Valentines Day

Valentines day this year came and went so quickly. Between guests, a weekend in St. George for a baby blessing and a weekend in Salt Lake for a baptism it has been kind of crazy at our house. Though it has been crazy we have loved every minute of it. We came to the conclusion that we see our family less living in Vegas, but when we do see them it is quality time. Quality verses quantity I guess. Our kids have especially enjoyed the one on one time with grandparents and cousins.

Abbie made this robot to take to school for her Valentines Day party. She won 3rd place in her class which she was thrilled about. By the end of the day this poor robot was missing his arms and feet. Abbie and Micah had a good time creating this Valentine box--though the vision was entirely Abbie's. Abbie was insistent that she buy us all gifts this year with her own money. Micah took her shopping the day before Valentines and she picked us all out something that she thought we would enjoy. She is so very thoughtful. She picked me out a ring that I really love and will treasure.

Avery's class made these cute Valentine folders for school. She of course loved all the candy, and parties with her classmates. On Valentines Day we exchanged our little family's gifts and had a great day together. We topped it off with an ALL pink dinner. We had a lot of fun making everything pink together.

This was my card from Micah. Hmmmmm....... For those of you that know how silly he is you will laugh. Others of you will think this is strange. We got a good laugh out of it and luckily he wrote a nice note inside to make up for the silliness. His gift on the other hand is still hiding in our house somewhere. I was worried about him finding it (because he hates surprises and snoops around) so therefore I put it somewhere that he wouldn't find it. I hid it so well that I can't find it either. I've turned our house upside down and it's still missing. Oh well, it will be a fun surprise to discover another day.

Too Cute!!!

When Abbie went to get the mail yesterday she was being a little suspicious. I did notice that she had scissors in hand, but didn't think much of it. The day went on as usual and I had forgotten about her strange behavior.

The next morning as I pulled out of the driveway I noticed this sign on the light post. She is such a sweet heart. I could really learn a lesson from her in trying to help others. Too cute!!!

Update

It has been awhile since I've blogged an update on our family. So here it is:

We are starting to feel a little more settled each week here in Henderson. We are a little overwhelmed with all the projects and painting that we need to do on the house. I try to keep reminding myself that it will all get done with time. Unfortunately, I am not very patient when it comes to home improvements. There is just so much to do to make it feel like our home and I wish we could just do it all now. We have had some family members come to help which we have appreciated greatly. Every extra set of helping hands makes a huge difference. I will post pictures of the house when we get closer to finishing each room.

We have tried to mix work and play to keep our new home a fun place. We discovered this fun little hike a few weeks back. It is a perfect little hike for the kids, plus the view is spectacular. We also had fun at the chocolate factory where we watched them make chocolate bars. The samples at the end of the tour were definitely the highlight. The sample lady was asking us if we would like dark, milk, or white chocolate. She went around to all of us getting our samples and then asked if Aliza could have one. Aliza responded "I would like dark please." Everyone around us burst into laughter because they didn't expect such a tiny girl to respond like that. I think sometimes because she is so petite people are surprised when she speaks so clearly. She looks much younger than she really is. She then was really embarrassed that everyone was laughing at her, but it was just so darn cute.

Having Aliza home with me all day while the girls are off to school is fun. She is my little buddy, and we have a lot of fun together. Each morning she insists that I pack her a lunch too, and most days she throws a backpack on to take the girls to school. She is always asking me when she can go too.

Last week we took the kids to school and I started straightening up the house while she was just dancing around playing by herself. Time flew by and when I realized that we hadn't eaten yet I turned to her and said "would you like some cereal." She responded with "I already got me some mom." She pulled out a baggie full of fruit loops from her little purse. I had to take a picture of it because it was just kind of funny.

Avery is quite the little monkey. We feel very lucky that we moved into an area with a lot of great parks. Within walking distance we can visit at least four different parks. It sure doesn't feel like winter here in Nevada which is strange. We love to head to the park at least a few times a week or walk to the library which is so close too.

When we first started school here in Henderson I knew that Avery did too well. For having struggled with school since her first day of pre-school it was just too easy. I was right. The past few weeks have really been a challenge for her. Each morning she has a stomach ache and just cries and cries when she first gets to school. Her teacher is so kind and just takes her by the hand to class. I have tried so hard to just be strong and drop her off each day with a smile on my face while getting her out the car door. It's just as hard for me as it is her sometimes. But after two weeks of struggling she seems to be doing much better. This past week there were no tears before school (still a stomach ache). But she seems to be doing much better. We really have been impressed with the school and teachers. They are amazing and each teacher is perfect for each of my kids personalities. We feel very blessed that the class sizes are small, and they have both learned so much from them already this year.

