She Just HAD to go on a Walk OUTSIDE!

So the second Lena opened up her new mini stroller, she put her baby in it and headed straight for the door leading OUTSIDE!!! We convinced her to take her baby for a walk around the kitchen and that lasted for a while. Well, after that while she continued to insist that she take her baby on a walk outside. So I bundled her up and let her get her outside time with her stroller. It was so much fun to see her walk around her baby just like I walk her around in a stroller. She LOVES pushing things and had a ball with this stroller. :)

Christmas

Oh boy was this a busy day! First we got up and got ready to go to church and attended sacrament meeting before any of the presents were opened. It was really nice to be able to start the day off with a reminder of what Christmas is REALLY about.

After church we cam home and opened presents. I just have to say is we were SO blessed this year. Everyone was so generous and we are so grateful for the kindness that they have shown us. Lena also received PLENTY this Christmas. Let's see if I can remember everything that she got:

-Baby Doll (We caved and got her one :) Even after all that talk about Randy being creeped out by them and not wanting Lena to have one. :P

-Baby Doll stroller, play pen and accessories (from us)

-Block train (from us)

-Books (from us)

-Kitchen stuff (anything you could ever think that you would need to use in the kitchen! from Grandma and Grandpa)

-Ballerina the same size as her (from Grandma and Grandpa)

-Elephant ball popper (from Grandma and Grandpa)

-Purse with accessories (from Grandma and Grandpa)

-Little golf set (from us)

She has REALLY enjoyed every single one of her presents... she rotates playing with each one as long as her little body with allow her... she only sleeps when she can't possibly play any longer. It has been so much fun to see her have so much fun with all of her things. :)

Here's a couple of pictures:

She is so sweet with her little baby. :) Changes her diaper and everything!

Giving her baby kisses :)

Time to go on a walk!

Life size ballerina :)

Almost all of her presents. :)

Christmas Eve Jammies

So Grandma and Grandpa have the tradition of getting the kids and grankids Christmas Eve Pajamas and this year they happen to get the Jammies for the grandkids when they were on their cruise to Alaska and are DARLING!!! I can't get over how cute Lena looks in these jammies with the little pocket on the bum. :) Her's don't actually open up at the bum, but still look SO cute! I could just stare at her for a week straight in these things. :) They got us some awesome pajamas that can also be used as workout clothes! What a good idea!

Lena is showing Ellie the pictures on Grandma's phone

Looking for something under the tree :)

Exploring the Christmas lights. :)

Forward shot of the jammies... it was EXTREMELY hard to get a non-blurry picture of this girl... she was up and down and all around.

Comollo Christmas

Since my mom had to work on Christmas Eve AND Christmas we decided to do our Christmas on Friday with my family. After Santa pictures we all met at our house and Rosie made homemade lasagna! A Comollo favorite. :) After dinner we opened presents. Unfortunately it was passed the babies bedtime AND they both didn't have very good naps that day, so they weren't the MOST happy... because of this I wasn't able to get as many pictures as I wanted, but got a couple. Here is what we got as far as presents go from my family:

Randy got:

-$15 gift certificate to Marie Calendars (from Rosie and Alex)

-$50 gift certificate to Home Depot (from my mom)

-U of U "mug rug" made by my mom (I'll post pictures shortly... if I remember :) )

-Mug to go with the "mug rug"

-"Christmas Mouse" Book (from Eva who did all of her Christmas shopping before leaving on her mission!)

Olga got:

-Awesome mantle decoration made by Rosie and Alex that says "Where There's A Will iams There's A Way" :) I will definitely be posting a picture of it when I get it all set up... It is SO cute! She also made me a cute Christmas decoration that says "J-O-Y"

-$50 gift certificate to Jo-Ann's for my newly discovered crafty side. :) (from my mom)

-Minty lip gloss (from Rosie, Alex and Jimmy)

-"Mug Rug" that has a cute quote about friendship on it and a Mug to go with it (from my mom).

-"Japanese Cherry Blossom" scented body wash, lotion and spray (from Rosie, Alex and Jimmy).

-"Night Before Christmas" book from Eva.

Lena got:

-Cute little dress for Ellie (from Rosie, Alex and Jimmy)

-Piggy Bank (from Rosie, Alex and Jimmy)

-Cute "Mug Rug" and Princess themed sippy cups

-$50 in a new bank account that my mom plans on contributing to monthly... this was a WAY nice gift and we are so grateful for her thoughtfulness.

