Dance Recital portraits, a visit from Michelle :)

I didn't post anything last week because there really wasn't much to post.  The girls and I just did our usual stuff while Jared was out of town--piano lessons on Mon. and Tues., dance class on Tues., gymnastics and shopping on Thurs.  Jared got home late that Friday night (1/16) but we didn't do anything on Sat.  Here are a few things I posted on Facebook, though:

1/13: Avery just told me they can't watch the news because "It's a little bit dangerous. And boring!"

1/15: I picked up the twins' dance recital portraits today. So cute!

Just some snapshots of the girls relaxing in my scrapbook room with Whiskers after their nap on 1/15:

1/16: This is the kind of thing that makes me smile when I look around the house at all the chaos created during the day after the twins go to bed:

1/16: Poor Whiskers. Makenna is pushing him around the basement in a baby doll stroller, along with two babies. He's been in there for a while and doesn't even try to get out, though!

Last Week:
I took the girls to dance on Tues., then grocery shopping. That night, I got to go to a really fun Relief Society dinner/service auction.  I won a set of beautiful Christmas picture crafts and auctioned off my services to make birthday cards and a digital party invitation. Our ward is pretty cool! :)

On Wed. (1/21), we took the twins swimming at the rec. center for two hours, then stopped and got lunch on the way home.  A little while after we got home, my SIL, Michelle, came over with her seven kids/baby and spent the night. The twins had so much fun playing with cousins! I had a great time playing Super Mario Karts and Just Dance with Michelle and the three older kids.  The two oldest girls stayed up really late with me, then I didn't sleep at all that night, so I just vegged and napped after Michelle left following breakfast while Jared took the girls to gymnastics.  The twins wore a set of new biketards that they are SO CUTE in but Jared didn't take any pictures and I didn't have time to take any before they left.  I'll take pictures of them in the suits next time they wear them.

Photos from the fun night with Michelle's clan:

Playing Super Mario Karts

 

Playing Just Dance :)

We mostly just vegged the next two days but I did set up my old computer for the girls and got them started on abcmouse.com, a full online preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten curriculum with games, books, songs, and more.  They love it! They have wanted to be on the site non-stop.  I never really let them play on my computer much before, so they didn't really have practice using the mouse or websites but they sure picked it up quickly!

Jared left on a 2-3 week trip early this morning, so it was just me and the girls to church this morning.  We'll see what mischief we can get into while he's away this time.  :)

All better now!

The girls are all better now!  Hallelujah!  I postponed my first week of piano lessons to ensure that none of my students would get sick from being in our home.  We mostly took it easy this week but the girls did get to do a couple of fun things.

On Tuesday (1/6), the girls had dance class.  Avery didn't want to go in at first and cried as I was leaving the room but stopped crying right after I walked out. She did dance, but with her blankie. *sigh*  Avery told me the next day that she wants to do dance class but "not that other thing" (meaning the recital, ha ha!).

Just a random photo that Avery asked me to take of her and Whiskers before she got dressed for dance class:

The girls had their first gymnastics class on Thurs. They loved it!!!  The videos I took are pretty amusing (trying to get them to upload).  :)

1/9: I found a fake flower arrangement in a box of baby stuff I was going through. Avery saw it and asked to hold some of the flowers. When we went in the kitchen for dinner, I was amused when I saw that she had put them in a cup of water, ha ha!

Today after church, then lunch, the girls and I took a nap (our first Sunday going at 9am, instead of 1pm). While Avery and I were still napping, Makenna got up and thought that Whiskers was really thirsty and needed a lot more water. She filled up his water bowl and both of his food bowls with water, then proceeded to place a bunch of clean towels all over the laundry room floor so water wouldn't get everywhere. So now I have a whole load of towels to wash. Kids! :P

Church was really good today.  The girls were pretty good and my nursery kids were really good.  It was a little hard to get up in time for 9am church but it sure was nice to have the rest of the day to relax!  It will be nice until choir practice starts back up.  The girls went to their new class (CTR5!) for the first time today.  They were a little hesitant to go at first but I was told they did awesome once I left them in there.  This is the first time they haven't had Sister Searcy as a teacher.  She was their teacher from their first Sunday in nursery, then she moved up with their class to Sunbeams.  Sis. Perez, who has been their other teacher for several months, moved up to CTR5 with them and their friend Penny's mom is now their other teacher.  Funny note: their friend, Jason, did not want to go to class the past two weeks because the twins weren't there, ha ha!  Isn't that so cute?!  And the Primary president told me as we were leaving church that she needs to keep a journal of all the funny stuff the twins say in Primary.  Uh oh, ha ha!  She said Avery was particularly talkative today.  They both were telling everyone how their Aunt Kiki gave them the skirts/shirts they wore today, ha ha!  Who knows what else they say in there!!  :D

