Hangin' out with the fam!

After Juliet's party we all just hung out cause everyone was leaving the next day! Uncle Jamie and Aunt ELaine.One of the Bingo prizes this year was a pair of "boingy" glasses. Well, the eyes fell out of them so we all took time squishing them on our eyes. Scary! Aunt Elaine and Jayden!
Uncle Tim and Justin.
Darby.
Daddy!
Olivia and Jenny had nothing to do with it! We all had so much fun being together! I can't wait for a BIG family reunion when ALL of us can be there!

Juliet's 1st Birthday

We had Juliet's 1st birthday party the weekend of Thanksgiving because all of our family was up for the holiday. She loved getting her gifts. My other kids liked the paper. She wanted to play! Here she is making her "o" face. When ever she liked something she used to make this face and say "Oh Oh Oh Oh"!
She couldn't wait for B to get the paper off!
Her cake with her hand print!
She wasn't to sure at first. She definitely liked the gifts more than the cake. Maybe if she had a little diet coke to wash it down she would have enjoyed it more! :)

Santa Monica Pier

When my parents came out for Thanksgiving, one of the days they were here, we went to Santa Monica Pier. My dad hadn't been there for years and years (went with the military) and mom had never been. We accidentally parked in the wrong place and discovered a really fun part of the beach! This was at the end of the trip and Juliet had crashed. She LOVES her papa and has him suckered! All she had to do is fuss a little and he picks her up and carries her all around, in or outside! SOOOO tired. Can she ride in the stroller and sleep? NOOO. She had to sleep on papa!
Juliet loves to watch the waves. She didn't want to look away from them for me to take a picture but she turned her head at least. (her eyes would NOT look at me)
She was cracking up here.
There are all sorts of vendors and performers and stuff on the pier. Today there was a "bird guy". He had a couple birds and would let you hold them and take pictures with them while he told you all about them. They work on tips only so everyone gave him a dollar and this is what came out of it!
I DID NOT give him a dollar because I do not care for birds (on me that it) It was a surprise and I didn't move! You can see Brandon in the back watching like he knows I would never do that on purpose!
Darby was the first and the bravest.
Juliet didn't want anything to do with the bird!
Dash was ok til the bird started to climb him.
He loved cradling the bird like a little baby.
Max was super ready for his turn!
Then was super ready for his turn to be over!
This bird stayed on Darby for almost 10 minutes. The bird guy had 4 birds and a ton of people there. He said this was a really good bird so he didn't mind leaving it and walking around with the other birds. Poor Darby just stood there patiently til he came back for her. There was no way I was gonna take it from her!

Such a cute picture for us to put on Papa's Father's Day tie and Juliet turned away at the last minute! GRRRRR!
She is such a pistol. You can see on her face that she is with her Papa and she doesn't care what you say to her. Talk to the hand mommy!
This is a big ol pirate ship for the kids to play on. I think it used to be a fountain.
Here is a dragon that was part of the ship and the fountain. Darby was pretending to be consumed. What a ham!

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree

Another one of our family traditions is to put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving. My kids love getting their new ornaments from us and looking at all their old ones! I gave them each a theme! Darby is snowmen, Max is Santas, Dash is reindeer and Juliet is penguins. That way my tree is still cute and when they leave they will have really great and cute ornaments that they will want to use! (Even the boys wives won't be able to argue with that...no nfl or Teenage mutant ninja turtle ornaments....not that there is anything wrong with that!)

This is where my dad pretty much stayed the whole time they were here! He had a portable dvd and would plug it into one ear. That way he could still hear us if he HAD too...sort of! He would watch his series "The Unit" and crack peanuts! I loved it! The finished product! We almost need a bigger tree cause my mom buys my kids an ornament (in their theme) every year too so we are running out of room. Each one of my kids can tell you which ornament is their favorite and why. It is never the one I expect it to be!
Juliet was gettin out of the way of the boys and the flying limbs!
I thought when I got married I would always have a real tree! I have loved nothing more than watching them all help sort limbs and click them into place then spread the branches out with Brandon. We never have to worry about budgeting for a tree every year either. Light a pine scented candle and that's as real as it gets!

BINGO!!!!!

