Happy Birthday Iris!

How is my baby girl already 2?!  I am thankful every day for this amazing child.  She is funny and sweet and super smart.  I was afraid having a second baby might throw me over the edge of sanity and that we should just call our family of three complete, but here we are and I am so happy we decided to go for it!  I do have to disclose that my patience has been tried a bit lately with her constant need to be on my hip or in my lap, but I guess that's just a reminder that I need to slow down and appreciate my kids, in all of their stages, as often as I can.

Things she likes these days:

Reading books (Richard Scary's Best First Book Ever is her favorite right now)
Butterflies
Baby dolls
Yanking tissues from the box and taking them directly to the trash can
Shoes
Just about any food we offer her 
Watching nursery rhymes on the computer.  Five Little Monkeys and the Butterfly Color Song make her extremely happy.
Playing in the hot tub.  She asks to go out to it almost every night.
Listening to kiddie music any time we drive in the car.  She gets very upset if she doesn't get her way (which actually applies to everything, not just the music in the car)!
Singing Twinkle Twinkle before I lay her in bed.

Looking regal in her birthday crown from Aunt Jen

Happy birthday baby!

Christmas 2011

We had a great Christmas this year.  It was nice to have a chance to relax with family and be thankful for all we have and all we received.  Miles was really excited about Santa coming and about opening his presents and seeing all his cool new toys.  Iris, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with opening presents.  She gave lots of stink eye and shoved us away when we tried to encourage her to tear the paper and see what was inside.  Maybe next year!

 Miles with the cookies we baked for Santa.

 All that remained of Santa's cookies by morning!  Note the dinosaur to the left of the plate.  The Imaginext Apatosaurus.  That was the one thing Miles asked Santa for.  We'd seen it at Target many times but put off getting around to purchasing it until it was gone from every store in Utah.  The cost for it to be shipped by Amazon just a few days before Christmas...a cool $112.  Fortunately, Grandma and Grandpa saved the day by finding the one store in Utah that had one in stock!

 She perked up a bit when she got her hands on some cool new toys.

Iris and Bella at dinner.  We don't usually let the cat join us at the table, but she managed to sneak up in hopes of scoring a scrap of  Honeybaked ham and they looked so cute together!

Santa through the years

I went back and looked at pictures of Miles with Santa through the years.  I forgot what an awesomely cute baby he was!  I also forgot just how much he freaked when he saw Santa for the second time :)

 December 2007, 7 months old

 December 2008, 1 and a half years old

December 2009, 2 and a half years old

December 2010, 3 and a half years old

December 2011, 4 and a half years old

Santa!

Santa came to First Steps today.  Four is a great age for believing and the excitement that comes with it!  Unfortunately Iris was home sick, so no 2011 Santa shot for her.  

Mid December Happenings

How did it get to be mid December already?  Life has been super busy.  I thought it would slow down in October, but I was wrong.  Then I said November and was wrong again.  I'm just keeping my mouth shut from this point on.  

We are still waiting to see what happens with the house situation.  We should know more in a week when we are past inspections.  We went yesterday and spent more time at the place we are hoping to get.  It is big and bright with lots of cool stuff and lots of potential.  The best part is that we both like it a lot.

Here it is with the car parked in front!

We managed to get the Christmas packages in the mail with time to spare.  Miles was excited to help with the bows, which he firmly believed needed to go on the outside of the shipping boxes!

I've been meaning to get a picture on here of Iris in her new robe.  It is covered with butterflies, which she is very into these days.  It's three sizes too big for her but she loves it and gets super excited to put it on.

The bracelet no girl wants to wear.  Our house has been cursed with the plague the past week.  We had several days home with both kids.  They had fevers and coughs and just seemed miserable.  We thought we were out of the woods, but last night Iris got much worse.  I spent most of the night up with her while she coughed and struggled to breathe, then Jeff took her to the ER at the crack of dawn.  Two breathing treatments, an oral steroid treatment and several hours later they were on their way home, which is where she will have to stay for the next few days.  Again, thanks Grandma and Grandpa for coming to the rescue and babysitting our sicko.

Who knew?

Who knew that this contract, these few harmless looking pieces of paper, could cause so much anxiety for two people??  We just signed an offer on the house last night, which means closing will be on or near January 16, 2012 and we will be moving out of this house.  We've been scrambling to shop around and see what's available for us at different prices and in different locations around the valley.  We settled on 3 places and have offers in on each of them.  I said I found it a bit unethical to make offers on multiple properties and get people's hopes up, but we're told that's how it's done and best to cover our butts.  We have until tomorrow night to hear back on the offers we put in, so again...stay tuned.  In the meantime, Jeff and I will be house hunting in our non-existent free time and having long talks at hours when nobody should awake and conversing!

For sale!

 

 We have been going back and forth for a while now about our house.  We have been here 8 years and have done lots of tweaking and improving and making it what we want it to be.  Now that we really love it we've decided it's too small for our family of 4.  It was perfect 8 years ago when it was just Jeff and I, but now things are a little cramped and a lot cluttered.  With interest rates being so low right now we thought we'd test the real estate waters and put a sign up "for fun" to see what happened.  Well, within 24 hours of the MLS listing we had two groups of people check it out and one made an offer for the listing price.  Needless to say, we are freaking out.  We seem to be awake every morning at about 2 AM and 3AM and 4AM thinking about what's to come.  I have big dark cirles under my eyes and I feel like I have a newborn back in the house!  We plan to do some serious house hunting in the next week and see if we find the next house of our dreams.  Stay tuned...

