Rest of December

The day after Christmas Rog and I went up to Brigham City to do a session at the temple there. We knew it was a small temple and they only do 6 sessions a day, but we didn't realize we were supposed to call ahead to reserve a spot in a session. Luckily we were still able to get into the one we wanted!

My parents and Jared watched our kids and then drove them up to Salt Lake. We met them and my Grandma, Aunt Tracy, Uncle Chris, and Cousin Sam at IHOP for dinner. Then we went up to my Grandma's house to open some presents.

The next day we drove through the Spanish Fork Festival of Lights again, but this time my parents and Jared came with us. With the kids on laps, we were able to all fit in one car and because it wasn't very busy, we got to drive through twice! 

After the lights we watched BYU's bowl game at my parent's house. The kids watched a little bit and then we put them to bed there. (They have a crib set up for Peyton and an extra bed for Corbyn.) Then after the game we transferred them to their beds at home - luckily they went right back to sleep! The first half looked promising, but the second half was pretty awful. We lost 16-31. 

On Saturday we went on a triple date with the Petrosinos and the Woods to see Saving Mr. Banks - loved it! Taylor and Martha were supposed to come over for dinner that night, but Martha's water broke, so they ended up having a baby instead!

I saw this picture on Pinterest and wanted to try it out. Before we took down our tree I played with the settings on my camera and ended up with this - obviously hers is better, but a pretty cool picture nonetheless.

On Sunday we taught the 5th Sunday lesson together. Rog volunteered to teach and then the Bishop insisted I teach with him. I was not happy about it - many tears were shed, but Rog did most of the prep work and it ended up not being so terrible after all. (Although if he knows what's good for him, he won't be volunteering again any time soon!) 

After church we drove down to St. George. We didn't do a ton while we were down there. We just soaked in the sun and tried to relax. Corbyn got another nasty cough that was pretty similar to the one he had before Christmas. It was bad enough that we had a PA in my parent's old ward come look at him. He prescribed him another inhaler and medicine and he got better pretty quickly. 

Rog visited his grandparents (the kids and I didn't because we didn't want to get them sick), Rog and my dad golfed, we played at the park (before Corbyn got sick), and we rang in the New Year with games and Funfetti Cake Batter Buddies... It was fun to be able to enjoy a few days down in sunny St. George!

We drove back up on New Years' Day. After unloading the car, we got back in the car and drove up to Saratoga Springs to meet little Mae Phillips. She was only 5 pounds, 9 ounces and 19 inches long when she was born (and she was only a week early). TINY, TINY, TINY!

Homemade Gifts

As I already mentioned, before Thanksgiving I made this monkey set with this drawstring bag for Rocky and Mae.

All the older nephews got a Christmas version of If you're happy and you know it with a little drawstring bag to store them in. Because what gift would be complete without a drawstring bag? Printable here.

Corbyn got a homemade Batman cape. I used this pattern for the Batman logo and this tutorial for the cape itself. It was pretty simple and came together quickly. 

He asks to wear it almost every day. And he was so excited to wear it (and his Batman shirt) to his friend Rhys' Batman birthday party! When did he get so grown up?! 

I made this prophet block for my mass homemade gift. I got the idea here, but adapted it to be on a block rather than in a frame. I couldn't get the font for prophet to install on my computer, so Jared got it installed on his computer and helped me with that part. After I got the picture designed, all I had to do was print it out at Costco, paint the edges and back of the block black, glue the picture on, and cover the picture with texture cream from the Wood Connection. I just love that stuff! It seals the picture and gives it a nice canvas texture! 

I made this tag to go with it.

And that's the 2013 version of homemade Christmas gift giving!

Five on Friday

1. This week went a lot more smoothly than last week - it seems we have figured out regular normal life again. It helped a lot that Corbyn and Peyton were good little buddies most of the week.

 

2. I decided I should try out this recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe as it has over a million pins on Pinterest. Rog loved it. I was a little less enthusiastic about it, but I think I liked it enough to try it again someday.

3. On Wednesday Rog came home from school and we discovered that we were wearing the same shirt - our race shirts from the Electric Run. Neither of us changed and I kind of forgot about it until I looked down halfway through a visit from our financial advisor. (The company we bought life insurance through a few years ago wanted to check up on us.) Needless to say, I felt a little silly and self-conscious the rest of the time he was here! 

