BEWARE: I'm spewing. But if you survive, there's a video of Claire.

Sarah, I know you called me three times today. I stared at my phone while it rang. I couldn't bring myself to answer it.

I decided for today that I'm dropping the happy facade. I'm going to write as it is. I've cried myself to sleep so many nights in the last month. I don't even know anymore if it's because we moved. Or if it's just because I desperately miss my family. Or if it's because I'm SO DONE being pregnant. Or maybe it's just the harsh reality of being a young mom with small kids. I read an article recently that stay-at-home moms are more depressed during their children's younger years than working moms. Once their children begin school, then there's no longer a difference. I think I can totally agree with that.

Yesterday, I turned on The Weepies on Pandora. It went through Postal Service, Josh Radin, etc. It was good medicine. But not enough.

Today I wandered ghostlike through my house and I found myself staring at the vitamins. I found it hilarious that our vitamins are in the same cupboard as my candy/treats stash. How appropriate. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, right? Jesse bought me a stash of vitamin D pills last winter when we first moved here to help with the lack of sunlight. I took them maybe once or twice, and then shoved them behind the Oreos. I HATE taking pills. I've taken allergy pills most of my life, then had to take 9 months worth of monitored TB pills, months of prenatals, and don't even get me started on birth control pills. I hate that idea that everything is solved with a pill. I know, I know. Vitamins are not pills. But I still have to remember to swallow a nasty something that inevitably gets stuck in my throat.

I stared at the pills and realized that I hate taking pills/vitamins, but I hate feeling brain dead more. So maybe it's worth trying Vitamin D.... I make it sound so dramatic. But you try living somewhere where the sun doesn't even shine in the summer.

So here I go. I give it three weeks. If I don't notice anything in three weeks, I'm done with Vitamin D.

.... I used to be such a drama queen. I embarrassed myself many times by my own drama, but at this point I miss my own enthusiasm and craziness. Hmm.

If I don't answer your calls today, it's not because I don't love you. It's because I'm tired, overwhelmed, unbelievably uncomfortable, and I can't pretend to be excited about life today. But I still love you. :)

Can't have a post without a picture. Abby dressed herself today and she was so proud. Very sassy, yes?

This would be the haircut chunk that Abby gave herself while Sarah was here. Oh, that child. She said she was trying to give herself bangs like me. While I'm flattered, I was definitely more furious. Fortunately it blends in well and we mostly pull it back anyway. But still. Her hair grows so slowly that it broke my heart a bit. Boo to child haircuts.

And here is my attempt to upload a video of Claire. She's such a spaz. Good thing we love her. :)

Proof!

Huzzah!!
My sister is here for Christmas!

Okay, so really, she's only here until 4 a.m. on Christmas, but SHE'S HERE!!!

I promised my mother proof that she made it and that we're having fun. So here it is mom! Proof!

Our day started out with me visiting the dentist and then some serious grocery shopping. By the time we got done with all that jazz, it was nap time. So all our of pictures today are from post-naps.

Coloring time! Sarah brought the girls super cute Rudolph coloring books and a princess coloring kit. So we spent some time coloring!

After drawing time, we hit Red Robin for dinner. We ate our fill, spilled chocolate milk, played with the balloons... it was a party. :)

Sarah was taking pictures of the girls with her new phone so I took the opportunity to snap some with my camera. This was the beginning of our movie night. We watched Frosty the Snowman in our pj's with pillows and blankets. The plan was to make pizookies, but none of us had room for treats after dinner. Maybe tomorrow. :)

Claire and Abby are certain Sarah is their favorite person ever right now. Claire is constantly yelling out "SARAH!" She always has to know where Sarah is, and will immediately climb in Sarah's lap if it's made available.... whether Sarah likes it or not. It's super super cute! And Abby is loving having a hide-and-seek buddy. They played for a good 30 mins. today. I'm so glad Sarah came to play with me while Jesse's gone!

Tomorrow: shopping and who knows what else. Stay tuned, mom!

Merry Christmas!

This is the Christmas card Jesse made for us this year. I was pretty happy with it. :) We only sent out a few, so don't feel bad if you didn't get one. It pretty much went to grandparents, great-grandparents, and a few long lost friends.

We've definitely had a crazy year and I don't see it slowing down anytime soon. We're incredibly grateful for Jesse's job and the opportunities it has provided us. I definitely still miss Utah with all my heart, but hopefully I'll adjust better this year. Supposedly the first year is the hardest.

More than anything we're grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ! We're grateful to celebrate his birth this season. We hope you all have had an incredible year filled with blessings, and we pray that this next year will provide you even more! We love you tons!

Bellevue City Hall and a Gingerbread House

Two blog posts in one week!
Christmas must be coming... there's no other explanation for this magic.

