Resolutions

I've been thinking about New Years Resolutions lately and thought I would share my thoughts here, they seemed too long for a Facebook post. I was thinking that a big reason a lot of resolutions fail is that people look on them as an all or nothing option. Like the first time you don't do something you're trying to start or do do something you are trying to stop, it's all over and you have failed yourself for the year. This strikes me as less good. So I am thinking of it as more of a process. I figure I have the whole year to work on it and hopefully I can have the new habit firmly in place by the end of it. So for me, I'm trying to not stay up past midnight reading or watching shows. I have had a couple of slips but there have been nights when I don't even pick up my book so I'm getting better and staying positive.

Another resolution I'm working on is the dreaded weight-loss one. Now, I'm not looking for a huge weight loss, my goal is to no longer look pregnant before I get pregnant again. However, it is kind of tricky for me to know how much time I have to work with because my body is a little... unpredictable. For that reason, I've been putting off getting started. A couple of things have happened lately that have helped me make it a priority. First, I was talking to Jason about an article I read that talks about the movie Frozen and the characters' proportions. We were saying how men tend to be bigger than women (their wrists specifically) and Anna chimed in and the conversation went something like this:

A: Some things on Mommy are bigger than on Daddy.
Jason: Yep, her chest is bigger than my chest.
A: And her tummy.
Me: That's because there was a baby in there, it stretched it out.
A: But that was a long time ago Mom.
Thanks kid.

Fortunately, he's so cute I don't even mind.

Then yesterday, I was watching my friend's girls and the 5 year old said that my tummy sticks out so there is a baby in there (her mom just had a baby so it's fresh in her mind). I told her that there is no baby in there but she wasn't convinced.

Guess it's time for me to do something about this. So I came up with a plan. In school, Anna is working on counting to 100 and her teacher said she needs to practice at home. So, we are now going to have me do 100 crunches while she counts. This way, she is practicing her counting and I am moving towards not looking pregnant anymore. We'll see how this goes.

Brian Loves Books

they are delicious!

He quite likes reading them too. We have been reading books to Brian since we started a bedtime routine and he has a few definite favorites. Ever since we started, he has enjoyed Your Personal Penguin but Sandra Boynton (side note, I love her books). There have been times when he will be all fussy and when I start reading it, he calms down immediately and listens (Thanks Emily and Troy cousins!). He also really likes Moo, Baa, La La La by Boynton. He smiles at the animal sounds and I know it's only a matter of time before he starts making them himself.

A little bit ago, I put all of Brian's books on the bookshelf in the living room. It didn't take long before he started pulling them off. 

Now it's one of his favorite things to do.

 Interestingly, he doesn't pull any of our books off the same shelves, just his. I'm liking this trend. 

Brian was here.

My Man

Today is Jason's birthday and in honor of that, here, in no particular order, are 31 things I love about him. Don't worry, it's not too mushy.

1. He makes me laugh.
2. He makes my kids laugh.
3. He is very punny but doesn't say the same ones over and over, he has new material.
4. He supports me in my desire to be a stay at home mom, even when he was out of work.
5. He repeats my movie quotes even if he hasn't seen the movie or know what it is.
6. We have the same geeky humor.
7. He never gives me a hard time about going out at night with friends.
8. When I went away to college, he still had dinner with my family every week.
9. We can discuss the difference between periwinkle and cobalt and where to use each.
10. He is very driven and focused on his goals.
11. He is willing to try whatever I make for dinner and eats it even if he doesn't love it.
12. He is a champion cockroach slayer.

13. I love watching him play with the kids.
14. He laughs at the newspaper, and not just the comics.
15. He quotes comic strips.
16. He takes care of the kids in the morning before work so I can sleep in a bit.
17. He has a strong and personal testimony of the Savior.
18. He's not afraid to ask for things or information.
19. He encourages me to be more outgoing.
20. He enjoys reading Nibley and McConkie.
21. He'll go clothes shopping with me, is helpful and takes my tastes into account.
22. He has a great sense of adventure.
23. He does the dishes every night.
24. He has a great taste in music.
25. He has a job where he can leave the office at 5 pm.
26. I love that we went to high school together.
27. We make really attractive babies.
28. His favorite flavor is chocolate.
29. He likes to play.

30. He loves me.
31. And he's cute too.

I asked Anna if she had anything to add and she said she loves that he's funny, he's sweet.
Happy Birthday Jason!

Brian On the Move

One day after Brian's bath, he was playing with his towel. Who knew a towel could be so fun?

Brian is also crawling now. Here he is from when he first got started earlier this month.

He moves a lot faster now and is all over the place. He loves being able to explore his own things (although most of what he really wants we take away from him) but can still be content to just sit on my lap or snuggle. 

Halloween Wreath

Anna and I just made a new Halloween wreath completely out of googly eyes. I got the idea via Pinterest from this site. I liked it because it is creepy without being gory or anything like that.

I started out with a floral foam wreath (mainly because I didn't want to go to the craft store and this is what they had a Walmart) and surrounded it in black duck tape. Then it was time for gluing. We used three sizes of eyes: big, medium and smaller. I didn't get any of the really little ones because the site I got it from said they would be too small.

Anna working on gluing. Sometimes I would hold the eye and sometimes she would.

I kept meaning to do it at night when the kids were in bed but somehow it never happened so Anna got to be a part of it. I was wary but she did really well. She even took a turn with the glue gun. Naturally it was her first time with a glue gun and we had strings all over the place and a few burns but all in all there were no problems.

Placing the eye where is goes. She did a good job of keeping them close to each other.

We started with the biggest ones and evenly spaced them around the form. There were 12 in the package and we used them all. Then we took the medium size ones and just surrounded the big ones with the medium ones. Once they were all surrounded like creepy flowers I added a few more along the sides. These ones came in packages of 150 and I used one full package and a handful of the second package.

Showing off after the first pass. Someday she will look at the camera when her picture is being taken.Sigh.

Then it was onto the little ones. I used these and just filled in all the rest of the space. I used the whole package of 300.

Finished wreath waiting for the ribbon.

Once it was all done, it was ribbon time. I learned this trick from my sister Kristen when we lived with her to hang and wreath by a ribbon stapled to the top of the door. I think it's brilliant because then the door closes easily (I hate it when you use a wreath hanger and the door sticks), you never see the holes and it's pretty. I chose a black wired ribbon with silver speckles and added a bow. Side note: wired ribbons are great for making pretty bows. Especially if your bows always look wonky (like mine do).

On the door. It even fits between the door and the screen. 

So here is our new wreath. I love it. It's fun on the door and I get to see it lots since our door is literally always open. Interestingly enough, the sun glints off of the eyes and adds an unexpected bling.

Miss Anna's Beauty Spa

Anna loves the Fancy Nancy books. She likes to look through them and wants her room to look just like Nancy's (or her friend Bree's). In the book Bonjour Butterfly there is a page where the family is staying in a motel and Nancy likes the little bottles of shampoo and such. She says, "Ooh la la! It's like being in a beauty spa!" Well, Anna has taken that page to heart and made a beauty spa in our bathroom.

She set the book out and wanted it to look exactly the same. I wouldn't let her use all the towels though.

Her self-done manicure.

My moisturizer globbed on to look like a face mask.

Even her doll got her nails done.

I love,,,

little boys in plaid shorts.

Brian loves sitting up. These were taken in July and he doesn't need his hands to hold him steady anymore. Leaving them free to play.

Whatcha got there Mom?

This is his face that the Aunties at church go nuts over.

They are just so fun and cute!