where did this year go?

About a year ago, I bought some square frames (thanks B for the idea) to make a wall collage of pictures of the kids from the previous year. My plan was to change them out around new years each year. I can proudly say that I have successfully done that this year. 

{Thanks walgreens for the free prints.}

This is a picture of the pictures from 2010 that I just took down and the 2011 ones that I just put up.

 

I thought the pictures I chose for the frames made a really good summary of the past year.

1. Kem throws her share of temper tantrums, infact, I think she may be ahead of the curve for her age group on this one. 

2. Kroten has gained a lot of confidence on the play ground this year. It scares me how daring he is. a year ago, he would not even go down this slide, and now he goes head first. 

3. I cannot believe how much she has grown in just one year. This is a picture of a baby, she is not  a baby anymore. 

4. Kman LOVES to swing, it is kinda his thing. Not so fun part is that he refuses to learn to pump his legs, so we have to stand there and push him till he is done swinging. 

5. Just us on one of our few and far between precious dates. Life is crazy and hectic to say the least. 

6.  Kem turned ONE!!! and she ate her cake like a pro.

7. It snowed one day in February of 2011 and that was enough for us. Also Kroten loves hats. He would wear one all day every day if he could.

8.  She is my baby bug. She will always be my baby, but I know I am going to miss her being this little.

9. There seems to be a pattern with the pictures and K man. He is a mover. He likes to go go go. He got these skates for his b day.

As I was searching for pictures, I found myself thinking over and over how much these kiddos have changed. I cannot believe how long one year is in baby time. They both have grown and changed both in good and bad ways. 

Where did this year go? 

Kem started the year off as a baby, and now she is a toddler. She is walking and talking and making decisions. I cannot believe how much she has grown this year...

Kroten has a spit fire personality. He is super defiant and no punishment tactic seems to work on him. He is definitely his own man. And he has definitely been my challenge this year, and the reason #39 on my new years resolutions is to yell less. He  has grown a lot this year too, he started preschool and is learning all kinds of things. 

WOW, what a year... and here goes another!!

one more resolution on my list, to total 51...

slow down and enjoy life, it is flying by me way to fast. 

Heres to 2012

I have been anticipating this post for weeks.

I have been thinking and scribbling on little pieces of paper all week what my goals will be. Normally I try to think of one big goal, but I get disappointed every year when I fail miserably at that goal by january 15th. 

This year, I am taking a different approach, thanks to my friend hillary. I have jotted down several (I mean TONS) of goals I would like to accomplish in 2012. I wanted to call it my 2012 bucket list, but I am not planning on dyeing this year, so not sure what to call it. Maybe, 50 things to do in 2012?!?! I may not finish every goal, I may not even start some of them, but gosh darn it, I will accomplish at least one of them at some point in the year. 

So here it is... 

the 50 things I want to do in 2012:

1. Read the scriptures everyday

2. Say Personal Prayers everyday

3. Have family scripture and prayer EVERY night

4. Family Home Evening every monday

5. Loose 30 lbs. and all that this entails

6. Work out 30 min. atleast 3 times a week.

7. Save LOTS of money

8. Average one to two photo shoots each week

9. pay a full tithe

10. be a better more compassionate, loving, playful mother.

11. be a better, more compassionate, loving playful wife.

12. be a better, cleaner, neater, more determined house wife

13. get more willpower

14. memorize all 13 articles of faith

15. potty train kem

16. get Jared a career

17. work on personal progress

18. find my personal progress book

19. finish website

20. finish business cards

21. finish CD packaging. (labels, package, how to print cards, about your CD cards)

22. NO EATING OUT spontaneously. (this is our family resolution)

23. start and finish mending pile

24. finish photographing dad's slides

25. use Facebook less

26. blog once each week

27. Go to bed at 10 and read with hubby

28. get up early and work out... then read scriptures

29. get k man to stop sucking his thumb

30. get in the habit of flossing my teeth every day

31. take vitamins everyday

32. consciously drink more water everyday

33. buy and eat more whole foods

34. eat smaller portions

35. photograph 8 weddings

36. finish editing karly's pictures. 

