Family Portrait

Well, they are finally here, our family portraits. I had one of my "crazy-daughter-in-law" moments when I saw the group shot, because I looked 400 pounds (literally). The more we looked at the picture the more we realized something was off (besides me). Ryan's head was smaller than Ethan's. Eric looked gigantic compared to Kyle (in the sibling shots they are about the same). We soon realized that something about the camera angle, or splicing of photos was VERY off. Joan was so nice and talked to the photographer about it, and luckily she was able to work some magic. It's still not the best photo ever taken of me, but, deep breath: not everything is about me. I know, I'm still trying to internalize that, but recognition of the fact, if not quite total belief, should count for something. Our little family picture is cute. I look normal (which makes me wonder more about the family picture), but poor Ella was about to burst into tears. She has her special "princess pose" that she loves to strike when taking a photo, and the photographer was not as nice as she could have been about it. Basically no princess poses allowed. This photo is the best of Ella, in some she looked like she was contemplating creative ways to torture the photographer. Ethan was bored out of his mind, and ready to help Ella in her dastardly plans, but Eric and Livi look great. I LOVE the shot of Joan and Alan, and can't wait to print one up to put on our shelf. Thank you Joan and Alan for putting up with me, and for getting these pictures for us!

Christmas On Our Own

Oh, the joys that come with being the ones in charge at Christmas time. This was our first Christmas since Ethan was born not being with our families in California. It was weird, a little lonely, but still fun. We kept a lot of the traditions we were use to: opening 1 gift on Christmas Eve (that is somehow always pajamas, even though the kids haven't figured that out yet), reading Luke Chapter 2 and trying to act it out with our Playmobil nativity set, which turned into attack of babyzilla trying to eat the manger and running off with the wise-men's camel,

running out to open Santa gifts and our stockings

then having a cinnamon tree sweet roll for breakfast (with scrambled eggs, so Eric wouldn't feel too badly about it), taking turns opening gifts so we could all see what everyone got (and so it lasted longer), eating ham and marshmallow fruit salad, and generally spending all day in our pajamas.
Now a couple highlights:
Ethan is so hard to read. I can't tell if he likes the transformers Santa brought, or if he is scared out of his mind! All I know is that he played ALL day with them, and figured out most of them without the instructions! He has such a great little mind.A Playmobil Princess castle for our resident princess. Livi thought it was pretty great too, and kept trying to rip off the flower pots to carry around.Livi got a stuffed kitty with a pocket to put treasures in, but really really really wanted to "help" undecorate Ella's magic castle.
. Really, the only time Livs was quiet was when she was eating cinnamon roll. Probably not the best parenting, but she ate A LOT of cinnamon roll on Christmas.Grandma Joan made the cutest blankets wrapped with a pig shapped pillow (pigs-in-a-blanket). Ethan thought the blanket holding elastic made the perfect straps to keep the pillow exactly where he wanted it. The kids LOVE their little portable beds and have set up camp under the table, in the living room, on their chair, and in the hallway.
Ahh, and last but not least, Eric spent most of the afternoon on Cabelas.com trying to figure out how to spend his Christmas money. Thanks to the generosity of so many, in about 2 weeks the animals in western Nebraska will sleep with one eye open. Eric is equipped to kill animals in every way imaginable now. It was fun to talk to all the friends and family that called (even my brother on his honeymoon called to wish us a Merry Christmas!). We miss you all, and even though this was fun, we hope that we are with you next year!

