Potty Time

There are a lot of potty happenings going on at our house.  These pictures say it all.  I have a girl that is obsessed with playing in the toilet.  She seems to have a sixth sense when the lid has not been put down and makes a beeline for it.  Luckily, I have a boy who helps me keep her out of trouble.  We laugh at how funny she is.  

In other potty news,  it has been almost two weeks that my boy has poopt and pee in the potty.  After the long, long road of toilet training my heart is hopeful but cautious.  He is doing so well.  I am a very proud mama.  Who does a celebratory dance everyday that we get to flush.  Hooray!

Zoo Lights...

The first Wednesday of the month, we went to the Hogle Zoo for the exciting event of Zoo Lights.  We paid the $1.50 for the exciting hologram glasses.   What happened when you put them on was that all the lights had hidden snowman glowing around them.  It was hilarious to watch Noah walking  around pointing and yelling all around "Snowman".  There was even a snowman on the Moon.  Worth every penny.  We now use them to see snowmen on our own  Christmas tree.  
It was cold that night or more cold than we were used to.   I prepared for all my kids to be warm and the husband but forgot my own hat.  So I now own a new brown, very stylish fleece Hogle Zoo snow cap.  I am pretty excited about it.  

There was these two cute men that would singing Christmas songs  in one of the pavilions.  We went over to warm up our hands.  When these two girls started dancing.  Noah my cute boy then asked me to dance.  It was so fun to twirl him in my arms.   A s Noah danced it was funny to see him incorporate in his dancing all his lightsaber and Jedi moves.  It made Kersten and I laugh a lot.  I danced with Sofia.  And finally my sweet husband requested a dance.  He teased that I kept leading.  I haven't danced for awhile.  It made me laugh.  We saw some fun friends from our ward and their kids asked if they would dance too and it made us all laugh.  

The lights were so fun and entertaining.  All of the animal displays were a big hit and being at the zoo made it so much more fun and exciting.  

Visiting Santa

Yes, we did it.  We ventured out to the Fashion Place Mall and stood in line, paid for pictures 

(forgot our own camera, left on counter,  seem to do that a lot lately I wonder why)  and our children got to sit on Santa's lap and let him know what they wanted for Christmas.  Noah has been so much more interested in Santa this year than ever before.  He was giddy with excitement.  He practiced what he was going to say in the car.  I reassured him that Santa understood all kids.  He also practiced what Sofia wanted since she can't talk yet.  It was good to hear what he told Jolly Old St' Nick.  He informed him that he wanted the Plo Koon Star Wars action figure (Sofia got it for him)  and the General Grievous Starship (oh, good we got it yesterday).  And apparently Sofia really wants a My Little Pony (who knew,  we had no idea,  it's a good thing that Noah told Santa).  It was successful and Noah was thrilled.  We check out ornaments at Hallmark,  shared an Orange Julius and looked at all the festive shops in the mall.  It was thoroughly enjoyable.  

Time Out

I said a bad word.  Yes, it's true.  I have been struggling a bit with my potty mouth.  I've challenged myself to stop and I am working on it.  It's really not horrible just more than I want.  But when the baby woke up after a half hour into her nap.  I was reading books with Noah and a naughty word just spewed from my mouth.  I was ashamed.  Noah pointed it out.  So I was put in Time Out by my four year old.  Our time out spot is in the corner by the front door.  Noah said I had to be in, time out, for 10 minutes.  He stood guard with his arms folded, making sure that I stayed where I was suppose too.  It was really cold in the time out spot.  I guess it is good to know that if he is there for a long time he will get cold.  I told him I was getting really cold.  So he went and got me his towel from his shower that morning to help keep me warm.  What a nice son.  He was watching Imagination Movers on Disney Channel so he kept getting distracted with watching it.  I was in time out for the entire show.  I asked him several times if I could get out and come talk to him about what I had done wrong.  His response was always "5 more minutes".  His sense of time is really off.  I finally just stood up and left time out.  He was really upset with me.  I apologized for saying my naughty word and that I would not do it again.  And then gave him a hug.  He pouted for a minute that I did not stay in time out as long as he thought was appropriate.  I have noticed that when he puts his animals or toys in time out,  they are there all day.  He is a tough task master.  Oh, the lessons we learn from our children.