New Year's Eve was a flop :(

Before I get to New Year's Eve, we thought it would be best to just relax on Monday to let the girls get over their cold completely; and I set up my new computer that afternoon.  Late that night, I sent a neighborhood email about teaching piano lessons again and, by that afternoon, I was already over the limit of students I (and Jared) wanted and there are a couple of people who said they are interested but haven't given a definite answer yet. I really only wanted to start with 4-5 students but I'm already at 6 and it could go up to 8! Plus I have 5 people on the wait list (not sure how many of their kids they actually wanted me to teach).  Guess I'll be a little more busy starting next week. :) Oh, and the girls start dance again and add gymnastics next week, too!

12/31: I was up with Makenna most of the night before, who threw up a couple of times (it wasn't really throw up, since she didn't have anything in her stomach because she hadn't eaten since lunch); she then spent much of the night sitting up in my bed, holding a puke bowl. I guess she felt like she was gonna throw up but there wasn't anything to actually puke up. This really put a damper on our NYE plans. :(

There were a couple of funny things she said that night, though. She had to go pee and I told her that if she felt like she need to puke, she could just puke in the toilet. She cried, "Noooooo!!!!"

At one point, I asked if she wanted to just lie down, instead of sitting up with the puke bowl and she said, "In 9 minutes, I'm gonna puke." Silly girl.
To top off the night, Avery came and got in bed with us really early this morning and was crying/whimpering because of leg and foot pain. Jared took her downstairs and said she cried for at least an hour. We were all exhausted all day!

 We were supposed to go up to Hoytsville that day and spend the night at Grandma's, along with Steph and her family, Laura and her kids, and Teresa and her kids, and have a fun NYE party.  With Makenna puking, we obviously squashed those plans and had a night in, instead.  The girls were in bed by 8:30.  We had crackers with cheese and ham, and fruit cocktail for dinner, ha ha.  At some point during the day, Jared came in my scrapbook room and was commenting on the big mess the girls made while I had been setting up stuff on my new computer. Makenna piped up and said, "We're just kids! We don't know any better!" Ha ha ha! This girls cracks me up!

Facebook posts on New Year's Eve: Sad to be missing the family NYE party due to Makenna being sick. Her fever came back after her nap; it was 101.7 when we last checked a bit ago. Just a boring, I mean relaxing, NYE at home.
I hope all of you are having a blast ringing in 2015! Happy New Year!

Just to make myself feel better about staying home tonight:
It's 8 degrees here in Lehi and -1 degrees in Hoytsville, where we would have gone if Makenna wasn't sick!

FB post New Year's Day: I hate to say it but this has been a fairly miserable NYE and NYD. Jared and/or I have both been sick before on multiple NYEs but Makenna has made this one pretty miserable for all of us. Practically no sleep the past two nights for any of us and almost constant whining or crying, not to mention incredibly clingy to me. She had a fever again all last night and threw up last night and this morning. Poor thing. She hasn't puked all day and doesn't seem to have a fever but she is still sitting here crying. Not a good way to start the new year but it can only get better, right? Happy New Year.

1/2:  FINALLY today, Makenna is feeling so much better!  Yay!  We felt like we just needed to stay home and rest, just in case, though.  I did get the girls all bundled up and let them play out in the snow for a little bit earlier today.  I bought snow pants for them for the first time over 2 months ago and the girls have wanted it to snow SO BAD all winter but we only got a tiny bit, not even enough to cover the ground and last more than mid-morning, maybe twice.  We didn't get real snow until Christmas Day, then they were too sick to go out and play in it. Obviously, they had a great time. :)  They even ate some icicles that were hanging from the deck (hopefully, there wasn't anything gross in them!). Since they each had sweatpants, snow pants, a long-sleeve shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, a jacket, a coat, ear muffs, two pairs of mittens, and two pairs of socks, they didn't get cold at all. :)

Whiskers got in on the snow fun today, too. He was DYING to go outside with us--meowing and meowing by the downstairs door--so Jared let him out. He didn't like walking in the snow (he was only in it because I put him in it, ha ha) but he seemed to like exploring under the deck a lot.  Isn't he so cute???

Well, I thought maybe the sickness was leaving the house after they had so much fun playing in the snow.  HOWEVER, that evening, instead of puking, Makenna had diarrhea and went in her pants, poor thing!!!  We put a pull-up on her and she had diarrhea in them the next morning but was able to make it to the potty when she had again later Sat. afternoon.  Oh, and Avery puked from her bed Friday night at around 1am, too!  Thankfully, Jared had been standing right outside their door to tell Makenna to stop crying (because she wanted to come get in bed with me) and he heard Avery start to gag; we still had a "puke bowl" on the floor for Makenna, just in case, so Avery puked right into it, saving us from having to clean up a mess.

