Sibling Love

I love that when I'm holding Andrew, Rachel will say, "Mom, put down Andrew so we can play together!"  And I love when they greet each other when the other one wakes up.  And I don't mind playing referee when they fight or steal each other's toys.  And I love it when Andrew wants to check on Rachel when she gets put in timeout.  And I love when they hold hands in the car, and share goodies (half of which end up on the floor in between their seats of course).  I just love that they have each other to learn from and to share everything.  (The sharing exceptions are sippy cups, try as I may, and bathroom time, because Rachel needs her "privacy" and prefers the door closed and Andrew out, so he waits outside the door and bangs on it until she's done.)  

Last Few Weekends

Highlights:

- General Conference weekend, Brandon always sleeps in the backyard with Rachel.  They haven't ever actually slept the whole night in the backyard yet, but they'll keep trying.  Per Rachel's request they moved to their own beds around 9pm.  

- Planting winter grass always takes us almost an entire Saturday in mid-October.  We mow the grass as low as it goes, then edge the entire thing to get rid of the summer bermuda grass.  Mow again and again to get rid of all the grass, then we spread the seed, fertilizer and topper soil.  I know, fun, right?!  For the first two weeks, we water 4 times a day for 5 minutes and then it decreases from there.  

- One Friday night, I submitted an application for Brandon to be on the TV show, "Wipeout".  We've seriously talked about this for a long time, since he would do awesome on the show, but we're highly doubting that he'll get a call back.  It was more just for fun.
- Brandon built and finished a sandbox for the kids (pictures coming soon).
- Family outing to Chick-Fil-A, our family's favorite.

Planting our winter grass

General Conference Campout - Rachel told dad she wanted to sleep in her own bed at 9pm :)

Splash Pad / Playground

We sure do love each other!

Conversations with Rachel

September, 2011
While using some Hello Kitty sparkly lip gloss, she said, "Mom, since there is Hello Kitty makeup for girls, I think there's Transformer makeup for boys.  Right?"

September, 2011
For whatever reason, she was too scared to go all the way back to her room (in the middle of the day) by herself, so she took her "big" brother with her for protection.  Then she wasn't scared at all as long as Andrew was with her.  What a good brother he is!

November, 2011
In the middle of the Sacrament in a conversation about Jesus on the cross, Rachel says, "Stuffed animals don't have blood, they just have stuffing in them."  Random, but true.

November, 2011
Brandon was doing the bedtime routine with Rachel, and I was on the phone with my mom.  Rachel came out and said, "Mommy, I was reading daddy a book and he fell asleep."  Sure enough, he did.

Ready to go to Tumbling

First descent drawing of a person - 3 years old, September 2011

Happy 1st Birthday, Andrew!

My little boy is 1 year old!  I know it's cliche to say, but time really does fly!

His birthday was really fun - we had a Puppy Party for him, since he absolutely loves dogs.  I tried to get everything done the night before, so that we could really enjoy his birthDAY.  For lunch we got Chick-Fil-A and played at a playground/splash pad.  Then I took the kids to a store that sells puppies, and you can ask to hold and play with them in some rooms they have in the back.  It's really cute and Andrew loved chasing and playing with the little puppies.  And no, we're not buying a real puppy - we're not ready for that yet.

For his puppy party, we invited the Johnson's and Perkinson's over for a low key dinner party.  I am so grateful for them - I was feeling sad that we weren't near family to celebrate Andrew's birthday, and I can always count on them to be my Mesa family.

Of course he loved his cake.  Let's just say this is not his first taste of sugar - he loves popsicles/otter pops, suckers, ice cream and any/all desserts.  I found that I became much more lax with my second child, clearly!  Rachel had not touched any sugar before her first birthday, it just makes me laugh.

The party went off without a hitch, until an unnamed, unsupervised 3 year old made a bad choice that resulted in an early bedtime for her. :)  But all in all, it was a huge success and a really fun night.  

For his birthday he got two cool Hess light-up trucks, some new books, a stuffed puppy, other random toys and a couple new outfits.

Andrew is such a SWEETHEART and his teethy grin just melts my heart!  Here are some more tidbits about Andrew at 12 months:
- 27 lbs & 33 inches tall - he's a big boy for his age, but he is a softy
- He loves his blankie and he chews on it and is always sure to tuck it under his head (like a pillow) when he sleeps; he also sleeps with a stuffed monkey and puppy, which he loves
- Still takes two naps (most days), and is a good sleeper - we try to get him in bed by 7p because he has an internal alarm clock (like his daddy) that is set to around 6:55am, no matter what time he goes to bed
- For his birthday, he got all four molars in, so now he has 16 teeth - watch out!  (very fitting for his Halloween costume, he's going to be a dinosaur)
- For the last few weeks, he's carried around a small, green nerf ball that's the size of his hand - and he doesn't just carry it around sometimes, it's ALL the time and if he drops it he lets me know - it's incredible that he hasn't lost it somewhere
- The boy is a fantastic eater - the only thing I'd say he doesn't love is breads, his favorite healthy food is fruit
- Favorites:  I know it's silly but I think his favorite color is green - he loves playing with (and trying to eat) crayons and he always picks out the green ones; also his green nerf ball, any type of food, swinging, "jumping" on the tramp, puppies, airplanes and his big sister, Rachel
- He loves his daddy and does such a good job greeting him at the door each night, but if I'd have to choose, I'd say he's a momma's boy - sometimes when I leave for YW, he's ornery and cries until he goes to bed because he's sad I'm gone
- He wants to be outside all.the.time. - he just points or goes and stands by the back door
- Words / Animal Sounds:  mama, dada, up, dog, more, uh oh, fishy sound, elephant sound, sometimes dog sound

Holiday Custom Cards

After creating Holiday cards for the past few years for friends and family, I have quite a few designs in my collection.  

All of them have been printed at Costco and here's why:  In my opinion, Costco is the cheapest and easiest place to get Holiday cards.  I know that the card-stock look is very popular right now (compared to the photo finish), but I can't bring myself to pay over $1.30 per card when at Costco it's only 26-29 cents per card!  These are cards that most people throw away (not me, I keep all mine, but I'm a little weird!).  And it all depends on how many you're sending out - I like to send out a lot of cards - it's how I keep in touch with everyone.  The pricing for Costco is $14.99 for the first 50 cards and each additional 25 only costs $5.49.  They come with nice envelopes, and it only requires one stamp to send in the mail.  The size is fairly large - 6"x7.5" and I really like the quality for the price.  

One downside to Costco's Christmas cards is that I don't love the stock designs to choose from on their website, but it's not a problem because you can upload your own custom card using their blank template.  

Here's where I come in. :)  

$5 - choose a design from my card gallery and I'll customize it with your family picture(s) and text

or

$15 - custom card design - you choose size, colors, fonts, pictures, and the custom design 

Everything's on a first come, first serve basis.  And I'm only advertising on my blog (maybe Facebook) and by word of mouth.

{Fine print:  Some of my designs have never actually been used, and the others have only been used once.  If you love a card but don't want anyone else to use it, then I will accommodate for the current Christmas season.  I'll also be careful to not having multiple people use the same card in the same season.  Make sense?  And the payment part is easy, you'll just send me a check in the mail or give me cash when you see me, whatever's easiest.  And don't be shy, I really do love to do this as a hobby, so I'd love to do one for your family.}  

Contact me at whitneyhale@gmail.com for more details.    

For my gallery of Christmas cards VIEW HERE or I posted a picture of a few of my designs below.  I'll be adding to my collection as the holiday season goes on, so keep checking back.