I had to post Abigail's performance today. Her preschool was invited to come sing songs for Bellevue City Hall's tree lighting ceremony today. She was so excited! They played hand bells, sang songs, and even did a dance to the Nutcracker Ballet. They were super cute! Her teacher didn't really say much about it before, so I didn't know what to expect. I wish I had had the video camera though. Next time!

So mom, Rosa Hasini is the cute girl in the authentic Indian garb. Now you know who that is. Also, thank you for the beautiful Christmas dress! Abby calls it her "fancy, fluffy dress". I told her to pull her sweater sleeves down, but she'd been running around so she was super hot. At least she kept the sweater on! That's a milestone in our books. :)

Claire was having an awesome time trying to keep up with the big kids as they ran around. I snapped her going by on the benches.

Abby and her cute friend Iris. I don't know what it is about little girls these days... Did I hold hands with every girl I played with at age four? Probably not. I was too busy digging in mud and catching worms. Fancy dresses? What were those??

We don't pull normal faces. Ever.

Abby is definitely making the most of this Christmas season. She INSISTED we make a gingerbread house. And since I'm such an evil mom, I totally gave in. Ha. I'm such a pushover...
I told her she had to wait until papa was home to help because I KNEW it would be a mess. It so was.

THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE PROCESS:

Ta-da! Gingerbread house!
The girls loved making it with Jess. I was just disaster control woman tonight--grabbing paper towels, confiscating candy from Claire, wiping up spilled frosting, taking pictures--you know... the usual mom stuff. ;) Lots of fun!

Gobble, gobble, gobble!

Anyone else have an exhausting weekend?? We sure did! It was crazy loads of fun, but I'm definitely tired.

The whole week felt like one long holiday. Jesse had work until Wednesday, but he pretty much came home halfway through each day because NOBODY was in the studios and he didn't have an assignment. He was so bored that he would just come home. I won't lie--it totally rocked that he got to be home. I hate that he missed the hours, but we had fun.

SO! Fast forward Monday through Wednesday, and that bring us to THANKSGIVING! We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the girls danced to the marching bands and the musical numbers. I was in love with the Newsies number. Not such a fan of Daniel Radcliffe singing in another number, but it was still fun. While the girls watched and I cooked, Jesse helped them make turkey hats. These pictures also show their adorable Thanksgiving outfits from Grandma Jenkins. Thank you Grandma!

What we would we do without our friends?!? The Brazells invited us to have Thanksgiving with them. I'm so glad they did because A) the texts from family were starting to kill me and I could not have handled being alone, and B) I could not have made a turkey to save my life. Brittany made an awesomely killer turkey. So moist and scrumptious. Perfection.

So here is Kevin carving the turkey. Hooray for Thanksgiving!

You should have seen our spread: turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, homemade rolls, bacon wrapped green beans, orange-glazed carrots, stuffing, oreo truffles, ice cream pies, a pathetic excuse for an apple pie (made by me), and sparkling cider to top it off. It was a meal fit for royalty. :) Because we totally are.

This is my pathetic apple pie. The crust tasted awesome. We just don't know what happened on the inside. It didn't cook.... weird. But Jesse pulled the whole pie out of the pan without it falling apart. Something is wrong with that. So here's Jesse finishing off our pie.

Thursday night at 11:00 p.m. I got in line with Brittany for some awesome Black Friday shopping. I've always made fun of Black Friday shoppers, but holy cow, it was so entertaining. We found awesome deals, everyone was loopy tired, and we had tons of fun. ...so much fun I may have to do it again. I wish I had pictures from it. Brittany and I looked slightly ridiculous shuffling our stuff through the forever long line at Kohls because they didn't have anymore carts. So awesome.

Friday passed by with sleeping, more lazy shopping, eating leftovers, and watching The Polar Express with the Brazells.

Saturday: THE SANTA TRAIN!
You hop on a train in North Bend and it takes you three miles to the Snoqualmie Depot where Santa is hanging out at the Northwest Railway Museum. The train is wonderfully authentically old and decorated in lights. Our train conductor sang Christmas songs almost the whole 20 minute ride. It was awesome! We went with Brazells and the Wahlquists.

Waiting at the North Bend Train Depot

On the train!

It truly is a Christmas miracle! Abby sat on Santa's lap! After watching The Polar Express, she decided Santa had to be nice. She asked for a stuff animal giraffe. Seriously?! I've been asking her for two months what she wants and the list has been the same every time. And now she throws a giraffe into it!? No.

So excited for Christmas!!

Whew. I need a nap after posting all this. P.S. My amazing friend took pictures of our little fam and she posted them at www.dandelionlipstick.com. Go look at them! We're absolutely adorable. :)