Build-a-Bear

Tuesday we took the girls to Build-a-bear so they could use the gift cards they got for Christmas.  It was so busy!  Both the girls picked out a Hello Kitty doll.  My first instinct was to try and talk them out of it and get them to pick another animal, but I bit my tongue, and let them spend their money how they wanted. 

I was too lazy to wait and take a picture while she was awake.  But here is Hello Kitty "Kelli" (Abby chose the name).  And both girls have taken their dolls to bed with them every night.

And here is Hello Kitty "Milley".  Abby chose that name too.

The girls get their haircut

I have been saying for months that both the girls need haircuts, and today we had very little on the agenda, so I decided today was the day.  Abby wanted to go to "Cookie Cutters" to get it cut.  That's where we went last time she got a haircut (which was about 2 years ago).  This was Lexi's first official haircut, I've gotten her bangs trimmed before. 

Playing on the slide while waiting for their turn

After Abby's all done

 

Lexi, quietly sitting while getting her haircut

All done!



Christmas Day

Christmas morning, I woke up early with Colton and put some cinnamon rolls in the oven to bake, and made sure all the "Santa" stuff had been taken care of.
Once the girls were awake, they were super-duper excited to open their presents.

Opening their stockings

Colton, admiring the toy Santa brought for him

 Both the girls got "Zooballs" and a Playdo ice cream set from Santa

Playing with the Playdo.  Lexi had also eaten a good deal of her candy while I was in the shower, so she is covered in chocolate.

 They played for awhile with all their new loot, then it was time to go to church.

Trying to get a picture of all three in their church clothes
Take 1

Take 2

Take 3
That's as good as it's gonna get :)

Lexi's learning how to "pose".  I wonder were she got that from? :)

After church, we headed to Orem to visit Cam at work, and give him his stocking that Santa had left.  We stayed for a little while then headed to Cam's parents to hang out there for the rest of the day.
This Christmas was a little hard for me.  I was really missing Cameron, and was really hating that he had to work.  On top of that, Colton was sick.  All last week, I knew Colton was starting to get sick, and I was pretty sure he was getting an ear infection.  But he never had any symptoms other than that he wasn't sleeping well at night.  I kept putting off taking him to the Dr, but I was really worried that the ear infection would finally rear it's ugly head during the Christmas weekend when all the Dr's offices would be closed.  Sure enough, Saterday morning, he started to get a fever, and there wasn't a Dr's office open.  He was pretty miserable all weekend, and I felt horrible, but since all the Dr's were closed the only option would have been to take him to the ER, and I just didn't want to spend the holiday at the hospital for an ear infection.

Overall, though, it was a good Christmas.  However, we already know that Cam has to work next Christmas too, so I'm going to spend the next year trying to convince my family to come here to spend Christmas so I don't have to go through that again.

Christmas Eve

We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  The girls loved that you could eat peanuts, and they pretty much filled up on the rolls.

Can you see the excitement!?

Abby's Christmas dress

Lexi's Christmas dress

Colton, his eyes are half closed, but its the only decent one I got of him that night

 We opened several presents Christmas Eve before the kids went to bed because Cam had to work on Christmas this year :(  So the girls opened their christmas dresses and also we got each of them gift certificates to go to Build-a-Bear.  Cam and I also exchanged gifts.

Setting out cookies and milk for Santa

Abby and I made some cookies to set out for Santa.  It was so cute because on Christmas morning, first thing Abby did when she got up and came down stairs was check to see if Santa had eated the cookies.  She was so excited that they were actually gone.  It was really fun to be able to play up the Santa thing this year.

Coltons new hair due

I've discovered Coltons hair is long enough to comb it into a mohawk.

Lexi's second birthday

We celebrated Lexi's birthday last Saturday before the dance recital.  She wanted a Thomas the Train birthday theme, so while she was down for her nap, I decorated the cake and put up a banner and some balloons.  When she woke and saw all the Thomas stuff that was for her birthday, she was so excited.  I think she really enjoyed being the center of attention, and kept saying "My birthday!", "My Thomas!", "My balloons!".  It was all really cute!

Cam's family came for the party.  We had pizza, opened presents, then had some cake, and Lexi enjoyed every minute of it.