Christmas Ella Singing

Ella had a Christmas party on the Tuesday before Christmas. Mrs. Hessler is amazing and goes all out for her parties. The kids sang the Christmas songs they had been learning. Santa came and each child got to sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Each child got a candy cane and a stocking filled with goodies from Mrs. Hessler. I brought cookies and juice, and we played lots of games. Eric took a short break from work and came over to enjoy some of the games with us. Melissa and Carter stayed the whole time, too, which made it even more fun for me. Ella sings so beautifully, with lots of enthusiasim and pretty much on pitch. I love to watch how much fun she has while she sings. (although in the videos she gets a little distracted by happenings around her)Ella actually sat on Santa's lap. She told him exactly what she wanted, "A Playmobil Magic Castle," but never looked him in the face. You can only overcome so much of a fear in a year, I guess.
I love this photo because it is not posed, not encouraged, just pure cute baby all the way. Carter kept trying to give Livi hugs and he finally pulled himself up beside her and put his arm around in a love. They were pretty cute and played together more that I expected from two 1 year olds!Livi loved being with Ella and wanted to be in the middle of everything she was doing. Here she is as the center of attention during the calendar section of their morning routine.

For Time and All Eternity

Well, we survived. We drove all day Friday, spent all day Saturday with wedding things, and then came home on Sunday. It was one of the busiest, craziest, but best weekends ever. I am so happy I could be there when my little brother married his sweetheart. Jes is truly awesome and I am grateful she is my sister-in-law! Here are some highlights from the wedding:
I love being with my family, but this picture really hits home the Sesame Street song "one of these things is not like the other." (the giant is me, the other two are my cute mom and tiny sister) Livi loved the temple, more specifically she loved sitting on it. The reception was at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, which is always beautifully decorated for Christmas. Ella loved posing in front of the tree, Ethan not so much. Livi is always a surprise to me. She is just as much a pretty princess as Ella. The girls loved their dresses, and gold shoes, and pranced around all night. Ethan didn't prance so much as goof around. We had the best seat in the house at our table. Temple Square is so pretty at night during Christmas and we got to enjoy it, all while being warm, comfortable, and eating a yummy meal. By the end we were all tuckered out, I think Livi's look is basically about how we all felt. It was a truly wonderful day, and I only wish I had more pictures of Jes and James (I only have the low light, grainy one at the beginning) so if anyone reading this has one please email some to me.

Blankie 2.0

Weddings are a crazy time. We lost one oatmeal colored glove, our health, my will to NOT live in Utah, but most importantly we lost Livi's blankie. It somehow got lost somewhere in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building during the reception. Not only did we check lost and found there, but my dad went back and checked the temple too, to no avail. It wasn't in the car, or the hotel, so we were left with one option: Drive to Provo on Sunday right before we left and buy a new one. We thought it would be fine, and we were wrong. The University Mall in Provo is one of the few places on Earth that is not open on Sunday. Normally I would be their biggest supporter in that, but having a baby that misses her blankie, and doesn't understand why it isn't there, all I wanted was for the mall to be open. The trip home was very hard, to say the least. We did have a burp cloth that was made of the same material, on the front, as her blankie, but she was too smart to be fooled for long. At first she would cuddle the burp cloth and look relieved. Then she would feel the back, like she does with her blankie, but instead of the soft pink material there would be a terry cloth side. She would pull it away to look at it, and then: Total Meltdown!

Luckily I have the nicest parents in the world, who were not only willing to go to the mall on Monday and buy her a new one, but were also willing to overnight it to us so Livi would finally take a nap, or go to bed, without looking at us woefully and whimpering softly until she finally gave up and went to sleep. We waited all morning for the knock, and finally it came. The wonderful UPS man came, and brought our salvation. Livi came over, looked in the package, was little shocked, but then set off on some catch-up cuddling. They haven't been apart all day!

The Price We Pay For a Little Quiet

Livi hadn't been feeling well for a couple of days. On Tuesday I was asked to bring an extra girl to preschool with us, which adds an extra 25 minutes to our time in the car. It doesn't help that preschool coincides with nap time to begin with, but by the time we dropped the girls off at school Livi was screaming hysterically. Luckily Melissa had given us some Christmas goodies when we picked up Maddi, so I started handing Livi some chocolate covered caramel to help her with the ride home. I didn't look back till we pulled into our driveway, and this is what I saw:

Dancing Queen(s)

The View From My Window

...Who just happens to be named, Ella

Ella loves her new tutu/skirt from Thankmus. She wears it at least once a day. Here is one of her "interpretive" dances inspired by her new favorite tutu.

