Stitches - take 2

At least it wasn't Jackson again!  The Wednesday before Christmas, I was in the kitchen making dinner when I heard a crash followed by a scream come from the living room.  Being the great mom I am, I shouted towards the living to stop jumping off things and calm down.  A minute later I turned around to see Eliza walking in the kitchen, screaming,  leaning forward with blood POURING from her forehead.  Seriously, dripping puddles on the floor.  I rushed her to the bathroom to clean it up and see how bad it was.  Thankfully it looked much worse than it really was but no question she needed stitches.  I told her we needed to go to the doctor and she started crying, "No!  I don't want stitches!!"  I guess she still remembers the trauma of holding Jackson down for 30 minutes while they stitched him up in the summer.  I got the kids in the car and took off for Instacare while trying to call Matt.  Of course that's the day his phone dies.  Ugh.  I think I called probably 40 times.  I don't know what he thought when he got home and saw dinner on the stove, blood trailing from the living room to the kitchen and us missing.  I FINALLY reached him and he met us there. Eliza was scared of what was going to happen but when it came down to doing the actual stitches, she was very brave.  She didn't cry at all.  She got two stitches in almost the same spot where Jackson got his 8 a few months ago.

So what happened was she was in the living room trying to feel what was in her stocking.  She must have tugged on it too hard because the heavy stocking holder came crashing down as she looked up.  OUCH.  We're going to forgo those next Christmas because I can already see Jackson doing it next year when he's taller.

I took her back the day after Christmas to get the stitches out.  It looks a lot better.  Hopefully it doesn't scar too much.  I've accepted the fact that Jackson will have a few scars by the time he's her age but I don't want her to have a bad one.

Santa may have gotten her an extra present for being so brave!

Merry Christmas!

GREAT Christmas this year!  Full of family, way too much food, and good times.  We went to Temple Square with the kids which was wonderful.  My brother and his family are in town from Arizona.  The kids had a great time opening and giving gifts.  It was especially nice that it was on a Sunday.  We went to church with my mom and dad.  It was special to be there in the ward I grew up in with all my brothers and their families.  My dad spoke for a few minutes in the meeting and it was wonderful.

New pajamas on Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning

Play tent

The only thing Eliza asked Santa for for Christmas was an umbrella.  Seriously, it was so cute.  That's the only thing she would say when anyone asked her what she wanted.  Luckily, Santa was able to find the exact one she wanted but we forgot to take a picture of it!  Our family had a great Christmas!

We hope everyone else did too!

Preschool Christmas program

Eliza had her preschool Christmas program last week.  She looks SO big compared to the other kids!  In her class there are three girls that are 5 years old.  All the other kids are still 3!  She did a great job singing, I am always proud of her when she does things like this because she can be so bashful sometimes.  I told her on the way home how proud I was of her and she said, "At first I was kind of nervous but then I just believed in myself!"  She got that off TV I think but still...it was adorable.  Jackson was exactly how I thought he would be during the performance.  He cried that he couldn't be up there with her and screamed when I tried to make him sit quietly.  Sorry to the people that were filming...   

Goober

Jackson really is the biggest goober.  I made brownies the other day and let him lick the beater.  He walked around for quite a while with a nice handlebar mustache.  Haha!

Birthday party

I have felt like there hasn't been much to blog about lately.  Then I realized I never posted any pictures from Eliza's birthday party.  This was her first "friend" party.  Eleven 5 year olds made for a fun time...   They were actually really good.  We ate pizza, popped popcorn, and watched Phineas & Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension.  Not sure we're going to do a friend party every year but she was SO excited for it and we had a really fun time!

Happy Birthday!

Eliza turned FIVE today!  Every day this girl makes me laugh and makes me so incredibly grateful that she is my daughter.  One of the things she wanted for her birthday was breakfast in bed.  I'm not sure where she even heard of that but she came and woke me up in the morning, and asked me for scrambled eggs and a waffle.  Then she went back to bed and waited for me to bring it in.  Matt and I cracked up about it.