-"Night Before Christmas" book from Eva :)

The awesome blocks that Rosie and Alex made me :)

Ellie's cute new dress. :)

Lena with her new Piggy Bank (and Daddy's mug)... both Lena and Jimmy really wanted to hold the Piggy Bank the whole night! She kept saying "Piggy, Piggy"

A picture of Sam taking a picture of me :)

Nonna opening one of her gifts... oh and Sam snuck into the picture too. :)

Lena and Jimmy playing with the fruit in the fruit bowl. :) They climbed up on the cooler together.

Official Santa Pictures

Here are the official Santa pictures as described in my previous post:

Behind The Scenes: Santa Pictures

So my friend went and got some Santa pictures taken at Thanksgiving Point (by FotoFly) and they turned out darling. My sister and I decided to do the same since my friend's turned out so cute. Just $20 for the pictures taken, edited and given to you on a CD in the same night. Here are some pictures we snapped while waiting for our turn:

We were afraid that the kiddos might not take to well to the real Santa to I was the lucky one to dress up. :)

Classic Alex-holding-both-babies picture. :)

They LOVED playing in Santa's chair. :)

Sistine Chapel Almost?

My mom and I took a trip with the babies to Provo on Tuesday to drop a package off for Eva, who is still in the MTC. While on the ride back I told them to touch each others' hand and guess what! They did! So, so glad I had the camera ready for this. :) So cute!

I Got Her To Smile!

Lately, getting Lena to smile for the camera has been VERY difficult. She prefers looking at the pictures on the camera so is constantly trying to get on the wrong side of the camera as far as getting pictures of her goes. :) So anyway, pictures like this are very rare as of late:

One of Many Eating Moments

Lena has been doing really well with eating with utensils AND drinking from a cup without a lid lately. :) Here is a picture of one of the many moments she spends in her high chair. :)

Shoes and Pets

This is what I found when going to put my shoes on the other day:

Making Truffles

Couldn't resist posting this cute picture of Lena helping me make truffles... don't worry, she had a separate spoon and bowl of truffle stuff, so the licked stuff didn't get into the truffles... (in case you were worried :) )

Some Cute Close-Ups :)

Favorite Ingredient of the Day... Sprinkles!

I tried my hand at decorating a cake for a friend's birthday the other day and figured giving Lena a cookie to decorate would be a good idea for keeping her entertained while still feeling included. Well it worked! :) She even discovered the sprinkles and... ummm... I'll let the pictures say the rest:

18 Months

Today my baby girl is 18 months old. Wow, has it really been that long since she was a tiny little infant? I know that everyone says this, but time has really been flying and I can't believe how fast little Lena is growing. She is learning faster and faster everyday now. Some of the things she's been up to are:

