Yeah for the holidays. . .being OVER!!

I am really not a Grinch, but I sure like it when things calm down and can go back to normal. No matter what time of year, when family comes to town it is always crazy. This Holiday season went relatively well with less drama than expected. Thank goodness!! I just hate the running around, the crazy schedules, lack of sleep and cranky kids. In the middle of all of this, Ryan broke his second front tooth through which was accompanied by a fever and not letting mom sleep all night. I am also glad I don't hear the phrase, "Is it Christmas today? Can we open presents yet?" Although they have replaced this with, "When is it going to be Christmas again?" This is mostly coming from Tanner. One thing I realized is that next year we are going to do even less. They didn't get a ton this year, but they really don't need more than one toy and a few books and clothes. I always try to throw in the necessities along with something to help them grow intellectually. The toys are the highlight for them, though. Karly didn't get an American Girl doll cause I don't trust her to take care of it and to not get bored with it after 6 months; so she got a Madame Alexander doll instead. It is basically a knock off of the AG doll but at less than a quarter of the price. She loved it and even said it was just as good as an AG doll. I plan on building on this gift with furniture and accessories over the next few years as long as she doesn't lose interest. Kaleb scored with a small pack of Lego's and about 5 new wii games-Lego Harry Potter, Lego Indiana Jones 2, Lego Star Wars, Sonic and something about rings and then Tanner got a Bakugan game which both will play. Karly also got a Hannah Montana game for the Wii. Tanner got about 8 transformers and Evan got 2 sets of hot wheels trick tracks and one came with a buzz lightyear. Ryan got a hoppy frog from Melissa and Doug and a wooden shapes stacking set. All in all, they got some good stuff, not to mention the DVD's, books and clothes. Grandpa Reid bought the boys remote control cars and a video game for the TV for Karly, which she informed me says bad words cause the characters on it say, "Oh my g-o-d". I am glad she recognizes that. At least something I am teaching them is getting through! We were supposed to go skiing on Christmas day but we were pretty tired and the kids just wanted to play with their toys. My house was such a disaster for four days. We finally climbed out of it and are now in the process of doing some much needed deep cleaning and organizing! Today we are concentrating on the playroom. We are doing a "keep or toss" game where the kids help me get rid of the toys and books that are broken, missing parts or they don't want anymore. If we don't have a place for them, they get tossed. It makes my life much more easy. Then we are washing down the walls, baseboards, windows and switches/outlets. I can't wait to get this room done! After this I am hoping to scour the bathroom since we are having a guest to our home tomorrow and they will be staying on the futon in the playroom.

I got my bedroom cleaned FINALLY!! I am almost done with the laundry and hoping to get back into a good rhythm of one to two loads per day so that it doesn't get this out of hand in the future. I am not wasting my kids vacation on cleaning though, we have already been to Trafalga twice this past week and have had fun with cousins coming over. Kaleb and Karly have been skiing once, and are probably going to go on Friday as well as Saturday. Friday night is our annual new years eve party with our friends, Saturday morning Preston is having his birthday party at Chuck E cheese's and Evan and Tanner are going to that and Saturday night is a surprise party for Grandpa Reid at our house to celebrate his 70th birthday! I think they have enough to feel like it was a good vacation!

Ryan is walking all over the place and very rarely crawls now. He made the nine month and walking deadline with just a week or so to spare before he turned 10 months. He is such a happy baby; always smiling and laughing. He loves his siblings and I love watching them with him-except Evan who seems to push him over more often than help him. Hopefully he will get over this soon.

Tanner just turned on my ipod to Beastie Boys and that makes me smile cause he loves to dance to anything with a good beat. I know it has a few bad words in it but they sing fast enough that the kids don't recognize it. I really should take it off but it is the only song of theirs that I have and I love to run to it. It's the "You can't, you won't and you don't stop" song. It totally pumps me when I run and makes me push myself. I don't know if any of their music is clean so I don't get to listen to it anymore. I had to get rid of quite a bit once the kids came in. It's a guilty pleasure to have a few on my ipod. He and Evan like to fight over picking songs. When Evan gets mad, he tends to get physical. Infact I heard him having a confrontation with his sister yesterday that went a little something like this; Karly tells him he can't have something and Evan tells Karly, "I goin to kick you in da leg. Like that!-that's what you get!" So lovely! Kids are great!

Quick shout out to my friend Lessley-CONGRATULATIONS!!! It's about time. You were becoming the black sheep of the group with so little in your posterity! Now you can catch up-maybe it will be twins;) (-that was my first smiley with symbols-yes, I am that behind with technology. I refuse to shorten words when I text just because it is more convenient. I write everything out because I feel it needs to be done.) Anyway-life is calming down a bit and hopefully that doesn't mean I am in for another test, cause I still feel like I am going through a couple right now. Love life, love my amazing husband and my wonderful kids, love the rest of my family, love my friends, love my home, love my beautiful view, love the snow and the awesome storms that keep rolling in and making winter bearable and love my calling and the gospel. SO fortunate to be here and have these experiences right now. I hope the new year brings us all prosperity, renewed faith, stronger testimonies, and a greater desire to help those around us and find ways to serve and spread the love of Christ to everyone. Happy New Year All! (on a more selfish note-I also hope the new year brings my body back to me that I had when I ran that marathon-I would love to have a "closest to flat stomach since before the kids" body again!)Thank you Ashly for making me sign up for that triathalon-hopefully it will get my butt in shape again.