2011 Goals

1.  The main reason I started to blog was for an easy way I could journal.  Lately I've been thinking about family history.  My Grandma on my Mom's side has done tons of family history and my Dad spends all his free time doing family history on his side.  I'm feeling that there probably isn't much I could do with geneology.  BUT, journaling is an important way of doing family history, too.  It got me wondering if there were things that my future generations would like to know that I should also be including in my journal/blog (ex.  recipes, books, random thoughts, testimony, hobbies)  My plan is to record more things other than major events and activities.  So, to the 3 or 4 people that actually read my blog, I hope you don't mind all the random posts I'll be putting up from now on :)

2.  Since I'm pregnant and all, I won't be including the typical "lose weight" goal that so many of us do every year.  However, I do want to try to get more fruits and vegetables in every day.  Did you know that it is recommended to eat 7-9 servings of fruits and veggies EVERYDAY?  Have you ever tried it?  It's actually kind of hard, at least for me.  I also really need to cut back on my sugar and soda intake.  This is a reoccurring goal for me, and so far, very little success.  But, if I'm eating fruits and veggies all day long, maybe I won't be hungry for candy...haha, yeah right.  I can always make room for some chocolate.  So, eat 7-9 servings of fruits and veggies, not 7-9 servings of candy, chocolate and soda.  That's my goal.

3.  Budget.  In our house, I'm the one in charge of paying all the bills and making sure we don't go into the red.  I'll be honest.  I hate doing it.  It's so depressing.  I mean, some times I REALLY want to budget in for some new clothes, or a haircut and highlights, but I don't think Cameron would be very happy if I put those in the budget and not groceries.  Since I hate doing it, I procrastinate doing it, and then I'm way behind and it's an even bigger mess.  My goal this year, is to make budgeting more of priority, and get more serious with it.

Those are my goals for the new year.  I asked Cam if he had any goals for 2011, and he didn't.  The girls don't really either. So, it's just me trying to improve myself this year :)

Snow Days

Cam helped her build this snowman

These last few weeks, we've finally got a decent amount of snow.  Abby has been itching to play in the snow all winter, but when there's only a skiff of snow, it's not quite worth all the effort.  SO, she's been taking full advantage of the snow we've had. 

Merry, Merry Christmas

Christmas morning:

Both of the girls got Cabbage Patch Dolls

Abby, posing in some of her new clothes and her new back pack

 At Are and Will's house:

Dress up clothes from Grandma

Hand puppets from Grandma

A doll crib for Abby from Grandma

Getting some gear on to go sledding

Sledding:

It was such an awesome Christmas!  I love that I get to enjoy Christmas in a whole new way now that I have children.  Their excitement is infectious!

Kids say the darndest things

Recently, if Cam or I ask Abby to do something and she just happens to be eating or drinking at the time, her reply will be "Uhhhh, Mommy/Daddy, I can't talk while I'm eating/drinking, geez" and then she finishes with the all too familiar rolling of the eyes.  What?  Where does she come up with this stuff?  I have two main problems with this.  1.  We usually aren't asking her to talk, just to do something (pick up her toys, take her plate to the sink, etc.) so the fact that her mouth is full has very little relevance in the situation.  2.  Ummm, that's a pretty heavy dose of attitude.  When did she turn into a pre-teen? I thought I had several more years till the attitude kicked in.

A few of our favorite things

In honor of my favorite holiday, I thought I'd share with everyone a few of the Monahan's favorite seasonal things.

1. Farr's Peppermint Ice Cream.  Oh. My. Gosh.  So very good.  I look forward all year to the few weeks that this stuff is available in the store.  It's probably good that it is seasonal, because I could eat this stuff by the truck load.
2. Snow.  I love the snow.  The whole world seems so clean and pure when it's covered in a blanket of white.  If only it could snow and be about 70 degrees at the same time, then it would be absolute heaven.
3. Candy Canes.  This is one of Abby's fav's.  Although she calls them "candy candy's".  She's been hoping Santa will bring her one of these beloved treats for Christmas.
4. Fudge and peanut brittle.  Every year since as long as I can remember, my Mom has made these goodies during the Christmas season.  I stole my Mom's recipes so I can still have them every year.  It just wouldn't be Christmas without them.  Yum Yum!
5. Christmas lights.  I love driving around and seeing the houses all lit up.  Sadly, we barely put any lights up on our house.  I guess we'll just leave it to the neighbors do it up right.
6. Oranges.  I love biting into a perfectly sweet orange.  I know it's possible to get these all year round, but they are the very best in the winter.
7. Hallmark ornaments.  Like a lot of people, every year we get the girls a new ornament to add to the christmas tree, and every year, we go to the Hallmark store to get a super cute one.

Dance recital and one proud Momma!

On Saturday, Abby had her first dance recital.  She has absolutely loved going to dance.  I have been worried about how she would do during the recital, though.  In case you didn't know, Abby is shy, like really shy, like the Webster's definition of shy.  She always dances confidently in class, but if I stick my head in and watch her, she kind of freezes up a little.  So, I had a growing concern of her completely freezing up on stage in front of tons of people.  Saturday morning she had dress rehearsal.  I curled her hair and put a little bit of make-up on her (note to self: don't use waterproof mascara.  It's really difficult to wash off her cheeks after she rubs her eyes just seconds after the mascara was applied.) and we headed out in the snow for the rehearsal.  When we arrived, and started watching the other classes doing there dances on stage, I looked over at Abby, and she looked terrified.  I asked her if she was OK, and she said no.  A few minutes later, it was her classes turn to go practice, and I could not get her to budge from her seat.  I finally carried her up on stage, and me and the teacher tried to calm her down and get her to dance.  She was just not having any of it.  She ended up standing off to the side while the girls went through there dance a couple of times.  Next came the professional pictures.  We had some individual ones taken of her, but I wish I could have known that she was going to scowl at the camera before I ordered several of them.  She also was in the class photo.  It was kind of funny, because the photographer kept telling the girls to "show me your teeth" in order to get them to smile.  Abby was doing some sort of growl/wide mouth smile/nose scrunch in order to "show her teeth".  So I was talking over the photographer telling Abby to just smile.  Hopefully, she got a decent picture but if not, I hear those photographers can work miracles with photoshop.  Maybe she can "photoshop" in a happy, non grumpy Abby.