On Thanksgiving after the dishes are done we set up the tables for BINGO! It is a long standing tradition that my family loves! (I think it is over 20 years old). Everyone that comes and wants to play brings a gift ($5 or less, but we shop all year so some things are REALLY good). There are sometimes homemade items. Jewelry, scarves, crafts etc. One year granny did an afghan with all the left over yarn she had over the years that said BINGO in the center of it. (Yes she is that good!) It was the ugliest thing I had ever seen but we all wanted it soooooo bad. I think my cousin Paul won it. We like to invite anyone who wants to come as long as they follow the rules. The only rule is NO CRYING! You can pick or steal and once it has been in possession 3 times it is out of the game! SOOOOO much fun! Tons of stupid jokes and even more stupid gifts! One year there was a bobble head with my grandpa's picture in the frame face. It was super funny cause my grandpa wasn't even there! Ha ha! My kids love this tradition and we have kept it going even when we aren't by my parents and grandparents so now some of our friend s have come to love it too!

Here Dash won a pair of toe socks! He LOVED them. He is right on the border of being able to play due to the crying rule! He won a gift card to Pink Berry and someone stole it from him. Very sad. But you can see that he made up for it with his sweet socks! Tons of snacks and drinks! We have tried all different Bingo sets over the years. The best one is the cheapest one. Pull out the cards and pennies and cheerios for markers! Here is Aunt Chance (far right), Uncle Tim, Domenique (cousin), Justin (cousin) Jayden (cousin), and Aunt Elaine!
You can't have Bingo with out my dad flippin you off with his half finger! He thinks he is HILARIOUS! He always says "This is if you 1/2 tick me off!" (only a little more colorful.) My mom is not excited about it! Ireland (cousin) doesn't even realize he did it! She is to busy picking out her markers. There is a strategy of not mixing markers on your card. Bad Luck if you do!
Ireland won silly straw glasses! She was so sweet to let Dash keep trying them out! That is one of the the things I love about Bingo, NO prize is ever lame. There is something for everyone from candy bars to gift cards, luggage (clearance), crock pots, crafts! SO much fun. One year my super classy friend Alison (she really is classy) brought these naked old lady salt and pepper shakers! It was hilarious because they became the HOT item of the night and my Granny fought tooth and nail for them! NO CRYING! :)
Uncle Tim and Aunt Chance!
Brown Olivia! (Dash was in love with 2 Olivias in Tx. One was Latin and the other was not. He called them brown Olivia and white Olivia. We told this story to Aunt Wendy and Olivia and now that is what I have to call my sweet niece Liv! She even put it in my cell phone that way!) I just adore her and will have to do a whole blog post on her one day! She graduates in May making me feel SUPER old because when B and I dated she was only 2 and used to call me "Bazshazshee"!
Aunt Marilynn and Uncle Jamie!
Getting ready for the festivities to start. Here is a better picture of Aunt Elaine and you can see Journey in the back. Don't forget the 2 cheese balls Dash and Darby!
This is Brandon's niece Jenny and her husband and their little baby Kadence! She makes me feel super old too. I will not tell you how old she was when I started to date B!
Thanksgiving was full of fun, family and food! I think our favorite part will always be Bingo!

Nana's girl!

No one can deny this baby as my mom's grandbaby! I am sure if I had baby pictures of my mom you would not be able to tell them apart! Juliet is a mini Nana! Everyone sees it but my mom! You can't tell in this picture but they even have the same color eyes! (And the same cute hair on this day!) :) Hairy! She was sitting by Nana during our Thanksgiving Bingo festivities and Nana gave her a new cup with a straw, some cheetos and you'll never guess what she put in her cup! Diet Coke! Nice!
Two peas in a pod! I LOVE that they are so much alike! Zuzu loves her Nana!

Thanksgiving perfomance!

On Thanksgiving, before we played Bingo, our kids sang with B and Darby did her Jerry Lewis skit. Dash wanted nothing to do with it. So he just sat and watched! I had to take a picture of him though because he is wearing the shirt my mom made for Darby when she was 3. My mom and dad both had one too. I have kept it and all my kids wear it when they are 2 and 3 and 4 and if I can 5! It is so cute! It has turkeys all over it dressed like pilgrims and Indians and one in a football helmet! It cracks me up every year! This was Max singing "Silent Night"! He is perfect with his raspy little voice and when he lifts his head to reach for the high notes it melts my heart! He would sing "round young virgin mother to child" I loved it! They corrected him in Primary. I was perfectly content letting him sing it wrong!
They sang "Away in a Manger". The one from the Childrens Songbook with the "asleep asleep". Max did first verse, Darby did second and Daddy helped. It was really sweet!
They performed all of this at the Single Adults Thanksgiving too. Darby's Jerry Lewis skit stole the show there. I don't think any of them knew what to expect but by the middle of it they were all cracking up! I was very proud of her. She is so brave and talented!
Brandon loves performing with our kids. He loves that they are brave enough to get up and do it. I think it builds confidence and character. (you don't see me up there with them! :)

Curtis' Birthday!