4. I finally finished my 7th book from last year (or 1st book of this year depending on how you look at it - I read 3/4 of it in 2013) yesterday - Little Women. The movie was one of my absolute favorites growing up, but I never had read it. I enjoyed it immensely and am glad I finally read it! I got the movie for Christmas, but I've been waiting to watch it until I finished. We have a date to watch it with my parents tonight after the kids go to bed and I can't wait!

 5. For various reasons, it worked out that I hosted joy school on Monday and Friday this week (as opposed to our regular Tuesday and Thursday schedule). It gave me more time to plan and prepare this way, but it also made it seem like my turn at joy school would never end. We had fun learning about the letter O. I'll blog more about it later, but for now here's a look at my favorite gold medal olympians!

Dear Santa

Like last year, here’s a rundown of our Christmas presents from Santa.





Broken Things to Mend is one of Elder Holland’s books. I’m definitely going to be reading that one when he’s done with it! We love Elder Holland around here!





I’ve been coveting the lightweight Columbia jacket Rog got two years ago on Black Friday at the Castle Rock Outlets, so this year we got one for me.



I also got a Silhouette Cameo from my parents. I haven’t had a chance to try it out, but I know I’m going to love it! Hello 12” cutting and not being limited by cartridges!





We really hit it out of the park with Corbyn this year. He loves and plays with all of his presents - like all the time!





We were only going to get Peyton a Jessie stuffed animal, but we happened to be at the Disney Store when they were running a special - buy one get one for $.99. We couldn’t pass that up, so she got Minnie too. We were sure she’d love them and she does, but her initial reaction was priceless - She opened them up and started crying for Woody.

She loves dressing up with Corbyn, so we figured it was time to get her a princess dress up of her very own.



Santa was good to us this year!

Christmas

We celebrated Christmas Eve at my parent's house. We had Dixie's egg rolls with sweet and sour sauce and fried rice for dinner (a Phillips family tradition).

Then we watched Kalle Anka (a bunch of Disney cartoons that everyone in Sweden watches on Christmas Eve) with Jared.

In Sweden they open presents on Christmas Eve, so we let the kids open one present each from Grandma and Grandpa. Corbyn opened a Planes Lego set and Peyton opened Aladdin's Little People Magic Carpet. (There's the squinty cheese face I was talking about.) 

We decorated cookies for Santa and then headed home.

This was the first year we actually slept at our own house on Christmas Eve. I bought this Cookies for Santa plate our first Christmas and I was pretty excited to finally be able to use it! And Corbyn was very excited to leave cookies out for Santa!

The kids had been wearing their Christmas pajamas all month, but they got to open slippers before going to bed. Peyton's slippers are a little unnecessary because she wears footed pajamas to bed, but she wears them around the house during the day and they were way too cute to pass up! (Rog also got slippers and I got pajama pants and slipper socks.)

After the kids went to bed, Santa got to work. Rog set up Peyton's princess castle.

And I arranged all the gifts.

The kids slept in until 8 am - best Christmas gift ever! We called my parents (and Jared) and while we waited for them to come over, I did Peyton's hair. Rog thought this was completely ridiculous, but my mom always did our hair before we were allowed to see our gifts Christmas morning and I didn't want her insane bed head hair in all our pictures!

Corbyn saw his Batmobile right way and was very excited to play with it!

He was also very excited about his Ninja Turtle Shellraiser.

Peyton loved the play necklaces and bracelets in her stocking.

And spent the morning going in and out of her castle.

After we finished opening gifts, we called the Hobbs via Google + and had breakfast - Clone of a Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls, Berry Salad, Breakfast Potatoes, Bacon, and Wassail (from Our Best Bites' Savoring the Seasons Cookbook).

We did FaceTime with Grandma and Grandpa Phillips, so they could see the kids open their presents from them - a tool set and a Jake Lego set (different than the one he got from Great Grandma and Grandpa Ririe) for Corbyn and a Cinderella doll and huge dog pillow (like the huge giraffe Corbyn got last year) for Peyton.

