One

Dear Tessa.

You had a birthday shout hurray! You're one now. I can hardly believe it. Time flies too fast. I hope you know how much we love you. You're little smile brightens our lives. You teach us love and patience. You love watching your big sister and you always try to do everything she does. You're a major daddy's girl. When Daddy comes home you quickly put your arms in the air asking him to hold you. You can tell us what the cow says, say Ah-Oo, call for Mama when you want out of bed, say Dada, and ask for "more".

You're a beautiful little girl! Happy Birthday Baby!

Love, Mommy.


P.S. We will be having a party for you in a couple weeks. You know, after Christmas is a memory and you can understand that it's your day. (What am I talking about! Jordyn will want all of your presents and you will only be covered in cake.)

(Thanks Leslie for these cute clothes!)

Christmas

So, I'm a super junky Mom and I only took three pictures on Christmas morning...and these are it. Christmas was so fun. Jordyn was so excited....next year will be even better. (Am I already thinking about next year?)

The first thing Jordyn noticed was the shampoo in her stocking. "Look Daddy! Soap!" She had fun opening EVERY ONE'S presents. She would jump up and down saying "Hurray! Hurray!" She was spoiled!

Tessa had fun too. She loved the orange from her stocking the best! She was cute to watch. She kept getting frustrated that she couldn't get the presents unwrapped. She loved watching Jordyn. The more excited Jordyn got the more excited Tessa got.

We now have plenty to play with for the next year. Dress-ups, barbies, games, little people, bears, rings and bracelets, ponies, babies, and much much more. Plus, I didn't even mention the new clothes. What a great family we have! Our daughters are two very spoiled little girls!

Snow

We bought Jordyn snow pants. I'm so glad she got to use them. I'm also glad she has a Daddy who loves to play in the snow. The two of them built four snowmen. I'm just a slacker and didn't get a picture of the final product....but it is on the video camera.

It's so amazing how willing Jordyn is to try new things. In that way, she's nothing like me. I'm a big wimp.

Anyway, later that same night, after we got home, the four snowmen had all fallen over because it had warmed up so much. She told Jason and I that her snowmen had died. Poor kid!

I Heart Christmas

Starting at Thanksgiving and ending at New Years.....This is my favorite time of year. I love the music. The lights. The food. The giving. The family parties.

I'm starting to think that I'm more excited than Jordyn is. (She did mention that she doesn't want Santa to come to her house when she is asleep. Apparently he's too scary.) I have great memories of Christmas. I'm not wishing for Jordyn and Tessa to grow up any faster than they already are but I am SO excited for the next few years. I can't wait for the girls to come running into my bedroom at three in the morning to tell me that Santa had come.

So, here's the Holiday schedule. We had the Hunter family party last Saturday. Then the Tenney party on Sunday. Christmas Eve we will be at Grandpa Great's house and then at my parents'. Christmas morning we'll be at home enjoying all our surprises and then heading to the Hunter's for breakfast burritos and a little party. Who knows what Christmas afternoon will bring. We'll probably spend a little more time at my parents'. Busy! Busy! Busy!

I hope you all have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Tessa

It seems like I write a lot about Jordyn, but I love Tessa too. So, here are some pictures and a little video all about Tess!

I know she looks like she's crying, but really she's laughing. But you might cry, if your parents did this to you.

Yep. She has "Pretties" now!

She also has a purple spot on her head...can you see it?

Isn't she so cute!

AND! Look what she does now! (We're so proud!)

Grocery Shopping

Today I ran to Wal-mart for baby food....This is what happens when we go during nap time. I was just cracking up, and every person (old lady) that walked by just had to "Ahhhh" at them. She had slobber all over her coat. Because she was a good girl she got to choose one box of fruit snacks. Can't get any better than sleeping!

Family Pictures

My friend Camille took these. She's in the process of getting her photography blog up and running and when she finishes I'll get a link on here. I think that she did a great job...despite Tessa. She is a little stinker, but so cute. Enjoy!

Growing Up

Sometimes when I get mad or frustrated at Jordyn I tell Jason the she is HIS daughter. Today I'll claim her, or at least share her...

So after bath time I usually put a diaper on Jordyn really quick (sometimes not, but that usually results in pee on my floor) and then I move on to Tessa. After I finished getting Tessa all dressed and her hair done I went to find Jordyn.

She ended up being in my room...putting on my clothes. I was just cracking up. "Look Mom," she said, "I dress like you. We're the same."

Everyday she amazes me with the things she says. I can't believe how quickly she learns. The things that come out of her mouth really crack me up. Like the other day, after I finished decorating the house, she looked up at a snowman I had put on one of Jason's deer antlers and said, "Get you thing off my Daddy's Bambi!" I was just laughing so hard.

Anyway, I love her.

Deals.....Part 3

Did I ever mention that I do not like shopping with the girls, without Jason. Today was fun, until the girls got tired. Then it wasn't so fun...but this is what I got. Including tax I spent $69.82.

View from the top. View from the front.

So, here's the list. I'm still learning but I feel like I did really good today. I did go to three different stores, which is kind of a pain, but I'm trying to build up a supply, I like getting good deals. Okay....

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@ Target

I got five glade candles that were $2.50 each. I used two coupons for save $1.50 on 2. Buying five gave me a $5 gift card to use on my next purchase. I also got 2 Gilliet Fusion razors that were on sale for $7.94. I had used two coupons for save $4.00. Buying 2 gave me another $5 gift card. I also bought "Office Space" on BlueRay DVD. It was $14.99 and I had a Target coupon for $5 off and a manufacturer's coupon for $3 off. So I spent $26.28 and left with $10 in gift cards.

