Takin' a break

I decided to take a break from school (ends up that I had a year left...not 6 months). It's been two weeks of bliss since I finished my last class. No homework. No participation. No stress. Loads of people had been giving me advice to stay in school and finish it out. But let me tell you...it just isn't working out for our family. I work hard to get good grades and that hard work takes time. Hard work + time = good grades = tired mommy, messy house, and stress. On top of all that, I have a very time consuming calling in Young Women's. And we are trying to get pregnant with our 3rd (which is the main source of taking a break...).

We thought we could push through it if I graduated in December and was due in the Spring...but once I discovered that my graduation wouldn't be until May of 2012....I knew it would be too much. I've already had pretty high blood pressure and will need a stress-free environment during my 3rd pregnancy. With Emerald and Charlie, I had Toxemia (high blood pressure) with a few months of glorious (insert sarcasm) bed rest.

Life has been good since school is over. Basically I do whatever I want with the kids, whenever I want. That is what being a stay-at-home Mom is all about, right?

Introducing....Christa!!

The hamster. I can't believe I haven't blogged about her yet! We got her a few months ago from the Missionaries in our ward (they knew someone who was giving away a hamster for free). Although I still really, really want a nigerian dwarf pygmy goat, I guess a teeny hamster will have to do for now. Here are some pics of "Christa" (Emerald named her after one of her BFF's).

 Emerald LOVES her new little friend and likes to take her out of her cage and let her explore/get lost all around the house.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Emerald drew a picture of Christa and "all of her little poops".

Christa's cage is stinky (it is a MUST to clean it every week), but we love her cute, teeny, fuzziness!

Less than 7 months!

Till I become this....


Although, depending on who you ask, I have already achieved this honor. :)

Following my graduation of my Bachelors in Psychology, it is off to more school work as I pursue my Master's Degree. Yay for school!

Time...

This is what I do all day, everyday. I even have the happy, corny smile.


















But I also do this...So if it seems that I am lacking on my blog posts, I sincerely apologize. I don't know where all the other "blogging Mormon Mommies" find the time to do this crap like every day. It seems more daunting to me if I try to post pics and record ALL the stuff we do with our little family; we just do a lot of awesome stuff. Do you sense any sarcasm there? :) So let's do a toast to keeping things SIMPLE. Cheers! BOTTOMS UP! ;)

It's still Christmas at our house!

Emerald has learned how to work the cd player and now she plays Jingle Bells during the day. She is just in love with Santa and cannot wait till he comes again. She catches Charlie when he is in trouble and tells him, "Santa won't be very nice for you Charlay!" (We like to call him "char-lay") :)
Here are some pictures from Christmas time. We stayed home in SUNNY, WARM California (yes, I enjoy rubbing it in because I really enjoy it here). Whenever we would ask Emerald what she wanted for Christmas, she would simply reply, "A unicorn." I thought she was just being silly and so we went gift shopping and got her some preschool games, play-doh and some dress up clothes. And a few days before Christmas, she kept asking if Santa would bring her a unicorn.....So Jake and I headed back to Toys R Us and got her a big unicorn. And what do ya know, that is the only present she really cared for on Christmas morning. Charlie got a big dinosaur to go along with Emerald's unicorn. :)


Charlie's favorite part of the holidays was eating all the fudge. Thanks Mama for sending us some! Charlie ate it all!! :)

These are basically the only two pictures I have of Christmas...I mean, there is more...but they are still on my phone and I'm too lazy to upload them at the moment. So more pictures will be posted in the near future of Christmas from 2010. :)

Catching Up

Back in September or October or maybe it was in August....? Anyway, we went up north to San Fran with Jacob as he attended meetings at the NASA facilities there. It was cold and green and gorgeous! It was nice to get a break from all this desert we live in and be around trees and plant life! We strolled around the Piers and went to the aquarium there.

It was a blast and Emerald and Charlie loved the cool fish life.

Give 'Em the Bird!

Here we have Jacob giving the bird. We cooked our first turkey for Thanksgiving (yes, this post is a tad late....). We stayed home in California for the holidays. It wasn't nearly as fun not having lots of family around, but I refuse to go back to the dreadful cold and snow in Utah. So I suggest that family members that would like to see us for Turkey day or Christmas come to California for a visit! ;) It took FOREVER to cook that dang bird and then by the time it was ready to eat, we weren't hungry for turkey! So we had a few bites of the bird and then the usual food items (stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, pies). Next year we decided to have a catered Turkey day meal from Claim Jumper (really yummy restaurant). :)

Also around Thanksgiving time, we got a brand new fridge!! The kids were so excited when the Lowe's guys came and delivered it. Charlie turned 2 in November and although I can't find any pictures of his birthday party, we had a great time and he was excited to get new cars and space rocket sheets to go on his big boy bed.