Standin' Up

Chloe has started to pull herself up to standing! This age is so exciting and so scary at the same time. She has a budding personality and gets happier and sweeter every day!

Yesterday, she and Morgan were playing in her room and she was standing playing her piano. I explained to Morgan that Chloe might fall at any time, so we have to be careful that there is nothing that could hurt her and be ready to catch her. He immediately went and got his stool and moved it to where she could sit down on it instead of falling. I told him that if she did fall the stool might hurt her, so he replaced it with her giant stuffed Elmo so she could fall on something soft. He is such a good big brother - maybe the second child doesn't have it so bad after all!

Christmas Catch-Up

We have had such a whirlwind holiday and just like this picture from Christmas morning, in a state of constant motion! The holidays have been filled with family, friends, food, fun and – of course – a visit from the magical man in red!

Chloe in her Mrs. Clause dress

This year – with the help of very flexible families – we tried something new. We spread out our holiday celebrations so we could do our gift exchanges with each family while our kids were happy, excited about opening presents, and not overwhelmed. We spent “Christmas Eve Eve” (Dec. 23) with my Mom. John’s kids (my step-siblings) joined us for a yummy dinner and gift exchange and Morgan got a TMX Tickle Me Elmo – we laughed until we cried!

Me and my two brothers, Michael and Stephen - all in true character!

Christmas Eve morning we went snowshoeing with my little brother Michael and Chloe loved it (it was her first time)! Uncle Michael carried Chloe, Seth carried Morgan and I just tried to keep up with the dogs! So much fun!

After snowshoeing we went to my Dad’s house. We had a casual lunch and opened gifts and then went to visit Grandpa Bell. It was nice and laid back and Morgan loved getting candy canes off of Grandpa’s tree.
Then it was home for naptime (and last minute gift-wrapping) – the key to any good day! After naps, we were off to the Tates for dinner and gift exchange with the whole family. Everyone was there except Seth’s oldest brother and his family (missed you guys) and we had a great time acting out the nativity (not your traditional acting) and unveiling our joint gift to the parents – a super comfy leather couch! When we realized it was 10 PM (way too late for Christmas Eve if you ask me!) we quickly headed home for bedtime so Santa didn’t miss our house!

Morgan loved his cars - especially when they would go crash!

We woke up to a living room FILLED with presents – Santa went a little overboard this year, just like he does every year! We heard Morgan stirring in his room at about 7:15 AM, but he had pulled everything out of his closet, so he must have been up long before that. He was so excited when he walked in the living room and found the shake and go crash track with cars that go crash! Morgan did not want to look at anything else or open any presents – he only wanted to crash cars – for the next 2 hours! Chloe was captivated by her Sing-Along Stage – she was also content to look in the mirror and clap for herself – until she caught sight of Morgan’s crash track in her mirror and then she went straight for the cars until one of them crashed into her head.

Totally happy to play with their new toys from Santa!

At about 11 AM we headed for Grandma Tate’s and then to Grandma Colleen’s where we got to play with cousins and eat breakfast – twice – then back home for naptime! This year Seth didn’t have to work Christmas, so we actually got a Christmas nap…YAY! On Christmas night, we carried on our tradition of having everyone over to our house to see what the kids got from Santa, eat yummy food, and watch funny movies!

All wrapped up with nowhere to go!

So there you go – our Christmas travel log (and we haven’t gone to see Grandpa Checketts or Grandma Bell yet). I can’t complain though – we really have the best of all worlds – we get our own Christmas celebrations at our own house, we are surrounded by family, and this year we finally figured out how to celebrate with everyone and enjoy every second of it!

Babysitting

Chloe got a doll for Christmas and she loves it. If anyone takes it away from her while she is holding it, she bursts into tears! Today, Morgan wanted the doll but didn't want to get in trouble for taking it from her, so he said, "I'll babysit dolly!" and then took it from Chloe. It was so funny and surprisingly, there were no tears!

Excitement of the Season

I love how excited Morgan is about Christmas. He loves to talk about how Santa is coming to our house and bringing him "cars that go crash". The other day we were at Target and we went down the aisle of hot wheels cars. He pointed to them and said with a proud satisfaction, "Santa is going to bring those to my house."

He really loves the decorations - especially the lights. Every night when he says his prayers he thanks Heavenly Father for "christmas lights in my room".

Last night Seth and I wrapped lots of presents, so when Morgan woke up this morning he saw a BIG pile of wrapped presents in our living room. The look on his face was priceless (if only I had my camera). He went through each present and wanted to know who it was from and who it was to. He kept asking which ones were for Daddy. He had to make sure Daddy was taken care of even though he was at work. So sweet!

Christmastime truly is magical and I think this picture illustrates that magic!

Family Pictures

I haven't posted anything in a while because we have been too busy doing the very things that need to be posted. I don't have time to catch up right now, but here is a start.