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@Fresh Market (a.k.a. the old American Fork Albertsons)

I got a Ham for $5.74 ($1.29 per pound) and with that I got a FREE bag of salad and a FREE box of Betty Crocker potatoes. I got four Light House dips for $0.50 each! Then I got these really cool cupcake pans with silicone muffin cups for $9.99 (2 pans of 12 and 24 muffin cups) and with that I got a FREE cake mix and FREE frosting. I spent $18.38.

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@ Maceys

I got four boxes of Chex cereal for $0.75 each, four brownie mixes for $0.38 each, five Toblerone chocolate bars for $0.50 each, and five boxes of Ronzoni pasta for $0.48 each!!!!! (I feel really pound about that list!) Then I got two boxes of Sun laundry soap for $1.99 each, five Keebler pie crusts for $0.88 each, a box of corn dogs for $3.99, and 1 thing of Gerber Puffs that I only bought (for $2.24) because I didn't want to go to Wal-Mart for just that....because the Wal-Mart brand is $1.62 so I'll get some more later. Anyway, I spent a total of $25.15.

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So, that's it. You have heard it all. I'm really starting to love coupons more and more. I love saving money and I can't wait until I can get my budget down to $40 - $50 a week...including all my milk, eggs, and bread. At least that's my plan. Let me know if you have any questions.

Breakfast With Santa

I love Christmas. I love the magic of Santa and the spirit of Christ. I remember growing up and different Christmas times. I remember being so excited for Santa to come. My sisters and I would get up at like three or four in the morning and just sit downstairs staring at our gifts. I remember Grandma and Grandpa Halladay coming over to watch us open our gifts. I loved Santa....still do....I just have a different relationship with him now. :)

Saturday at the church we had Breakfast with Santa. Obviously Tessa was very excited. You should have heard her screaming! It probably scared all the other kids in line. Poor baby. I'm a mean mom. I just wanted one picture...and this is the one I got.Jordyn stuck around a little longer. Only because she recognized Mrs. Clause as Ryann's grandma. Here are the cutie girls! Ryann, Jordyn, Lucy, and Tessa. SO CUTE!

My little miss Tessa. Look at her hair! It's getting so long. She's almost one. I can hardly believe it. (You can see Jordyn is this same shirt at Breakfast with Santa one year ago HERE.)

Daddy and the girls.

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Goings On

It seems like it's harder and harder to find time to blog. I love the holidays, but boy I feel busy. So, here's the run down on our goings on. Thanksgiving was so great. We went to my parents house. It was just a small group of us. The food was super yummy and it was quiet. Leslie and Josh couldn't make it because Leslie had swine flu. Poor Girl! That night we headed up to the Hunter house to visit. Jason's Uncle Mern and family were there and some of his cousins were too. It was fun to see everyone. And of course we ate more pie. YUM!

Thanksgiving weekend was full of shopping. Julie, Nonie and I hit Wal-Mart for black Friday. We got there a little after three in the morning. We went to the new Wal-Mart by Lone Peak High School, and from what I hear we made a great choice. Rumor has it that it wasn't nearly as busy and the other Wal-Marts around here. I ended up getting everything that I wanted. I spent way to much money and had TONS of fun.

Friday afternoon the girls and I went with my Mom, Kara, Julie, and Heber down to the boutique in Spanish Fork. They have it every year right after Thanksgiving. My Aunt Bonnie and her girls went too. I got a few more Christmas gifts, ate some yummy donuts, and then came home. That night we headed to the mall....for MORE shopping!

At the mall we went to Build-A-Bear. It's a new tradition we started last year. This year was a little harder because Jordyn is a little more aware of what is going on around her. So, we explained to her that we were going to go make bears, pick out cute clothes, and then give them to Toys for Tots....or in her terms....the poor kids. I was super worried that she would be sad and cry and want her own, but SHE WAS GREAT! I was so proud to be her mom. Seriously! The best part is that she understood that some kids don't get to have Christmas and this is how we can help them.

Saturday Jason spent the morning working in the yard while I finished all the Christmas decorating in the house. In the afternoon we went to IKEA. It was my first time. That store is HUGE! I could hardly believe that all that stuff fit in there. I got a toy organization thing for Christmas. It's all set up! It's perfect...the girls think it's fun and I think it's wonderful. Anything to make my life more clean and organized is great with me!

So, let's see....Oh yeah. Monday...I can't remember what I did on Monday. Oh yeah! We returned our Christmas Tree to Roberts because ONE strand of lights wasn't working. That meant that Tuesday I spent the day re-decorating. Oh well. It's worth having a working tree. Tuesday night we took the girls to "Zoo Lights" at Hogle Zoo. It was super fun. I was surprised how much Jordyn loved it. We all bundled up and stayed pretty warm, considering how cold it was. It was fun!

Wednesday night we went to the Festival Of Trees. It was wonderful. I really wish that Jason and I had lots of money to be able to buy one of those beautiful trees. Plus, Primary Children's is such an amazing place!

Today has been a catch up day. I've been doing laundry and the girls have been playing. Jordyn went to her very first birthday party for her friend Ryann. She had lots of fun. But, here we are, it's a little after seven and my girls are sleeping. I'm not sure if I should turn the light off and hope that they just sleep all night, or if I should go wake them up. Good thing I don't have to go anywhere in the morning. That way, if they do wake up, it won't matter if we snuggle up on the couch at two in the morning to some "Monster's Inc." or "Peter Pan".