Christmas decor

This year Derek was extra kind and let me decorate for Christmas the first Sunday in November. I have never decorated that early. I absolutely love it! I will definitely be sad when its time to take it down. Its been so long since we've been able to put everything out.

 This is our big tree. And please ignore that ugly painted stain glass looking arched window. I really hate it.
This tree is decorated with a woodsy, rustic theme with a few other ornaments on there too. Such as our bride and groom Mickey and Minnie that we got at Disneyland where we spent our first Christmas. Also family photo ornaments of every year since we've been married.

This is the kids tree. We bought this tree last year while we were in the apartment because we couldn't fit our big tree. We knew we wanted to turn it into the kids tree later. We try and buy the kids new ornaments each year. They love this tree and while they can touch some of the ornaments through the railing they generally leave it alone. All the presents under the tree are just empty boxes. Derek thinks it looks like a department store. But I don't really care I needed to fill the space.

The majority of our Christmas decorations we've had for years, many I bought before we were married. 

These are Derek's International Santas. His family collected them when he was younger.

I love the Christmas countdown we made last year.

While this has nothing to do with our Christmas decorations my mom wanted to see. We finally hung pictures up in the family room. Initally we wanted to paint the room first but because of how huge the room is we're waiting a bit longer.

Chase Face

Chase face has been one of his nicknames since he was a baby. It just has a nice ring to it. However a few weeks ago he started making this face. It all began at breakfast one morning, he was mimicking a face daddy was making at him. Now this is called the Chase face. It cracks me up everytime. He is so silly.

The week of Thanksgiving

We've had a wonderful week and are bummed to be getting back to the normal routine. We've been busy this past week and a half. I'll highlight some of what we did.

I kept trying to convince Derek to take the week of Thanksgiving off work. He would only have to use 3 PTO days and get 9 days off counting weekends. He needed a break and me too. Once Derek's sister Kim decided to come see us for Thanksgiving Derek took the time off. It was so wonderful having him home all week.

To begin our time off we finished up the painting of the banisters. There are still a few finishing touches and then I'll post pictures. Late Saturday we picked Kim up from the airport.

Monday we went to the Museum of Natural History. It was okay and had we not got in for free we would have been disappointed. There were a ton of little kids there on a field trip.

Tuesday evening we met up with Derek and Kim's Uncle Troy. I think the kids are now warmed up to him. We got to see him just a couple weeks before this too.

Wednesday we had a surprise for the kids. We went to the movies to see Tangled. Maeley had been talking about this for weeks. Even Chase was convinced it was going to be his new favorite movie. Disney did not disappoint and yes its their new favorite movie. Silly kids. I just love how when we do take them to the movies they sit through the whole movie, including Zoe. That evening Derek and I went on a date while Kim watched the kiddos. Derek and I don't get date nights very often of this was exciting. We ended up doing Christmas shopping. And guess what we are done Christmas shopping! Now we can really enjoy the season.

This is the only picture I got with the kids and Aunt Kimmy...and her head is cut off. I'll have to get some pictures from her. Zoe makes me laugh.

Thanksgiving morning we woke up to snow. It wasn't much but it was snow! I think I might be able to tolerate the cold better without the wind but its breezy most days which makes it feel colder. We prepared our first Thanksgiving meal which of course took a lot of preparation and clean up. More reason for Thanksgiving to be my least favorite holiday.

 Thursday night Kim and I took a short nap before heading to the mall because I wanted to go to the Disney Store which opened at midnight. I was thinking that because the store was in the mall we would be able to wait inside the mall. Wrong. We got there at 11:30 and the line was outside and already pretty long. As we were waiting I realized that my face was going numb. I have never experienced that before. I am a born and raised Arizonan. This is my very first time living in the cold. Granted I could be somewhere far colder than Albuquerque but this is brutal. Finally we got to the store and got exactly what I needed. We got back home about 1:30. We needed to take Kim to the airport at 4:15. Luckily for me Derek was willing to take her.

Saturday we got some more pictures hung on our walls. We painted the red trundle bed white and put it in the girls room so it wasn't taking up space in the garage. We also repainted a couple frames and bought new mats so we can get pictures hung in the family room. Its so nice getting things off our to-do list.

Family pictures

A couple weeks ago we took some family pictures. Our first attempt was in the morning. Bad idea. It was freezing. Apparently we forgot that we don't live in Arizona anymore.  I wanted the fall colors in our pictures so we went down by the river.

