January 2012

 January has been a great month. At least for me anyways. Justin had a three week oral surgery rotation that he could have done without, but other than that, it has been pretty laid back. After a crazy holiday season, laid back is something I am enjoying. Usually this time of year would bring on my annual winter cold/depression mode, but since we live in sunny Mississippi and the temperature is in the 60's and 70's, I have felt unusually good for January. Not sure if I will ever make it back to the cold again. It has been so nice.

We spent a Saturday morning at a bounce house place. To say the kids had fun would be an understatement. It was just as fun for us to watch them bounce around. 

 We got ready for Valentine's Day with a few heart garlands I made out of paint sample cards, and this print that my sister Angie designed. I love it! Now I just need to get Jack's V-day cards for his class done. He is wanting a super hero theme.

The kids made a "garden" with their friends.

 We tested out my new stroller that I got for my birthday, and walked to the docks to see the boats. And yes...I LOVE my stroller!! How did I ever survive without a Phil n Ted's, and why did I not buy one sooner???

 We had a baby shower for my cute friend Krista. She is having her fourth baby any day now.

Despite January being so laid back, there have been a few exciting things happening around our house.

 Jack started a new preschool with the two kids we did the co-op with. He seems to like it and really enjoys his teacher. It is a battle getting him ready in the mornings. We have a little check list that I laminated and he checks off with every little thing that he does. Get dressed. Check. Brush your teeth. Check. Make your bed. Check. It seems to be helping with the battle, so hopefully two months from now, he will still enjoy making those check marks.

 Anderson woke up one morning and decided he wanted to wear big boy undies. So, we started potty training that day. We tried in the fall, with no success, and since then he has not wanted anything to do with underwear. So when he said he wanted to wear them, I figured we better roll with it. He is doing pretty good. I still put him in a diaper at night, but he has been dry a few times when he wakes up. As long as I catch him as soon as he wakes up from his nap and run him to the bathroom, he will stay dry with just undies. We are having some issues going #2 in the toilet, but hopefully he will get over that soon. Cleaning up poop off the floor is not our favorite thing to do. :)

 "Let me adjust these a little."

 So cute, right?

We also paid off our car today....woo hoo!! Such a great feeling. We were hoping to get it done a long time ago, but different things kept coming up and it got pushed to the back burner. Well today was the magic day. So happy. So now, we have no car payment (first time ever in our marriage) and we have no diapers...almost. That is the first time since Jack was born that I haven't been lugging diapers and wipes in my bag. I think I need to go buy a smaller bag to celebrate!

This might be the most exciting January we have ever had.

Great Grandpa Heaton

 Justin's grandpa is turning 80, and we colored some birthday notes for him for family night. Anderson wanted Justin to trace his hand on his, but when it resulted in green marker all over his fingers, he was not happy about it. My kids are so funny about being dirty. They are very particular about that. I guess that is better than them not caring at all. I'm pretty sure the cleanliness OCD comes from their father. :)

While they were coloring their pictures, they kept singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candle, so I hurried and grabbed my camera to get it on video.

Happy 80th Grandpa Heaton!!! 

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When I Grow Up...

Me: Jack, what do you want to be when you grow up? Do you want to be a dentist like Daddy?

Jack: No, I want to do ALL the things. All the things a man does. Like fly airplanes and drive tractors. If I drove a tractor, I could drive anywhere I want, but they would have to show me where the steering wheel is.

Ten minutes later...

Jack: I'm going to be five on my next birthday and I'm going to have a dragon party. And then for my next birthday, I will have a star and space party with spaceships on the balloons. Then after that, I want a farm party with all different farm animals on the balloons. Then I want to have a church and temple party with all the different temples on the balloons!

We have a very manly man who thinks the temple is cool enough to have on balloons at his party.

I think it's a good combination!

Christmas Part IV: Pleasant Grove, UT

 We spent Christmas weekend at Stephanie and Adam's house in Pleasant Grove. Between all those kids, there were a TON of presents! It was a little ridiculous. You couldn't even get close to the tree there were so many. Christmas was on a Sunday, so before we dug into the huge pile of presents, we went to church. It was the best meeting. The music was amazing. I think Christmas on Sunday is my favorite. Even though we had to wait for presents, I loved starting out the day feeling the true meaning of Christmas. 

