Christmas 2012

Christmas this year was with the Lows. I was so excited and looking forward to leaving Edmonton. Spending a week without the distractions of Jason's work, calling, and just home life. Also Jason's 6/7 siblings were able to make it to Cardston and we love hanging out with all of them.

Christmas at the Lows is always filled with games, visiting, laughing, and food - lots of it. There were 14 adults and 9 grand kids there. All grand kids 5 and under. We were missing 3 grand kids and 2 adults. We missed Brian and Julie and their kids but grateful that we could skype with them and talk to them a bit throughout the holidays.

This year was great for our family because I felt like our kids were at an age where they can share a room well with us, not wake up, and sleep through the night. No baby! We shared a room and it was pretty good. The only downfall is Talia got croup (we thought pertussis at one point due to a visitor that was tested positive for pertussis.) and then Jace got croup the week we got home. But oh well, that's life.

It was a lot of fun. Talia and Jace LOVED playing with their cousins and LOVED being with their aunts, uncles, grandma, and papa white (Jason's dad- Talia gave him that name). I think I was pleasant... I'm pregnant and was about 23 weeks along at this time and I am WAY more emotional this time around. So hopefully that didn't come off too much and people enjoyed me and my crazy self as well.

Anyways, here's some photos. Hopefully I can add more once I get  them from Amelia. She was Way better at taking photos than me. So here is what I have so far.

 Toys and Mr. Jace. I think weaning him from his soother will be hard. He's down to only naps and bedtime... and when he's sick. Yikes!

 There were 4 baby girls born within 6 weeks of each other. The twin girls who are in the middle were not here. Avery Harbor on the left, and Addie Low on the right

 Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Low

 Jason's younger brother Robbie and his beautiful wife Cammie.

 My two favorite boys. Man I love these two!

 And I'm hoping these two girls are those two boys favorite girls... :) And yes I am expanding EVERYWHERE!

 Jace loves his Grandma Low. Every since Hawaii he has a soft spot for her. It was so cute he kept going to her especially during a spiritual time during Christmas Eve. He loves her!

Opening Christmas PJs 

 Slipper crocs and Minnie and Mickey PJs. Slipper crocs - we're bringing them in to the Lows!

 My adorable kids.

 The Disney 3! The grand kids love Grandma's Disney shirt. Talia had just commented on how she LOVES her shirt.

 My little family on Christmas Eve. It was the first year I did not get PJs in my whole life. I decided it's POINTLESS when you're pregnant. Nothing looks cute!

 Jason takes the cake on looking the best.

 All the grand kids that were there in their PJs minus Jaxson.... not sure where he went.

 Oh we found Jaxson... He fell into the tree and the tree snapped. Pretty funny! The boys, after the kids went down, eventually managed to get it back up. Not sure if the tree will be around next year...

 Here's Jaxson!!! This kid cracks me up. He think he's Captain America so Jason kept calling him Captain Canada. He never caught on to that name, insisted it was America!

 Tradition. They get a cute ornament every year - cute.

 Not quite fixed. It did look better a little later on.

 Opening the shirts Leslie made for all the grand kids. It's the Lows dream team and they each got their number according to their number they came into the world. Cute idea!

 Talia #4!

 Jace #7.

 Funny story Santa showed up unexpectedly... really! It was perfect and the kids were just about to go to bed. So we tried to get a photo with all of them and Jace just stared at him for the longest time. Jace has never been scared of Santa but he sure did like to stare haha.

 We got Number 4, 7, and 13. 13 to come in 2013. AND 13 is my basketball number! So fun!

 Taking a group photo of all the grand kids there (missing the 3 Brinkerhoffs). Think we nailed it! :)

 Santa Came!

 Presents to be divided up.

We had a lot of fun. I really do hope to get more photos from Amelia. We played lots of games which I love and miss when we're away from the Lows. We went tobogganing, played on a slide, and just hung out with family. Glad we went down. It was a lot fun!

This is Alvin. Jason's younger sister Karen's fiance! Talia is in love with him and he really is the nicest guy. 

Love Jaxson in this photo. 

Hot tubing

This is where I found Jace often... not because he wanted to sleep but because he had to get his soother. Like I said the soother thing will be hard!

Brothers... how cute! The kids convinced them to go out in the snow. 

My girl. And Jason in pain because he smacked shins with Justin haha!

Talia's Christmas concert

Talia started 3 yr old preschool this year. It has helped her so much socially and not ever has she wanted to stay home. She loves school. I'm so glade decided to put her in. Anyways it was her first Christmas concert and her class was singing jingle bells.

It was such a cute concert and I loved seeing her and her little class all dressed up.

Her Christmas dress. Funny story my sister bought the same dress for my neice Avery. We didn't even plan it!



Talia quotes

I am behind on my blog, but I must write down some of these quotes or they will be forgotten. Talia has always had quite the vocabulary and understood much more than the average 3 year old. I sometimes wonder who's teaching this child?

