Christmas: The recap

Just looking at these pictures makes me exhausted. I swear one year Jamison and I are going to stick to our plan of just staying home on Christmas day and not going ANYWHERE...but crazy as it was it was still fun. Why, you may be wondering, am I holding a policeman nutcracker in the picture? Well, Jamison let Chase pick out anything she wanted to get me for Christmas and this was her number one choice. I think its awesome. It has handcuffs and everything.

Christmas eve at Nanna and Grandpa Coopers ginger bread house making.


All the grandkids recreated the nativity on Christmas eve this year. Chase was Mary. Cohen was baby Jesus. Ever since, Chase has taken to calling Cohen "Baby Jesus". Wierd.

We spent the earlier part of the day on Christmas eve at Grandma Mckenna's. This is Cohen trying to get Tokas attention.

Trying to open his own present, and eat the wrapping paper

Grandma gave Chase this tutu/wand for Christmas. Watching her twirl around in it is hilarious.

Christmas morning my Mom does a huge breakfast for everyone. Since there were lots of people this year they did it at the church. It was fun. This is me, Lindsay, and Michelle racing (can't remember what these things are called), but it was good times.

Santa brought Chase and Cohen a new wagon. Here we have Chase and Gaige enjoying it.

The only pic I got of the 2 munchkins togethor on Christmas

Christmas loot.

Cohen eating wrapping paper.

Since Chase is obsessed with "Princess dresses", she got the good ol Cosco dress up trunk this year. Shes wearing one of the dresses in this pic. I hope I can wash them because its seriously all she will were now. We rotate the 3 dresses it came with, and the tutu Grandma gave her. Gotta love it when your kids won't let you pick there clothes anymore....

Like I said, trying to fit in my Mom and Stepdad, my Dad and Stepmom, Jamison's Mom and Stepdad, and Jamisons Dad and Stepmom, plus all the Grandparents and dinners and breakfasts and brunches and lunches and parties...it was INSANE. But we survived and had fun, and are now enjoying Jamisons 3 wk break from school by playing lots of Wii and watching lots of Dexter. I have lots of catching up to do. That show is really good.

Like anyone would want to R her.

Tis the season for fun filled Holiday parties:). The friend party was this last Saturday night. It did not disappoint. Yummy food, and hilarious white elephant gifts. When it was my turn to pick a gift I was pleasantly surprised to open some raging hot pictures of Spencer...but unfortunatly Devin stole them from me when someone stole his gift, so I in turn HAD to steal the below T shirt and "R" horn from Scott (which were brought by Lara and Nick, best present ever). If you have never watched Arrested Developement (whats wrong with you?), then this present will make no sense, and you will probably find it not the least bit funny...but for those of us choice people who have watched it, this present is perfection. I will wear my T shirt with pride....to bed. The below pic (which I took with my phone since I forgot my camera) is the gift Jamison brought. A white trash framed pic of himself. Trust me when I say there is a great story behind the picture. It involves a Harley ride, a rain storm, and a borrowed jacket from a true blue Harley enthusiast.
All the gifts brought were hilarious (and I was quit proud of myself for coming up with the one I brought), but I didn't bring a camera, and I think most of them were only funny to those of us there...so moving on.

The other night I decided that what a fun family outing it would be to drive up to La Caille, since the Chistmas lights they do all over the grounds every year are amazing.
I was excited.

Clearly Chase wasn't. When I turned around and exclaimed "Chase look how beautiful!", she was out. Oh well. At least I had fun.


Couldn't not post pic of Cohen sitting infront of the Christmas tree. I actually wanted to post pics of Jamison playing soccer, but he wouldn't let me bring my camera to his game last night. Grinch.

Yay for the holidays, and yay for my Christmas shopping being done as of today!

Peace out.

Whats a Mom to do??

So, Ms. Chase Emma is almost 3 (Jan. 16). As I have posted before, this is stressing me out because it means she is growing up...AND...its time to start school. I HATE the thought of just dropping her off somewhere. I'm not going to go into all of that again..since I already have shared my worries with you in a previous post. My dilema now is trying to figure out where she should go to preschool, and when she should start. The annoying thing about her turning 3 in Jan, is the fact that she missed the Sept deadline to start preschool this year, which means she may have to wait 8 months to start preschool. Which brings me to the option of the "young threes" program. That is an option our school district offers for kids that miss the deadline, but whos parents want to put them in preschool anyway. Which brings me to the other dilema. There is a specific teacher and class I want Chase in within our school district..but the teacher only teaches the 4 yr old class, which means I need to find something else for her first year...but What??Where??And is it best for her to start as soon as she turns 3, or should I just wait until Sept??? I am constantly hearing from parents who say preschool is a waste and to not even worry about it, AND parents who say that she should be in preschool immediatly. Then theres the whole private preschool thing which is hella expensive. I mean I just don't want to pay 200 a month for her to go to preschool.

