Christmas 2011

Instead of exchanging gifts with my side of the family this year, we decided to spend more time together. One of our activities included going on a Christmas story scavenger hunt hosted by the Grand America hotel downtown. It was very cute. I especially liked all the decorations. We got a delicious cookie from the bakery when we turned in our completed scavenger sheets.

On Christmas eve instead of exchanging gifts, we played a white elephant game. Don't be fooled by the cute wrapping above. These are all silly-as-can be gifts. The game was a lot of fun. I was especially pleased that my niece Cait was so excited to get an ugly junior high picture of myself.

I ended up with this awesome "teacher" nutcracker.

Tyler and I made these houses for the girls for Christmas this year. They almost didn't happen, but luckily Tyler was able to get a computer up and running in the nick of time.

Ella & Lily love when Shelby comes all the way from St. George to visit.

We enjoyed Christmas dinner at the Jones' house this year. Here are all the Jones cousins.

Minivan Express

The girls hopped into bed tonight & found this ticket on their pillows. They grabbed their robes, slippers, some hot chocolate & some yummy cinnamon toast and we were off. We drove around the neighborhood looking for neat Christmas lights. We found a bunch of great houses. The kids were so excited and I took a lot of pictures. Too bad I didn't have a memory card in my camera.

I think this is going to become a yearly tradition.

Also, we sold our business today. Woo Hoo!

Daycare provider

I have Lily in Daycare twice a week. It was the only way for me to get anything done (business wise). Lily thinks I'm rude when I work on the computer while she's home and since most of my work is done on the computer, obviously I have a hard time getting any work done.

Anyhow, her Daycare provider is looking for another kid or two to watch. Full or part time. She runs her business out of her basement in her home in South Jordan (near Daybreak). She does a preschool in the morning, then play time in the afternoon. She always has fun projects and activities for the kids. She is VERY organized. Since Lily loves tomatoes so much, during the summer, she would let Lily pick her own tomatoes to bring home each night (a whole bag full.) Our entire family has been very pleased with her services.

If you are interested in learning more about her, let me know, and I will pass her information along to you.

Did I mention she takes the kids on fun field trips in her ultra-long van? Here's her blog.

Dance Recital

Last night was Lily's dance recital. She did a great job!
Ella decided not to take dance this year. I didn't try to convince her since it's a bit out of our budget anyhow.
We ended up signing Ella up for a Free community class instead, called “How to make & keep friends.” It was a great class. She loved it. The best part is, it worked! Her bully is now her friend. Kids from school have started inviting her over to their homes to play with them. I might sign her up for it again this coming year.

Lily's Birthday

Except for taking down our spot at yet another boutique yesterday (which wasn't much work), and Tyler finishing up a little bit of my mom's house later that night. We spent the WHOLE day playing! Besides our trip to St. George a few months ago, it's been a long time since we've taken a whole day off from work. It was a fun day. Happy Birthday Lily! I'm glad we got to spend the whole day doing fun things with you!

Playgroup

Since Lily was mad at me on Thursday for being selfish and “hogging the computer” and not letting her have a turn on it. I realized I wasn't getting much work done on the computer anyhow, and decided to take her to a playgroup activity that a lady in my neighborhood organizes each month.

I wasn't expecting much. Just a bunch of kids playing at the church... but It ended up being amazing. There were crafts, and games, and food, and lots of activities. Even Santa came. It was Lily's first time seeing Santa in person. She was a little scared, but VERY excited.

I think we need to make more time in for playgroup in the future.

Moving Day

Last Saturday was busy. We set up & took down our spot in a holiday boutique, got our house ready for a showing, worked a little on my mom's house, then helped move her in. After a full day of work & sweat it was a fun treat to go downtown with my family to see the lights. We haven't taken Ella down to see the lights since she was one, and Lily had never been. They were excited to see so many lights.

