Christmas 2009

The Family and Santa

Party at the Armory

Angels & Wisemen
Happy Boy
Brooke & her ball

Daddy & Cole

My sweet baby, growing up WAY too fast. His favorite thing to say lately is "Santa, ho ho ho"

Pretty Brooke in her nightgown from Nanny Peg... just like mommy when she was a little girl. And her new "cheese" face. Brooke doing Grandma Beck's nails and hair. Nanny Peg had her turn later too :) She is definitely ALL GIRL!
Opening his toolbox with Grandpa Brad

So excited about the new train set... or the box, not sure which :)
Princess Snow white opening presents

Cole and Aunt Bla

Pretty pretty princess... like I said, ALL GIRL!

On the way to Cache Valley

Daddy and Brooke Christmas morning

Brookie taking care of her baby, Sally. She must go everywhere with us right now.

Cole's piano and microphone. He just screams into it and laughs.

What a wonderful Christmas we had this year. Our kids were so fun and it was so nice to spend a few days with family and be together! The holiday started out with the traditional party at the Armory with Grandma Lorainne (or Grandma Rain as Brooke calls her) and Grandpa Wendall and all of Grandpa Mike's siblings and their kids. The next day, Christmas eve... we had Christmas with the Matt's family. The cousins all had a great time playing games, acting out the Nativity, singing Happy Birthday and giving presents to Jesus, getting a visit from Santa, and of course opening presents. They are finally getting to an age where they are actually old enough to understand some of the traditions! My kids were both terrified of Santa, which surprised me because Brooke has sat on his lap at the mall this year and been just fine. We finally got her to tell him that she wanted a dolly with lots of hair. Usually, we go to my family's Christmas Eve party after, but they started early this year and it was almost over when we were done so we headed home to Syracuse. Brooke was asleep before we hit Gilsdorf's house and Cole finally gave in after several minutes of crying when we got home. The next morning, Matt got us all up about 8:00 and we came to see what Santa brought. Brookelyn was so excited and immediately ran to her doll and started ripping open everything. Cole wasn't nearly as interested in opening presents, he just wanted what was inside. Grandpa Mike and Grandma Karen came that morning to see what the kids got. After they left, we headed back up to Logan for Christmas with my family. When we got there, everyone was exercising or in the shower and Brooke could hardly wait to open more presents. She found a Dora suitcase in Grandma's room and just knew it was for her so she started hauling it around. To her surprise it was filled with princess clothes that she immediately had to put on and wouldn't take off the rest of the day. Finally, everyone was ready and the kids were able to open the rest of their presents. They couldn't have been happier! After that, it was off to Nan and Grandpa's for lunch and yet more presents. By about 5:00 and no nap, Brooke was ornery and exhausted so we headed home. Matt and I mostly enjoyed the classic family traditions and starting a few of our own. We got some great gifts, but really just enjoyed the excitement, anticipation, and cheer of our children. Now onto yet another year... who would have thought 2010 would be here so fast.

Happy Anniversary

4 years ago I married my best friend... We were young, immature, and crazy. Looking back now I still don't know what we were thinking... after 2 weeks of dating and 3 months of being engaged, we barely knew each other. Luckily, we both knew what we wanted in life and had good examples of what it takes to make a happy marriage and we have made this far. 2 kids, 2 1/2 degrees, and MANY moves later, I'm still in love! Love you Matt... Happy Anniversary!

Merry Christmas

For My Own Sanity

I have had these thoughts running around in my head for the last couple of months and I can't seem to get rid of them -- they just keep coming back. I thought maybe if I attempted to write them down I could make sense of them or someone could help me make sense of them and then I might have some peace of mind for a little while. They go like this...

I am supposed to apply for grad school in January to get my masters and become a certified Speech-Language Pathologist. This is something that I knew I would have to do when I started college and chose speech as my career and I was fine with that, I figured it wouldn't be a big deal to do three more years of school... right? WRONG! That was long before I was married and had two kids. Now the thought of going back to school for three years terrifies me. I really have NO desire to do it whatsoevere, expect that if I don't I'll never be able to work as an SLP.

So pretty much my dilemna is this... I wouldn't say I LOVE my job, I don't mind it, but I am also not... for lack of a better word... passionate about it. I could leave it and not be broken hearted. Especially this year, it has been extremely stressful. However, I did set a goal to get a masters degree way back when and if I don't, I pretty much wasted my four years of college because there isn't a whole lot I can do with my degree without a masters. If I don't go back and finish will I regret it a few years down the road?

To add to my dilemna, child care is SUPER expensive in Davis county. We pay almost as much in child care as we do in a mortgage. I work full-time and I really don't make all that much when you add child-care in the figure. I know I don't want to be a full-time mom, I know I would go crazy, but I could also work just two days and make more money by not paying for childcare. Do I wait until next year to do this and keep digging myself further and further in debt, or do I get brave and tell my boss that I'm cutting back after Christmas?