Her presents this year were so much fun for me to find.  When I was about 8 or 9 I had these dolls called Hot Looks.  They were only around for a couple of years in the 80s and then they stopped making them.  My parents had hung on to a bunch of my stuff and have been bringing me boxes to store here since we have a basement now to keep things like that.  In one of these boxes were my old Hot Looks dolls and Eliza loved them.  She played with them all the time.  I had a couple of outfits but not much else left from so many years ago.  So I went on ebay and found another doll along with a bunch of clothes and accessories.  After I got that I decided that she was going to need a place to keep everything.  Barbie closets are too small for these dolls so I got on ebay again and found an old doll closet from the 50s that was the perfect size.  So after a paint job, some details, and some hangers, here are Eliza's birthday presents from me!

Before

Amazing what a little paint can do!

All done!

Her new doll!  All the clothes and hair and accessories are so 80s.  It's awesome.  But all that stuff is coming back in fashion!

Matt had the day off and dropped her off at preschool which she thought was pretty cool.  He picked her up and surprised her with flowers.  So sweet!  Eliza was so funny in the morning.  She said, "Mom, I'm so lucky on my birthday because I get to go to preschool!"

Her preschool birthday crown

We met for dinner with both sets of grandparents.  Also David, Michael, and Jared came which made her extra happy!

Presents from Grandma Carrolyn

So cute!  Cousin Michael got her a present!

Veggietales DVDs from my mom.  She LOVES these movies.

Then our camera batteries died.  Grandma Carrolyn also got her a Barbie which she was just in heaven over.  I almost forgot to say the best part for Eliza was meeting her new baby cousin before dinner.  Jenna was born yesterday and Eliza was beyond excited to meet her.  She is such a sweet little baby.  Congrats Dave and Amanda!

Eliza is such a joy and makes our family so happy.  She is a sweet, smart girl.  She loves school and reading.  She loves her brother (deep down :))  and tries to make him happy.  She loves primary and learning new songs.  She is a very curious girl and is constantly asking me questions about anything and everything.  She loves Angry Birds and is way better than Matt or I at it.  She can be very dramatic and sassy but thankfully she is still sweet most of the time.  We are thankful every day that she is in our family and for the wonderful little girl she is.  Love you Zi!

Halloween!

Halloween is so fun with kids but it's exhausting!  It's like a week (or more) of parties.  

Here are some cute pictures of the kiddos in their costumes...

We got a couple more uses out of our decorated basement with some family parties.

We also went to the Crazy Corn Maze and let the kids ride the ponies afterwards.

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

Halloween Party!

We serioulsy LOVE our neighborhood. When we moved in we were surprised at how many fun traditions there are. Among other things, every year a different couple hosts a Halloween party. No kids invited. I am not the entertaining type at all. Really. It stresses me out and I get all weird about things. BUT we also have very persuasive neighbors. :) We got talking about how our home is one of the only ones in the neighborhood that still has an unfinished basement. I would have never thought of having a party down there but I was told it would be great. So after a little coaxing and a promise that I would have help decorating, we agreed to host this year.

Our own decorations consist of a few pumpkins and I think a couple of other crafty looking items. Nothing that would work for a party. Our wonderful neighbors Mike and Janai let us borrow their AWESOME decorations for the party. And Jocelyn the amazing decorator helped us put it all together. I actually feel like I hardly did anything. I just followed her around and handed her tape when she needed it.

We had the party on Saturday and it was so much fun!! Everyone brought a treat to share and we played games, visited and just had a great time. Not only was Jocelyn the decorator, she was also the photographer. I stole these pictures from her, hope she doesn't mind!

Considering we're not going to be finishing our basement any time soon, we may as well just leave it all up for next year! It was the least stressful party ever! Thank you everyone for coming, it was a blast!

One more of us so you can see my awesome leggins, leg warmers, and jelly shoes! I miss the 80s.