Christmas Eve Hosts

Since we finished our bathroom, we decided we were fit for lots of guests this Christmas and we were lucky enough to get 11 visitors this year. Keith's parents came, along with Amy, Ryan and cutie pie Rex, and Curtis and Alisha and all four of their fun kiddos. We had a very full and very merry household.

Christmas Eve just happens to be Keith's dad's birthday, and we generally celebrate by making him take us out to breakfast (actually he volunteers). By some miracle, we all managed to leave the house by 8:30 to meet for breakfast in SLC at 9:30. We met Adam and Elana's familythere too. Breakfast did not disappoint (except for our party was so large that we didn't exactly all sit together). I got biscuits and gravy and the gravy was basically cheese. Yummers. The above picture is all the kids harassing Uncle Ryan, he is such a good sport.

Next Keith treated us all to go see Tangled. If you have not seen this movie, quit reading my blog and go see it now. It is the cutest movie ever. I loved it. Here we are riding TRAX to go see it. And yes, riding the train was loads of fun for the kids.
After our movie, we headed out to our house for soup and sandwiches. I generally cook a big dinner on Christmas Eve, but opted out due to time (we were going to be gone all day) and motivation (feeding 20+ people sounded like too much work). The guys and the kids went swimming, while the mommies and the babies chatted and ate. We ate dinner in shifts and soon we were ready for Christmas Eve to really begin. All the kiddos opened their jammies (and some adults too).
We then had a lovely Christmas Eve program. I read a story about Mary (remember how I love her), Isaac played the trumpet, the kids sang Away In A Manger and Uncle Adam gave a lovely devotional about how we are all princes and princesses. It was awesome. We all blubbered and were reminded once again of how blessed we truly are.
I think the kids went to bed around 10:30 . . . pretty late, but they were all so excited and all in the same room. Curtis, Alisha, Keith and I were up until at least midnight. Stay tuned for what Santa brought . . .

Beware: Blog Overload!

I am a little behind on the blogging front. Plus, I wanted to beat the number of posts I did last year (42) and am now cheating to surpass that goal by posting several random tidbits in one day. Man, I am one pathetic loser.

Let's just hope that when I say my New Year's resolution is to be a more faithful blogger, that I actually become a more faithful blogger. I am not that bad, but I could be better. I swear I will do better in 2011. I want to have a post once a week, how hard can that be?

Anyway, for those who care (but mostly for myself) . . . please scroll through my meaningless posts and enjoy. Or at least be jealous of my stinkin' cute kids.

All I want for Christmas is a toilet!

I asked Santa for a bathroom downstairs this Christmas. Our basement has been finished for two years without a bathroom. Santa didn't seem all that excited about finishing the basement himself (he is very busy this time of year ya know), so he hired someone to do it.

The bathroom was finished just in time for Christmas and all 11 visitors that came along with it.

Isn't that toilet beautiful? I love the way it turned out. Thanks Santa! I sure am a spoiled girl.

Leo's first Christmas

Love that double chin.

Love those little smiles.

Best Christmas gift ever.

Where's Waldo?

Have you ever seen a more precious baby?

Having a "newborn" at Christmas was so magical. I am just head over heels with this baby boy of mine. He started sleeping through the night at six weeks. He likes to stay up late, we go to bed around 11:30. He loves the binky. He is a total mama's boy. He weighs about 11 pounds already. He is very calm and very smiley. He smiles if you direct any attention at him whatsoever. He still has all that crazy newborn hair. He has no crying stamina, crying for him lasts about one minute. He is a snuggler. He loves to be clicked at or whistled at. He is currently my favorite child (is that wrong?). Don't tell my other kids . . .

We love Leo and are so blessed to have him in our family!

Family pictures . . .

For the first time since we were married six and a half years ago, we got family pictures taken. We are so cute, I can't believe we didn't do this sooner. Thanks again Megan!

