It's the holiday season...

Our Christmas tree will probably not make it to Christmas morning. Jaxon has taken to systematically removing every ball, ornament, piece of ribbon, etc. from the tree. Thankfully, he can only reach the bottom two-thirds of the tree, so the top third looks pretty.



When Donnie first put up the tree, the ribbon was neat and even, the ornaments were well placed, and the balls were evenly spaced. Donnie did a really good job. Now, he would prefer that I not mention he put up the tree himself.

Hip Hip Hooray!

For months we have been trying to convince Sydney to help out around the house. We gave her a little chore chart (only three a day), and a piggy bank to collect her allowance (a quarter a day if she completes all three tasks).

Everyday, I would remind her to do her chores, but she never lifted a finger. Finally, I gave up. I haven't said a word to her in probably three weeks, and her piggy bank still sits with 50 cents in it (that was our starting gift).

Yesterday, I walked into her room to find her singing a clean up song, and picking up her toys. Then she pointed out that she made her bed, and was almost ready to vacuum (we have no carpet in our house, only two little area rugs). It was one of the greatest days ever.

What every little girl aspires to be

Today as we walked around the zoo, Sydney turned to me and said, "Mom, when I grow up, I want to be a komodo dragon."

I wasn't sure where to start - people do not grow into animals, or of all of the animals to choose from, why would anyone choose a gross, scaly, belly crawler with a pitchfork for a tongue?

Two Months in Rapid Review

We have not given up on the blog, we have just been REALLY overcommitted lately.

Between work, school, church callings, date nights, babysitting, and trips to th elibrary, zoo, and Stone Mountain, we have little time for computer fun.

That said, here is a little update on our fam.

Sydney started taking gymnastics and ballet the second week of October. She loves going to class, and even has a little friend who calls her Miss Sydney and smothers her with hugs each week. There are five little girls in her class. They are having a recital in mid December.

She has also been diligently working on her block-building and people-drawing skills. She has decorated her walls with pencil marks, and her floors with giraffes made out of blocks.

Jaxon is diligently working on his block-deconstructing and tackle-your-sister skills. He is pretty talented in the latter.

Jaxon is still the most mellow kid ever. He is so sweet and loves to cuddle too. He likes to play with Sydney, but can sometimes be a little rough. He likes to follow his dad around the house and copy him which is super cute.

Donnie is pretty busy with school these days. This semester will be over in three weeks, and then he only has one more semester of classes, so the excitement is building (too bad he still has another three years after that!).

Here is what we have been able to cram into our schedule:

OCTOBER
We took Sydney and Jaxon to Disney on Ice. Sydney calls it Ice on the Hedge (I have no idea where that came from). She absolutely loved it, and we did too.

For Halloween this year, Donnie carved a pumpkin, and Jaxon and Sydney painted one. I was on clean-up duty - it was almost as fun. Sydney dressed up as a kitty and Jaxy was a puppy.

We went to my parent's ward party from 4-6 p.m. and then we trick or treated for about 2 hours. It was cold and rainy, so Jaxy and I mostly stayed in the car while Donnie, Sydney, and our niece Katie knocked on doors. We ended up with over 7 pounds of candy - yes, Donnie weighed it. Unfortunately, we did not have our camera that day, so I will have to get pictures from my mom.


NOVEMBER
We went to Katie's birthday party at Michael's and Sydney made a jewelry box. She calls it her treasure box, and has it filled with stickers and paper dolls.

We spent Thanksgiving at my grandmother's house visiting with family and eating lots of yummy food. I went shopping Thanksgiving night with my mom, three sisters and three sisters-in-law. Old Navy was open so we popped in after dinner to buy some clothes.

The real shopping started at 3:30 a.m. Friday. My mom, Al, and Jana and I met at Wal-Mart and by 7:30 we were finished and eating at Cracker Barrel. Donnie and I are done shopping for the year, and Santa is finished with our kids as well. The biggest shocker is that I actually came home with almost half of the money that I left with, so Donnie was pretty happy.

We finished up the weekend watching BYU beat Utah with some friends and eating more yummy food, so it was a great week.

Now if only magic little elves would bring all of the Christmas decorations down from the attic for me...

Pictures

Jaxon will ham it up for the camera at home, but take him to an actual portrait studio, and tears will follow. I learned this truth the hard way.

I wanted to take Sydney and Jaxon to Sears for pictures, so I made an appointment at the one Allison takes Quin to and we decided to make a family trip. When we arrived everything seemed okay, but as soon as we walked to the spot where the camera and lights were set up, chaos ensued.

Sydney wanted to touch/hold/climb on every prop available ( she especially liked the random fake flowers). Jaxon... well I can't really describe the way Jaxon reacted other than this: you know that scene in "The Grudge" where Sarah Michelle Gellar is washing her hair and then suddenly realizes that someone else's hand is masaging the shampoo in? You know, and then she starts screaming like her worst fear ever is coming true? Yeah, that was Jaxon.

My anxiety about the whole situation was not appeased by the fact that Allison could just set Quin on the platform and he would smile, and giggle, and look super cute. Why couldn't it be that easy for my children?

We ended up with only three of Sydney and one photo of Jaxon. Sydney did well for her first three shots and then she just wanted to play with the props and so she was completely uncooperative for anything more. In Jaxy's one shot you can only see one hand - the other hand is tightly gripping my chest, and appropriately cropped out.

Next time Donnie is in charge of picture day!

Go Cougars!

We are so excited for college football! We love, love, LOVE football. We also really LOVE BYU! Now with satellite, we can watch every game this season!

We went to dinner with three other couples last night, and then headed back to one of their homes to watch No. 20 BYU take on No. 3 Oklahoma. We were not disappointed - BYU won 14-13.

Most of the headlines today focused on the injury Sam Bradford (OU's quarterback, and reigning Heisman trophy winner) sustained, but for us, it was all about BYU's victory.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705328123/cougars-stun-sooners-14-13.html

Haircut

I knew the time would come eventually, but even with all of the mental preparation, and the realization of the obvious need, it was still hard.


Jaxon had his first haircut. Donnie was so kind as to do the honors. I know that Jaxy needed a haircut so that he could see, but it was still hard to see him with a “big boy haircut,” and not my cute little crazy-haired baby.

Hanging Out

I finally have a little extra time, so I thought I would post pictures of Jaxy and Sydney during their free time – aka every day of their lives.

Jonas Brothers concert

For Emily's birthday, Jana bought 4 tickets to the Jonas Brothers concert. Jana didn't want to be the only adult, so they invited me to tag along (thanks so much!). Of course I went as an "adult," but secretly (or not so secretly really) I was excited.

We listen to a lot of Radio Disney with Sydney around, so I actually knew some of the songs. They had three opening acts - Honor Society, The Wonder Girls, and Jordin Sparks.

I really like Honor Society (well, now). They are kind of a poppy punk group. The Wonder Girls only sang one song, and it was a little too much for me. Jordin Sparks was enjoyable too.

Then, the Jonas Brothers took the stage. They played a concert in round. The stage was in the center of the arena, and the main platform rotated 360 degrees. They had two side stages as well. They played a lot of songs - close to 20 I think.


They were entertaining - spraying foam at the audience, jumping on trampolines, dancing, jumping over microphone stands, playing guitars, pianos, drums (the brothers themselves, their band also played a little bit of everything), not allowing any dead moments on stage...

They opened the show with Paranoid, but with all of the pre-teen girls screaming, it was hard to tell!