Twas the Night before Christmas

Christmas eve is always my favorite. Every year we go up to grandma Hart's and re- enact the nativity story, have a talent show, sing songs and eat lots of food. So fun!

Part of the cast. Jess (inn keeper), Kyle (wiseman), Mackenzie (Mary).

The audience.

Parker as Samuel the Lamanite.

Cute little Driggers was Joseph this year. Gabi was the donkey/ wise man.

"cheese"

Whit was going to sing Jingle Bells for her talent but got stage fright.

The Bill Hart clan jazzed out to some Christmas music.

Hank wiggling with the twins.

Whitney dancing to music with aunt Lori and grandma.

Merry Christmas!!

New Accomplishments

My little ones have accomplished lots in this last week. Whit has successfully learned how to dress herself and the Hankers has started laughing! I love to hear his little laugh... it really makes my day!

I finished up working and found Whitney dressed like this. What you can't see in this picture is that Whitney has another skirt on underneath her dress. Silly girl. I was too lazy to change her and she wore this outfit for the rest of the day.

"Come What May, and Love It."

The last talk given by Elder Wirthlin before he passed away was entitled "Come What May, and Love It." To read his full message click here. It's an EXCELLENT talk! The whole talk is awesome but here is a quote that I really liked:

"...life has peaks and shadows and times when it seems that the birds don’t sing and bells don’t ring. Yet in spite of discouragement and adversity, those who are happiest seem to have a way of learning from difficult times, becoming stronger, wiser, and happier as a result.....the way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life. If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness."

Our little family is venturing off into uncharted waters. Due to a series of sad events, Danny lost his job on Friday. Not through any negligence on his part though. He put as much effort into this job as humanly possible but it just didn't work out. Grateful for a husband who see's the positive in every situation (really nothing seems to get him down) he has helped me realize that this is just an opportunity for us to learn and grow from.. and he is actually excited. He is excited for what the Lord has in store for us. Granted we may not have a lot in terms of "monetary" things but we do have each other and as cheesy as that sounds that is enough. Luckily I have a job and am able to pick up 40 hours a week. It is just interesting though. I'm trying to figure out why the Lord wants us to go through this trial? Whatever the reason, whatever we need to learn, we will do it and have faith and trust that everything will work out for the best.

On a lighter note... the kids have L.O.V.E.D having daddy home these last couple of days. Here is what Danny and his side kick (Whitney) have been up to.

Day 1: 10 AM... Danny is already getting anxious and says to me. "Geez, I don't know if I can stay home all day."

Day 2: Mommy had to work 10 hours.. Not totally cut out for that yet.. it wasn't 10 hours straight though so it wasn't that bad.- And I work from home so I can't complain. I got off of work and Whitney freaked out, started crying and said: " No mommy. Go back to work!" Geez... at least my little guy was excited to see me! Hank loves to save his best smiles for his momma. He is my tender mercy! I love him.

Also, Danny decided to torture our poor daughter with a duck puppet. She was bawling/laughing. She couldn't decide if she was scared or not. In the end, she decided she really liked the duck puppet and insisted on sleeping with it. We got her to bed, the duck and all.. and 5 minutes later she screams at the top of her lungs (not crying but just screaming for her own pleasure.) We go in her room and asked her why she was screaming. She said, "I wasn't screaming, the duck was." 5 minutes later.. same thing. That happened at least 3 times until we finally threatened to take it away and then she stopped. She is something, I tell ya!

Day 3: Whitney is her daddy's shadow. She loves to do anything that Danny is doing. If Danny is fixing the sink, then she is fixing the sink with him and is asking a million questions along the way. She pretty much just follows him around. Today Danny was holding the chickens, Whitney was holding the chickens.

I got done working today and found Danny teaching Whitney how to play an Xbox game. And she actually knew how to do it! I was impressed. Later in the day I had to work again and I said to Whitney, " Oh I wish I could stay and play with you, daddy, and Hank. " She put her hand on my face and said, "It's ok sweetheart. I will watch Hank, you go work." What's Hank doing through all of this?? Just being my sweet boy and taking it all in!

So tomorrow is Day 4 and I think that I am going to send Danny off to lunch with some friends... for a couple of hours.. no rush to get home! :) I'm joking.. but really he has been a huge help around the house and with the kids. Danny is quite the organizer as he has already organized our whole kitchen, garage, and car. (With Whitney right there to help him.)

