This week was flew by! We spent the first part of the week in Vegas with our friends the Shirley's. (I'll try to catch up on that post later this week). John had Monday and Tuesday off of work and Eleanor only went to school on W,TH&F.

Eleanor had a class party on Friday and I volunteered to help. Every time I go to her classroom I leave exhausted and extremely grateful for her teacher. That Mrs. Parsons is truly and amazing teacher! She has such patients and is great with all the kids. I love helping out in Eleanor's class and I need to do it more especially while she is still excited to have me in there with her! I know it won't be too long before it's not cool to have your mom there! On Friday night she got to have her first friend spend the night. She and Lilly were beyond excited!! I let them go with me to Maverick to load up on candy and Slurpee's. They also got to rent their own Redbox. The little stinks stayed up past 12. I'm so glad Eleanor has such a good friend just close! They seriously play together every chance they get!!

Amelia asks everyday if it's dance class.  She loves wearing her dance clothes (of course, she loves the ONE dress I can't stand!) and is always wanting to be at dance. She cracks me up!! My new favorite thing about Mia is the way she says sorry to me. She gets a really somber look on her face and lowers her voice while saying, "sorry mom". Its adorable and she knows I can't stay mad at her when she pulls that on me, which is WAY too many times a day!

Jude. Oh I love this boy! He's quite the little show off and dancer. He likes to dance to any music he hears. His dancing is more like bending up and down and stomping one leg, but it's adorable! He's been a little sick the past few days and I don't like it.  The poor kid has the worst gag reflex and throws up all the time!! It's even worse when he has a cold. No exaggeration, he throws up at least 3 times a week. Today it was four times. Makes me so sad for him.

John is still on his crutches. He went to the doctor this week and he said maybe in a week or two he can drop down to one crutch but really it just depends on how it feels for John. He also said that once he's off crutches he'll be in the boot for another month or so. I feel bad for John. I know it's killing him that our garage is turning into a huge junk pile and that our Christmas lights are still up on the house. I know we will ALL be glad when he can walk again!!

I started swimming again and I love it! I've been going with a few friends at 9pm. It works great because the kids are in bed. My goal is 3 times a week. I've also started back on Julian Michael's 30 Day Shred. Man I love that workout! My entire body is sore the next day!!

 We had Savannah and Katelyn spend the night on Saturday night. Savannah watched all the kids while John and I went and saw the new James Bond movie. I know going out to the movies isn't much, but I so enjoy getting out with John! It's nice being able to have him all to myself. When we got home John decided he was hungry and the kids didn't want us home yet, so we took Jude and headed over to Johnny Rockets. It's kind of fun having it so close to the house and it's even more fun having a babysitter to do it!

The Paey's invited us over to dinner tonight. We got in a pretty bad snowstorm on the way over. They even closed down the freeway. We had a really fun night. It's nice when our kids play with the other kids and we get to just hang out. Wish we could get together with more friends more often.

Everyday Life

While driving in the snow I hit a patch of ice and slid just a bit. Amelia was in the back seat and started yelling, "rocking hell". Not quite sure where she got that one from!

Amelia has been really wanting to fly to Neverland. She can't understand why I can't just take her there. I tried to explain we need to have Peter Pan take us there.

Jude learned a new word: Boo! He loves going up to people and yelling it. It's pretty dang cute.

He's still climbing on any and everything. Right now he has 5 bruises on his little forehead. He's wild.

Eleanor and I started reading Harry Potter together at nights. I have never read the books and I'm loving experience it with Eleanor. She is really into and understands a lot more then I expected. I love it when she tells me she can picture how one of the character looks in her head.

Eleanor still loves her long hot showers in the morning. She's worse then any teenager I know. I think it's kind of funny!

John has been getting home at decent times each night and we are enjoying it. We all just wish he wasn't on crutches this winter. We have had lots and lots of snow and would love to have him take us sledding. (I keep saying I'm going to take the kids but it's been really cold and I don't know if it's worth all the work).

I'm just getting back into the swing of normal life. I don't remember ever being this behind on life after the holiday season. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I've been having to everything on my own lately. Having John out of commission has made me realize how much he does help out. The other day all three kids fell asleep in the car and we had a full load from Costco. Let's just say it wasn't fun unloading all of that on my own in 0 degree weather!

My new years resolutions aren't going as great as I would wish, but I'm not failing 100%. My main goal was to not yell at my kids and try to be a nicer, calmer mom. I can tell my efforts have made a big difference. My kids, especially Amelia, do not respond well to negativity. I find if I praise them more and try to talk nice, they behave much better. I still have a lot of work, but I'm trying.

I'm not quite on track with my weight loss goal, but I'm trying. It just sucks!! I really want my kids to eat healthy and enjoy it. I just wish eating carrots was as much fun as making and eating valentines cookies!!


We set a goal to do FHE each week and we are 3/3. We do it on Sunday nights and the girls really seem to love it. So far our lessons have been on Goals, Safety and Obedience.

As a family we set a goal to do an act of service each day. The girls are really into it. Amelia has cleaned the toy room 3 times all by herself. Eleanor was nice to a new girl and school and took Lilly some cookies when she was sick. John and I are trying to plan a bigger service project for our family.

My goal for this week is to get photos off my camera and onto the blog!

A Week of Instagrams

Last day of our lazy Christmas vacation.

 Mia's true loves: poka dot sweater, tights, sparkly dress, crazy hair and candy!

 Playing dance class with Dixie cups.

 Closing ceremonies

 Our exciting Friday night.

 Jude's true love: balls.

My little sidekick

 Eleanor and Jace.

 First stages of organizing the toy room.

 Back to reality.

 Family movie night in our bed.

 It's been really cold and I'm loving it!

First fight with a nasty case of pink eye!

Here's to 2013

One of my New Year's resolution is to be more diligent at blogging. I always enjoy pulling out the old blog books I've made or scrolling down to past entries. It's amazing how fast time goes and I don't want to forget this time of our lives. I figure if I shoot to post at least every Sunday that should help me.

We just changed to 9am church and I am very excited about it! The kids seem to act better at church and then it gives us the rest of the day to enjoy it as a family. Although, today the girls enjoyed it together down in the basement while John and I laid in bed watching Gossip Girl and Jude took a three hour nap!

Eleanor came up stairs to show us that she lost her 6th tooth. She said she was playing with her headband in her mouth and it accidentally pulled her loose tooth right out. She looks adorable with all her missing teeth. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She's my best little friend!

Amelia had her first day of primary and she loved it! Last week she informed me she didn't want to go to nursery because all the kids whine too much.  I'm pretty sure she's include in that!! When I took her to opening exercises, she was really excited. She loves going to primary with Eleanor and thinks she's really big now. I love her!

Jude will go to nursery next month and he'll love it. He wanted to go today but I talked him into taking a nap in my lap during Sunday school and RS. He's wild. He is constantly throwing anything within reach and knows how to pester his sisters.  He climbs anything and everything. He still has the best smile and gives great hugs and kisses!

John is going on two months with crutches. I feel bad for him. I often forget he's not functioning 100%. I think he's about ready to go crazy!! He's been working really hard at work and it's paying off. He found out last week that he made VP at Goldman Sachs. I'm so proud of him and very thankful for all his hard work and support for our family. I'm one lucky lady!