Jared is such a stinker!  Friday afternoon, I grabbed some cheese and crackers for a snack and left them on the kitchen island while I went and checked on the girls during naptime. When I came back, I couldn't find the crackers (thought I was going crazy), so I opened the pantry to get more and Jared jumped out. He scared the crap out of me! He had taken the crackers and had been hiding in there for several minutes, as I had taken my meds/vitamins and did a couple of other things in the kitchen before I realized the crackers weren't there. I'm not kidding, he completely caught me off guard and it was scary! What a turd!

Sat. night (1/3), I had a MUCH needed, awesomely fun girls night out with Amiee Erickson and Kiki Tassin Tolman. Burgers at The Habit Burger Grill, donuts at Beyond Glaze, shopping at Nordstrom Rack and hot cocoa at Starbucks in Barnes & Noble. Such a great night! 

We missed church again (2nd Sunday in a row because of illness) since the twins still weren't feeling well yesterday. We were actually supposed to go to a baby blessing in Jared's hometown but he ended up going by himself. Te girls seemed to be feeling better today so I was hopeful that all the sickness was behind us!  NOPE.  Just when I think we might be in the clear, Avery has a diarrhea accident in her pants! Ack!  THEN, We had a fun puke fest over here. Poor little Avery was on the potty with diarrhea while the rest of us were eating dinner when we heard her start throwing up. Poor little sweetie. I put a handkerchief over my nose and mouth (if you know me, you know that I gag and throw up really easily) but I still managed to start puking into the bathroom sink (with the handkerchief still on!) when I went to start cleaning up the puke. Thankfully, Jared was here to help, even though he thought it was hilarious that I started puking! I'm such a wuss, ha ha!

One last thing:  Thanks to Grandma and Maw-maw for all the ponies with hundreds of tiny pieces, ha ha!  This definitely isn't everything--they're all over the house. And there are several other ponies, small, medium, and large. Notice how they put some of the pony hair clips on Olaf's arms, ha ha!

Hoping and praying that all the illness leaves for good tomorrow and that I don't get sick, as Jared is leaving on a 2-week trip in the morning!

Christmas Week!

Nikki and her new boyfriend, Ryan, flew in late Sunday night (12/21); they stayed with Kiki, along with my parents.

12/22: We all (our family, Kiki, Carma, Wyatt, Uncle Wayne's family, my parents, and Nikki and Ryan) went to the Museum of Natural Curiosity.

My cousin, Halie, and my niece, Carma, composing music

Paw-paw doing his usual bunny ears on Avery and Wyatt as they compose music together

Nikki trying to make it across a rope bridge, with Ryan right behind her

Makenna & Daddy on the airplane

My adorable little cousin, Holly playing in the water table

Makenna getting some help from my Uncle Wayne in Water Works

Playing in the water

That night, we went to Kiki's house for dinner to celebrate Michael's 40th birthday.  I stayed the night at Kiki's to hang out and stayed up really late with Kiki and Juddy watching The Middle.

12/23: Everyone came to our house to hang out and have dinner.  The kids were "helping" Kiki put together a puzzle.

12/24: Jared helped the girls paint ceramic ornaments while I ran around doing last-minute stuff for Christmas before everyone (Kiki's family, my parents, Nikki and Ryan, Grandma, and Laura and her kids) came over for Christmas Eve.  I played Cranium with Kiki, Nikki, and Ryan and we had so much fun!

 I put the twins in the Frozen shirts and slippers we gave them for their birthday and made tutus out of the tulle bunting that I made as decoration for the birthday party (Jared's idea to make tutus out of it).  They were so cute!

My mom gave Jared the painting she did of Praia (our Australian shepherd who died at the age of 12 in Dec. 2012); she painted it on a piece of wood Jared found in his uncle's barn on the property we bought (now our barn).

 We let the girls open a few presents, one being new pajamas:

And another present was a lava lamp for their room so we no longer have to keep their door open and the hall light on, since Makenna FREAKS OUT if the cat goes in their room at night!

 A hug in their new jammies before bedtime on Christmas Eve!

Christmas Day!!!  A white Christmas! We waited so long for it to snow this year. Good time to start!  :D   

The girls were so excited to wake up and see snow!  It was a Christmas miracle! :)

Grandma and Laura and her kids stayed at our house Christmas Eve; we all had crescent rolls for Christmas breakfast.

 Then, Grandma told the Christmas story using the our Little People Nativity set.