Abbie is doing well. She has been working hard on her times tables, and catching up on her cursive hand writing (they were just finishing here with cursive, but just starting it in Utah before we moved). Friends are everything to this girl. She has had fun writing her friends from Utah, and has made a few new friends here in school and church. Not a great friend to play with at home yet, but that will come with time. When they go off track in February we are planning to head to Utah to spend some time with family and friends. We also want to celebrate Abbie's birthday there with her good friends she misses so much. I can't believe that we will have a nine year old soon.

Micah is enjoying his new job. He is training for the Canyonlands half marathon in Moab this upcoming March. He appreciates that he can run outside without freezing to death--a treadmill is great, but the fresh air is even better.

About two weeks ago I was called to serve with the Young Women's organization in our ward. It has been such a great blessing for me because the girls are so fantastic and the leaders are great to talk too. It has given me some new friends and an "out" every Wednesday night for activities. I was needing that "out" really bad--not to get away from my family, but just to feel like I had something more to do than just sit at home to do cleaning and laundry. I think we all need that sometimes.

Thats the recap. All-in-all we are adjusting to our new home and community and are enjoying the nice weather...of course the scorching heat will be upon us before we know it.

Disneyland November 2009

This post is overdue big time. Last November we took a vacation with the "Phillips" side of the family to Disneyland. That included our family, Micah's parents, his two older sisters and their families. Unfortunately because of the move (one week after the trip) and the Holidays you are seeing it a few months too late. Better late than never I suppose.

We had to get a picture in front of Cinderella's castle. While we were there they were getting out all of the Christmas decorations. It was so fun to see all the buildings and rides transform into their Holiday decor. To our little princesses it really was magical.

The great thing about going with family is that we were able to spend time together on some things, and split into groups to do others to keep everyone happy. We were surprised that Aliza would go on anything. She was so happy and content going from ride to ride. She even went on Pirates of the Caribbean several times when our other two girls wouldn't. She had no fear and loved it all.

One afternoon I had these cute cousins with me to ride Bugs Life while Aliza took a nap. We had a great time.

Decisions. Decisions. It was so hard to pick just one. Avery ended up with the silver sequin Minnie Mouse ears. One of my personal favorites too.

Aliza was a Minnie Mouse princess. We couldn't get these ears off of her most of the trip.

Abbie's pick.............front

and back. Surprisingly each pair of ears they picked fit their personalities all too well.

One evening we ate dinner at Goofey's kitchen. It really was fun to get some one on one time with a lot of characters. That is the way to go if you want to see characters without chasing them down in Disneyland. Aliza was so enthralled with Minnie. She was cute to talk to Aliza and let her play with her nose. To this day she talks about this meeting with Minnie Mouse. We had a lot of fun that night.

Abbie and the Fairy Godmother.

At Goofey's kitchen Avery was hiding behind anyone and anything she could find. She wouldn't even talk to any of the Characters. They have always made her very nervous. The funny thing is that as soon as Cinderella appeared she was out of her chair and ready for a picture. Too funny!

What a catch!

Abbie had decided to spend the last portion of her money on a portrait of herself. She loves this picture and has it hanging in her room.

Micah was a great sport on this trip considering he HATES Disneyland. It took a lot of coaxing just to get us there. Well, maybe I should admit that it took a lot of fighting to get us there. I'm glad we are through that hurdle and we had such a great time.

Pure happiness.....

On our drive home from Disneyland we stopped in Vegas to stay in Micah's hotel room (he was still living there at the time without us) one night. We got a kick out of Aliza's static hair from the long car ride. Plus we had to get a picture of her independent personality taking care of her own bags. We were not allowed to touch her bag and she had to know where it was at all times. We had such a great time and hopefully we will make it back someday.

Christmas 2009

Christmas this year was a very different experience being away from home. We had a great time visiting with family and really enjoyed our time with them. I think being away from them really makes our time spent together more "quality" time. Our first stop was to our old neighborhood to visit with some great friends. Our girls had such a great time playing with friends and getting hair cuts from our favorite hair lady (thanks Kristen).

Christmas Eve was spent with the "Phillips" gang at Micah's parents home. Each year we eat yummy food and wait for Santa to pay us a visit. He always brings us a fun gift to open to start the Christmas festivities. We look forward to our Christmas Eve party all year.