After Peyton's nap we went over to my parent's house for dinner. We had a Costco ham, Stuffed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, World's Best Dinner Rolls, Pear Pomegranate Salad (from Our Best Bites' Savoring the Seasons Cookbook), and Citrus Water Punch. Everything was really really good and worth every minute I spent cooking! (And it's a good thing because I spent a lot of minutes cooking!)

We watched some of the Disney Christmas Parade (recorded from that morning) and the kids opened the rest of their gifts from Grandma Lori and Papa George. Corbyn got Planes and Monster's University (both have already been watched many many times), another Planes Lego set, Hungry Hungry Hippos,  a Jake game, a Buzz shirt, and a Jake costume. Peyton got more Disney Little People (Ariel's Castle and Snow White's Cottage), a princess shirt (that she loves) and the Little Mermaid.

They both had to try on Corbyn's Jake costume!

We had this amazing trifle from Mel's Kitchen Cafe for dessert. (I used her recipe as my guide, but made a lot of my own adjustments - red holiday Oreos instead of mint Oreos, used a brownie mix instead of making them from scratch, used store-bought hot fudge instead of making it from scratch, added crushed candy canes, and added some red food coloring to the cream cheese layer). It was amazing (and surprisingly even good as leftovers). I already have plans to make a cinnamon version for Valentine's Day!

It was a Christmas to remember!

Five on Friday Returns!

1. Rog started his spring semester on Monday, so we spent the week trying to get back into our normal routine. The kids are used to playing with daddy all day every day, so I'm having to retrain them to play by themselves while I'm getting stuff done! 

2. Peyon's dolly she got for Christmas last year has been very well loved. One of the eyes gets stuck closed, the paint on that eye is chipped, the hair is beyond just needing to be combed, and the body stained. As heartless as it sounds, I decided it was time for a new dolly. Tell me I'm not the only one who has done this?! I opted for this bald baby, so I wouldn't have to deal with hair (and Peyton was a bald baby herself so it seemed fitting). When it first came I let her play with both dolls (and her Cinderella doll she got for Christmas this year). Then when she wasn't looking I put away her original dolly. It was quite a seamless transition.

3. In an effort to get Corbyn to eat what we eat for dinner, I printed off a sticker chart. He gets 1 sticker if he tries everything on his plate and 2 stickers if he finishes everything. So far he's earned 2 stickers (over 2 nights). I'll take it! That's 2 nights he's tried things he never would have touched before! 

4. We had a snowy week, so the kids finally got an opportunity to try out the snow clothes they got for Christmas! Peyton wasn't a fan of the snow pants, but decided they were ok when she saw Corbyn wearing his too.

5. Rog's contract with TMobile expired this month, so he was finally able to join his family's plan on Verizon. He used his birthday money to get an iPhone 5s - quite the upgrade from the iPhone 3G he's been using for years. 

December - Pre Christmas

Here's our December (before Christmas) in a nutshell.

A few days after we got home from Thanksgiving we had our first big snowstorm of the season. Corbyn saw all the kids playing outside and wanted to go play too. After getting him all dressed in his coat, gloves, and hat, he took one step outside, let me take a picture, and then decided he didn't want to play after all. (He got snow pants and boots for Christmas and has been much more into playing in the snow since then!)

My dinner group had a cookie exchange the first Thursday in December. I made Brownie Cheesecake Peppermint Bars and Peppermint Cookies and Cream Popcorn. Corbyn was my peppermint crusher.

We went to pick out our tree.

The kids loved helping decorate the tree. Most of the ornaments ended up in the same spot, so I redecorated it after they went to sleep.

They found a sheet of bubble wrap that some of my decorations were wrapped in. Boy did they love popping it!

I was so excited to decorate for Christmas this year because I had quite a few new decorations. In October and November Kohl's sent me a bunch of coupons for $10 just for the heck of it. I didn't have anything else to buy and their Christmas decorations were already 50% off, so I was able to add to my collection for almost nothing!

I also got a couple new nativities at Deseret Book (one for $3 and the other for $4). I love my little nativity display! I now have 7 - one for every Christmas we've been married.