 Then, on to opening presents!  The first thing the girls saw was the drum set and guitar Santa gave them, for which they had been asking for almost two months!  Makenna would have been happy to just sit and play her drums, instead of opening all the other presents.  :)  But she was happy once she started opening gifts. :)

 Jared was in charge of the stockings this year and he put fake snakes in the girls' stockings.  Makenna wasn't particularly fond of hers.  She threw her stocking on the floor when she first saw it.

 They sure did enjoy getting all the other little gifts/treats out of the stockings, though!

 Daddy spoiled them with Elsa and Anna dolls after he scolded me for spending too much. ;)

 Here they are opening some Frozen figurines that I had bought for the birthday party and forgot to use!  Doh!!

 They got a few games--Hungry Hungry Hippos, Let's Go Fishin', and Operation:

 And a little keyboard with voice recorder and lots of cool buttons/functions:

 After opening presents, we got on a video chat with Uncle Jason for a bit, then the girls and I headed to Kiki's (Jared stayed on the video chat and stayed at our house because Laura and Grandma were still there).  We had a full turkey dinner at Kiki's, then we opened presents.  Ben sent talking plush Olaf dolls for the girls, which they love:

 Nikki & Ryan cuddled up on the couch (gag, ha ha!):

 Even Judson was happy with what I made for him (a soccer subway art print, which I framed, and a soccer wall vinyl saying for his room):

 The girls were sick with colds/coughs, so we didn't stay at Kiki's very long and we decided not to drive to Morgan for the annual Lingmann Christmas Night party because we really didn't want to keep them out late.  When we got back to our house, we opened presents from Grandma (which we didn't have time to do before the video chat with Jason):

After putting the girls down for a nap, I went back to Kiki's and stayed the night again.  We watched a couple of movies ("Hours" and "The Holiday") and we played Cranium again, as well as Apples to Apples with Carma.
12/26: Between the twins' birthday party on Sat. and Christmas, it is TOY OVERLOAD in this house!!!

We were all so tired that day and Mom & Dad and Nikki spent most of the day doing laundry and packing to go home, so I went home and we all just vegged here at home.  I was starting to feel pretty crappy with a cold, so all we did that night was have everyone come over for a bit to say good-bye.  I was up late that night making gifts for the cousin gift exchange and peppermint brownies for the Crittenden Christmas party the next day.

12/27: Even though we all had colds, we went up to Hoytsville for a family gathering/lunch, then the big Crittenden party.  First, we (Jared's parents, sisters, and nieces and nephews) met at the Wanship church so the kids could do a Nativity play and cousins gift exchange of homemade presents.  Unfortunately, Michelle's family wasn't able to make it because most of them were really sick. The twins were angels in the Nativity play:

 Avery cried during the whole thing and I finally let her come and sit in my lap:

  She was happy for the gift exchange, though; both girls got really cute rice bag owls from two of Michelle's kids:

After the gift exchange, we went over to the Senior Citizen building in Coalville and had lunch, after which everyone else started showing up for the big Crittenden Christmas party (with everyone from Jared's grandpa down to his great-grandchildren).  We had tons of snacks, played a white elephant gift exchange game, and played Bingo.  It was fun, as usual.

We stopped to visit at Cindy's house after helping her clean up after the party.  The girls fell asleep in the car on the way home, of course, after such a long, fun day!  But they went right back to sleep when we got home.

12/28: I woke up feeling really tired and sick and the girls were coughing a lot, so I got a sub for nursery and we all stayed home from church. I didn't get out of bed for good until noon (got up quickly a few times before that to take care of the girls).  Jared's family (sans Michelle's family) all came over to our house that evening for pizza and snacks and to be together before Carrie and Nathan left the next morning.  I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time.

Oh, and here's what we did for the last two weeks with the elf:

Week 3:
Day 1: He went down in the basement and rode the girls' deer in their playroom
2: He sat in the Nativity and held Baby Jesus
3: He rode around in the girls bath toy boat in their tub
4: He got a sheet of small stickers and put them all over himself
5: He went in the playroom and got out all the little cars and the car mat and rode around in a bigger car
6: He ate a cupcake that I made that day for the party the next day
7: He hid in a lantern by the TV in the living room

The last three days:
1: He opened two of the girls' presents!
2: Since I stayed at Kiki's house, he stacked up all the pillows on my bed and slept on there
3: He sat in the light fixture in the girls room--we told them he wanted to spend his last night watching over them

The elf was so much fun and the girls loved looking for him every day and talked about him a lot.  I'm so glad I started that tradition and wish they could believe in Santa and elves forever!

P.S.  I'm typing this on the brand new computer I got for Christmas!  :D  I just set it up today, even though I've had it for weeks (Jared said I had to wait until Christmas, then I was way too sick/busy to set it up).  So far, it's awesome!!