The pace of life has slowed dramatically for Danny. Instead of his 12 + hours a day at work, he is home and enjoying the little moments spent together as a family. Yes, he is going to try find a job and find one quickly but these simple days are fun and we have decided as a family that "whatever comes our way, we will love it."

Danny torturing Whitney with the duck puppet.

Whitney going to sleep with Mr. Duck

Randomness

We have a lot of randomness in our house. With a wild toddler (that i DO love) on the loose you just never know what each day will hold!

"Why so serious??" It's uncanny how much she looks like the Joker on Batman! She is obsessed with "lapstick".. it's what we call it. She found a nice bright red lipstick in my stuff. She carries lipstick/chapstick with her wherever we go and has one on her all day long. Just in case, you never know when you might need to re apply!

Hank is going through a little "constipation" stage. Poor guy. He is only pooping once a week and once that week mark hits.. he grunts and pushes and grunts and pushes all. day. long. When it finally comes, it is an EXPLOSION of sorts you would never believe!

Sometimes when I am running errands Whit will fall asleep in her car seat and SOMETIMES if you are very careful and quiet you can carry her inside.. still in her car seat.. and she will stay asleep. I tried to be so gracious bringing her in but.. darn it.. she woke up. However, she didn't want to get out so she laid in her car seat.. strapped in.. for about 1/2 hour (1 episode of Little Einsteins.) I initially thought, wow this is awesome, she can't move.. but that soon ended. Ms. Queen Bee in her car seat barked orders at me the whole time. She needed her blankies, sippy, 2 branana's (banana's).. so it wasn't really that awesome after all.

Just sleeping on top of the couch. Looks comfy! We had a babysitter and this is what we found when we got home. We will let Whit have a "late night" occasionally on the weekends or if we get a babysitter. A "late night" consists of staying up late, popcorn, and a movie of Whit's choice. (We usually end up watching Toy Story). She typically falls asleep before the movie is even half way through. :)

Candy making and Christmas tree's

We started a new tradition this year with Danny's family. When his grandpa Doug was alive he use to make the most delicious candy that he actually sold to places. From October to December he would make candy all day long for the Christmas season. Unfortunately, I only knew him for about 6 months before he passed and didn't get to experience "grandpa Doug's" candy. This year we went up to Danny's parents the day after Thanksgiving and re created his yummy creations. I don't know the first thing about making candy so I didn't do much than just observe and help where I was needed. It was super fun though and a lot of work! We started around 2 pm and didn't get done until around 10 pm. We made peanut brittle, toffee, caramel, and party mints. We each got about 3 lbs of toffee and it was gone in a couple of days. I ate it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. SO YUMMY!!

Making the toffee.

Look at all that chocolate!

Also over Thanksgiving weekend we went and got our Christmas tree. I insist on getting a real tree every year. I realize they are more expensive and messy but they smell so good and I love going and picking out the tree. We always had a real tree growing up and I have the funnest memories going with my family to pick out a tree and then helping my mom decorate it... so the tradition continues with our little family.

I tried to get a picture with the kids and the dogs and this was the best I got.

Oh Christmas tree!

Thanksgiving

Danny wasn't super thrilled to do the turkey bowl this year. Being 29 must really take a toll on your body. :)He said that his back hurts, he wouldn't be able to breath, and it was too cold. He took one for the team though and went.. and had fun!

The boys just watched some afternoon football..

..while the girls made some nummy cheesecake.

My little taste tester. I think she likes it. :)

We went up to grandma Hart's for dinner. The food was super yummy and I ate way more than I should have but that's alright. Eating food is my best hobby.

Our family has much to be thankful for this year:

Dad: He is thankful for a healthy family and the gospel.

Mom: Thankful for modern technologies, a living prophet, the power of prayer and my family.

Whitney: Thankful for her blankies, juice, gma Suz & Mufasa, and her baby brother Hank.

Hank: He is thankful for lots of milk, a doting big sister, and a family that loves him to pieces!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Birthday girl

My cute grandma Lindsay celebrated her birthday a couple of weeks ago. She seems to never age. In spirit, energy, and beauty. We went to visit her a couple of months ago, I was feeding Hank inside and I could hear her and Whitney outside skipping around the backyard and giggling. Fun memories. Happy belated birthday grandma. We sure do love ya!

Grandma and her great granddaughters.