St. Nicholas

Probably the most popular of Thomas Nast’s drawings of Santa Claus, “

Merry Old Santa Claus,” Harper’s Weekly, January 1, 1881. 

From The Ohio State University Library’s Thomas Nast Portfolio.

Tonight we had an Enrichment Meeting in our ward that centered around the 

myths, legends, facts and evolution of Santa Claus.

It was such a lovely evening with really yummy food

the most delicious cupcake I have had in awhile made with a Santa face.

It was lovely being with the women in my ward and visiting.

Our Enrichment leader had her brother come speak to us about St Nicholas.

He has researched an studying all facts containing to Santa his entire lifetime. 

 It is fun when you can tell someone is passionate about something.

It was really fascinating and inspiring.

I loved learning about St Nicholas who was born in the 3rd century

and all of his great works and his life.

And how he evolved through the centuries to what we know now.

Coca-Cola has a lot to do with that and bored housewives.

I could wax poetic about what I learned tonight but I don't want to bore you

You really should look into it if you feel so inclined.

It really got me thinking about this season and the feelings it evokes.

Not all those feelings are warm and fuzzy either.

Santa can really help you get into the spirit of the season 

and the real reason we celebrate this joyous holiday.

The real St Nic whole life revolved around Christ 

and doing good works in his name.  

If we take what Nicholas was really about and try to take the commercialism out of the holiday.

I think that it would be easier to focus on the real reason we celebrate Christmas. 

I find it easier to focus on Christ this year because of my young children.

They remind what it really is about.

Noah gets more excited to find the baby Jesus and talks about being good and kind.

I am just so grateful to have my two sweet kids in my life.

It makes this season so much more magical and reminds me what is really important.

Letters, Hair and Cuteness

This post is just about some random things.  I posted this picture just because Sofia is so darn cute in it.  And she is wearing the cute outfit that Achim and Louise E* gave her. She adores climbing into this chair.  She just chills in it thinking she is so big.  Because she is getting so big
I have been experimenting with my flat iron.  I have always had curly hair since at least 6th grade.  So that my hair is straight is quite different to me.  Kersten likes it and Amy, my sister, the hair genius, said I did a great job and I am now quite trendy.  Who knew?  I have not been trendy for  most of my mom years.  
I finally hung the cute letters I made for Sofia's wall.  I love the way they turned out.  Better than I thought.  So feminine and beautiful.  Noah now wants to put paper on his name in their room.  I told him we would look into it after Christmas.  Sofia has already tried to eat the letter A.  I had to fix it a bit but I don't think it looks to bad.   I love the ribbon hanging from each letter.  Someday their will be a colored wall behind these but until we own our house that will not be happening.  

Temple Square Christmas Lights

Every year, well at least since before Kersten and I got married,  Kersten's parents have rented a room at the Plaza hotel across from Temple Square the day after Thanksgiving.  It is one of my favorite traditions that they have.  We all gather together and have food in the hotel room and yummy desserts and then bundle up to see the "twinkle lights" at temple square afterwards.  As always the lights were beautiful.  Unfortunately for us we lost the rest of the family when we went around to actually see the baby Jesus.  
We ventured out on our own to see the rest of the lights.  Noah begged to see the Christus statue.  He said it looked like Jesus was giving him a hug.  It was a really special spiritual experience for me and him.  We walked all around with Noah pointing out all the colors around and Sofia kicking her legs and looking at all the people. My kids were in heaven.
The highlights were the reflection pond to see the temple and all the different navities to point out the babies. Noah informed us that he wanted to get married in the temple too so that he can be with his family forever.   That was good to hear.  It seems like we were a bit more hard core than the rest of the family.  When we returned to the hotel everyone had left.  So we chatted with the parents and took off for home.  Overall it was a beautiful evening.