The Outcome Of My 2012 Predictions

Here's the predictions I made a year ago, and how they turned out:

1. Audra will be in kindergarten and will LOVE it. (True)
2. Claire will minimize her tantrums- only one a week instead of about 5 a day like it is now. (True- in many ways thanks to pre-school)

3. No visits to the ER. Hey, it worked last year- I'll try for another miracle this year. (True)

4. Healthy pregnancy with a perfectly healthy baby born in late May. Though we are scheduling a C-section, I am willing to bet I will go into labor before the C-section date and we will end up with an emergency c-section just like with Claire. (All true, except the baby came in mid-May, not late May)

5. We will have a baby girl. (we will know the answer to this pretty soon!). She will be VERY happy and an EASY baby- we deserve an easy baby the third time around. (TRUE- Thankfully!)

6. No big trips, because, well- we'll have a baby. (Not quite true because we did go to Utah- sans Ben- and I did take Camille to Utah for our roommate reunion. So while neither was a super big trip, but they were big enough!)

7. We will all be completely sick of political ads. (True)

8. I think the economy will pretty much stay the same. People keep talking doom and gloom (including myself), but the status quo keeps going, so I think it will continue to. Of course, it would be really nice if  more jobs were created and the unemployment rate went down, but I think things will pretty much be the same. (True)
9. I will can lots and lots of fruit this summer (I was just given over a hundred jars, a steam fruit canner, and several other supplies that I need to put to good use!) (Mostly True. I canned quite a bit, but certainly did not can over 100 jars)

10. I will be released from my current calling (assignment) at church and be put in the primary (kids classes) as one of two primary choristers. This is more of a hope- I got to lead music for senior primary before, and it is by far my favorite calling! (Though, Brittney, you are pretty awesome right now so they might not be willing to only let you do just junior or just senior primary. I can hope, though!) (True)
11. Ben will continue to be awesome at his work. (True- he was actually nominated for a couple of very prestigious trainings- we'll see if he gets it in a few months)

12. Life will continue to be good. Nothing extreme, just nice and simple.(True)

Happy New Year's!

We really don't do much for New Year's Eve. I'm sure we'll go to bed around 9:30 or 10 and get annoyed when fireworks wake us up at midnight.

But, tonight we decided to have a little celebration with the kids. The girls were excited, even though they don't really understand what "New Year's" is. Audra asked us if she gets presents.

We started off by playing 20 Questions. It is awesome playing 20 Questions with a 5-year-old. Audra's first question for Ben was, "Is it a type of Mermaid?"

 We got some poppers for the girls They LOVED them.

 Some Sparkling Cider

 Even Camille wanted some:

 Then the girls "decorated" with the confetti and poppers. They took it all very seriously:

Happy New Year's!

Top 12 of 2012

Wait, the year is over already?!? How did that happen?

Here's our top 12 Happenings of 2012:

12. We visited the Ice Castles in Silverthorne
11. We signed Claire up for a music class- she LOVED it and still sings some of the songs from the class
10. Audra started piano lessons- and she is doing well. She really seems to be catching on and enjoys learning how to play.
9. Ben and I went and saw Wicked
8. Audra started kindergarten
7. We decided to put Claire in pre-school (this turned out to be the best decision! It is night and day how her behavior has changed! I am so glad we did this!)
6. Ben and I went on an overnight anniversary trip to Estes Park
5.Without Ben, Audra, Claire, Ben's parents and I ventured to Utah so the girls could meet their great-grandpa and we could visit with family
4. We had lots of out of town guests come to visit!
3. We got a new roof- what a PAIN! I am glad it is over, but our new roof looks beautiful!
2. Audra and Claire having a camp out in the backyard with Dad

And, no surprise here, the absolute #1 BEST happening of 2012:

1. Welcoming Baby Camille into our family! 

Happy New Year's Eve!!!

(We told Audra today was a holiday and she asked us if she got presents. HA!)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas went off without a hitch this year. We had a great time. Mostly, I wanted to forget about the news and the pain and suffering in the world and concentrate on our family and the Savior. Mission accomplished!

 Here is Audra with the Pixie Spray that Santa got she and Claire:

 Both girls asked for Pixie Dust so they could fly. Santa tried to come through and provide the requested gift, but I guess he can't give Pixie Dust out. He left a note for the girls:

Dear Audra and Claire,

I know you wanted magic pixie dust so you could fly. Unfortunately, only fairies and reindeer can use pixie dust- that is a rule.

Instead of pixie dust, I hope you will like the pixie spray I am giving to you. Spray the pixie spray on and it will help you to run super fast.


Merry Christmas!

Love,
Santa

The girls excitedly tested the pixie spray out- and it worked! They do run super fast when they use the spray! Santa really did come through.

Here's some more pictures of our day:

 To see the happiness as evidenced on this face is the reason Santa works so hard:

 Claire helped Camille open her presents:

 Camille slept until 9, so we opened all the other gifts before she woke up. She made quite a haul for such a little baby!

 Here's Audra putting up her new glow in the dark stars (they were a HUGE hit, Dani-thank you!):

 Camille and I sporting our new Broncos gear (thank you Matt and Ilea!):

 Merry Christmas!

Audra's Class Party

On Thursday Audra had her holiday party. Her teacher allows Claire to come and participate, which is awesome. Claire LOVES being with the big kids, and they are all so nice to her. Camille now insists on only sleeping in her crib, so even though it was her naptime she was awake the whole time. Nevertheless, she was a perfect Christmas Angel for the party.

Can you tell they are excited?

 Claire takes her coloring VERY seriously. It can become a problem if you need to go somewhere while she is in the middle of a picture. For hours she will sit and color.

 No party is complete without goodies- and there were plenty!

 Audra with two of her besties- Isaac and Hannah.

 And here are some of Claire's masterpieces. She does pretty well considering she's only 3:

 And, with cold weather finally coming in, here's Camille bundled up.

Claire's Party

Claire's pre-school did a little Christmas performance today. It was very cute, though I'll let you watch Claire's reaction to being in front of a crowd in the below video:

(Claire is third from the left in the picture- the one with, you guessed it, the pink rain boots)

If nothing else, Claire is her own person- and we LOVE it (most days)!

The class (well, really just one boy in the class) sang 3 more songs. Sans Claire.

Teacher Gifts

I have seen a lot of teacher gift ideas on Pinterest. I eventually came up with this:

A Notepad

A Pack of pencils

Chocolate covered pretzel rods

A picture from either Audra or Claire

A note that says:

You're the WRITE teacher for me!

I tried not to do sweets, because I know teachers get a lot of them. I also know they get lots of candles. I wanted to give them something they would actually use, so school supplies seemed like a good idea.

Ben thought I was crazy. Apparently he had never heard of giving teacher gifts. That's no big deal, of course, every school has their own culture in regards to gifts.

But I have to ask. A poll of sorts. Do you remember giving gifts to your elementary school teachers growing up? Are you giving gifts now? What gift ideas did you come up with this year, or are you not doing gifts? I remember giving gifts as a kid and I remember the teacher opening the gifts in front of the class each year. Ben has no such memory.

There's no right or wrong answers, I just want to know if Ben is right and if I am, indeed, a little crazy.