Toodles 2016!

The last few days of 2016 were pretty dang awesome.  Zach was off work, the kids were finally sleeping again after our Christmas marathon in Utah, and we had literally POUNDS of chocolate left from our stockings.  In case you were wondering, I still have 5 chocolate orange segments left.  Self Control Master, right here.

To honor the annual Haight Sledding Party we held our own sledding fiesta with some friends.  We weren't sure how into it the kids would be, but it turns out that once they had a taste Zach and I were in for hours of back-breaking sledding.  Seriously, towing those chunks up the hill is no joke.

I can not get over Porter in his snow suit.  It's slightly too big and baggy in the rear end, making it extremely entertaining to watch him waddle around.  The "Oompa Loompa" song automatically starts in my head every time I see him in it.

Cutie!

We spent New Years with Eli's girlfriend in Twin Falls, Idaho.  It was so fun to reunite Eli and Gwen, and when we finally got them to sleep, it was so fun to hang out with some grown-ups.  Carson and I kicked trash at Dominion and Settlers!

On New Years Day we tried to get the kids to celebrate with sparklers since they missed the fireworks the night before, but only Gwen was brave enough to hold them.  Oh well, at least the adults had fun.

The kids spent the whole visit alternating between playing together like a dream and screaming, often in the same minute. These pictures are taken only 3 seconds apart.

On the drive home we made our New Years resolutions, and for accountability's sake, we will post some of them here:

PORTER:
- Learn how to jump (he's so close!)
- Graduate from the high chair
- Start potty training
- No bottles by August

ELI:
- Learn to write all letters and numbers
- Count to 100
- Start piano lessons
- Learn to tie shoes and get dressed by himself
- Put head underwater at swimming lessons

CLARISSA:
- Complete Run the Year
- PR half marathon
- Complete Spanish work book
- Do not buy more fabric until all other projects are done
- Index once a month
- Catch up photobooks (dream big, right?)

ZACH:
- Complete Run the Year
- Run at least one marathon
- Bench 315 lbs
- Reach Spanish 200 level
-Get Eli to forget the Troll's movie songs by the end of 2017.

Wish us luck!

Christmas, According to Eli (vol. 2)

Once again, Eli will be captioning this year's Christmas pictures for your reading pleasure:

Smith's Pharmacy Christmas Party: "Party with all of Daddy's work friends.  We had M&Ms and played a lot."

Preschool Christmas Party (siblings were invited): "We made num-nums and cookies and played 'Santa Says.'  Everyone got some drawing books and pencils!"

-------We were lucky to spend Christmas in Utah this year.  The only trade-off was complete chaos and some tired, over-stimulated kids (and parents).  We loved it.-----

Christmas Morning: "Me right there!  Next to Austin.  We had to wait to see what Santa brought.  He brought Christmas presents."

"Santa brought me lots and lots of play doh!  And lego ninjas."  

[Were you excited Eli?] 

"Uh huh."

"Daddy is opening his stocking."

[What did Daddy get?]

"Uh... a watch.  And a blue car and a white car." 

"I got a star in my stocking!"

"Mommy was really happy because she got sooooo many presents."

[What's Porter doing?]

"Playing with the duck.  He did that a lot" (understatement).

Christmas Evening at the Judkins: "We watched Aunt Channel.  We talked to her."
[Did you get presents?]
"My shark!  And books! And we watched a show."
(Marsha made all the grandsons shark blankets (pictured below).  It was and is still very popular.)

On our way out of town we got to visit another Christmas present, courtesy of Hans and Laura: our new nephew Grant!  He's pretty much adorable.

"Mckenna's new baby!"

Happy Christmas (a month ago) from all of us to you!

TrahdeeeeeSHUN!

Many are the traditions of the Magleby family, but the most diligently kept and my personal favorite is the Little America Christmas Weekend.  Every year we swim at the hotel, have dinner in the cafe, ride Trax to see the lights on Temple Square, meet back for treats, sleep (or not sleep, depending on child status) have the delicious brunch at the hotel, and see A Christmas Carol at the Hale Theater.  It's magical.

This whole shebang acts as a dual heart-warmer for me because it happens to be the weekend that, seven years ago, my own little family started when Zach proposed.  So, no matter what obstacles or distances might stand in our way, when the Maglebys meet at Little America we are THERE.

Port and Eli at dinner.  Rolls added to rolls upon rolls.