Yeah for Hair!

Finally I can get two little ponytails in Livi's hair. Maybe now people will stop asking how old my little boy (dressed entirely in pink) is.

The Amazing Race (but not really since Dad let everyone catch up)

My dad is a man of many talents. One is trying hard to help people have fun experiences. This year, after Thankmus, my dad (with a some help from my mom) set up the most awesome game. Most of us are big fans of The Amazing Race on tv, so my dad set up The Amazing Race: Antelope Valley Edition. Dad had clues, roadblocks, the whole nine yards, with lots of fun activities for us. We took videos of most of the tasks (driving remote control cars and helicopters, feeding ducks at Apollo Park, shooting at targets) but for this particular activity we had to take still photos. We had to make our way to the exotic feline breeding compound in Rosamond and take photos of teammates with the different breeds of cats. I wish we had more time to spend there. I had lived in the Antelope Valley for 10 years and never visited, and it was much cooler than I expected. If anyone reading this lives there, go visit, it's worth it!

Seriously????

She is seriously asleep. Totally, completely asleep.

Thankmus, Christgiving, or whatever

On the Beesley side, were all saddened by the thought that we wouldn't have Christmas together. James and Jes would be on their Honeymoon, Andrew and Joy are going to Joy's family, and Eric and I couldn't find a way to make it to the wedding in Utah, then head on to California for the Christmas, and make it back to Nebraska in time for Eric to be back to work. In trying to figure out how to not fade into a depression in the lost traditions, my Mom had a truly inspired idea. We decided to do Christmas at Thanksgiving (James came up with "Thankmus" but Ethan is convinced it should be "Christgiving" to keep Christ involved, which makes sense). It was a hard idea to wrap my head around at first, but after embracing it, it was a lot of fun to take care of half of Christmas ahead of time.
There were somethings I missed, like reading Luke 2, opening pajamas the night before, eating Christmas tree sweat roll for breakfast, and opening stockings, but something that made missing those things worth it: spending the time with my family. I can make the sweet roll, we can read the scriptures here, but I will truly miss our families on Christmas.

Enough of dwelling on the sad, here is our fun celebration: Livi LOVED unwrapping

Ebby in his totally awesome sunglasses (he takes after his Daddy in crazy sensitive eyes)

Livi kept running over to play with toys when it wasn't her turn to tear into a present.

Then she ran over to put on her new hat and ran back to the toys.

Ella and Livi helped James, who was working as the present sorter, to hand out the gifts.

Ella got a cornucopia of pink. She got a pink apron, which she wears every time we bake, a pink tutu that she wears at least once a day, and a pink Barbie camper that Livi tries to "play" with whenever she can, but that Ella is very proprietorial over.

There were lots of "favorite" gifts for Ethan but when we left Thankmus and were getting ready for bed that night Ethan almost started crying when we realized we had left the Power Ranger transformer thingy at my parents house. I had to run over in my pj's and get it for him (luckily the Stotts and my parents live only a little over a mile apart).

I'm still missing some key pictures, so if anyone (Mom) has a copy of the group shot from that night, if you could send me a copy I would appreciate it!

Attack of the Geese, or Apollo Park

One other thing the kids were excited about when visiting California is going to Apollo park with their Grandma Joan. They love to play on the playground, have a snack, and feed the ducks cornflakes. Joan is sport to take them, and she even got some really cute pictures.It looks like the ducks only got a little, because the kids ate most of the cornflakes themselves, and the geese where there to help them out! Maybe they helped out a little too much, by the look on the kids face!It's amazing to me that Ella hears someone getting out a camera, and "Boom" she is in princess pose. An real smile from Ethan, a priceless photo.