Baby Leo Curtis meets Uncle Curtis

Uncle Curtis and his family came to stay with us over Christmas. I loved seeing Leo Curtis with his Uncle Curtis. Curtis is hilarious. He is wonderful. He is kind and loving. He is a great dad. He is a great uncle. He makes Keith squirt milk out of his nose.

And as you can see, Leo quite liked him. Well, maybe it was Curtis who liked Leo.

Here Curtis and Leo are joint mocking people who make funny faces when they sing.

Aren't they cute?

Mary

Warning: If you have a baby near Christmastime, someone will inevitably ask you to play Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus (even if you have blond hair).

Yes, Keith and I were "lucky" enough to get to play Mary and Joseph with baby Leo as Jesus at our RS Christmas party this year. We live in somewhat of a retirement village and were chosen by default. I think only two babies were born in our ward this year. . . the other one is eight months old.

Even though I found this task kind of embarrassing, it was a blessing and testimony building. I have always said that Mary is my hero, especially since having babies of my own. Having children has strengthened my relationship with my Savior and Heavenly Father. I actually quite enjoy the birthing process (probably because I get epidurals) because in my time of need, I always feel the comfort of the Savior and Heavenly Father. I can only imagine the strength that Mary received after traveling for 100 miles on a donkey and giving birth to the Savior in a stable. I know she had comfort. I know she was not alone.

Trials allow us the opportunity to rely on Heavenly Father. In our time of need, we are never abandoned.
And I must say Baby Leo played a very cute Baby Jesus. Do you think they had binkies back then?

I love three!

I am still in heaven with these three little boys of mine. This is the first time I have not experienced some awesome postpartum depression, so that's nice! I kept saying that when Baby Leo was in my tummy, I knew he would bring me so much joy. When I thought of him, I was so happy. As it turns out, my feelings were right. This kid turns me inside out.

We are also learning how to turn this kid inside out. He loves to smile. Even with all the awesome baby acne and skin peeling he has going on. Poor baby.

He's quite the little chunk. At least 10 lbs already! He still just wakes up once a night and goes back to bed. He does not puke. I have about 20 burp cloths if anyone has a need.
Benson and Griffin love him more and more each day. Benson holds him a lot and Griffin tries to poke his eyes out (this is how Griffin shows love).

Random side note: I organized Keith's work party. We love SignCity. They just launched a new website for printing awesome canvas pictures, which are my fav. Anyways, we had so much fun planning the party and celebrating all the wonderful people Keith works with. We seriously cried as we talked about it and we both cried at the party as we expressed our love for those wonderful people. Yes, we are ridiculous.

Here is a picture of the fun. Check out my sweet headband. Love it!

Keith somehow convinced me to get family pictures taken just four weeks after having a baby. Scary. Luckily we have been having some awesome warm weather and were able to take some outside. The awesome Megan Hanson took them. Love her. Love the pics. My kids are so dang cute.

And the boys got to sit with Santa. Leo missed out due to feeding time. That means I missed out too. They were both pretty nervous. There was lots of crying while waiting in line, but they felt better when they got their candy and got to sit with Jolly Ole St. Nicholas.

Matching outfits again? I need therapy.

Can't wait until Mr. Claus gets to visit our house.

Kick off to Christmas

Last night we did my most favorite thing to kicking off Christmas (besides lots of shopping and decorating the Christmas tree) . . . we went to see the lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Keith's parents have a time share condo in SLC, across from the Conference Center and generously offer it to us each year in December to use as a family. We were so excited to have a fun little family outing.

We took "TRAX" to dinner. We have always been afraid to take this train for some reason, but we recently found out it is free to use in all of downtown. Cool eh? Benson has already told me 10 times today how awesome riding the train was.

Griffin always looks likes he is going to sneeze or he is mad in pictures. Awesome.

In this picture, Griffin is telling me that he is peeing his pants. Double Awesome.

Griffin was so mad at dinner. He would not tell me why. Finally we figured out he wanted to sit on his knees because he couldn't reach his drink very well. I asked him to make a mad face for this one. Triple Awesome.