Me, grandma, Jenny, and Erin

Hanks Blessing

We had Hank's blessing a couple of weeks ago (I'm a little bit behind on my posting) and it turned out really nice. Danny gave a beautiful blessing (which gratefully Vicki wrote down for us). He talked about the importance of his name. The name Harold.. Danny's step dad's name and Douglas, his grandpa's name. He talked about living up to their legacy of sacrifice, hard work, and humor. I love family names. I think they represent so much of the legacy that was left behind and the honor and privilege to move forward with the responsibility to live up to the name they have been given. But more importantly to just remember. Remember their loved ones. Like wise, our little Whitney Mae, is also a family name. My dad is named Whitney and Mae.. is my grandma Donna's middle name.

We had a little get together afterwards at my aunt and uncles house (thanks Scott and Lori). Our house is much too small to host family functions. :) I'm grateful for the gospel in my life and for the support from all of our family and friends.

some days..

Sometimes you have to have bad days so you can learn to appreciate the good ones. Today has been one of those "off" days for our crew. Whitney picked up Hank this morning off of the couch.. well she accidentally dropped him on the hard wood floor.. his poor face hit the ground so hard. So Hank was bawling, Whit naturally started crying, and mama lost it too. We were all crying and our day has been out of sorts since. Whit is having one of her sassy days.. but like REALLY SASSY! (I think that she spent half of the day in time out.) Finally by 4ish.. I needed to indulge myself.. I packed us up, went to Super Sonic got a LARGE Diet Coke (which I downed it in like 5 minutes) and then headed to Hagermann's for their sugar cookie.. i'm hooked.. I ate both mine AND 1/2 of Whitney's. I drove around for an hour to get Whitney to fall asleep and now I'm sitting in my driveway.. blogging and listening to some good ol' country music in my car because I don't DARE try and transfer her and I will gladly sit here all night if it means a little peace and quiet. :)

ahhh.. and I feel better! Nothing a like a good drive, diet coke, some sugar, and country music to calm your nerves.

Zoo

We went to the zoo last Friday with our friends in the ward, Aubrey and Emily and their cute kids. Ali came too and I was lucky enough to get to watch cute Chloe (in our ward also) so she came and played with all the kids. The weather couldn't have been better. The animals were active and we had SO much fun!

Chloe and Whitney

Just taking a little snooze.

The tigers kept pacing the fence. So cool.

The kiddos

Me, Whit and Chloe.

The cheetah kept walking back forth RIGHT next to the kids. I'm sure he could smell the Cheeto's Whitney was pounding! ;)

What a fun day at the zoo.

Halloween

Despite the bummer weather, we had a fun Halloween! I had to work during the day so Danny took the kids to a trunk or treat at my parents ward. Later on we went trick or treating with friends and then went over to my aunt and uncles, played some new dance game on the Wii (way fun) and told spooky stories.

Whit was kinda tired that night and was very uncooperative with her costume. She refused to wear her hat so I gave up trying. No point in trying to fight that battle. She was a witch and Hank was a little monkey.

Smiles and Snow Days

We had our first snow storm of the season a couple of weeks ago. Whit woke up, we looked out the window and she screamed "Holy crap, there is so much snow!".. and I couldn't keep her out of it. All. day. After her coming in with handfuls of snow that she was eating we had to have the discussion. No eating yellow snow or any colored snow for that matter just the white snow.

Hank has hit the 2 month mark now... a couple of weeks ago. He is smiling, sleeping through the night, and is the sweetest little man. He is weighing 13 lbs and is at 23 1/2 inches. He really is a GREAT baby.

Hank loves his baths. In fact I have to stand quite a distance away or else I will get soaked because he splashes so much.

Only allowed to eat the white snow.

Playing in the snow. Behind her she had started lining up all of her pumpkins in the snow.

Engh's Pumpkin Patch

There is a cute little flower/greenery shop close to our house. Every year they set up a pumpkin patch with a pirate ship, cute decorations, and a little corn maze for kids. Best part... it's free, they just ask you to buy a pumpkin. (And, yes, the pumpkins are quite expensive. For the smallest one it's $1... but its worth it. The kiddos have fun!) We went a couple of times this year. Once with Whit's bff Lilee and another time with the fam.

These 2 are quite a pair. They are definitely their daddy's daughters and They LOVE each other.

And these two love each other too!

Gma, Whit, and Hank.