 I absolutely love this picture, but especially because Zoe turned around right when the picture was taken.

A nice recent picture of Derek and I.

This is just a few pictures. We did get a couple nice family pictures too.

I love my family!

Sickies

It all started with Derek. Thursday night was wasn't feeling well. Hardly slept and spent most of the night with his face in the toilet. The next day he missed work. Late in the afternoon he got an earache. He has zero tolerance for earaches since all the ear problems he had as a child. So we took him to urgent care and sure enough he had a horrible ear infection.

Zoe started having mucus coming out her left eye on Friday. Sunday she started to tug on her right ear. So back to the doctor we went Monday. Sure enough she has an ear infection. No pink eye though. Apparently the absurd amount of mucus from her eye is normal when sick. She hates the medicine though. It is brutal giving it to her and its supposed to last twice and day for 10 days. It's going to be long. This morning I had to give it to her myself. The last little bit she projected back in my face. Pretty darn gross if you ask me. I think I'm leaving it up to Derek for the night shifts.

I'm pretty congested. Just not feeling all that great. Luckily it hasn't gotten to Maeley and Chase. Hopefully it stays that way. Derek is feeling much better. Now if we can just be completely over it by Saturday night when Derek's sister Kim comes to visit.

On a side note: Because Derek wasn't feeling well Saturday I went out and did errands while he stayed home with Chase and Zoe. Maeley and I had a great time. I think she really enjoyed it. We even had lunch together which she later told me was her favorite part. That girl can shop. We could have been gone all afternoon if I would have gone to all the stores she wanted to go. She also thought it was so cool when at the grocery store someone (I think from the florist department) was giving out roses. Maeley and I got a pink one. It was wonderful having that one on one time with her. It's hard to do with Chase and Zoe fighting for my attention.

Dr check ups

Last week I took Maeley and Zoe for their annual well check ups. It's always hard changing doctors but especially hard when they had an amazing pediatrician in Tucson. Their new doctor seems pretty nice and even spent awhile with us. His name is Dr. Good. Chase was asking if we could leave and I told him we have to wait for Dr. Good to come in. A few minutes later Chase asks, "Are we waiting for Dr. Good or Dr. Great." I thought that was kinda funny.

Maeley at 5 years old
weighs: 35lbs
height: 41.75 in.

Zoe at 2 years old
weighs: 24 lbs 12ozs
height: 33in
head 48cm

I can't remember now what percentiles they are in except I'm pretty sure Maeley is in the 10th percentile on weight. She's a very little girl. Maeley only gained 3 lbs this year and grew 2.5" tall.

Why do I forget how hard it is taking Maeley to her doctor check ups? How can I possibly forget the screams when she has to get a shot. Before the doctor came in she was hiding knowing what was to come. Note to self: Take some one with you next time!!! Zoe got a couple shots too but she was still smiles leaving the doctors office waving goodbye to nurses and doctors. Not Maeley she was bawling...most of the way home. She even complained about it the next day.

Candy apples

A couple weeks ago for Family Home Evening we made candy apples. We had a kit and figured it was a great time to use it.  They turned out so sweet nobody finished theres. Oh well we had a great time doing it.

Chase's room

Before

This is Chase's room the day we got our stuff delivered. Not much was going on here.

The first thing we knew we wanted was a queen sized bed because his room would become the guest room when we have visitors. By the way Chase is so nice about giving up his room for company. He has never complained and we've had a lot of company. Instead he asks who's coming next. His twin bed is in the girls room so there's not much to complain about anyways.

After painting the trim and ceiling white is was amazing to see how beige the walls really were.

After

This is the guest bedding.

The walls were painted Uncertain Gray by Sherwin Williams. Best paint we've ever used. This project only took one coat. I knew I wanted to get a second set of sheets for the bed. But when we found this bedding set, which included the sheets I knew we had to get it for the price. 

After

 This is Chase's bedding set.

It's nice having two very different bedding styles but that both have the gray and black so its easy to coordinate with. Zoe loves when the guest bedding is on. She often tries to snuggle up in the bed. Obviously we have more work to do in this room. We have already hung some thing on the walls. The lamp needs to be repainted and the lamp shade recovered. We are either going to build a bed or find one on Craigslist or Goodwill and refinish it. I would love to find an arm chair and reupholster it. Right now we are just trying to finish up some other projects. Maeley keeps asking when we are painting her room.