37. advertise for senior portraits

38. sign Kroten up for baseball

39. yell less

40. stop leaving clothes on the floor

41. finish all started projects

42. Do visit teaching

43. read the ensign each month

44. run a 5k

45. Load dishes in dish washer when done eating

46. stop biting my nails

47. live on our budget

48. take more pictures of my own children

49. plan and carry out a menu each week

50. love myself more for who I am NOW!!

Wish me luck... this is going to be a productive year. Something that I am trying to learn is that it doesn't have to get done now, starting something is not bad. I often feel that if it does not get done NOW, what is the point in starting, hence the reason I need to loose so much weight. Its super annoying, and I would like to break that habbit... heres to progress!!

when I become a girl...

He often says this!

And he likes to wear her things.

Should I be worried?

I think he is just creative?!?!? 

Or confused, but not like your thinking, just not sure how the world works yet. 

LOL.

He likes guns and video games and balls and cars, so he is definitely a boy. 

Love him.

look mom..

"look mom, I drew me."

What an awesome picture he drew... and he even used proper grammar. He is growing up. :'(

helping dad

She is a daddy's girl, there is no question about that. I think it is cute, but I may or may not be a little jealous of the attention both of them get. I am not sure which one of the two I am more jealous of. Still it is sort of cute. 

is it christmas-y yet?

Kroten kept saying "we cannot open presents till it is christmas-y" and kept asking "is it christmas-y yet?" I am pretty sure that he heard us talking about christmas eve, but alas, christmas-y came. 

We spend Christmas eve every year with our close friends, eating awesome food and playing charades. This year was no dissapointment...

Can you guess what they are acting out? LOL.

Kman just watched movies on Suzann's phone the whole time. I thought he was so cute because the headphones were to big, so he wore a pot holder on his head all night. 

Then santa came. It was so much fun. kroten really brought the magic of Santa back to me. I loved playing santa for someone who believed. 

Our final christmas loot...

Christmas morning was a ton of fun. Kem was a little bit of a brat, but I figured out half way through that she was teething... Tylenol solved that problem and then she was happy as could be. Unfortunately I learned that there is an attention span on present opening. We will probably have less next year. 

Kroten ran into our room and yelled, we got a trampoline. I asked him who brought it, and he said "Suzanne." so the santa thing did not sink in as much as I thought it would. 

Then he ran into the living room again and came back with the santa hat and told us that santa must have left it. Whew, I am glad that worked out. HAHA. 

My baby girls is big enough for dress up. bittersweet. 

But most importantly... we are so grateful for our savior jesus christ who gave us the greatest gift, his life, so that we may return to live with him. We praise his name and celebrate his life on this and every day. 

santa clause is coming... TONIGHT!!!!

This has been an interesting year for christmas in our house.

Kemiry still has no idea what is going on and couldn't care less that there is shiny ornaments on the tree and presents strung all over the living room. Everyone keeps telling me that I am daring to leave the wrapped presents where she can get them, but she doesn't touch them. 

Kroten on the other hand is super excited, and fully understands. I am pretty sure that he thinks santa is not just coming to town, but coming to stay and visit. I think he is going to be a little disappointed that he wont be here when he wakes up. 

Kman has woken up around 4 in the morning every night this week. He gets in bed with us, or asks for a drink, but I think he is really checking to see if santa came. Two different nights after the kids went to bed I wrapped a few presents and put them under the tree. You or I might not have noticed that anything had changed, but both times, the next morning k man came into our room to tell us that santa had come. Oh, buddy you are in for a treat on Christmas morning. 

We saw santa at our church party, and had two completely different reactions. 

Kem sat for two seconds and then wanted down immediately. At least she did not cry.

Kroten, just wanted to hug him...

And then tell him his whole life story...

And it was all downhill after that. Who spoiled this kid... I swear it was not me...

My absolute favorite part is that after kroten's turn he kept going up when it was other kids turns and yelling over the crowd "Santa..." Like he had something to tell him. When the crowd died down, Kroten went back up to him and asked santa if he needed any help. Santa was confused and said "oh actually I am all done and leaving." My guess is that when he was on his lap, santa asked kroten if he was being a good boy and told him to help him by being nice to his family. Because then k man responded "ok, I will just help mom to help you."

