Another year gone.....

I can't believe we are already getting ready to celebrate the beginning of a new year. It seems like just yesterday we were getting ready to welcome our baby girl into our family and now she is a nine month old monster. This year literally flew by for us. Here are some of the happenings in the Paxman household in 2009 that we want to remember.....

Our family grew from 3 to 4

Ella and Mom went on a great east coast adventure

Jack spent an entire week being watched by dad and they both SURVIVED!

We went camping with a four month old and a two year old and lived to talk about it.

Jack took a liking to Barney (Ella too!)

We survived the year with two children under two. (barely)

Made new friendships and saw the meaning of true friendship

Jack had his first overnight sleepover in Idaho without mom and dad.

Ella slept through the night once or twice. (we are still working on making this one happen!)

So in a a nutshell this year we changed a ton of diapers, didn't get a ton of sleep but enjoyed every (well most of them) minute of it!

It's amazing how quickly the months go by. I always heard people saying how quickly your kids grow up and I didn't really understand fully until I had my own. They are growing like weeds and we are trying to enjoy every minute with them.




We wish all our friends and family a healthy and happy new year!

Happy Nine Months to You Ella

My baby girl is nine months old today! I can't believe how quickly time has flown by! She is such a sweetie and we are loving having her in our family. She can imitate you waving her arms while saying "awwwwww" and can make the best raspberry sounds you have ever heard. I really appreciate these when she also happens to have a mouthful of baby food which results in me wearing the fore mentioned baby food! She is taking her sweet time learning to crawl and I am okay with her being a baby as long as she wants to. It's much easier keeping her out of things this way although she has perfected the art of the "steamroller" and anything she really wants she can find a way to get to it! She like her brother LOVES to watch Barney. I try to keep her from watching too much TV but when Jack is watching it she is glued to the screen too! My kids don't watch too much TV but some days Barney is a lifesaver. I can thank Barney for what little bit of sanity I have left!!
Here are her stats at 9 months:
Weight- 18.98lbs 58th percentile
Length-28in 72nd percentile
Head- 17.75in 83rd percentile
I don't know where my children get their big heads from but they've definately got them! I'm sure it means that they have ginormous brains and are going to be geniuses... well maybe once she figures out how to crawl??

Uncle Nate = Happy kids!

I think my kids may have missed their Uncle Nate. They were sure happy that he is home for Christmas!

Ella couldn't keep her hands... I mean her mouth off of him! You better watch out Jen!

Thanks Jen for the pictures! I hope my camera cord gets here soon. And expect a picture overload when it finally does!!

And we hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Ahhhh..... NUTS!

Can't believe Christmas is already here!

Your blog sucks.....

Yesterday Ryan came home from work and informed me that my blog sucked! Why yes it does...... because we finally GOT A NEW COMPUTER! Unfortunately, I can't find the cord I need to download pictures onto it though! It has been ordered so hopefully it's on it's way! Until then we are just working on finishing christmas shopping, wrapping, playing with friends, finishing finals week and counting down the days until Christmas!


Update**** Saved by Aunt Lisa! I stole these off her photo editing program since I don't have any pictures to post!


Jack had a GREAT time sledding and building snowmen with his dad, Uncle Cory, and Aunt Lisa! I will have to post a picture of his snowmen because they are definately one of a kind!

Let it Snow!

When Jack woke up this morning he couldn't wait to get outside to "play" in the snow! He asked every 2 seconds to go outside so we were bundled up and playing in the snow by 9am this morning! We got the sidewalk and driveway all shoveled just as it started snowing AGAIN!

Santa Take TWO

Friday was Ryan's company party and Santa was there for the kids to see. Once again, Ella was terrified. She saw him coming from down the hall and immediately started screaming! We tricked her though and when it was her turn I sat her down on his lap without her seeing where she was sitting. Unfortunately we never got a good picture with both of them looking but at least we tried! Jack was in LOVE with Santa this time (Ryan's dad was Santa) and Santa paid extra attention to Jack handing out lots of knuckles and treats to him! It was a great time and of course Jack did not want to leave and screamed all the way back to Lehi despite me threatening him the whole way that Santa was watching!!!

Ella liked sitting in Santa's chair when he wasn't around!