Kids Creative Art Classes

I've had quite a few friends asking me if I'd teach art lessons to their kids. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I've decided to start offering Creative Art Classes for kids. I'm excited about it. My classes start in January 2012. I've already had a few kids register for a class :)

So, spread the word! Now until Dec. 5th, you can win a free class. Visit my website for more information.

We will be doing a lot of painting, drawing, and some unique projects that you won't find in any other art classes.

Happy 90th Birthday

Happy 90th Birthday to my grandpa who can still climb over an 8 foot fence if he thinks he needs to.

We celebrated his birthday at Thanksgiving Point yesterday.

Shutterfly

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Happy Halloween

Trick or Treat!

I was going to take a cute picture of Lily in her devil costume that she wore all day, but
she changed just before I got the chance last night. We aren't sure what she was dress as?

I made these Jack-o-lantern salads for dinner. I saw the idea on Pinterest. I got the idea to put a salad in it from my aunts. Lily was especially excited about these.

Jones Family Halloween Party

Lily: Mom, see how mean my face looks in that picture? I told ya I was a killer barbie.

Tummy Talk

Lily: Guess what my tummy just told me.
Me: That you are hungry for lunch?
Lily: No, it just told me that I am stubborn.

Las Vegas/St. George

We were originally planning on going to Disneyland, but since the only things the girls really wanted to do this summer, were play on the beach and see a shark... we decided to go on an inexpensive trip instead. We got a fantastic deal on a one night stay at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. It was perfect. There were sharks & their pool had a beach area, wave pool, & lazy river.
Ella loved the lazy river & wave pool. Lily, we found out, is scared of water. She enjoyed playing in the sand.


This was Lily's first time in a hotel. It was also her first trip outside of Utah. She was so excited.
Both the girls loved all the lights in Las Vegas. We also took them over to the "Old School Las Vegas" area. They loved the giant outdoor T.V. screen.

We visited the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.

Our Las Vegas adventure ended with a delicious dinner with Brent & Cherese. Ella said that seeing them was her favorite part of Las Vegas.



Next, we went to St. George where we stayed with my family in my Grandparents Condo. It was a perfect time to be in St. George. We were lucky to be able to meet our new nephew & cousin Liam who was born late Thursday night. The girls didn't get to meet him yet because he was in intensive care, but they can't wait until he comes up to Salt Lake next month.

We found a bunch of Pomegranates near Tyler's parents rental units. They were so delicious, and we ate some every night.

We also visited the splash park & rode the Merry-Go-Round.
We went swimming and played in the hot tub.

Trisha made a pumpkin piñata. The girls loved it.

We had such a great Fall Break! I think Ella really needed to do something like this.
We all did.

Free Christmas Card

You can get this Christmas card I designed. FREE at Zazzle!

Use the promo code LUQXCSGPWPXL to get one free holiday card printed with the design above. Limit one per customer.

Spread the word!

TERMS:
100% of card net sale price (excluding shipping and taxes) is deducted when qualifying http://www.zazzle.com/137485768822689247 greeting card is purchased from http://www.zazzle.com/sweetlittlebling and the coupon code LUQXCSGPWPXL is applied at checkout. Offer does not apply to create your own cards. Offer does not apply to card orders of two or more. Buyer is responsible for shipping and handling and sales tax charges. Failure to comply with promotional offer conditions may result in order cancellation. Offer is valid through November 24, 2011 at 11:59pm PT. Offer does not apply to past purchases and may not be combined with any other Zazzle promotional or volume discount offers. If a volume discount applies to your order, you will receive either the discount set forth in this offer or the standard volume discount, whichever is greater. Offer valid on Zazzle.com only.

Barnyard Boo

My friends were able to get us into Barnyard Boo for a decent price last night. I didn't even know this existed. The kids had so much fun. There were games, pony rides, hayrides, and fun friends to play with.

We didn't know that Ella knew how to do the Hula Hoop. She's really good at it.

