Unsuccessful!

Not so cute. What is that face?

Why! Why is it so darn hard to get a decent picture of both my girls? This isn't the first time that I had spent hours of preparation to make my girls look cute, curling hair, getting Christmas dresses on, tights, shoes, bracelets, bows, wiped faces, blew noses, all for a cute photo and what happens? Macy doesn't cooperate. Ever. I took tons of shots and this is what I get. Why do I bother. I give up. Jenn, I need some tips. I guess at least I know they looked cute for a moment.



bad picture



Way bad picture



Macy loving every minute. I give up here.

Spoooooky stories by the tree

This is my darling co-op group! I babysat a couple Friday nights ago and the kids were cracking me up all night long! I just want to squish them, I think they are so cute! Raegan has a mini Christmas tree in her room that she gets to decorate, and re-decorate all she wants. The kids turned off the lights and left only the Christmas lights on (You can't tell that in the pictures).They used the top of the tree as a microphone, (where do kids come up with this stuff?), and told stories to eachother. The audience was very polite and everyone got a turn, and at the end of their stories they all clapped and yelled "Bravo, bravo!" Mallorys story was about Ariel and Prince Eric. Jacks story included multiple "light sabers"?. Kenlie told us all about Snow White and other various princesses. Raegan's story was about alligators. It was definately the spookiest and she used her hands as shadow puppets on the wall. I love these kids!

Introducing The Candy Cane Dancer!!

She's a natural performer! Can you believe she composed this song on her own! Genius! I just love this girl! Don't quit your day job Raegan!

Panty Princess

For the past month Macy has been obsessed with wearing panties over her diaper. She always has to have them on. I've tried sneaking them off while changing her diaper, but she notices and throws a fit, and to be honest, it's just not a battle worth fighting. Somedays shes perfers 3 or 4 pairs on, on top of eachother. I had a friend tell me it's time to potty train, are they crazy?! She's 21 months old! I'm not cleaning up accident after accident. Although Santa is going to put some of her own potty training panties in her stocking. She will be ready when the time comes, and she doesn't have to fight with Raegan over who gets to wear the princess panties.

True Meaning

A couple nights ago I opened Raegans door to check on her before I went to bed and this is what I found. That is a picture of Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus. I let her keep this on her dresser and I just about cried when I saw that she got out of bed to get it and then fell asleep looking at it. How sweet! It was a good reminder to me of what Christmas is all about, because I have to admit at times I get wrapped up in the all the hustle and bustle of Christmas and don't take enough time to reflect on the true meaning.

When I showed Raegan this picture of her sleeping she said, "Oh yeah, that was me with my picture so that I wouldn't be afraid." For about a month straight she has woken up in the night scared and has come into our room. We bought her a night light. It didn't work. This was the first night in a month that she didn't wake up. I know that our little children are close to the spirit. Now it's our job to help keep them there!

It's snow time!!

Finally, some snow! It just doesn't feel like Christmas without snow. Well my girls were so excited to wake up to the snow this morning, in fact that's how I was woken up. Raegan came to the side of my bed in the wee hours of the morning and wispered in my ear "Mom it's lots of snow outside, you want to see?" As much as I wanted to see, I wanted to sleep even more. Macy was watching the snow outside and said in a disgusted tone, "EEEWWWW" She was a little more hesitant to go play in that gross snow.
Raegan couldn't wait to make snow balls so right after breakfast we started getting all the snow gear on, an hour later we were ready for a good 10 minutes of snow fun. It took me way longer to get snow gear on than the time they actually played outside. Once Macy was all decked out it reminded me of the boy on Christmas Story that couldn't move with his snow suit on. At least I know she was warm, even if she could barely walk and couldn't get up once she fell down.

I'm thankful for...

I asked Raegan what she was thankful for this year. She said "My mom, dad, sister and brother!" I asked who her brother was, because the last time I checked she didn't have a brother! She said "My brother Jack!"

I'm so thankful for these darling girls! I sometimes can't stand it I love them so much! I'm also, of course, thankful for my hubby and all he does for our family. I absolutely love my family, all of them, even the in laws! My neighbors are pretty great too. I've been so blessed!

Thanksgiving time always excites me, mainly because I know Christmas is coming! This thanksgiving was spent with the Swensen side of the family. Raegan had the time of her life making gingerbread houses and playing with her cousins. Kurt is convinced that Thanksgiving is a mans holiday. He woke up, went to play football, ate tons of food, watched football with the guys, went skeet shooting, ate again, and then watched more football. The women all baked and helped the kids with the gingerbread houses and then cleaned up the mess. But we did have a great time with our family on Thanksgiving!

Tag I'm it!

I'd like to thank Kristin for tagging me and giving me this opportunity to spill my guts. Hopefully none of the three people that read this will think any less of me at the end.