Playing together

Jack and Ella are starting to interact more with each other and it's so cute to watch. Jack sometimes forgets that Ella is just a baby and gets rough with her but half of the time she laughs and enjoys it!
Jack made her a "tent" while she was in her exersaucer and gathered all the blankets, sheets, and towels he could find to stack them on her. I'd like to think he was playing with her and not trying to smother her but you never know!:)

He thought it was too funny when they were both playing in the boxes!

Ho HO HO

Here it is.... Santa picture 2009.


Ella is terrified and Jack is sporting his famous "duh" look wondering what all the hype about Santa is about!

Well, We Tried

We tried without success to get a cute picture of them in their matching Jammies under the Christmas tree. I've decided to start the tradition of giving the kids their Christmas pj's at the beginning of December so that they can wear them all month instead of just getting them on Christmas Eve. We wanted to get a real cute one of them under the tree but instead we just got bawling, punching, pulling, shoving and a lot of boo hooing..... maybe next year!

You better not pout....

Apparently Ella didn't get the memo!

Thanksgiving Point Lights

We figured we would beat the crowds this year and do the lights, reindeer, and santa at Thanksgiving point the first night Santa was there. It turned out great. It was still relatively not freezing out and nobody else was there. I was shocked when Jack wasn't scared of Santa and Ella was scared to death of him. Hopefully soon I can get the picture scanned in. It provides a pretty good laugh! Jack is loving all the things that come with preparing for Christmas especially eating the candy out of the countdown. One day down..... twenty four more to go!

Christmas Party and Bird Tree

We always celebrate Christmas with my mom's family the weekend after Thanksgiving because it's the last time we see everyone before Christmas. So Saturday we ventured up to the cabin for a weenie and marshmallow roast. Jack has inherited the fire bug from his dad and really enjoyed keeping the fire going by gathering lots of wood to throw in! We spread some reindeer dust before decorating the animal tree and were surprised by a visit from santa and the grinch! It's always fun to get together with everyone and it's fun that we have a whole new batch of little ones in the family to start these fun traditions with!

The crew trying to get a picture in front of the decorated tree. Notice most of the children in the front row are crying and trying to get away! They NEVER cooperate!

Jack spreading his reindeer dust (oatmeal and glitter) so Santa and his reindeer know where to land!

Decorating the tree.


Jack gathering more wood for the fire.

Grandpa Lee, Ella and Taylor

Ainslee and Ella

Cooper took a nose dive into the box of bird treats! It was too funny and he came up with bird seed stuck to his lip!

My little kitty!

I love this time of year and I love that December is always full of fun parties, good food, and family!

Bird Treats and BLACK Friday

My sister convinced me once again that going shopping at 3 AM at WALMART was a GOOD idea. We along with my nieces Ainslee and Taylor (and i'm pretty sure everyone else in Cassia County)ventured out to Walmart (the only store in town) and arrived at a little after 3AM. I could see the point in this if you were going for some big ticket items (i.e. computers, tv's, camera's) but all she wanted was BARBIES and BRATZ! Oh well, we had a great time and made some great memories!

Later that day we all got together to make treats for the animal tree that we decorate every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Jack was very into it and LOVED making the treats for the birds. He talked about it all day and couldn't wait to get to the cabin to decorate the tree!

Thanksgiving

We had a perfect Thanksgiving with all the family and I realized on the drive home that I didn't take any pictures! Oh well, here's a couple from the ride in the car! We had a great time and although you probably can't find a stranger family out there we sure do enjoy hanging out with them!

O' Christmas Tree

O'Christmas Tree, O'Christmas Tree how lovely are though PLASTIC branches? Yes, once again we pulled out the old fake Christmas tree and decorated it! I strongly considered going and cutting one down with Jack this year but decided the prelit one in the garage was much more convenient so we went for it!! Maybe next year we will venture out saw in hand and cut down the perfect charlie brown tree! Our tree this year turned out beautiful and Jack is thoroughly in love with it and NEVER wants to unplug it! So far so good..... he hasn't really touched the tree or any of the presents under it. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that Ella doesn't learn to crawl until AFTER Christmas so we don't have to worry about her getting into it either! I will post a picture of the end product soon!

Ella was content sitting in her high chair watching the boys do the work!