Anyways here are a few of the quotes and understandings of Talia's mind in the last week.

1.) asked her to go get me a clean diaper for Jace she comes down and says I got a new precious diaper for Jace. Funny

 2.) went to Wal-Mart and she was asking for WAY too many toys. I explained to her how she shouldn't do that and that she has lots etc. 5 minutes later she says," I'm sorry mom for asking for too much. I just really liked that pink computer. Maybe one day I can get it but not now." Man she's cute and who teaches her this stuff?

3.) I hate to admit this and I'm sure NO ONE has every done this in front of their kids. Anyways I am ULTRA sensitive in this pregnancy and Jason may not always be sensitive to pregnancy so we got in a tiff. I was crying and Talia happened to see. (We really do try not to fight in front of the kids and rarely do it, anyways it happened). Talia came up to me and said, "I would like to give you a hug." I felt foolish my child comforting me but man she is so sensitive and kind.

4.) Today Jason and I were sitting at the counter and just chatting about nothing important and Talia pokes her head up and says,"Mom, is Jesus far far away?" I was shocked and unsure how to answer this question appropriately. Jason and I looked at each other and I said, "He isn't far far away when we pray to him and do good things. When we do those things Jesus is really close."
Her head went back down then she came right back up and said,"Well we don't see him, but we feel him right? Where do we feel him?" Jason replied, "We feel him inside, in our chest. And we feel happy." She seemed satisfied with this reply and just went on playing. She is so sweet and I'm grateful she is grasping some of the stuff we try and teach her.

5.) Apparently she is grasping plural meanings. That can be a hard one to get.  So I was telling the kids, "Daddy's at work." She stopped me and said, "Mom, you don't say DADDYS, [as in multiple Daddys] you say Daddy is at work." I just agreed as I don't even know how to teach the apostrophe rule to a child who doesn't know how to read.

6.) On our way out to my parents house for Sunday dinner Talia asked me, "How do I make this cough go stay in my mouth?"
Me, "You might have to wait till you just get better." 
Talia, "I guess I'll just have to wish it goes away."
Me, "Well you can pray to Heavenly Father and ask to help take your cough away and that you might get better."
Talia, "Man I should have done that."
Me, "Well we can tonight." (I wasn't going to go into how we can pray in our head and always where ever whenever... I should have but that would have led to a whole long conversation that is to have later.)
Talia after a long pause, "Well I think I might pray to Jesus and see if I can get my ears pierced."
I just burst out laughing. She's so cute and random. She really is a deep thinker!

I feel very blessed every day to have her in my life. She helps me out so much. She plays with her brother, she gets me stuff when I ask her, she's so obedient, and she's even eating way better. She says she wants to get "big and strong". She's so gentle she can't even take a toy from her brother when he takes it from her. She will cry so I'm trying to teach her to be tougher and take it back. Isn't it awful I'm teaching her to be a little mean? That is her down fall she can be whiny but usually she is hungry or tired and is fine if you cuddle her.

She loves her family (that includes extended). She loves her great grandmas and has a special bond with all 4 that she knows. She so tender hearted. I love watching her grow up. She has progressed socially ever since going into play school. She's way more out going and loves to play with friends.

We love love her so much and can't imagine life without her.

Annual Candy Cane Lane adventure

We ventured out to Candy Cane Lane last night for FHE. I think we've gone every year that we've been married. It definitely gets more fun as the kids get older.

Both kids sang frosty the snow man as we strolled down 5 out of the 8 or so blocks down and back. It was fun. Yes we got cold faces but its fun to go and see the lights.

My grandpa and grandma Johnson used to take my siblings and I every year. Hopefully we can continue the traditions.

Picture update

Life is slowing down. We still need to hang just about every photo still but I'm feeling more settled. My Novembers relief society meeting is over, we're getting more organized, and I'm feeling like this is home now. So now I promise I will have pictures up by the end of this week. It isn't totally decorated or organized but since we made a few adjustments (got rid of ugly chair and rug) it now feels like home.

 

Anyways I don't want to get too far behind. Nothing major, just a picture update of the last month:

 

 

These pictures aren`t really recent but it was the first time I took my new camera with us on a walk. I haven`t edited a photo probably since August. I`m really trying to work on my own manual lighting. It`s been fun having the new camera with way more options!

 

Anyways these photos I think were end of September, early October. I could look at pictures of my kids all day.

 

Here is our 20 week ultrasound. Awful picture and such a weird Ultrasound. She was taking pictures from up in my rib cage, way too low, and almost around my back. She just said the baby was no facing us or something like that. Anyways, the baby has all it`s limbs, a head and a brain, spine, and 4 chambers to the heart. What more could we ask for.

We opted not to find out. We`ve done it both ways and really prefer not to find out. I really am not one to push my view on it on someone else but I guess if I was to be one sided I`d say if you can wait for the surprise and don`t need to have everything ready then you to try waiting till the baby comes to find out. There really is nothing else like finding out when the baby comes out. Jason and I this time have really probably talked about it once what this baby is. It rarely crosses our mind and we don`t necessarily have a preference right now. We have one of each, all will be close in age either way. So I guess we will see April 25th.