Here are the boys in front of the shepherds that you can't see in the background. Leo is underneath the blanketed stroller and that is all you will see of him in this post. He slept the night away swaddled tightly in the stroller.

Here is a nice picture of me in front of the temple. Recently I read a Fashion Police review of Jessica Simpson, where they mentioned she should have bought her coat in the next size up. I believe the same could be said for me! Dang pregnancy weight, will you go away already?

We have several poorly attempted pictures in front of the statue of the Resurrected Savior. This is the only one with the full statue in it. Love those BYU hats we got the boys, so cute and warm.

I loved the nativity. The boys talked a lot about baby Jesus and his birthday. Having just given birth, I cannot believe the courage of Mary. She is my hero.

I finally buckled down and asked someone to take an actual family picture (Leo still in stroller).

I sure love the temple.

Side note: Santa has purchased most of the Christmas presents for the boys. It's going to be a good Christmas!

Family Update

More photos taken by the insanely talented Megan Hanson.

Here is an email I sent out to our family of what has been going on lately . . . sorry for those of you who get that email, now you get to read it twice!

Hello family,

We have had a busy three weeks since Baby Leo Curtis joined our family. If it were up to me, I would just sit in a rocking chair all day and hold Leo, he is so sweet. My recovery from having him has been so easy. It has been such a blessing to feel good. Even though I am pretty tired, I feel great. I went swimming just two weeks after having him! Leo is a very calm baby. He hardly makes a peep (except for he groans and growls all the time, which is pretty funny) and is mostly happy to just hang out. We blessed him on Sunday. I always forget how wonderful it is to bless a baby. Keith gave him a very beautiful blessing. We had a catered lunch after with family and friends that could make it. We sure have a lot of extra food. I am pretty sure I won't have to cook for a few more weeks, as long as everyone in the family is okay with eating pulled pork and brisket for every meal. I don't think Keith will complain!

Yesterday was the first day I had all three kids alone since Leo was born. It was so wonderful. I like being a mom of three and driving a minivan! It is about all I can do to keep from bursting into tears everywhere I go because I feel so blessed. The boys have adjusted well to their baby brother. They ask to hold him, then hold him for about 30 seconds and are done. If he makes a noise, they come running and want to give him a binky. They love to sing him songs. It is so nice that they have each other to keep entertained.

We decorated the Christmas tree last night for family night. It was pretty cute. When we were all done, the bottom half of the Christmas tree was all decorated, as far as the boys could reach. I wish I was a nice enough mom to leave it like that, but I had to fix it. They are excited about Santa coming and know that Christmas is Jesus' birthday. If they want something at the store, I tell them to ask Santa for it.

I have had some poor attempts at potty training Griffin the last few weeks. In the last two days though, he has told me when he needs to go potty. He still doesn't get the #2 part, so we will see if I have the patience to keep this going. If I can remember to take him potty, he does pretty good. He is a very funny kid. He talks and talks and talks, which has prompted the potty training. Keith always says he reminds him of Seth. He is Benson's shadow and loves to follow him around and torment him.

Benson is so old. He is hilarious in primary and raises his hand and stands up to answer every question, even if he doesn't know the answer. He says really funny things. He has recently become obsessed with playing on the computer. He asks to do it constantly. Keith thinks it is time to buy him a sweet gaming system, and also to have a family home evening on time management. It is so nice that Benson can buckle his car seat, get dressed by himself and go potty by himself. He is also good at loading the dishwasher and picking up his room.

Keith is still working hard. He is always good to go see what Leo needs when he is crying and I am too tired to move! He just cleaned out our garage and even hung a tennis ball from the garage ceiling so I don't wreck our new van. He already wants to have another baby, that guy is nuts. He spoils me rotten.

We sure love our family! We can't wait to have Grandma and Grandpa Johnson and Amy, Ryan and Rex at our house this Christmas.

Love,
Keith, Lisa, Benson, Griffin, and Baby Leo