Thanks to Pinterest I found a way to hang all our stockings without buying 4 stocking hangers and without a mantle. (And if you look closely, you can see what kept me so busy the entire month of December - advent ornaments for this little tree from imagineourlife.com. I'll be posting about that in more detail another day.)

While we were hanging up ornaments I pointed out Corbyn's ornaments to him - then of course he wanted to know where his ornament for this Christmas was. I have always waited until after Christmas (when they're 50% off at Hallmark) to buy them, but I knew he wouldn't let me wait this year. I was able to find a coupon for $5 off a $10 purchase at Hallmark, so we took the kids to pick out their ornaments. I would have picked the Jake ornament for Corbyn (because he was his favorite for more of the year), but he insisted on Batman!

Peyton picked this Mickey and Minnie ornament which is perfect for her because she just loves Minnie!

The kids saw Santa for the first time this year at our ward Christmas party. Corbyn was so excited (unlike last year when he wanted nothing to do with him)!

This was Peyton's year to be terrified of Santa. The rest of the night and for days after she would say, "Santa home" over and over - like please tell me he went home and I never have to sit on his lap again! 

We had a Relief Society activity where we learned to make homemade Christmas treats. I won a drawing for all the ingredients to make fudge! I guess now I need to get over my fear of making fudge and try again!

Corbyn got a really really bad cough. I took him to the doctor and they gave him 3 breathing treatments while we were there. (We were there FOREVER. Luckily I had dropped Peyton off at my parent's house.) They sent us home with an inhaler and a bunch of prescriptions for him to take. He got better quickly, but we had a few really not fun days. (And of course those days coincided with the weekend Rog had to take all but one of his finals and go see the Temple Square lights with the youth - so we didn't see him at all.)

I had already scheduled an appointment for the kids to have pictures with Santa at CheapShots Photography, so we put Peyton through another encounter with Santa. Such a classic shot!

I made Soft Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies with Lemon-Creme Filling for Sunday dinner with my family. They were so good! And surprisingly very Christmasy even though they didn't have any peppermint!

After that really bad weekend Rog finished up his last final Monday morning and then had 3 glorious weeks off!

I got our Christmas cards sent off.

We did chips and salsa for neighbor gifts.

We rode Frontrunner and TRAX downtown to see the lights on Temple Square with my parents and the Jar. It was fun seeing how Rog gets to school every day!

We had dinner at Kneaders in City Creek and then met up with the Petrosinos. 

Peyton rode on my shoulders almost the entire time!

If you look closely there's a little Corbyn in the bottom right corner checking out the Christus.

We always take a picture here because this is where we got engaged 8 years ago (on December 21st).

If Peyton wasn't riding on my shoulders she was being carried by Grandma.

We went sledding in front of our house.

It was the perfect warm-up hill for the kids' first time sledding this season.

We drove through the Spanish Fork Festival of Lights. The kids got to come sit up front with me. 

We love living so close to this and look forward to it every year!

The Bishop hosted a fun activity at Nickel Mania for the single sisters in our ward with young children.  He invited his counselors and their families, so we got to go. We all had fun playing games and earning some tickets.

Peyton invented her own way of playing Skee Ball.

Corbyn loved the Ninja Turtle game even though he was a little young to play it himself.

I taught my Primary class for the last time the Sunday before Christmas. (I was assigned to help Rog teach the 5th Sunday lesson the Sunday after Christmas.) This class was absolutely crazy, but I really grew to love them.

Elise Jones, Luca Soelberg, Kyson Romney, Traeson Staiger, Maggie Stephenson, Dallin Cook

(Not pictured - Presley Knapton, Charlie Nelson, Keira Wall)

The Sunday before Christmas we had our Ririe Christmas party. We had a nice dinner. We told Corbyn he had to eat his dinner or he wouldn't get to open his present. He's never eaten better!

My Uncle Kevin gave a spiritual thought and then we got to open presents from my Grandpa and Grandma Ririe. Peyton got clothes and bottles for her dolly and Corbyn got a Jake and the Never Land Pirates Lego set.

I made Oreo Cheesecake Bites with Red Holiday Oreos for dessert. 

We had a great time spending time as a family celebrating and getting ready for Christmas!