Chase loves his walk in closet. If he's upset about something you're most likely to find him in there. Or if he wants to keep toys away from his sisters this is his safe hiding place.

Sprained ankle

Apparently sometime on Saturday morning Zoe sprained her ankle. She never complained whenever it happened. When my mom was helping Zoe out of the car she noticed she wouldn't walk. I didn't realize that and right after getting home I put her down for a nap. I noticed when she woke up that she would not walk. By Sunday morning it was swollen and slightly bruised. She was so good at resting her ankle by lying on the couch. By Sunday evening she was sick of not getting around. She would walk around on her knees but if something was too far she'd crawl. This went on until Monday afternoon when she started hobbling around. By Wednesday she was finally walking normal. It's still a mystery on how and where it happened. My family, particularly my dad and brothers all have ankle problems. I hope this isn't a sign of what's to come. And by the way I have never heard of a 2 year old spraining their ankle.

More fun in Albuquerque

First off let my start by saying one thing we did not do while living in Tucson was go to the many attractions they had. It always seemed like anytime we had time off we went up to Gilbert to see family. We've regretted it ever since so we are making an effort here to get out a see things. It's been pretty easy with all the visitors we've had already.

While my parents were here we went up the Tram to the top of the Sandias Mountain. I was a little worried how Maeley would do but she loved it. Not to self next time bring a back pack full of the kid gear then we can do some small hikes.

All the kids are smiling, too bad they are not looking at the camera.  

 The best attempt at getting a picture of the three of them.

The ski slopes are on the back side of the mountain.

 My parents

 This tram was built in the mid 1960's.

 Having fun riding the tram back down. This ride was really nice because we had it all to ourselves. You can see the Albuquerque Temple from here.

 The picture to the left you can see a tiny little building at the peak that was build in the 1930's as shelter for hikers.

Halloween celebration 2010

Sorry no pictures here. I know how totally lame are we. So we did it, we convinced our kids to skip dressing up, skip our ward's trunk or treat and stay home instead.  We got pizza for dinner, watched the new Tinker Bell movie and ate candy. The kids loved that we didn't get on their case for eating too much. Zoe was so funny. She would eat one piece, get up to get another out of the bowl, come back and have Grandpa open it for her, then repeated that several times. I'm not who ate more, Maeley or Chase. Both of them loved the Almond Joy's. We figured this was probably the only year we could do this. The kids weren't upset by what they were missing because they got candy, they just didn't have to dress up for it.

Maeley's birthday party

I failed to mention in the post on Zoe's birthday was that my parents came to celebrate the girls birthdays with us.

This shows Maeley's excitement about one of her birthday presents...the bike.

This bike has been on her wish list for over a year now. We just never had anywhere to put it before. When Daddy came home for lunch she got this present so she could ride it while it was still light outside. She did a lot of riding that day and the days following. Thanks grandpa for taking her up and down the street over and over again.

 Daddy had fun trying to guess what the presents were but he didn't go a good job.

 Maeley got a Strawberry Shortcake movie like Zoe did. When Maeley opened it Zoe jumped up and took it right out of her hands. Of course Maeley grabbed it right back. Causing Zoe to start bawling.

 Maeley got a jewelry box just like Zoe. She also got earrings from Grandma and Grandpa.

 The birthday cake made by Laurel. Maeley told Laurel while she was visiting that she did not want mom to make it only her. Luckily it worked out that my parents brought the cakes with them.

 More crying by Zoe. She wanted the birthday cake to be hers not Maeley's.

I can't believe you're already 5. Happy Birthday Maeley!

Zoe's birthday party

 Zoe loved opening her presents. She was kind of slow but did not want help.

 Zoe has had a fascination with boots for a long time now. When I saw these pink cowgirl boots I knew Zoe needed them. She loves them!

 New pj's to keep her warm and a Fancy Nancy book.

Zoe loves jewelry and got this necklace and a jewelry box from Grandma and Grandpa Crandall. 

My sister Laurel made this birthday cake for Zoe. It was so cute. Zoe also got a Strawberry Shortcake movie for her birthday and she was so excited when she opened it. It was a surprise to all of us. So this was the perfect cake for her.

Love

One thing is for sure Maeley and Chase love each other. They used to fight all the time and it drove me crazy. Now they play so nicely together. I love that they help one another out. I love that they are buddies. It has been difficult at times having 3 kids so close in age but I am grateful everyday for it.