How The Heck Do You Aim This Thing?

Just an addendum to my last post. I also love to see our scores on Buzz. I'm getting closer to Eric in scores, and Ethan works so hard trying to aim his gun that Ella's blast at anything approach seems to outscore him every time!

10 Reasons I Love Disneyland

Disneyland, oh how I love thee, let me count the ways...
1. How we have to ride on Dumbo at the very beginning, because the kids love it, and if we don't go on it first then we have to wait 2 hours to ride a plastic elephant around and around until I feel like puking. I'll wait 15 minutes to feel like I need to vomit, but not 2 hours.
2. Having to force my 6 year old to ride rides. Well, I admit it, they are scary ones. Ethan went on Splash Mountain and Space Mountain, and Big Thunder Railroad for the first time this trip. Ella had been on Splash Mountain before, but not the other two. She also got to ride Indiana Jones for the first time. Ethan came off the rides saying "I am never going to do that again!" were as Ella was shouting "Let's go again!"
3. Churros, or as Ella says "cheerios." I love churros. I could eat 7 (in fact I have eaten 7 on one trip, but that was when I was 13 and could do things like that). It is tradition to buy and eat as many churros as we can. Even Livi loved her first churros and kept trying to steal more.
4. People watching. There are some weird people out there. I have to admit this trip took the cake for all time weird people watching experience. We were in line for Winnie the Pooh, and the people ahead of us took the name a little too literally. After taking this photo, we turned around and someone had set up a little kid porta potty and was having their toddler use it. I am all for consistency in potty training, but maybe a trip to Disneyland should be an exception.
5. Having all the people around me that I love. No one ever skips a trip to Disneyland if they can possibly go, so it's a time when we are all together and having fun. We were so lucky to have all the family, and Julia's friend Cara, with us this time. We were a BIG group, but it was fun to see people's faces when we told them there were 14 in our group that needed to be seated near each other. We had a whole boat on It's a Small World to ourselves.
6. Seeing my kids experience things that I grew up with. Ethan and Ella found the sword in the stone for the first time this trip, and it was fun seeing them trying to pull it out. They loved the story about when Andrew actually got to pull it, and was king for a day.
7. How the same ride, at the same time can be so different to two people. We all went on Autopia together, but our rides were so different. Ella got to steer and our road was a bumpy, laugh filled adventure. Ethan and Eric were in another car. Ethan looked stressed out by the responsibility of driving, where as Eric had, had his own adventure. He was next to John Voight, the actor, and his granddaughters and the two cars were "racing."
8. How everyone tries to be thoughtful of others there. Strangers are nice. Parents try to help each other out, and our own family tries harder. Mom and Dad were so great. Not only did they treat us to this wonderful experience, but more often than not they were sitting out rides with Livi and Ebby. Thank you.
9. How goofy we all are. It's funny how you start taking hundreds of pictures of people and they start making weird faces!
10. How great my kids sleep that night. Everyone was so worn out none had a problem sleeping the night before Thankmus.

Downtown Disney

The night before we conquered Disneyland we drove down and took advantage of the shopping and dinng outside the park. It's so nice to drive quickly over to the park, not have to drive 2 hours down, and be refreshed when we start the day! I LOVE Disneyland, especially before Christmas. We've gone so many years right before Christmas, that the season doesn't seem to start until we see the gigantic decorated Christmas tree on Main Street, go on the Halloween/Christmas Haunted Mansion, and see Sleeping Beauties Castle decorated to the nines. I know my kids look forward to it almost as much as I do.
We were lucky to have such a big group to have there early. We were able to go to dinner at La Brea bakery (best sandwhiches ever), get our makeup fix at Sephora, and pick out souveniors the day before so we didn't waste any play time at the park the next day. Ella picked out a very pink outfit that has bright pink bows and "princess" all over it. Ethan picked out a Yoda dressed as Santa, and Livi picked out her own dress with lots of pink ruffles on it. She actually picked it out over and over so we eventually gave in. I think Ella may have a rival in the girly department when they are older.
One of Livi's favorite things was looking at all the decorations. She would point, bounce, and sing. There was a band playing and she was dancing in our arms as we carried her. I finally put her down by the music, but she was so absorbed in watching the other people dance she only bounced a little. I have a feeling in a couple years she'll be out there tangoing with the best of them.