 

I realized I hadn`t taken many photos lately and I could snap a lot of my kids. Here my Jace. How amazing are his eyes and his hair color and his cute face. He`s just adorable! He keeps me laughing AND on my toes every day.

 

Just look at this expression.

And my little princess. How pretty is she. She`s just a doll. She loves to be dressed up A LOT. She`s so sweet. I know a lot of people say that their kids but this girl is so tender hearted and will give hugs whenever. She is so helpful already. There`s just so much good in this girl.  I`m grateful she`s my oldest. I love her SO much.

 

More cheeky expressions, but so handsome!

Talia loves shovelling. We shovelled as a family and I loved it. Yes it`s cold here but how much do kids love being outside with their parents. My kids love it.

Talia kept saying, `Mom, Good think we got shovels or this would have taken a long time.`

`Mom, I`m doing a good job don`t you think``

She was so proud of herself. It was cute.

This boy thought he was helping but we didn`t have a shovel for him SO he got a pole. Sad I know we need to get him a shovel but he seemed to not know the difference.

Massive icicle 

 Love her eyes

We usually set up Christmas sometime the last week of November. I just couldn`t bring myself to do it because I just hated our living room set SO much. I felt like everything clashed and it was too dark. Anyways Jason said I could sell the stuff and get something else. It hasn`t sold yet but we moved the chair and pillows out, and old area rug out and got a new one. I love my living room now. I hope this doesn`t sound spoiled but I really feel (especially for a stay at home mom) you need to be happy in your house. The room felt dark before and I just didn`t feel happy about it. The new carpet we got is soft and light and a medium shag (which I LOVE) and our Christmas decorations went right now. The kids LOVED it. It`s so fun having kids during Christmas. They re so fun to watch with all their excitement. I think that`s what Jason and I love best about Christmas is watching them and sharing with them traditions we love.

 

 

Talia was SO excited to put the star on it was cute.

 

Tonight Talia said I need all the lights off to really see the Christmas tree. She really appreciates the beauty of Christmas. What a cute girl.

Fingers crossed this is two years in a row no crying or shy kids. Santa was super friendly this Christmas. The kids had such a good time.

Just random photo update

 winter- we ventured outside. Our backyard is not finished so it's just mud but the snow covered it. It's been a nice winter so far.

She loved it!

 He's never sure of the cold but he warmed up to the idea of playing outside

 My kiddos- Love!

 Amazing sunsets and actually every morning we have a window that faces the sunrise and it's amazing!

 I love moments like these

Makes me grateful that these two are SO close in age.

 

 

I know I need to post my house. I will after this next week. I've been planning our Christmas party relief society meeting, and still trying to get random things done with this house. I want to get a few photos up and a few things put away. Then I think it will feel more like my home. I'm not too sure about my living room furniture. More specifically this swivel chair- might have to go? Who knows?

 

Anyways life is good, getting more settled. Can't believe how soon Christmas is. I don't have ANY decorations up. That will need to get to done very soon. Next though Cardston this weekend to see family and Alumni. My kids love going and I'm excited to spend another weekend with Jason. It's a miracle having him off 2 weekends in a row between work and his calling at church. Yay!

Halloween

It was a COLD  night and it wouldn't have been bad at all if it wasn't for the wind. But we did end up going and the kids loved it. Talia was so polite and of course candy is one of your 4 major food groups so it's the best holiday for her. Jace was even so cute. He seemed to get it and even started yelling trick or treat in his own language. He walked up to the doors all by him self as well. It was cute.

Usually we'd go trick or treating with family but Jason had a hockey game that night close to our house so it was just the 4 of us.

Jace is a lion. He somehow found his tie and threw a tantrum till he got to wear it. Some things are not worth fighting over plus it made it original right? Talia was  princess for her class party on Tuesday the 30th and was a cupcake (which she was last year) for Halloween. It was a little warmer so I convinced her to wear that.

Lots of candy!

The Monday before Halloween we also carved pumpkins. It was fun... my kids hate touching gross stuff so we end up doing everything. Oh well they enjoy the tradition.

If you can't tell the one on the left is mini. We tried to do a stensle but it was a bit small. The one on the right is a weak attempt of a girly pumpkin.

So there is one debate I saw on facebook and Jason actually brought it up while we were trick or treating.  I would tell the kids to yell trick or treat really loud so people would answer their doors. And Jason would so no you knock then say it when they come. As a kid that's how we would do it. People would think it was rude or I don't know "not the right way" if you knocked first. The point was too be loud and cute. Not knock and expect candy. BUT Jason and some people on facebook think it's rude to just yell and not knock. What did you do???

I know I need to get to my new house. Man unpacking and feeling completely organized and everything put away takes time. We're also I think going to try renting our old place so we need to really work on getting all the stuff out and super clean. Life and business seems to never end.