Jamison tells me I stress way to much and to just relax and not worry. I know he is right, but yet I still continue to stress about it constantly....and its making me want to pull my hair out.

If you read this blog, and if you know of any really good preschool teachers within the Granite School District (besides Mrs. Figge, everyone and there dog have already told me about her and she only teaches 4 yr olds), then please, do share.

SMILE!!

I am not even kidding you, this kid spends the day with a smile plastered across his face. It is such a nice thing for my camra and I (especially since Chase will pretty much run any time she sees a camra pointed her way). Seriously, just glance at him sometime, and it will make him grin from ear to ear. My favorite is when he smiles so big his eyes close.

Winter days.

I admit our days have been kindof lazy as of late. I blame it on the change of seasons. It seems like with the warm weather came the fun play groups (which we need to start again!!), and outings, but with it being bitter cold, I find myself not wanting to go out and about. Chase has mastered the art of climbing into bed with Jamison and I in the wee hours of the morning without waking us up. Secretly I kindof like it since Jamison leaves so early, I get to wake up with her snuggled up next to me. Then Cohen wakes up and needs to be fed, after which he joins the snuggle fest, and I pray for a few more minutes of sleep.

Perfect winter activity: Watching a christmas movie with popcorn and hot chocolate in a Santa mug

One bonus of the season is the good T.V shows. Chase and I enjoy watching So You Think You Can Dance. Actually I watch it, she practices her moves while she watches.
I videoed a small portion of it the other night. I wish I would have gotten more. She is such a spaztic dancer. She will be mellow, then BAM, the energy goes up about 10 notches and no one should stand in her way. These are some of her more mellow moves, yet impressive none the less. I mean have you ever seen a more perfectly executed twirl??

(warning:my voice is annoying, particularly when I say "shake it". If possible please ignore it)

Babies

Seriously,how cute/interesting does this movie look!!??

Thoughts on the season

This year I have been having some conflicting feelings about Christmas, I mean not about Christmas itself, but the things that come along with celebrating Chistmas. Let me explain.

A while back as I was looking through random blogs (yes sometimes I blog stalk people I kindof know but not really, I mean, who doesn't?) , I came across a certain blog post about all the things a certain someone was going to get her daughter for Christmas, and I thought to myself "who cares?". Seriously. Not to be rude in any way, and maybe I am approaching this subject in completely the wrong way, but now that I have kids, my way of thinking has changed slightly. I want my kids lives to be as meaningful as possible (as I'm sure every parent does). I want to give them every opportunity to have as many amazing experiences in life as possible. When they get older, why not spend Christmas in Guatamala doing a service project?? Won't they get so much more from that, then say a new outfit on Christmas morning??? Yes, right now they are a little young (2, and 5 months), and yes, every time I go to Target its like a magnet pulling me to the toy section to see what else I could possibly get them for Christmas, but then my mind screams "NO". They deserve so much more. Am I crazy??? I mean, while people are getting up at 2am on black friday to get there kids that special toy, I am planning our future Christmas's in Guatamala. Get a grip Jamie. So, at that point I tell myself to just shilax, and enjoy the season. Because really, now that Chase is old enough to finally know what going on, theres nothing better that watching her excitment over everything Christmas, and then her telling us over and over again how we need to leave cookies for Santa on Christmas eve incase he is hungry. So, I guess this year her service project will be making sure Santa isn't hungry when he stops by our house.

But in all seriousness, as I was having these crazy thoughts this season, and wondering in my mind how to make sure my kids always understand the real meaning of Christmas, and the most important way it should be celebrated, I came across this article, and I loved it. Especially the part about "Feeling the Joy of Giving". A good reminder (that I needed to read) for this holiday season.

Anywho, since this is a Christmas themed post and all, I had to add some pics of Chase enjoying our Christmas tree....

And although it may seem this picture of Cohen has nothing to do with Christmas, don't be fooled. The Christmas tree is like 10 inches from his face. You just can't see it..but who cares when you can see that smile???

Ahhh, temple square. Pretty, yes...but a word to the wise. Don't decide to go see the lights the night after they are turned on. Way to crowded=not enjoyable.