Sing in the New Year

Ah, New Years Eve...this use to be one of my favorite holidays back when I was young and wild, but now that I am thirty something and a bit of a "molly" I feel like I could take it or leave it. In fact, the past couple of years I haven't even been able to stay awake until midnight. This year was no different. We did, however, attend a fun New Years eve eve party this year that a fun couple in our ward invited us to. It was nice to be able to get to know some of the people in our ward outside of the church setting. The best part of the evening was playing Karaoke Revolution on the X box. I had little trouble getting up and humiliating myself and was happy to do so in the name of fun. Amazingly though, I was able to persuade Peter to get up and have a go at it and found out that the boy can sing. He sang "Every Breath You Take" by Sting and nailed it. He's so hot! (I am talking about Peter and not Sting, although Sting is a good looking too) I didn't have my camera with me but a friend let me borrow hers and I was able to get proof that Peter can still cut loose and have a little fun.

Ahhh, Merry Christmas...

I hope everyone had a happy holiday this year. Ours was good. Like every Christmas I ate too much and worked out to little but that is why a week later I resolved to eat better and work out more often. The girls were thrilled to find out that despite their terrible behavior during the year, Santa came to our house anyway. Among other things, Bella got a couple of Barbie dolls and Ayva got a rockin' elephant. (Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Hallstrom) Peter got a new snowboard, boots and bindings and I got an ink refill for the printer. (I guess Santa was watching the times that I was bad.)

Part of our Christmas tradition is to get the girls picture taken with Santa. In Seattle we liked the Santa at Alderwood Mall because he had the real beard, was old enough to play the part and wore goofy Christmas shirts with red pants and suspenders instead of the red suit. So we were so happy to find a very similar Santa at Southtown mall here in Utah. Ayva on the other hand wasn't so thrilled.

After we saw Santa we took the girls over to a carousel that was also in the mall. Ayva's "bah humbug" attitude continued there as well.
Isabella is practicing to be on a float someday. No matter what chaos is going on around her at the time, if she is getting her picture taken she remains focused and poised. That's my girl!

I am in total shock in this picture because as Bella opened this book she read the title of it perfectly. I thought it was a Christmas miracle. "She can read" I screamed to Peter. I don't know how she did it. Unfortunately it turns out it was just some kind of fluke. She couldn't read anything else I tested her with the rest of the day.

And here's Ayva on her rockin' elephant. Isn't she cute! She finally got happy about Christmas and decided to have some fun.

Holiday Decorations

Snow! Snow is one of my favorite holiday decorations. I have gone without it for many years living in Seattle but Utah has welcomed me back with a nice little dumping of the always festive white stuff. Beautiful! (As you can see the house needed all the help it could get since we haven't hung any Christmas lights or donned our front yard with any blow up Santa Clauses.)

A Willow Tree Nativity. I have wanted to start collecting this nativity for a long time and thanks to my WONDERFUL sister in law, Angie, I have gotten my start. She gave me this portion of the collection as a birthday/house warming present and I love it. Thanks again Ang. I set it up in our entertainment center and the recessed lighting shines down on baby Jesus perfectly.
This picture was given to me last Christmas by my great friend Kelly Lee who WILL be a famous photographer someday. She had taken some pictures of Ayva for me right after she was born and used one of them to make this perfect holiday decoration. The words on the bottom of the picture say "A bright star shone, a babe was born, God's love was known." I will always cherish this gift. Every year as I unwrap it and find a special place to display it I will be reminded of the real reason we celebrate Christmas, Jesus Christ was born. Thank you Kelly.

Take a deep breath...

Isabella finally started preschool today. In anticipation for this big event I have spent the past 2 days getting her excited about going in hopes that would decrease my chances of having to deal with her clinging to my leg and begging me not to leave her. She has always done well with going to other peoples homes in the past but she has always known someone that was there. And recently she has gone through a phase of shyness and insecurity about making new friends. In fact our first couple of Sundays in our new ward she refused to go into nursery and instead chose to sit in boring 'ol Sunday school with Peter and I. (It's not boring to me of course. Just saying that it would be boring to a 3 year old.) But today when I dropped her off she surprised me. She walked right up to her new teacher, took her hand, looked at me and said "bye mom". Just like that. No crying, no hiding behind my leg, none of it. She was so brave. I on the other hand returned to the car and had to take a deep breath so I wouldn't break out into tears. She is growing up and needing me a tiny bit less everyday. I am grateful for the time I have with her know 'cause she is a very special little kid.