Lily has always wanted to ride on a pony or horse.
We had a lot of fun. I think it's just what Ella needed. She's been in a bad mood for months, but she had a great time, and has been very pleasant today.

Busy Bags

Today Lily and I met with our playgroup friends (AKA my cousin's and their kids) to exchange busy bags.
Later my friends and I went out for Caramel Apples.

Jessica's Baby Blessing

We went to Jessica's baby blessing last Sunday. Lily was mad that we had to go to church.
Lily (in a whiny voice): Mom, the only reason I'm going to church is because Jesus loves me.

Good enough reason to me.
(photo by Jami Jones)

say it with me

Every time Lily tries to teach me something. I laugh. Really hard.

Lily: Mom, that is called a traffic light. Can you say traffic light? Say it with me. Traaafffiiic Liiiight.

I also laugh every time she says, “What in the whole wide world?”
Seriously, who taught her that phrase?

A private phone call to Elmo

Lily: Mom, I'm going to make a phone call, so don't listen to it, or follow me to my room.

She learned to run to her room and shut the door while she talks on the phone by watching her silly sister Ella.

Lily: Hello. Am I talking to Elmo? Yes. Hi, my name is Lily Jones. I wanted to tell you that I am Lily Jones and not Barbie. Even though I look like Barbie, I am Lily Jones.
Goodbye.

I really didn't follow her, she just has a loud voice.

Important & cute

Lily: mom, I need to tell you something important and cute.
Me: what is it?
Lily: we should go to Lizzleeland.

I don't know about important, but it was defiantly cute!

Lily: dad, I need to tell you something important and cute & even cuter.
Tyler: okay.
Lily: let's go to Target in 6 days.

3 year old kids are funny

Me: Put this away please. Lily: I can't. Me: Why? Lily: Because I'm a bad helper. I very bad helper.

Lily crying hysterically: Mom, dad won't share his big machine for work with me.

I told my kids we might go to Disneyland this year. Lily: I don't want to go to Disneyland. Me: What do you want to do? Lily: I want to go on a clothing shopping spree.

Horse Lessons

Ella is off track & we haven't done anything fun. I always feel guilty when she's off track and I spend the whole time working. I saw a Groupon for an hour private horseback riding lesson so I signed her up in order to help ease my guilt. Ella has been asking to take riding lessons for a while now. She’d prefer Catback to Horseback, but I think she really enjoyed riding the horse tonight.


She groomed the horse, helped saddle it up, she even took off on a gallop. Now we are left with just one problem. She thinks she's going to take lessons full time. Maybe I'll have to help her set up her own Etsy shop so she can afford them.

2nd Grade

I can't believe Ella is in 2nd grade today! She had a fun summer (although it was only 3 weeks long) thanks to my mom for watching her every day that I had to work, and thanks to Tyler for working more than extra-super-duper hard the past 3 weeks so that I could take a few breaks and hang out with her.

Silly Kids

Ella: Mom, can you sign me up for horseback riding lessons? Unless you can find catback riding lessons. If they have catback riding lessons, then I want to do that instead of riding a horse.

Lily: Mom, can you take me to the doctors today?
Me: Why? Are you sick?
Lily: No, I want the doctor to cut my tummy open and put a baby in it. I'm ready to be a mom.

Ella: I'm going to be an art teacher when I grow up. What are you going to be?
Lily: Ummm, a grandma.

{cute photo by Heather Tycksen}

Video

The Capitol

Ella's school class was invited to perform a few songs at the Governor's Summit this weekend. It was a meeting for the Governors of each state, and a bunch of Chinese Ambassadors. It sounds a lot more exciting than it really was. Tyler and I enjoyed a lazy morning at the State Capitol. Ella enjoyed the marble floors and a little tour of the building.


I guess this meeting is a huge deal in China. Which means Ella's class made national news throughout China. There were lots of Chinese press at the event. It probably won't make local news, but Ella is excited that she'll be on T.V. in China.


Here's a picture of Ella's class performing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in Chinese.