After all of this, I was feeling pretty discouraged, and had little hope that Abby would dance at the recital.  I was so frustrated because I hate that one of the qualities that she got from me is my shyness.  We explained that lots of Cam's family was driving out here to come see her dance, so if she wasn't going to dance, then we need to tell them not to come.  (They would have been here anyways for the birthday party, but desperate times call for desperate measures.)  She said she was going to dance at the recital.  So my only plan was to try and keep her in a good mood.  If she was at all grumpy, I knew she would not dance.

When it came time for the recital, we touched up her hair and makeup, and braved the snow/rain once again. This time, however, she seemed excited and not at all nervous or anxious. She was supposed to sit with her class at the front of the stage till it was their time to go and perform, and she gladly went and joined the other girls. At this point, I thought there was a good chance she would dance. Finally, it was her turn. And she totally rocked it!!! She was dancing and smiling and having a good ole time. I was so proud! I know how scared she was and the fact that she overcame it and danced confidently up there was so awesome. I've really wanted her to be in dance, for this very reason. To build confidence and have fun. Yay Abby! It is such an amazing feeling to watch our kids overcome obsticles, it makes my heart swell with pride.

After I curled her hair in the morning

Before the recital



Dancing onto stage.  She's the second from the right.



Here's a video of part of the dance.

Happy Birthday Lexi!

On Saturday we celebrated Lexi's first birthday.  Officially, her birthday is tomorrow, so we'll do a little more celebrating then too.  Cam's family came for the big bash, and we did the usual activities, talking it up while the kids run a muck around the house.  Lexi also opened her presents and enjoyed some chocolate cake.



I actually ended up unwrapping all her presents.  I guess it's only fun to tear paper, when it's in books or Abby's precious drawings.



Cam did most of the picture taking at the party too.  I'm going to have to make it an official Monahan family rule that he never takes pictures, especially on the special, once-in-a-life time events.

I thought we would do a gingerbread man cake.  I started cutting the cake, then remembered that I hadn't taken a picture yet.

Before partaking in the chocolate cake.



After.  She managed to get a little of it in her mouth too.

During Abby's first year of life, I was so uptight and nervous, I completely missed out on all the joy and sweetness that a little baby brings into our home.  So, I'm so glad that this time around, I just relaxed and had fun.  I never thought that I would be able to enjoy the "baby stage" of raising children, but I have loved this last year.  I'm still learning a lot (patience and time management especially), but we all have to grow and learn together how to be the very best family.

What's Lexi up to now?

• She's in a forward facing car seat.  I think she feels pretty cool to be facing in the same direction as everyone else.
• She's crawling and walking along the furniture.
• She absolutely loves going up the stairs.  So a baby gate is now an official accessory to our home decor.
• She looks up to her big sister, and mimics her all the time.
• We've weaned her off formula, but she loves her bottles, and warm milk.  I'm not too excited for the upcoming transition to sippy cups and cold milk. 
• She's a really great cheerleader, clapping for everyone, all day long.
• She loves to get her groove on if a good song is playing.  She even finds that a lot of church hymns have a good beat, and can really tear it up at church.
• She's such a momma's girl.  Which works out pretty good, because Abby is an absolute daddy's girl.  So, we each get to feel pretty special.

Lexi, babe.  I love you with all my heart.  You are a joy.  Happy Birthday!!!

Temple Sqaure

We've kind of made it a tradition to go see the lights at Temple Square every year.  We chose to go a couple of weeks ago, because the temperatures were supposed to be in the 40's all week.  There was only one small problem with our brilliant plan to avoid the frigid temps, it was raining.  Throughout most of the valley, no rain, but in downtown, a steady, falling rain.  We just had to adjust our plan a little.  Instead of slowly meandering our way around the temple, we made lots of stops in the visitor centers and did the abbreviated tour of Temple Square.  I think the girls still had fun.

I only managed a few pictures.

Abby standing in front of the statue of Christ.  You can tell we do it up real classy.  Only the fancy sweat pants for a trip to the temple.  Dressing Abby has become quite a task.  But that's a topic for another post.





I usually do most of picture taking in our house, and when I looked at this picture that Cam took, I remember why I control the camera.  I never knew these auto focus camera's were so tricky.



16 down, 24 to go

Had my 16 week check.  Nothing exciting to report.  The Dr. always says I make his job too easy.  But I've learned that when it comes to anything medical, no news is good news.

I will say, however, that there is a slight presence of a belly now.  I'm not sure, though, how much of it is baby bump, and how much is leftover chub from my last pregnancy.  Either way, my tummy is round.

4 weeks till the ultrasound.  Abby is so sure that we are having a boy.  She is already including a "baby brother" in her drawings of the family.  I'm not sure how she will take it if the ultrasound shows we are having another girl.  Hopefully, she will be easily swayed to enjoy a baby boy OR girl.