Christmas cards - I love to get Christmas Cards and I love to send them, but I have this crazy little quirk in me that thinks I need to do some big extravagant handmade card for everyone I know. It also thinks our Christmas card should include a family picture (as long as I am not pregnant) including kids and dogs. Now, I don't expect this of anyone else, just myself.

So, we tried to take our own family pictures. We considered getting them taken, but weren't fast enough to actually make it happen. The picture below tells more about how painful this was than I could ever do with words, so here you go. LOL!

This is pretty much our life - even when it is all falling apart, Seth and I just look forward and smile - it gets better from here right?!

It did get a little better - here is the end result!

Missed You - The Rest of the Story

The very day I wrote about Morgan's cute little "missed you" moment, Seth was working. When he got home from work, Morgan ran up to him and said, "I missed you Daddy!"

"I missed you too buddy!"

"NO, I missed YOU Daddy!"

It went back and forth like that a couple of times, and the sweetest part was - I knew they really meant it. Morgan really does miss his daddy when he goes to work - I am so glad it is only 3-4 days a week!

Missed You

While naptime is certainly a blessed time in our house, I am always excited to see Morgan when he wakes up. It is such a fun time because he is usually in a GREAT mood and ready to play. Lately, when he wakes up I say, "I'm so glad you woke up! I missed you while you were sleeping!" It makes him happy and he feels a bit better about the whole nap thing!

This afternoon when Morgan woke up from his nap, he came upstairs, saw Callie and said, "I missed you Callie." Then he saw Chloe and said, "I missed you Chloe." Next was Roxy, "I missed you Roxy." Finally he went around giving big hugs and kisses to everyone. What a sweetie!

Tate Ladies in Red

Chloe is like a little doll. She lets me dress her up and tote her around, and then when I squeeze her close she smile and giggles. Of course, she poops and eats too, but dolls these days are high tech! I love having a sweet little girl and she is ALL GIRL at least for now!

New Pictures!

I have been a major slacker about uploading pictures lately, so I have renewed my commitment to post pictures more regularly. In the meantime, as of last night we are up to date with pictures on our Smugmug site, so go ahead and check it out for pictures of Chloe, Morgan, Seth, Callie, Roxy and even a couple of me.

Visiting Santa

Today we went to see Santa in his Sugarhouse House. I love it there because it is so cute and festive and Santa is so sweet. Their prints are pretty cheap, but even better, they let you take your own shots if you want! We got some darling pictures of the kids!

I love celebrating Santa. It is so much fun and so magical for children (young and old). I love telling Morgan about Santa and how he brings us presents just like the wise men who gave gifts to baby Jesus. I love the Jingle Bells and the fluffy white beard. But most of all, I love the twinkle in Morgan's eye when we talk about how Santa's going to come to our house! I still believe!

Fascination

Chloe is fascinated with Christmas! She loves the lights and shiny ornaments and especially the tree. I uploaded this picture from our camera today and just fell in love with this shot of her! This was taken the first day we set up decorations and she immediately went directly for my little miniture trees and the lights on them. What a sweet fascination!

Wise men still seek him

It amazes me how sweet and inncent little children are. Tonight as I was loading Morgan into the car he said, "Look, a big star." I had to do a bit of sleuthing to get to what he was trying to say to me since there was not a single star in the sky, but finally I realized that he was looking for the star of Bethlehem.

We have been talking a lot about the birth of the Savior and have been refering to the Star of Bethlehem as the "big star". We even put up a bunch of little stars and one BIG star above our nativity. He loves everything about Jesus and loves to think about when he was a baby.

Are we looking for the big star in a starless sky? My sweet little boy has certainly reminded me that amid the Christmas chaos, I need to focus on seeking "the BIG star".

Shhh! Use your Quiet Voice.

Morgan is going through the yelling phase. He speaks in a screaming voice all the time. As such, I am constantly reminding him to "talk in a quiet voice".

Today, Chloe was crying and Morgan went over to her and started rubbing her tummy and saying "Shhhh" with his finger to his lips. The he would say "Use your quiet voice Chloe." Apparently it is sinking in - now if we could just work on application!

Christmastime

Our halls are decked our tree is trimmed! (It is still a bit chaotic around here, but the living room looks cute!) Morgan has been loving the process of getting out the Christmas decor. This is the first year he really gets it and he is SO excited for Santa to come to our house. Today we heard a car go by and Morgan ran to the window. "Santa's coming to our house!" he cried. He loves looking at the baby Jesus in the nativity and on our tree and his new favorite songs are "Frosty the Snowman" and "We wish you a merry Christmas".


We went to pick out a tree for FHE this week and we got such a beautiful one. Morgan helped me get the decorations on the tree today and we had so much fun! He was so cute trying to get the tiny little hooks around the big branches!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!