But... I have a hard time making myself ask someone to watch my kids. Is it rude to ask a friend to watch them one day a week and not expect pay or expect very little pay?

Then... Matt suggests I open my own daycare. That is something I know I couldn't handle, but then the thought crosses my mind that I could open my own preschool. The more I think about it, the more this seems like a good idea. I start doing some research and I realize that all I need is a business license. Eventually I would finish my basement, but for now I could do it in my front living room. If I were to take just 2 classes, 2 days a week I'd make MORE than what I make teaching four days a week right now... plus I wouldn't have to send my kids to daycare! I'd get to be home, but I'd still be making an income. If I did 2 classes 4 days a week, I'd almost triple my income.

Seems easy right? Well for now it seems like a no brainer... do the preschool, stay home with my kids, make more money. BUT, what about in five years when my kids are in school? Will I regret starting a preschool and wish I had gotten my masters degree so I could do SLP? Should I just go back to school if and when that happens?

My husband has a great job and is able to support us. I only want to work part time for my own sanity. I hate taking my kids to daycare everyday, especially when Brooke pretends she is sick so she won't have to go. But, I also think the interaction with other kids is good for them. What is more important -- finishing what I started, having a good job, making a good income, staying home with my kids? I really don't know!! I am so back and forth on all of this, but the preschool thing just keeps coming up and won't get out of my head.

Sorry for the long post. Last is my list of pros and cons. Right now I am thinking that I will go ahead and apply to grad school and see if I get in before I make any concrete decisions. If I decide to do it I will probably drop my hours at work to 2 days and possibly do preschool 2 days. Although, I am strongly considering dropping to two days after Christmas anyway if I can find someone to keep my kids. I'd greatly appreciate any thoughts or advice anyone has.

Pros to Preschool
More money
Stay home with kids

Cons to Preschool
Not finish degree
Lose insurance (but Matt still has his)
Might regret it in 5-10 years

Pro to SLP
Finish what I started
Get out of the house

Cons to SLP
Send kids to a sitter
More in debt
Can't have more kids for atleast 3 years

An Explanation

It is moustache week at Matt's work. In November they all insist on growing horrendous beards and then shaving them into moustache's to wear to the district Christmas party. This picture is mild compared to what it was. Last week he had a skinny beard with chops attached to the moustache. I'll sure be glad when he works at KPMG and he HAS to shave!

Temple Square

Saturday night we went to Salt Lake to have dinner with an old mission companion of Matt's who was visiting from Califonia (we've haven't seen him since we were there on our honeymoon!). On the way there, we decided to stop at Temple Square and let the kids see the lights. The kids really weren't that impressed, just cold. We'll have to go again when they are older I guess.

Rockers

Please excuse the naked bum... they were supposed to be getting in the shower! Brooke found our guitar hero guitars in the closet tonight and insisted on playing. She and Cole had a blast dancing and Brooke even played a couple songs all by herself. I guess we discovered a new family activity.

Crazy Kids

Matt was bathing the kids tonight. He got Cole out first and got him dressed and ready for bed. They went back in to get Brooke and before Matt could stop him, Cole dove back in head first! He loves the tub!



Some pictures I took awhile back...

Loves his trucks -- he is ALL BOY!

She looks so nice and innocent... if only she really was :)

Her new thing is playing dog. She watches Milo and Otis at Mindy's and she and Sadie and Ryker are dogs and cats all day. Then she comes home and crawls around barking and insists on eating her dinner like a dog. Crazy little girl!

I have to share a funny story about her that happened the other day. I picked the kids up from the sitter one day after work and we were running home to get a few things because we had to go up to Logan. On the way home I was asking Brooke about her day and she told me that she needed some new panties because she didn't have any. I told yes you do, we put them on this morning and didn't give it another thought. When we got home, I made her come in and go potty and sure enough, she didn't have any panties on! I asked her where they had gone and she said, "I 'on't kno, I musta los 'em." So I text Mindy and asked her if she had any idea what had happened to them and she called me a few minutes later. She had no idea that Brooke was missing her panties, but she had found them in the bathroom upstairs. I still don't know why she took them off, I'm just glad she didn't flush them like she did at Paula's last year!!

Halloween

Painting Pumpkins

We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight and they stayed after for awhile and painted pumpkins with us. It was a lot of fun! Brooke and Cole adored them.

Elder Stewart, from Canada

Brookelyn's -- she says its Arthur, just use your imagination :)

Elder Nihipali - from Hawaii (he just came here from serving in Cache Valley -- he knew the Kidman's, the Hardy's and a bunch of people from Hyde Park)

Mine & Matt's (for those of you who don't know my husband, he tends to get away with his pumpkin skills... it was fun though :))