Meeting Ebby

My kids were sooooo excited to finally meet their only cousin. Ebby (Edward James) is the sweetest, cuddliest cutest nephew I have ever had! Ebby and Joy got into California after the kids were asleep, but first thing in the morning they were asking when they could see him. I love the look of joy on Ethan's face. Livi thought Ebby was pretty awesome, and kept trying to pat him, and occasionally tried to sit next to (or on) him.Ebby is a cute little mix of Joy and Andrew, and one of my favorite things was seeing him stick out his tongue like Andrew always has.
Casey also thought he was great, but I think that may because he smells so yummy. I have to admit that there were a couple times I just sat and smelled his hair, so I can't really blame Casey.

Livi and the Kitty

Our next door neighbors have a kitty that loves my kids, and when he sees us outside he runs to his kitty door and comes over to play with them. Livi and I walked out to say goodbye to Ella as she climbed into the Bagley's car to go to preschool, and out the kitty came. For some reason, he either has no nerves in his back, or he is willing to let Livi "pet" him over and over. We spent about 20 minutes outside grappling with the ever patient kitty, and then headed for the door. The kitty, whom I will now dub "Ginger" for ease of typing, started following us in. I had to wrangle the door, the baby, and Ginger, but finally we were all on the sides of the door I deemed appropriate. Unfortuantely Livi and Ginger disagreed with me. They sat, longingly staring at each other through the door. Livi would put her little hand up to the door, and Ginger would put his paw up. They would sit and then stand, and then sit together. They spent about 10 minutes at the door before I felt we should close the door, and by the screams of protest inside, and the mews from outside, I think they could have spent another couple hours at the door.

Livi Signing Time

Most of you know we do sign language with our babies, and lately Livi has really taken a shine to the Signing Time videos. I love the manic nature of her signs. "Dad" consists of slapping her head, "All done" is arms waving in every direction, and here is "baby" for your enjoyment

Come on Guys, Wait Up

If We Only Had A Pool

For Julia- Ella was playing downstairs today while Livi took her morning nap. I told her that when she had finished setting up the playmobil that I would love to see what she was working on. When I was summoned I found that she had created a cute home, full of decorations, a grocery store that the mom of the family could shop for, and a little pond out in the backyard. When I asked about the girl she put by the pond she explained that it was the big sister and she was standing by the water with her music, singing. It reminded me so much of Julia walking around the pool at home singing to herself. I KNOW if Ella had a pool, she would be doing the same thing, and it was so cute to see her position her playmobil girl in that exact pose. In my head I see a little Julia and Ella walking like princesses around my parent's pool singing to themselves. Classic.

Just For Fun, or Livi Trying to Blow Raspberries

Ethan's Best Day Ever

I love these days, where one of your kids just has a bunch of great things happen for them, and they are ecstatic. Ethan had one of those days on Monday. When we showed up at school there were a group of boys by the fence where Ethan comes in. When he walked through they surounded him, gave him hugs and said "Yeah, Ethan is here." His friends had waited for him to arrive, and when he did they all ran off to play together. For those of you who don't know we have had a few issues with some of these boys being the type of hot/cold friends, but it seems that things have been really good lately. He was so happy the smile on his face almost made me cry. (I took the pictures the next day when it happened again!)
While I was in the shower I got a phone call from Ethan's teacher. I was so worried it was about him throwing up at school, or getting hurt (it never crossed my mind he was in trouble, though, he's not that type) so imagine my surprise when the call was to get permission to put Ethan up into second grade for all English and reading. He is the only first grader they are doing this for, and it seems as though he will spend about 3 hours a day, four days a week up in second grade. His teacher explained how excited Ethan was, which made me happy, since he can be so shy at school.
When Ethan got home he wanted to tell me all about it, then he wanted to make sure his Grandmas and Grandpas knew about it. Since it was such a big accomplishment I told him he could pick whatever he wanted for dinner as a celebration. He picked pizza, but not just any pizza, Pizza Hut (it's his favorite type, but since it is so expensive we don't get it very often). He was just so happy and proud of himself, as well he should be.
I'm so glad Ethan had a great day. I'm so glad he feels proud of his accomplishments, and I'm so glad he was blessed with such a great mind.