1. I'm extremely paranoid when it comes to food spoiling. You will never find anything in my fridge that is even remotely close to its expiration date. I refuse to eat leftovers that are over three days old. I have dumped half gallons of milk down the sink because its the day before they are suppose to expire. I know, I know, it doesn't mean its bad yet, but in my mind it is. So please don't be offended if I don't eat your potato salad at the ward BBQ, I love potato salad but who knows how long its been sitting out! I'm not getting food poisoning!



2. I graduated with a degree in Elementary Education and a minor in Early Childhood Development and yet, I still send Raegan to Learning Dynamics. Everyone needs a little free time in the day.



3. I don't have any pets, I don't ever plan to have any either. Although, I have had a few run ins with animals in the past: I've been licked by a buffalo, played Donkey Basketball, been trapped in my home by a porcupine guarding my car door, and have been woken up at 3:00am by someone breaking into my window which turned out to be a deer in my window well eating the vines off the window pane.



4. Brace yourself- I was arrested in high school! No handcuffs, but my friends and I did have to go to the police station with our parents and fill out arrest papers. Luckily my dad is awesome and talked the cops out of putting it on our records since it would effect us being able to get into a decent college. Who knew that water balloons could shatter a windshield!



5. I have been blessed to be able to travel my entire life. Thanks to my dads travel business I've been to 9 different countries, traveled all over the U.S. and been to Disney more times then I can count. Unfortunately the traveling slowed down once I got married and became a Swensen. Is Kurt worth it? I don't know! Just kidding, I love him!



6. I'm painfully shy. I always have been. It takes every bit of courage in me to talk to someone new, and sometimes even someone I already know! At times I have been tagged as being snotty because of it, but this isn't the case. I'm just deathly afraid! I absolutely hate this part of me! I now hate it whenever anybody says Raegan is shy in front of her, because I don't want her to think that and get a complex.

7. I've had laser hair removal. My pits are as smooth as a baby's butt!

Alright, now about the tagging part. I'm suppose to tag 7 people, but I just started blogging and haven't yet convinced all my family and friends that blogging is something they need to be doing. So as a result, I have put anyone who I have seen blog on my little blogger list, whether they want to be on it or not-sorry. They have all been tagged! So to those of you who I'm still trying to get to blog, watch out! Once you start you may be tagged by me. Don't let this change your decision to start a blog! I'm talking to you: Jaime, Haley, Beth, Tiffany, Ty, Kristie, Trisha, and Debbie!

I'm lovin it!

Raegan and Macy are the best of friends. Macy looks up to her older sister and mimics anything she does. Wherever Raegan goes Macy is right there in her shadow. Luckily Raegan is a good sister and loves Macys company (most of the time). I hope they always stay close!

After dinner I sent Raegan in the bathroom to wash her hands. While I was doing the dishes I heard giggling and came in to find this. She was cracking herself up! Santa, is that you?

Cheena, Cholie, Gina, and Deena

This is a picture of Cheena.........What's that?........You can't see her?..........Oh, that might be because she doesn't exist! That's right, Raegan has imaginary friends. Cheena being her best friend this week. I hear Raegan in her room talking to Cheena and Cholie several times a day. I walked in the other day when Cheena, Cholie, Gina, Tina , Reena, Deena etc.. were there and then left and said "Good-bye Cholie, Cheena, Reena, Deena, Leena, and Meena!" and Raegan said "You forgot Gina!" Is this normal? Another time Raegan was trying to order food for Cheena, apparently Cheena likes hamburgers, ice cream..."Oh whats that Cheena? Ice cream with a cherry on top? French fries, chocolate milk....oh, cherry on top of the drink to? Okay."

Last night Kenlie and Mallory were playing house with Raegan in her room. Raegan says to them "I'm going to go get Cheena!" and goes running out. Then Kenlie turns to Mallory and says "Who's Cheena?" Mallory said very suspiciously, "I don't know, but we better find out!" They were both plenty confused when Raegan showed up minutes later with Cheena. I guess I should be glad she has an imagination!

Fall

This year weve done some fun activities with the kids. Weve been to Thanksgiving Point twice. Once to Barnyard Boo and the other to Cornbelly's. The girls had so much fun at both spots. They were able to feed the animals at the farm, ride the ponies, frost cookies, fish for spiders, and go on a wagon ride. At Cornbellys we got lost in the corn maze, went on a train ride through the pumpkin patch, play in kiddie land, jump on the boucing pillow, and get scared on the jack-o-latern hayride. Raegan sat down on the hay and turned to me and said "Wow, mom this is sooo comfortly" Another time she said with so much excitment "I'm having so much fun!!!!"

Blogging

What a great word-Blogging. Thanks to Kristin I've decided to give this blog thing a try, although I'm not quite sure how I feel about being called a "blogger". I hope that I'm able to keep up on the whole thing but, I just knew that everyone would want to see my adorable kids! Really, they are the cutest things there ever!