was saying the closing prayer he walked up to me and said "No Mommy! It's not your turn!" I must have good friends as they swear that I was the only one who heard it. Let me tell you, when you are saying the closing prayer and someone tells you it isn't your turn, it really makes you wonder if it really IS your turn. Even if it is a 3 year old telling you so.

All in all it was a great day. I hope that Garrison thinks so.