When Ryeley and the kids came down we had a birthday party for my nephew Curtis! He was super excited. All of Brandon's family came over and one of my friends from church brought her son and 3 nephews. Curtis had his favorite cake and got both his favorite ice creams! We just finished singing and everyone was ready to cut into the cake. Everyone sang SOOSOOOO loud Curtis couldn't stop grinning! Miss Anna gave him a sweet dart gun and that was one of his favorite gifts. A very Hot item the entire weekend!
His dad gave him tons of skate boarding stuff. Aunt Chance and Uncle Tim gave him a Tec Deck display case and we gave him a remote control truck!
Ready to board!
He was so gracious with all the gifts he received! I sure love that kid! He was so grateful for his party and told me he would never forget it. Gracie asked if they could come back for her birthday! :)

A baby?

I thought that would get my blogging buddies attention! No we are not pregnant! :) We are in fact trying to decide if our family is complete though. Who would have thought this would even be an issue? All during being pregnant with Juliet I KNEW I was NEVER doing that again. Then the first thing I said to Brandon wasn't "Is she o.k.? Is she breathing? Why is she blue?" I looked at him and said "We have to do this again, I think I want another!" My sweet husband and friend said lets wait for the post partum to wear off. That was both our answers for a while. Well I am now off all the post partum drugs. She is over a year. We have asked at the temple and in countless prayers. Many conversations with good friends and with each other. My conclusion is that the Lord is pleased with what we have done and now it is up to us. It is ok either way. Be done or have another. What? Are you kidding me? Now what? On one hand our family looks complete in pictures. I would LOVE to have my body back and work to get all the weight off to never have to put it on again. We would love to go camping and to Disney Land and so many other things that we put off until the last one can be manageable. It was hard to split the Christmas budget, school clothes budget, new seasons budget and birthday budgets into so many piles. (It has always worked out though with a lot of faith....) I don't feel like I am the best mommy I can be to the ones I have. I yell more than I want and fast food is all our friend. B and I are both getting older too. I am overwhelmed a lot! BUT on the other hand. I don't know if I can close the door completely on another Jeffords! :) Who doesn't want another one of those? To never hold a brand new one that is mine again. Never nurse again (we all know how good I am at that...why would I miss it when I suck so bad at it?) Never have a baby kick again....I hated that part and the hiccups and the ligament pulls and the heartburn and the pre term labor and the peeing my pants (still do that) and the BARFING. Oh but to eat what ever you want with no guilt! I never have guilt when I am pregnant. :) My kids LOVE babies and LOVE Juliet so much. They all ask when we are having another. (All though that is dying down a bit...except for Max.) I see sister in laws and close friends having babies and the desire to have another overwhelms me. Then I sit back and ask myself, is it really another baby or all the fun that goes with it? There is a lot of attention and love that is thrown your way with a new baby. You can't even go to the grocery store with out someone commenting on the newest addition. (I get that a lot with just the size of my family though).

I thought the Lord would CLEARLY say "Well done! No more. Your family is complete on this earth. You are my favorite!" :) Why would he let me choose? I never thought in a million years this chapter would be so hard to close. :(
Seriously friends, any thoughts?

Happy New Year!

Here I sit on New Years Day with so many thoughts and of course no time. I will commit to lose my baby weight or at least enough to feel good in my clothes and not want to wear pajamas everywhere. I am also going to teach another format this year. All ready signed up to sub so now I can't get out of it! I am going to blog weekly! Brandon printed my blog for my Christmas gift and I cried and cried. Not only was it a great gift but it helped me to fulfill a commandment of journaling and writing my family history. Knowing it wasn't that expensive it has rekindled my excitement! I am going to the temple once a month and I am going to pray with my eyes closed. (ANy mommy knows why that is a habit I have to try to get back!) I am going to "just do it" with my home. B and I did that a few years ago and it changed my life. When you are to tired to fold the basket of clothes and say you will do it tomorrow then you "just do it" ! It sounds silly but the 10 minutes you put forth saves hours later. (Laundry piles after just one basket then it is way to big to just do it!) If you "just do it" on all the little things they never get to be big things! Almost like "eating the frog first". Do the thing on your list you least want to do first rather than stare at it all day hating it and letting it take up your energy. (mine usually will end up on my list for the next few days making me hate myself and my list). If you "eat the frog first" nothing tastes as bad and it is off your list freeing up your emotional energy!

I think that is all my resolutions. EXCEPT for the biggie. Diet coke. I will need a whole blog about that one. Tear.

Later! with photos of all the end of year festivities.