The Lee Family: January 2011

January 14, 2011

2011 Snapshot

This is a snapshot of what our family is like at this very moment, the good and the bad...

Our days typically start when Makenna or Jace come into my room around 7:00 and we snuggle; I get them some chocolate milk, turn on the toons, and go back to bed... :) Sometimes I get a little more sleep in, sometimes I read, whatever the kids let me get away with... did I say that out loud?

By 7:30 I'm up and making breakfast! Our favorite breakfasts these days are blender whole wheat pancakes, cream of wheat, oatmeal, or toast.

Mondays we usually spend cleaning up the house after the weekend (does your house get messier when husband is around?!), and shopping for essentials that we should have shopped for Sat. night

Tues/Thurs Makenna has preschool from 9:30-12:30 with an awesome group of kids from our ward. The moms in the group are seriously awesome which makes the preschool awesomer. It's nice to know Makenna is in such good hands and learning about cool things like Egypt.

I go to mutual Tuesday nights for Young Womens and still love it. They keep me young ;)

Wednesday nights Makenna has dance class at 5:00 with Miss Heather. She has really improved a lot this year with her harder dance class. It is so fun to watch her esp. now that they are starting on their recital piece!

Friday night is pretty much always movie night. We love to watch movies and pop popcorn.

Scott and I have been "dating" again! It had been too long! Since the summer we have been going on dates pretty regularly, and we have both LOVED it! We go out with our double-dater friends, the Reidheads, a couple times a month too. It's been a blast to get to know my husband in that way again!

Scott plays basketball on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sat. mornings if he can get away with it!

Makenna just got a cavity again. Why must we have such sensitive teeth?!

Jace loves the show Team Umizoomi. He runs around the house saying ummmiiiiii zooommmmmiiiiiii!

Jace is a huge fan of guns... the nerf kind and the invisible kind. He runs around the house all day making amazing gun sounds. I'm not quite sure how little boys make those sounds... whenever I try I sound ridiculous.

Jace is completely potty trained as of last month. I am loving it!! NO KIDS IN DIAPERS!! It is a dream I tell ya.

Makenna is reading really well. She can read most words up to 4 letters.

For lunches I usually ask, "sandwich or chicken nuggets?" sad huh? But if you know your kids eat those things, that's what you buy!

Jace is taking about 2 naps a week now.... bummer.... He's at that stage where if he takes a nap he doesn't go to bed as well at night, but if he doesn't take a nap he's a grumpy face.

Jace and Makenna actually play well together now 90% of the time- hallelujah. They will play together for an hour or two now before the fighting begins. I LOVE seeing my kids get along!

If you're still reading this that means we're good friends... I REALLY want a baby!! And believe me people, we're working on it!! So stop asking- it's making me feel like a fatty! :) (This rant is for the random people, not you, my good friends, that I don't mind talking to about this stuff!) haha, ok I got that off my sleeve

Makenna is increasingly opinionated about how I do her hair, what she wears etc. Sometimes Sunday mornings can be drama.

Jace is my little fashionista... He likes to change his outfit a few times a day, he has STRONG opinions about what he is going to wear every day, he LOVES to take his clean clothes out of the dryer and put them in his drawers, and he loves to pick out new clothes at the store. Some people say I should be worried (Have you met Jace?!), but I think he likes to look good for the ladies...

Makenna is still a talker!! She talks everyone's ears off. Just smile and nod...

Bed time is from H-E-double hockey sticks lately... Jace is the King of excuses: "I need a drink of water and a piece of bread," "I need to go to the bathroom," "I need another story." Sometimes he will just come out of his room and hide and watch us. When we find him he gives us an adorable smile so we can't be mad! This too shall pass... this too shall pass...

We have food storage for about a year now! I can't tell you how good it feels to say that!

The kids' bedtime routine consists of: cleaning the room up together, usually a little wrestling with dad (that is probably why Jace is so wound up!!), and 2 books (one a scripture story).

Private Selection sweet mint chocolate chip ice cream is the BOMB!!!

Our favorite shows are Modern Family, Parenthood, Community, The Bachelor, and The Office.

My awesome husband won Salesman of the Year in the whole west in 2010! I knew his convincing personality would be good for something!

Nicknames:

Jace- Jacey

Makenna- Wen

Our family is truly a joy at this moment! We have our hard times, but I think I will look back at this time of my life and think what a great time it was for us. Hopefully there will continue to be a lot of joy in store for us in 2011!

January 10, 2011

BUSY BUSY!