 We had a great Thanksgiving today.  Jeff's folks came down and we all had a mellow day.  Jeff tried a turkey on the grill for the first time and it turned our perfectly. 

Just a random shot of the kind of stuff you find around the house when you have a 4 year old boy!

Two of the things I am thankful for in my life!

Aunt Jen's visit

Life has been a little crazy these past few weeks, but in the midst of it all my sister Jen came to town and we had a great visit.  We shopped and lunched and played and had kid time.  I had more late nights that weekend than I've had in the past year!  People are always amazed that we are sisters.  We look nothing alike, we dress nothing alike, we have different interests, she is high maintenance and glamorous, I am not. Despite all that, she is my best friend.  We talk almost every day.  We get along like a million bucks, laugh together, vent about life's challenges and share secrets.  Love you, sister! 

I did put lip gloss on special for this picture :)

After breakfast at Mimis

Jen is a dental hygienist so she was excited to buy Miles a pack of kiddie flossers.  She told him the story of the sugar bugs that live between his teeth and how they make cavities if we don't get rid of them every day.  He is now officially hooked and has to use one every single night before we brush his teeth.  Thanks sister!

A very staticy Iris doing her part to prevent cavities!

Boom

Iris took a digger at school last week.  All is well.  She just looks tough now with a few scabs and a bruise!

Winter has arrived!

We just had our first wintery weekend.  There was enough snow to require a driveway shoveling, at least according to Jeff :)  Miles got in on the action, although he decided it was best we have a path shoveled across the front yard.

It was the weekend to fill up the hot tub.  We told Miles that we would do it as soon as all the leaves fell off the big tree.  Since most have been bagged up and taken away it was time.  We went out first thing this morning, then followed that up with breakfast and a lazy day.  Good stuff!

Halloween 2011

Halloween was a blast and I'm guessing it's just going to get better every year.  Miles was spiderman and Iris was a cat...thanks Mom!  They were both so excited.  We decorated the house and hung spiders and spooky posters.  We also had our annual pumpkin carving party/BBQ with our friends.  We lucked out and had perfect weather the whole weekend.  It was actually a little balmy for trick or treating as opposed to the usual 40 degrees and sleeting. 

The daycare does an annual Halloween Parade where the kids walk through the building and all the Department of Health employees hand out candy (or toothpaste or bandaids depending on the program they work for).  Iris was a bit unsure of things, but I suppose it was a little overwhelming being surrounded by so many kids and adults in costume.  

The hallway looks deserted and scary in this picture, but there were about 40 kids coming behind us.  It only took Iris 5 seconds to understand that people were tossing treats in her bucket.  At the end it was so heavy she had to drag it.  I tried to carry it for her, but she freaked and kept saying mine!  I did manage to sneak some of her tootsie rolls though :)

I think 4 is the year of the super hero.  Miles is the padded, webbed arm-pitted one!

Two black cats, one of whom wanted nothing to do with the other.

We strolled with the neighbors and had a lot of fun.  Note Spiderman shooting webs at the camera man!

The masked parents!

And just for fun...a video of Iris figuring it all out.

Silver Lake

Hiking around up at Silver Lake this morning.  There was already some snow on the ground.

All bundled up and happy.

Love my little man and the reflection behind him.

Pretty impossible to get 2 kids to look toward the camera. O well!

A visit from Grandma and Grandpa Schmitt

My folks were just here in Salt Lake for a two week visit and we had such a great time.  I had a few days of alone time with them and I loved every second of it.  They watched the kids for the weekend and Jeff and I disappeared for a romantic getaway.  I haven't relaxed like that in years...seriously, years. Their visits are never long enough.  Two weeks isn't long enough, 2 months wouldn't be long enough.  I love them and enjoy them so much.  My heart is heavy when we part ways.  I wish we all lived closer together, but it is what it is.  Time to book tickets for our next visit so I'm not so sad!

Reading time with Grandma

My Mom created a little monster.  She spoiled Iris and played hours of nursery rhymes on You Tube for her, so anytime we sat at the table she thought she was going to get more of them.  Good thing the laptop is now back in Indiana!

Reading time with Grandpa

 Jeff and I stayed up near Pineview Reservoir for the weekend.  I love my kids so much, but it was great to have some alone time.  We slept in and read books and relaxed and had a few quiet meals out.  Perfect!  After dinner we strolled along the beach and Jeff snapped this shot. 

Group shot before we headed to the Farmers Market. 

Jeff's folks came down for an evening and we all got to hang out.  The last time I posted a picture of the whole group Iris was only 1 week old.  Here we are almost 2 years later.  I'm constantly blown away by how quickly time flies.

 

Up, up and away

We went up to Snowbird last Sunday morning.  The leaves are changing in the mountains and we hadn't been up yet to check them out.  We decided to take the tram to the top.  Miles had only been on it once and he was too little to remember.  He was definitely excited to be high in the air checking everything out.  We took a chair lift back down the mountain after we were done snacking and poking around.  That was my favorite part.  It's better for taking in the scenery and listening to the creeks and trying to spot some wildlife.  Miles was happy, but Iris was ready for a nap.  You win some, you lose some.
Speaking of Iris, she is in chatter mode.  I disappeared for 2 days for work and I swear she learned 5 new words.  She parrots everything we say.  Cheese stick, patience, kick the ball, book please, no Bella!  It's wild to witness kids develop their language skills.  I need to get the video camera out soon and capture some of it before she is speaking in complete sentences.

 I like this one because you can see the Cliff Lodge in the background...the place we said I do!

I always think the mountains look so cool from Hidden Peak.

Enjoying the slow cruise back down.