 All the Heaton cousins.

 Jaden and Anderson.

I seriously love taking my kids to Steph and Adam's. I have 4 babysitters who LOVE my boys and it makes for a great time for us.

 We read the Night Before Christmas. Anderson however preferred to make towers out of presents.

 New jammies.

 Matchy matchy!

 We left food out for Santa's reindeer.

 The toys Santa brought were a hit!

 Jack has been wanting a rake for Christmas for the past couple months. He wants to be able to help his dad rake the grass and the leaves. When we pulled that present out from behind the tree he looks at it and says, "I think this looks like it could be my raaaakkkee!!" He was so excited about it. Isn't it nice that my kids are so happy with a $7 rake? I'm sure I will miss these days when they get big and start asking for ipods and a wii.

 He practiced raking the wrapping paper. :) 

And yes, we brought that in our suitcase!

 Photo props! Anderson was supposed to be rudolph, but he refused to put the nose the right way so we could see the cute red glitter. Oh well, they were still cute.

We also snuck in a visit to the Mortensen family! It was so great to see them. This picture is classic, right? The things we do to try and get a good picture of all the kids. Poor Will was not wanting to do it, but we tried. And Eli is grinning from ear to ear. I love it!

Another Christmas has come and gone. We haven't been with family for the past two years on Christmas so we had such a great time. It was a TON of work but we pulled it off and it was worth it!

Christmas Part III: Temple Square

 We went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City on the 23rd. We haven't been to Temple Square at Christmas in a long time, so we were excited to go. It was so cold that night, but we bundled up the best we could and made the best of it. The lights were amazing. The boys were super excited to see the Salt Lake temple and to see Moroni on the top. We see the SL temple in pictures all the time, but there is something amazing about seeing it in person. It is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.

 The trees were solid lights.

 We stopped at the reflection pond for a while to see the nativity. We stayed for a few minutes and started walking towards the Joseph Smith Memorial building to warm up and see the tree. Well about ten feet down the sidewalk Justin looks down in the stroller and Anderson is missing. He was buckled in the front seat of the stroller while we were at the pond and now he is gone. There is a million people there and I instantly burst into tears and start running back to the pond. About 30 seconds later (which felt like 30 minutes!!) we see our brother-in-law, Adam, holding him up to see the water. He had taken him out of his buckle to hold him, and neither of us saw that happen. Are we good parents or what?! My heart was pounding. For the 30 seconds that he was "missing" I thought we would never find him in that crowd. It was horrible. Something I never want to relive. Luckily he was safe and all was well, but way to give me a heart attack!

 The inside of the Joseph Smith Memorial building is gorgeous. I could sit in there forever and just look around and listen to the beautiful music that was being played on the piano. There was so many people there though.

 Getting out at the big tree.

It was a great night...minus the part where Anderson went missing!

Christmas Part II: Parowan

 We got up bright and early to leave for Utah so we could stop in Parowan on our way. We went and met up with all my aunts, uncles, and cousins at my Aunt Marie's house for lunch. She had a delicious soup bar with homemade tomato soup which was perfect for a cold and windy winter day. Jack couldn't wait any longer though, and quickly bundled up to go play in the snow. The only problem was it hadn't snowed in a while so it was more like playing in the ice.

 But that didn't stop him from trying to make a snow/ice angel.

 Preston wanted to join in the fun, so Jack tried to pull him on the sled.

 Anderson did not think that the sled or the snow was very fun. He would get mad every time a little piece of snow would get on his boots. So then I would try and bring him inside but he didn't want that either. So he pretty much stood on the porch and cried. Eventually I made him come inside and warm up. It was so windy and freezing!

 Uncle Alma, Jack and Preston, Justin.

Riding down the ice.

 It also happened to be Holly's birthday!! We stayed just long enough to sing Happy Birthday and take some ice cream cake to go. Justin and Ryan were catching a 4pm shuttle up to Idaho Falls to see their mom and dad so we were on a tight schedule. It was such a quick stop but so great to see everyone! I have a lot of memories in Parowan and I was glad that Justin was able to see a tiny piece of it.

Holly, me and Jamie

Thanks for hosting Marie! I promise the next time we come, we will stay longer than 2 hours. :)