My pathetic attempt at a Thomas cake

What's Lexi up to:

• She is talking so much!  It's just really hard to understand her.
• Some of our favorite phrases:  "Ohhh, cool!"   "Hey buddy" (talking to Colton)  Cam always asks her if she is cheeky (from Thomas) and she say's "Not cheeky!"
• She loves Thomas the Train (obviously)
• She loves playing with Abby and Abby's friends
• She is the messiest, sloppiest eater I've ever seen
• She loves to dance, just like Abby
• She's becoming one stubborn little girl
• She happily plays by herself (I think that comes with the being a middle child) but really enjoys it when some one will play with her
• She loves to sing "Popcorn Popping" and "The Wheels on the Bus"
• She loves going to nursery (finally) and the daycare at the gym.
• Over Thanksgiving break, she had her first sleepover at Grandma's house, and LOVED it!
• She's the pickiest eater.  She loves pizza, chicken nuggets, waffles, and pancakes.  All the healthy stuff :)

Lexi is such a happy, easy going girl.  She makes me laugh all the time, and I am loving the sweet little girl she's growing up to be.

Happy Birthday Lexi!

Santa comes to church

Last Saturday, in between the birthday party all the dance recital activities, we managed to find a few minutes to stop by the ward's Christmas breakfast where Santa was going to be visiting.  Abby really wanted to see Santa this year, so I was so glad to have found the time for her to see him.  Abby did great and went right up and sat on his lap,  Lexi, however woudn't go within 20 feet of the guy.  Abby told Santa she wanted a fairy Barbie that sings...Hmmm not sure where he's gonna find that :)

Abby's dance recital

Last Saturday was another one of Abby's dance recitals.  Her class danced to "Run, run, Rudolph".  It was so cute, she did a good job!  All these pictures are actually from the dress rehearsal that morning because I've discovered that trying to get a good picture when it's dark during the actual recital is next to impossible.

Firefighter of the year!

Yesterday Cam came home from work and said that he was told he needed to be back to work for a luncheon.  The chief had specifically told him he need to be there.  So, I invited myself along, because Cam suspected he would be receiving an award at the luncheon.

He was given "Firefighter of the Year"!  I'm so proud.  It's been a challenging few months since his partner Mike had the stroke, so it's really great that he got some awesome recognition for the work he does.

I wasn't able to get any decent pictures...

Decorating cookies

Abby had a friend over the other day, and I made each of the girls a big cookie that they could decorate.

Monahan Christmas party

Last Sunday, we had a Christmas get-together with all of Cam's family.  We usually try to find a day before Christmas to celebrate all together, rather than trying to find time on Christmas/Christmas Eve.

All the little kids

Opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa

Colton and Grandma opening a present

Little climber

Lexi (and Abby has also) found that they can climb into Colton's Exer-saucer, and play.

I had to add this one, because Abby's face is HILARIOUS

What's going on

These last few weeks have been crazy busy. So here is an update of what we've been up to:

• Lexi got a nasty cold
• Colton has some teeth coming in, but the discomfort and "teething symptoms" that I ignored for nearly a week turned out to be an ear infection.  I'm still feeling a little guilty about that one :)
• Lexi's cold has been passed around to almost the entire family
• Started the Christmas and Lexi's birthday shopping
• I've been called back into the Primary to teach.  I'm excited to be productive again at church.
• Santa drove by on the firetruck (the city does that every year) and I finally was able to grab the girls and run out the door to see them drive by this year (I've been too slow all the previous years), but unfortunately the siren and loud horn scared the crud out of the girls and woke Colton up from his nap.
• I'm still in PT, but think I'm nearing the end of that.  Although, I'm still not certain how much distance running will be in my future.
• Cam's been working hard, and even made a few appearances on the local news over the last month or two.  A couple of months ago, while at work, Cam's partner had a stroke (he's only 32 years old) and was in a coma for a couple of weeks.  He's awake now, and making progress on his recovery.  Cam's been spending as much time as he can visiting his friend at the hospital and the whole fire department is trying to raise money for him and his wife (who is pregnant with their first baby).  It's really awesome to see how these guys come together to take care of each other. 
• My dad is a little over half way done with his cancer/chemo treatment.  He had a PET scan recently, and that came back clean, so hopefully after he finishes his treatment, it will be adios to all things cancer related.
• Lexi is just talk, talk, talking.  She says tons and tons, but she is really hard to understand, even for me and Cam.  But she is amazing me everyday with all the words she is picking up.
• Colton now rolls both ways.  But still doesn't enjoy being on his tummy.  So if he accidentally rolls onto his tummy, he usually is in hysterics pretty quickly.
• Abby is so, so, so excited for Christmas, and asking tons of questions about Santa and stuff.