December was by far the busiest month I've had in a long time! Since we got the kids bunk beds I decided it was time the kid's bedding matched. I didn't want them to match perfect though because I still think hers should be girly, and his boy-y (what?!) I could not find ANYTHING, so I decided to make them quilts. I found one I loved online for Kenna and just kind of drew up my own pattern and changed the colors a little. Jace's will be most of the same colors minus the pink, and squares instead of diamonds. Let me just say, I love how it turned out! It is fun getting everything you want, and also being able to have a special quilt she can always keep. Sorry these pictures are terrible... it's hard to take good pics of a quilt!

We also refinished this awesome table we got off craigslist. I love how it turned out! Now I have to paint my old chairs to match.. It looks tiny in this picture but it's actually quite a bit bigger than our old table (with a leaf-not pictured.)

I was also able to read the Book of Mormon during the month of December. That was such a great experience for me! I really feel I understand the Book of Mormon so well now because I was able to follow the storyline so well. Reading so often (over an hour a day) really invited the spirit to be with me always, and now that I know what it's like to have the spirit so strong in my life I want to always have that! Reading scriptures really can make such a big difference, and I'm glad I was able to learn that lesson. Most of all I was able to gain a testimony for myself that the Book of Mormon is true!

The last thing that kept us really busy in December is that my sister's best friend moved in with us! That makes 6 people in our little house! It has been really great to have her though, and it has been fun to see my sister so happy! They are moving out in a couple weeks and, it might sound funny to say this, but I will miss both of them! We might need to find a replacement... ok jk!

Anywho, so I was thinking about all the stuff I did last month and I couldn't believe it was all in one month's time! It made me realize I can get a lot more done than I think I can!

Projects that are in the works:

Finish Jace's quilt

Finish curtains for kid's room

Finish decorating room

Paint kitchen chairs

Make new pillows for couches

Maybe by next month I will finish all of them! uh huh

January 5, 2011

Christmas Eve/ Christmas

Christmas Eve we spent with the Burns eating yummy food, playing games, and doing the nativity. I love how the kids are SOOO excited.

Mary

See what I mean?

then we headed on home to get the kids to bed.

after Santa came

after Santa came w/out flash (I think our tree looks prettier this way!)

one of Jace's favorite toys from grandpa Sheffield

checkin out her new Rapunzel tower

new scooter

new Ariel doll from Aunt Stacy. That makes 4 Ariel dolls. This one is 1 1/2 feet tall though...

Present Highlights:

Scott- Blu-ray player/movies

Kristie- Wheat grinder/ watch

Makenna- Rapunzel tower/ bunk bed

Jace- nerf gun/ train stuff/ bunk bed

New Mexico Bowl

We went to the New Mexico Bowl this year with BYU playing against UTEP. I made the mistake of asking Scott, "So where in the heck is UTEP?" at the beginning of the game only to have the lady in front of me whirl around and give me a lecture on why UTEP is the best ever. Well lady... they're not... haha. We about slaughtered them. I almost felt bad for them because it was such a lopsided game!

not my fave but whatevs

haha, this guy sitting in a sea of UTEP fans was brave... (see flag!)

Fellow fans- Scott, Jeff (brother in law), Kobe (nephew), Jeff's friend

Christmas stuff

I tried to make Christmas really fun for my kids this year. My hope was to do something fun every day in December before christmas... didn't happen.

This is the first year since we've been married that we didn't chop down a tree... sad... The month was crazy for us. So instead we headed over to galloping grace to pick one out, which ended up being really fun! They had this cute gingerbread house for the kids to play in...

This one's blurry, but you get the picture!

Riding the train

cute sister

I am so lame I didn't get a picture of the tree... stay tuned for christmas day and you'll see it. It was pretty much PERFECT! The perks of buying a tree.

We also went to River of Lights this year for the first time... It was really pretty.

penguins

Jace pushed around Camden for half the time. The kid never got tired of it

Jace's favorite

The girls' favorite

These two have become best friends. Kyla is Makenna's cousin that is about 3 1/2 years older, but they get along so well. It's really sweet to see.

Well so by the 12th I decided to get my junk together and started a little 12 days of Christmas for the kids:

Day one- christmas craft

Day two- gingerbread men

Day 3-christmas movie

Day 4- build a snowman/ hot chocolate (this was spontaneous!)

Day 5- Temple nativity scene

Day 6- Christmas sleepover w/ cousins

Day 7- Open new Christmas book and read

Day 8- Make goodies for friends

Day 9- Deliver goodies

Day 10- Gingerbread houses

with cousins (love Briggy)

best part- eating!

Makenna's

(Jace's)

Day 11- Christmas nativity

Day 12- Christmas!

Nothing much but gave the kids something fun to look forward to every day!

Dance Recital

Makenna had a little dance recital (like a month ago!) This is her dance group that is taught by a 14 year old named Cassie. Makenna loves this class, and was a cute little performer up there on stage. I wish I had a video to show ya- she was such a crack up!

They performed different Disney songs which the girls love!