Abbie was fretting over what to ask him for. It's hard to narrow it down to one last request on Christmas Eve. She finally decided on a lava lamp for her new room.

Santa makes Avery very nervous if you can't tell from the picture. She is definitely keeping her distance, but she did it (the present in his hands is a great incentive).

Aliza is not so sure of this big red man either. Can you blame her?

Of course Micah and I get our one last requests in also. He asked for warm weather which he got when we pulled into Vegas.

I asked Santa to send his elves over to paint our house, after all they are done making Christmas toys for the year. He politely informed me that they hated painting and would not be making the trip for me. Bummer.

This crazy bunch is all of the cousins on the Phillips side of the family. What a great looking group of kids! Tradition is that we all get new P.J.'s to wear to bed Christmas night. Micah and I even look forward to this tradition.

Making a human pyramid is always fun (unless you're on the bottom). As you can imagine it didn't take long for this to come crashing down.

Christmas morning was spent at my parents home. We had a great time opening presents with them and having a yummy breakfast. Avery's favorite gift this year was a box of makeup from my parents. All she wanted to do is put on more and more until her face had a permanent pink tint. We then made the rounds to see great-grandma and exchange gifts with their cousins. Then we headed back to my parents for more yummy food, and time with my sister. The day was exhausting, but fun. The next day was crazy too. We squeezed in family pictures, shopping, and dinner with my cousins. As much fun as we had we were glad to get home and just spread out and play with our new toys.
This little guy was a fun new tradition we added to our family this year. We named our elf on the shelf Fredrick Hansel. The month of December he was with our family and he will definitely be missed until he returns next year. Each night he would return to Santa and report on how well our kids were behaving, then he would reappear in the morning in different spots in our home. We found him hanging from lights, on high shelves, and even in each of their rooms. He was a fun tradition that we can't wait to continue next year. The story is that he flies away with Santa on Christmas night until next year. We will miss you Fredrick Hansel!

We had a fantastic Christmas. We can't wait to visit Utah again soon and be able to spend more time with our friends and family with out feeling rushed from place to place. Especially having time to let our kids play with their friends. We will be visiting again soon.

Advent Calendar

A few of you had asked for instructions on our advent calendar. Unfortunately the box we made was a scrap booking kit at Target last year, but this is a great time of year to get one on clearance. I just saw a wood one at Target tonight that was only $8.oo. I was so tempted to buy it only because it was such a good deal (unfortunately I'm good at buying things that are a great deal that I don't need). Here is a list of thing we did each day if anyone would like to copy it. We copied it from a friends blog last year (thanks again Jamie) and we had so much fun doing it this year. This is what we came up with:

Day 1: Wrote a letter to Santa

Day 2: Made Gingerbread Men (Gingerbread houses would be even better)

Day 3: Read A Christmas story together

Day 4: Made paper snowflakes

Day 5: Called Grandma to sing her a Christmas Carol

Day 6: Put up our Nativity and read the story of Jesus birth

Day 7: See who can eat a candy cane the fastest without biting

Day 8: Take a silly family picture

Day 9: Santa Craft (I just found something easy on the internet)

Day 10: Make a Christmas treat

Day 11: Share the Christmas treat with someone and door bell ditch them

Day 12: Drink eggnog and share a Christmas memory

Day 13: Make popcorn and watch a Christmas movie

Day 14: Drive to see the lights

Day 15: Color a Christmas picture

Day 16: Drink hot chocolate by candle light

Day 17: Call another Grandma and sing her a Christmas Carol

Day 18: Go out for a special treat

Day 19: Play M&M game (the one where you roll the dice and when you get 7 or 11 you suck by straw Christmas colored M&M's until another person rolls 7 or 11)

Day 20: Read a Christmas story together

Day 21: Went to see a live Nativity (Our favorite one by far)

Day 22: We were off to Utah to visit family

You can of course make this to fit your family. We had to change a few days here and there because making snowmen and sledding were on the list. I'd like to see us try to do that here in Vegas. Like I said before we absolutely loved ours. I just wish we had taken more pictures along the way. There is always next year I suppose.

I'm really doing it this time. A few months back I mentioned that our blog would be going private. If you left your e-mail before you don't have to leave it again, but if you didn't please leave us your information so we can include you. We want to keep in touch with all of our friends as much as possible. Thanks!!!