Livi's Purse

Livi has taken to carrying a makeup bag all over the place. It is her little purse. I find binkies, toys, the phone, and even toothpaste in there. She loves to take it outside with her, and holds it on her lap in the car. (yes, that is a crust of bread she is chewing on. I tried to take it away, but she won that battle)

View From My Window

The view from my window in the morning. I love the seasons here.

Eyeballs Rolling

With the after Halloween sales of candy I let the kids pick out the candy of their choice. Ella picked out tootsie rolls (of course) but Ethan picked out these weird gummy eyeballs. They turned out to be so gross (shocker) that no one would eat one, and they individual eyeballs ended up all over the house. Livi found that she loved chewing (shocker) on the plastic cover on the candy, which was a little disconcerting to see my one year old running around with an eye in her mouth.

Singing Sensation Ella, and Her Back Up Dancer Livi

Livi finally got to turn her car seat around, and thought it was stupid the first time she tried it. She has since found out life is a lot more fun when you can see where you are going. Ella is still addicted to the Twilight soundtrack, and more specifically Muse. Here are my girls enjoying listening to "Super Massive Black Hole" ( a rare treat, because I am a little sick of it after having to listen to it over and over and over and over).

This is Halloween, Halloween Night

Finally, after all the planning, sewing, buying, decorating, and stressing, it is Halloween. After all the canceled parties we decided to take the kids trick-or-treating on Broadway during the afternoon, then head over to the ward party. At the ward party Eric entered some Chili in a cook off, and his was very good, as usual. They also had costume competitions, which I think should never be done at church. How do you tell one kid their costume is better? It's not like the kids made/bought the costumes. Ella cried when she didn't win, and I felt so guilty. Here I had spent about 15 hours on her costume, and it wasn't good enough. (Yes, that is a house on my head) Sorry, I'll stop rambling. So after trunk-or-treating at the church we headed out with the Bagleys to do some tick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Ethan is Treeko, a pokemon, Eric is a pokemon trainer named Brock, Ella is Glinda the good witch, Maddi is Silvermist from the Tinkerbell movie, Carter (held by Melissa) is Tiger, I am the Wicked Witch of the West, and Caleb is a pirate. It was fun to have friends to go door to door with. I think the kids had fun having people to run up to the doors with, and I had fun having other adults to talk to. All in all it was an awesome day, but I am VERY happy not to have to do anything else Halloween related for another 11 months.

Jealous?

How can you not be jealous? Snow is absolutely the best! We got over 16 inches of snow on Thursday, and it was beautiful. Ella's preschool was canceled on Thursday, causing us to miss her Halloween party. Ethan's school was canceled on Friday, canceling his party. They were VERY sad about these missed opportunities to show off their costumes, but on the bright side, they did have over a feet of snow to play in. By today, not 2 days later, the snow started melting. Eric, Ethan, and Ella went out this morning and made an awesome snowman. Ella's hands got cold, leaving the boys up to their own devices. Well, they made some silly piles of snow, and one of them somehow turned into a throne that they had to fight (wrestle) over, of course.

One Year of Livi

This may be a big file, but it's worth it to see the change in Livi. She is such a charming funny girl, and I am so glad we were blessed with her in our lives.