10 Things ...

A very awesome sister in our ward is having a 2011 10 things party where you bring a list of your top 10 things that happened in 2011. I thought this was a great idea. With all of the health issues we deal with sometimes we feel like nothing goes right but as I thought over the last year here are some of my favorite things.

1. I got a job working for the Church as a custodian. And in September got to transfer to the Jordan River Temple - what a blessing for a job.

2. We found out we are having a baby girl!

3. I discovered Lemishine - if you get a white build up on your dishes because of the formula changes in dish detergent it will be the best $3 purchase you ever made!

4. Makayla got accepted to the Utah school for the Deaf and Blind. She is loving her class and doing so great.

5. We only set foot in an ER 3 times the whole year. Which by the way is a record for our family :) And only 1 hospital stay for our kids.

6. I am getting better at not using eggs in baking. The treat possibilities have opened up!

7. We had some fun memories made at the zoo, aquarium, drive in movies, parks, and camping

8. We got to experience the true meaning of Christmas first hand helping a single mother give her 5 kids a Christmas they would not have had. After we delivered the gifts and food Makayla looked at me and said, "Mom I am sure glad we helped those kids" Lots of tears on that car ride home.

9. I went to my first hockey game ever - it was a blast

10. Micah is almost completely potty trained! He only wears a pull up while he sleeps and is starting to wake up dry most of the time. Perfect timing since our baby is on the way!

What are your ten???

Christmas Program

The first grade at Makayla's school did a Christmas Program. We got to go watch, it was so cute! They did a very good job with it. They had speaking parts and even sang a couple of songs in Spanish. My parents came to watch too and she was super excited to see us there. Makayla has had a hard time singing songs because of her hearing and speech delays. She just can't seem to get all the words out with the tune of the song. She did so well with these songs. She got almost all the words and I was so proud of her. I find her singing along to the Christmas songs we hear on the radio and while she plays with her toys.

This is Makayla and her best friend at school Savanna. They are only 2 days apart and are such good buddies. They both have hearing problems and I hear about Savanna all the time. They even have a sleep over planned!

After the program I checked Makayla out from school for just over an hour and took her to McDonalds for lunch. She had fun playing with Micah and my niece Mylee in the play area and then we took her back to school. Later when she came home she was all sad and I finally got it out of her that she missed eating lunch at school! I guess I can't win. We had a fun day and I am so glad we went to watch.

Christmas Cookies and Christmas Tree

I try to make sugar cookies every year around Christmas. I don't know what it is but I just want sugar cookies at that time of year. I have had a hard time finding a recipe that works without eggs. This one had some definite potential. I think I finally figured out the thickness and time cooked by the end to make them soft and yummy. The kids had fun decorating them. What is life without a little sprinkles on the floor?

The kids helped decorate the Christmas Tree this year. They actually did a great job. Even Micah put them all over instead of all on the same branch. We had lots of fun getting the ornaments out and talking about past Christmas memories. If you notice Makayla's outfit, she misses summer! She is constantly coming out in shorts or carpi's which I only allow if we are not leaving the house because it is COLD!!

Micah wanted to take some pictures and these are two of our tree that I thought were pretty impressive for a 2 year old :)

We had a fun month leading up to Christmas. We did all get the stomach flu and missed some parties but the Christmas excitement built up just the same. We visited Temple Square to see the wonderful lights and I totally forgot the camera! But Micah was enthralled by the lights. It was fun to drive around a night because we would hear "look more lights" as he saw new houses with lights on. As a matter of fact he is still on the look out for lights even though most of them have been turned off by now. I waited to wrap the presents to put them under the tree until 1 week before Christmas because I did not want the kids to be too tempted to open them. The first morning they were under there Micah was next to the tree shaking the presents and asking Makayla whose it was. She knows all of our names I was cracking up! I have the worlds cutest kids!