Riding Trax

The Founders of the Feast and Fun

Maglebys! No, we don't own the restaurant.

We took pictures at the beginning, giving the impression that our kids were happy and energetic the whole visit.  A false impression.

Running through the hotel with McKenna

Best. Breakfast. Ever. Always.

Eli was finally old enough to see the play with us this year (ok, maybe we padded his age by two months) and despite a few scares from the ghosts of Marley and Christmas Yet To Come, he liked it quite a bit.  Quote, "the actors were so fun!"   In fact, Eli loved the whole trip and I think this is the year that he will finally remember it.  A toast to passing on traditions!

Poor November

It's not like there's anything wrong with November, November is an awesome month; it has my birthday, Thanksgiving, fall weather, etc.  I just never seem to blog in November.  Then when I get pumped to write about December happenings I put it off because poor November has been neglected until I can stand it no longer and just do a November highlights post.  This year is no exception.

So.  NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS:

Birthday Times

All I wanted for my birthday this year was to have one morning where I could sleep in with Zach as long as I wanted to and not have to wake up to immediate child caring.  Thanks to my sweet parents and husband my wish was granted.  The weekend before my birthday we dropped the boys off with their doting grandparents and Zach and I had a marvelous two days in Park City, full of delicious food and child-free shopping. 

When we got back the Judkins were so sweet as to have a second birthday celebration for me, complete with Tawny's amazing desserts.  That woman's pastry skills amaze me.  

On my actual birthday we were home and Zach had to work, but that didn't stop me, Eli and Porter from making and consuming large amounts of banana cream pie.

Thanksgiving
Thanks to the Haights (who are great) Zach and I started out our Thanksgiving with a 5k at Thanksgiving Point.  Since I signed up just two weeks before, it seemed pointless to try and train so we both did it cold turkey (get it? So punny).  I've been more sore after a race, but not that much more.

As our contribution to the food, Eli put his play doh skills to practical use and made pie after pie with Grandma:

We pulled off two Thanksgiving dinners again this year and it was as crazy as ever.  At the Magleby's Porter ate his first ever turkey dinner (if "eating" can be defined as dipping everything in your water glass and smushing it around your tray and down your pants) and Eli loved hanging with his cousins.

We didn't get any pictures of the food at the Judkins' (which is a shame because it was way yummy) but there was lots of this action, which made my heart happy:

Fall Weather
Despite having two trees removed from our yard in October we still ended up raking a ridiculous amount of leaves (20 garbage bags full, to be precise).  But Porter and Eli loved it so much that it was almost worth it.

 It was just in time too, because before December could even start it snowed, which fulfilled all of Eli's greatest fantasies.  Porter had no fantasies, but ate the snow anyway.

 
Family Pictures
As our final November highlight, we had family pictures taken by the talented Randy.  The children
(and, let's be honest- the husband) were not thrilled, and no amount of degrading antics or silly faces could get Porter to smile for a single shot.  But I love them anyway.

A Flash Sighting

This Halloween season has been the longest of my young life.  

Maybe it's because we're at the store to visit Zach so often, and they started putting out decorations in late July.

Maybe it's because we got the costumes way early in a deliberate avoidance of my usual last-minute panic/settling.

Maybe it's because we actually decorated the house this year and I had to watch the slow decay of the fake spiderwebs outside and the Porter-destruction of everything else inside.

Maybe it's because we had at least four Halloween parties that we threw or attended in the week leading up to the big day.

The Flash rescuing stuffed animals from Mom's room

Or maybe it's because Eli was SO DANG EXCITED for it.  He was incredibly thrilled to be The Flash and have Porter as his Green Lantern sidekick.  He actually remembered trick-or-treating from last year and couldn't wait to do it again.  He insisted that our daily walks be "Halloween Hunts", which involve lots of excited shrieking when scary decorations were spotted.  Good times!

Joy school party

Our ward primary is pretty small, even for Elko, so the ward trunk-or-treat was especially gratifying for Eli.  Tons of attention and even more candy!

Porter did't get too into the pumpkin carving- he mostly just tried to eat it, but Eli nearly wet his pants he was so eager.  Many minutes of serious pumpkin research went into his carving choice.

Zach's dragon, Porter's poop, Eli's bats, Clarissa's Frankenstein

To wrap up, the month of October was a Halloween blast.  But in the dark secret part of my Mommy heart I am so glad it's November.

DC Fam