- Being happy in her forward facing car seat :) One of my favorites.
- Playing "boo" and "chase" with her cousin Jimmy
- She can reach the light switch on the stairs from the first stair now
- Her 12 month pants are too short for her as of about two weeks ago
- Her three favorite toys are her Ellie (teddy bear), Monkey and Kittie and once in a while any one of her puppies. :)
- She gives hugs willingly... most of the time :)
- She likes giving Jimmy hugs even though he rarely hugs back
- She loves reading books, especially with her Nonna
- She likes to comb her hair after I have sprayed it with the hairspray
- She LOVES rubbing lotion, hand sanitizer or sunscreen on her hands or on anything else she's allowed to.
- She is constantly opening up diapers (clean ones) and trying to put them on herself... she will open them up and sit on them... but then when it's time for a real diaper change she's not happy.
- She loves giving kisses to Ellie, Kittie and Monkey
- The other day she insisted on taking the blanket that was covering Randy up so that she could cover up her Monkey, after getting her monkey covered up she came running to me saying "monkey, monkey, monkey" in a sad voice... she had lost her monkey in the pile of blanket! :)
- She LOVES to climb!
- She's fairly good at using a spoon and a fork with little mess (unless she WANTS a mess)
- She claps after her gloves are on
- Lately she holds her bottle in her hands for like ten minutes before drinking it (I think she likes to feel the warm on her hands), then the act of drinking it has to be HER decision and HER decision ONLY!!! There's no prompting or suggesting or helping allowed. Sometimes she'll fall asleep holding it before she gets a chance to drink it. If you say "do you want to drink your bottle?" she says "NO!" to which I respond "Do you want ME to hold it for you then?" and she says again, "NO!"
- She loves to pour things, water, milk, flour, powdered sugar, etc... I usually give her her own little mixing bowl and measuring cup with some flour in it and it keeps her entertained for as long as I'm baking something... she has her own little apron and stands up on a chair next to the counter with me. Then when we are done we sweep together :)
- She still really likes her fruits and veggies! What a good girl. :) I'm getting better at liking them too!
- Here are the words that I can think of that she says, though I know she says much more, I have a hard time remember them all since there are so many now:
--Gases (glasses)
--Kittie
--Duckie
--Kacko, Kacko (Quack, Quack)
--Meeeeooow (in a deep growly voice)
--roar!
--bubbo (bubble)
--babbo (bottle)
--binky (which we need to wean her off of as well as the previous)
--Daddy
--Sam
--Jimmy
--Aix (Alex)
--Osie (Rosie)
--Up!
--Down
--Gone
--Plop
--Boots
--Apri (Open in Italian)
--Bracio (Arm in spanish)
--Noce (nut in Italian)
--Ciudi (Close in Italian)
--Mano (Hand in Italian and Spanish)
--light
--Eye
--Ey (Ellie)
--Monkey
--Ooo, ooo, aah, aah (like the monkey)
--That
--This
--Nonna
--Nonno
--Gamma (Grandma)
--Jesus
--Chocate (Chocolate)
--Car
--Tuck (Truck)
--Ball
--Owe! (not when she's hurt, just when you say something she doesn't want to hear... like "no")
--Wow! (uses the same as "Owe")
--Manana (Banana)
--Spash (Splash, while slapping the duckies on her book, who happen to be splashing)
--Apple
--Pear
--Bear
--Juice
--Malk (milk)
--Push
--Buttin (Button)
--Bum
--Bye (while waving)
--Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi (just like that, you can't have just one "hi")
-- Jump! (she actually gets about an inch clearance now :) )
-- Burrrrr! (when it's cold)
-- Min (Vitamin)
-- Bread
-- Jacket
-- Walk
-- Basta (Stop in Italian)
--Elbow

Okay, I will stop there. :) Being Lena's mom for the past 18 months has been a pleasure and I look forward to the exciting years ahead of us. :)

The Pros and Cons of Having an Extra Freezer

Pro:

You have room to freeze extra food so that you can buy a LOT of meat when it's on a really good sale and it will stay good in the freezer until you are ready to use it.

Con:

In fact, you have so much room that you think, "What? A 40 lb case of boneless, skinless chicken breast for only $1.60 per lb... yes, we'll take it... and yes, of course we have room for it, just throw it in the freezer... "

(7 days later)...

"Hey, Randy, can you get me a couple of chicken breasts out of the freezer? I'm going to make something with chicken tonight"... "Sure" says Randy...

well, of course we didn't think about the fact that we should probably separate the chicken before freezing it

Pro:

Promotes unplanned workouts, needed in order to chisel out needed chicken from 40 lb frozen chunk.

Another Pro:

You are forced to prepare 27 enchiladas at one time, made from the 10 lb chunk of chicken that we were able to chisel out of the 40 lb chunk.... meaning we now have about 5 meals ready-made.

Another Pro:

There is so much extra room that it can fit 27 pre-made enchiladas.

Con:

We may be getting sick of enchiladas. :)

I'm starting to think that from the list of Pros and Cons with having a freezer... the benefits out-weigh the costs... :)

We love our freezer! Thanks to Randy's mom for giving us this awesome Christmas gift. :)

Moral of the story:

Can't decide. :)

Stooping to Dads Level

So the other day we were playing with the string of beads in the kitchen (again). :) Randy thought it would be funny to do a funny walk while he showed Lena how to get the beads to make cool designs. He somehow started walking while in squatting position... knees completely bent. Well, not only did Lena want to make the cool designs with the beads, she also wanted to do it exactly how dad was doing it... she began trying to imitate his walk by bending her little knees and hunching her back over. It was so freaking cute to watch. I tried to capture some pictures of the cuteness. They aren't as good as the real thing, but you can kind of get the idea. :)