Kroten's excitement has really brought the magic of christmas back for me. I was thinking yesterday that this will be the first time in 12 years that santa has come to MY house. Glad to have him back!

WE ARE EXCITED! 

dear santa, its me again...

I have been an exceptionally good girl this year. I am trying so hard to be a good mom and wife. I try really hard to say my prayers and read my scriptures. I have tried on and off to be a runner, but I will not give up. I have made money for the family, and built my business. I have tried to be a good friend. I am sorry if I have fallen short in LOTS and LOTS of areas, but I can sincerely say that I am trying. 

Please don't forget about me!!!

You can get me anything, but incase you need a few last minute ideas... 

for my bike...

you can get these at payless... I really really really want some!!! I don't even care what color. I would even take two pair.  8 1/2 please!

or these, but they are more expensive... so...

you could download this from amazon...

This would be awesome, but we have talked about it, and I understand... But a girl can dream!! :)

Merry Christmas *santa* 

I love you. 

-Kristen

To do.

My to do before Christmas list now officially has more things crossed off than left to do. Feeling pretty good so far. Going to bed now.

jared made dinner tonight. Chicken bundles. Looks good... We will see. :)

magnet nativity and 12 days of christmas (free print out)

Every year I tell myself that I am going to do the 12 days of christmas for someone. Every year on December 14th I realize that I had already missed day one and I give up. This year, we are doing 12 days of Christmas as an activity with the young women I work with at church. So I am on the ball this time.

And FYI... Today is the first day of the 12 days of christmas. 

I thought the idea we came up with was super cute and if you find yourself with extra time today might want to use it too. Or you can just print this out for your family to use. I printed an extra set for my family. 

I am posting the print out for a magnet nativity set. We are delivering one piece each day.  I am also posting the word strips that go with each piece. This particular nativity does not have twelve pieces, so I supplemented with a few christmas symbols on a few of the days.

the documents are in a JPG format, so you should be able to just download them and print them on an 8.5x11 piece of paper. I am laminating mine as we speak and sticking a magnet on the back. Its perfect for the fridge, kem likes to hang out in there when I am cooking, so maybe she will learn something while messing with my fridge. 

When you print, make sure you tell the printer to fit to page. My printer printed at 94% of the size, just to make sure it doesn't crop off any of the picture. 

let me know if you have any problems

Have fun!

an adventurous tree

We have an ongoing debate in our home over christmas trees. I have always, every single year of my entire life, had a real christmas tree. so naturally I want to continue with that. Jared on the other hand feels that financially and logically a fake tree would be better. I win every time. :)

This year however, I compromised, financially at least. Instead of going to a tree farm and spending $30 on the perfect tree, we spent $5 on a tag to go cut down our own in the woods. Lets just say it was an adventure.

There are advantages and disadvantages to cutting down your own tree in the woods.

Pros                                              

a family adventure                        

excited to see the snow                

a nice drive to the woods                       

a hunt for an awesome tree          

fullfilment                                    

sentiment                                    

memories                                    

cons

an ungroomed tree

no snow to be found

Gas money

a hunt for an awesome tree

scrawny, mangey trees

bugs

pine needles

You get the idea. It was an adventure.

                                     

This puddle of ice was as close as we got to seeing snow. :(

then Kman wanted to take some picures. We got LOTS of pictures such as the following...

And TONS more like this one...

We finnally found the one (don't ask me why k man is wearing sunglasses and no coat.)

We got it in our living room and realized that we didn't get away with as much of a beauty as we thought. IT WAS HUGE and poofy and mangey. So I gave it a hair cut. 

It looked much better when I was done. Jared about had a heart attack when he saw how much I cut off. 

And so we decorated it...

My favorite ornaments are the glittery balls that I got on SUPER clearance at walmart a few years ago. They make me happy. 

And the cheap plastic snowflakes. LOVE them. I think I am a sucker for glitter.

It was a pain, and an adventure, but our tree is here and lighting our home. I love it and its uniqueness.